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28 – Magus Speculum

2nd. September. 4031. Astoria.

“Excuse me, do you know how can I get there?”, I asked a passerby showing him address written on paper. According to the information that I got from passerby, I had to get into city first and from there on I could ask someone else to show me the way.

There were hundreds of ships docked on port. Most of them were merchant ships with cargo from different parts of the continent; some of them were fishing ships that were bringing freshly caught fish, crabs and other marine resources.

Looking around there was a 20-meter tall wall surrounding the port. I was told that there were four entrances from where I could get into Astoria. Three of those entrances were used for commercial matters while one of the entrances was used for travellers to enter the Astoria.

I walked to the entrance. There were four lines where people were in queue. I stood in third line and in matter of minutes it was my turn. “Kid, where’s your parents?”, was the first question asked to me by the city official. I told them my purpose for visiting the Astoria, and showed them letter and documents that proved I was in service of the Cohen family.

The other side of the wall was reflecting busy city life in more detail. The biggest building in Astoria which I saw was 7 or 8 storey tall. Rest were mainly two or three story tall buildings which were used as stores, inns, pubs, restaurants, shops, blacksmiths and so on.

There were narrow and wide streets, all of them interchanging each other. It was hard to follow through streets for a first timer such as myself. I asked for directions to the address written on paper. I was told that it is in inner layer of city close to Royal Palace.

At the center of Astoria Palace of Queens and Kings was built where current king or queen lived. Circling the palace were inner layers made of 2 wards. First ward was where high-ranking palace and city officials lived. On second ward, there were mansions of 6 big families which covered hectares of lands. Later on came third, fourth, fifth and other wards.

Currently I was in 13th ward, which was outermost area of Astoria that was in between outer wall, and 12th ward. As each area was cut from other with big walls, I had to pass another 10 checkpoints to reach Cohen Mansion within Astoria.

By the time I entered 5th ward; I was hungry and thirsty. It was hard and tiring to go through one ward to another. However, as soon as I entered 5th ward everything changed. There were less people on streets. Houses were more detail oriented and expensive looking in comparison to other wards. As I walked through the streets, I got to know that from 5th ward on elite of Astoria lived. Not all of the houses were occupied as it seems rich and powerful people from other regions had estates in here too.

My stomach grumbled so I decided to enter a restaurant to eat. I ordered well-cooked steak and fried potatoes. Restaurant was clean and waiters were polite. As I paid the bill, I asked them if they could help me out with the path to 4th ward. I told the waiter that it’s my first time in Astoria. Administrator of the restaurant informed me about paid carriages that could carry me directly to address. They helped me to hire a taxi carriage and from there on it took me less than an hour to reach Cohen Mansion.

As we entered third ward I was astonished. There was a separate walled road that took you to second ward. In short, even people living in second ward couldn’t enter third ward, as they wanted. On entrance, taxi carriage was sent back after they checked my documents. I was offered a free carriage to take me to Cohen Mansion.

There was one single road which had another load intersecting it once in a while which took to one of the big family’s mansion. Everywhere was covered in green grasses, exotic and fruit trees, artificial lakes and so on. I was notified as we entered the road to Cohen Mansion. It took another 20 minutes of ride as I saw a massive mansion. It was more like a palace rather than manor or mansion.

Servants greeted me at door. They took my bag and one of them showed me to guest room where Kyle Cohen was having a tea with some of his friends.

“At long last you are here Kain. I was worried you will miss the enrollment test!”, Kyle said to me seeing me and servant enter the room. There were three males and two females inside the room. All of them including Kyle were wearing expensive looking clothes. They had what you call noble aura surrounding them.

I just stood and smiled at Kyle Cohen. “Why so long?”, he asked. “I came on a cargo ship”, I replied which made all of them laugh. “Cargo”, one of them said in irony. “You should have flied to here”, Kyle added. “Initially I was going to, but Lord Riley told me to see the world for myself”, I explained. My mentioning of Lord Riley’s name silenced people, who were laughing. “What a dreadful man”, passed my mind.

On fifth of September, Kyle and I departed Cohen mansion to Monarch Academy. I exited manor to see be amazed of the view. Astonishingly there were two, black and white, Pegasus’s instead of normal horses. Kyle’s voice echoed from backside “This is how you should travel!”

