Post by Fifi on Mar 7, 2018 21:30:26 GMT
Porting this over... Yes this is still active. I've had most of chapter 2 written already, and a new forum should be enough to kick me back into gear.
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A fierce wind wailed outside of a small lakefront cabin as the sole resident warmed himself by the fire. Despite the racket caused by the wind and the shaking of the age-stained windows, he worked diligently through a book. Page after page he turned, only stopping to jot a quick note in a tiny journal. A sudden slamming of the front door finally broke his concentration, causing him to delicately close the tome and turn towards his guest.
“I had feared you wouldn’t show up tonight,” the original occupant said with a slight smile.
“This damn storm delayed things a little bit.” Pulling off his soaked cloak and tossing it to the ground. The heavily bearded newcomer gingerly pulled a tightly bound pack off his back and began removing the layers of cloth and leather. “Looks like you managed to keep yourself busy.”
“Hopefully you can continue to keep me busy. I trust you managed to find the information?”
“That I did.” He chuckled and passed over the bag of pages and scrolls that emerged from the pile of wrappings, completely dry despite the rain and floods. “Here’s a write up our ‘friends’ did, along with some of the works the compiled it from. For legitimacy I guess.”
Accepting the bag, the occupant began to sort through the various works, taking note of some of the titles he came across. “Excellent. I will evaluate these on my own time. For now I hope you can give me a quick summary?”
“They said we have three years.” The older man’s face dropped a little after hearing that. “Surprisingly they all came to that conclusion on their own.”
“They all reached a specific day?”
“Nay, that would be a miracle if they did. They’ve ranged a fair bit, some saying three years exactly, some put it closer to four years. But they all said about three years. Most of their research is in there, so hopefully you can combine it all.”
“Better than we hoped, but not as much time as we wished. I will verify their work, but with them so close to consensus I doubt we’ll find much extra time.” Placing the bag on the table, the man rose out of his chair and wandered over to the window.
The rain pounded the glass, and occasionally a bit of liquid seeped through. Rubbing his eyes, the man stared at his reflection for a few moments. Bits of gray now streaked his dark hair, and sleepless nights started to catch up to him. A sudden strike of lightning broke his reverie, snapping him back to the reality at hand. “We’re going to have to prepare as if it’s coming 3 years from today.”
“Want me to go warn the leaders?”
“Not today, we’re going to have to go it alone.”
“You can’t be serious,” the soaked man said, a squeak from his chair punctuating his words as he suddenly stood up. “We’d be able to complete this within months if we got all of them on our side!”
“Relax.” Making his way back to the fire he sat in his old chair and motioned for the younger man to follow. “The Coalition of Lords would spend all three years arguing among themselves, even if we presented overwhelming evidence. Not to mention that if they did agree to assist that they would try to wrest control from us at every step. Not to mention there isn’t anything the local leaders could offer we don’t already have ourselves.”
“I guess if you put it that way.” Shame crept into his voice as he broke eye contact, seemingly embarrassed by his words.
“No need to be ashamed,” the first man said reassuringly, “It was a natural thought to have. You just underestimate how far we have already come.
“No, instead of relying on others, we will build ourselves up. The time you would spend courting the aid of those too stubborn to see the truth is better spent finding others who will gladly follow our cause. There is a lot of untapped potential in the world, and it is just waiting for a guiding hand to help them up.”
“Yes, I see what you mean. I should get started.” As he motioned to leave, his companion placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back to his seat.
“Not tonight. You’ve already braved this storm enough, stay here until it passes. No need to endanger yourself more than you have. Come share a drink with me. Like we used to.”
“Still know the old toast?”
“I would never forget it.”
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The next morning, the town of Acise began to dry itself after a light rainstorm that lasted the whole night. The whole town watched the skies that morning with baited breath, looking for any sign of continuing inclement weather. Today was a special day for many towns folk, a day that came once every six months. Today was Awakening Day for those who had turned fifteen, the day they would undergo the ritual to discover their familiar.
