Mage Union

me. Whatever this is I hope it ends well.

3

My eyes open slowly theres something in beside of me. Not something, someone. My vision clears up, its a girl. Her hair is long, and silver and her eyes are light blue, almost like looking at water. Her skin is clear and pale like a doll. Wait, who is this?

”Excuse me. ” I say as I sit myself up. The girl looks to be startled by my words and shuffles out of the room without making a sound. ”Good morning to you too. ”

Looking at my surroundings Im in a small room of a wooden building. The window is made out of dirty glass. A terrible glass smith mustve made it. Then again, this type of glass, with impurities, is more affordable for commoners. Still, just to have glass on your home means you have a good deal of money.

Inspecting more, I was on a bed. The blanket was stitched together with what looked to be rags and torn up clothing. The comfort of the mattress was good despite the poor quality of materials. I sit up to the corner of the bed. My shoes are off and so is my coat. Whoever put me in the bed mustve taken them off.

As I am about to stand up the door to the room opens. A man is standing in the doorway, the girl from before is cowering behind his leg. Her father? I would think that, but the man has brown hair and grey eyes. Well, depending on the mother, it might still make sense. He has on gloves despite the room being relatively warm. Either way, I speak to the man, ”Where am I? ”

”You
e in Snarlava, and currently in my orphanage. ” The man has a deep voice, but it isn unsettling. Wait, Snarlava? Thats the northernmost city in the Land of Mages. How did I get there from Sun City? Its a week trip by carriage and thats not including delays like rest or the weather surrounding the town.

”If I may, how did I get here? ”

”Looks like Lloyd teleported you. ” The man pulls the paper I was given from his pocket. The wax seal was broken so he mustve read the contents. ”Lloyd and I go way back, so if hes in trouble he mustve sent you here to protect you. ”

”But teleportation, thats absurd even for my father. ”

”Thats just the tip of the iceberg. ” The man says under his breath and enters the room properly. He takes a seat on a chair that laid opposite of the bed. The girl followed closely to him. ”Perhaps introductions are in order. I am Jett and this is Reune. Im the caretaker here and shes one of the residents. ”

”I am Ren Namimori. ” The girls face seemed to light up when I said my surname.

”Another one of the residents, Vince, brought you here. You were passed out in the middle of the street. ”

”So thats what happened. ”

”Did you hold your breath? ”

”Eh? ”

”Lloyds Teleportation Magic, if you don hold your breath, you
e likely to pass out once you arrive. I don know everything about it, but its happened to me at least twice. ”

Hes friends with my father, yet I was never told about him. He doesn seem like a bad guy. Though his dark clothing and rolled sleeves make him seem like a playboy of sorts. Then again, anybody who takes care of orphans must be a good person. Father hasn told me the full extent of his power, every time I ask, he says something along the lines of, ”If you get close to me, Ill let you know. ” So, Teleportation Magic wouldn be something Id associate with him.

”If you were sent here that means on thing. ” Jett got a serious look on his face as he leaned forward. He spoke quietly so that I was the only one to hear him. ”Lloyd is dead. ” Before I could react, he presses the letter into my hands. He stands up, ”Ill give you some time to get adjusted, well be having dinner in an hour so be done by then. ”

I opened the letter and read it to myself.

”Hey Jett, its Lloyd. Sorry to drop this on you suddenly, but can you take care of Ren for a while. Looks like Kins after my head for real this time. I don think Ill make it out so yeah. Theres some money on the way there so don worry about that. Thanks in advance. ”

Wait Kin is going to kill father? Is that possible? Kin is the strongest the Land of Mages military has to offer. He has a recorded 29 wins in the Tournament of the Crown, 25 consecutive wins. The only person hes lost to was father when the 13th King retired. Even if Kin was going to kill father, its an uphill battle.

I look at the letter closer and notice a second message that was written in Divine Script.

”Ren, sorry I got to leave like this. Keep getting stronger and take it back from Kin if you want. If not you
e free to do whatever you want. My old cottage is outside of Snarlava, so you should check that out before you decide. ”

This is a lot to load on me all at the same time. For now, Ill trust in my father and trust Jett. As for what to do about Kin, Ill have to come to a decision later.

4

I put on my shoes and enter the main room of the orphanage. There is a large table and 3 children sitting at it waiting for dinner to be served. I make my way to the table and sit down. The kids look at me.

”Whoa you
e awake. I thought youd sleep forever. ” A boy with spiked blonde hair spoke to me first. His eyes were blue like sapphires. He had bandages on his cheeks and wrapped around his hands. ”Im Vincent Newman, nice to meetcha. ” A last name? He must be of from nobility, but whats he doing here then. ”

”You can sleep forever, idiot. Youd just be dead then. ” A girl with short brown hair yelled at Vincent. Her eyes were the same as Reunes yet a shade darker. Her voice had an authoritative resonance despite it being so high. ”Sorry about him. He can be a little dumb. Im Clair. ”

”You guys are smothering him, back off a bit. ” Another boy spoke. He has long red hair thats tied back. His eyes are black and mean. He has a permanent scowl on his face. ”Sorry to drop all these names on you, the names Emil. ”

Hes right this is a lot. These are the first kids my age that Ive interacted with. At school all my classmates were at least 2 to 6 years older than me. I was a little lost on how to continue the conversation. ”Im Ren Namimori, nice to meet you. ” I bow my head, which is customary to do when introducing yourself while seated.

”No need to be so formal. ” Jett enters the room holding plates of food. Reune follows him holding her share. Its cute how she shadows him. They set the plates of food in front of us. Its a brown sauce with meat and potatoes over rice. Rice is an import from the Vampires Domain. Considering how close Snarlava is to the border getting rice would be easy for this town. Father was obsessed with the Vampires. So much so that he had the castle chefs trained on their dishes. Dishes such as this, which was called curry.

