Chapter 4 - Becoming a Mage

My second birthday was coming up and I was more excited than ever, why? because at two years old you could be tested to see if you had the ability to become a mage.

My mother was taking me to the city centre of the Alure kingdom. Which was a few miles out from our home. We had to travel via carriage and even then it took a few days. Our home town was quite small and didn't have the equipment needed to figure out if you had magical ability or not. So my mother decided to take me to the closest City.

It turns out if your parents were a mage you had a high chance to become one too, it wasn't always 100% but a good number of Mages children became one. So my mother had high hopes for me, of course, I also had no doubt in my mind I would become a mage. After all, Dragons were the ruler of magic, we had more magic power then we knew what to do with.

We had finally arrived at the city centre together. I noticed a few things that were different compared to the village we had come from. There seemed to be a higher number of adventures and mages here, just walking around I could see many people carrying weapons and magical items out in the open. The other thing that stood out to me was the beggars. It seemed like the difference between the poor and the rich was big. It made me sad to think about how humans didn't help those weaker than them. In the past, I had made it my obligation to protect those weaker than me, but in the end, I failed.

After walking through the city centre holding my mother's hand we had reached our destination. I was tired already from all the walking we had done, my small body couldn't take much more. I looked at building In front of me, my eyes could see a huge cathedral-like building, it was as big as four dragons combined. My mother explained that it was a school called Roland academy and that the school had a strict policy to only accept mages, it was the same school she had attended when she was younger and hoped I would attend it too.

We walked off to the side of the academy into a separate building that stood next to it. The building seemed less impressive after what I had just witnessed but you could tell it wasn't cheaply built. inside of the building, I was surprised by the number of people here, there has hardly any space to move. Most of the people there were parents with their children. I sat down and waited patiently in the reception room. Every so often a person would come out with a list in their hand and call out someone's name. They would then be shown to a separate room where others couldn't see. After about 5 minutes the child and parent would come out, most of the time crying.

The women came out with the list again.

"Ray Talen for testing" as she looked up at the room.

I jumped out of my seat and smiled.

I followed my mother with the women. Along the way, we passed a kid who was crying. Pathetic, guess they didn't even have any magic power.

We followed the women into the room I had seen earlier. Inside the room, there was a table and two chairs on either side. The table had a big Orb ball in the middle. On one side of the table was an old-looking man dressed in a white robe. The other seat was empty. My mother sat down in the empty seat, she picked me up and put me on the table directly in front of the orb. My face blushed from the embarrassment of needing help to get on the table.

The old man started to speak in a soft and wise voice.

"Please have your son put both hands on the orb in front of you, the orb will emit light if he has magical ability, the corresponding colour will show what element he is most efficient in."

The old man didn't have to say it twice, I lifted my hands into the air and grabbed the ball.

"Now let's show everyone how powerful I am!" I said while holding the orb as hard as I could.

"GA, GA, GA"

I laughed out loud closing my eyes at the expected result.

Then I could hear the sound of someone crying, I could recognize the voice, it was my mothers. She must have been so happy to see me become a mage. Maybe I had awakened the fire element the same as my mother. I opened my eyes to see that the ball was still the same. No reaction, no light, nothing. What is this?

"I'm sorry to say, your son has no magical ability"

The old man said while stroking his long beard.

That's impossible a dragon with no magic. He must have got it wrong.

I stood up and walked slowly and carefully towards the old man, trying to keep my balance.

"Don't wie"

"I hwave mawic"

I said angrily putting my finger in his face.

"I'm sorry my young boy, there's nothing I can do"

As the man got close to me while apologising, I decided to grab hold of the man's white beard. I was frustrated he must be lying, trying to hide my great powers from my mother in order to suppress me. I started to yank down on the olds man's beard as I got angry and angrier at the outcome.

My mother jumped across the table and pulled me from the man, but I refused to let go, as she pulled me harder and away from the man a few small grey hairs had come off from his beard into my hand. I was happy and started laughing

"Ga, ga, ga"

The man stood up and yelled

"Get these two out of my sight!"

I stayed silent the whole trip back to our home town, the trip was a long one and my mother was still annoyed at me for what I did to the old man. She eventually fell asleep in the back of the carriage.

I couldn't get to sleep, I was too shocked, was the world punishing me for all the humans I killed? No otherwise why would I have gotten this second chance? I decided that the world must be testing me, if I have no magical ability then I must get my revenge some other way. After all, my father didn't have any magical ability and he was an adventurer.

When we eventually got home my mother broke the bad news to my father. My father was upset but not at the same level my mother was.

The next morning we were sitting at the dinner table eating I had finally learnt how to control my hands and was using the tools they handed me, I realised that it made the eating experience better and easier and there was no need to clean myself after. After we had all finished eating I had something I wanted to ask my Father. I put down my knife and fork and looked towards my father.

"Dad, cwn you teawch me to figwht"

My dads' eyes started to shine, it seems like his dream was coming true after all.