Busy clamor and noise filled the open city streets. The chattering of haggle and familial blather echoed throughout the dense marketplace. Thousands of stalls displayed various foods, jewelries, and any other commodity that one could possibly imagine; there were even many stalls displaying magical tools and even some reconstructed artifacts to be sold. A group of teenagers enjoying their recently purchased ice cream were haggling at a stall.

“No, there is no way she is buying that necklace for twenty-six platinum.” A young boy in his mid-teens stretched his arm across one of his female colleagues who was about to hand a collection of coins to an elderly woman sat before a short table of many luminescent and mysterious magical items.

The old lady cracked a mischievous smile and began to speak. “Your friend should be thankful that she can find such a powerful essence-phoretic rune. You kids are still young so you should just trust me that you can only benefit from an increased essential flux. This artifact is only the best foci for such a task.”

The entire crowd of teenagers burst into laughter, a few even relying on their friends to keep them standing and others dropping their ice cream. The old woman was confused, she was unsure of what she had said that was so comedic.

One of the boys of the group next to the main haggler spoke up. “Lady you have no idea who you’re talking to.”

The lead boy with his arm in front of the girl with the coin picked up the necklace and began inspecting it. “Lady, you shouldn’t talk to me about rune quality, I KNOW rune quality and I could tell from a mile away that these runes must have been drawn by three blind mice… Now that I look more closely its way worse than I even thought. This wouldn’t even be worth ten platinum. Don’t even bother haggling with this swindler Patsy, I could easily make you a better one later.”

Patsy turned over to the lead boy with gleaming eyes. The crowd of teenagers ooed in excitement and some voiced their jealousy. Patsy grabbed onto the boy’s hand as she asked him. “Really? But I thought you didn’t make magic items for people anymore, since too many ask?”

“Yeah, but this woman pissed me off so just this once, don’t get used to it.”

The old woman could not believe what was unfolding before her eyes. “Kids these days are so arrogant, who do you think you are that you could possibly make a better magic item than professional wizards?”

The boy dismissively looked at the long-forgotten woman at the stall, he lazily tossed the necklace back to her before speaking. “You’re in Proselyte, who do you think we are?”

The group walked away from the stall and continued to browse the market as they joked of and mocked the encounter they had partaken in. The group noticed a friend of theirs lost in the market crowd, they shouted and waved to her and when she noticed them she ran over to the group.

She made her way next to the lead boy and kissed him firmly on the cheek. “Can’t believe you actually left without me.” The girl jokingly pouted as she wrapped her arms around the arm of the lead boy and walked along with the group.

“You had class, what was I supposed to do sit in on your class?” The boy handed the girl clinging to him the ice cream he was holding onto. The ice cream had a strange inscription drawn on its soft surface.

“Yes! I sit in on your classes.”

“But your classes are so boring.”

“And your classes make no sense.”

The group nodded in agreement with the girl’s statement and many smaller conversations broke off in the group about the lead boy’s complex courses. The girl took a satisfied lick of her cone while Patsy watched quizzically. “How is the cone not melting?”

The lead boy looked to Patsy with a brimming smile. “I frosted it.”

“Isn’t that water magic, I didn’t know you were a water bug?”

“You shouldn’t call them water bugs by the way. But what I did wasn’t water magic. In fact, water manipulation isn’t magic at all, I used calefaction. Calefaction isn’t actually a part of the somatic elements but is an elemental field that can be manipulated so although I can’t-“

“PATSY NO! You can’t get Picayune started, he’ll never stop.” The friend who interrupted Picayune grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly.

The girl clinging to Picayune with the ice cream cheerfully chimed in. “I’ve just learned to accept that Picayune can do anything with magic and to just not question it.”

Patsy gave a dismissive laugh to the girl and tucked her hair behind her ear. The girl took another lick of her ice cream while she analyzed Patsy. “I’m Belabor by the way, you can just call me Bela.” Belabor placed her free hand before Patsy inviting a handshake.

“I’m Patsy. I’m just a first year so I hope you guys can help me learn the ropes around here.” Patsy took Belabor’s hand and shook it with a welcoming smile.

