Guardians Of The Arcane Chronicles

Chapter 3: After School

A purple hue reflected off the horizon, casting an indigo shadow onto the city skyline. Or maybe it was the other way round; it was hard to tell when humanity has imbued so much arcani into their daily lives that even the natural environment gets affected.

Narrow concrete buildings coated themselves in the distinct purple coloured essence of arcani, decorated by protective magic symbols that could easily withstand a thunderbolt hurled by the occasional drunk Mage. An array of shophouses ran along the sides of the streets, selling a variety of items ranging from simple Sorcerer spellcrafts to offensive wands that required a licence to wield.

Most magis preferred casting their magic with a staff instead of wands, since the former could channel virtually any kind of magic easily. But wands still had their uses, especially for the non-magi who cannot channel arcani. Like metas, wands hold arcani within themselves and can be primed to perform fixed magical actions.

A doorbell tinkled as Felix opened the wooden doors to the cosy, vintage looking wand shop. He walked to the counter, smiling as politely as he could at the unfamiliar face manning it. The old man did not return the smile.

"Hi, I'm here to pick up a custom-made wand," Felix said, pulling out a receipt and his council wand licence. "I ordered it a few weeks ago."

The old man ignored the licence and pulled down his round rimmed glasses, examining the piece of paper with an unimpressed look on his face. His eyes narrowed.

"Payment by a glyph wallet? You're a meta, boy?" he asked him suspiciously. "What do you need the wand for?"

"I- I don't think I'm obliged to tell you that, sir. But if you insist on knowing, it's a gift for a friend," Felix replied. "Perhaps you can check with Helios, he knows about-"

"I'm in charge of the store, young man!" the old man shouted, his face turning red in anger. "I know your kind; I know you metas are always up to no good! Metas are always destroying the peace in this city. Like hell I'm selling my wand to someone like you!"

Felix sighed.

"If that's how it is, may I have my deposit back then?" He pursed his lips, trying his best not to argue and give the old magi a cardiac arrest.

"What? No way! You're not welcome here! Go and do your crime somewhere else, you-"

"Father!" The wooden boards creaked, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps. A stocky young man emerged from the back of the store, rushing to the counter.

"By the gods, you're going to scare all our customers away. This is the last time I leave you to man the counter by yourself." The young man ushered his father back to the back of the store. He reappeared shortly after, carrying an ornate box.

"I'm so sorry about that." He handed it to Felix. "I hope you don't take offence; my father's a little simple-minded when it comes to racial issues."

"None taken, Helios. And he's not entirely wrong about most of my race being criminals, so I'm used to it." Felix shrugged as he took out a wooden board wrapped with boar skin from his coat pocket. Helios picked up a wand by the counter and hovered it over the glyph wallet.

Two symbols carved into the animal skin lit up. One resembled a leaf while the other was crescent shaped. There was another symbol that resembled a sun, but it remained unlit. A strobe of light travelled from the wand into the similar glyphs on Helios' wrist, lighting up the sun-shaped symbol tattooed on his skin.

"I see you've earned yet another Sawel." Felix grinned. "Business must be good."

"If it was, it wouldn't have taken a whole year to fill up that glyph." The Artificer sighed, handing back the wallet to Felix. "Are you doing alright? Your funds seem to be running a little low."