Chirp chirp buzzzz, chirp chirp buzzzz. The phone on the desk continued its alarm of bug noises trying to wake up its owner. A slightly tanned hand reached out from under the covers batting at the desk till it grabbed the phone, pulling it under the covers then silencing its cries. A tired groan coming from under the lump of bedding.
Slowly the phone's owner drug himself out of bed. He was a tall young man standing comfortably around 6'3". He had a rather lean build though with more chub than he'd like. His skin was lightly tanned and his face was covered in sparse blond hair. His most notable feature was the bright blue dyed hair on top of his head. His hair stood up and curved back on its own and was soft like a plump marshmallow. His tired amber eyes stared into his standing mirror judging his own reflection unhappy with what he saw. Except for his lobster boxers; those are perfect.
The young man quickly grabbed a towel and some fresh clothes so he could freshen up. He drug himself to the restroom, with a coughing fit on the way. He quickly shaved and not so quickly showered, because the warm water felt great. He dried off and dressed in the now extremely steamy bathroom. His hair was extra soft and fluffy after such a good clean. He put on his black cargo pants along with a blue shirt that matched his hair.
Afterwards he put together a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While he ate he looked around his apartment now barren of almost everything. Almost everything was now moved into his parents, including his cat Mr, Mantis. He looked at one of the few things not packed staring for a while feeling sad. It was a bachelor's degree. It said bachelor's degree of entomology awarded to Riley Enlil. Normally entomology degrees were only doctorates but the college went bankrupt and many non standard degrees were given to supposedly make transferring to a new one easier.
Riley was sad seeing the half finished degree. He couldn't find another college that would accept his scholarships so he could finish it. Especially after the pandemic, and now more so with the war going on. He tried to join the rebel group in his state but was turned away due to his health issues. Suddenly an alarm of bug noises came from his phone again.
"God, is it that time already?" Riley said to himself. "Wish i still had my car to get there. At Least it's only a half hour walk. Hopefully I get some good results."
Riley got up and started to put some necessary items and some valuables into his messenger bag. He hesitantly grabbed his degree and debated just putting it into one of the boxes, but decided to put it into the bag too. Riley wasn't going to be coming back to this tiny overpriced apartment after he left. Movers would be coming by to grab the rest of his stuff.
He started to head out the door but stopped. "Oop, forgot my water bottle." He said as he sped walked over to it. "I really need to stop forgetting stuff so much."
The walk wasn't so bad, very gray but not bad. Almost no one was out either, driving or walking. None of the buildings were painted and all the trees on the sidewalk were long dead. There was a small garden along the way that had some bees. Riley stopped for several minutes to admire their fuzzy glory. Though they got scared away by a coughing fit he had.
"Take a right at Destiny's way. Then your destination will be on the right" the gps beeped at him through his earbud. Riley turned the corner and saw his destination.
It was once a little pizza shop and still had its broken sign up. Though you couldn't get pizza there anymore now it was something called a guild way-station. Riley didn't fully understand it, but he did know it was set up by one of the adventure guilds from Eden to help Earth's humans learn magic or something similar. All that mattered to him is that he could get his magic tested here to see how much mana he could store and if he had a strong talent for magic. He breathed in building up his nerves, then headed inside.
The inside was pretty bare bones. All the former equipment from the pizza place gone. The back area had a large stone arch covered in unrecognizable symbols and gemstones, which was surreal to see. The old counter was now replaced by a nice wooden one which had a very beautiful elf girl sitting at it. She had pale silky skin with snow white hair and her ears were a couple inches long. There was also an anthro cat sitting at a desk behind her who was writing something on a scroll with an odd looking pen. He was a very fuzzy looking cat with orange fur with black splotches. One of his ears turned towards the door as the entry bell rang, but he stayed focused on his task.
"Welcome to the Bethel Guild Waystation. My name is Sprigan, how can I help you today?" Sprigan said as she stood up. Riley was caught off guard a bit as she stood up to her full height which had to be around 7 ft'. She had a rather thin build with what was probably a B cup. He also now noticed the robe she was wearing which was a snow white with vine patterns sewn in. As well as the staff off to her side with the same vine pattern climbing it up to a large green gem.
"Oh,um." Riley stumbled over his words a bit looking up towards her. "I was wanting to get my magical ability tested."
She clapped her hands together excitedly with a big smile. "That's great! I love helping people discover their magical potential. There's nothing better than using magic. Feeling the mana flow through the body like your souls reaching out to the world." She said excitedly looking off lost in thought. She snapped back and cleared her throat before continuing. "If you come over to the reading table we will get your measurement."
Sprigan gestured over to a circular table off to the side. It had two large gold semi-spheres on either side. There were linked golden runes spread across it connecting the spheres to a strange pool of glowing blueish liquid in the center of the table. Riley looked at it somewhat intimidated and anxious.
"Just place your hands on the orbs and focus on the Ether. The liquid in the center that is." Sprigan said. "Try and feel the mana inside you and will it towards the Ether. Don't force it just try and let it flow"
"Ok, that doesn't sound too hard." Riley said mostly trying to ease his own anxiety. He placed his hands onto the spheres trying to clear his mind of doubts. He focused on what she called Ether trying to let the mana flow through him like water. It didn't feel right and nothing happened. Sprigan gave him a reassuring look and he tried refocusing.
'Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong.' He thought to himself. 'The table reminds me of a circuit so maybe?' He started thinking about the mana being electricity flowing through a wire. Suddenly he felt an odd fuzzy feeling in him heading towards his arms. He closed his eyes, focusing harder on it. The fuzzy feeling became more like a light static feeling but in a pleasant way. The feeling traveled from his chest through his arms into the spheres. He felt it, he was actually using magic!
He felt accomplished until he heard the disappointment in Sprigans voice. "Oh dear. I've never seen one that small."
Riley's eyes shot open, his heart dropping immediately at what he saw. There was a tiny orb of Ether floating above the pool. It was about the size of a ladybug. It dropped back into the pool barely making even a ripple. He just stared at the pool blankly.
"This doesn't mean you don't have magic potential!" She hurriedly said, trying to reassure Riley. "Your mana flow rate is great! Definitely in the higher levels! It's just your mana capacity that's low. But that's trainable like muscle. In several years, I'm sure you could be a great mage."
"I see, thank you for your help." Riley said half heatedly lost in thought. He turned to leave the way-station. Sprigan tried to say something but couldn't think of the right words.
The bell rang as Riley left. The air felt colder and the wind had started to pick up. Normally he liked the wind but his thoughts were focused on that word "years". Did he have years anymore? This was his last chance of becoming someone of value he thought. To find a reason to exist. These thoughts swirled through his head as he absentmindedly walked down the sidewalk. Tears filling his eyes threatening to fall.
His heart beat harder and raced faster as the thoughts wracked his mind. He stopped walking and clutched his chest trying to calm down. He was so focused he didn't notice the wind starting to swirl around him. Suddenly a bright flash came up from below him. Before he could even react a portal rapidly opened beneath him. It was the same kind that the monsters came from. He had no time to think before he fell through.
It was a short fall but still hurt. Riley landed hard on the stone ground. It was dark and there was so much happening around him. There were shouts and growls all around him. The sounds of fighting a blur of images. He thought he saw goblins, giant lizards, and giant bugs? He struggled to get up but kept getting bumped around. The sound of screams and explosions reverberated in his head. Riley's heart pounded worse than it ever had. Panic started to set in. His vision started blurring and became dizzy, completely overwhelmed by everything around him. Riley fell to the ground, his vision slowly starting to blacken and his consciousness fading. The last thing he saw was what looked like a giant mantis above as he lost consciousness.