Belabor recognized that name somewhere, she had to search through her before replying. “Wait, you’re Espy’s little sister, aren’t you?”

Patsy gave off a shy chuckle while rubbing the nape of her neck. “Yeah, he’s my older brother. I have big shoes to fill I guess.”

A huge weight lifted off Belabor’s chest and her smile smoothed to a much greater sincerity. She threw her arm out towards Patsy with a large thumbs up. “You show that work junkie who’s the boss, best of luck.”

The group continued aimlessly traversing the market occasionally stopping at some of the stalls for some fun Knick knacks. As they walked across the city, they gave Patsy advice and trivia on the best routes to take and some of the more interesting landmarks. Ever present in the distance were the two megastructures of Proselyte. The massive tower of Ersatz university looming over the entire city and the overbearing sphere of Empedocles consuming the horizon opposite of it. The colossal tower grew taller and taller as they slowly approached it in their tour. Eventually the group stopped by the entrance of the university.

Picayune and Belabor broke off from the rest of the group and gave off some final words. “I have to go to class, but you guys have fun.” Picayune and Belabor waved goodbye to the rest of the group and made their way in. They walked in silence for a while, the only voices being those whisperings of the people watching them go by.

Finally Belabor broke the silence. “So, Patsy is pretty, forward isn’t she?”

Picayune broke to a guttural laughter. “She is isn’t she, it’s kind of weird really.”

“She seems quite fond of you.”

Picayune took a few moments to think about it. “A sister of Espy is a sister of mine. Although I feel like eventually, we’ll have to have an awkward talk about her crush, but you don’t need to worry.”

“I wasn’t worried, she’s just a kid.”

“Sure, sure… oh speak of the devil.” The two looked up ahead to see a young man with a strong build and heavy dark bags under his eyes. His clothes were disheveled, his shirt was partly untucked from his pants and his vest seemed to decide which buttons to be buttoned at random. His hair was obviously lazily drenched in water at an attempt to quell the beast that it had become, the attempts were a failure though as different clumps licked and reached out in every direction.

“Hey, Esp, we were just talking about you!” Picayune called out to the obviously mentally preoccupied Espy. Upon hearing his voice Espy looked up from the ground and instantly lit up with a massive smile, although the smile soon turned a little sour. The two walked up to each other and embraced in a strong heavy hug.

Espy spoke with a strained warmth. “Good to see you Yune! What is up, how are you?” Espy was clearly relieved to see a familiar friend to just stop and chat with despite the fact he seemed to be hiding some concern for Picayune.

They would probably end up being late to get a good seat in class but it was rare lately to get a chance to hang out with Espy. “I’m doing great Esp, we just finished giving Patsy a brief tour of Proselyte’s wild market district.”

“And, next time you meet your sister, let her know that Picayune already has a girlfriend.” Belabor made sure to quickly add as a half joking quip.

Espy stifled a chuckle and quickly responded. “Patsy has always been fond of you Yune, but I hope you can still help her out every now and then since she’s never been the most…”

“She’s very awkward yes.” The three gave in to silly giggles at the curt response.

“Anyways Esp, how’s work with the tournament corporation? Invitations should be coming out soon right?”

The tired weight plaguing Espy before he encountered the two immediately returned. “It is such a mess Yune, I can’t say much because I’m under a nondisclosure agreement right-“

“Sure.”

“-But there has been a lot to do and it’s… it’s just weird. I can’t really get into it.”

“Sounds pretty rough, but I guess that’s what comes with the most prestigious job in the world. Just make sure to save some front row seats for us.” Picayune joked as he lightly fist bumped Espy’s shoulder but Espy seemed to have been completely stunned and at a loss for words from the comment. “I was just joking Esp, we can buy our own tickets. We wouldn’t want you to get in trouble or anything.”

Picayune tried to comfort the clearly panicked Espy but seemed to have only made it worse somehow. Belabor gently rubbed Espy’s arm in reassurance as she tried to lighten the tension with a joke. “Maybe he can’t get you a ticket Picayune since you’ll actually be invited to the tournament. You can fight the hero of New Heirisson conquest.”

