De Eredan.
A hard test
Recliff was working really hard to achieve his goal since he was little, the milestone of his life would be to become the greatest mage of Draconia and one day to be the most emblematic members of the Noz'Dingard envoys, he saw himself using his powers to destroy all the evil that scourges the lands of Guem and become a legend amongst all legends that ever have been; and as he saw himself conquering and vanishing the wrong-doers, he began listening to a familiar voice in his head, repeating something over and over and over again, a voice that prayed: "wake up.......wake up Recliff.......wake up.......WAKE UP!"
It was the beginning of the morning and Recliff started slowly to wake up from his immersive dream, his roommate Strout was trying to get him to wake up, again he has fallen asleep on his story book covered partially on his own drool that was also present on the right side of his mouth, he slowly tried to regain consciousness as he opened his eyes, feeling his right cheek wet, he wiped the drool from his cheek and glanced at Strout with dazed eyes, his roommate sighed.
-No wonder why you're getting low scores on the tests, you stay up all night reading that book instead of studying.
Recliff slowly got off his bed and shook his head to get back into the not so legendary reality of his life; he was a student of the academy of magic and he was to undergo the trial of the Compendium candidates, but his average grades were not excellent. He passed his tests within the "acceptable" category but if he were to become the person he wanted to be, he would have to do ten times better than his current grading. Strout again commented:
-The teacher said we had the free day off so I thought it would be a good deed if I wake you up so you get to study with me and the others, the final test of the compendium contest will begin in a week so you better do something impressive.
-I got it covered mate, I'll try to work on my light and fire spells today.
-Are you still focusing on the light spells? Those are for the witchblades -Said Strout with a mockery accent.
-Don't make me get up and punch you in the face! -Recliff was getting a little angry.
-How are you going to fight me? Seducing me with your spells to boredom?
-PISS OFF!
Recliff started throwing his pillows at his roommate who fled the room laughing, amongst his class he could be one of the best, but he chose to spend most of his time practicing what his friends call "girly spells" such as light spells; and sometimes immersed into his daydreams, waving a wooden stick pretending it's a sword imagining himself as a hero of a great adventure that... hasn't started yet; so he stood up and went to look himself in the mirror. The image of himself reflected the image of a light tan kid with brown hair and gray eyes, average size and height and nothing much to mention about his constitution. He went for a shower, some breakfast in the morning and getting all dressed up as a proud student of the academy. Now heading to the library to meet with his class-mates, as soon as they made eye contact with Recliff, the students were to make poses to make fun of him "Here comes the witchblade" and laughs began; exasperated he held back his urge to scream and with a loud voice he broke the laughter.
-Don't start with the nonsense or I'll cut your throats at night!
Marcus interrupted him: -If only you focused on Draconic spells more than light spells we could take you as a dragon knight since they're manlier.
-I wouldn't want to be a Dragon knight, if I'm at a wizard academy it's for a reason.
-The reason is that you mistook the witchblade's cave with a building, and we're kind of mistaking you for a guy..
The following few seconds of laughter were suddenly cut as Recliff threw himself to seize Marcus by the throat and started to choke on him as he yelled "You want to know how much of a man I am? I'm more of a man than you'll ever dream to be" and when Marcus head began to turn blue his classmates separated them, it took about 5-6 students to release the chokehold as the guards of the academy arrived at the scene.
Some hours later Recliff was summoned to the chambers of the principal, attacking a fellow classmate was forbidden and there were many witnesses; at the chambers the master mage Pilkim was visiting the academy and was present during the accusation from the principal to Recliff, which not surprisingly enough wasn't the first one but the intervention from the principal began.
-It's you again; I think that expelling you from the academy would be the best of interests for the safety of the students.
Recliff's eyes were wide opened as he heard that.
-B-But why? Marcus was mocking and making fun of me at the library! And no one did anything then!
-They all reported you attacked your classmate first, it's clear to me that you were to land the first blow.
-It's not fair that I get to be discriminated by the spells I like to use! -He raised his hands in exclamation. -They all make fun of me because I don't go by the spells they like to use so it's not my fault!
The principal reviewed some files presented over the desk adding:
-You know the tests are going to evaluate every single type of spells, so why focus on a single element?
-Because I find light spells easier to handle with a sword -He eagerly replied.
Pilkim saw the interests within Recliff's reply and added:
-I'm sorry to interrupt, but if you're interested to wield a sword, wouldn't it be within your best interests to become a Dragon Knight?
Recliff glanced down.
-I wouldn't want to become one of them; I know it's a big honor to belong to their lines and that I admittedly sometimes gets too excited wielding a sword like the adventurers of the history books, but living for the magic as a compendium mage is what I want to do, and draconic spells are not precisely my favorite... And the witchblades, I'm not there for obvious reasons, and no offense but they look more marauders than warriors.
The principal glanced at the student, then after a few seconds added.
-You've been passing your tests with an average grade, but the compendium only looks for the best of the best and I don't think that focusing on swordship along with your desire to become an "adventurer" is going to give you what you need to prevail in this institute, I don't think you're fit for this academy; case closed.
Recliff's eyes began watering in despair, his dreams were shattering in front of him just like a bottle of glass falling from the top of the tallest tower, he couldn't hold his tears and began begging the principal before the guards were to escort him out of the building.
-PLEASE! Just give me one more chance principal, this is all I ever had and I'm so close to the final test... don't kick me out...
-Why don't we give him a chance? -Said the master mage Pilkim, but not because he was moved by the tears of the student, but because he was curious about his potential. -In any case, the final test is going to be held in less than a week right?
The director moved his glance from the documents to Pilkim with somewhat of a disbelief expression.
