The magic circle burned vigorously, its crimson glow casting twisted shadows along the cold stone walls. In the middle of it, lying down, a young boy around the age of five slowly awoke.
As his eyes slowly opened, he was greeted by the unfamiliar sight of a dark stone room with an abnormally high ceiling.
Huh? Where am I?
Trying to turn around to have a look around, he found himself unable to move. Turning his head, he saw that his small hands and legs were pressed against the etched runes that were pulsing with ancient power.
Why can't I move? This… this isn't right…
Immediately, he realised that he had been bound and his whole body shook awake.
The sound of murmuring incantations reached his ears. Turning his attention to the source of the voices, he saw that there was a circle of hooded mages around him, mumbling words that he recognised.
It was a spell from a book that he remembered reading before.
"What are you doing?" he spoke as he began to panic and struggle, "Let me go!"
Yet despite how much he fought his restraints, he found himself still unable to move.
Then from among the hooded figures, one of them walked forward and took off their hood.
"Lady Elaria!" The boy screamed out at her in desperation but he was met with only cold and unfeeling eyes that did not have a shred of sorrow or regret.
"Please, help me!" the boy screamed even louder as tears began to form in his eyes as the chanting got louder.
Another figure then took place beside Lady Elaria and said in a cold male voice, "Lady Elaria, I did not think that you would be able to stumble upon such a treasure. You will be greatly rewarded."
Seeing the figure next to her and the absence of any desire to help him out, the boy realised that there was no hope. No one would be there to help him. He had him and only him. Emotions of disbelief and unacceptance filled his thoughts.
'Life had been so good…'
He was a street child, one that was always ignored and never cared for. He had always had to fend for himself, not having anyone to rely on. He survived through rummaging through trash that was disposed of by shops and stalls.
And as he reached the age of four, he found that he was able to steal things a lot easier as he unlocked the ability to take things by making them disappear and magically reappear into his hands. In doing this, he had found a group of other children his age they worked together and life got better.
But the day that life truly became the best was the day that he was taken in by Lady Elaria.
He had just stolen a piece of bread using his power and was distributing it to the other children when they heard footsteps that were making its way towards the alley that they were eating their loot in.
Immediately, all the kids scurried away and just as he was about to dash away too, the sound of a kind sweet angelic voice spoke out.
"Hey there little one," Lady Elaria said as she approached the boy with a loaf of bread in her hand.
"Hello…" he cautiously answered as he stopped backing away from the lady, confused at her tone of voice. He had never been spoken to in that tone before.
"This is for you," she said as she reached out and showed him the loaf of bread.
Still hungry, the boy immediately saw the food and reached for it but as soon as he touched the piece of bread, he saw that her head had suddenly retreated back.
He looked back at her with caution.
"You need to take it from me without touching it," she remarked as he waved the bread in front of him before taking a few steps back from him.
She let out a small giggle as she found toying with the child fun but just as he raised her head to look at the boy again, she found that the loaf of bread that she had been holding was no longer in her hands but in the hands of the little boy.
A faint smile could be seen on his face as he held the bread in his arms and he immediately took a bite of it, relishing the taste.
Meanwhile, Lady Elaria had a surprised look on her face as she was not able to realise when he had taken the bread, to her, the bread had always been in her hand until the moment she saw it in the boy's hands. In disbelief, she turned to her butler who had been standing at the entrance to the alleyway and she saw that he was in shock too.
Seeing him nod at her, she had confirmed it.
That day, he was taken in by Lady Elaria and he was treated in a way that he had never been treated before. Lady Elaria took him home and had him taken care of under the guise of learning magic as she revealed to the boy that he had a talent for magic. Surprised and with dreams of a better future, the boy took hold of that and grabbed onto it.
"You're going to be a great mage someday, boy," she said, "You'll make us all proud. Keep studying hard."
He worked immensely hard on his magic as the love and compassion that he had been shown by the Lady had given him motivation. This was a golden chance of a lifetime and he was determined not to lose it.