Picayune and Belabor dismissively chuckled but when they looked over to Espy he had stiffen cold. The couple’s eyes widened in flabbergasted surprise. Belabor was the first to speak. “NO.WAY. Picayune WAS invited to the tournament!? That’s insane! Congratulations Picay!”

Belabor jumped onto Picayune giving him a massive warm hug and a deep kiss on the lips but he did not return the kiss. She pulled her head back to see his face more clearly, a puzzled expression covered her face as to why he wasn’t sharing her glee. Picayune had also frozen stiff, eyes’ unblinking as they stared at the saddened Espy.

Picayune recollected himself and forced the optimism out of him. “That’s great, maybe instead of asking Ken to get the autograph for me I can just ask the hero himself after he beats me.” He followed his stammered sentence with a hollow laugh.

Espy looked at Picayune. “Sorry…. Sorry I have to get back to work.”

Without a reply Espy went on his way leaving the two alone in the hallway.

“Hello? Picayune, want to bring your brain back to the planet?”

“What, oh yeah. Sorry just got totally brain wiped by finding out I got invited. Feels like I secretly opened my birthday present ahead of time.”

Belabor giggled joyfully as she wrapped her arms around his and began walking him back towards class. “So, what will you wish for when you win?”

“What?”

“Winner of the tournament gets a wish granted right, what will you be wishing for?”

“Woah, woah, slow down. I don’t think I’ll be winning the tournament.”

"Why not? You’re the best magic user I know!”

“I don’t think people you know is a good enough sample size. Sure, I’m honored to be invited, and it’ll be a great experience to meet amazing people like human star Scoria, dragons, or the golden king But I won’t be disillusioning myself into thinking that I’ll win.”

Belabor smiled while shaking her head in disapproval. “You’ve always been too humble for your own good.”

“How about this, I’ll try and beat Ken’s score. I’ll found out how many rounds he made it in the fifth tournament after class and I’ll beat that.”

“You could make it all the way, but if you want to just start with that: sure.”

The two opened the doors to the classroom and were welcomed with the loud cacophony of hundreds of people talking and moving, it was like they had returned to the marketplace. They made their way over to a pair of seats located at the very back of the class next to the entrance. It would have a terrible view of the blackboard, but it would be better than standing. Picayune spoke up. “Excuse me, I’m actually in this class I was wondering if we could have these seats?”

"Of course, certainly. Must really suck for you two always having to fight for seats against all us fans.” The two people sat down quickly got up and gestured towards the seats in offering.

Picayune and Belabor carried placating smiles and sat down in the seats. “Well we get used to it. We’re always happy to have more people try to learn new interesting things.”

The four exchanged a little more small talk before the strangers went off to find a good view despite the clear knowledge that such views were long since unavailable.

Belabor stretched and craned her neck trying to peer around the humongous crowd before her. “You can’t even see the blackboard from here, how are you supposed to win the tournament if you can’t even take notes.”

An elderly man with thin glasses and a thick beard carrying a stack of parchment and material entered through the doors at the front of the room and upon glancing across the lecture hall let out a tired sigh.

“Don’t worry about it, Ken usually clears up the room. We can get better seats then.”

The elderly professor dropped his heavy stack of parchments and materials on the podium and spoke concisely out to the silenced crowd. “Anyone who is not in this class, leave. Let the student’s actually taking the course sit first. Once class starts then you can come back.”

The class ruptured into a thunderous stampede of action and mobility as people shuffled out of the room. While the crowd bustled about the two got up and began climbing over the seats towards the center of the class. Picayune leaned in close to Belabor’s ear so she could hear him over the horde. “Plus I never really take notes anyways.”

The crowd had completely dissipated now leaving only thirteen people in the room including the two.

“Yeah, yeah I know smart guy. You just memorize it all.” Belabor spoke dismissively rolling her eyes away from him.

