The Conflict of Magics

Magister's Market

There was a calmness hidden in the noise that surrounded the market. Usually people flee to quiet, undisturbed locations if they wish for peace and solitude but for Niles it was a moment for him to allow the noise to dissolve his thoughts. The market had been there since he was a young boy, in fact it grew along with him. His mother once told him that when he was a baby, the market had only consisted of two stores but as the years went by, it grew into a popular gathering place for all of Ryse obtaining the full protection by the provincial government. He walked along the many stands set up and he greeted most of the owners to watched him grow over the years until he came before middle-age man arranging fruits in front of his shop. He was sporting a greying set of beard and receding hairline. He had kind eyes which lit up every time he saw either his mother or Niles. He was someone that Niles could never talk back to, not only because he was a kind man with no hostility to anyone, but also Niles was particularly close to his son, Ondra.

“Good day to you, Mrendan. Caliath hails you.” Niles greeted him. The old man smiled serenely. “You seemed troubled, young Niles.” He said, Mrendan always had a sense of knowing whether a customer was distracted or happy. Niles shook his head, “Nothing to be concerned about, I’m just nervous about tomorrow.”

Mrendan nodded while proceeding to arrange the fruits. “Your mother tells me that you will reach the age of twenty tomorrow. I suppose congratulation is in order.” He said while extending his hand.

“Thank you, old man.” He replied with a firm shake.

“You’ll be a man. A real one. Have you thought about what do you want to do?”

“Yes, I want to join the Warrs.”

Mrendan nodded approvingly as he continued arranging the fruits. “Good, good. The founder of the Warrs hailed from the Rhylands so it means the Warrs is of Rhylandic origins. You’ll make your sister proud.” Niles was silent for a bit for his mind went to his sister again. Mrendan noticed it and changed the topic, “Ah, how will you go to back to the homeland?”

“By train.”

“It’s a day and a half to get here though. Why don’t you use a Refter?” Mrendan asked. Niles shrugged and pulled out the inside of his pocket, revealing his lack of finance. A Refter is a recent miracle of Efversia where allowed instantaneous travel between two portals, it was fast but cost 10 gold coins per trip, too much for him.

“Ah, well no matter how you will go, just remember old Mrendan the Fruitseller when you go far within the Warrs. Now do you need anything today?”

“Yes, my mother needs Wrangen Fruits. Can you tell me which are the freshest ones?” Niles understood a long time ago that Mrendan took immense pride in his fruits and for good reasons. Since the day his family moved in to Ryse, his fruits withstood the test of the people and proved to be have the sweetest tastes of all. One way to really make him smile was to ask his advice on how to know if a fruit is truly fresh.

A smile crossed Mrendan’s face, he took a fruit from his stand and showed it to Niles. It was green as the grass and had a perfectly round and soft shape saved for the multiple bumps with fairly sharp ends that protruded from the body. “Usually, people assume that a fruit such as this is fresh from the colour, while that is true for most cases, it does not apply to this.” Mrendan began, his voice no longer kindly but more knowledgeable. “You need to use your fingers if you want to know the freshness for this. Here.” He passed the fruit to Niles who carefully held it in his hand.

“How do I know then?” Niles asked.

“If the ends of the bump are soft, then it is fresh.”

Niles then used the end of his index finger and pressed it against one of the ends and it was solid. “It’s solid, I’m guessing this is not ripe then?”

Another smile emerged from the old man’s lips, he clearly enjoyed teaching the young ones about matters like these. He then took another Wrangen fruit and said, “Watch this.” He hovered his index finger against the side of one of the bumps and lightly pressed against it. Soon, the side collapsed, releasing the liquids inside. “You see? You must use more than just what you think, remember that young Niles.” Niles smiled, he had just received a lesson through a fruitseller.

“Thank you for the lesson, old man. Can I have five Wrangen Fruits?” Mrendan then proceeded to pack five of the prickly fruits into a wicker basket. Niles took out a single gold coin from his pocket but was halted by Mrendan. “Consider this as my gift for your birthday.” He said with another smile. “Then I thank you again, old man.” Niles replied as he took the basket from Mrendan. Before he left, he asked Mrendan. “Where is Ondra, I wonder?”