We entered carriage and driver closed the door for us. He sprang to the perch and made some kind of sound which agitated pegasuses to move. First few meters, carriage moved on ground like any other vehicle but afterwards it began to elevate and fly. I was surprised and Kyle was aware of it. “If you pass the test, never forget, you represent Cohen family”, he said to me. I nodded in confirmation.

Kyle told me that Monarch Academy is located outside the Astoria, although not too far from it. I asked him about why there is a Cohen manor in here, and he said that it was compulsory. “Why so?”, I asked again. “There are lots of people employed by each family and its more like a job creation. Highly paid ones.”, he said and stopped for a moment. “It’s more like we are being taxed”, he laughed.

“Don’t forget studying in Monarch Academy is an expensive thing. That’s why you will be the only one with abnormal background if you can get through the mirror.”, Kyle said out of blue. I looked at him with wide-open eyes, trying to imitate as if listening to him thoroughly. “We could have sent you to some martial arts sect or hire special teachers for you to study. But only knowledge of fire magic is in Monarch’s library, and I hope you will pass exam to be able to enter it freely”, he said. I nodded again.

“We are almost there”, he said and I peeked from window of the carriage. Even though it was bird-view, there seemed to be lots of building covered by a large forest. “It’s called Monarch Forest”, Kyle said. “It is circularly covers the whole of academy”, he added. “You see in the middle there is a big lake, and at the center of the lake there is a high building”, he told. I nodded in confirmation. “That is headmaster’s residence”, he spoke showing the place with his right hand.

Carriage began to float down to ground. We landed at the outside part of the forest. “Why here?”, I asked and Kyle answered “Enrollment test is being held outside the academy to show to community that everything is held fairly”.

As we moved out of the carriage, I saw people looking at us in awe. I could see and sense envy, jealousy and even hatred in their eyes. “Enrollment test is like a festival of some kind. People come to watch and academy earns a bit more from it, monetarily and morally”, Kyle added.

There were few rows of stalls where foods and non-alcoholic drinks were sold. People were buying souvenirs, eating meals and drinking. I followed Kyle to meet his classmates. Even though classes began on 9th of september, I was told that it was a tradition for all of students to attend the enrollment test and go into the academy with newcomers.

Karan Iltsin, Cyrus Lyth and few others were hanging out together when Kyle and I joined them. “Kyle that was a magnificent entrance”, Cyrus said. “Thanks Cyrus, I know for sure yours was much more better than that”, Kyle told with a straight look. “Who is that?”, Karan asked Kyle pointing at me. “I have told you about the kid who my family is going to sponsor. Its him.”, Kyle answered. “Would you like to work for me in the future?”, Cyrus asked looking at me. “Piss off!”, Kyle said.

They were chatting, and I was analyzing the people. By chance, my eyes met Elle’s. I nodded in greeting and she nodded back. Klytea and Ralf were besides her. Klytea smiled at me after she recognized me from distance. There were few males and many females surrounding them.

“Ahem! Ahem!”, a coughing sound echoed all around the place. Everyone’s attention was turned towards the place from where voice came.

There was a man floating on air. His long white hair and beard was pushed back by winds. He had grey colored one-piece clothing on him. From the length of clothing, he seemed to be tall man. “I am Belin Gerfast, deputy-rector of Monarch Academy. This year I’ll be looking over the fairness of the enrollment test!”, his voice was resounding all over the place. “Mrs. Albreda”, he said and floating down to ground to sit on an armchair few meters away from his initial location.

A woman around 40 years old stood up and walked towards the place where Belin Gerfast was giving speech. The ground beneath her shook and a pillar began to emerge taking her upwards. “Earth magic?”, I was puzzled to see magic being used in daily matters.

“I’m Nancy Albreda from Admission Commission of Monarch Academy. I’ll be telling out the names of people who will be taking the test”, she said and rolled out a paper. “When you name is mentioned, please come over here and stay in the line”, she pointed with her right hand while holding the paper with her left. “Alla Alberstein...Elle Silverstar”, she said almost 100 names and the list was almost finished.

As much as I understood she was saying names in alphabetic order. After she passed the letter “K” I began to worry, but Kyle patted my shoulder when our eyes met each other. He smiled which decimated my worries.

