Magicfall: A Study in Magic Chapter Three: Turning Night That night, I heard a knock at the door. I had spent the evening practicing magic, and calculating my odds of winning the Night Trial. The Trial is simple. The contestants are put in an arena, and there are five pendants on top of a pillar. The first five to obtain the pendants are admitted to Euclyptia and given a complete magical education; basically meaning you’re guaranteed a good job. And considering I can only freeze time, I don’t have that great of a chance. I sighed, heading to the door. I opened it to find my best friend almost shaking with excitement. “Sylvi!” “Tourmaline, you will not guess what just happened!” Sylvi exclaimed. I smiled wryly. “Did you get invited to the Night Trial?” Sylvi blinked. “Did you get invited too?” I laughed. “Yeah, by these two mages, um, I think their names were James and Oleander… Wood?” “They visited me too! And I got this pendant!” She held up a sparkling pendant, identical to mine. “I also got one!” I replied, smiling. Then, realizing she was standing out in the cold, I quickly said, ”Oh, come in!” I stepped aside to let her in, and we headed up to my room. I told her about the branded criminal; how I had freezed time. “Wow. That was amazing, Tourmaline!” Sylvi was blown away by my tale. “Thanks. So, do you think we could win? Y’know, the Night Trial?” She looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. What are the rules exactly?” “Uh, not sure. Let me check.” I headed over to my bookshelf and picked up a book titled Night and Stars. Pretty much everyone had this book. It taught basic magic theory, the creatures of the realm, had tons of maps, and had a super boring section about magical history, which was “education required”. The spine was slightly cracked because of the numerous times I had read it. I opened it and flipped to the Night Trial section. “It says… you are not allowed to physically harm other contestants, or bring in a weapon. All magic is allowed. Only mages are allowed to compete. Cheating in any way is obviously prohibited. Once a pendant is taken from the pillar then it can’t be retaken, and it happens every moon*.” “Seems easy enough. How many people can compete?” Sylvi inquired. I skimmed through it, making mental notes of all the rules. “Okay, so they try to collect around fifteen mages to compete, so one-third of the competitors will be admitted.” “Guess what?” “Uh… what?” “I heard a rumor that the apprentice themselves will be competing in this moon’s Night Trial.” I sat straight up. “The apprentice? Like as in the future leader of the entire realm?!” The apprentice was a young mage personally trained by the leader of our realm, Lord Aurelian. The apprentice was supposed to be one of the strongest mages, and would become leader when Lord Aurelian died. And then our new leader would eventually pick their own apprentice. I knew a new one had been chosen, but I was surprised that whoever it was would have to compete. Surely they would already have a spot in Euclyptia? “Who is the new apprentice?” Sylvi shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t think they’re going to announce it until after the trial’s over.” “What if the apprentice doesn’t make the cut?” I asked. Sylvi snorted. “Like that would ever happen. They’re going to have lots of training, plus the most powerful magic.” Well, there went another pendant. Whatever. We could still win, and prove we weren't just “magicless peasants”. I looked Sylvi straight in the eye. “Then I guess we’ll just have to work harder.” (Continue Below)
___________ Needless to say, my parents were not exceptionally happy when they noticed my pendant, and even less so when I explained to them about me competing in the Night Trial. But they agreed to take me, and said that I could visit whenever I wanted. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Me and Sylvi practiced a lot, since Mother and Father let me take a break from lessons. Sylvi’s parents said the same. I’d only met Sylvi’s parents a couple of times. Their names were Aven and Kira Wiren, and they were… intense, to say the least. No magic, but they didn’t despise it. In fact, they were ecstatic to learn of Sylvi’s magic. Even to the point of pressuring her. But anyway, it gave us plenty of time to hone our abilities. It did take a little while to convince Sylvi that the Shrouded Forest wasn’t some deathtrap. “Ready for another round?” Sylvi asked, cutting me out of my thoughts. I nodded. “Let’s do it.” We were practicing in a shady meadow (still on the outskirts in case the “monster” got us). Sylvi put her hands together and with a quick crackle generated lightning, which spiked through the air. I reached out and froze time, and the lightning bolt hung in midair. It would be nice if I had an offensive ability like hers. I should have been paying more attention because Sylvi instantaneously shot another bolt that would have electrocuted me had it not been for the frozen time surrounding me. But I was losing my hold, and Sylvi’s third bolt cut straight through, forcing me to dive to the ground to avoid it. I dived forward and froze the time around Sylvi, stopping her from generating anymore electricity. I equipped my dagger that Father gave to me and held it close to her throat and unfroze time. “Well, you would be dead,” I said, slicing my blade slowly near her throat. She gave me an annoyed look. “Fine, you win this one. But don’t forget I beat you last time.” “No promises, because your win is pretty forgettable next to mine.” “Whatever. Want to see my new weapon?” I was officially intrigued. “Okay, show me.” Sylvi pulled a rather large package out of the bag she brought. “It was specially designed.” I gasped as she unfolded the package and pulled out the most beautiful bow I had ever seen. It was pink and silver, matching Sylvi’s hair. The bow was made out of some kind of metal with a hard string and all kinds of accessories. It was a far cry from your everyday wooden bow. “Stars…” I gently touched it. This had to cost over a hundred vales. “I named it Etheris.” I grinned. “After the western star, I’m guessing?” There were four major stars that marked east, west, north, and south in our realm: Celestra (north), Auroran (south), Etheris (west), and Euclyptia (east). Which is how we got the name for our academy, of course. “Yes, that and after Etheris Frost.” I laughed. Etheris Frost was the main character from Sylvi’s favorite book series, The Rise of Stars. I had only ever read the first book, but apparently Etheris was secretly a “starkeeper”, which gave her all kinds of new powers. Sylvi kept nagging me to keep reading it, which I might have if she hadn’t spoiled everything (secretly a starkeeper? Really? I wasn’t supposed to find that our until book twelve!). I personally like her twin brother, Talis, better. (So what is he was the villain? Still a great character!) “It’s getting dark out. I’ll see you tomorrow, Tourmaline!” Sylvi headed back to the Zethrena, with me following. I gulped. Dark already? Training had taken my mind off it, but today was Blacknight, almost exactly a week from James giving me my pendant. Tomorrow was Moonnight, the day of the Night Trial. Chapter Four: It's a work in progress.
