Kalipai Town, Golden Plains, Tryphon Kingdom.

In the southern outskirts of the continent lay a vast expanse of land where fields upon fields of crops are grown, their golden and verdant stalks swaying to the tune of the winds borne from the salty breeze of Timog Sea down south.

This is the Hayahay Plains, the agricultural and livestock center of the kingdom of Tryphon.

Sharing borders with the kingdom's most iconic capital city, Margniouse, one would think that the urbanization would have seeped into the Plains, but the sharp peaks and towering cliffs of the Avlanch Mountains made for little interaction between the capital and these fields. As a result, ever since the kingdom was established, the rural spirit of the Plains have continued throughout the centuries, such that pride for their simplistic lifestyle had taken root in the hearts of the residents and farmers.

The Hayahay Plains encompassed several towns. Animal farms and fruit farms littered the plains from time to time, but the crops still dominated the scenery like an enormous tapestry of green and gold threads. Birds of different species could be seen zooming through the vast blue skies overhead, and cows, goats, and sheep grazed lazily on grass wet with mildew.

It was a peaceful day. Sugod--a residential town near the foot of the Avlanch Mountains--was tranquil, like every other town in the vast Plains. With Atmos starkly lighting up the sky, the tree leaves rustling, and the birds chirping, everything was calm and perfect. Everyone was going about their day with contentment in their hearts--except for a red-faced plump woman, who remembered that a certain somebody needed to be present in a certain place attending a certain special occasion.

"ANICCAAAAAA!"

Disturbed by her loud, shrill cry, a flock of birds immediately took flight from the trees within the block.

The sound of gentle yet urgent murmurs grew in volume as startled people expressed their surprise and began inquiring about the sudden shriek.

"ANICCA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL SLEEPING FOR?!"

Passers-by peered into her direction and, realizing that 'it' was happening again, shook their head slowly. Some people rolled their eyes, some looked half-amused, while majority broke into grins and chuckles. Afterwards, they went about their day, giving little heed to the fuming lady, her loud thumps booming as she stormed through the wooden stairs.

"Madamme Jani, what's wrong?" came a weak voice as the door closest to the top of the stairs opened, revealing a young girl with disheveled red-brown hair. By the way she yawned and rubbed her droopy eyes, it was obvious that this girl only just woke up, probably by the loud yell earlier. She looked to be around twenty, but the way she moved belied it.

"You girl--!" the plump lady sighed, why was this amazing girl always so careless? Such a waste of talent!

"It's the princess's Naming Day! Why do you always forget important things like this! Do you intend to keep the King and Queen waiting?" Madamme Jani burst out.

At this, the young girl suddenly gasped, her eyes wide in alarm. "I forgot!"

"Yeah, you did! Now go wash your face and fix yourself!" Madamme Jani ordered as she went inside the room. "Clanid, get me a basin of water up here!" She called.

"Yes ma'am," came a little boy's reply from downstairs. The girl was now sitting by the mirror as she frantically brushed her hair. She was so anxious her hands were shaking.

Madamme Jani opened the girl's closet. She frowned in disapproval as she saw the forest of garments piled up on top of the other. "Why is your closet so messy! What's the use of hangers if you don't even hang your clothes!" She complained, crouching as she went to pick around the mess of fabric.

"Sorry," the girl--Anicca--replied tensely. Her hair just would not obey! Why?! She groaned.

"Which one? The blue velvet robe? What about the stoles? Green? Wait. WHERE IS YOUR CLASP?!" Madamme Jani massacred Anicca with questions. The last one sounded more of a reprimand rather than a question.

"Yes, blue velvet. Stoles are the silver-green one, not that pure green. My clasp..." Anicca replied, trailing off. She held her hair with one hand, while with the other, she went patting around the table in front of her, saying, "I put it here somewhere..."

A few pats and opened drawers later, she managed to find her silver clasp. "Found it!" she declared, holding it up for Madamme Jani to see.

The clasp had a circular outline, embedded along its edges were the words "Magic Wielders' Circle" on top, and "Grand Mage" below. The color of the letters constantly change as if behind it was an ever-flowing kaleidoscope.

In the center, it had a star with each of its triangular points inlaid respectively with amethyst, ruby, turquoise, emerald, and jet gemstones. These gems were shaped into triangular points and arcane symbols were engraved on them. The tips of the star points were tangent to the outer circle where the words were written. The pentagonal center of the star was hollow, as well as the space between the points.

