Ludwig & Seraphine

Within the center of the Holy Capital, the divine birthplace of the royal families. A child bearing the family name Ludwig was born. He was but a mere frail and weak infant, depleted of any mana energy unlike his siblings, and half-siblings who all bear the power of tens of men. Usually an infant of such low caliber would be aborted, executed so that their birth would not tarnish the family's name and reputation. However, he was an exception to the rule for he was titled, the blessing of the Goddess. His birth marked the beginning of a new era, an era that will act as the turning point for the world itself.

When he was born from his mother's womb. People cheered no matter the ethnicities, races, statuses or power, for a moment they all united as one as their cheerings penetrated the high walls that acted as protections for the people. Flowers blossomed and crops flourished, the poor no longer had to steal, the hungry no longer had to starve. The citizens threw their fists in the air. They'd sing in harmony, tapping their feets to the melody played by the bards. People celebrated, flowers were thrown out of the balcony onto the ground and the heads of the people below. Shops were full, the streets crowded with the bustling people, restaurants were emptied out as food was given out to the citizens without compensation. All whilst they cheered the name:

"Ludwig!"

"Ludwig!"

"Ludwig!"

Why was there such a reaction for a child, especially one not from royalty but from the house Ludwig which already bore numerous children. Nobody knew why. They didn't think about it. They just cheered for the temporary unification and harmony between the people. Months after Ludwig's birth, the daughter of the king too was born with the name Seraphine. Though people did cheer for her birth, it wasn't as grandiose as Ludwig's.

When Ludwig was five, he noticed a visible scar on his arms but he thought nothing of it. During this time, he met the princess, Seraphine in the royal garden accompanied by two maids. Seraphine had dazzling blonde hair, and her eyebrows were long. Ludwig gazed at the young lady while she was joyfully playing with the flowers in the garden. The maids noticed his gaze and invited him to join the princess.

He approached Seraphine, overwhelmed by her beauty and elegance, he instinctively bowed down without the knowledge of her being the princess. "N-Nice to m-meet you." He stuttered.

"Nice to meet you too!' She replied almost instantaneously. "Who are you?" She asked curiously.

"Uhm. I-I'm Ludwik." He tripped over his words.

"Ludwik?" She paused for a moment to think. "OH! You meant Ludwig? The miracle child?"

"Y-Yes." 

"Come! Let's play together!"

They played for hours on end, meeting new insects and creatures of the garden as well as the beautiful flowers that bloomed with the passion and love the gardeners gave. Ludwig was an oddity of the Ludwig family, not because of the lack of mana but due to his quiet nature, he did not talk very much, not to his siblings, his father or attendees. The only person he'd conversed with was his mother. Well, besides Seraphine of course.

"Wouldn't your name be Ludwig Ludwig? If you are named Ludwig AND you came from the house Ludwig?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Haha That's funny! Then you could be called Ludwig²(square)!" She chuckled.

"S-Squared? W-What's that?"

"Oh! Did your teacher not tell you? The symbol means that you double whatever thing that the symbol lands on!" She replied. "So Ludwig Ludwig will be Ludwig²!"

"Ooh!" He pretended he understood.

"You're fun!" She said joyfully.

When the two of them became nine, Ludwig's uncle, a general and commander of an army conquered the land of Latanna, and sealed its ruler, Empress and Sorceress Latanna. Her sealing was nothing short of miraculous as she was one of the strongest beings in the world for a time. Before her demise, she had armies comparable to the holy empire's, she could scale mountains and conjure magic like wretched Rachel, blasting and taking on a brigade head-on. The confrontation led to half of his army dead, with the other half gravely injured. Their valiant victory would later be inscribed into the history books and one monumental achievement. Like Ludwig's birth, their return was met with cheers and songs.

"Teacher! Teacher! Look! Ludwig! The boy I've told you about!" She dashed towards Sarah, while pointing at Ludwig.

"Hello." Ludwig said, gesturing at Sarah.

"Oh, why hello young gentleman, what brings you here?" She asked the young Ludwig.

"I-I would like to ask you a favor." Ludwig persuaded, unconfident of himself.

"What is the favor? Want me to teach you perhaps?"

"Yes, exactly that! Teacher, can you please accept him as a student? It feels boring without him!"

"Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind accepting another student, especially someone titled Miracle of the Goddess." 

"Yeah!" Ludwig said, pleased with his title and Sarah's praise of him.

Under Sarah's tutelage and guidance, the two of them grow at an exponentially fast rate. Faster than any of their peers and mates, in all categories. Seraphine was an extremely talented individual, one born with great prodigious abilities to write and create. A literature and magic genius. She was greatly praised by the magicians and scholars around, garnering the attention of many schools. Ludwig was more talented in hand to hand combat, sword fighting for he bears the blood of the Ludwig family. He was rather weak in literacy when compared to the intelligent Seraphine but their weakness didn't hold any of them back as they would teach one another, strengthening their bond and fondness of each other. Which eventually blossomed into something more than just friends and acquaintances.

When they turned fifteen, Ludwig and Seraphine entered the same academy. The royal academy of Terra Sancta, where they would both go their separate ways as they studied different majors although rarely they would get the chance to meet up again. Ludwig studied swordsmanship and Seraphine studied the art of magic. 