In early hours of morning a young man by the name of Felix nervously shifted page after page in his books, cramming every last bit of knowledge inside his head. Today was his Awakening day, and soon he would form the bond with a Pokemon for life.
In the eye of the World Storm lies a collection of islands known as Zan’tar,
Once cursed by eternal rain, day in and day out
Out of fear of drowning, the people found a lone patch of dry ground
And there they built a tower to the heavens
And thus the storms were calmed
A heavy knock awoke Felix, now aware that he had finally passed out sometime in the night. One of his note sheets was stuck to his face and after pulling it off he noticed a few of the words were smudged from rubbing against his cheek. The knock continued impatiently while he stretched until he shouted that he was awake and headed out. After standing up and pulling open the heavy curtains covering his desk window to let light into his room, he fished out a small mirror from under his bed to check how bad his face looked. A dark ink stain graced the left side of his face, vaguely spelling out the words previously on the page.
All he had to do was replace yesterday’s shirt thankfully, one of the benefits of passing out at a desk instead of properly preparing for bed. He was probably waking up late enough as it was, no need to waste too much time. He saw the cause of the noise after opening his bedroom door, a little yellow duck that was strongly tapping his beak.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I was up.” Seeing Felix up and active appeared to be enough for the Psyduck, and it walked away without even responding. No doubt it was going to report his status to its bond-mate, and Felix felt it was probably best to greet his aunt himself instead of just letting the pokemon report it.
Before leaving he stopped to run his hand over the cool steel plates of the Lairon grumpily trying to get comfortable again in his spot by the door. Lairon would probably give up and join him in a few minutes anyways, something told him the pokemon would want to see the results of his Bonding Day.
The kitchen was a mess of activity, all led by a young woman digging deep through a cabinet for who know what. Various plants lined the windows, each with a small globe of water floating and slowly dripping their contents into the soil. On the stove a large pot of a thin sauce threatened to boil over at any moment, the stirring spoon bobbing up and down. Amid the mess from the counter lie the woman’s tome; the pages of the thin book were written with a small, delicate script and filled with various notes. The Psyduck sat at the table with a few sheets of paper and children’s drawing supplies, clumsily gripping the colorful sticks and creating swirls of color.
“Mornin’ Asta,” Felix said to his aunt, earning a small wave of her free hand, “your pot look about ready to boil over.”
“Thanks!” Placing her free hand on her tome and poking her other hand out of the cabinet, she muttered a short incantation and flicked her finger in the general direction of the stove. A few words and diagrams on the page began to glow a faint blue before the sauce retreated from the edge and began to swirl slightly. “I’ll be out in a moment, there’s something I need to find. It’s probably not here, now that I think about it, but doesn’t hurt to check.”
“No hurry, looks like I still have some time.” Taking a seat at the table, he watched the duck create his hypnotic swirls of color. The farm had been quiet for the past few years, and truth be told he was surprised they hadn’t sold it for something smaller. Asta made the majority of her money from small craftwork, which could be done from within the actual township. Not to mention the only inhabitants of the large house were a twenty-three year old woman, her fifteen year old nephew, a duck, and a large lizard. As if he could hear someone mentioning her in their thoughts Lairon meandered her way into the kitchen. More likely she was drawn by the smell of food, but pokemon had a strange sense of timing.
“I’d ask if you were nervous, but I know you are.” A little surprised by the voice next to him, Felix noticed that Asta had finally retreated from the cupboard and was now next to him. A fine layer of dust coated her light hair. Her eyes lazily traced Psyduck’s motions as she smiled the gentle smile that rarely left her face. “I know I was terrified during my bonding day. Emilia was the better student and had such a cool familiar. I thought they’d say it was a fluke I had any magic whatsoever, and proclaim me a bondless.”
“I think I remember that day. You kept pacing around and muttering to yourself. I was mad because I just wanted to read my book and you were so distracting.”
“I guess I was a bigger mess than I remember,” she said while laughing. Reaching her thin arm across the table, she gently scratched to top of the water-type’s head, receiving a squeak of pleasure in response. “Then this little guy appeared and the sage told me I had a very, very strong bond.”
