A look of melancholy rested on Talynn’s face as he slumped against the windowsill of his room. When the emperor had invited him and Mavence to stay as guests in the royal castle four years ago, Talynn had originally protested being housed high up in a tower due to his fear of heights. But as he grew up, his fear started to subside and he began to appreciate the serene view overlooking Albustone City that it afforded him. After a few minutes of peaceful silence, he took a couple books off of his shelf and made the long descent down the spiral staircase to the ground floor.
Life was in many ways the polar opposite of his childhood spent in the small village of Egon. The royal castle was a massive structure filled with large rooms, long hallways, tall towers, and verdant courtyards. The banquet hall alone was larger than his entire home village.
As Talynn walked by, he could hear the chefs shouting orders in the main kitchen as they prepared a grand five-course meal for the emperor and those attending to him. Talynn popped his head in and waved to the familiar faces, complimenting them on the delicious aromas. Despite their intense focus, nearly all in the kitchen paused their work to give Talynn a warm greeting in return. One of the bakers tossed him a loaf of bread before he departed.
With books and snack in hand, Talynn made his way to one of the more secluded courtyards within the castle. Unlike the other courtyards that held lush and vibrant gardens, this one was used for training drills held by the imperial guard stationed within the castle. Talynn was on good terms with them, so they welcomed him to use the space whenever it was open. It had a simple layout with only a table and fire pit on one end and several straw dummies lined up in a row on the other. The ground was a dense gray sand, which presented the perfect inflammable surface to practice fire magic on.
Talynn set his books on the table and began flipping through the pages in hopes of finding something, anything, that could help him finally perform an element transmutation. He had studied every book he could find on the subject over the past several years, but they all fell short of giving the exact answer he needed. It was sort of like learning how to whistle. Someone could describe to you how to do it, but in the end, you really only learn through trial and error. And that’s the step Talynn had been stuck on for four years.
After an hour of reading, Talynn closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He thought back to his first year at the academy when he and his fellow students were being taught to discover their elemental affinities. He remembered standing in a line, their teacher pacing back and forth as she instructed them.
“As a mage, your elemental affinity is typically the first element you are able to transmute. The element your lumi instinctively turns to. Knowing and utilizing your elemental affinity presents you with specific advantages. You will notice that you are able to cast spells in your natural element with greater speed and greater power than other elements. Now, begin by gathering your lumi into the palm of your hand. Excellent. Now that your lumi is focused,change it. Alter its state. Push your lumi towards the element it is drawn to. The color it becomes indicates your elemental affinity. If it turns green, wind is your element. Orange is fire. Light blue, ice. Dark blue, lightning. If it becomes white or black, then you have an extremely rare gift.”
Some students were able to transmute their lumi on their first try, instantly changing it into the corresponding color of their element. Others took a few tries to get it right. Talynn’s lumi remained a faint yellow.
“It looks like you are having some trouble there, Mr. Sevar. Not to worry, it takes some students a little bit longer to get the hang of it. Do you know what element is your lumi drawn to?”
“Fire,” he replied quickly. He had no empirical evidence to support his statement, but his dream had always been to become a great fire mage.
“Good. Just keep at it,” the teacher gave him an encouraging smile. “If you haven’t had your first transmutation by the end of the week you can use lux chalk during your spellcasting classes so you don’t fall behind. Luxium can adopt the element of an inscription circle if you add an element seal. Just remember, lux chalk is only a beginners tool.”
Talynn ended his recollection and returned to the task at hand. He had one night to master his element transformation. He pulled a leather pouch off of his belt and looked inside. It was the lux chalk he had purchased on his first day in Albustone. With a clenched jaw, he took the pouch and threw it across the courtyard. He needed to master transformation on his own, no relying on crutch as he had been for years. His graduation depended on it. His dream depended on it.
The waxing moon brightly lit the night sky. About midnight, Talynn suddenly became aware of how sharply the temperature had dropped. He picked up a few logs and tossed them into the fire pit, attempting to light it using only his magic. No luck. He looked about for something to start a fire with, but found nothing. With a grunt of frustration, he begrudgingly picked up his lux chalk and resorted to drawing an inscription circle and casting a simple fire spell. The logs easily ignited without need for tinder. Talynn sat on the sand and welcomed the warmth of the fire, deciding to give his body respite from training.
The sound of a bird cawing loudly startled him awake almost two hours later. He slammed his fist on the sand. He was supposed to be training, not sleeping. The fire had died down to a small pile of glowing embers. Talynn stacked a few more pieces of wood onto the fire and blew gently into the embers, but they refused to catch flame. After waiting for a few moments, his head tilted to the side curiously. He extended his hand and began channeling lumi, but instead of attempting to perform an elemental transmutation he simply projected raw lumi into the embers. They began to flicker, as if they were about to die out. He tried playing around with the flow and dispersion of lumi. After a few minutes of experimenting, he found the sweet spot. The fire suddenly burst to life, the flames finally beginning to overtake the fresh wood sitting atop the embers.
