You meet a friendly, old mage

Your father knocks and almost immediately an old man opens the door. He has a long grey robe with red hems as decoration, a silly looking big hat in the same color and a long white beard. For some reason the name Gandalf runs through your mind, but you are not sure who this is. Both the hat and the robe have a strange symbol embroidered that looks like a star with five edges, but each one has a different color.

“Greetings my young friend,” the man greets you father surprising friendly and shakes his hand, “and you too, little one. What can the mage guild do for you? Please come in and heave a seat.”

Your father is a little taken off guard by this kindness and can’t answer. You give the man a friendly smile and follow your father inside. The office is really impressive. It is not big but you see a lot of books and strange gadgets in a shelf and on the desk. Crystals, pictures of constellations some herbs with a strong scent and even a doll house with a living fairy in front of it. You have only once seen one before and you thought it was just a daydream. This room is indeed magic.

“May I offer you a tea, Logan of Hardwood?” the man asks kind and snaps his fingers which makes two simple cups literally jump out of a drawer of the desk, “by the way I am Goren Ravenwood. Member of House Ravenwood of the black cliffs, if you value such titles.”

“Thank you … sir,” your father answers overwhelmed and seems unsure if he should bow, since he faces a noble, “you … you know my name, so you know why we are here … sir.”

“Oh, please don’t call me sir,” Goren says amused, “and yes, I know a lot of things. But first things first. Since you don’t know much about it, allow me explain to you how magic works. Outside of this realm, where the gods reside, there is a special energy. It is called mana. This mana allows the gods to form entire planets and bend reality as much as they want. Every person, every animal and even every plant on Calitian has some of this mana, given by their creation through the gods. But some people have more of it than others. Only one out of 1000 humans has enough mana to be able to form arcane symbols out of it. We call them runes. And a combination of such runes can be a spell that does very fascinating things. Would you like to see a little demonstration?”

You nod immediately while your father remains stunned. Since you know him, he always considered Magic scary and dangerous and nobles to be arrogant and condescending towards normal peasants like him. A friendly and happy mage who is also a noble directly questions his world view.

“Tarill, could you please come over here for a second,” Goren asks and looks in the direction of the fairy.

The fairy nods and flies over to the desk. You can now have a closer look at it. The fairy looks like an elfen man around 50, which is roughly 20 for humans. However, while elves are as big as humans, the fairy is only 20 centimeters high. He wears an elegant shirt and pants that look as if they were woven from blades of grass. Strange but still much finer than the rough linen clothes you wear. But the most uncommon thing at him is the pair of butterfly wings on his back. They are blue and allow him to fly. You can’t believe something so beautiful is right in front of you.

“Tarill is a fairy, as you probably guessed,” Goren explains kind, “fairies are beings of pure magic and very rare in human society. Would you like to touch him, little one? Don’t worry, he is not as fragile as he looks.”

“Really?” you ask fascinated, “alright, Tarill, I will be careful.”

Tarill nods again and spreads his arms to make it easier for you. You carefully reach for him but in the moment you touch him, he suddenly vanishes in a cloud of white smoke. You are shocked and fear you accidently killed Tarill. Your Father is shocked as well. You look around in panic and can see that Goren is still smiling.

“Fooled,” Goren says amused and laughs, “the fairy was just an illusion. I am a mind mage. We can create illusions and mess with other people’s thoughts. Now look at my hands please!”

Goren shows you his hands and whispers something. You have never heard something like this before. And suddenly there is a ring of white light in his hand. Inside the ring there are some strange symbols you can impossible describe them, but Goren seems to know what he does. And as suddenly as it appeared, the light is gone and a new illusion of Tarill appears in Gorens hand.

“You see, this is magic,” Goren says while you stare at the illusion fascinated, “just a small trick. If our test proves you are a mage too, you can probably very soon do such things too. Of course it depends a little which branch of magic you belong too. As I said, I am a mind mage or mental mage. We also have water mages, who work with water, ice and wind. Fire mages work with fire, heat and lightning. They are perfect for offensive fighting. Nature mages work with plants and animals. They are great healers. And … well, the last branch are the dark mages. Their branch is about darkness, necromancy, curses and other questionable things. It is not illegal and not evil by nature, but … well they are considered the least trustworthy ones. However, which branch you get if you are a mage is not up to you. You can’t choose. The test tells you if you have a strong connection to magic and which branch you can use.”

“And what … what will happen to my daughter if this test is positive?” your father asks unsure, “do we have to send her away? Can we ever meet her again?”

“Oh, of course, that’s not a problem,” Goren replies calm but also thoughtfully, “the guild has the duty to educate and watch over all known mages. And in case there is an emergency, all members have to aid the king and protect the kingdom. You will have to live in the academy in the capital until your final exams, but as long as there is no war, you can always ask your superiors to visit your family. We just have to know where you are. Well … but to be honest, there is one downside I don’t want to conceal towards you. The law says that every mage has to be registered and educated. And this education is not for free. It is indeed quiet a lot. Most mages are from noble families and can afford this. It is a great addition to their status.”

“I … I had no idea,” you father answers slightly shocked, “we … we can’t afford this. We are not rich. We have only a little more than we need for living. Is that really the law the king made? We have to report and pay for our own child? He can’t demand this, can he?”

“Well he is the king so I am afraid he can do this,” Goren answers a little uncomfortable, “or at least I guess nobody ever dared to question him about that. By the way, this rule was made under his grandfather, King Leroy the second. But you don’t need to worry, my good man, there are some mages from poor families and the guild has a solution for them. Mages are rare and their skills can easily earn a small fortune. As court mages, advisors, weapon enchanters, adventurers or even as teachers. If you can’t pay for the education, the guild borrows you the money in exchange for a few years working for the guild. We take around one fifth of your payments to cover your depts and if you want to can pay us back whenever you have the money. The remaining money, which is usually still an impressive amount, you can spend on your rent, food, clothes or send your parents some coins.”

“I … I guess this is indeed a solution, sir,” you father says much calmer and looks at you, “it would break your mothers heart to send you away. But keeping you on the farm forever is not a solution. It has never been. In a year or two you would have left anyway to search for work and live an own life. And this way we would at least know you are at a save place and have a bright future. What do you mean, Clare? Some years working for the guild, education and you could come visit us whenever you want. I can think of worse fates.”

You can’t say anything at the moment. You are shocked, excited and scared at the same time. You know you had a previous life, but this is 16 years ago. The farm, your parents, your siblings and even some of your neighbors are everything you know in this world. Still, this is the biggest opportunity you ever got. A chance to study magic and see the worls. Or at least the rest of the kingdom.

“Well, young Clare, now that you know all this, what do you think?” Goren asks calm, “of course it can’t change the result of the test, but I would like to know what you think about our guild. Would you like to be a mage under the given circumstances?”