The clasp was about half the size of Anicca's palm. Three silver lines shaped like tiny feathers decorated each of the left and right sides. Even though it was a clasp, it did not have a pin behind. Instead, Anicca always used magic for it to clasp together fabrics. Originally, it is paired together with another circular ring. The ring was supposed to fit into the circular outline at the back and when twisted, it would fasten the fabric caught in between.

However, Anicca...this girl was the embodiment of carelessness. She knew she still had the ring somewhere, but she could not find it so she often just used magic to keep it attached.

Luckily today, Madamme Jani found the back ring as she rummaged through the pile of unorganized garment!

Unluckily, however, this mother-like landlady of hers saw only the ring and could not find the clasp itself.

The lady was furious. The clasp was proof of Anicca's status and identity in the Magic Wielders' Circle. It was very important! How could this girl not treat such precious item with care? This was why she yelled at Anicca when she asked for the clasp. It was a question at the same time a reprimand.

'This girl would just never change!' Madamme Jani sighed heavily as she stood to pry the clasp out of Anicca's fingers.

"Here's the water," A little boy then entered the room, putting down a basin of water and a fresh new towel by the table near the door. He was prim and proper, a complete opposite to this older sister in front of him. He adjusted the glasses sitting on his little nose as he said, "It's pretty late. Seeing Atmos high up, I think it's already noon. You must hurry, sister Anicca."

Madamme Jani sighed heavily again. "Listen. Listen! How is little Clanid who is younger than you even more mindful of things?"

Anicca pouted. Seeing the embarrassed look on the young lady's face, Clanid spoke, "Sister Anicca is just always too busy thinking of magical theories. She is just stressed."

Madamme Jani and Anicca wanted to cry. Little Clanid was too precious!

"Is there anything else you need? Should I go fetch a carriage?" Clanid asked.

"Thank you, Clanid, but seeing as it's late already, I think I'd just fly over to the palace," Anicca replied and proceeded to wash her face.

"Oh, okay, I'll go look for your wand then!" Clanid said as he went to pry the sheets off of her bed and rummaged through her several stuff. He already knew Anicca probably would not have remembered where she placed her wand. Although she could call for it, if the wand was trapped in a closed space, there was no way it would reach her.

"I think it's not here. I'll go look for it in your study while you change," Clanid said after a while of searching. In the span of mere minutes, he had tidied up her bed and arranged items in the drawers. Clanid stood up.

"Oh, I'll call for the wand so you can find it easily. Also, there's a beautiful blue orb in the study, it's my gift for the princess. Can you fetch it for me too?" Anicca called.

"Sure," Clanid nodded, went for the door and closed it behind him as he headed for the study where piles of books, scrolls and writing paraphernalia littered. Although it was messy, he did not dare rearrange the stuff too much because it might confuse Anicca when she returns to studying. He just picked up pens and a few scattered blank papers. In the far low corner of the room, he finally found the wand repeatedly knocking its tip on the wall adjacent to Anicca's bedroom as it tried to go to its wielder. He smiled at the funny sight, and went around the room to look for the orb.

Anicca just described it as "beautiful blue orb" but as far as Clanid was concerned, every orb he had seen Anicca made was beautiful, so he was thinking maybe he should go back and ask her more about it. However, he found that he did not need to do so, because there was only one filled orb among the rows of potions, beakers and bowls. There were several other orbs, but they were currently empty. The blue orb, however, was indeed beautiful. A swirling sea of shades and tints of blue moved around the orb, creating mesmerizing details. Clanid guessed maybe creating this was why sister Anicca slept so late last night, though it was already a norm for her to sleep late. He took the orb and went to nudge the wand into the right direction.

Seeing as Anicca was not having much progress fixing her hair, Madamme Jani called Anicca to get dressed quick so she could fix her hair up for her. As Madamme Jani was finished tying up her hair, her wand came rushing into the room and gently laid itself in front of her. Clanid came a few seconds later with the orb. He had just been nudging the wand when it encountered obstacles and corners, letting it fly by itself towards its owner.