-If he were to had better grades on his test this conversation wouldn't of had happened.
-Well, just let him do the test, if he fails he won't join the compendium anyways.
The student struggled to contain the tears from his eyes, trying to not get his hopes up but at the same time hoping he could get another chance to prove his worth in front of the jury of the academy. The director sighed again feigning to have a head ache, but nodded since there wasn't much to do in any case, and if the student was as scared as he feigns, then he would hold back of doing something to endanger others.
-Hmmmm, alright, you may have your last chance, if you ever cause problems again in this institute, the last thing you'll see will be the guards escorting you out of here.
Recliff's sad face then turned into a hopeful smile he would never forget:
-Thank you so much principal, and once again I'm sorry.
Pilkim glanced at the young student.
-Don't make me regret this choice kid.
Recliff returned the glance.
-I won't let you down sir, I swear.
As the days passed, as a punishment for his behavior, Recliff had to study alone, secluded of others to avoid any other provocations that could lead to disaster or any undesired outcome; in solitary confinement his only company were the books borrowed from the library to help him get ready for the test; he would start with a disadvantage compared to the others because his classmates would have the opportunity to investigate further into performances of the final tests of past years, so he would have to do his very best to focus on the goal of reaching just a small part of his dream, but none the less, his dream. Nightmares came to his head visiting his dreams often, the stress of failure was always present because he had to distract his mind from the stories he read; his delusions of becoming a known hero getting obscured with the hard reality of what could happen if failure was his destiny within the test.
He had to make a difficult choice, at first he tried re-viewing the basic spells and he memorized them for the test of general knowledge, he tried specializing in draconic-type spells like his friends did but he was unable to; with no time to waste he placed all of his time to do what he does best and go with all his might on the light spells such as the sword of light; there it goes again: A Sword on his hand and the promise of swordship in his future, for a second his hands were shaking and his sweat was cold. He had only once chance to succeed.
The day of the final test arrived at last, all the students were present in the main training room and were dressed in their training outfit, Recliff brought a wooden but well carved sword along with him and the students next to him were containing their laughs but soon the principal entered the room and along with him there were the master mage Pilkim and the Dragon lord Alishk as guest of the jury that were going to evaluate the performance of each student in their own test; and one by one the students were called to display their abilities and skills in front of the jury, hoping to become great magicians on their early careers.
As time went by, each one of the students had shown at least one of each type of spell available and displayed a beautiful array of flashy but effective spells, most of them draconic, many of them required a high level of complexity and creativity Recliff only dreamed to achieve with such elements, his best chance to match his classmates was going straight for the safe choice. Now it's his turn to show everything he has learned in the academy through the years of dedication and hard work; when his name was mentioned he stepped forward and in front of the jury, he bowed before them and drew his wooden sword that in the Meragi capital would be called a training Bokken, and as soon as the principal said -"You might begin now" he focused on his first spell: "Sword of light" and then his sword began glowing in bright white and blue and began swinging it with surprisingly swordmanship and focus; he enchanted all the knowledge he had on his magic power to combine all of the effectiveness, brightness and beauty of light-based energy to engage in a choreography that a beginner dragon knight and witchblade alike would admire; once the light faded away he withdrew his sword to bow once again in front of the jury and went back to his place amongst the student, his classmate Strout said.
-Well done Moira.
Recliff closed his eyes, avoiding the urge to break his classmate's face into a void of endless pain and just took a deep breath as the rest of his classmates finished their performance. All was relatively good until one of the classmates brought with him a black eerie book, and as he went to the center of the training room, Pilkim noticed the book and stood up to interrupt the student.
-DON'T OPEN THAT BOOK!
But it was too late, in the naiveness of that student, he used his magical scent to open the book, the plan of the student was to show he was capable enough to use an old type of nehantic magic and at first when he heard Pilkim's voice he tried to close the book but he couldn't, he lost control because he was trying to focus on getting the book opened for his skill test and now he didn't foresaw having to close the book that soon, so the dark magic began invading the body of the student, then the book fell to the ground, opening a portal that let through small demons that normally and naturally had a really hard time getting out of the book, but when Pilkim and Alishk jumped out of their desks to help the student, the demons began swarming the room as the students fled the scene in panic; the guards were called to the training room as Pilkim went to try and close the book while Alishk kept away the demons from them and from the students to reach their safety; yet Recliff was paralyzed out of scare, he wanted to run away but something didn't let him, all he could to was to grip his wooden sword and wait, the book was almost close but then a demon escaped the grip of alishk and detected all the fear Recliff had within him and with a single jump the demon aimed at his unprotected throat with the slash of one of the claws; out of the survival instinct Recliff reached his sword and summoning his sword of light, he swung at the demon and with a strike of luck he hit the chest area of the evil creature that flinched backwards and then was sent back to the book when Pilkim managed to close it; banishing all the demons in the training hall and with not much further, that day ended as he fainted.
A month has passed since the day of the test to join the compendium and after the calm and peace returned to the academy, Recliff and his classmates were now waiting for the results of the test and now it was published in the main hall; only the first 10 would qualify and he focused on not getting his hopes up for nothing; with calm unlike his companions he went down the stairs and to the main hall where people were all pilling up to see the list of the students that passed the final test; Recliff didn't had to pile up to see the list from the place he was looking, glanced at the first 10 names, then went to sit down with somewhat of a downer face on the bench near the entrance, he didn't glanced at anyone once he found himself on the bench looking at the ground, he saw his face reflected on a puddle next to the bench and when he saw himself into his eyes he released a big sigh as he laid on his back looking at the sky.
-Fuck yeah! I did it!
