"What the—?!"
Mariana pinched herself in the arms to check if she was still asleep, but she clearly felt the pain and realized that she was wide awake.
Waves of students from the three towers had scattered on almost every nook and cranny of Arcanus' Center Grounds. This place, located in the middle of the three towers, was usually peaceful and orderly as most of the students who went there had their lunches or did their training while in the area. However, at that moment, Mariana saw the students present were currently focused on something else.
"We are looking for an earth mage to join our Triad!"
"Any demonologists around?"
"We need a priest! Priest, anyone?!"
Mariana wandered her eyes to read the placards these students were also holding and raising in the air. The words written in their signs were all asking for the same thing: an invitation to join as a member of their Triad.
Mariana's blood was pumping. She couldn't help
“Mariana, where are you?” Marina called. The sun had reached its zenith when Marina noticed that her sweet granddaughter had disappeared. ‘Where did that child go?’ They were just about to hang their finished laundry outside and it’s the perfect time to do it. Naturally, she knew Mariana couldn’t reach the clothesline since she’s only seven. However, her old bones wouldn’t allow her to do the work anymore. So she needed her to lean down to fetch the clothes inside the basin, and hand them to her so that she could finish the work. “Dear? Come out now, grandma needs help,” she yelled. With her carried basin, she decided to look for the girl in their backyard. Their house was not that big. They also do not have a second floor. Their yard, however, was quite spacious. Only a few families are unfortun
“88, 99, 100! There, all done!” Mariana stretched to relax her weary arms. “Now what was I supposed to do again after this, Marcus?” Mariana called the man in front of her, who was currently writing on his ledger. “Mariana!” Marcus yelled without turning around, then he sighed. He raised from his desk and approached Mariana. “Come on, Mariana. How many times should I tell you not to call me when I’m computing something? Now I have to count this again later...” “Oh right! I’m sorry,” Mariana said guiltily. Marcus complained about this all the time, but Mariana just couldn’t remember. “You shouldn’t say sorry anymore if it’s going to happen again...” He sighed again. Mariana couldn’t say anything
‘Should I bring these?’ Mariana rubbed her chin, pondering whether she’d bring the books her Grandma gave when she became interested in magic. ‘These books were owned by your grandpa before, but now it’ll be yours. Come, I’ll teach you how to read...’ the voice of Mariana’s Grandma replayed in her head. She used to hate those lessons. Now, she’d do anything for it to happen again. “Okaaay, to the suitcase you all go.” Mariana proceeded to pick the clothes she’d be bringing. Arcanus was the culmination of the five great races’ treaty. Mariana had learned before that the elves, dwarves, sirens, and dragons were at war with each other hundreds of years ago. It only ended when the Great Goddess Invidia created the human race and brought pea
“[Kindle].” The spell manifested from the tip of his index finger. With it, he lit the wood he gathered and watched it burn — a perfect campfire. For now, he had no tasks left, so he grabbed this chance to catch his breath. He sat down next to the fire and glanced at the unconscious girl he happened to save. He observed her exposed figure and noticed that she seemed young — around the same age as him. However, he was sure she had no battle experience as she just completely surrendered to the bandits who tried to mug her. Hopefully, she did not develop a trauma. He observed her some more. He spotted the soft blue glow emanating from her right hand’s ring finger — a water ring. She’s wearing a white long-sleeved linen dress, which appeared well-taken care of despite looking old. She topped it with a brown woolen sweater. Her clothing suggests that sh
The chirp of insects woke Mariana from her light slumber the next morning. After checking if there's any danger through her morning routine, she figured it was safe, so Mariana started packing her things back into her suitcase. Mariana checked if she dropped anything when she caught in the side of her eyes that Ignis was still on the ground, dozing off. 'Not an early riser, huh?' Mariana lightly tapped his shoulders several times. "Hey, Sir Ignis. It's morning already, I guess you should wake up." Surprisingly, that was all it took to wake him. He soon put all his things back in his magic pouch, which made Mariana feel envious. 'Oh, someday I will have one of those.' "Thanks…" he said.