“That’s reassuring. I guess I’m just a little worried about what I’d receive. Not even what Pokemon I bond with, just everything in general. What type are they going to reveal my magic as? What am I supposed to be good at? What if my familiar is a fire type when I’m so bad at it?”
“Relax, it’s not like you’re being told what your entire future is like. This is just kind of a guide. I’m supposed to be awful with Nature Magic, yet I can still write and cast the spells I need for growing plants.” She stopped for just a moment and looked straight in his eyes. Her grayish eyes always seemed unassuming, yet had a way of seeming like she could dig up every secret of yours if she wanted to. “If I’m being honest, I expect you’ll have some type of Ferric Magic in you. You’re so like your mother it’s sometimes unbelievable.” She accompanied her words of encouragement with a rusting of his sandy hair, making it similar to her own hair’s disorder.
And then she stood up once more, presumably to continue her search. “Now I think you should head out,” she said, walking towards a nearby closet, “I’ll have everything ready when you get back.”
The Night Storm raged particularly fierce the night before and a few reminders of it littered the ground outside the house. Thin sticks and branches littered the large yard in front of the house and some wind damaged shrubbery lie in open field where the winds could not be blocked. Thankfully the Night Storm was a mild storm, annoyingly present more nights than not, but manageable. The storm also lacked some of the other odd properties that made the other storms more disastrous, which was always good news to the town.
Searching through his pages, Felix sought to make up for the time he lost sleeping. Finding the page on Psionics, he studied the diagrams explaining the power in the runes while he walked. After nearly bumping into a parked wagon, actually watching the road seemed like a better choice for his own safety. Still, a branch balanced on a fallen log provided him a chance to put a practical use to his studies.
“Psicos!” He shouted the incantation while running his finger over the runes in sequence. A swirling feeling began to vaguely well inside him, and he had to fight to extract enough magic as if he was trying to wring the last few drops from a damp towel. After a few seconds of concentration there was finally enough free magic in his system to produce any kind of effect, and he redirected the swirling energy into his hand. A light purple haze gathered in his palm, forming a small sphere. A flick of his hand later, the haze disappeared from within his hand and reappeared under the branch. The fog quickly moved upwards, snapping the branch and sending it a few feet away when it made contact with the solid object.
The effect was minute compared to anything an adult could do, but he was pleased to have a result on his first attempt nonetheless. By the end of the day he’d have a proper tome to assist in the extraction and release of the energy, which would help immensely. Soon he’d also be able to cast simple spells without going rune by rune also, just touching the page they’re on would work. Emboldened by his little act of stick destruction, he was all smiles the rest of the way to the testing grounds.
Only seconds after arriving, his late start was apparent. Almost all the other recent fifteen year olds were already waiting to begin. A familiar mess of short blond hair stuck out of the small crowd, and Felix made his way to where some of his friends were.
“‘Bout time you showed up,” the lanky owner of the bird’s nest he called hair chided playfully, “I would have never guessed you of all people would be late. I half expected you to have camped out here.”
“And gotten my familiar and a cold on the same day?” Felix smiled and fell into place within the small circle, lightly bumping his friend on the chest. He would have probably messed up anyone else’s hair if the owner actually cared about it like a sane man, or wasn’t a full head taller than himself. “Plus staying up all night fighting storms sounds like something you would do, Rikard.”
“Assuming he doesn’t get blown away first,” a tiny voice said. The source, Annelie, was a girl slightly shorter than Felix. Her slender frame, pale brown hair, roundish features and tendency to get distracted made more than a few people find comparisons between her and a ferret.
“The Night Storm is nothin’. I’ll save my energy for when I’m needed in a bigger, badder storm.”
“Still holding to that dream, eh,” The last one, Karine, added. A tall girl with sharp features, pale skin and long, dark hair. The angel of the morgue, some called her, since her parents owned the graveyard and worked as the undertakers. “I didn’t know they made Gale Knights out of twigs.”
