Even though it was Rowan's birthday, he still had his daily chores. Not only he had to do his chores, but he also had to do Yui's, too. Rowan felt furious that Yui gets all the attention from everyone in Arkfield. When they were younger and in the same class, Rowan's teacher always praised Yui and completely ignored Rowan. Maybe I'm just defective and can't use magic at all. Maybe Yui was destined for greatness and I'm destined for insignificance. But I'm still going to try my hardest and rise up to the best wizard in Keleth, thought Rowan.
It was a bright, luminous day. The sky was clear with only a speckle of clouds. A cool breeze made the grass wave back and forth. Arkfield is known for its sunny weather and farms. The large town thrived because of the crops.
"Stop standing around and do some work," said a voice.
Rowan glanced behind him. It was his friend, Hiromi. They've been friends since they were seven. Hiromi's black hair is in a bob style and her pale white skin stands out because she always wore black. She was very easy-going and friendly, but she was also clever.
"Why should I do work? It's my birthday today," complained Rowan.
"Looks likes your dad gave you Yui's chores, too, huh?" said Hiromi.
"Don't call him my dad. He isn't my dad."
"Chill, Rowan."
"It's always like this. I always get left behind because of Yui." He then started to do his chores. First on the list is laundry. He had to wash everyone's clothes and dry them. Rowan already got the first one done, so he needs to do the latter. He put all the clothes in a basket and dried them on a string.
"Need some help?" offered Hiromi.
"I'm good. You should just go and hang out with Yui already."
"I don't even know where she is."
"What is she even doing anyway?"
"Who knows? Maybe she's just preparing for the grimoire ceremony." Hiromi was only one month older than Rowan and already received her grimoire. "You should probably finish your chores as fast as you can."
It was already late afternoon when Rowan finished his chores. The sun is still at its peak. I'm going to be late for the grimoire ceremony, panicked Rowan. He rushed to the church. The grimoire ceremony happens every last day of each month. If Rowan missed it, then he will have to wait for next month to obtain his grimoire. He ran as fast as he could and bumped into someone.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"Rowan?" Is that you?" It was Yui.
"Phew! I thought I was late for real!"
"Actually, the ceremony just ended," said Yui.
"WHAT?!"
"Just kidding, you idiot. You're such a moron. You're just in time. Let's go."
Rowan tried to retrain his rage. His sister just made a fool out of him. He reluctantly followed Yui into the church. The church was massive. The church was made up of andesite and there were colorful stained glass windows. The inside of the church was also grand. The chandeliers glittered with a bright yellow light and people the same age as Rowan sat between the pews.
People were talking amongst each other and it looked like they were having fun. Rowan and Yui sat at the end. With no one to talk to, they just sat in awkward silence. All of a sudden, a group of people came up to them.
"Hey, Yui. You should sit next to us. I'll invite you to dinner after we're done the ceremony. Wouldn't want to sit next to this loser, am I right?" It was Hudson Burton. He's popular around the school and his parents are wealthy.
Rowan stood up and said, "Back off, Hudson, or else I'll beat the hell out of you."
"You? Don't make me laugh. You don't even have magic and you want to go against me and my gan?"
"You little-" Rowan was about to raise his fist but was cut off by Yui. She put her hand in front of Rowan and signaled him to calm down.
"I actually do want to sit next to this loser. But thanks for the offer," said Yui.
Hudson stiffened and replied, "Anything's fine with you. Let's go guys."
Hudson's group left in silence. Rowan thought that Hudson looked back and glared at him, but it was probably his imagination.
"You couldn't even beat one person even if you wanted to," Yui finally said.
"I hate that guy."
"I don't care about your relationship with him."
"So why did you defend me?"
"Because I wanted to."
"That was not a very good excuse."
"Shut your mouth. The ceremony's about to begin."
Both of them looked up to the altar and saw the priest. Behind the altar, there was a giant bookshelf filled with books. The priest was the one to present them to their grimoires, but all of the spellbooks look the same. They were all white and the same size, too.