"Magic are categorized into many parts, Elemental Magic, Incantation Magic, Elven Magic and Magical techniques." Marilyn said as she scribbled down notes and symbols on the blackboard for the class to take. "Elemental magic consists of Water, Fire, Ice and Lightning, Earth if you want to get technical, though lightning is more towards Incantation Magic or Faith magic if you will."

Faith or some would call it, Incantation Magic is a type of magic that considers the faith of the user and conjurer, whose faith determines the scales and power of the magic itself. Divine or Holy and Lightning fits into this category. While Elven Magic consists of Earth and Wind though not much can be said about them as not much about them has been learnt except for a few encounters.

Magical Techniques are diverse in variety and are pre-formed versions of mana. Like a conjuration of a mana sword or knife, or simply the heightening of their mana senses. Magical Techniques are a must for magicians and a major game-changer for swordsmen alike. The quantity of mana that a person possess does not matter as much as their concentration and focus to conjure with such mana.

Seraphine diligently took notes on her book, writing and categorizing them in beautiful colors to make it memorable for the upcoming test. Her friend, who is a brunette, was equally as talented of a mage as Seraphine was. They would form rivalry comparing each others' test scores and results all the while maintaining their friendship to the fullest. There was another person who would rival the two friends in terms of magical talent called Lance, he would be often teased for the irony of being named after a melee weapon but studies after magic. 

"How about you stop taking notes and talk to your sister that you have been talking so much about?" Seraphine said to her brunette friend while hurriedly jotting her notes down all the while trying to comprehend the things Marilyn was currently teaching.

"I did. But I never got a response so I assume she doesn't want to write to me anymore." the brunette said after doing the same thing as Seraphine. "You know what? What don't you write to Ludwig then, especially when you talk about him all day long."

"That's a different matter!" Seraphine shook her head in denial.

RING

The big bell rang, echoing through the entire place. It was time for recess.

"uGHGGGGGGGGG" Seraphine moaned.

"What an unsightly sound." 

"Don't you mean what an inaudible sound?"

"That makes no sense."

"Neither does yours, I mean every sound I make is perfect, down to the very key or tone."

"You sure are full of yourself."

"Indeed I am."

"Weirdo."

"Half-Blooded peasant."

"Miss scored one point lower."

"Let's not talk about that alright? I mean it wasn't fair in the first place, the goddess was interfering!"

"You sure talk a whole lot of nothing, just admit I aM better than youuu~" The brunette teased Seraphine, making faces and gesturing at her.

"Let's have a magic duel right now! Let's see who wins and who DIES."

"You guys sure are energetic huh? Wish I still had as much energy as you two. Just too bad, youth doesn't last forever." A shadowy figure emerged behind them. The shadow donned a white, long sleeve shirt and black cotton pants one made with an extra attention to detail. The shadow had black curly hair, if straightened it could reach her neck. It was Marilyn. She sighed. "I don't care if you guys have a duel just don't die, alright? I had enough of my salary being cut."

"Marilyn?! How the- How did you get here so fast?" They both collectively yelled out.

"It's Miss Marilyn. Ahem. Well, I just walked here like a normal person."

"That's impos- Ahem. Any tips for the test? Madam?" Seraphine asked.

"Study and don't be lazy. Nothing can be achieved without effort but I guess saying these to you two are kind of pointless." 

"Hehe right! Because the two of us are geniuses!" The brunette replied.

"Weren't you two bickering just now?"

"Well, we can't show such disgraceful acts in front of an even greater genius can we?" Seraphine praised Marilyn.

"I'll take the compliment but I'm sure the three of us know that's not the case. Whatever, see you two later." She said as she turned her head around and walked outside of the classroom.

"Well What are you going to do now?" Seraphine asked her friend.

"Thinking of a way to beat you again."

"No way…"

Meanwhile in the swordsmanship department, Ludwig listened to the theories presented by his uncle, the general that conquered Latanna himself. All the students were focused, absolutely awe'd by the general's charisma and experiences. As the general was idolized by many aspiring young men. 

"Avoid any direct confrontation when dealing with a mage. Their advantages outweigh us tenfold, having both speed, range and power but that's taking into account that they already knew of our presence." General Ryker said. "I know as a swordsman, honor is everything to us but I would rather have all you future generals by my side than dying an unfair death to a mage. So what we can do is hide our presence using mana and wait for an opportunity to kill them from behind."

"Sir, I understand but what should we do when we have no other choice?" One of the students asked.

"Training and broadening knowledge about magic are the only things that could help us, as every mage, magician differs. The general thing to keep in mind is to keep our distance as close as possible. They need time to cast and conjure spells, so we need to keep the pressure on them, overwhelm them and ultimately crush them." the general said, his eyes widened towards the students. Showing the gravity and danger when fighting a mage. He was reminded of the times when he waged war against Latanna and her army, where his confidence peaked and dropped to its lowest at the same time. 

"Thanks, general."

"..." 

"You're welcome. Eddie."

After the class ended, all the students left. Ludwig privately met with Ryker at his request. 

"Uncle Ryker, why did you call for me?"

"Ludwig… I want you to… go to war." Ryker said, his face extremely troubled.