"Don't forget your chores again!" Yelled Wagner's mother, fed up with Wagner as he continued to skip his daily tasks around the farm for the thousandth time. Wagner's mother Angela was a farmer since birth and will most likely be one until death. Just like Wagner's father Thomas who was not from the same village but had also only ever been a famer. Every person in the family was very plain looking, including Wagner's younger sister Ilya, and even the whole village. Nobody stood out and nobody was all that special or had any real magic ability to speak of.
"I promise I will get them done this time, just one more hour of training." Wagner shouted back thinking about how he could avoid his work for one more day.
"I don't understand what training you need to do to be a farmer." Scoffed Ilya who didn't understand what kind of dream someone who has only ever live a simple life could dream of.
"It's because I don't want to be a farmer that I have to train." Wagner frustratedly retorted.
"Wagner, I get that the books in the library have inspired you , but you have to realize at some point that, that kind of life is not meant for you. You were born a farmer, so it might help if you actually learn to be a farmer and come out to work." Firmly stated Angela who was secretly rolling her eyes.
"Mom, if my future is to be a farmer then I might as well have no future," Wagner yells back trying to hold back the feeling of hopelessness at the idea of being a farmer until he dies.
Wagner came from a small family in a small village in the middle of nowhere. He grew up on his family's farm with nothing to do but farm chores. That is aside from reading books from the library which didn't amount to much. The library contained a couple hundred books and half of them were agriculture, another quarter were historical books, while the final few were spread between fantasy and books that look like they were thrown away. Wagner had practically read through all of the books on history that mentioned mages and any fantasy books that even had the word magic mentioned a single time. Eventually, he started reading from the books whose identity couldn't be discerned, half the time throwing the book back in the pile when it ended up being a romance novel or something akin to that. Wagner continued to go through that pile whenever he had the chance, until one day, Wagner stumbled upon a book that is seemingly more like a diary than a story.
"What in the..." Wagner thought as he read through the opening pages. "This is a record of how he achieved his first magic circle."
"And how he was able to learn his very first skills." Wagner was now almost as excited as the first time he read a story outlining the sheer magnitude of a mage's ability. Wagner nearly leaping up from where he was sitting from discovering this new book. He immediately grabbed the book and ran home deciding this was the only book he needed to read out of that pile filled with books that looked like they all took a swim and were trashed.
With his excitement, he rushed right through the house not even realizing dinner had been ready and was sitting on the table. As usual Wagner would be too busy to even eat because of yet another book. However this was not just any other book, this was the diary Wagner would read until he memorized it.
"Wagner, I understand you aren't hungry because you didn't do anything today but you should at least come down and eat with us." Wagner's Mother said quite annoyed that the family was being ignored once again by the young boy. "Oh, it's because of a book... Again." The mother now sounding increasingly displeased with his behavior.
"Mom, you don't understand this isn't just any book. This book could decide my future, it has everything I could possibly ever dream to know of." Wagner still on a high of excitement.
"Ohhh, is this book about agriculture and farm animals?"
"No, this is a diary about a mage and his journey. He recorded everything on how we became a mage and everything." Wagner's eyes not leaving the pages of the book.
"Well, its a shame the book won't be very helpful then. Now get down here and eat with us." The mother getting quite close to yelling.
Wagner decided for the next year, he would follow this diary to the letter with every minute of free time he had until the awakening ceremony.
At age 12, children would be able to awaken their mana affinity, which would allow them to utilize the mana that surrounds them with a more specific purpose. Whether that be watering the plants or starting a fire.
Although Wagner was born in a small village far from any cities, and with very few books for reading. The village had enough to inspire the young child who knew nothing of the world. Except for his knowledge that the greatest mages were people worth writing books about, and Wagner wanted a book written about him so that book could inspire some other lowly farmer. And knowing that the first step in becoming a mage was coming; Wagner couldn't help but believe that the coming day would decide his future. With the awakening ceremony happening the next day, Wagner couldn't help but read the pages about building the first magic circle over and over until the sun rose.
Wagner's father came to wake him up, only to find that Wagner was so excited to awaken the elemental affinity that he was already up and performing his chores for what Wagner's father thought was the first time in his life.
"Come with me, Wagner, it's finally time." Said Wagner's father Thomas who was preparing himself to deal with an over-excited child.
