Forte sat at a table in the corner of the library. He mulled over the information he had received about the girl in his history class. She was the crown princess of Rottheim Kingdom, and the king’s daughter. She was the direct heir, the only heir of the king, and thus she must be well guarded at all times, he assumed. A plan started to form in his head, but that would have to wait. He was not strong enough to oppose the king yet, and he had discovered something even more interesting.

In front of him were a few tomes, including Genealogy of the Motley-Sinclair Line and The Age of Heroes and Magic. He was tracking the long lost four seals of dark magic. In his possession was one of the four seals, the amulet of darkness, also known as Elmund Motley’s amulet. He cracked open the genealogy to the page he had marked.

‘…the battle, the chaos ring was lost. Legends say that the ring was not on Alastar Sinclair’s bloody corpse. Elmund was furious, having lost what he had begun the war for. In his rage, he killed his most trusted advisor and disappeared, taking the amulet of darkness with him. After his fit of rage, Elmund Motley was never seen again…’

Forte skipped forward a few pages.

‘… chaos ring was rumored to have been passed down to the Beetley family, although its whereabouts have been lost throughout the ages. The chaos ring never graced the battlefield again, a grace from the gods, for the ring only brought terror and…’

He read over the line again. ‘… the Beetley family…’. Then he looked at the schedule given to him by the headmaster. Samuel Beetley was his Basic Elemental Magic professor, and his class was in two hours.

Forte packed his books and immediately went to the classroom. He wanted to appear like a good student to get onto the professor’s good side, and so he waited patiently outside the classroom for an hour.

Before long, a portly professor walked into the classroom. Forte assumed that it was Samuel Beetley. “The new student!” professor Beetley exclaimed. “You are early.”

“I’m just very interested in elemental magic,” Forte replied. It wasn’t a lie; he was actually interested. Any additional knowledge he could dig up about Sinclair’s ring through the professor was just a bonus.

“Well, since you are a new student, you should take the affinity test,” the professor said, as he retrieved a crystal ball from his drawer. “Come down here and place your hands on the ball. Let us first test for earth affinity. That is the most common one.”

Forte walked down to the front of the classroom, and placed his hands on the crystal ball, as the professor mumbled. “Tonn.” Nothing happened. The professor frowned. “I’m afraid you have zero affinity for the earth element. Now let’s try water. Vasar.”

He placed his hands on the ball again, and a miniscule blue light emitted from the orb. “Good, good! You have a very slight affinity for water. We can work on that. Now for wind. Waera!”

This time, a warm green glow shone from the orb. Forte was amazed at the magical trinket. The professor’s eyes widened. “You seem to be a student prodigy with the wind element. Fantastic! Now for the final element, fire. Infernus.”

Forte touched the orb, and the glass cracked immediately. A fiery orb spurted into existence in the air where the center of the crystal ball was.

The professor looked shocked. “My boy, Forte. You possess an affinity for fire not seen since the Motley line died out, ages ago. That is absurd. You are more than a prodigy. I see why Alfred Bumbus personally recommended you now.”

Forte frowned. “What does fire affinity have to do with the Motley line, professor?”

The professor’s face darkened. “Fire was the specialty of house Motley, just as wind was for house Sinclair. Although we call it the age of heroes and magic, house Motley were no heroes. They pillaged, raped, stole, and plundered, and ruled with their dangerous fire magic. It was house Sinclair that brought peace and harmony to the Varian continent, and balanced out the Motleys. Only after Eeyr Sinclair married Farid Motley did the Motley family finally settle down for peace. That is, until the despicable Elmund Motley fell for his lust for power, and started the Motley-Sinclair war.”

“I see.” Forte responded. He did not know about his family’s entire past. Students began to come into the classroom, and the professor shuffled his papers. Forte walked towards the professor. “Can we continue this conversation in your office later?” he asked innocuously. The professor smiled. “Of course! Anything for such a prodigy. Meet me in my office in a week, at the seventh hour.”

Forte found a seat, and the professor began to lecture. “Today I will give you all a glimpse of advanced elemental magic. Observe.” The professor brought out another crystal ball, and placed his palm on it. “Vasar! Waera!!”

Colors began to swirl within the ball, forming what looked like a cloud. The professor slapped the crystal ball. “Infernus!”

At that instant, a flash of electricity exploded inside the ball. The students oohed and ahhed at the display. The professor spoke. “What I have just shown you is the combination of elements to create new elements. There are an infinite amount of different elements you can create with the basic four, and magical scholars are still researching this subject. But today, let us start with one of the easier combinations. Wind and fire to create the light element. Everyone, repeat after me. Waera, Infernus!”

