Class Selection

The last school year finished and both Lucien and Kalin graduated with about thirty others. Everyone else dropped out or just couldn’t pass the end of year tests.

All the graduated students received a letter which read:

Congratulations graduate! Now that you have completed the four years of school successfully, you have the option of attending the Class Selection Event on November 1^st, 582. During this event you will be able to pick a class of warrior to study and work under. More details will be explained at the event on the date listed above such as the opportunities that become available to you once you become an official warrior under your class title. This event will be held in Cleardale’s council building located in the Northeast section of town. Please bring this letter as your entry ticket if you plan on joining us. We hope you decide to attend!

“That’s only about half a year away!” Lucien spoke excitedly.

“That’s right son. You feel ready?” his father asked.

“Well, I sure am ready, but is there really anything I can do to prepare?”

“Not really. You just show up, touch the crystal ball, and then decide which class you want to study under. Nothing really special.”

“Father, why didn’t you choose a class?”

“Well, it’s complicated. I touched the crystal ball and it said I would be best as a mage, but I already knew the magic that would manifest in me would have been ice magic. I didn’t choose another class because I didn’t have any skills in the other classes. So, I decided to try to become a farmer and you can see how well that turned out for me.”

Lucien felt bad for his father.

“What about you mother?”

“It’s pretty much the same story with me.” His mother replied.

Lucien was surprised they didn’t even at least try another class.

…

November 1^st came slowly. Lucien, with the time he had to wait until then, brushed up on his sword skills as well as his archery until the fated day arrived.

“Son, go with your gut. Choose the class that you feel is right for you,” his father advised.

“I will father.”

“What do you have in mind?” his mother asked.

“It’s a surprise.” Lucien smiled. He didn’t tell them that he wanted to become a mage. He wasn.t sure how his parents would have reacted to that, but he had already made up his mind.

His parents would have joined him, but it was forbidden for parents to attend so that the attendees wouldn’t feel pressured to make a choice that they possibly didn’t want to make.

Lucien met up with Kalin and they both walked to the council building.

“You ready to become a knight?” Lucien asked.

“You bet. You ready to become a mage?”

“Of course.”

They both were trembling with excitement as they walked towards the northeast part of town.

They approached the council building that towered over all the other buildings surrounding it.

It was a large dome shaped building with very many glass windows. Outside of the council building was a line of people waiting to enter.

“Why are there so many people? I thought parents were forbidden?” Lucien wondered.

“I have no clue.” Kalin admitted.

They waited in line for a good half hour before they reached the entrance.

At the entrance there were four guards, all equipped with spears. People waiting in line would show the invitation letter and then the guards would permit them entry.

Both Lucien and Kalin showed the guards their invitation letters and the guards nodded allowing them to enter.

The entranced opened up into a very large space. The ceiling was the dome top of the building which was covered in stained glass. The second floor was just a large balcony that wrapped around the interior about twenty feet in the air.

The place was packed full of people. Some of them were grouped up underneath flags with differing symbols and colors.

In the middle of the room, there was a very large sphere which Lucien guessed was the crystal ball. Lucien could have fit comfortably inside of the ball if there was a way in. The crystal ball was floating about five feet off of the ground due to magic.

“This is awesome!” Kalin marveled as he took the grand sight in.

“Yeah!” Lucien agreed.

After about another twenty minutes a very short man with grey hair and a wrinkled face with glasses appeared on the second-floor balcony and began to speak, his voice amplified by magic.

“Hello and thank you for coming! I am Marlon Armos. I am the representative sent from the Monarch’s Council. A special congratulations to the thirty-one students that managed to pass all four years of school, a requirement in order to receive this chance to claim a class title. Now then students, when I call your name you will step forward and place both hands on the crystal ball located in the middle of this room. Once you know which class you are best suited for, you will have a couple of minutes to quickly make a decision on whether you want to keep that class title, choose another one, or even reject all of them. Once you have made your decision, you will announce to everyone in this room what class you have chosen. I will not begin to call your names.”

