To celebrate my birthday we went to the dining room where my mother and siblings Godfrey, Ida and Rosamunde are waiting for me and want to hear the results of the test. As we enter the dining room and look at the table filled with food. My mother starts walking towards me and hugs and kisses me.

Then my siblings started coming first to congratulate me was Godfrey my older brother he gives me a big hug. Then Rosamunde the youngest of my siblings, she is only one year older than me and is one of my best friends as we are still too young to be allowed out of the house on our own. Finally Ida embraced me she dotes on me a bit too much for my taste. She herself is training to become an air mage she has 50% affinity with it.

After breakfast was served we gather at the garden were the whole family is standing as are the high nobles of this Reich even from past the border some families came.

The first person to come up to me was my grandmother Gerlinde who gives me a hug and kiss. She gifted me a small dagger with our family crest engraved she told me to not play around with it and always keep it close.

I have to meet a lot of people today all waiting to hear if I can become a mage. Dad proudly started telling everyone I was capable of becoming a mage without telling them too much to make enemies for us.

As I walked around I found my two childhood friends Kai and Eloise of Waldreich. Kai is the third son of Rayner and Eloise is the second daughter of the Kaiser Theobald. Kai is one year older than me while Eloise is my age.

We grew up together since my home was near the capital of the Reich. Their home is surrounded by our herzogtum but is considered a province by itself in order to avoid conflict. How this situation came to be is our families go back more than a thousand years as allies. We are the family they trust most and so they put the capital near us to be a united front against traitors in the Reich. The terrain of our herzogtum makes it easy to defend if there was going to be a war.

While my father started talking to Rayner. We fantasized about becoming the strongest mages in the empire. My sister Rosamunde approached us last year we had determined we would form a party once we all go to the same school this is still going to take another 6 years. After a few minutes of talking about our dreams Eloise couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“ What was the result of the test.”

Kai also looked at me with excitement.

I know father forbid me from telling everything but I was allowed to say I was a dual mage with high affinity in ice.

“ I have affinity for both ice and light, ice is the one I have a better affinity with just don’t tell anybody else this.”

As they all looked at me with surprise in their eyes the first to speak was Kai

“ So that is why our fathers are in a conversation right now.”

“ you’re right.”

Rosamunde was the next to speak

“ Since we can finally start a party knowing every bodies strengths. When we are older we have the potential of having three mages who can heal and buff us, one who can use strong attacking spells and me as a warrior. We will have great defense and attack both long range and short range.”

Eloise still shocked asked

“ Can I tell my father?”

I didn’t see why not as he was the Kaiser and felt like an uncle to me.

“ Of course I doubt my father won’t tell him.”

Afterwards we started talking for a few more hours about what we have been up to till now and if we should ask our parents if we are allowed to practice light magic together. Rosamunde was feeling a bit down as she was the only one who couldn’t become a great mage. I tried cheering her up.

“ Even if you can’t become a mage you can still ask to join the lessons to learn how the spells work in order to be a better warrior.”

Rosamunde knew this was just to cheer me up but still seemed determined to go to the classes as well.

The four of us started walking towards our fathers and asked if it was possible to start learning light magic together. Rayner and the Kaiser didn’t think this was a problem while my father was still thinking if it would benefit us as they might start slacking off in class. Rayner ensured my father that he will make sure that there will be no slacking off as he will personally punish us if we did. Satisfied with that my father approved of our request.

My father did have a small issue that needed to be taken care. Even if our homes are close to each other they still are at least a three hours horse ride away from one another.

Father takes me to grandpa and tells him what is bothering him. Grandpa had also thought of this.

“ There should be no problem if Siegfried and I will live in an estate in the capital.”

Dad agreed to this solution and set out to buy a house near the home of Rayner. They asked me what I thought of it. Although I would miss my siblings and family I knew this was for us to get better.

“ I will miss everyone here but I understand this is for the best.”

The next day my father and grandpa travelled to the city Waldheim named after the royal family. There they bought an estate in Upper West Waldheim this is the district where nobles and rich families have their homes this is as close as you can get to the Smaragd Palast the home of the royal family.

The Palast got its name from the material and color from which it was built. This was by far the most expensive building in the entire continent. It was built entirely out of smaragd and was an astonishing 100.000 square metres and had a height of 70 metres. Considering that the gemstone Smaragd is one of the scarcest minerals in this continent it left everybody who looked at it in awe.

When father and grandpa returned they summoned me and told me to pack my back as we start leaving in a few hours to go to my new home.

Whilst packing my suitcase somebody knocked on my door as I open the door Rosamunde and mother are standing there with tears in their eyes. It came as a shock to them that I would be leaving them so soon and for so long. I could only visit them when I was free which was only in the weekends.

My mother handed me a small box and said

“this is our parting gift don’t open it till you have reached your new home okay sweetheart.”

I nodded while my sister looked as if she was about to cry. She would be left alone in this castle with no one to play with of her age. I made a promise to her that I would return every weekend to play and talk with her.

Soon after me, grandpa, our personal butlers Johann and Walter stood in front of the gates of the castle I grew up in ready to begin the trip to the new home I will be living in. Everybody who worked in the castle and family was waving us goodbye.

Three hours later we arrive at the front door of our new home in Waldheim. The house itself is relatively small compared to other homes in the neighborhood being only 200 square metres but since the four of us are the only ones living here it was plenty. Johann and I went to my room to unpack my back while Walter started to cook for us.

