A Dragon's Bond

Purple Light

     I started my way down the path that leads to the village. The world isolated in silence except for the crunching of the snow beneath my feet, my breath warm and cloudy in the cold air.

     As I walked I made an attempt to interact with anything I could, trying to dig inside and find those strange feelings. I tried for the next half hour as I walked, feeling completely ridiculous as I wiggled parts of my face as if trying to move a body part I didn't have. An anxiety crept into my mind as my continued attempts produced nothing spectacular.

     The levels of nervousness and nausea rising as I neared my destination, the butterflies in my stomach slamming at the base of my throat in an attempt to get out.

     As I neared the town the snow became less thick and the air warmer, the large population of people and animals helping to warm and thaw some of the snow.

     The city finally came in sight and I could see all the people running around, interacting with one another, the sounds of people talking and laughing ringing through the air. There was an abundance of mages walking about and performing their jobs in the city, everyone moving with a purpose. No niceties being shown to one another, everyone was about business.

     Parts of the town and its buildings had never healed fully from the Queen's war, buildings missing portions of the roof, or patched dirt inside the brick walls. Scorch marks still scarring the landscape.

     Droves of people made their way through the streets, masses of broken people secretly hoping for a better life one day, smiling and laughing as if forced through fear.

     Street performers lined every nook and cranny of the town, taking any free space they could find and hope to earn some money. There were artist mages adept in water control, making Ice sculptures or floating orbs of liquid water for people's amusement. People would stand around and watch, hardly anyone donated money because they needed the money themselves.

     I craned my neck as I walked by trying to catch a glimpse of the performers. My eye caught and I stopped walking for a moment and watched as a man seemed to juggle rocks throwing them in the air. All of the sudden they began to move wildly about, they were coming together and making shapes while people gasped and clapped their hands, actually giving him the little money they could afford.

     Mages that could control the Earth and Water were very rare thanks to the Queen and he attempts to eliminate the competing elements. It was a pleasure to see the man in person, openly performing with the elements. The only place that held any Earth mages openly was The College. Because of Earth mage rarity, even someone slightly proficient would be kept in the College to help train others or provide insight into their skill, I wondered silently to myself why he wasn't at The College.

     I turned away and began back towards the heart of the city, I needed to find where the test would be happening. I honestly wasn't completely sure what to be looking for, I absentmindedly kicked small stones as I wandered through the city. I heard that the mages held a tower in the center of the city, and was told it would be hard to miss.

     I weaved my way through the lines of shops as the sound of a crowd began to grow in the distance, a large tower began rising in the horizon centered in the city. It was a magnificent building that shined in sharp contrast to the patches of snow. It was made of dark black stone and trimmed with the shiniest gold I had ever seen, the contrast of dark rock and shiny metal brilliant. Just the thin edges of every brick were lined in gold. The building rose five or six stories high, and at the top it had orbiting elements dancing about as if they had a life of their own.