Mr. Armos then called the first student. A shy boy stumbled forward and nervously placed his hands on the crystal ball. The crystal ball vibrated and began to fill with a golden smoke and the word ‘Healer’ slowly formed within.

The boy looked relieved and immediately shouted, “Healer!” then stepped back into the crowd.

“Cletus Adelson!”

Cletus stepped forward and did the same as the boy before him. The crystal ball filled with dark red smoke this time and the word ‘Assassin’ formed.

“Wow… that’s literally perfect for him.” Kalin stated.

Cletus accepted the class title and stepped back.

Mr. Armos continued and called the next student. The next student received archer which he gladly accepted. The girl who stepped forward next received the same thing and accepted it. Only one student rejected his given title of healer and choose knight.

“Kalin Henderson!”

“That’s my que,” Kalin whispered to Lucien and then stepped forward and placed his hands on the crystal ball.

The ball vibrated and filled with dark black smoke and then the word ‘Knight’ formed.

Kalin jumped and threw his fist in the air, “Alright!”

Everyone looked at him and he stared back.

“Oh right. I accept.” Kalin said nervously as he scratched his head. He stepped back into the crowd where Lucien was standing.

“Congrats Kalin!” Lucien high fived Kalin as he took his place in the crowd.

Lucien was going to be the last one to be called since his last name started with a ‘V’. He waited nervously as the rest of the students were called one by one to the crystal ball.

“Lucien Verglas!”

A low murmur emerged in the room as people began to whisper to one another upon hearing the infamous Verglas family name.

Lucien did his best to ignore it, gulped down his saliva, and stepped forward. He placed his hands gently on the crystal ball and it immediately began to vibrate. The feeling of the vibrating crystal ball made Lucien feel weird, but he concentrated on the inside of it.

The ball filled with blue smoke, and it slowly turned to a jet black, then it turned back to blue, then to white. The crystal ball seemed to be confused, but a word began to slowly form: Mage.

Lucien took a deep breath after seeing this result and then shouted, “I accept!”

The room erupted in conversation and bewilderment.

“Quiet please, quiet!” Mr. Armos’s voice boomed. “Now that you have all received your class titles, please take a look around the room. There are various guilds and military factions standing under their respective flags. You should explore your options with these groups in order to set yourself up for the best future possible! Congratulations and good luck!”

Mr. Armos disappeared off of the balcony and all of students dispersed to meet with the various guilds and military factions.

“Well, I’m off to explore my options I guess,” Kalin sighed as he looked at Lucien. Kalin was worried for Lucien’s sake. He didn’t think Lucien was going to have any real luck in finding anyone that would take him in and train him. “I wish you luck.”

Kalin ran towards the part of the room reserved for the different guilds’ representatives.

Lucien walked around slowly, but he strangely felt out of place. He tried talking to some guild representatives, but they all ignored him and the ones that responded to him just pushed him away with harsh words.

“Get out of here kid, we don’t have room in our guild for people of your kind.”

“Leave us alone, we are trying to give the ones that actually have potential a chance.”

Even the military factions all rejected him.

Lucien felt like a total outcast. He wasn’t welcome anywhere he went.

He looked over and saw Kalin laughing with one of the representatives of a guild that specialized in bringing up knights.

‘If no one will teach me, I’ll figure it out myself!’

Lucien walked out of the council building and into the snow-covered streets.

He began to sprint towards home as fast as he could, his breath being frozen as he exhaled. As he ran down the street, he felt like everyone was staring at him. Lucien felt like the entire world was against him, putting obstacles in his path so he would stumble and fall, hoping that he wouldn’t get back up.

He approached his home, but instead of stopping in front of the entrance, he continued past the cabin and headed towards the edge of the forest. He didn’t stop at the forest edge either but pushed past the brush and into the depths of the forest.

He tripped over a broken branch covered in the snow and came tumbling down the other side of the small hill he just climbed.

The snow began to melt as it came in contact with his skin, making Lucien feel even colder as he laid there.

Trembling, he rolled over, so he was face up and stared into the gray sky.

‘I don’t even know where to start! How am I supposed to learn how to be a mage? Not only that, the magic I’ll learn is banned!’