Wrinkles appeared on Mrendan’s forehead as he thought for a moment. “He left early in the morning to meet his friends. I do not know where.” There was a change in his voice when he spoke of his son. Ondra Kelt was a year older than Niles was, by all means an adult but he had yet to express a desire to pursue a life outside their settlement. Sometimes Niles could not help but wonder whether old Mrendan secretly wished that he was his son instead. “Hmm, when he comes back, please tell him that I’m looking for him.” Mrendan merely grunted, and Niles knew it was something Mrendan was not fond of discussing on. He picked up the basket and said, “I shall take my leave then, old man. Take care of yourself.”

“Wait,” Mrendan said as he turned around and fumbled around his table. Eventually he found what he was looking for and passed to Niles a smooth pebble. “Ondra said to pass this to you, as your birthday gift.” Niles’ eyes widened in surprise. “Old man, is this a Breat stone?” Old man Mrendan nodded with reluctance. “Yes, my boy found it by the luck of Calliath but instead of selling it which can aid me, he wanted to give it to you.” Niles felt his cheeks going red from shame. A Breat stone wielded energies that manifested in revealing the physical desires of a person, and it was one of the rare few minerals besides Efversia that possessed magical properties naturally. As of such, it was highly valuable. Niles wanted to reject the stone and give it to Mrendan but the old man was a proud man that would not take anything that was not meant for him, so he graciously took the stone and slotted it in his pocket.

“I thank you, old man and please pass my appreciation to Ondra as well.”

“Same to you, make us proud.” He then replied and Niles oddly felt more empowered by his words. As he walked past more shops, he came to a realisation of how much the market had grown. His family moved to Ryse when he was a very young boy but he remembered the market consisting of only two shops managed by the Zindarian clan of southern Rhylands, near the border of the Cracked Province. One sold commodities such as wooden carvings of fairies, ocean people, dragons and phoenixes while the other was old Mrendan and his young son. Over the years, more families soon moved to start a new life in the settlement and more began to open their own stalls and the area that was nestled on a flat plain near the chieftain’s own home would soon develop walls and to protect the inhabitants the more stall opened from bandits’ attacks would soon be called Magister’s Market.

Next, Niles came upon a recently opened stall but he had always liked the abundance and freshness of the flowers sold there. The owner was a young woman with a dark complexion with green eyes hailing from the desert town of Darkstar of the Cracked Province. She did not smile when she saw Niles, in fact she never smiled at anyone and Niles did not want to waste time conversing with someone who would only reply in single words. He directed her to the bunch of purple flowers at her side. Those were Drasia Flowers and they had always been Maia’s favourites. The woman silently took it and passed it to Niles who silently gave two silver coins in return. Niles nodded to her and left.

As Niles continued walking along the stalls, not desiring to buy anything else in particular, he thought about Veron and whether he was too harsh and unfair to say such things. The Warrs were widely respected not just within the empire but also to the outside Kingdom of Vularia and the Kingdom of Omal and as of such, filled with opportunities of promotion that meant either one would be worthy of great respect, but since Niles possessed Rhylandian blood, he would be eligible to be promoted the title of the Jalokien Commander which was equivalent to the second-in-command of the army beside the emperor himself. Niles’ heart beat fast the thought of such possibility, if he wanted the opportunity to do so, then he would have to throw his entire life for the service of the Warrs which meant no other form of attachment. Veron was a girl who deserved much better than what Niles’ life laid ahead, she deserved to meet a young man who had the same positivity and optimism as she had but most importantly, he could not afford to have any distractions. Niles’ mind was only occupied with the Warrs, nothing more.

His train of thought was interrupted when he bumped into another person. Both of them grunted and Niles’ basket fell, the fruits scattered and the flowers broken.

“It was my fault, I…” Niles tried to apologized, he then took a look at the person he had just collided with. It was a young man with brown hair, and fair skin. He wore a long ruby-red cloak with a dark pants and shoes. His orange eyes glistened with annoyance as he stared into Niles’.

“Be careful where you walk, boy.” He said with a small growl even the two may have been within the same age. Even with the combined noise of the market the sorcerer’s voice was clear and intimidating. Niles at first felt regret for his carelessness but once he realised that the man was a sorcerer, his regret instantly turned to hate. “And I would advise you not stand in the middle of a crowd.” Niles replied coldly. The sorcerer’ orange eyes flickered with surprise for a moment before showing a smile. “Interesting, usually unrefineds tend to apologize for their mistakes. Clearly… you are not repentant as you should.” Niles stood up, and picked up the basket, the wicker handle had been severed which would take a while to repair by hand. The sorcerer, clearly amused said to him, “It seems your flowers has paid for your own foolishness, give it to me.” His gloved hand extended to him.

