CHAPTER 25 — The mage background (3)
The room looked like it had survived a storm.
Clothes lay scattered across the floor, drawers hung half-open, and two wooden boxes sat overturned as if they had been interrogated and failed to answer.
At the center of it all stood Eldric.
'Ahh.. where did I keep it.'
He muttered under his breath, tossing another shirt over his shoulder without even looking. His hands moved restlessly—searching, throwing, digging—as impatience crept into every motion.
He shut one box with a frustrated thud and dragged another closer.
'I hope this one would have it.'
The lid creaked open.
Hope flickered.
And then—
More chaos.
A jacket flew out. A pair of trousers followed. Something metallic clattered against the floor.
'Where is it? Ughhh where is it?'
Then suddenly—his hands stopped.
"…Huh."
Carefully, unlike everything else he had touched so far, Eldric pulled out a photo frame.
Inside it, a younger version of himself stood stiffly, holding a certificate. Beside him stood a man with a stern face—clearly trying not to look proud.
A chuckle escaped his lips.
'Haha.. Master was really... Hehe.'
He looked at that photo for a long time.
His fingers traced over the surface of the glass, lingering for a moment longer than necessary.
For a brief second, the chaos in the room faded.
Then Eldric exhaled and shook his head.
'Now's not the time to get nostalgic.'
He placed the frame back gently—far more gently than anything else he had handled—and resumed his search.
His eyes drifted to a worn-out jacket nearby. The Darve Dojo emblem—stitched and faded—still clung stubbornly to its fabric.
Eldric lips curled up and down looking at the jacket for a long time.
Suddenly a realisation struck him like a hammer.
'What the hell am I doing?'
He put that worn out jacket and shirt in the box again. But before that he looked at the photo one last time, suddenly his eyes flickered as he focused on the certificate he was holding in the photo.
He turned his head right and looked up at the shelf. On the shelf there was the same certificate inside a frame. Which he was holding in his photo.
Eldric slapped his forehead.
"Ahh really! I'm such an idiot."
He got up and walks towards the shelf and picked up a card that was laying beside the framed certificate.
---
"Hey dolt! Let's go." Eldric barged out of the dojo building with a serious face, only to freeze mid-way.
"Not again, I told you first focus on gathering mana."
Leonhart was there, still helping Rowan with practice, Rowan lifted his axe and swing it again.
"fire chop."
But still nothing happened.
"Ugh... How do you even gather mana around that axe." leonhart rubbed his temple.
"Hey! Newbie. look, this is how it's done you idiot."
There were other students around them too,
"But you are not wearing the bands."
"Ugh... Shut up."
Eldric stood there like a statue.
'What the? When he did started getting along with other students.'
"Uhh... This is hopeless, I'm wondering how did you even managed to win the competition like this." Leonhart muttered, stomping the ground.
Suddenly his gaze landed on Eldric.
"Oh vice master."
Rowan turned and saw Eldric.
"Hey master! It's not working are you sure they are level 1 bands?"
Eldric snapped back from his dazed state.
"Hey dolt! Stop whining and just focus on practice."
Eldric stepped forward, srecthing the back of his head.
"Remember, it took You 5 days to learn fireball. And it's not even 1 hour since you have been in this mana training, so you better start focusing if you want to go to Grand Aetherion."
"Wait.. did it really took you 5 days to learn fireball."
"who takes that long?"
"even a non mage would take like 4 days I bet."
"is it an inside joke?"
The students started wishpering among themselves.
Harrumph... Harrumph...
Eldric cleared his throat drawing students attention towards himself.
"Hey you guys, go and do your practice."
The students started leaving.
Leonhart looked at the retreating students. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Leo! You also go and do you training." Eldric said,
Leo nodded and started leaving too.
Rowan looked at Eldric. Eldric stared at Rowan for a long time.
"What?"
Eldric shook his head.
"Nothing."
He started walking, tapping Rowan's shoulder.
"Let's go, there is something we need to do."
"Huh.. ok, let me take these bands."
Rowan started taking out the bands but Eldric stopped him.
"Keep wearing them,you would get used it."
With that Eldric started walking waving a hand towards Rowan.
Rowan started following Eldric.
"Where are we going?"
Eldric titled his head up with a grin.
"To fix your future."
---
The Arcane Registration office (Darve City)
Inside, The waiting room.
Rowan and Eldric sat side by side on the chair inside waiting room, Eldric is sitting palms joined, rubbing the back of his hand aggressively with his tumb, sweat nonstop coming down his forehead.
Rowan sat quietly remembering what happened.
Just a few moments ago
Rowan was looking around while walking in the corridor of the office.
The building felt… overwhelming.
The corridor was smooth, Polished floors reflected the ceiling lights. People moved with purpose. Papers shuffled. Voices murmured in organized chaos.
'Wow.'
"this office looks like a palace." Rowan muttered.
"Hmph." Eldric scoffed. "looks like you have never seen a real palace. This office is nothing compared to it."
Rowan asked excitedly,"Have you been to one."