"Come on, Sir Ignis. It wouldn't hurt if you tell me, you know?" said Mariana. Mariana had been bugging Ignis about how he became a fire mage for about half an hour ever since she witnessed him cast a fire spell. She — of course — failed miserably. She couldn't even annoy him, hoping that he'd accidentally spill the beans. The only moment Mariana somehow made her face twitch was when he answered her "no comment." 'What a tough nut…' It was already noon, and Mariana and Ignis were still on the road. They were lucky that sparse trees covered the road they were traversing. Mariana, however, couldn't understand why — despite the intense heat — Ignis never once took off his robe. Talk about sheer determination, or at least that was what Mariana thought. She just couldn't put herself in his shoes, no matter how hard she imagined.
“Are we… there yet? I’m so tired. My legs are giving up,” Mariana said, she bellowed an exhausted sigh. “You have a mount, remember?…” Ignis shook his head. “Right…” she mumbled. Mariana was beet red when she silently hopped on her donkey and never said another word. Four hours. Mariana never stopped talking for the past four hours. If they happened to be lost now, Ignis would definitely lose my cool and blame it all on her. Ignis never really had a map with him, so he was just traveling based on the previous stories the Lady of Sickle Island, the kind mistress who took him in, told him when he was young. She said that Sickle island, where Ignis and she lived, was located southwest of Paradis. To go to the closest human dwelling, Ignis must travel south from the island and cross a sma
Wider roads, tightly packed brick houses, numerous horse-drawn carriages, colorful stalls, beautiful decorations, cheerful people walking and running about: are all these real, or am I still asleep somewhere? Mariana thought.Mariana bit her tongue to check. She instantly regretted it."This is real! I'm really in Magna City. Oh, yes!" Mariana threw her fist in the air merrily.There's so much stuff Mariana wanted to explore here, but she was not sure where to start."Should I try the food from that stall or should I check out that magic shop? Ooh, I can't decide!""Why don't you try everything, young lady? You'll see more amusing and wonderful items in the marketplace," Robert said, all smiles.'Oops. I totally forgot about him. I thought he'd leave us once he got inside.'"I thought you already went on your way. We a
"What the—?!" Mariana pinched herself in the arms to check if she was still asleep, but she clearly felt the pain and realized that she was wide awake. Waves of students from the three towers had scattered on almost every nook and cranny of Arcanus' Center Grounds. This place, located in the middle of the three towers, was usually peaceful and orderly as most of the students who went there had their lunches or did their training while in the area. However, at that moment, Mariana saw the students present were currently focused on something else. "We are looking for an earth mage to join our Triad!" "Any demonologists around?" "We need a priest! Priest, anyone?!" Mariana wandered her eyes to read the placards these students were also holding and raising in the air. The words written in their signs were all asking for the same thing: an invitation to join as a member of their Triad. Mariana's blood was pumping. She couldn't help
“Paradis, as it was written in the many old history books found in the Royal Library of Atmos, hosted several humanoid races in its lands, seas, and skies hundreds of years ago. Some of them are more sentient beings, too. The goblins, for example, were fancy little individuals…”Mariana jotted down all the important details in her newly purchased notebook. They were having ‘History of Paradis’ under Professor Darkwind. Mariana thought her subject would be difficult for her to handle, but she didn’t expect that Professor Darkwind was a really excellent teacher. She blamed all of her misunderstandings on Ignis.Mariana couldn’t help but shake her head in her seat. It was almost three weeks since she, Ignis, and Professor Darkwind paid Oceana Clearwater a visit on the first day of the new term, and every single passing day that Goddess Invidia created, she heard insults from Ignis about their Elven pr
Ignis leaned his head closer to the struggling Jack. He opened his mouth and sucked in all the fire engulfing Jack, just like inhaling air. Jack, now unconscious, fell hard on the ground face first. Jack's charred limbs hugged the cold marble floor. He was unrecognizable. His clothing and body hairs were in ashes. If the spell had lingered any moment longer, he would have definitely expired. Although seeing his state, one would wish he had died instead. It was beyond terrible for a human — or any race — to experience this. But more than Jack's overcooked body, the crowd fixed their attentions towards the person who caused it. "He's real..." "He ate the flames." "No, he didn't! He sucked it from Jack." "I know what I saw!" Many more comments livened the silent hallway, but not everyone was on the same page. For Mariana, what happened was inhumane. Her beliefs were being challenged in front of her eyes, and she didn't kno
