"One, two, three!" the brothers groaned in unison, pushing the giant cauldron into the nearest wall, exposing the Neversmoke rocks.
Frank crouched down, stored some of the coal-like rocks in a small sack, and then put the sack on a counter. He nodded at Anton, who swept the little stones that had burned too brightly, revealing a trapdoor of white metal with a phoenix inscribed.
Frank inserted a key and unlocked the trapdoor, which busted open. It revealed stone stairs that descended into pure darkness. Frank started walking down the steps, and Anton followed in his stride.
As they descended the stairs, the shadows seemed to close in from all sides, becoming darker and darker to the point where the two couldn't even see anything. They kept going through, feeling the walls and going carefully.
When Frank's footsteps echoed hollowly on the stone, he clapped twice. Just as the echoes from the claps traveled across the room, torches lit the room in sequence, revealing the true nature of the space they were in.
It was a room made of the purest marble, with torches spread across the wall. The ground was shiny and laminated, softly reflecting the orange glow from the fires. In the middle of the room, an ocean-blue gemstone about the size of Anton spun softly above the ground. Inscribed in the gemstone were dozens of magic circles, runes, and archaic writings, all of which shone a dark red.
"I would never have gotten tired of this vision," said Anton, a tint of regret in his voice. "we still haven't finished studying all of this magic."
Frank patted his little brother on the head. "Me neither, brother. Me neither."
Anton sighed, walked to the floating gemstone, and then looked at Frank. "Ready?"
"Ready."
Anton took a scroll from his pocket and unrolled it. He began reading from it. "O' great spirits of the earth, return that which has once been part of Gaia to the grasp of the elderly titans, and let nature take its course. O' great spirits of earth, heed my call, obey my command,"
Frank took a small metal box from his backpack and opened it. The box was entirely marked with many, many drawings of the same rune, a hexagon with an eye inside it.
"Selum!" Anton shouted; a magical circle shaped like a square filled with hexagons appeared on the floor below the gemstone and shone a bright green light. The gemstone started collapsing, causing blasts of mana, which blew the lights from the torches out and shook the ground.
The gemstone turned into a small blue crystal, clean of the old markings, which fell onto the ground with a clink. It radiated a deep tone of blue, which washed the entire room in its bright glow. Frank picked the crystal up from the ground and put it inside the box, causing the lid to shut down. The many runes outside the box started to faintly shine with the same deep blue hue. Frank picked up the box and stored it in his backpack.
The torches faded out. Anton picked up his staff from the ground. He whispered, "Lumia," causing the room to brighten with a white light emanating from his staff's crystal.
"I wonder what father would say," Anton muttered, looking at the metal box with glowing marks. "This Hrystal must have been pretty expensive."
"At least we didn't destroy it like I suggested," Frank commented, blankly staring at the now-empty center of the room. "An era just ended, huh?"
"Yeah." The white-haired boy murmured, holding his staff tight. "But we have to move on. I think that's what they would have wanted."
A rumbling sound quickly interrupted their conversation, with a rock rolling down the stairs.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about that." Frank quickly stored the box in his backpack and dashed up the stairs, followed by a confused Anton.
They quickly left the trapdoor to reveal the house crumbling into pieces, with cracks appearing on every wall, floor, and ceiling. Frank quickly took the sack of neversmokes in one arm, his brother in another, and ran off the house.
Just as he stepped out of the front door, the house collapsed into itself with a deep rumble, all the structures flying inwards, crushing each other until all that remained was a small sphere of metal, which quickly dissipated into the air, leaving behind only a grassy hill. They both stared at the now empty plot of land that stood where their house once was. The place where they spent all of their lives was gone in the blink of an eye. They stood still for a minute, simply watching as the moon shined on the patch of grass. What a long minute that was.
"Let's go. We have a ship to catch!" Anton shouted, putting his backpack on and picking his bags up.
Frank nodded and turned around. "Towards a brighter future, brother."
"Yeah!" Anton smiled.
--- --- ---
"Aren't you hot in these clothes?" Frank shouted as they ran across the streets of Zerfaria. The sun still hadn't risen, and thus the streets were empty, save for a few other students they came across along the way, dressed in white robes and the distinctive armband with Astra's emblem, the head of an ancient blue dragon imprinted on it.
Anton and Frank still didn't have these armbands, nor did they have the uniform. Anton was wearing his usual attire, which somehow stood out: A black shirt and black pants, a red scarf, and a white cloak that looked decades older and bigger than him. Frank was dressed more commonly, if you could call it that, but still had his trusty utility belt, holding more iron vials filled with potions than buttons on his shirt.
"Yes, but the ship departs from the dock at 6, and if my senses do not betray me," Anton shouted back, looking at the streets and the sky. "It is now somewhere around 5:30!"
Frank wanted to sigh and complain but couldn't in the heat of the moment. He jumped over a relatively big rock dislodged from the street and kept running.