He reminisced on these times as unwillingness filled his head. How could someone who treated me with love that I had always wanted do this to me?
How did this happen?
Life had been pretty much perfect for the boy, a home, food on the table, a motherly figure who would take care of him and make him feel valued. And all he had to do to keep this was to keep studying and improving his talent for the day of awakening.
The day of awakening was one of the most important days in a human life. It was the day that the element that the human would awaken would be confirmed. Every human had the ability to manipulate an element and extremely talented children would awaken them at a younger age but the ceremony would take place once a year and only children of the age of five were allowed to participate.
The boy had been one of those extremely talented and found out about this during one of his visits to the library. Thinking that it was his talent that got him into this family, he constantly trained to keep his value.
Then he realised, the day of awakening… that was it.
Today… was that day… He immediately reminded himself of what had happened today.
The day of awakening came… and there were thousands of children preparing to obtain their element.
The boy woke up, ready to head to the location of the event but just as he was preparing to get ready, he was instead led to the grand hall.
He was confused as to why he was not immediately put on a carriage but before the questions could even form, he saw Lady Elaria waiting for him, sitting on a couch, facing the fireplace.
Joy and excitement filled his face as he ran towards her and immediately sank himself into her arms. In her arms and presence, he felt safe. But today, he sensed something other than the usual bright and cheerful attitude that she would usually have.
"Boy…" she started as she signalled for him to take a seat on a chair facing her couch before letting out two quick claps.
In that instant, the butler immediately made his way into the room with a large crystal ball in his hand that was completely see through but contained small wisps of many coloured luminescent strings.
The butler brought the ball in front of the boy.
"This is your day of awakening ceremony," Lady Elaria spoke.
"Huh, we don't have to go and do it where the kingdom is doing it officially?" the boy asked.
"No… You are special," Lady Elaria answered, giving out a very unconvincing reply.
Nevertheless, she did not let the boy's doubts continue and ushered him, "Place your hand on the ball and let your magic flow into the ball."
"Is this the same one that they use on the ceremony day?" the boy asked curiously as he placed his hand on the ball. He was met with a faint nod from Elaria and in that moment, excitement and hope emerged in his eyes as he wished his very best for an amazing result.
The ball worked in strings of light. The colour of the light would decide the nature of his element and as for his talent, it would be decided by the amount of strings that would appear on the ball.
'This is all that you have prepared for…' he told himself as he let his magic flow into the ball.
The ball instantly showed signs of life as it began to light up and immediately a string began to appear.
But in that instant, the boy's excitement and joy disappeared and were replaced with uncertainty and fear.
Meanwhile, upon seeing the colour of the string, the face of Lady Elaria lit up as the brightest smile appeared on her face.
"Hahahaha!" she laughed in utter glee and even the butler couldn't help but chime in, "Congratulations, my lady. You have done an amazing deed."
The colour of the string was… a deep dark indigo with a faint silver glow…
This colour was not included in the book he had read before so he did not know what kind of element that he had and was worried that it would spell the end of his time with the family.
But this was not the end as that string emerged from the middle of the ball, more began to slowly come out.
"Two… Three… Four…" the butler began to count and the more he counted, the more shocked he became as his voice showed more and more signs of disbelief.
"FIVE… it's still going! SIX… SEVEN!" the butler exclaimed in shock as he hurriedly turned towards Elaria, "My lady, this is an amazing talent! One that has never been seen before in all your past attempts!"
"I know, I know," Lady Elaria calmed him down, barely able to control her excitement either, "We can finally achieve it."
"Huh? Achieve what?" the boy asked in confusion as he saw that the two of them were talking about something he didn't know about but just as he was about to continue, he saw Lady Elaria's eyes glow pink for a split second and immediately began to grow drowsy.
And then he woke up on the magic circle.
Having recalled everything that had just happened, he was lost in shock and unable to comprehend anything as the chanting continued.
Out of nowhere, he suddenly feels the magic inside him suddenly begin to come to life.