Thunder roared from the sky, rain was falling down on a cloaked figure in a dark alley of city of Hebatius. Blood was running down the forehead of this man.

"Is my life going to end here?" his voice was weak and his breathing was heavy. Shouts could heard from outside the street, the pursuers were looking for him. One hand was broken while the other clutched some sort of gem.

His body pressed against the wall he slowly sat on the ground putting his head down. "Where are you...Julien."

.....

.....

Two children could be heard playing on the edge of the forest near their village of Pillu.

"I got you Julien!" shouted Andre, swinging his wooden sword onto the head of his friend. Unable to put his own wooden sword up in time Julien was hit on the head by Andre, slipping and falling on the ground hitting the back of his head on a small rock.

"I got you Julien!" not noticing his friend had injured his head, Andre poked him with his wooden sword. "Don’t pretend like you hurt yourself Julien, I didn’t hit you that hard!" poking him with wooden sword.

"Julien?" reaching down he noticed there was blood on the back of his head.

"JULIEN!!!!" panicking Andre ran back to the village to get help.

Several days later Julien had woken up and Andre had immediately ran to his house down the street to find him after hearing the news.

"Julien! i'm so sorry..." sobbed Andre as he walked into his room.

"Where am I... who are you?" questioned Julien. His parents could be seen in the corner, mother crying while his father was giving her a hug.

"What... what happen...what do you mean?" shocked and surprised he looked at the doctor.

"I'm not sure but... he seems to be having some slight memory loss..."

"It’s all my fault... I hit him on the head..." sobbed Andre, Julien's dad walked over and patted him on the head

"It’s quite alright Andre... it was an accident, I’m sure Julien will recover in a few days..." giving him a smile that reassured the boy.

"Now go home and get some rest, you can come back and play with Julien in a few days okay?"

"Al... alright.. Thank you Mr. Li" and he walked away back to his home.

Julien and I are both 10 years old, we both live in the Village of Pillu at the edge of the Ecclesia Empire, the year was 785 AC We are both at the age just before we can be tested for any magical aptitude, usually conducted from an Imperial Magus that travels from village to village giving children of the common class a chance of the good life. If the child of the family has a good aptitude for magic they can be brought to different academies around the Empire; after finishing their schooling if they are able to become a Magus their family could be brought up in status and moved into the large cities of the Empire.

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Although it is not as simple as it sounds, many students don’t have the full aptitude to become a full fledge Magus, many people just remain as a follower and assistants to the their Magus Teachers if they choose to accept them. Although life might increase slightly for them and their family, very few make it to the top. In truth the Magus of the empire gives hope to the lower class in exchange for their children in order to help with their research experiments. Many times not only do they never become anything more than just an assistant but most might die early from experiments from their masters.

The village chief of Pillu had once been a Magus and had said that a few of the children in the village have a good aptitude to become a Magus which is quite rare in a village so far away from the Capital. In two years the Magus from the Empire will come test us, our families have great hopes on us, hopefully one day we can become a Magus and help our family having a wonderful life.

It’s been a month since Julien has woke up, and it feels like he has gone through such a change, not only have did not remember anything from his parents to his name and where we lived! I felt so horrible knowing that it was I who made this happen to him. Although recently his memory started to regain and he's been reading books in the village library, hes begun to acknowledge me again.

"Good Morning Andre!"

"Oh! Julien how are you feeling today? Want to go and play swords again?

"It’s been almost two months has it not? Sure lets play!"

"Really?! I’m so happy... I almost thought you hated me..."

"Of course not Andre, We're best friends remember? I just needed sometime!"

I was so relieved that he had said that, Julien was my best friend since our families moved together to the village of Pillu. Although our families were not much, Julien's father had once been a famous knight in the Capital and my father had once been a well known Guild Leader. I heard that our fathers had once journeyed around the country but decided to retire into the countryside.

"Alright Julien, I will go easy on you since last time I beat you, you fell got injured!"

"No! Please try and come at me! I feel like I can take you on now!"

"Hah, that will be the day, I don't think you have ever beaten me even though your father taught you so much!"

Our fight started out normal with me going at him with my wooden sword

"In that case... HERE I COME!"

Although we were just playing around, in reality we were both taught by Julien's dad in some sword skills, he had told us although we have a aptitude for magic, we should always train our bodies so that we won’t be weak physically.

The fight continued for a long time, this was such a big change from Julien I could find no openings in his stance; in fact, he was pushing me back.

"ugh... Julien have you been practicing?"

"What are you talking about Andre, I’v always been this good! I have just been hiding it!"

"What are you two doing!" two young girls appeared out of the bushes.

It was Bessa and Tilly our childhood friends. Both of them were the same age as us and was also tested by the Elder that they also have a good aptitude to become magus one day! Natural we became even more friendly from that.

We stopped our fighting and looked up covered in sweat.

"Julien JUST recovered! You two shouldn’t fight!" protested in a sweet voice by Tilly. She was always the strong willed one while Bessa kept quiet.

"We were just practicing Tilly! I was going easy on Julien!"

"Felt like you were about to lose Andre" Julien rolled his eyes

"Want to settle this 2 out of 3 then Julien?" Lifting and gripping my wooden sword.

"Alright stop it you silly boys! Me and Bessa came to get you two because there's word that the Imperial Magus will be coming to our village in the next 2 weeks! The elder wanted us to gather and give us some information."

"Alright guess we will come back then" Andre answered happily, in truth he felt that if it lasted another minute he would have lost to Julien. What happen to him? Did he get stronger after he hit his head?

The magus will be coming in two weeks! I hope we will all be able to go to an academy together...