"Aye Feran! Where are you going? You still haven't finished your work at the farm!" On a small farm filled with green vegetables, a lady shouted, her voice sounded angry, however, there was a smile on her face. She looked at the departing back of a youthful figure and her smile widened. "He is just like his Father... never listens to me," She thought and then squatted down to pull out a red weed from the field.
Feran moved out of the Farm and looked back, he saw his mother started to tend to the farm again and relaxed. "Mom, I am going to practice! If I am late then Mr.Qunet would roast me alive! You just leave the weeds there, I will remove them when I come back!" He yelled and without waiting for an answer started running on an unpaved road.
Roe moved up again to look at her son, a red cactus in her hand, "He is already gone..." she murmured under her breath and sighed. And then with a smile moved back to her work. She was very happy because yesterday in the Affinity assessment test, Feran got fire affinity. Although it was not as great as mixed affinities, Fire affinity was best for her household. As she has Water Affinity, so with a combination of both the type of spells, they would be able to grow crops a lot faster.
Her water spells could nourish the crops and his fire spells could kill weeds and pests, she wouldn't have to do all this hard work the moment Feran learns some fire affinity spells.
In their small village, it was hard to spot a mage apprentice, even at level one. All of them were just uncharted magic users, that can use magic for basic needs, small spells were all they can afford to do. And Roe also doesn't have any great expectations from Feran, she just wants him to learn some basic spells so she can grow her crops effortlessly.
Feran moved on the road, as fast as he could, he didn't wanna reach late for the first magical training class held by Village Chief, Qunet. He was the only guy in their whole village that was a magic apprentice and a level two at that and according to Feran, he was great. He always helped others and even taught people magic.
"Fey! Wait for me!" suddenly a voice came from behind and he turned back to look at a skinny tanned youth at his age. He was waving his hand frantically to make Feran stop.
"Mo! you are late too? Come on, run fast or Mr Qunet will kill us!" Feran stopped at his place to wait for his friend.
Mo came near him and started taking quick deep breaths, his hands on his knees and his face red. Feran pulled his shoulder and started running, "Come on, we are almost there." after a few minutes they reached an empty ground with only one big tree in it. Three more people were already on the ground all of them, guys. No girl was present this year, as there was no girl at their age for Affinity Test.
"Aye Mo, Fae, always late as ever. But this time you are lucky as Mr Qunet has still not arrived. He is late this time." A chubby guy came into their view. He was not fat, but his build was large for his age. all of them were only sixteen years old.
"Rocky Man, we are never late," Mo said. Rocky's real name was Rauk and he was Village Chief's nephew. This year he was of the age too. The three of them were best friends in the village. They laughed and chatted for a minute more and then looked at the two other guys. Both of them looked exactly the same and had serious expressions on their faces. They were standing straight on the ground with their hands behind their back.
"Hey, guys! wanna be friends?" Rocky raised his hand and waved towards them. However, no reply came from their side. They were like a statue. Rocky then awkwardly brought his hand down again. "They are here for serious business..." He murmured.
"Are they twins?" Feran asked. He didn't saw them yesterday at the Affinity Ceremony, he clearly remembered that only three of them were assessed yesterday, so where did these two come from? And he has never seen them in this Village before. His Village was small, so they mostly know every child of their age.
"Yes, they came from the Yalford," Rocky said with a sad look. When Mo and Feran heard him their brows raised in surprise. "Yalford? Isn't that the town that got destroyed by a Terror Ghoul?" Mo said and gulped his saliva. He has heard the news about Yalford from his father. A few months ago there were reports of a Terror Goul attacking that town and it turned every one of the Town people into cannibal monsters. Families ate each other. Just thinking about it sent shivers down their spines.
Feran looked at the two again and pity appeared on his face. At first, he thought that the two guys were too arrogant for their ages, however, now that he understood their condition, he wanted to befriend them. He can't fathom, how they must be feeling. However, he knows helplessness, three years ago when his father left him and his mother alone to run away with another woman, he felt helpless as he couldn't stop him at that time. He saw his mother cry for hours at night. For some days she even stopped sleeping. At that time he decided to take care of his mother. And now he saw these two guys, he could somehow feel their helplessness.
Mo stepped forward to talk to the two guys, however, Feran stopped him by holding his hand. "Let them be, they need their time, after seeing their townspeople turning against each other it's hard to rely on someone they don't know." Mo listened to him and took in a deep breath, he then nodded. All five of them then silently waited for Village Chief to appear.