Chapter 1: The Beginning

Just outside of Riplin, the capital of East Hrior, was an orphanage. While full of furniture, food, and drinks the people there were empty. Their hearts had neither ambition nor hope. The children of the orphanage had no dreams to become rich or powerful, in fact, they simply had no dreams at all. The owner of the orphanage, whom was referred to as The Witch, had a bad reputation. She was a grumpy old lady, and yet she was unwilling to give up on life. In order to afford the high level potions that could extend one’s life she put the children to work. Whether it was cutting logs, gathering mushrooms in the nearby forest, or anything at all that would result in a slight profit, the children never had a second of rest. To The Witch children were nothing more than little slaves to do her bidding. She had no remorse when it came to extorting these poor children, and it would be unthinkable to imagine that she had a soft side. But there was one child, by the name of Trip. This child was never beaten or put to work. He was completely ignored by The Witch. This child did not seem to mind however, as he never had a dull look in his eyes. The child spent his days in only two places. He was always either in his room and the library.

There was of course a reason for the peculiar treatment of the small child. 6 years ago, when little Trip was just a baby he was given to the orphanage by a man who looked not like a man, but rather a terrifying shadow. This shadow handed Trip to The Witch and told her ‘The child’s name is Trip. If this child is so much as touched throughout his stay here, you will not live very long.’ The Witch was always known as the tyrannical one, but on this occasion someone had threatened something which was so precious to her, she would extort children in order to prolong its existence. This was of course her life. And so Trip was never touched, and he was simply allowed to do as he liked.

However, that raised the question of what Trip was actually doing all the time. Every day he would read his books in the library. He was simply absorbed in his world of books. He would read from the early morning to the late afternoon. “All he does is read books” The children of the orphanage would say distastefully, as they didn’t understand why there was a difference in treatment. However, Trip did not realise the stares and jeers of others. He never looked at anyone or anything but his books. Some described it as an obsession, but in reality it was dedication.

From a young age Trip always wanted power. Not over people or countries, but power over himself, and the power to protect what he felt was dear to him. Since he never knew his parents he never had anyone to hold him, comfort him, or take care of him. Instead he had to learn to take care of himself, but what he realised was that sometimes he did not have the power to do this.

One day when Trip was only three years old he found a pig hiding in the forest. He loved this pig. He helped it out in its time of need, and when it finally had the strength to walk they went back to the orphanage. It turned out that the pig belonged to a nearby farmer, so Trip walked with the pig all the way to the nearby farm. When he arrived the farmer thanked Trip, and then grabbed the pig by the ears before chopping off its head. That was when Trip learned that if he had power he would be able to prevent such atrocities from occurring.

What drove him to reading was a simple phrase “Knowledge is power”. This was something that he had overheard someone say, but it really stuck with him. He found no flaws in the statement and began to read everything he could. Whenever he read he was fascinated by all the different things about the world. Because of this fascination Trip would read for ages, before going into his room in the late afternoon.

Although Trip did take his book to his room, he did not actually read it. He would instead close it and leave it to be read in the morning. He would then proceed to lie down on his bed and close his eyes. However, he did not sleep, but instead he entered a different world. This was a world where he had friends, and a world where he would feel happy. This world was called Hyuru. In order to enter this world he would need to heighten his senses and focus very heavily on his surroundings. When he did this he would see tons of little particles all around him. These particles were blue and white. They were his friends. They made him feel warm and not alone.

Due to Trip’s reading habits, he had learned that what he was experiencing was called Hyuru. Hyuru was something that all people could do, though most people only are able to control going in and out of Hyuru when they reach the age of 12, compared to Trip who has full control over this state at the age of 6. Hyuru is the basis for all magic in this world. Depending on the type and amount of particles you see determine which elements you can use and your affinity for said element. There are 6 elements: Fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark. In Trip’s case, he sees white and blue particles, and he also sees a lot of them, this means that he has a high affinity for water and light magic.

These particles do not exist in an alternate universe; in fact when someone is in a state of Hyuru they merely see the world differently. The particles actually always existed in the environment around you, Hyuru just allowed one to see them. The higher ones’ affinity as a mage, the more particles you would be able to see in your environment. When one performs magic, one has to pull the particles out of the environment around oneself. With this people can make water streams come out of thin air, or create light in pure darkness.

The day was bright, and the sun stood high. Trip had been preparing himself for this day for 2 years already. This was the day that he would attempt to use physical magic. He had read many books about the subject, and he had fully mastered Hyuru, so theoretically the chances of success were 100 %, and even if he did not achieve success today, he could always try again tomorrow, until he would achieve control over physical magic.

Trip concentrated heavily, his goal was to create a small water stream come out of his right hand. He focused all his power on his hand and… success! A tiny spurt of water jumped out of his hand, he was too excited to control it properly, but he had achieved the realm of physical magic at the ripe age of 6. If anyone could see Trip at this very moment, they would be very shocked, for a bright childlike grin appeared across his cute little face.