"Please. Anything but that," Ignis pleaded. "Why? Aren't you two friends?" Oceana spoke without the echoer in front of her mouth. What a familiar artifact, Ignis thought. "That's what she believes. I don't want to babysit her again." "Then don't." Oceana retorted. "Don't worry. To make things fair for you, I will ask her reason first." Then she faced Mariana. "Lady Fairchild, am I correct? Anyway, why do you want to be in the same class as Ignis?" "Yes, Mariana Fairchild. As for your other question... um." Mariana scratched her temple. "I don't think Ignis would like it if everyone else heard about what he knew." 'Thanks... Now they would have no idea about it.' Ignis was annoyed. He regretted he accepted the two-faced woman's request to study in Arcanus. All he wanted to do was follow the Lady of Sickle's wishes. That was why he went to Arcanus in the first place. However, Oceana, or whom Ignis called the Two-faced Woman persu
A month had swiftly passed since Arcanus held its new students' admission exams, but for Mariana, it felt like an eternity. She was anxiously anticipating the day that she would be returning to Arcanus after she (almost failed) passed the exams with flying colors.Mariana had been so over the edge — even Lucia and Robert lost their temper at some point because Mariana wouldn't stop screaming every time she laid her eyes on her uniform that she hung on the door to her room.Lucia and Robert were the first individuals that Mariana knew to find out that she passed the admission exam to Arcanus, and they should've been also the last to know about it. However, the old couple didn't want Mariana to receive bad rumors any longer, so the next day the two learned of the good news, they deliberately spread the information about her to everyone; they said that a simple village girl from Pago, faced all the odds and passed the 'insanely difficult' entrance examination
Mariana dipped her quill on the ink bottle before proceeding to write her next answer. 'Earth wall', Mariana muttered the earth mage spell she was going to answer. Given that this was Arcanus' entrance examination, Mariana assumed that the questions would be incredibly difficult — she guessed wrong. Mariana quickly breezed through her exam paper without breaking a sweat. Every item was something she had read from her grandpa's book or had heard from Marcus' stories. 'They might haven't prepared enough.' Mariana thought when she took a quick peek at her fellow examinees when she was at around question 22. They looked dejected. The lady beside her — who appeared to be a wind mage — had her hands fidgeting and sweating profusely; the earth mage in front of that lady was scratching the back of his head furiously like it was infested by insects. Theresa, on the other hand, was sitting pretty in front with her feet on
Crossing the gate from the Common to Noble District was a magical journey I never thought I'd experience in my entire life. It was like entering an entirely different world, even though I have never experienced how that felt. No simple townhouses could be seen standing here. There were only mansions — mansions that were twice — no — thrice as much taller and bigger than those in the Common District. These were exquisitely built and constructed with the finest pieces of lumber paired with sturdy bricks or magnificent stone. Their colorful gardens with freshly bloomed flowers and professionally cut topiaries also decorated the front of these extravagant homes. Even the environment was better due to all the trees that made the ambiance comfortable and relaxing. But what truly captured my attention were the three tallest towers that stood impressively in the middle of the District — towers so tall that they almost touched the clouds. Below these three towers laid
"Have we done something wrong?" "A mage? Here?" "Mom, can I have blue hair too?" "Shh, she might hear you and take you away!" "No, why would I do that?!" I said, whispering to myself. It had been almost a month since Mariana's hair changed from black to sapphire blue, but she still couldn't get used to the attention she was receiving. She had been the talk of the entire Common district, and although the gossip had died down a little, it still had shown no signs of stopping. At first, the gossips were just saying something about a mage investigating in the Common District. This made all the alleyways dead silent, especially at night. This escalated even further when they were now mentioning that suspicious activities must have been happening in Nightingale Inn. Some locals mentioned they saw Mariana leave the inn's door. Soon, the commoners were all avoiding the inn, and it made the owner so furious, he threw me out. Mariana tri
"I still have matters to attend to. I have to go," I declared. "What…" I finally had the chance to say it. It's unbelievable that it took me a while to tell Mariana that I needed to leave. I should've left her on her own as soon as we entered the city gates, but I got pulled by her familiar nature once again. Was familiar even the right term? I'm not even sure. However, I concluded unless anyone mustered enough courage to decline her about something, she could make anyone agree to anything without second thoughts. "Don't worry, I'll accompany you until you reach Nightingale. Let's go," I said as I started heading in the direction of the Nightingale Inn that Robert mentioned. "Hey, wait Sir Ignis, do you want me to join you?" she suggested. This is what I was talking about. I'm unsure if it's her face or the way she talked, but she had this ability to persuade me to agre