Aron opened the door into his home. The house only had two rooms; his parents’ bedroom and the living/kitchen area where he slept. His parents were sitting at the small table where the family had its meals.

As Aron came in, his father stood up. Eric Wright was not a small man; a trait he had passed down to his son. His bearded face creased into a smile when he saw his son. “How was work?” he asked. Aron was an apprentice to the blacksmith down the road. It paid well and allowed his family to live in relative comfort. “It was good,” Aron replied. He noticed his mother was holding a piece of paper and regarding it with a worried expression. “what’s that?” he pointed. His mother looked up from the document.

“it’s a call for every man and woman between sixteen and twenty to turn out to the Kings square for magical testing.” She explained. “Ever since that commoner phantom from Verra the king has decided that commoners and nobles alike will be tested.”

A David of Verra was well known for being an extremely powerful phantom and being a commoner. He was the single reason Verra was not destroyed by the Ragali. It made sense that the king of Roxia would want the same. “When is this to happen? He asked. This time it was Eric to reply. “You are to report to the square at sunrise tomorrow. If you test positive for magic, you will be sent to Cranach Dale to learn how to better serve the kingdom.” He said the last bit with a hint of scorn. It was well known that the royal family didn’t care for the commoners in their kingdom and some of the projects commoners are forced to work on are rarely anything beneficial to the people of Roxia. Cranach Dale, however, was not situated in any one kingdom. Rather, it was situated in a three-mile stretch of territory between five kingdoms. Students from all but Cinnowa come to learn magic. As such the school was not under any nation’s control and maintained its sovereignty.

Cinnowa was a queendom of powerful mages; it was said that they were stronger than all but the most powerful magicians from the four nations. While the relations between the four nations was strenuous at best, they had vowed not to attack each other, although if one were attacked by an outside nation, they would get no help.

Aron’s mother rubbed her forehead. Stress had given Arya’s face premature lines. Until Aron had gotten the job in the blacksmiths, she had worked every day for six years. Coupled with the fact that Aron wasn’t always easy to handle gave Arya quite the time. Aron had eventually calmed down meaning his mother got some well-deserved rest.

“If you test positive, you would be ridiculed in that school! They would all be rich nobles and they would look down on you!” Arya exclaimed. Aron put his hands on her shoulders.

“That doesn’t matter Mum. There’s nothing they can say that would hurt me. they’re all just a bunch of privileged idiots, their opinion means nothing to me. Besides, if I graduate, you and Da are set for life.” He assured her. His mother gave him a weak smile. “You’re right.” She said. “I’m just worried.”

“Why you here early anyway?” Eric asked, changing the topic.

“Tenkay sent me to check up on you. Said something about your old bones.” I replied. Eric let out a laugh. “That fool is older than me! If he weren’t our main source of income, I would knock his teeth out!” he threatened though Aron could see a twinkle in his eyes. Tenkay and his father were best friends and people constantly told him that they were inseparable when they were younger.

“Anyway, I should get back to work.” Aron sensed that his father might go off on a tangent. He bade farewell and started back down the street towards the smithy. He still had an hour left in the forge before he got off, Tenkay had done him a favour when word got out of news from the crown.

He walked into the smithy listening to Tenkay beating at a piece of metal he stopped pounding as he saw Aron walk in.

“I heard the news boy. Seems like our apprenticeship has come to an end.” Tenkay grunted.

“What do you mean?” Aron asked, confused. “I only leave if I’m one of those sorcerers, and you know that only people with magic in their blood can be one.” Tenkay gave a booming laugh, which quickly turned into a cough. Tenkay was a large man from working in a forge for most of his life and hid his age well. He was closing on forty-three summers but looked more like Eric’s forty. He was like a second father to Aron, but it was obvious to see that his condition was deteriorating rapidly.

As if reading Aron’s mind Tenkay said, “I am not long for this world, you and I both know it.” He held up a hand as Aron opened his mouth to speak. “Before you go off to that mage school, and I know you will, you were always different from the other boys, I want to give you somethings.” Tenkay motioned for him to follow as he walked out of the forge into his home. He reached up into a shelf and produced a bag. He gave the bag to Aron. Aron quickly knelt and poured the bag’s contents onto the floor. A small armoury fell out of the bag, far too much for a normal bag to hold. to Aron’s surprise, two axes, a set of knives, a bow with a quiver of arrows and a sword. Tenkay grinned. “These are my sorcerer weapons.” He said.

Aron was examining the sword with awe. He turned to Tenkay.

“How can you make these? You have to be an enchanter to build sorcerer weapons!” seeing Aron’s shocked expression Tenkay gave another grin.

“I’m no sorcerer boy. I do have a bit of magic in me though. Just enough to make these.” He gestured to the weapons. “I figured if times got tough, I could sell these things, but now I think I’ll give them to you. I can feel your magic; I just can’t tell what it is.”

