The First Mage

“Alright,” I said, standing in front of the ritual platform with test subject #1. “Once I’ve put the white stone on the platform, you can step into the marked area, one foot on each half circle. Then the sign will appear and tell us which Calling you will get. If it’s not the right one, you would step down from the platform, but for this test I want you to step down once you see the sign, regardless of which one it is, alright?”

“Okay,” the girl said with a nod.

I walked over to the other side and put down the stone. After that, she took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform. Only a moment passed before we saw the Researcher sign appear. Ten seconds until the Calling is given...

Upon seeing the sign, she hurriedly stepped off the platform and I motioned her to wait. Counting the seconds, I waited until the script would be finished. Maybe some kind of ending signal would be good.

“The ritual should be over now. How do you feel? Did you get a Calling?” I asked her.

“I don’t think so, I feel like before,” she said, looking down at herself.

“Good, that’s what we wanted. Okay, now we’ll go through with it if it’s the right Calling,” I said and placed another white stone on the platform. She stepped onto it once more and we got another sign. This time, it was the right one. The green Handiworker light.

“Looking good... stay on the platform.”

Everyone looked on with bated breath, as the girl’s eyes suddenly widened, after the effect had already passed a few seconds ago.

“I’m... I’m a seamstress! It worked!” she said excitedly and hopped over to me to hug me. “Thank you!”

Evidently, she had really hated the idea of becoming a Researcher like her parents. I explained to her that it wasn’t that big a deal, since she had had a seventy percent chance to become a Handiworker anyway, but she still thanked me over and over, until I pried her off of me.

If this was her reaction to not having to become a Researcher, would someone who was forced to become a Fighter break down in tears?

“Alright, alright,” I said with an awkward smile. “You’re welcome. And thank you for going through with this experiment.”

‘Who would’ve thought that the first ritual we ever administer would give us a seamstress, like mom...’ Tomar said in my head. I smiled at his words, but didn’t respond with all the people around.

“As you just saw, the first test was a success!” I said to everyone. “We have yet to test giving a Calling that the person wouldn’t normally get, but now that we proved that the ritual platform works as intended, hopefully you’re willing to give it a try.”

A boy stepped forward next, even though his parents were still trying to hold him back. “Can I become a Fighter?”

Based on the tests, he had a ten out of ten Handiworker Calling, so I guessed the worried looks on his parent’s faces were presumably not only because of this new ritual, but because their son wanted to become someone who protects other people.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked him and he gave me a determined nod. When I looked at his parents, they also nodded at me, albeit much less enthusiastic. “Okay, let’s make you a Fighter. Pyran, could you help us?”

I instructed the two of them just like I had the girl before. Pyran would step onto the left side, while the boy would step onto the right one. With Pyran’s fifty percent Fighter Calling, there was a chance that we would get a Charmer sign, in which case both of them would temporarily step off the platform.

As soon as they stepped onto it, we could see the blue Fighter Calling sign, however, and the two of them stood still for ten seconds, until the boy looked at his hands slack-jawed, opening and closing them a few times.

“Wow...” he said. He hadn’t changed visibly, but apparently something had happened. When he suddenly did a backflip from a standing position and punched the air hard, I guessed the ritual had worked.

“Looks like another success,” I said, and he turned towards me for only a moment to nod, before he ran back to his parents, who at least looked happy for him.

After this second success, all worries had been alleviated and the remaining candidates started arguing about who would go next, while the mayor looked at me with a happy and calculating expression. Even though it had only been a few days, he had invested quite a bit of time and resources into us, so it was hardly a surprise that he was happy to see the new ritual working, and of course he was already planning his next steps. I wonder if he’d charge people for specific Callings... The basic ritual might be free, but I bet some would be willing to pay for a guaranteed result.

Over the next couple of minutes we went through everyone and did one ritual after the other, using the other candidates as sources for the right Calling. Just like that, we had turned the eight candidates into three fighters, two Charmers, one Handiworker, and one Researcher. We might’ve technically been limited in what Callings we could give this way, since we needed someone to provide the right ones, but these kids had been very clear about what they wanted, and we had had everything available.

As we watched the freshly minted adults leave, I thought that this probably would’ve never been this simple in Alarna. At least not as long as the temple was in charge of the rituals. If you believed that the Callings were god-given, then what we did here would most likely be seen as blasphemy. Seeing how no god had appeared to intervene, however, they couldn’t have had much of a problem with it.

