The Gods' War

Chapter 5

ADRIAN WAS DIFFERENT to other mages. Most mages could only control one of the five elements. Some could control two, but that was very rare. Adrian, however, could control all five.

        He had discovered this on his fifth day of training. He was trying to reach his inner magic essence, when he had accidently simultaneously fired a burst of flame at the teacher, created a twister, entangled the class in vines, created a canyon around him, and froze a pupil with ice. That pupil happened to be his best friend and tutor, Jean.

        Adrian had gotten a lot of attention since that. He didn’t like to be popular; too many friends distracted him from his training. Adrian had learned why he always studied his surroundings. It was because it was his natural instinct to find any potential threats, as well as finding weak points for battle.   

        Adrian was the master at chess; he could beat any mage who challenged him. He had devised various unbeatable strategies, and had soon become the best. Adrian was actually quite glad he had come. He had been angry that he had to be at The Wall in the beginning, but that had changed.

        Jean had become Adrian’s best friend. They were inseparable. All that Adrian missed was his former best friend Lucas. He hoped that once they were both finished with their training, they could be friends again.

Mages and wizards could not interact with each other, except in assemblies. But that was almost impossible since they sat in different aisles – the wizards to the right, the witches and warlocks to the left, and the mages in-between.

        Adrian was on his way to Mistress Colitz’s office, when a rock wall rose from the floor in front of him.

        “Going somewhere?” It was the voice of his least favourite teacher, Mr. Kirtley.

        “Yes, sir,” Adrian replied, “Mistress Colitz asked me to see her in her office.”

        Mr. Kirtley hated every student. He had been a lieutenant in the mage army that protected the people of Arnone.

        Arnone and its walls were where Adrian and the other beings of magic trained in. It was a beautiful kingdom, the buildings were of white stone, a peculiar white stone called vlamboin.

        Vlamboin was mined in Cruvla – it was the trading city’s main export. It looked somewhat like marble. It reflected light in a way that seemed to make it look like it was glowing. The texture was very smooth, and no matter the temperature, it was always cold to the touch. Vlamboin was mostly used in cities of great wealth. It was mind blowing that so much stone could have been transported from Cruvla, and then to have built an entire kingdom out of it.

        Arnone was first ruled by the great king Agrione. But, over time, the line of Agrione had faded, and the most powerful wizard received the throne. Whenever the King-Wizard died, there was a contest to declare who the strongest wizard was.

        The contest was held over a period of five days, during which, wizards were tested in various methods. A wizard won points for each test passed, and the position in which he or she passed. The top ranked five then duelled for the throne.

        In the centre of the town of Arnone, was a fountain of a part of Creation. The fountain was of Agrione emerging from a magnificent tree, fully battle-dressed and armed. Half of his body faded into the tree, to give the effect of him emerging. He reached out with his right hand, where his sword was held, and the rest of the right side of his body was still in the tree. When someone looked at it, they half expected him to actually start to emerge from the tree.