He gently took the blade from Aron’s hands. “This is a phantom’s sword, made out of Voronian steel, the only metal that can shift with a phantom. But the jewel is the coup d’état.” He pointed at the jewel in the middle. “It holds the user’s energy, so if the phantom runs out of magic he can pull from the reserves of the gem. It absorbs energy from everything around it and can hold about three times as much magic as an average sorcerer.”

He put the sword down and picked the set of knives up. They were two-foot-long knives and the other four were made for throwing. “These knives are not made to be specific to a certain type of sorcerer. Instead, they are made for channelling the magic of all types. You see those uppity magicians walking around with staffs? They are not needed for casting; they just help with speed. These knives though, can hold a small amount of magic that can be released, and they also increase the intensity of the spell.”

He moved over to the bow. “I admit that I didn’t make this bow; the only thing I made was the arrowheads. The arrows magically reappear inside the quiver and the arrowhead is designed to guide itself in the general direction of the enemy.”

Tenkay went over to the twin axes with a gleam in his eye. He picked them up and ran his hand over the blade. Earlier Aron had been too busy staring at the flashier sword, he now saw that one axe was longer than the other and the other side of it was blunt, more akin to a hammer. “these” Tenkay began, “are warlock weapons. They work for any sorcerer so they will serve you well. If you bond with the weapon by letting it taste your blood, then it will come back to your hand any time you wish. These things are far and away from the most powerful things I’ve ever made. I won’t go into what a warlock can do with them, there hasn’t been one in the five kingdoms for a very long time but as a regular sorcerer weapon, it will replenish your magic almost automatically and it can hold twice as much as the sword. When you bond with it you will be able to use them like you’ve been training with them your whole life, you won’t be the best, but you’ll be able to get by until you learn properly. It also has a natural resistance to some magic; a mind-bender would have to be powerful, and your will would have to be weak for them to bend you to their whims.” Aron shuddered at the thought of mind-benders. They were a rare type of sorcerer that could manipulate the mind to make it more suggestible. It was said that if your will was weak, a mind-bender could turn you into a living puppet and make you believe anything they desire. The whole royal family of Cinnowa, which was rather expansive, was known to be mind benders, one of the main reasons for Cinnowa’s power. Diplomatic relations are pretty easy when you can manipulate the other negotiator’s mind. They were rare in Roxia, but he was sure some existed.

Tenkay let him digest the information, then put the weapons back in the bag and gave it to Aron.

“I can’t accept these!” Aron exclaimed, “they are worth more than my house!”

“Nonsense! You are going to that sorcerer school, and you are going to use those weapons!” Tenkay pushed Aron out the door. “And don’t come back!” he bellowed and slammed the door.

Aron stood in King’s square, waiting to be tested. He had told his parents about everything that happened at Tenkay’s forge and hearing that Tenkay thought he had magic, they had prepared for a trip. In his magic bag or void bag as Eric had called it, was food and his only change of clothes. He was told that no magical items except the user’s weapon of choice would be allowed at Cranach Dale so he would have to give up the void bag and the weapons. He would decide which ones to take when the time came.

The tester was a king’s sorcerer. He was carrying a clear crystal ball. Aron assumed that the ball would change colour when a magic-user touched it. There were two heavyset guards two either side of him, and their scowls seemed to darken the space around them. pleasant guys Aron thought sarcastically.

When it came to Aron’s turn, the ball lit up so brightly that the people around him had to shield their eyes. The sorcerer’s eyes widened. “Are you of noble blood boy?” he asked frantically. Aron shook his head. “Any sorcerers in your family? You know what, it doesn’t matter, you must come with me at once ”. Without waiting, the sorcerer whipped around and started walking.

Aron was still standing there, mind reeling. Sure, Tenkay had sensed that he possessed some magic, but the light from the sphere had nearly blinded him. He mightn’t be a genius, but from the reaction of the sorcerer, it meant he was above average. His mind was still churning when one of the scowling guards grabbed his arm and started pulling him. instinctively, Aron jerked his hand away. both guards turned to face him with a sneer. They both pulled out longswords from the sheaths at their belts. “Look Kid,” the first man started, “ the sorcerer wants you to come this way, so you’re going to come this way. Otherwise, we’ll drag you this way.”

Aron’s mind raced. why were the guards being so hostile? It was only when he looked closer did he notice the glint of jealousy lurking in their eyes. These men were angry and looking for an excuse to beat on him. his hands clenched to fists, and before he knew what he was doing he had the twin axes from the void bag in his hands. He felt prick akin to a needle on his hands and suddenly, he just knew what to do. The first guard lunged forward with his longsword, but Aron simply batted the sword away with the flat of his axe and punched the flailing guard in the face, leaving him crumpled on the ground. The other guard approached more warily, but Aron just charged towards him, and bull charged through the longsword coming towards him, batting it away in a similar fashion to the first. He dispatched the guard with a swift right hook, then swung around to the King’s Sorcerer, who was standing with a huge sphere of energy in his hands. With a simple gesture, the ball came hurtling towards Aron at breakneck speed. As the ball crashed into him, Aron’s consciousness faded to a blinding white light.