Lucien stood up and clenched his fists.

‘Screw the rules! I’m going to be a mage if it costs my life!’

Lucien bent his knees and tried tensing all his muscles at once as hard as he could. However, the result was his body shaking and muscle fatigue.

“What are you trying to do? Take a dump?”

Lucien relaxed and quickly looked over his shoulder to see Kalin standing there.

“Hey Kalin,” Lucien smiled weakly then went back to a frown.

“Hey, I noticed you left kinda early. I followed your footsteps in the snow here. Your parents are worried about you. They saw you run by.”

“I just feel like an unwanted piece of trash, that’s all. No matter how nice I am or how hard I work, people ignore or scoff at me. It feels like I’m fighting a hopeless battle all alone.”

“That’s not true! You have me and your parents too! We would never abandon you! Lucien you’re the hardest working person I know! I look up to you! That’s why I introduced myself that day. Even though everyone looked down on you, you always had this look of determination and hope in your eyes! Don’t lose hope Lucien, because if you do, you will end up in an even worse situation.”

Lucien looked at Kalin, his first and only friend. Tears began to form in his eyes.

“Look, I’ll be here for you no matter what. I’ll help you achieve your dream.” Kalin walked towards him and held out his hand.

Lucien was crying now as he took hold out it. As soon as he did Kalin pulled him in and hugged him.

Kalin continued, “Don’t think of me as your friend, but your brother. Got it?”

He let Lucien go and Lucien nodded in response as he sniffled.

Screaming suddenly pierced the cold air.

“That sounded like mother!” Lucien gasped as he faced the direction of his house.

Three guards with spears in hand appeared over the hill. Lucien recognized them as the same that were guarding the entrance of the Council building.

“What are they doing here?!” Kalin yelled.

“There he is! Capture the white haired one!” one of the guards commanded.

All three guards rushed towards Lucien.

“Lucien, run!” Kalin screamed as he charged towards one of the guards.

He tackled one of them to the ground, but the guard kicked him off and stood.

“Knock it off kid, you’re not the one we’re after!” the guard yelled. Kalin stood up again to try and tackle the guard again.

Thwang!

The guard swung the bottom end of his spear and struck Kalin in the head hard. Kalin dropped to the ground immediately, motionless.

Lucien was frozen in place. Too many thoughts and filled his mind as he tried to decide what to do, but as the guards got closer, he turned to run, but the guard closest to Lucien jumped on top of him and held him on the ground.

The guard placed his knee on the middle of Lucien’s back to hold him down while he took hold of both of Lucien’s arms. Lucien struggled as hard as he could, but the guard was too strong. The guards slapped cuffs on his hands, and another slapped some on his ankles. After this was done the last guard that knocked Kalin out, put a brace on Lucien’s neck and then wrapped a chain through slots on all three restraints. After this was done, they then pulled Lucien up to his feet.

“Walk!” ordered one of the guards.

“Wait, I haven’t done anything wrong! Why are you…”

“I said walk!” the guard used the butt of his spear and thrusted it in the small of Lucien’s back, pushing him forward. “Don’t talk either!”

Kalin was still lying in the snow unconscious.

The guards pushed Lucien up the hill and back out of the forest.

When they exited the forest, Lucien noticed a fourth guard who was trying to join back up with the other guards, but there was something on his leg.

“Father!” Lucien yelled.

“I said be quiet!” the guard struck Lucien’s head with the butt of his spear, giving Lucien a massive headache.

His father was clinging onto the leg of the fourth guard.

“Let my son be. He didn’t do anything wrong!” his father begged.

“Let me go!” the fourth guard started to hit Lucien’s father with his spear to try and make him let his leg go.

His mother was screaming as streams of tears ran down her face, “Let my baby go! He didn’t do anything let him go!”

The guards ignored her and just pushed her out of the way and into the snow as they dragged Lucien back towards town.

The fourth guard rejoined them as he had knocked Lucien’s father unconscious.

“Mother! Why are they doing this to me?” Lucien asked. He received another hit to the head with a spear.

His mother tried but couldn’t get any more words out as they carried Lucien away back towards town.