”Thank you for the food. ” Everyone says in unison, I join in towards the end of the choir. I take my first spoonful of the curry. Wow! Its way better than what the castle chefs could come up with. If I had to guess, they
e distaste towards Vampires led them to not trying as hard on those dishes. But I didn know it could be this good.

After we finish our food, Clair and Emil collect the plates and proceed to clean them in the kitchen. Confused on what I should do, Vincent gave me the answer as he approaches me with questions.

”Your name is Namimori, like the king? ”

”He is my father. ”

”No way. So, like you
e a Prince. Did you have a Knight! ” This kid is super energetic.

”I had a bodyguard for a short time after I moved to the castle, but once I started attending the Royal Magic Academy, I didn have one. ”

Having a personal Knight is a privilege of being royalty. But there haven been many to assign one. Theres a high level of trust that one must overcome before even being considered for the position. And even then, most of the Mage Kings were far stronger than any Knight in the military.

”Thats too bad. Knights are the coolest. We only have the Royal Guard here, so I don get to see any Knights. ”

”Do you want to be a Knight. ” He looks at me with bright eyes. I take that as a yes. But that look wouldn suffice Vincent.

”Don you think they
e cool? They protect everyone and are super strong. My dad was a Knight, and he was the coolest. If I can be as cool as him my life would be complete. ”

His explanation was disjointed, but it makes sense for him to have a last name now. His father mustve been a high-ranking Knight. But if hes here, they
e probably not around anymore.

Emil and Clair come out of the kitchen. Emil smacks Vincent on the back of the head. ”If you
e going to rave about your dad, at least make it make sense. ”

”Come on, Emil, I was getting to the good part. ”

”There is no good part. Its just that on repeat for an hour. ” Emil said coldly. ”If we
e going through introductions, I want to be an adventurer. ”

”Thats rare of people of this country. Are there even Guilds outside of Sun City? ”

”There are, but you can only register in the capital. So, I need to go there to register. Of course, I got to be 18 first, so I have some time to get stronger. ”

”You could always go to the Kingdom of Man; you only have to be 15 to register there. ” Clair chimes in. ”I don actually know what I want to do. But being an adventurer gives me a way to make money and travel. ”

”What about you Reune? ” I turn my attention to the girl. She was reading a book. So, shes literate, thats good. Shes shocked by my words and fumbles her book closed.

”I, uh, want to, uh go to, the Magic Academy. ” She stutters through her words. She wants to attend the Royal Magic Academy. Talk about high aspirations, for a commoner you have to practically be a prodigy in either swordsmanship or Magic. And even then, theres no way an orphan would get a scholarship.

”I was a student there, a sixth year. If you have any questions let me know. ” I figure that anything I could teach her would be on the level of the Academy, so shell be on a decent level if she ever finds a scout.

”Wait you
e a sixth year? ” Clair breaks into the conversation, ”I thought you had to be 14 in order to attend. ”

”Normally you do, but if you show enough promise they can pull some strings. ” I also had the advantage of being the Kings son though that was an under the table thing. I used a different last name while I was there. There were a few people who assumed I was related to Lloyd because we
e the only ones who look like us.

”You must be really smart then? ” Emil raised his eyebrow in intrigue. Even Reune had devoted her attention to me. I don like showing off, its not something Im good at. Even on exams where you had to perform Spells for the teacher, Id get nervous, and my casting would slow down.

”Im not that smart. ”

”You
e doing better than Lloyd; he could barely read when I met him. ” Jett laughs as he reenters the room. Wait, my father couldn read? He didn seem like the studious type, but from what I heard of his Magic abilities I assumed hed been literate for some time. ”Sorry, I said too much. ”

”Show us some Magic. ” Vincent charges in.

”Please. ” Reune requests softly. Itd hurt my heart of I turned that down. I sigh and stand up. What Spell should I use? Most Spells would cause damage to the building, I don want to do that. If I rework Create Golem to another element it wouldn harm anything.

I stand there with my eyes shut as I try to make the new Magic Circle in my head. I can hear the whispers of the others as they wonder whats taking me so long. Finally, I finish the Circle and open it beneath my feet. Like the other Circle, its outer ring was a double helix and the image in the center was made of Divine Script. This time it was depicting waves. If this works, I wouldve made a 6th Tier Wave Magic Circle. ”Create Golem, Small. ”

I put my hands up and water appears in my palms. Wave and Frost Magic are the hardest elements to master because most of the Spells require the creation of the element. Flame Magic is similar in that regard. But it is slightly easier.

The water moves from my hands and takes the form of a small humanoid creature. It gives a wave and walks around the room.

”So cool! ” Vincent stares at the Golem.

”I agree with you for once. ”

”What can it do? ”

”If I made it bigger it would be able to pick things up or fight. But for a demonstration I didn find it necessary to make it full size. ”

I close the Circle and the Golem falls into a puddle of water. I grab a rag off the table and clean up the spot. Everyone here is nice. I suppose this isn too bad of a place to live until I figure out what to do.

***

Outside of the orphanage Jett sits on the roof and stares at the stars. A woman wearing a hooded cloak approaches him. ”How are you holding up? ” He says, not looking at the woman.

”Ive has better days. How is he? ”

”Hell be fine. Though I don know why Lloyd sent him to me. ”

”Hell still be in the Land of Mages so he can return to the throne if he chooses to. ”

”You think he will? ”

”Lloyd only became King to stop war. I predict Ren will be the same. ”

”Did you get his Clairvoyance? ”

”Nothing like that. ” She turns away. ”Thats all for now. Thank you, Jett. Ill be checking in later. ”

”No problem. ”

The woman disappears from the roof and Jett continues his stargazing into the morning.