Niles’ eyes remained fixed on the sorcerer, not giving him the flowers. “Do not worry, unrefined. I promise I will not do anything more than repairing it.” He said, still amused. By then, people who had been walking by began to turn their eyes on the two with some stopping to see a possible confrontation. Niles was aware of them and he thought there was no point in keeping the tension. He was ultimately just a soon-to-be 20-year-old boy with a desire to join the policing group of the empire while the man while young was a sorcerer, a man born with the innate ability to control the forces of nature and conjure fantastical elements that could either fascinate or destroy a group.

If only I have some Efversia now. I don’t stand a fighting chance without them.

He swallowed his pride and handed the flowers to the sorcerer who took it and with a single wave of his palm, willed the broken stems to erect, and with a breath caused the petals that had loosen due to the fall tighten around it. With a satisfied smile, the sorcerer tossed the flowers back to Niles who caught it just in time.

“It’s a shame for you that the gods chose not to grant your people natural powers.” The sorcerer said and there was a smug smile to the sorcerer’s lips that enraged Niles but he swallowed his pride and turned the other way and walked. As he walked, thoughts of his sister’s final words rang in his head. Sorcerers… Traitors…

The day was getting brighter but the temperature was yet cool. Niles turned left from the entrance of the market which cut across the city through the back alleys. Niles spent the majority of his childhood wandering around the hidden parts of the city with Ondra so he took it as his second home. Eventually, he came towards a slope that brought him to an open field that stretched all the way towards the highest mountains in the Newlands, Lion’s Peaks. The field itself was populated by the graves of those that had joined the gods of their religions. Since the day his family moved to the province, only a handful of the original inhabitants had passed on but the provincial government had designated this field to be known as Ground of the Ancients. Niles had been here twice a month for the past 7 years so now he could walk to her grave with his eyes closed. He walked up the slope, being careful of the loose rocks that surround him. Maia’s grave was near the river further up the field but he knew a faster way to get there. He turned right and cut across a set of graves belonging to an affluent family hailing from the Whiteharbor in Oraenil, the capital of the empire. From there, he climbed up a small cliff and continued walking straight, passing several more graves until he came across a tombstone made of marble which had the engravings:

MAIA FARTHERN

BELOVED DAUGHTER AND SISTER

36th DAY OF THE MONTH OF PRYME 1092 AL – 36th DAY OF THE MONTH OF PRYME 1112 AL

Niles gently laid down the flowers in front of the tombstone. He placed a hand on the carved symbol of Calliath at the bottom of the tombstone, and whispered a quick word of prayer. “Hello, sister.” He said quietly as he sat down cross-legged across from her. A relatively strong gust of wind came on him. He immediately pressed down on the flower and waited for the wind to pass. When it finally did, he relaxed and continued talking.

“So, I broke up with Veron. It’s not something I wanted to do be honest but if we continued, I think that… no, I’m sure that she would have broken it up with me because my time would be with the Warrs. That’s why I might as well break it off right now to make things easier for her. I… said some things to her face in front of people, I told her that she couldn’t make things easier for me so maybe the Warrs would do what she couldn’t. I know if you were alive, you would have liked Veron and you would have slapped on the head for breaking her heart but…” He stopped for a moment, taking in his words carefully.

“What happened to you, all those years ago have haunted my dreams since I was still that small, scared boy always clinging to you. Your last words, you said that the sorcerers were traitors. I spent months trying to understand what you meant because I couldn’t believe that the sorcerers were traitors, they were the first people to stand by us after the Iarians and they helped build the empire but yet… it doesn’t make any sense, they possess abilities that could have destroyed us all if they chose to but yet they helped us, agreed to be ruled by us without powers. That’s why I decided to join the Warrs. It was always your dream to join the Warrs but the reason I’m doing has nothing to do with yours. If what you said is correct, then I have to let them know. Someone, someone inside must listen to me.” Niles did not realise that the more he spoke, the louder he had become because the next thing he knew he was standing up. He gave a sigh and left his sister’s grave back home.