Tobey had never seen a black Horse before. The beasts were used mostly by the cavalrymen of the Imperial guards. Their rarity had spun out of their strong affinity with mana, this separated them from other beasts. A black Horse infused with mana by the user was capable of running at far higher speeds than the average horse. Some were even faster than high-speed vehicles. Yet one stood before him, long thick hair as dark as it’s skin. Bulging muscles and black eyes. Tobey was lost in its gaze.
“I think she likes you,” the Imperial guard who had come to get Tobey said, mounted atop his steed.
Really? Tobey couldn’t force himself to ask the question. He tried to hide his enthusiasm away from the stranger he just met. In the end, he let out a measly cough, patting the horse on the neck. “Of course, it would.”
The mounted rider rose a brow staring at Tobey below. “You do know how to ride one, don’t you? Lex told me you’d be able to ride it.”
Lex did what?
Sure, Tobey had ridden horses before but never a black horse. He’d heard of street thugs who’d stolen a black horse before and tried to ride it. Once the beast absorbed their mana, it moved at speeds to difficult for them to control. To top it off, the horse went on a rampage, single-handedly killing all members of the gang.
Tobey gulped, but what was the worst that could happen? This one likes me…He thought.
Tobey grabbed the reins and leapt, mounting himself on the saddle. The horse beneath him neighed as her latest rider-Tobey-tried to calm her.
“Woah, Woah, Woah. Calm down girl, calm down,” Tobey said. He was doing a terrible job, trying to control the reins. He cast a quick look at the Imperial guard. He could not afford to lose composure in front of him.
“You gotta give it mana,” The Imperial guard said as he rode over to him. “Here, let me help.”
He placed his hand on the horse and rubbed it gently. “Sshhh…” he muttered. Tobey could feel it in the air. Mana along with its familiar scent. He watched the guard who kept his hand still and his face calm. In seconds the horse settled down.
Tobey stared in amazement, not minding that the Imperial guard had gone ahead of him.
“Try to keep up,” The guard said as he rode down the clearing back to the city streets.
Keep up, he says. Tobey kicked and the horse began to gallop after the Imperial guard.
Tobey caught up to him in the streets of the city, the Imperial guard had slowed down, his horse now trotting at the sidewalk. They’d ridden through the slums of Vergho and now arrived at Temna, what people considered to be the central city.
Unlike where Tobey had spent the last ten years growing up, almost every building here was owned by the Lord of the city. And to reflect his image, this part of the city, “the capital” was spotless. There were no carts and animals about, rather luxurious vehicles. No noise but sweet playing music. Everyone moved like they had a destination in mind. Once or twice Tobey would catch someone on a horse, but the horses were white as snow. Tobey knew white horses meant a lot of money.
They soon passed the large city square; Tobey could still see the hologram screens that projected the image of the Lord of the city. Ten years on, the lord still retained the same dirty mug and a crooked smile. He squeezed the reins as he continued to ride. It didn’t matter, at this point, he had already re-lived that evening a thousand times in his head.
A couple of children stared at him from the windows of the building on the other side of the street. They had the same gaze, the one he hated. Fuck.
It took him ten seconds to realize his hood was down. If he had been scorned and stoned in the slums where he was raised and had lived, how much more the people who lived directly under their Lord’s eyes? He took a quick look around and could tell he was in deep shit.
He swiftly put on his hood and kept on riding. The academy was visible now. The gates glared at the city from uphill. Soon he’ll be away from these eyes.
“You know… I heard about you before I came to this city,” the Imperial guard beside him spoke, drawing a stare from Tobey. “Lex never stopped talking about the kid he considered a brother that he’d left back at home.
“That kid is probably up to no good”, he said often. And more times than that he was drunk.”
Tobey smiled a bit. Yeah, that’s Lex alright.
“So far, you’ve been exactly what I expected,” the Imperial guard continued.
Tobey raised a brow, “You’ve barely known me thirty minutes.”
“I judged you in less,” the Imperial guard replied before continuing. “I kicked the door down earlier to make it look like you can’t mess with me. I wanted to look cool.”