"No." Eldric replied with a straight face.
Eldric quicken his pace and Rowan followed suit, Finally they reached their destination.
They arrived at a modest clean room. some plants pots were resting on a side shelf.
And at the centre Someone was sitting, reading a newspaper, it was hard to tell who it was since the newspaper was covering their face.
"Hello, I'm here for the issuance of a mage background certificate." Eldric stepped forward nonchalantly.
"Here is my application and my mage licence."He put the paper and a card on the table.
"What is your name and affiliation?" the person sitting infront of them lowered the newspaper from her side a little. But then suddenly her eyes shifted.
"Eldric?"
"Meli...!" Eldric eyes widened looking at the woman infront of him.
She was a woman with black hair coming down resting on her shoulder with sharpe light hazel grey eyes.
She stared at Eldric with blank expressionless face for some time and then looked down and lifted the paper Eldric had just put on the table.
"Hey_ ugh... When you did even come here. I thought your posting was in Bosinia." Eldric asked awkwardly.
"I have been here since 2 years." She replied without even looking, her eyes were on the application.
"What? Wow, why didn't you come to the dojo then." Eldric asked.
"I did came one or two times but you weren't there."
"Oh!"
The atmosphere became quite awkward.
And Rowan stood there like a statue, face cleary stating the unawareness of the situation.
Meli's gaze landed on Rowan, Rowan flinched when she looked at him.
"Who is he?"
"Oh— this guy is Rowan, I'm taking him as an official disciple, and that mage background certificate is also for him."
A chuckle left Meli's lips,"What? you taking an official disciple? I never expected that."
"Well yeah whatever. But what's your position now."
Meli didn't say anything and just titled her eyebrows lowered. Eldric looked at the direction and saw a nameplate.
Chief Registrar.
Melisha monue.
"Wow, you became chief registrar already, I thought you would always remain sub registrar, when I heard all those gossips of you creating messes every—"
SLAM!!
Melisha slammed Eldric's application on the table.
"What?" Eldric asked indifferently.
"Your licence is expired, looks like you never updated it."
Eldric flinched he quickly stepped forward and grabbed both of her hands in his.
"Hey, Meli. Please do something if you can. I don't have much time and we need—"
"Okay, okay now let my hands go. And go wait in the waiting room." Melisha nodded.
A bright smile spread across Eldric lips.
Maybe Eldric didn't noticed it but Rowan who was standing beside Eldric, noticed everything. The way Melisha's eyebrows and lips twitched in a Tch..
He kept shifting his gaze from Eldric and Melisha.
'What's going on between these two?'
Present
Rowan looked at Eldric remembering what happened there in the office, he just can't help his curiosity.
"Who is that woman, do you know her?"
"Well..." Eldric scretched his cheek."it's a long story so..."
"I don't mind, i think it would be a good time pass."
"Huh" Eldric looked at Rowan with wide eyes his brows curled upwards. He locked his arm around Rowan's neck and pulled him closer.
"Oh really. And when I was about to talk about my mage story, you refused saying you don't like long stories."
"Ehh... I think this story is more interesting then that one so..." Rowan stuttered.
"Oh really! Wanna see something more interesting." Eldric started hitting Rowan in head, though there wasn't anything strength behind those hits. It was becoming very annoying for Rowan.
Creak...
The door opened as Melisha entered and paused seeing Eldric hands on Rowan's neck.
"Huh." Eldric also paused seeing Melisha.
"What the... Hey are you bullying the kid or something?" Malisha asked in a calm voice.
"what?" Eldric's face twisted. "No... No.. No." he quickly released Rowan and started Patting his head.
"it's just a playful banter between master and disciple."
Rowan looked at Eldric with narrow eyes. Eldric also returned the same gaze.
"Sigh..." Melisha sighed handing Eldric two papers."This one is the mage background certificate and this. Your updated licence.
Eldric took his new licence his eyes sparkled, the licence is clean silver, shining like a star. His name and affiliation written in pitched black ink. It was hard to believe that just a moment ago he had a worn out ugly licence.
"When did they started making this so cool." Eldric asked in a daze.
Rowan also looked at the licence his face same as Eldric.
"It's not long, this version came 2 years ago." Melisha replied.
"hah... If I had known that the licence has become so cool, I would have came here already."
Eldric looked at Melisha.
"Thanks Meli."
She just nodded her head and left.
Rowan looked at her retreating figure. Then he looked at Eldric who is still staring at his new licence, then back to Melisha.
"Sighhh" Rowan shook his head and took a long sigh.
---
Step.... Step... Step...
Rowan and Eldric are walking side by side their shoes crushing the tiney stones on their path.
Rowan looks at Eldric with an awkward face because Eldric's eyes are glooed to his new shining mage licence.
"You have been staring at that card for a long time."
Rowan paused for a second it didn't look like that Eldric is paying any attention at all.
"What's so special about that card?"
Eldric shook his head,"Huh... You wouldn't understand. Back in my day the mage licence used to look like any other card. But..."