While the experiment was interesting and his source of heat was now restored, it hadn’t brought him any closer to performing an element transmutation. He stood up and resumed his drills. He held out his hand, channeled lumi into his palm, attempted the transmutation, watched it fail, and then repeated the process, over and over again. The sky began to brighten as dawn broke, but he kept going. Sweat dripped from his forehead and his breathing had become heavy. His muscles ached from lack of sleep and a painful burning sensation racked his body as he repeatedly tried to force lumi out of his nearly depleted lumi system. He pushed onx until finally his vision began to blur and he collapsed to the ground.
An hour later, Versutana was strolling about the second floor of the castle when she saw Talynn unconscious laying face-first in the sand.
“Talynn? Talynn!” She said as she sprinted down the stairs in her robe and nightgown. She lifted him up and and brushed the sand off of his face. “Are you okay? Did you even sleep last night?”
“Huh? W-what time is it? Urg,” Talynn croaked, his voice raspy and his eyes with heavy bags under them.
“Just after dawn. Come on, let’s get you some breakfast,” Versutana said as she draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him out of the courtyard. Talynn mumbled something incoherent about being late, but he he was too exhausted to protest. As they walked to the banquet hall, a cheery hum echoed through the halls as a girl skipped barefoot over the cobblestone.
“Good morning, sister! Who’s that with you? Oh, it’s Talynn!”
Talynn’s ears perked up, suddenly wide awake after hearing the voice of the future empress. He stood open-mouthed, transfixed by the sight of her long platinum white hair flowing behind her as she skipped merrily towards them in her silky white gown. Versutana rolled her eyes as she saw his expression.
“Lumenaeva! I-I haven’t seen you in so long, it feels like,” he said with slight difficulty.
“Good to see you, Talynn,” Lumenaeva said with a smile that could melt a frozen tundra. “I’m sorry, between the lessons from my father’s advisers and training under the archmage, it feels like I’m busy every hour of the day. Oh dear, you look ill! Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine. Just stayed up too late, that’s all,” Talynn waved it off.
“He spent all night training for the mage’s tournament today. But we’re fine, you can run off and tend to your training or whatever it is you do,” Versutana attempted to shoo her sister away.
“Tournament? There’s no way you can compete in a tournament in that kind of shape. Your lumi flow feels completely exhausted,” Lumenaeva said with a concerned look.
“You can feel my lumi?”
“I can now! It’s part of my training to wield the Lucidaros stone. Look what else I learned!”
Lumenaeva drew closer and placed her hand on Talynn’s chest. Talynn gulped nervously. Versutana’s nose twitched. The purple stone on Lumenaeva’s necklace began to glow.
Talynn’s body suddenly tensed, his head tilting back and his arms sticking out to the sides as his breath awkwardly escaped his lungs. A yellow aura surrounded his body as lumi poured from the Lucidaros stone into his lumi system at an overwhelming rate. It felt like trying to swallow an entire river in one gulp. After a moment it stopped and the stone’s glow faded.
“What just happened? I feel... amazing,” Talynn looked down at his hands in disbelief. His exhausted body now felt strong and vibrant, as if he had just awoken from the most refreshing week-long nap.
“Your lumi flow should be good as new! I’m sorry Talynn, but I have to leave, the archmage is expecting me. Good luck on the tournament! Tell Mavence I said hello,” Lumenaeva waved before skipping away down the castle corridors.
“Hey Talynn,” Versutana began to pull something out of her robe pocket, but trailed off as she saw Talynn’s gaze lingering on Lumenaeva. With downcast eyes, she turned and began walking away.
“Oh, sorry, what were you saying?” Talynn snapped back to reality.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Versutana waved dismissively.
“Come on, Ver, don’t do that to me,” Talynn caught her arm. “Just tell me what you were going to say.”
“Well, I might not be able to restore your magic or whatever, but I made you something,” Versutana said as she pulled out two bracelets made with brown leather cord from her robe.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Talynn picked one up and inspected it.
“I had the blacksmith show me how to cut out these two strips of material and shave them so they have a slight bend, and then I tied the leather cord through these little holes on either end of the strips. So this part stays on top of your wrist, while the leather holds them in place,” Versutana said as she demonstrated with the other bracelet.
“Neat! What are those strips made of?”
“The black one is flint, and the silvery one is steel. So when you take the bracelets off and strike them together, you can start a fire with them.”
“Really?” Talynn eagerly grabbed the other bracelet and struck the strips together. A smile lit his face as a small shower of sparks appeared.
“I know you’re always trying to start fires with your magic, but if you ever get tired while practicing, at least you can use this,” Versutana gave a little shrug. Talynn looked down at the bracelets once more, realizing now how much thought and effort she had put into making them.
“Thanks, Ver,” Talynn ran forward and gave her a big hug. Versutana smiled and squeezed him back.
“Well, I’d better get going, don’t want to be late for the tournament. Probably going to lose since I still can’t perform an element transmutation, but at least Lumenaeva restored my lumi. If I get matched against really weak opponents, there’s a tiny chance I might pass. Who knows. Wish me luck.”
“Mavence and I will be there! And Talynn,” Versutana called out as he started to leave.
“You don’t need luck.”
ns 15.158.61.20da2