Tobey chuckled, “How’s that working for you?”
“You tell me.”
“Terrible.”
“That’s better than I thought,” the Imperial guard snickered.
For the first time in a long while, Tobey burst into a peal of genuine laughter. The Imperial guard beside him joined in, neither cared that they were being looked at in all directions. One coming in would have thought the duo found something funny in the faces of the others to laugh about.
“I’m Mordred, by the way. Figured you weren’t going to ask,” the guard said.
“I might have, who knows?” Tobey replied.
They both came to a stop as a bus moved across them on the road, the passengers eager to see the face of the hooded figure who rode a black horse beside an Imperial guard in the central city. Tobey once again lowered his head.
“I was transferred here. Wasn’t born here,” Mordred spoke while they waited. “When I arrived, everyone gave me the same look, like I didn’t belong here. All in my head I thought ‘I’m here to give my life to protect you pieces of shit,’ and yet they kept up the discrimination.”
Tobey turned to Mordred, who wore a serious look on his face, his heavy brows furrowed into a squeeze. Mordred took a short sigh before continuing. The bus had gone and their path had cleared up. They resumed their ride uphill to the academy.
“I didn’t crave their attention, but I wanted to prove them wrong. So, I took the opportunity I had at the royal garrison and years later I became a three-hundred-man guard commander in the Imperial cavalry.”
Tobey’s eyes widened at Mordred’s statement. He turned to look at his face. There were only ten three-hundred-man commanders in the entire nation’s cavalry. These were men known to be strong enough to fight beside Mage Captains, even without magic. And for more than thirty minutes he had been walking and riding side by side with a commander of the royal guards.
How’s that possible? How did Lex know this guy? Just who was he?
These questions filtered through his mind and he kept on looking in awe. Soon after they began riding again, they approached the gates of the Imperial Mage Academy. The black gates were joined to fences that stretched far out as the eye could see. Slowly, the gates opened up.
A car honk almost sent Tobey flying off his horse in a jolt. He drifted to the side allowing a pure white vehicle with tinted glass pass into the compound. At the head of the car was an all too familiar insignia. A carved piece of stone belonging to the Grand Mage family; The Arcstones.
“Tch!” Tobey found it hard to hide his irritation as he watched the vehicle proceed into the compound.
“You have to go as well,” Mordred spoke to Tobey.
“Yeah,” Tobey drew a deep breath. He could feel the reins shake in his hands. His chest began to make a lot of noise from what he assumed was probably his heartbeat.
“Tobey…” Mordred called. Tobey turned to look at the commander, who now had his arm raised and a hand made into a fist pointing at him. “Don’t lose.”
Tobey suddenly felt the anxiety he had felt drop off his shoulders. A smile carved its way to his face and he raised his fist back at Mordred.
“I won’t.”
Mordred dropped his arm. “That’s good.” He turned his horse away and began to ride.
“Ah! Your horse!” Tobey called out.
“She’s yours now. Treat her right,” Mordred replied without even turning back. “I hope we meet again,” Mordred said as he began a fast ride back into the city.
So cool. Tobey thought as he stared at the man who rode into the distance.
Tobey turned to the gates. They were still open. One more deep breath and he began to ride his way in. The Academy greeted him with trees lined up either side of a beautifully decorated road. Up ahead, there was a crowd gathered outside. People of his age, clearly they had applied for the IMA as well. Most of them were staring at the white-haired twins who stepped out of the vehicle. Obviously.
As he drew closer though, the gaze gradually began to shift. Slowly, silence fell on the crowd as the mysterious boy on the black horse rode amongst them. Tobey had never seen those stares before. They were not stares of discrimination. They were stares of awe.
Let’s do this. He smiled to himself before he hopped off his horse.
“Hey.”
Tobey turned to see a blonde girl in a blue shirt and grey pants standing in front of him with a grin. She took steps forward and drew closer to him.
“If you pass the tests, join my Cadre. I like you,” She spoke.
Tobey’s brain stopped processing.
“…Excuse me?”
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