The Beginning

Every legend always has a beginning, and this story is no different.

Arnik had just finished the basic education made compulsory for every child of the city of Lirdunia. At fifteen years old he now had to decide what he wanted to do with his life.

He could either work menial jobs to support his father and earn a living or he could continue his studies to become a professional in any field he wanted. There was also the choice of becoming an apprentice mage but that seemed like a far-fetched dream for someone from such humble beginnings.

Most apprentice mages had started practicing magic from a very early age in life to prepare them for the life ahead.

Arnik, the son of a man servant who worked for the prestigious Frost family had first experienced magic at age five when the leader of the Frost family, Gale Frost had employed a private tutor to instruct his only daughter in the way of magic.

That one-time experience had gotten him hooked on magic and even though the practical aspect seemed unattainable to him, he devoted himself to understanding the theoretical side of it.

To use magic, one had to be awakened at an early age to better understand how to control it.

Arnik being born the son of a servant had never been afforded such an opportunity and thus had given up on ever actually practicing magic. Arnik's father Shimon saw that his son loved magic, it was his greatest desire for his son to study the art and probably one day become adept at it, but the entire situation was just impossible.

Even if he found some way to raise money for the tuition fee for the Lirdunia School of Apprentice Mages, there was still the issue of awakening his son's magic.

The awakening process required a device called a Soulgate which would jump-start the magical circuit of an individual. However, Soulgates were very rare with there being only five in the entire state of Lirdunia.

Of the five, four belonged to each of the prestigious families and one was controlled by the government.

This meant that the Soulgates were monopolized by these families and individuals who wanted to use the one owned by the government had to pay a hefty sum.

It seemed the decision had already been made and Arnik simply resigned himself to fate and started working menial jobs.

He did a couple of odd jobs here and there before eventually securing a job with Adro, a retired magic equipment expert who once worked for the Ministry of Magic Affairs.

Adro, now an old man simply resigned himself to fixing simple household pieces of equipment and magic objects. The old man watched Arnik with keen interest as he distinguished himself from the other workers he had and displayed extensive knowledge of magic.

Adro saw talent and wanted to help Arnik achieve his dreams so one day he called him down to his basement to show him something.

"Old man Adro, did you need help with something," asked Arnik,

"Well, I've got a little gizmo here that I think will be of some help to you." Responded the cherry old man.

Arnik looked at the object the old man had gestured to, he couldn't tell what it was since it was covered with a tarp.

"Give me a hand will ya," The old man said.

Arnik pulled the dusty old tarp to reveal a worn-down machine.

"What is this?" The young boy asked with a quizzical look on his face.

The old man let out a cough before answering.

"This here is a Soulgate."

Arnik was confused, he had seen pictures of soul gates from the many books he had read and they looked nothing like this.

The old man must have sensed his doubt and quickly added "It's a prototype, the new Soulgates were based on this design, I managed to snag a few parts from here and there to build this but it's been pretty much useless since the magi-core is dead".

It made sense to Arnik, Adro had worked with the Ministry of Magic as a top engineer, of course, he'd have access to stuff like this, but something bothered him, if the magi-core was truly dead, then even if this was a Soulgate it was essentially useless.

Every Magi-creature had a Magi-core but the Magi-core required to power a Soulgate would need to be particularly powerful and that essentially meant it would come from S rank magi-creatures and above. These were very expensive and hard to come by.

"Old man Adro this is a waste of time, even if this Soulgate did work we couldn't power it without a magi-core."

"Actually we could, I put together something that can amplify the power of a normal magi-core by ten times" The old man answered, all smiles.

"Although we only have one shot and I can't guarantee it'll work for you." At this, Arnik stiffened.

"What do you mean work for me?"

"I mean I want you to use this Soulgate to awaken your magic boy, you have the talent you shouldn't be wasting away in a place like this, so take this as a little gift from me to you, besides it might not work but it wouldn't hurt to try."

Arnik couldn't believe his ears, was he finally going to be able to use magic after all these years of wanting and hoping for some sort of miracle.

"C'mon let's get to it, I haven't got all day now!"

And with that, Adro started to connect everything that would be needed for the Soul break (magic awakening process ) in a few minutes everything was set, and with the push of a button everything came on

"You know the drill, boy. As soon as the Soulgate opens you walk right through and your magi-circuit should be activated, it might be a little tricky since you're activating it a bit late but everything should be fine"

Arnik let out a sigh and got ready, a sudden bright spark and the Soulgate came to life.

"Now, boy!" Adro yelled and with that Arnik started towards the gate.

His head and just passed through when there was another loud bang, machines started to beep and smoke filled the hair.

"Oh, no!" Adro thought to himself as he hurriedly started pushing buttons here and there

"What's going on old man" Arnik yelled.

"Your magi-circuits are resisting the process, probably because you're trying to awaken so late, we'll need more power to jumpstart them but that could be dangero—"

"Do it!" Arnik yelled back, Adro looked at the young man fighting with all his strength to get through the gate and could not help but admire his will to win, with a resigned smile he pushed a lever

"Now, boy, push with all your strength!!!"

"Aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh" yelled Arnik and then their was a loud bang and the room was covered in light.

Adro hurriedly covered his eyes, and when he opened them, the entire room was a mess—leaving only pieces where the prototype Soulgate stood.

Adro hurriedly scanned the room for the young man and found him at the far end, he was bleeding from just above his eye and appeared to be unconscious.

"Arnik!" The old man yelled as he rushed towards him.

"Are you, ok boy, speak to me!" Arnik opened his eyes and found the older man crouched over him with a concerned face.

"I'm a fine, old man." He answered.

Adro let out a sigh of relief before looking back at the young man.

"And?" He pressed on at this point.

Arnik let out a smile and an air of confidence enveloped him.

"I can feel it… I feel the magic coursing through my veins!"