Eldric grinned as his started pushing the card on Rowan's face,
"Now see, it's so shiny-shiny and—"
Rowan shook his hands like a fish outside water, by the sudden act.
Eldric took a deep sigh. "Now, it actually looks cool."
Rowan looked at Eldric's happy face
And then looked at his mage background certificate.
<"ARCANE REGISTRY OFFICE — DARVE CITY
Official Mage Background Certification
---
NAME — Rowan Vayne
MAGE BACKGROUND — Registered Disciple of Mage Eldric Vayne
AFFILIATION — Darve City Dojo
ROLE — Recognized Student of Darve City Dojo
---
REGISTRATION STATUS — Verified and Recorded under Licensed Mage Lineage
MAGE CLASSIFICATION — Novice (Provisional)
CERTIFICATE ID — DVO-AR-4721
---
ISSUED BY — Arcane Registry Office,
Darve City.
DATE OF REGISTRATION — xx/xx/xxxx
---
OFFICIAL NOTE:
The bearer of this certificate is hereby recognized as a legitimate practitioner under an established mage lineage and is granted eligibility for formal arcane examinations, including entrance assessments to accredited academies.
---
AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY
[Seal of the Arcane Registry Office]
CHIEF REGISTRAR
MAGE MELISHA MONUE
Registrar of Arcane Affairs, Darve City">
---
While reading his mage background certificate Rowan's eyebrows twitch at a certain sentence.
"Master."
"Yeah."
"I think there is a mistake in this certificate."
Eldric's eyes which were still glooed to his new mage licence doesn't even flinched. He causally replied.
"Nah... I don't think so, Meli hardly make any mistake."
"No, I'm serious look at this." Rowan tucked Eldric's seelve and pointed towards a certain sentence.
"Look, vayne? Why is there vayne in my name. My name is only Rowan." Rowan's eyes were carrying a deep seriousness.
Eldric looked at Rowan with loose eyes and then slapped his forehead.
'Ughh... Seriously and I registered this guy as my official disciple.'
His inner voice was carrying instant regret already.
---
They both returned to dojo, Rowan got into his practice. again swinging his axe trying to cast spells but mana suppressing bands were around his wrist, making spell casting difficult.
Meanwhile Eldric was inside master's office Standing infront of Master Garrick.
Garrick was examining Rowan's mage background certificate.
"hmm... Very good."
Eldric stood there with an awkward bright smile.
"Now we can finally focus on recommendation letter." Master Garrick continued.
Eldric exhaled deeply.
"Sighh... Yeah. I'm glad."Eldric then took out his mage license. "And see this master. The mage license has now become so —"
Eldric paused when he saw Master Garrick wasn't paying any attention.
"Make sure the kids special training is going good. After all only two months are remaining for the Grand Aetherion entrance exam.".
"Okay. I will."
"You should go and thank Riven, if he hadn't suggested it. Then it wouldn't had been possible."Master exclaimed.
Eldric took a deep sigh and nodded,"sigh, ok I will go and thank him. Where is he by the way?"
---
Riven was sitting in his room legs crossed eyes closed, his mind contemplating something. a copy was laying open infront of him, he slowly opens his eyes and writes something on the copy.
'Hmm... Okay that's enough for now.'
After that he slowly stands up and gets out of his room and starts walking in the corridor. Eyes lowered, it looked like he was still thinking about something.
"Hai-yah."
Riven snapped back from his thoughts hearing the voice. He looked towards the direction of voice and saw Rowan still practicing with mana suppressing bands. Swinging his axe non stop. But nothing was happening.
"Hey! Look here." A student said as he casted a fireball and hit a training dummy.
"See it's this easy."
Riven noticed that many students were there, showing Rowan how to cast spell in their own way, though none of them were wearing mana suppressing bands.
Rowan again swings his axe.
"Fire chop."
Still nothing happened.
Rowan takes a deep sighhh... Then suddenly—
"Ahh... Huh what the? What happened?"
Rowan was on the ground his clothes soaked. He sits up and looks around.
'What just happened suddenly?'
He was in a daze but suddenly a voice snapped him back.
"At this rate you would always be struck at level 1 bands."
"Huh." Rowan looked up and saw a boy standing straight, wand in hand.
"Oh it's you." Rowan stood up. "You were no where to be seen after the competition so—"
"Huh." Rowan's eyes widened as he saw Riven pointing his wand towards him.
"Wait... Stop, why?"
"Prepare yourself."
"Huh..." Rowan stood confused looking at Riven.
"You won't get anywhere hitting a lifeless dummy who can't even defend itself." Riven continued. "The real growth... Comes through combat."
Rowan blinked then he also lifted his axe.
"Ok ! I will try my best."
Riven's lips curved up fainted.
The air shifted between them.
Two figures stood across from each other.
Not as rivals.
But something deeper.
Sharpening one another.
The wind stirred.
The air tightened.
And somewhere beyond this small dojo—
A greater world awaited.
---
CHAPTER ENDS
End of volume 1.