“Shut up, I just haven’t bulked up yet. Once I get my familiar I’ll start gaining muscle for real, and then they’ll take me for sure. Look at this, I’m going to be huge!” Showing off his imaginary bicep, Rik looked over to Felix for backup and finally noticed the pages in his hand.
“Gah, what are you bringing those cursed things around for. There’s no test to get your familiar, unless my bro lied to me again.”
“Nah, I just wanted to show the sage my notes, make sure I have a good layout before copying it over to an actual tome. I managed to make Psicos snap a branch first try on the way over here though.”
A low whistle came from Karine as she took in the news. “Never could get that one to work. Then again, I’m almost guaranteed to be a Grave Magic user with my family tree.”
“Make sure that was an actual branch, and not just Rik’s arm,” Annalie said smarmily, casting a sideways glance in her target’s direction.”
“Hey! Give me a little bit and you’ll see the results of this newest workout, and then we’ll see who the twig is!”
Just as the conversation began to kick off, the doors of the hall opened and the three sages running the ceremony stepped into the courtyard. Each wore a simple robe, white with trimming correlating to their preferred branch of magic, and they called the first round of people to the testing room. Annalie found herself among the first batch, and hurried inside excited. Now down a member, the three remaining could fit on one of the white stone benches lining the wall. A silence fell upon the courtyard for about a minute, before chatter slowly started again.
“So, are you guys going on the journey?” Karine finally broke the silence among the group with the question that had been plaguing their entire year.
“I mean, I kind of have to,” Felix said, looking up at the ivy crossing the pillars holding up the wooden awning. “I want to join a College, and I’ll need some kind of research for that. Hopefully I wouldn’t be gone too long before they let me set up a lab. I don’t want to leave Asta to manage the farm alone.”
“Damn, you make it sound so easy bro. You know what I want to do, and I gotta get stronger before the Storm Watch would consider me for anything more than a janitor. Those storms have been getting pretty bad, Markous said they’re not accepting anyone who can’t beat at least a Gigalith. Said that a freakin’ Salamence showed up in one of the ones not long ago, hurt a lot of the Knights. ‘Bout you Kar, since you brought it up.”
“You guys are making me feel self-conscious now,” She admitted as she rested the back of her head against the wall. “I’m going to do it, but I don’t have a big plan like you guys. My brother already agreed to take over the graveyard, and I’m pretty happy that I won’t be forced into it. Plus I don’t think I can do the whole working and living with siblings stuff like you Felix. Or working with your aunt. Whatever, you get the point though.”
“Hey, you’ll find something you like out there. At least you don’t have to take over if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah, let’s be honest, movin’ those bodies around all day and even sleeping that close to them is a little weird, no offense. Plus I don’t see the “angel” digging graves. Ain’t got the physique for it.”
“What a dumb nickname.” She chuckled slightly while closing her eyes. “You guys hear about Annie?”
“No, did you?”
“Yeah, she’s staying here. Her family needs her to take care of her siblings while they’re at the shop. I don’t think she was too big on traveling either.”
“Daaaamn that sucks,” Rik said with a groan, “I guess if she really doesn’t want to though… Looks like she’s out right now.”
“That was a fast pairing,” Felix remarked, seeing his friend talking to the sage just outside the doors. In her hands she clutched a mess of brown and white zig-zagged fur that stuck out in all directions. Right above her arms was the eyes and snout of the creature, panting and occasionally licking her chin.
“Zigzagoon, eh? Always knew she’d be an Unfocused. Is it bad I actually thought she’d have a Sentret?”
“A little bit,” Karine said while chuckling. “Just a nickname after all. Unless you expect me to have an Absol.”
“I don’t doubt anything with these things. My bro said you had to be naked in front of a crowd while you summoned them. I’m pretty certain he was messing with me, but not taking any chances. No belt, just in case.”
“I hope you’re joking there, not gonna check though... Looks like they’re calling you over Felix.”
Sure enough, both the sage and Annalie were motioning towards the group. Judging by how Annalie was in the first round, he was probably next. With a sigh and a rapidly increasing heartbeat, he stood up.