The students placed their hands on the crystal balls in front of them, and chanted with the professor.

--

A week passed, and Forte was ready for his duel with Aaron Blackwater, his grade’s champion.

“Tonight, we have a special event. Forte Minot is challenging the undefeated fourth year combat magic prodigy, Aaron Blackwater! Mister Blackwater, please step into the ring. Mister Minot, please step into the ring,” the professor said.

Forte shook his head in disgust as the professor mentioned his false last name. He wanted to reveal to the world that he was part of house Motley, but he needed to lay low for now. Soon, his time would come. But not now.

He stepped into the courtyard ring and looked at the professor, who was waiting for a signal of readiness from him. He nodded, and the professor clapped his hands together. “You may begin!”

At the sound of the clap, Aaron Blackwater immediately clasped his hands together and reached for the ground. “Tonn elementa!” The earth below the boy began to shift, rising and hardening into a hulking earth golem that was twice the height of the boy, with thick, earthen arms, and a broad chest plate.

“Ariz infernus,” Forte chanted, and three swirling fireballs appeared in front of him. With a wave of his arm, Forte pointed at the golem, and the three fireballs shot out at it. They landed with dull thuds on the golem’s chestplate, barely phasing the towering elemental. Aaron laughed as he watched the fire splash off his elemental. “Is that the best you’ve got?” he jeered, as he reached for a handful of dirt. “Tonn,” he murmured, and the dirt hardened into a solid sphere. Aaron chucked the sphere at Forte with alarming speed while Forte battled the golem, hitting Forte in the stomach.

Forte winced in pain at the contact. The rock sphere seemed to have been accelerated with magic. He cast another fireball at the golem, but it also splashed off the golem’s hardened body. Forte was becoming concerned—his tried and true tactic did not seem to be working, and he was in trouble. The earth golem approached and raised its giant fist, ready to smash down on Forte, who was lying on the ground panting.

The golem swung down, and Forte rolled to the side, barely dodging the blow. It smashed down a few more times, and Forte dodged from side to side by rolling frantically. The golem hesitated for a moment, and Forte seized the opportunity. “Oblitio,” Forte muttered without thinking, and a white bolt of light erupted from his palm and hit the golem. He clenched his teeth as the energy sapped out of his body at a dangerous rate. The golem was paralyzed by the blast of white energy. Forte glanced at Aaron, who was running low on stamina trying to maintain the golem. A crowd began to gather around the two duelists, full of eager students watching the battle.

Forte stood up and bolted towards Aaron. “Saban”, he said, and a glowing sword appeared in his hand. The ghastly sword of light was better forged than yesterday, but still not perfect. Aaron dropped his hands, and the golem crumbled into pieces as he put his hands together. “Hammun,” he said. The dirt rose and formed a large mallet, which Aaron gripped in his hands.

Aaron swung the massive mallet at Forte, who parried with his glowing sword. The sword began to crack upon contact, and Forte had to let go of the magic. Aaron swung again, and the mallet headed for Forte’s undefended torso.

“Dracio,” Forte muttered. A flaming apparition of a dragon burst out of Forte’s chest, roaring as it blocked the mallet with its powerful jaw. The dragon snapped the mallet in half and nearly clamped its jaws around Aaron, but Forte had to let go of the magic because of the stamina cost, and the dragon disintegrated after singing Aaaron’s hair.

A nasty look appeared on Aaron’s face. “Oblitera!” the broad shouldered noble boy shouted. A violently bright beam of white light shot out of Aaron’s palm. Forte immediately recognized that he had casted some form of dark magic, and raised his palm to return the favor. The veins on his arms started popping and his blood boiled as he prepared to cast the forbidden spell Fyrza.

“Stop! Ariz tonn!” professor Armaldo shouted as he ran into the arena and waved his hands, casting magic. The ground rumbled, and an enormous wall erupted from the ground. The Oblitera spell crashed into the earthen wall, leaving a large blackened mark on the wall. Aaron collapsed onto the ground, and Forte let go of his dark magic casting. The professor ran over to Aaron. “Aaron Blackwater! You have casted forbidden magic! That is grounds for expulsion. I will speak to your father personally. As for now, see the headmaster tonight.”

Aaron groaned and reluctantly answered while still sprawled on the ground. “Yes… sir.”

The professor sighed, and then turned to the class. “Class is dismissed.”

Forte felt slightly faint, but he had an appointment with Professor Beetley. He wondered if a current descendant of the Beetley family would know where Sinclair’s ring was kept, or if it was still missing. But that was a sensitive topic—Sinclair’s ring was one of the four seals of dark magic. He would need to butter up to the professor to tease out the information.