Prospect

"You were considered a prospect for the National Academy of Magic."

"Wha-" My jaw fell to the ground. 

"It seems your affinities matched well with what they are looking for in a mage..."

"For real?! I didn't know the Appraisal worked like that!"

"Hahah! Yeah, it's one of the ways to find prospects, nowadays."

"A prospect... for the Academy of Magic. So it was real, after all."

Despite mages appearing on television all the time and their inventions showing up on the market from time to time, magic was still strictly hidden from the general public. As a result, the populace knew of magic, but could only come up with rumors regarding any details of this secret side of society.

"It is very much real. Now, I should warn you: you are still a prospect student, so it's not confirmed yet. The Institution of Developed Education and/or its official partners will be evaluating your conduct and performance during the next year. If everything goes well, you will get to study at the Academy the year after."

"Oh..." That was worrying. "But I don't know any magic right now."

"I would be surprised if you did. Or perhaps concerned? What you need is just to continue studying normally in your school for one more year. If nothing's wrong, we'll come talk to you again."

"Do I have to do well on my exams? What are they going to be evaluating?"

"Well... yes and no. Showing good grades is a good idea, but I believe the main point is to just act normally. Don't tell anyone else about this, not even your parents, and you should be good to go."

So it was something more of a character evaluation than anything. I suppose my chances were good: I'm proud to say that I've been raised well! The only problem is that I wanted to tell my parents.

"Can I just tell my parents? I wish they'd know."

"Unfortunately, no. In case you are not accepted, you should be the only one who knows about this. As you're probably aware, we were directed to be extremely cautious with regards to the secrets of mages. Slipping up might even cause danger of life to whoever was involved, so it's better to just keep it shut."

I shuddered and answered: "I understand. I won't say a thing."

"Good." He looked into my eyes and asked: "Tell me... are you interested in being a mage?"

"For sure, of course! I don't know what it entails, though. Could you tell me more about being a mage?"

"My apologies, I'm not allowed to elaborate on that. I hope you understand."

I nodded.

"Well, that was about everything I had to say. Do you have any more questions? Hopefully ones I can answer."

I was going to say something, but I noticed the waiter arriving with Jacob's orders. Once she left, I raised a question:

"Was it really okay to talk about this subject so openly? What if someone heard us?"

"Ah, don't worry. I put a spell."

Jacob smirked and raised his finger as if to knock on a door. Unexpectedly, he knocked on thin air, and some sort of ripples discretely spread like waves in the format of a sphere around them.

"Woah! You really were a mage!!! Is that some sort of barrier?" My eyes shone.

"You could say that, yes."

"Awesome! How does it work?"

"It's a simple mechanical barrier. When a mechanical wave under certain conditions reaches my barrier, it interferes with it, sistematically altering the waves in a way that our words became unrecognizable, but still within the realms of human words."

"Oh. I feel like that was a great explanation, but I don't really understand it."

"Just think of it like I changed our language to some other language the person listening doesn't understand."

"Ohhh, makes sense. Couldn't they read our lips, though?"

"They could, the spell doesn't interfere with light." Jacob sipped on his coffee. "There are spells to solve this problem, but I decided that this interaction didn't demand such a high security-level. If it had, we wouldn't be speaking so publicly in the first place."

I nodded and watched as he ate his tart.

"Did you study at the Academy, too?"

He nodded while chewing.

Somehow, that wasn't the image I had of a mage. I always heard tales of their incredible feats, their amazing powers and stuff, especially since the Appraisal, where I watched those movies of mages on the frontlines of war, decimating armies and each other alike. But the mage in front of me was almost a normal guy, if you excluded the extreme confidence and posture.

After a while, I pondered aloud. "Are all mages like you?"

He almost spit his drink. With a deprecating smile, he asked back:

"What do you mean, like me? You say that like I'm a weirdo." His amused smile returned.

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean like... well, you kinda look like a businessman, or a politician. I thought mages were supposed to fly around, heavily armed, with faces that radiate power, always ready for combat, that sort of thing."

"Ah, yes. The classic mage. No. Those are rare. The usual mage is much closer to a nerd than to a war veteran."

"Closer to a nerd?!"

"Yeah. If you join us, you will understand. But we follow the path of knowledge. Our abilities come from knowledge. The more we know, the more powerful we are, generally. That's why we all study a lot."

"Hmm, I see." That was surprising. "So you must know a lot of spells, right? Can you show me more?"

"I could, but I'll have to take my leave. I'm still working, after all." He said as he finished eating the tart in a rush. "It was nice meeting you, Leaf. I hope to see you at the Academy."

I also stood up. "It was nice to meet you, too. Thank you, Mr Jacob."

"Yep. See ya."

As he left the store, I realized something and yelled.

"Will you not pay?"

He just answered without looking back: "Already did!"

I decided to leave after him, but when I got to the street, he was nowhere to be seen. 

He was a mysterious guy. I think I'll never know how he paid that check. If he even paid, that is.

'I won't go back to ask, though' was my thought as I went back home.