“Good luck Felix.”
“Yeah bro, don’t let ‘em stare too much.”
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A fierce wind wailed outside of a small lakefront cabin as the sole resident warmed himself by the fire. Despite the racket caused by the wind and the shaking of the age-stained windows, he worked diligently through a book. Page after page he turned, only stopping to jot a quick note in a tiny journal. A sudden slamming of the front door finally broke his concentration, causing him to delicately close the tome and turn towards his guest.
“I had feared you wouldn’t show up tonight,” the original occupant said with a slight smile.
“This damn storm delayed things a little bit.” Pulling off his soaked cloak and tossing it to the ground. The heavily bearded newcomer gingerly pulled a tightly bound pack off his back and began removing the layers of cloth and leather. “Looks like you managed to keep yourself busy.”
“Hopefully you can continue to keep me busy. I trust you managed to find the information?”
“That I did.” He chuckled and passed over the bag of pages and scrolls that emerged from the pile of wrappings, completely dry despite the rain and floods. “Here’s a write up our ‘friends’ did, along with some of the works the compiled it from. For legitimacy I guess.”
Accepting the bag, the occupant began to sort through the various works, taking note of some of the titles he came across. “Excellent. I will evaluate these on my own time. For now I hope you can give me a quick summary?”
“They said we have three years.” The older man’s face dropped a little after hearing that. “Surprisingly they all came to that conclusion on their own.”
“They all reached a specific day?”
“Nay, that would be a miracle if they did. They’ve ranged a fair bit, some saying three years exactly, some put it closer to four years. But they all said about three years. Most of their research is in there, so hopefully you can combine it all.”
“Better than we hoped, but not as much time as we wished. I will verify their work, but with them so close to consensus I doubt we’ll find much extra time.” Placing the bag on the table, the man rose out of his chair and wandered over to the window.
The rain pounded the glass, and occasionally a bit of liquid seeped through. Rubbing his eyes, the man stared at his reflection for a few moments. Bits of gray now streaked his dark hair, and sleepless nights started to catch up to him. A sudden strike of lightning broke his reverie, snapping him back to the reality at hand. “We’re going to have to prepare as if it’s coming 3 years from today.”
“Want me to go warn the leaders?”
“Not today, we’re going to have to go it alone.”
“You can’t be serious,” the soaked man said, a squeak from his chair punctuating his words as he suddenly stood up. “We’d be able to complete this within months if we got all of them on our side!”
“Relax.” Making his way back to the fire he sat in his old chair and motioned for the younger man to follow. “The Coalition of Lords would spend all three years arguing among themselves, even if we presented overwhelming evidence. Not to mention that if they did agree to assist that they would try to wrest control from us at every step. Not to mention there isn’t anything the local leaders could offer we don’t already have ourselves.”
“I guess if you put it that way.” Shame crept into his voice as he broke eye contact, seemingly embarrassed by his words.
“No need to be ashamed,” the first man said reassuringly, “It was a natural thought to have. You just underestimate how far we have already come.
“No, instead of relying on others, we will build ourselves up. The time you would spend courting the aid of those too stubborn to see the truth is better spent finding others who will gladly follow our cause. There is a lot of untapped potential in the world, and it is just waiting for a guiding hand to help them up.”
“Yes, I see what you mean. I should get started.” As he motioned to leave, his companion placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back to his seat.
“Not tonight. You’ve already braved this storm enough, stay here until it passes. No need to endanger yourself more than you have. Come share a drink with me. Like we used to.”
“Still know the old toast?”
“I would never forget it.”
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The next morning, the town of Acise began to dry itself after a light rainstorm that lasted the whole night. The whole town watched the skies that morning with baited breath, looking for any sign of continuing inclement weather. Today was a special day for many towns folk, a day that came once every six months. Today was Awakening Day for those who had turned fifteen, the day they would undergo the ritual to discover their familiar.
In early hours of morning a young man by the name of Felix nervously shifted page after page in his books, cramming every last bit of knowledge inside his head. Today was his Awakening day, and soon he would form the bond with a Pokemon for life.
