POV: Arelia Elba

The gravel crunched beneath my black boots with every step I took. A summer breeze hit my face, warm and calming as the skirt my father had forced me to put on for this day fluttered a little. Around my waist, I wore a belt, something that Sarah had come up with, and my hair was tidily kempt back and bound into a ponytail with a horsehair band. To match my hair my father had picked out a dark blue top and, the already mentioned, skirt, which I wasn't the biggest fan of but since I had to live as a girl now it seemed like I had to go through with this.

A bit further ahead, right next to one of the many lampposts only recently installed in the village, waited Sarah, her long, open black hair fluttering in the breeze, wearing a dress yellow in colour, a belt around her waist just like me.

"Ah, you look so cute like this," she said, her cheeks turning a little red.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with or I might actually start liking this skirt," I responded jokingly as Sarah grabbed my left arm and hooked her arm around it.

Following the gravel path that led through the entire village, we quickly arrived at the centre, where Herkal was already waiting for us on top of the wooden platform which was surrounded by many people.

"Excuse me," I said as Sarah and I made our way through the mass of people and walked towards the wooden stairs that led up to the platform.

With each step I took up them I felt the eyes of at least a hundred people on me. Clinging onto my left arm I could feel Sarah shaking a little. It was nerve-racking, to have the attention of this many people without being their leader, although, since I was the daughter of the village chief I might as well be just that. When we reached the top Sarah let go of me and I straightened my clothes, then stood next to Herkal, who was smiling at me, trying to look as tall as possible.

The reason we were holding such an event was that an observer, sent by the church, was here today, to look at the magic we had obtained four years ago. According to my father, and the only mage we had in this backwater of a village, it was special, powerful magic. They would also always praise the sheer amount of mana we had.

My eyes scanned the crowd of people until I found them. They stood in the back, next to my father and mother as well as the local mage. A tall man, looking no older than his late twenties with flowing blond hair and glasses that hindered me from seeing his eyes. Despite his silvern armour, decorated with a white cape, I could still tell that his body was strong.

Compared to him the village, mostly consisting of wooden buildings looked even more pathetic and insignificant. The only thing great about it was that we could see Mount Kalrim from here. And from some angles, one could even steal a glance at Fort Kalrim, a massive collection of stone towers right in the middle of the giant dragon's maw. Seeing something as grant as that really drove home how poor a village whose best buildings had a first floor made of cracking stones was. Although I never understood why we were this poor. We were one of the villages that produced the most bread in the entire area.

Deep in my thoughts, I didn't even notice my father, who had now also walked onto the wooden stage.

"Welcome everyone, especially you, mister Alami. It is a great honour to have the brother of a paladin here, in our humble village!" my father announced.

In the back, I could see the observer nodding.

"Now, today we are here so mister Alami may witness the magic these three, young children possess!" my father continued. "If you would," he said, leaning down to me.

Not wanting to be the first I hit Herkal with my elbow and he stepped forth, taking off his shirt and revealing the mark that coiled down his spine. It was a collection of fine, jagged lines.

"Everyone, please make some space!" my father called out as Herkal stepped off the wooden platform.

The crowd dispersed a little, making space for Herkal to demonstrate his magic and also giving the observer sent by the church a better view. Herkal took a deep breath and I saw the mark on his back spread across his entire body. The jagged lines on his quite athletic looking, for a ten-year-old, body made him look like some wrestler from our old world. Then I could feel the mana within him sift slightly as his magic activated.

Golden energy burst forth from his body, swirling around him in a way that almost made it look like a golden flame. Herkal then flexed his right arm lifted it up and slammed it down on the ground. Dust covered everything, making me, and probably anyone in the vicinity, unable to see him. When the dust had settled moments later there was a large crater in the middle of the open space, and in the middle of that crater stood Herkal, raising one fist up into the air. I could hear my father sigh behind me. On the other side of the crater, I could see the observer nodding and then waving at my father as Herkal climbed back out of the crater and walked back up onto the wooden stage, deactivating his magic.

"Guess I'll go next," Sarah said as she walked off the platform, using the stairs and stepped next to the crater, telling the people close to her to give her some more space.

Once they did her blue eyes flickered and the lightning-like lines began to spread across her entire body. When she clenched her fist a spark appeared, a spark which quickly turned into an orb consisting of lightning which coiled around Sarah's body violently. She lifted up the hand with which she was holding the orb, which was lashing out at the air with whips of lightning. She then threw the orb into the middle of the crater Herkal had created with all the force she had, creating another cloud consisting of dust and small pebbles. When the dust cloud settled I could see a small fire in the crater.

Once again the observer said next, sounding just as unimpressed as before.

"Guess it's my turn now," I said to myself as I prepared myself by activating my magic mark.

The strange, fine lines spread across my body, they looked like interconnected rings. I then closed my eyes and began by adjusting the gravity of my own body and the ground below me enough to make myself float. This was something I had to practice a lot. By now I could manage to stay perfectly still mid-air for extended periods of time. I reached out with one hand and looked down into the crater, there was a lot of rubble. Once again adjusting gravity I made everything in there not connected to the ground float upwards, towards the clouds far above us. Then I clenched my fist, creating a gravitational pull on the centre most piece of rubble, which in turn attracted all the other rubble. As I turned my fist I also increased the gravitational pull off that one piece of rubble until all the other pieces stuck to it and began to crumble. After a short while, all that was left of the rubble was a single stone, a little larger than my head, which I let fall back down as I gracefully landed back on the wooden stage, deactivating my magic mark.

How was that?

I looked over to the observer, who once again nodded, without saying anything.

"Tch.."