The library at the orphanage had very limited books on magic, but there was one book about elementary stage water spells. Trip extensively studied this book, and worked hard to understand the concepts explained in the book. Trip did not attempt the same with light spells, as light was a rather unknown topic in the world of magic, and there was not a single light mage in all of Hrior. Therefore Trip decided to only practice water magic at this stage of his life.

To other people, it would seem that Trip was exactly the same as before; he still held the same schedule. He was in the library from early in the morning to late in the afternoon, and then the rest of the day he would be practicing in his room. However, now Trip would practice magic when the moment he entered his room. Leaving him exhausted every morning; after all, becoming a mage is no easy task.

Trip would read the book about elementary stage water spells constantly. Due to his excellent memory and intelligence he was able to remember and understand the concept behind all the spells. In this world the four basic elements were water, wind, earth, and fire. Light and dark magic were not considered a part of the four basic elements as they were much more profound and mysterious compared to the other elements.

Water was an element of elegance. It would rarely be used for offensive uses, but instead be used for healing. Wind magic was strong for movement techniques, and would be the magic that scouts would use in the army. Earth magic was best for defence, whereas fire magic would be used primarily for offensive uses.

Since Trip only had a book on elementary water magic, this caused him to learn water in a very unorthodox manner. One who received careful guidance on the arts of water magic would learn it slowly and learn how to control water in an elegant fashion, due to the elementary water magic book not containing any specifics on how to learn the techniques Trip had to analyse them and teach to himself. This caused his interpretation of water magic to be very different from other people. In Trip’s hands water magic was explosive and powerful compared to elegant and calm water magic which would be taught by schools. Water Bullet was the first technique which Trip learned, the technique worked by summoning a small stream of water and shooting the water at a high velocity towards a target. Trip would train in these techniques every day. He never rested; he was almost obsessive over his training.

Even though the country of East Hrior was rather poor, there was still obligatory magic education. Every child from the age of 8 would have to go to an elementary magic school until they were 12, afterwards they could stop school entirely, go to an intermediate magic school, or go to a warrior school. Unfortunately, one would have to pay tuition at higher levels of education, causing only a very limited part of the country’s children to go on to higher education. One could of course receive a scholarship, but it was nearly impossible for just anyone to receive a scholarship, one would have to be a genius to receive one.

Two years had passed since Trip had started with elementary magic, and he had now fully mastered elementary water magic, he even created some of his own magic techniques. Trip was now 8 years old, which meant he would have to go to an elementary magic school. He expected to go to the same school as all the other children in the orphanage, but that morning he had surprisingly received a letter saying that his application to the Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic had been accepted. This was a boarding school which was primarily only for rich children. Trip did not remember ever admitting to the school, but he certainly would not say no to better education.

Trip was very intelligent, and he realised that if he showed that he had already reached such a terrifying level of magic at such a young age he would undoubtedly be named a genius, but Trip did not want to be famous. Over the years Trip had started to look at society and the people around him as an outsider, and he did not want a life like other people. At this point in Trip’s life, his only desire was to find his parents, and to find out who he was and where he came from. Trip decided that he would become powerful, and then investigate his past.

When Trip arrived at the boarding school he realised that this school was mainly for noble or rich children, and even though Trip looked refined and very cute, he still wore peasant like clothes and walked like a peasant. This caused people to look at him funny and mockingly. Trip did not mind attention, but he found it rather tedious. He realised that if he kept up this appearance he would undoubtedly be bullied, which was not something that Trip looked forward to. Trip thought back to an old quote he read in one of his books ‘When in Tyer, do as the Tyerians do…’ This of course was a reference to the ancient city of Tyer, which was a city famous for murdering any foreigners who entered the city. Trip was not in the mood to be discriminated against, so he analysed how other rich people walked, and he copied them. Trip was an amazingly quick learner, and after just 5 minutes of observing he already walked with the air of an aristocrat, unfortunately he could not change his clothes so quickly, so he hoped to deter any bullies with just his walk.

Luckily Trip was not confronted by anyone on the walk to the school, and he managed to find a good seat at the entrance ceremony.

A man with a scarred face walked up to the podium. He looked terrifying, but he carried an air of warmth and strength. He appeared to be a sort of father figure to the students.

‘Dear Students!” He spoke with a thunderous voice “I am your headmaster, Ponter Livis. I hail from the wondrous lands of Mistrai.”

All the students looked at the headmaster in awe. Mistrai was the richest and largest country in the continent. Even a peasant in Mistrai would hold the same status as a noble in East Hrior.

“I will keep my words sparse and will only say one final thing.” He smiled at the students “Welcome to the Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic!”