In the eye of the World Storm lies a collection of islands known as Zan’tar,
Once cursed by eternal rain, day in and day out
Out of fear of drowning, the people found a lone patch of dry ground
And there they built a tower to the heavens
And thus the storms were calmed
A heavy knock awoke Felix, now aware that he had finally passed out sometime in the night. One of his note sheets was stuck to his face and after pulling it off he noticed a few of the words were smudged from rubbing against his cheek. The knock continued impatiently while he stretched until he shouted that he was awake and headed out. After standing up and pulling open the heavy curtains covering his desk window to let light into his room, he fished out a small mirror from under his bed to check how bad his face looked. A dark ink stain graced the left side of his face, vaguely spelling out the words previously on the page.
All he had to do was replace yesterday’s shirt thankfully, one of the benefits of passing out at a desk instead of properly preparing for bed. He was probably waking up late enough as it was, no need to waste too much time. He saw the cause of the noise after opening his bedroom door, a little yellow duck that was strongly tapping his beak.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I was up.” Seeing Felix up and active appeared to be enough for the Psyduck, and it walked away without even responding. No doubt it was going to report his status to its bond-mate, and Felix felt it was probably best to greet his aunt himself instead of just letting the pokemon report it.
Before leaving he stopped to run his hand over the cool steel plates of the Lairon grumpily trying to get comfortable again in his spot by the door. Lairon would probably give up and join him in a few minutes anyways, something told him the pokemon would want to see the results of his Bonding Day.
The kitchen was a mess of activity, all led by a young woman digging deep through a cabinet for who know what. Various plants lined the windows, each with a small globe of water floating and slowly dripping their contents into the soil. On the stove a large pot of a thin sauce threatened to boil over at any moment, the stirring spoon bobbing up and down. Amid the mess from the counter lie the woman’s tome; the pages of the thin book were written with a small, delicate script and filled with various notes. The Psyduck sat at the table with a few sheets of paper and children’s drawing supplies, clumsily gripping the colorful sticks and creating swirls of color.
“Mornin’ Asta,” Felix said to his aunt, earning a small wave of her free hand, “your pot look about ready to boil over.”
“Thanks!” Placing her free hand on her tome and poking her other hand out of the cabinet, she muttered a short incantation and flicked her finger in the general direction of the stove. A few words and diagrams on the page began to glow a faint blue before the sauce retreated from the edge and began to swirl slightly. “I’ll be out in a moment, there’s something I need to find. It’s probably not here, now that I think about it, but doesn’t hurt to check.”
“No hurry, looks like I still have some time.” Taking a seat at the table, he watched the duck create his hypnotic swirls of color. The farm had been quiet for the past few years, and truth be told he was surprised they hadn’t sold it for something smaller. Asta made the majority of her money from small craftwork, which could be done from within the actual township. Not to mention the only inhabitants of the large house were a twenty-three year old woman, her fifteen year old nephew, a duck, and a large lizard. As if he could hear someone mentioning her in their thoughts Lairon meandered her way into the kitchen. More likely she was drawn by the smell of food, but pokemon had a strange sense of timing.
“I’d ask if you were nervous, but I know you are.” A little surprised by the voice next to him, Felix noticed that Asta had finally retreated from the cupboard and was now next to him. A fine layer of dust coated her light hair. Her eyes lazily traced Psyduck’s motions as she smiled the gentle smile that rarely left her face. “I know I was terrified during my bonding day. Emilia was the better student and had such a cool familiar. I thought they’d say it was a fluke I had any magic whatsoever, and proclaim me a bondless.”
“I think I remember that day. You kept pacing around and muttering to yourself. I was mad because I just wanted to read my book and you were so distracting.”
“I guess I was a bigger mess than I remember,” she said while laughing. Reaching her thin arm across the table, she gently scratched to top of the water-type’s head, receiving a squeak of pleasure in response. “Then this little guy appeared and the sage told me I had a very, very strong bond.”
