Space magic

"Young, talented, humble and yet not hasty." The old man commented to himself seemly evaluating Ares.

"My name is Magician Beckett of the lightning-fire guild, while I am not suited to be a mentor to your magic, I open my door to any and all questions you have about the magic path." With this Magician Beckett pulled a small purse from his pocket and placed it in Ares hand. He thought to himself this small investment may pay dividends in the future.

"This contains a gift for your future, thirty amethyst coins." Ares thought to himself thirty amethyst coins was a figure far beyond his imagination. Ten coppers went into a silver coin, ten silvers into a gold coin, and ten gold coins to an amethyst coin. This figure was an unimaginable wealth to him.

Instantly he attempted to hand back the wealth to the Magician.

"This is too much Magician, I cannot take this gift." He tried to give it back.

Magician Beckett seemed somewhat surprised again but after a slight hesitation a large smile appeared on his face. Ignoring Ares's outstretched hand, he glanced at the queue for the obelisk, it was empty.

He strode past Ares and faced the crowd. Ares had the pouch still in his hands and didn't know what to do he did not wish to appear rude.

"MAGIC IS THE BLOOD OF OUR WORLD." Magician Becketts voice boomed. As Ares was stood close he was forced back a few steps by the booming voice of the seemly weak old man.

"MAGIC EXISTED LONG BEFORE OUR TIME. IT WILL EXIST LONG AFTER. ANYONE WISHING TO PURSUE MAGIC MUST PERSIST THROUGH ALL TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS. THE FUTURE OF MAGIC COULD BE ANYONE HERE." Magician Beckett then turned slightly looked at Ares and winked.

A huge bolt of lightning struck the spot in which Magician Beckett had been stood and he disappeared. The entire crowd cheered before slowly beginning to disperse. A small group remained at the back all with increasingly ugly expressions. Lance was kicking himself for being so arrogant before the magician, even to him the Magician was a figure of Awe and instead of him some unknown poorly dressed fool had got his attention.

Ares made his way off the stage and towards Charlie who was still stood at the same spot a dumb look of surprise on his face.

"You… You… 10." Charlie stammered.

"I guess that's good right?" Ares was pleased by the outcome but he had no real understanding of what it meant.

"What's space magic by the way?" Ares asked Charlie.

Charlie shook himself slightly before beginning to answer.

"Sorry for this Ares but despite your talent the space magic guild is a dead end." Charlie looked slightly sad.

"What do you mean?" Ares asked, he had very little knowledge of the magic guilds.

"Guilds are split up into Primary, Secondary and Dark guilds. Generally speaking, this is because of the magic we have kept from the ancients. While sometimes magic can be re-discovered it takes time and effort and most importantly funds. The light magic and dark magic guilds have almost complete records of spells and magic paths making them the most powerful and the richest. After them the secondary guilds like fire, earth, air and water they have the second most spells and magic paths. Finally, there are the dark guilds. Most of their spells are forgotten and only a few have magic paths, to become more powerful in those guilds is almost impossible. Unfortunately, the space guild is one of the lowest rank guilds. I would be surprised if they even have a showing here." Charlie had a sympathetic look on his face.

Ares was dejected by this; his most suited magic was also one of the weakest. What a shame.

"Just because you're not suited for it doesn't mean that you can't practice it, it just means your potential in those magics aren't as high. It would be hard for most to practice magics outside their talent to a decent level but you are a genius from the obelisk." Charlie tried to cheer up Ares.

"Lets go have a look around." Ares commented to Charlie trying to take the attention off of him, he had just acquired 30 amethyst coins, despite being upset at his talent he was still happy about the situation. Ares also had a sinking feeling his talent wasn't related to him at all and instead the strange magic circle had changed the results.

Charlie and Ares began to look around the other magic guilds. Several talent scouts had reported the results of the obelisk to their respective schools and as such when he was recognised Ares was given a warm welcome. Charlie of course benefited from this and after looking around the lightning branch of the fire guild he decided to apply. After seeing the lightning movement spell from Magician Beckett, he was entranced. His talent level was actually quite good at 6 and after a short discussion the lightning school accepted him on the spot.

"The join up fee is 10 amethyst coins." The recruiter informed him. This was a large fee but studying mages were expected to board at the compounds of their respective schools, this made it a standardized price for all.

Charlie instantly had a dejected look on his face, the figure was not small for most. He was already considering how he could raise the money when Ares put down ten Amethyst coins onto the desk.

"Gotcha covered Charlie." Ares smiled at him. After speaking to him Ares had learnt Charlie had very little to his name. The only thing he valued was his adopted family. His entrance into a guild was a likely thing however it would severely damage his family's finances and that was not something he wished to do. Ares spontaneously decided to pay for him.

Charlie was infinitely grateful towards Ares but still looked somewhat reluctant.

"Do not think about turning me down, I intend to spend every penny I have before I leave this place in case I get robbed." Ares chuckled.

Thinking he was joking Charlie smiled in return.

"Thankyou. I will not forget your generosity." Having thanked Ares; Charlie explained he wished to tell his family quickly and bid his farewells and then left into the crowd. Ares knew this fleeting friendship wouldn't last long but felt glad having met Charlie.