I looked down at Riala by my side. The rituals had all been a success and there hadn’t been a single issue. All of the Callings had been normal though. The sign we had seen Riala produce was unlike any of the other signs and I kind of wanted to test it. Of course we couldn’t propose that to anyone. We had absolutely no idea what that sign was about, and while I could believe that Riala was special, and that this was an actual unknown Calling, it would be problematic if it hurt someone or changed them in a way so they couldn’t receive a Calling anymore.

As if reading my thoughts, the mayor approached me. “I heard your sister produced an unusual sign during your tests yesterday. Do unknown Callings run in your family?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I said with a chuckle. “Actually, we don’t really know what that one is about yet. It might just be indicating that she is way too young to receive a Calling, or maybe it means that a third potential Calling for her has yet to manifest.”

“May I see it?”

“Sure. Can you show the mayor your sign, Ria?”

“Okay!” she said immediately and we went over to the water source. Ever since we arrived in Cerus, she was barely able to script anymore, and she jumped at any chance to interact with Omega.

The mayor marveled at the glittering, marble-sized sphere that appeared when Riala touched the test cube. “Fascinating. It’s certainly pretty enough to be an actual Calling. Once you’ve seen all of the signs enough times, the usual balls of light become somewhat... boring.”

“Heh, I can imagine. It’s too bad that testing the Calling would be too dangerous.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, since we don’t know what it is or what it will do, whoever tests it will be at risk. Maybe they will get a Calling, maybe not. Maybe they’ll never be able to get one afterwards, or maybe they’ll get hurt.”

Or worse, what if this was the actual Mad Calling? That one was said to have no sign, but a sign of this size could actually get missed in the chaos of someone going insane and attacking those around them. Though I didn’t want to mention this possibility.

The mayor thought my words over and seemed to have some kind of idea. “If you’re willing to do the ritual, I might be able to provide a candidate.”

“A candidate you would be willing to sacrifice?” I said. There couldn’t be many reasons why someone would accept such a proposal. “Is it a criminal?”

“It is. Well deduced. He is slated for execution soon, for repeatedly stealing from the market. Honestly, I’ve been dragging my feet just a little bit, because he’s still young and hasn’t even had his ritual yet.”

I twitched slightly, remembering our bad memories of sitting in a prison cell. I wonder if people have ever been killed for petty theft in my world... What happened to the good old chopping off of hands? Though I guess you wouldn’t be able to do your job anymore that way...

“You want to just experiment on him?”

“Actually, I’m thinking of making a deal. If he helps us with this test, we’ll let him off the hook one more time. If he finally gets a Calling, maybe he won’t steal anymore. And if the ritual fails, he can try again in a few days, together with the other kids.”

While I didn’t like the idea of experimenting on someone who didn’t have much of a choice, especially after what had happened to us in Alarna, it kind of seemed like the mayor was looking for an out for this boy. He couldn’t ignore the law on a whim. He needed to be able to give a proper reason to the people for why he had spared him. Getting sentenced to help with this experiment, during which he could die, or be harmed in some way, would apparently be acceptable. In the name of science.

I made an inconspicuous hand signal to ask Tomar what he thought.

‘I don’t know... But if he’s going to be killed otherwise...’

Based on our tests so far, there was no indication that someone would suddenly drop dead from the ritual, so the chances that we would hurt him were very low. That left four potential outcomes. He might get a Calling, he might not, he might not be able to get a Calling anymore after this, or he might become insane. Although, if we assumed that I might technically be a Mad Calling, we would’ve surely noticed this glittering sphere during Tomar’s ritual. After all, there was no confusion or chaos back then. In that case, this outcome would be unlikely as well.

“Before we test this on an actual candidate, we should test a few more children,” I said after thinking about the proposal for a moment. “Just to make sure it’s an actual Calling, and not something else entirely, that might cause him harm.”

“Very well,” the mayor said and turned towards our guards. “How about your little ones, Pyran? Would you like to know what Callings they will get?”

The guard looked positively surprised. “Sir? Are you sure?”

“Of course. We need children and you’ve got two. A boy and a girl if I recall correctly?”

“Yes, sir,” Pyran said with a smile. “Should I fetch them?”

“Please do,” the mayor said and Pyran immediately left the square eastwards.

Since he was a Fighter, he and his wife might’ve been worried about their childrens’ future, which might explain why he was so happy about this. Or maybe he was just curious, seeing how fascinated he had been by everything we’ve been doing.

In a few minutes we would know more Riala’s unusual sign.