“That’s reassuring. I guess I’m just a little worried about what I’d receive. Not even what Pokemon I bond with, just everything in general. What type are they going to reveal my magic as? What am I supposed to be good at? What if my familiar is a fire type when I’m so bad at it?”
“Relax, it’s not like you’re being told what your entire future is like. This is just kind of a guide. I’m supposed to be awful with Nature Magic, yet I can still write and cast the spells I need for growing plants.” She stopped for just a moment and looked straight in his eyes. Her grayish eyes always seemed unassuming, yet had a way of seeming like she could dig up every secret of yours if she wanted to. “If I’m being honest, I expect you’ll have some type of Ferric Magic in you. You’re so like your mother it’s sometimes unbelievable.” She accompanied her words of encouragement with a rusting of his sandy hair, making it similar to her own hair’s disorder.
And then she stood up once more, presumably to continue her search. “Now I think you should head out,” she said, walking towards a nearby closet, “I’ll have everything ready when you get back.”
The Night Storm raged particularly fierce the night before and a few reminders of it littered the ground outside the house. Thin sticks and branches littered the large yard in front of the house and some wind damaged shrubbery lie in open field where the winds could not be blocked. Thankfully the Night Storm was a mild storm, annoyingly present more nights than not, but manageable. The storm also lacked some of the other odd properties that made the other storms more disastrous, which was always good news to the town.
Searching through his pages, Felix sought to make up for the time he lost sleeping. Finding the page on Psionics, he studied the diagrams explaining the power in the runes while he walked. After nearly bumping into a parked wagon, actually watching the road seemed like a better choice for his own safety. Still, a branch balanced on a fallen log provided him a chance to put a practical use to his studies.
“Psicos!” He shouted the incantation while running his finger over the runes in sequence. A swirling feeling began to vaguely well inside him, and he had to fight to extract enough magic as if he was trying to wring the last few drops from a damp towel. After a few seconds of concentration there was finally enough free magic in his system to produce any kind of effect, and he redirected the swirling energy into his hand. A light purple haze gathered in his palm, forming a small sphere. A flick of his hand later, the haze disappeared from within his hand and reappeared under the branch. The fog quickly moved upwards, snapping the branch and sending it a few feet away when it made contact with the solid object.
The effect was minute compared to anything an adult could do, but he was pleased to have a result on his first attempt nonetheless. By the end of the day he’d have a proper tome to assist in the extraction and release of the energy, which would help immensely. Soon he’d also be able to cast simple spells without going rune by rune also, just touching the page they’re on would work. Emboldened by his little act of stick destruction, he was all smiles the rest of the way to the testing grounds.
Only seconds after arriving, his late start was apparent. Almost all the other recent fifteen year olds were already waiting to begin. A familiar mess of short blond hair stuck out of the small crowd, and Felix made his way to where some of his friends were.
“‘Bout time you showed up,” the lanky owner of the bird’s nest he called hair chided playfully, “I would have never guessed you of all people would be late. I half expected you to have camped out here.”
“And gotten my familiar and a cold on the same day?” Felix smiled and fell into place within the small circle, lightly bumping his friend on the chest. He would have probably messed up anyone else’s hair if the owner actually cared about it like a sane man, or wasn’t a full head taller than himself. “Plus staying up all night fighting storms sounds like something you would do, Rikard.”
“Assuming he doesn’t get blown away first,” a tiny voice said. The source, Annelie, was a girl slightly shorter than Felix. Her slender frame, pale brown hair, roundish features and tendency to get distracted made more than a few people find comparisons between her and a ferret.
“The Night Storm is nothin’. I’ll save my energy for when I’m needed in a bigger, badder storm.”
“Still holding to that dream, eh,” The last one, Karine, added. A tall girl with sharp features, pale skin and long, dark hair. The angel of the morgue, some called her, since her parents owned the graveyard and worked as the undertakers. “I didn’t know they made Gale Knights out of twigs.”
“Shut up, I just haven’t bulked up yet. Once I get my familiar I’ll start gaining muscle for real, and then they’ll take me for sure. Look at this, I’m going to be huge!” Showing off his imaginary bicep, Rik looked over to Felix for backup and finally noticed the pages in his hand.