Causing Wagner to run as fast as he possibly could towards his father who had given himself a head start toward the town square at the center of the village.
Arriving at the town square, Wagner witnessed the very same orb that he would dream of being able to use year after year. This orb looked like it was made out of glass, and when activated would display inside the elemental affinity one was born with. These orbs were seen every year but Wagner had a sense that they were very expensive since the knights who came to proctor the awakening ceremony were the ones that owned it.
As everyone slowly started to arrive, the Village head greeted everyone and told them where to sit. Which was a little space in the town square where most of the town's shop stand would be right before the stage that was used for announcements was located.
With all the children grouped up in the center before the stage, the Elder announced "We have some very special guests from the Capital City's magic knight's Academy. They have come a long way, so let's be polite and help them out by doing this quickly. They will be performing the awakening ceremony once again this year. Please form a line and prepare to follow the instructions."
Some of those like Wagner who got there early and sat in the front were able to hear the knights complaining about being stuck in bum... nowhere. Wagner due to his parents' strict religion had never heard the word the knight used and didn't understand what it meant but he did understand that they didn't want to be there.
"Children come one by one, place your hands on the orb and focus." Said the head Knight barely paying attention to the line of children on their way up.
First up was a little girl who was blessed with an air affinity.
"What a shame, you can't even water your crops with that element." Laughed the head knight.
Up next was a little boy who gained the affinity of Earth.
Prompting another joke from the knights about farming.
After that was Wagner, who walked up and placed his hands on the orb only thinking "I need this to start my adventure."
In the orb, Wagner saw only fire which incited a joke from the knights yet again, about one farmer growing crops and the other burning them down.
If it hadn't been clear before, the knights clearly did not want to be there and could look nowhere but down toward the people around them.
After sitting through so many comments and jokes from the knights, everyone just decided to go home after their child's affinity had been revealed instead of waiting to see everyone's awakening.
"Good job on the awakening, although it's a shame that your element isn't very useful.", stated Wagner's father.
"I know, I was hoping for a different element but that doesn't mean it can't be useful." Wagner trying to recover some of his excitement that he had saved up for many years.
"How is fire useful aside from cooking? Plus it's not exactly like you can activate it." laughed Thomas.
Wagner headed home to hide out in the barn and follow all the words he had memorized by now from the diary he hadn't stopped reading over and over throughout the past year. As he started to meditate and imagined a circle of fire in his head. He recreated this circle of fire in his head over and over, by imagining a circle of plants all tied together setting ablaze. And eventually throughout the next couple of months, creating a ring of fire faster and faster. When suddenly he could feel the fire igniting throughout his body like a fever of 100 degrees over regular body temperature. His heart felt the hottest and felt like his heart was covered in fire. Unbeknownst to him, his heart was on fire or at least surrounded by a circle of fire that is. Wagner, passing out from the pain, was unaware that he had forged his very first magic circle in only two months. However, he was aware that the fire was real as he noticed the barn was no longer very real when he woke up.
"WAGNER!!!!" His mother yelled not even knowing what to say.
"Yes, mother?" He said with a very low voice.
"Do you hate farming so much that you had to burn down the barn?" She said holding back from increasing her volume 10 fold.
"No, Mom I swear I didn't mean to. I didn't even know there was a fire, I passed out." He pleaded
"What do you mean you passed out, you committed arson, and then fell asleep?"
"I swear I didn't mean to" In that moment Wagner realized a new feeling of power and a new level of control over the fire. "Hold on, I think I've officially become a mage." Wagner started to feel excited now that the fire almost felt like the flames were a part of him.
"Not exactly the kind of excuse that can get you out of this situation." She scolds him, then gives him a big whack in the back of the head. "I am not sure you can ever fix this but I will make sure you will only be working until you do." Angela holding back from passing on several more whacks to Wagner's head.
"I swear, look." Wagner started to innately summon fire and for the first time physically manifested the circle of flames instead of just in his imagination.
"I am not sure you can ever fix this but I will make sure you will only be working until you do. And make sure you don't start another fire!!" Angela holding back from passing on several more whacks to Wagner's head.
"Why can't he just be like Ilya, she at least listens to us." Angela thought
Over the next few weeks, Wagner's family slowly built a new barn with Wagner doing as much work as they could possibly make him do. Which for a 12-year-old child was not much. However, the work was enough for Wagner to now practice by the shore on a group of rocks.