While unpacking I remember the gift my mother had given me I took it out of my pocket and opened it what was inside made me unable to move for a moment. It was a ruby ring with our family crest on it. These rings are incredibly expensive because ruby has the ability to speed up ones energy intake and would slowly increase your capacity. I immediately put it on my left index finger and started looking at the symbol engraved on the ring a polar bear I now had to items with my family crest on them not counting my formal clothes.

After unpacking everything I walked to the dining room waiting for my grandpa before eating lunch. Grandpa arrived shortly after the food was ready as he took his seat across from me.

“ Siegfried we have moved here so you don’t have to travel to get lessons from Rayner. I will be teaching you Lightning, explaining how the world is divided and explain the fundamentals of magic. We still need to find an ice mage we can trust to teach you. After we finish lunch we will begin the first of your lessons.”

I didn’t expect grandpa to be so serious and had hoped that I would have some time off before lessons begin. Complaining won’t have any use by how serious the tone grandpa told me therefore I just complied.

When lunch was finished grandpa walked out the room I followed him through to the garden there was a small building in the back of it. When we entered the building the first thing I noticed is a handmade pond inside it didn’t look like normal water as it is slightly glowing purple.

“ This is a pond with regular water infused with my lightning energy which makes it perfect to recover your lost energy during the lessons. Any mage with more than 50% affinity for lightning will recover in this pond.”

I was extremely glad I know that using a spell cost quite a bit of energy. Considering I was just starting out even the smallest spell would at the very least drain a lot of my energy and the only way to increase the amount of energy you can hold was by meditating or going up a rank.

“ We will now begin the lesson. This world is separated in five continents they are separated by an ocean on each side.

In the north west we have the continent of elves this continent is filled of beauty, plains and forests. This is the biggest continent but it has the lowest population. The continent is not divided as elves see themselves as one race. All elves are born with the ability to use magic but this comes at a cost they can’t learn fire and darkness element as this goes against their nature. Elves have a fairly weak body they do however have excellent control of their bodies and eyesight so there are still warriors within their ranks mainly as archers or assassins which don’t need a sturdy body but require nimble movements and great eyesight. Elves are immortals by age, they look and have the same build as us the only differences are that their ears are pointy, they all have flawless skin and have either green or purple eyes.

In the south west is one of the smaller two continents it is ruled by monsters and is the second most populated continent. Monsters come in all different shapes and sizes. The continent is divided in areas which you could see as countries these areas are ruled by different species. The larger ones are ruled by dragons, griffins and other mythical monsters. The monster continent is considered one of the weakest if it wasn’t for the few mythical species if these disappear the continent would be done for. These species are small in numbers but the strongest one of each of these species can conquer or even destroy Waldreich if they wanted to. This is why no other continent dares to attack them recklessly as they would have to face multiple of these strong monsters and suffer heavy losses.

The middle continent is the second largest one by size and is ruled by demons it has a small population barely any larger than the elves. To make up for that they are on average the strongest of all races. The sole reason they haven’t conquered the other continents is that they are extremely weak against any light magic it doesn’t matter what type of spell you would cast even a healing one would damage them instead of healing. This is why the Kaisers family is one of the most important families in our continent. They are not the biggest or strongest family in the entire continent all of them can learn light magic this happened a few centuries ago some of their ancestors were Elves this is considered extraordinary Elves are very proud and look down upon any other race. The demons can learn any destructive magic especially darkness. Most demons are born as warriors but are able to become mages. The continent isn’t divided they are simply ruled by the strongest demon this position isn’t taken nor given they feel it when a Demon is stronger than the rest of them. The refer to the strong as leaders this means there is a set structure of power. Demons just like the Elves are immortal by age. Unlike the Elves they are a warmongering species and attack at random other continents.

The south east continent is average in size and is populated by beasts. They have a similar but different build as us they are larger, bulkier, have their body covered in fur and have animal characteristics mainly visible at their head and limbs. They can only become warriors and don’t have any affinity to magic. Even if they can’t become mages they have high defenses and have minor resistances to magic. The continent is divided in countries which are ruled by a few strong subspecies which have claimed it theirs. The rulers of these lands are always weary of the others to plot and take over each other. Despite this they hold annual meetings with each other in order to protect themselves from the other continents especially from us. We have quite the history with them this is mainly as when we crossbreed you get strong and beautiful mixed race this resulted in many wars and slavery was a thing until a few centuries ago.

Last but not least there is our continent in the north east it is the smallest continent but it has the highest population it is ruled by us humans. In terms of strength we don’t have the brute force like the beasts, monsters or demons nor do we have the affinity with magic like the elves, monsters or demons. The reason we exist is solely due to our population. As you know this continent has 5 countries each ruled by a king or emperor. The difference between a king and an emperor is that a king has a smaller piece of land than an emperor. The countries in our continent are Aurilupus the biggest empire, Waldreich the other empire, Frjósaheimr the biggest kingdom next to Waldreich in the north, Bhadar in the south and the smallest kingdom Bahalfa in the middle which is one big dessert.

Due to alliances between continents there is stalemate this is why the continents live in relative peace. Each continent is always training for an invasion or invading another continent. These alliances are the humans with the elves and the demons with the beasts. The monsters are on good terms with both elves and demons. While us humans and beasts have a troubling past and the elves and demons are polar opposites that hate each other. The monsters however do not participate in the stalemate as they refuse to see anyone as their equal.”