Chapter 2: Invitation
The table was silent for a second.
"I knew it!" Dylan exclaimed "I knew David was lying when he said it was impossible for any of us to awaken glyphs!"
"What? Let me see!" David said, confused. Talia showed him her wrist. Sure enough a circle and a heart were clearly present. The glyphs for strength and endurance.
"How is this possible!" David demanded "I clearly remember learning that if your parents don't have glyphs it's impossible to have one, I don't have a glyph! How can Talia have a glyph?" He looked at the parents who were staring at each other surprised.
"W-well, we shouldn't worry about how it's possible, we should think about it as a sign from the heavens, we have been blessed by Talia, she will bring honor to our family!" Talia's father reasoned
"I guess... yeah, Talia's is pretty cool." David said with a small smile "but how come I couldn't be the lucky one!"
"I guess I'm just better than you!" Talia joked sitting her tongue out.
"As if! You're just adopted!" David joked back. The kids laughed while the adults just stared at them.
"My sister is going to be a mage!" Dylan said excitedly
"Ah, we're forgetting one thing," Talia's dad interjected "Talia isn't registered to take the entrance exams. You need an invitation to take it, and that's only sent to families that are registered to have a glyph."
"Hmm..." Talia's mother thought for a minute "Oh! I know! The Wright Family buys our plums often, maybe the next time they send someone, we can ask to arrange a meeting and make a deal!"
"I think that's a great idea!" Talia's grandmother commented. At first Talia was ecstatic! She was actually going to become a mage! There are lots of high-paying jobs for mages! She could get enough money so her parents would never have to worry, they could just peacefully maintain the farm like always. Then she realized that this deal her parents were planning to make would probably cost them most, if not all, of their plum stock. Nevermind the cost of the magic school itself! Their family was already poor! How could they handle these expenses?!
"Wait! Mom, how are we supposed to pay for this?! Magic school is expensive!" Talia mentioned, her hopes crushed.
"Oh, sweetie, don't worry about that! Leave the expenses for your parents to figure out!" her mom insisted.
"Talia, did you forget me? Your brother is a strong man now! Freshly graduated! I can get a job and help!" David volunteered
"You'd do that for me?" Talia said, touched.
"Who said it was for you?! I'm doing it to help out my parents!" David retorted self-righteously.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you love me!" Talia teased
"Keep dreaming!"
"Alright. That's enough of the bickering, focus on the food."
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Talia was drawing in her room when she heard a knock at the door.
"Come in." David opened the door and placed a stack of notebooks in her face.
"Since you're going to be taking the entrance exams soon," he said nonchalantly with a mischievous grin on his face, "I've done you a huge favor and collected all my old notes from my entirety of my middle school years. All because I know my little sister didn't study much. Have fun! Oh, and consider this your birthday gift from me to you!" He burst out laughing at Talia's horrified face and left the room. Talia stared at the pile of notebooks in front of her incredulously. Sure she didn't study much, but she knew enough to barely pass her classes, was all this really necessary? She needed to relearn four years worth of information on every subject?! Talia sighed and chose a subject out of the fifth grade pile. Magic beasts. It was a pretty interesting topic. She scanned the first few pages, it was information that she already knew: Magic beasts are ranked in order of their strength at the bottom are the minion level beasts, then the tyro level beasts, then adept level beasts, magnate level beasts, and finally the monarch level beasts. Information, examples, and comparisons were written on that page. From there, David's 5th grade class learned about specific minion level magic beasts and their powers. Talia decided this was very useful information and holed herself in her room trying her best to memorize as much as she could. She had to do well on the entrance exam, or else her parents would have sacrificed so much for nothing!
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A week later...
The Wright family sent out one of their sons to buy a few of the plums that his mother loved so much, from the Dalaby Family Farm. 'It's such a pitiful farm, really' Duncan Wright thought as he made his way over to the Dalaby stall. There was a pretty girl with long black hair and blue eyes working it, standing next to a boy with curly brown hair and brown eyes. Duncan approached the stall.
"Hello, my name is Duncan Wright, I'm here to pick up an order of plums on behalf of my mother." He said, trying his hardest to look like a dignified, mature, and professional young man, instead of the young, awkward teenage boy that he was. The girl blinked at him. 'Yes. be impressed, pretty commoner, I will be a mage soon'
'This guys weird.' Talia thought, staring at the teenage boy in front of her.
"Uh, I'll go get my mother then..." she said hurrying inside.
"Mom!" Talia called "Someone from the Wright family is here for plums!"
"I'm coming, sweetie!" Talia's mother, Abigail Dalaby answered as she hurriedly took off her apron and walked outside, while Talia followed her.
"Hello, Mr. Wright!" Abigail greeted, "My daughter told me you're here. Talia, go fetch the bag of plums on the counter marked Wright"
"Sure!"
"Mr. Wright! I have something to ask of you, if you'll hear it" Abigail started
"What is it?"
"Would you deliver this letter to your parents?"
"Alright... I don't see why not. What is it about?"
"You see, my daughter recently turned 13 and she surprisingly awakened a glyph, however, she was never registered to be able to take the entrance exam to Letsine Magic Academy."
"But- how- how is that possible? How can your daughter awaken a glyph?" Duncan asked, this was beyond his logic. Just then, Talia came back with the plums and handed them to him.
"Here you go, sir." Duncan took the chance to glance at her wrist and, sure enough, there was a circle and a heart.
"Thank you." he breathed, still astonished, then he looked at Abigail and added "I'll give my parents your letter and convince them to talk to the examiners."
"Thank you so much!" Abigail gushed "Have a nice day!"
"Mhm" he mumbled back, still unable to fathom how a poor farmer's daughter could awaken a glyph. He eventually came to the conclusion that the girl must be an illegitimate child born of an affair between her mother and a mage. In fact, that thought had crossed both Talia's and David's minds, but they refused to believe that their mother would do such a thing.