They ran across the city toward the hills, stopping at none of their usual shops for their daily routine due to Frank insisting on packing them the day before. Frank's obsession with keeping everything planned usually would grind up on Anton, him wanting to always use the time he had to further his studies. Still, as they ran through the city that slowly woke up, he realized it was good that they had packed everything before.
Just as Anton ran out of breath, they finally turned the corner into the docks. That place was simply a sight to behold.
The Air Docks of Zerferia were the city's crown, standing at the tallest hill. Magnificent columns the size of whole buildings rose from the middle of the streets to support the platforms extending from the mountain, placing large shadows onto the city. Stairs and bridges opened away from those platforms, climbing into the air. Anton felt his breath taken away as he eyed the horizon.
"Just in time, brother.!" He pointed at the airship just arriving.
A monstrous wooden beast parted the clouds, opening a hole in the sky that the sun rose through, almost blinding every soul that stared at the ship and descending towards the platforms. It was a gigantic galleon without sails, except for a flag holding the emblem of the Astra house, arriving with a thunderous roar that rattled the windows of the homes below. It floated slowly into position, docking into one of the platforms. You could see the structure bend a bit as it took the ship's total weight into support.
"Wow…" Anton managed to croak out, staring at the transport. "I can't believe… anything about this, really."
"Well, you better start believing soon; we have a ship to board," Frank threw the bag over his shoulder and started walking towards the ship. Anton soon followed suit.
A guard walked down the stairs, which held the way into the ship, wearing a black robe with one of the armbands, but in a slightly different color, the dragon on the emblem now green.
Frank took out two tickets from his pouch and gave them to the guard standing in front of the stairs, a line forming behind them. The guard looked at the tickets and then looked at the brothers, checking for the armbands. "First year at the university, I guess?"
"Yes," Frank answered.
"And you still didn't receive the armband, I guess?"
"Yes," Frank answered again.
"And you didn't receive it by mail, I guess?"
"No."
"And yo-" The guard smirked as he was going to ask again, but he was quickly interrupted.
"Here's our registration letter." Frank declared as he presented two beautifully written scrolls sent by the A.M.U.
The guard grabbed the letters from Frank, and his eyes widened as he read through the paper.
"I saw your father enter this same boat long ago." The guard said with a nostalgic smile. "Good luck on your journey, boys."
Anton felt a tug of curiosity and anger. His father lived in Zerferia before? Why does everyone call him a 'boy'? And his older brother was clearly no longer just a child. Oh well.
The ship's interior was as beautiful as the outside, with a carpet rolled down over a spacious hallway made of fine wood. Doors with handles of gold peppered the left wall of the corridor, and the right had windows adorned with tiny runes, presumably resistance enchantments.
They searched for their room and entered it once they found it. It had a desk, a chair, a chest, and a bunk bed. The brothers threw their possessions on the chest, sighing in relief.
"How long was this trip going to take again?" Frank asked as he lay down in one of the beds.
"I think the mail mentioned 12 hours, but I am unsure. We should arrive at the university by sunset. " Anton answered, retrieving his bag from the chest and setting writing material on the desk. "I wonder why they only open their doors on this specific day and time of the year."
"Well, I guess it's for security? Although I couldn't imagine many reasons to implement such a system." Frank put his arm over his eyes. "I'm gonna sleep, don't bother me."
"Aye, aye, captain." Anton put his robe on the chair and sat down, staring at the scrolls on the desk.
Anton looked at his brother, who now had quickly fallen asleep. Such an ability was in the Voya family, although not in the blood. He looked at the scrolls again and started to think.
'Well. So this is it.'
'I'm going to study at Astra Magical University.'
'The most famous University in Gaia. I wonder why Father wanted us to study here. He didn't talk about his past much, or perhaps I just don't remember.'
'No, I'm certain I would remember. It is a sin not to remember.'
'I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do going forward.'
'I guess I'm just here for the knowledge?'
'Frank already knows what he wants to do. He desires to become as great as the alchemists you read about in books. He already tells me that. To become as great as Flamel, Zozimos, or Avicenna. I envy that in him. Knowing he wants to do already.'
'I think I'll have to search for a purpose later.'
'Let's list what I want to do to begin with.'
'I want to discover what happened to father.'
'I want to become a spellcraft and sell my own scrolls.'
'I want to learn a new path besides the ones I know now.'
'Pyromancy is great, but I desire more. Astramancy, or Aeromancy, would synergize well with the ones I know.'
'I also desire to learn more about Pyromancy.'
'Perhaps I will be able to discover something this year?'
'I want to assist Frank as well.'
'I want to make friends too. Actually, scratch that, who needs friends when you have books?'
'Well, I could leave that for another day, perhaps.'
'I wonder what the University is like.'
'I wonder how their library is.'
'I wonder if they have grimoires of the old, written in tongues older than Greek.'
'I wonder if the teachers are as good as the reputation they garner.'
'I wonder how much exists in this world that I have not discovered about yet.'
'I wonder if father would be proud.'
Anton stood up and put the blank scroll back into his backpack alongside the writing materials. He stared blankly through the window in the cabin, his mind somewhere else. The ship took off in the direction of the flying school.