A large cheeky grin dominated Picayune’s glowing face. As the two sat down he reached over to peck her gently on the lips. “No need to be jealous, I’m your smart guy. Plus who knows, maybe I should ignore what Ken says, he might try to sabotage me so I can’t beat his tournament record.”

The two started to giggle slightly but when Belabor mid giggle accidentally snorted in a strange way it forced them into even more stupid giggling that brought Ken’s attention. “Mrs. Impel, that includes you.”

Belabor with slight disappointment at getting caught got up from her seat but before she could leave, Picayune grabbed onto her wrist stopping her. Picayune then whined to the professor. “Ah come on Ken. The whole class is here… or almost, can’t you just let her stay? She’ll just wait for the bell then come back in.” Picayune silently cursed Laggard’s ability to always be late.

“I can’t give her any preferential treatment.”

Picayune quietly grunted in frustrated annoyance. Ken always pretended to be an upright and strict professor in front of everyone, but Picayune knew better. “But you can give me preferential treatment?”

Belabor stood frozen in a half upright half sitting position while Picayune looked pleadingly to his professor who seemed to be calculating the benefits to faults of giving even more leeway to Picayune than what he already has. One of the doors from the back of the room swung open and the short Laggard with his thick glasses hurriedly scurried in. He paused in surprise to see how empty the room was but regained his composure and sat down somewhere near the front of the room. Ken let out a deep sight and replied to Picayune in defeat. “I didn’t hear that… and I’ve told you before to call me Professor Ream. I can’t have anyone thinking that I tolerate you.”

The class laughed agreeably and Picayune grew a cheeky grin that cradled his entire face. Ken was never particularly good at hiding his favoritism and lenience. Belabor sat back into her seat.

“Now at the end of our last lecture one of you asked me about why mercurial essence was-“

Picayune quickly tuned out once he confirmed that the professor was just going over questions from the last lecture and turned to Belabor. The two whispered gossip and jokes with one another while the professor rambled on, he certainly knew that the two weren’t paying attention but they were quiet enough to not disturb the others and he was confident that Picayune already knew all that he was saying. Midway through his explanation of the expanded aether model the bell rung and all of those kicked out of the room came rushing in scrambling for an adequate seat.

The class continued on and Picayune would intermittently tune in and out depending on whether the professor was sharing new interesting information or not. The Professor often moved at a slower pace than Picayune would have liked since he had to accommodate the rest of the class.

About two hours into the lecture Ken was interrupted by the loud chime of a bell, he turned around to face the class so he could find the source of the sound. Right in front of Ken separating him from the stunned audience before him was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus that grew out of thin air, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with two limbs. the limbs were extended out, one pointing towards the audience, the other towards Ken. Each arm held onto a glowing parchment.

Ken approached the strange creature and took the parchment facing him, he carefully read its contents and then pocketed the parchment; he then walked over to the second parchment and took it slowly reading its contents. He glanced to the crowd in surprise and back to the parchment. He pocketed the parchment and cleared his throat. “Picayune Distingué, come see me after class.”

When The second parchment was taken the pink shape seemed to reverse its process eventually turning back into a rhombus and shrinking out of existence. The audience exploded into whispers and conversations which the professor silenced then returned to his lesson. Belabor leaned over to Picayune and whispered into his ear. “Do you think that was it, the invitation to the Tournament?”

Belabor could not contain her excited glee, her entire body nearly vibrating out of her seat she seemed so full of energy; Picayune however, couldn’t help but shed a few beads of sweat.

The final hour of the class was unbearably grueling, time was frozen, and each minute felt like days. He felt like he was spending the rest of the lecture at the bottom of the ocean any sound muffled and obscured into incoherent ramblings. Nothing was sticking in Picayune’s mind except the countdown to his conversation after class. Eventually class ended and Belabor took Picayune’s clammy hands into her own, she pulled him in and gave him a final kiss. “Good luck!” She cheered enthusiastically.

“Yeah.” Picayune made his way down the stairwell of the empty room and stood directly before the elderly professor, their eyes both solemn and anxious. Without a word he took a parchment out of his pocket and handed it over to Picayune. Picayune took the crumpled glowing paper and unraveled it: it read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Apprentice