“Gah, what are you bringing those cursed things around for. There’s no test to get your familiar, unless my bro lied to me again.”
“Nah, I just wanted to show the sage my notes, make sure I have a good layout before copying it over to an actual tome. I managed to make Psicos snap a branch first try on the way over here though.”
A low whistle came from Karine as she took in the news. “Never could get that one to work. Then again, I’m almost guaranteed to be a Grave Magic user with my family tree.”
“Make sure that was an actual branch, and not just Rik’s arm,” Annalie said smarmily, casting a sideways glance in her target’s direction.”
“Hey! Give me a little bit and you’ll see the results of this newest workout, and then we’ll see who the twig is!”
Just as the conversation began to kick off, the doors of the hall opened and the three sages running the ceremony stepped into the courtyard. Each wore a simple robe, white with trimming correlating to their preferred branch of magic, and they called the first round of people to the testing room. Annalie found herself among the first batch, and hurried inside excited. Now down a member, the three remaining could fit on one of the white stone benches lining the wall. A silence fell upon the courtyard for about a minute, before chatter slowly started again.
“So, are you guys going on the journey?” Karine finally broke the silence among the group with the question that had been plaguing their entire year.
“I mean, I kind of have to,” Felix said, looking up at the ivy crossing the pillars holding up the wooden awning. “I want to join a College, and I’ll need some kind of research for that. Hopefully I wouldn’t be gone too long before they let me set up a lab. I don’t want to leave Asta to manage the farm alone.”
“Damn, you make it sound so easy bro. You know what I want to do, and I gotta get stronger before the Storm Watch would consider me for anything more than a janitor. Those storms have been getting pretty bad, Markous said they’re not accepting anyone who can’t beat at least a Gigalith. Said that a freakin’ Salamence showed up in one of the ones not long ago, hurt a lot of the Knights. ‘Bout you Kar, since you brought it up.”
“You guys are making me feel self-conscious now,” She admitted as she rested the back of her head against the wall. “I’m going to do it, but I don’t have a big plan like you guys. My brother already agreed to take over the graveyard, and I’m pretty happy that I won’t be forced into it. Plus I don’t think I can do the whole working and living with siblings stuff like you Felix. Or working with your aunt. Whatever, you get the point though.”
“Hey, you’ll find something you like out there. At least you don’t have to take over if you don’t want to.”
“Yeah, let’s be honest, movin’ those bodies around all day and even sleeping that close to them is a little weird, no offense. Plus I don’t see the “angel” digging graves. Ain’t got the physique for it.”
“What a dumb nickname.” She chuckled slightly while closing her eyes. “You guys hear about Annie?”
“No, did you?”
“Yeah, she’s staying here. Her family needs her to take care of her siblings while they’re at the shop. I don’t think she was too big on traveling either.”
“Daaaamn that sucks,” Rik said with a groan, “I guess if she really doesn’t want to though… Looks like she’s out right now.”
“That was a fast pairing,” Felix remarked, seeing his friend talking to the sage just outside the doors. In her hands she clutched a mess of brown and white zig-zagged fur that stuck out in all directions. Right above her arms was the eyes and snout of the creature, panting and occasionally licking her chin.
“Zigzagoon, eh? Always knew she’d be an Unfocused. Is it bad I actually thought she’d have a Sentret?”
“A little bit,” Karine said while chuckling. “Just a nickname after all. Unless you expect me to have an Absol.”
“I don’t doubt anything with these things. My bro said you had to be naked in front of a crowd while you summoned them. I’m pretty certain he was messing with me, but not taking any chances. No belt, just in case.”
“I hope you’re joking there, not gonna check though... Looks like they’re calling you over Felix.”
Sure enough, both the sage and Annalie were motioning towards the group. Judging by how Annalie was in the first round, he was probably next. With a sigh and a rapidly increasing heartbeat, he stood up.
“Good luck Felix.”
“Yeah bro, don’t let ‘em stare too much.”