"Okay, up you go now," Madamme Jani beckoned. When Anicca stood up, her mage robes finally gave her the air of a grand mage. The robes had silver lining and doubled as a cloak and had a hood which Anicca pulled up over her head. Madamme Jani took the clasp and the back ring and fastened Anicca's robes, saying, "Straighten up, you're a grand mage for Atmos's sake! When you enter the palace halls, don't forget to greet the King and Queen, you hear?"

Anicca nodded. Madamme Jani took a step back and properly assessed her appearance, nodding in approval. Clanid simply grinned from ear to ear in excitement. As collected and mature as he was, he was still a little boy who admired mages. He knew what was coming and was excited to see Anicca do magic.

Anicca fetched her wand and pushed back the curtains covering the large window in her room. "Narci, wake up," she commanded as she tapped her wand with her forefinger. It was not an incantation, it was just that she treated her wand like a sentient partner.

Where her fingertip touched the wand, its wood grains glowed blue. The blue glow continued to flow along the grains as the wand grew thick and long. A few branches and twigs grew on one end, and now the whole wand had taken the shape of a broom. Clanid even grinned wider at this transformation. He'll never get tire of seeing it.

Two stout branches grew on either side where the twigs met with the long pole. It was supposed to be footholds for when the rider strides over the broom's pole. However, some often prefer sitting off to one side of the broom since it's easier to get off from this position, given that mage robes were too long. Anicca was the same. She sat to one side and gripped the pole on either side of her. She looked at the end of the twigs and when she saw that they had ignited and cindered well, she nodded to herself.

"I'll be off now," she said, smiling to Madamme Jani and Clanid.

"Take care, sister Anicca!" Clanid said.

"Okay, okay. Better fly now. The palace gates will close soon," Madamme Jani remarked.

Anicca lightly kicked the floor and braced herself. The amber glow from the cinders on the twigs brightened and crawled up a bit before the broom swiftly shot out of the window, carrying Anicca's "Woohoo!" through the air.

"It's so amazing!" Clanid commented, still grinning.

"She said 'Woohoo,'" Madamme Jani said, chuckling, "she never grows up, really."

"I've been studying the elementary theories," Clanid said hopefully, gazing at Anicca's flying figure, "You think I could be like her, Ma'am?"

Madamme Jani shook her head slowly, "I'll never know, little Clanid. She's a genius, getting the highest rank of magic-wielders at such a young age. Though I am confident you will be just as outstanding a mage, I hope you don't end up as careless as her."

Clanid laughed, "But she's the most talented magic-wielder! I wanna be like her."

o0o0o0o

As the twigs on her broom continued to burn, Anicca zoomed though the vast azure skies. She glanced down to her hometown. She loved flying. She felt so free doing it. Most of all, she could see the wonderful view below. Her most favorite sight was her beloved town. It might be quite tedious to travel to the capital, but that was resolved by flying. So she stayed in this rural area instead of taking up the Circle's offer of providing her quarters within the capital.

People often thought she was being humble, but to be honest, she just wanted the peaceful life in the countryside without having to get tangled up in the politics of the capital. She looked back to all those years she spent studying in the Avlanch Magic Academy just beyond the Avlanch Mountains. Politics had once threatened her studies in the academy. Good thing the headmaster was hard-headed and could not be swayed. He was the one to warn Anicca that as a great genius of magic, she would be troubled by several parties to side with them. He told her to be wary.

During graduation ceremonies, the royalty, the nobles, and the various scholars and authorities in magic were always invited by the headmaster. There were always only a few of them who attended, and all of those were close friends and fellow scholars of the headmaster.

However, Anicca had attracted attention when she was just studying. When she graduated, everyone the headmaster invited attended. There were even people who came without being invited.

As per graduation tradition, the top students were given the chance to manifest their talents after the ceremony. Everyone in Anicca's batch performed well, and this had opened the eyes of the people who thought Avlanch Magic Academy was just a rural academy for peasants.

Anicca was the last to perform that year, since she was the top student. When Anicca's turn came, she simply grinned innocently and began her performance. She was excited to do so, and had actually been preparing for it for quite a while.

That was the day the nobles realized she was far beyond their petty politics. She rekindled boundless inspiration in the eyes of the mages, and struck fear in the hearts of nobles.

She was nature. She was spirit. She was freedom. She was majesty. She was power. She was without a doubt the most talented magic-wielder.

She WAS.