"Why do the grimoires look all the same? I thought each person has their own special one," asked Rowan.
"Grimoires without a master is called a Null grimoire. They have nothing written in them and no powers until the priest presents it to a person. Once the priest calls the person's name, a Null grimoire will come to the person and change its color and shape," explained Yui.
"You really know a lot about everything."
"I guess so."
"Hello everyone, and welcome to the April grimoire ceremony. My name is Father Anthony, and I will be presenting your grimoires today. I see that we have a lot of young children ready to receive their grimoires. My surmise is that you will be attempting to join the Vlares Academy. Here's my advice: don't underestimate the exam. I wish you all good luck to the people that are undertaking the exam.
"I will call the names in alphabetical order. You will come to the altar and I shall give you your blessing and when you receive your grimoire, you will sit back down until everyone is done. Now, shall we begin the ceremony?"
There was a ripple of nervous murmurs around the church. One by one, Father Anthony started calling the names.
"Ackerman, Daichi."
Daichi came up to the altar. Father Anthony blessed him and a grimoire suddenly started gliding in the air and rested on Daichi's hand. The Null grimoire turned brown.
"An earth user," said Father Anthony. "May I wish you success in your life."
Daichi had a wide grin on his face and walked to his seat. Father Anothy kept calling the names.
"Adachi, Arnold. Air."
"Adachi, Leo. Air."
"Adams, Ganael. Water."
"Clarke, Emiko. Earth."
"Fujimoto, David. Fire."
"Hughes, Alex. Air."
"Komatsu, Kibo. Fire."
The name-calling seemed to never end, but Father Anthony finally said that the ceremony has concluded.
Rowan glanced at Yui and whispered, "They didn't call our names yet!"
As if Father Anthony was listening to Rowan, he said, "Oh, I made mistake. There are two more people that haven't received their grimoires yet. Let's see... oh yes, Yui Ashikaga."
Yui stood up from her seat and walked silently to the altar. Everyone looked behind them and saw Yui. They were whispering, "It's her!", "She's actually pretty talented.", "Did you hear that she burned down her house when she was only five years old?", "She even looks amazing!"
Father Anthony blessed Yui and signaled her to come closer to the grimoire bookshelf. A black grimoire floated up in the air and went to Yui. Immediately after it was in Yui's hand, the black grimoire turned to a different color. The grimoire suddenly cracked. The black color of the grimoire suddenly disappeared and under the black surface, a white grimoire appeared. The white grimoire had an elegant design with a flame symbol in the middle of the book.
Father Anthony's eyes went wide. There was not a single noise for almost a single minute. Finally, Father Anthony finally said something.
"Oh my. A white grimoire! I've never seen a white grimoire in my entire life. You are truly blessed by the celestials, Yui Ashikaga." Father Anthony was bewildered.
There was another wave of whispers and murmurs across the pews. Yui walked gracefully back to her seat next to Rowan. She sat down without a word and did not even look at Rowan. The startled priest finally came back to his senses and called up Rowan.
"Ahem. Rowan Ashikaga."
Rowan, who was also astonished by Yui's grimoire, got up from his pew and walked to the priest. He blessed him and muttered something to himself. "This child's chi is weak. Is he really her brother?"
Rowan pretended that he didn't hear what Father Anthony said. He then gestured him to come more close like Yui. Unlike the other people, his grimoire appeared out of thin air. The grimoire did not come from the bookshelf; it came from nowhere. And what's more mysterious about the grimoire was that it did not change its color. The only symbol on the grimoire was a six-corner star with a circle surrounding it.
"Haha! Even the grimoire rejected that loser! With weak magic, not even a grimoire will accept him!" said Hudson.
Everyone in the church started laughing. Rowan's face was grim, he was so disappointed in himself. He then came down from the altar with his black grimoire and opened the front door of the church and rushed home, with bitterness in his heart.