The sweet smell of flowers filled the room as a skinny, long-haired boy held the face of a beautiful young woman. Her jet-black hair contrasted against the snow-white of his hair. Both of their eyes slowly closed as they leaned towards each other, their lips inching closer and closer. But before they touched, a blinding light, so bright it could be seen through their closed eyes, filled the room.
And then, the boy vanished.
---
Orin's eyes shot open, slowly adjusting to his surroundings. He looked around, seeing countless men dressed in white and gold robes. A handful of them had collapsed in pools of blood and were being taken away by others dressed similarly.
A tall woman in a black robe lowered her hood, revealing a beautiful face. A slight smirk crept onto her lips as Orin's eyes darted to the floor. She opened her arms and spoke, but he couldn't understand a word.
"Uh, what." he awkwardly smiled.
Her face dropped into a scowl. She let out a loud shout toward a man in a light blue robe. He quickly scurried over to Orin and reached both hands toward the boy's face. Orin froze, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Just a translation spell, son, don't worry," the man smiled.
The mage reached towards Orin. His cold palms gently pressed against Orin's ears. His hands glowed green, and a spinning circle appeared in each palm before vanishing. The mage slunk back into the ranks with the others.
"Can you understand now, child?" the woman asked, her face now glowing with a warm smile.
Orin nodded slowly and looked around the massive room. The walls were covered in banners and coats of arms, none of which he recognized.
The woman stepped toward him. As she moved, the room fell completely silent, broken only by the clacking noise of her heels on the marble floor.
"What affinity do you have, my child?" she asked, her radiant smile engulfing him.
Orin managed to stutter out a reply, "What?"
She looked down at him with scorn, quickly hiding her emotions behind a smile.
"Affinity." She paused, met with silence. "What magic do you use?"
A vein bulged from her forehead as she clenched her teeth.
"Um... magic?" Orin chuckled awkwardly, shock filling his voice as he looked at her face, poorly concealing her anger.
"I don't have any," Orin stared at her blankly.
"What about martial arts?" She sighed and crouched down to Orin.
He shook his head and paused for a while. "I did taekwondo for a year when I was a kid," he shrugged.
"I've never heard of that. Is it your family's martial arts or some kind of intense training?" Hope filled her eyes as she cupped Orin's hands in hers.
"Uh, no?" He stuttered. "A lot of people learn it. I was pretty bad too," he chuckled.
The woman sighed and stood, turning to one of the men. "Go get Adrian and inform Amara," she commanded before turning around and gazing at the stained glass windows. "You have been brought here for a reason, child," she paused and then turned back to him.
"You will deliver us to a beautiful new era," a tender smile crossed her face as she offered a hand to Orin, who had been sitting the whole time. He accepted and stood, feeling dwarfed by the sheer scale of the building.
A man dressed in full plate armor pushed open the massive doors, drawing everyone's attention.
"You called, Celina?" He froze upon seeing Orin adorned in clothes he had never seen before.
He took a long pause before laughing. "Well, about time, if you ask me."
The knight removed his helmet to reveal a handsome face with short, bleach-blonde hair. "My name is Adrian. Now come, my boy. I'll make sure you're in shape."
Adrian dragged Orin by the arm, leading him quickly out of the room and straight into a hallway just as pristine and white as the rest of the place.
After rushing through several halls, they reached a training room filled with equipment and weapons.
"Welcome to the training grounds, kid," the knight grinned from ear to ear.
Orin chuckled, picking up a sword and swinging it around jokingly.
The knight followed, lifting a much bigger sword and swinging it into Orin's. The clash sent Orin's sword clattering to the floor, pain from the vibrations pulsing through his hand. He looked up in shock at the knight.
"Your training begins now, son." The knight tossed him a wooden training sword.
---
A maid brought Orin into a cramped room. The walls were bare, with only a single shelf on the opposite side of the bed. A wooden dresser sat next to the door. The window had bars, and the bed had no sheets, only a single straw-filled pillow.
Orin's frail body collapsed onto the wooden plank meant to be his bed, completely exhausted. His muscles ached with every squirm as he tried to get comfortable. Eventually, he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.
Silence filled the room as sunlight slowly crept through the window. A loud hammering at the door jolted Orin awake. The door swung open, and the knight barged in, dragging him by the collar of his shirt back into the training area. A pile of clothes and a wooden sword were handed to him.
"If I catch you without this sword, I'll make sure you suffer in training."
The knight's usually bright, happy face contorted into a serious scowl before quickly reverting to a smile. He patted Orin on the shoulder.
"Now go get changed for training."
Orin stripped in the side room, changing into the itchy rags given to him. When he came out, he saw the knight preparing a training dummy for him.
Orin gripped the wooden sword and swung it into the dummy's head. The impact vibrated through the sword, his hands, and up his arm.
The knight chuckled, swinging his own wooden sword at the dummy and slicing it in half.
"Copy that and let me know when you're done."
Servants dragged the destroyed dummy away and replaced it with a fresh one.
Orin swung and swung for hours, unable to slice any deeper into the dummy. Once more, he flopped into the rock-solid bed.
---
The next morning, a lighter thud rattled the hinges of his door. Orin shot up and got dressed, wincing in pain as he reached for his sword.
A woman, draped in a long, flowing cloak, stood before him. Her clothes were covered in all manner of pockets and holsters, as if she were ready for war.
"Ah, hello. It's nice to finally meet you, my name's Mireth" she said, stretching her arm out to Orin. He hesitated before shaking her hand.
"I'll be your magic teacher, my names Mireth" she smiled, filling the room with a warm feeling before pivoting straight back out the door and walking down the blinding white halls.
"Hurry up, hurry up," she twirled around, smiling at Orin, who jogged to catch up with her. They both walked along the halls and eventually reached a wooden door with several magic circles carved into it.
The woman placed her hand on the door, and the circles glowed a bright blue before the door opened on its own, revealing a vast room with bookshelves as far as the eye could see.