Broken Charlie

Ares was close to the recruiting square where all the guilds were advertising, because of the magic guilds presence the surrounding areas were relatively safe today. He made his way towards the entry.

At the entry to the square there were two guards. These men were tall and wore black robes with thick wooden staffs clutched in their hands. Their faces were covered by masks. They were absentmindedly monitoring the entrants for undesirables. These guards were not mages of any level instead trained mortals who used magic staffs to enforce their fighting skills. They were known to be very formidable in battle.

Ares was realistic about his entry; having come from the mine he was dirty and would never make it past the entry guards. Knowing this he made his way to a close market street and used a few copper pieces he had saved to purchase cheap clean clothing. It hurt to spend his copper pieces so quickly, each one took several days to earn. The clothing he had purchased was a hemp like robe which covered him. The fabric was cheap and itchy but it looked presentable.

There were several reasons he chose this robe. The main one was that the traveling monks from other cities also wore them, he had seen them often enter magic guilds and planned to appropriate their prestige.

After changing into the cheap robe in a side street he entered through the gates of the square. Besides a quick glance over neither of the guards paid him much attention and he entered unfettered.

The square was huge easily a mile long and a mile wide, not a single area was unclaimed by a guild. There were youths walking around every stall and enquiring to the recruiters, there were also stalls full of magic goods displayed by each guild. In the centre of the square the light guild and the dark guild had claimed large patches. The light guild had shows on with various mages showing the power of light magic. These shows varied in what aspect of light magic they used Ares could see healers, light swordsman and light archers were present. These were of course low-level mages but their magic was very elaborate and looked amazing. The more powerful mages of course didn't participate and stood aside silently. Despite their behaviour no one doubted that these magicians were powerful.

There was so much going on, an arrow imbued by magic from a low-level light mage shot through a wooden board, piercing through a steel plate before embedding itself in a stone wall over one hundred paces from the archer. Two light swordsmen were sparing with a speed which would be impossible to follow by most. There was also a healer who was emitting a blinding light as she re-grew a missing arm of a youth.

The dark guild not to be outdone had several of their own magic shows. The first of which was two heavily armoured dark knights attacking each other without blocking. Each knight used a large black mace and it collided heavily with the armour of the other knight emitting a deafening knock and slightly shaking the ground. Neither knight resisted or attempted to block the strikes and they continued to take turns hitting each other. There were also shadow archers whose arrows seemly curved before shattering thick targets in the distances.

A pretty young female mage had a huge group surrounding her. She was sat in the middle of a large group on a slightly raised plinth. Her legs were crossed and her eyes shut. Ares couldn't see what kind of magic she was practicing so he approached her. As he got into the outskirts of the group the scene before his eyes changed and he could see a limitless forest. Illusion magic! He stepped back and the view disappeared.

There was another youth to his left also stepping back. He had a look of amazement on his face. The youth looked to be around the same age as Ares. He was shorter then Ares which was difficult and he also had a slight limp as he stepped backward. Noticing Ares gaze, he flashed a friendly smile.

"Hello friend, my name is Charlie." He stuck out his hand. It was easy to notice Charlie had two fingers missing his little and ring finger were gone. Ares examined his face and finding no pretence in his look he too put his hand out and shook his hand.

"Ares." He replied.

"So Ares, are you here to apply to the schools of magic too?" Charlie smiled again, at this point Ares noticed that on the left side of his face was a ghastly scar from his forehead to his cheek. The scar covered his left eye and a thin eyepatch covered the area. He had not noticed while on his right-hand side but now he was facing him it was unavoidable. Ares could not stop looking.

Seemingly unperturbed by the gaze Charlie continued.

"I would love to apply for the light or dark guilds but my talent level is barely a 6, I've heard that they are only accepting 7s or above this term. It's a shame because I'm a sword mage so the main branches would suit me. I guess ill have to apply to a secondary guild to stand a chance." Charlie looked at Ares and realised he had a blank look on his face.

"What's your talent level?" he asked Ares.

Ares had never known there was a test for magic he had assumed that it was just a hereditary thing and since he knew from Carl his parents weren't mages he never checked and had assumed he was talentless.

"I don't know." He answered honestly.

Charlie looked excited.

"Well come friend, today they are doing free tests at the central obelisk normally it would cost 3 silvers but while the guilds are here it's free." He grabbed Ares hand and started pulling him towards the centre of the square.