At the end, Mrs Albreda paused for a while before announcing in high-pitched tone “Kain”. I stepped forward and began to walk towards the line. No surname was mentioned. People gasped in shock. There were lots of people who were commoners such as me who looked at me in awe. Most probably it was the first time in Monarch’s history for a commoner to come to enrollment test. This school was made by rich people for rich people.

Pillar began to fall down slowly and Mrs Albreda came down to ground level. Belin Gerfast’s voice vibrated again “Mrs Albreda pull off the curtain”. Nancy took the curtain covering three-meter tall mirror.

“This is the Magus Speculum”, Belin Gerfast spoke again. “It will be the judge of whether you are eligible to attend Monarch!”, he said again. “Moreover, it will show us what you will face within the world it will send you too... I would like to underline that some of you may see your elemental spirits that are binded to you in the mirror so don’t panic and try to communicate with them!”, Belin Gerfast warned us. “Mrs Alberda you may begin!”, he ordered.

“Alla Alberstein, come forward!”, Mrs Alberda spoke. A girl almost as tall as me went towards the mirror. I couldn’t see her face. She had long blonde hair which was almost up to her waist. Moreover she had slim figure. “Enter!”, Mrs Alberda ordered. Alla went into mirror. As soon as she entered, top part of mirror shined. Hologram was visualized on top of mirror showing Alla inside the mirror.

She was inside a forest filled with fruit trees. Apple, pear, banana and other fruits could be seen through the hologram. A canary appeared out of nowhere. It began to fly over Alla’s head and landed on her shoulder. Alla brought up both her palms together. Canary flew into her palms. She was talking and saying something but unfortunately we couldn’t hear anything. Canary flew away and Alla walked for a bit to see an iron door. She opened and exited. She came up from the other side of mirror.

“Congratulations Alla Alberstein! Beautiful elemental spirit!”, Mrs Alberda said and pointed towards a place for Alla to go.

Another potential student was called and he jumped into mirror in high morale. Hologram was brought up again. The kid was taken onto some island. Few meters away from the place where he was sent a wooden door was located. He went to open the door and enter it. Magus Speculum shined in red, and the kid exited from the same side as he had entered.

“Failed”, Mrs Alberda said without caring for kids psyche and emotions. He began to cry and run away to his parents who were attending the enrollment ceremony.

After some failures and successes, it was Klytea’s turn. She stepped into the mirror. She was on top of a cliff with no way back. She walked to tip of cliff. She looked down the cliff, and there was nothing but darkness. Few meters away from cliff’s tip, floating on air, there was an open door.

She went back and began to run. She jumped up towards the door as soon as she stepped on tip of cliff. Somersaulting on air for a few times she directly entered into the door and exited from other side of the mirror. “Congratulations Ms. Silverstar”, Mrs Alberda said and told Klytea to go to location where successful entrants were sitting.

“Zepho Kig, come forward”, Mrs Alberda said. I couldn’t determine whether it was a male or female as the person was wearing a robe, which covered all of his or her body. Zepho entered into the mirror. It was snowing hard and Zepho began to walk. There were rocks on Zepho’s right and left. Most probably it was some kind of mountain road. Zepho stopped moving, and two bright blue eyes appeared. Blue eyes were getting closer to him second by second. Because of hard snowfall it was hard to see the body of moving creature.

A white wolf appeared and circled around Zepho. Everyone gasped in shock and whispered. “White Wolf”, people were telling to each other. I turned to look at Kyle. Even they were amazed. Zepho walked after white wolf. It showed the way towards the door, and Zepho exited the realm of mirror to step out from other side of it.

“Congratulations Mr Kig”, Mrs Alberda said.

In the blink of an eye the list was finished and I was the only one left. There were kids who had smiles on their faces because of their success. Cries of failed kids could be heard too. People were beginning to depart as most of them had already forgotten about me.

“Kain, come forward!”, Mrs Alberda said. I stepped forward. My heart was beating faster than normal. It was the first time that I was excited this much in a long time. My eyes met Klytea’s and she brought up her right arm up to raise my morale. I blinked once, very slowly, in confirmation. I stood in front of the mirror. “Enter!”, Mrs Alberda’s voice echoed in my ears.

“Here I come”, I said and stepped into the mirror.

P.S: Hows the story so far? In case of action, next chapter will be full of it!