It was loud and busy as ever in this particular tavern, after all it was the one closest to the worker's hall, where soldier and every type of people would go everyday to earn some coin.
Inside there was a crowd gathered around a small table, where a boy not older than 8 could be seen surrounded by burly and drunk men.
Don't mistake the situation though; they could be seen playing a game of dice. Well most of the time it was the crowd shouting and cursing, since that evening the boy didn't lose a single time and he made quite the small fortune.
Nothing lasts forever unfortunately, and the winning streak the child had, stopped when an inconspicuous old man joined the game.
"Let these old bones give it a go, will ya boy?" he said.
"hah, what do you know you fool, he's going to rob you blind" a man in the crowd shouted.
"Cmon kev, win another round and pay us a round of ale" said a young looking worker.
Kev was the boy's name.
"Alright then!" he said.
The dice was thrown and as always it was about to land in favour of the child. Suddenly however, he noticed the old man slightly moving his fingers, and at the last second the dice rolled a bit more, causing the elder to win, nobody else but him seemed to have noticed.
Kev, frustrated, stood up and shouted "Alright that's it for tonight!" and left the tavern with everybody else stunned.
Later when he was heading back to his home he saw the same old man following him, which made him turn back and confront him.
"You're a mage aren't you old man?, that's why you won!" he said annoyed.
"Well, you where the one cheating first using magic" he retorted.
"How is it possible though?, How could you figure it out? I can't see you having a core!" Kev shouted.
The elder was startled hearing this: "how can he sense a core already?" and the elder was right, the boy was too young.
Usually someone who could assess the magical ability of another it would need said abilities for himself.
The ability elder when ahead and took the boy's wrist in his hand and inspected him closely, what he found was surprising to say the least.
"An Early stage Mage at 8 years old?!, who are you boy!" the old man shouted while tightening his grip.
"Why should you care old man?, and let go of me you're hurting me!" Kev replied.
The elder then let go and started asking him more questions, Kev however didn't pay attention to him and went back home. His father seeing the elder behind Kev asked:"What did he do know? did he rob you too?".
The elder ignored him and said:"How much?, i want to buy the boy and have him as my apprentice"
The father was about to yell at him and curse him but when he saw the gold he turned his back to look at the mother.
They made eye contact and both nodded, he then said:"2 gold coins and you can have him". Kev hearing this shouted:"WHAT?!, ARE YOU REALLY DOING THIS?!"
He then looked at his mother but she turned her head avoiding his eyes. The elder gave the coins to the man and grabbed Kev by his hands, he then turned around and dragged him away.
This was a normal occurrence in this world: people in big cities often had many children and too little to pay for all of them, so oftentime, farmers form outside the walls would come and buy them to get help in the fields. This was a cruel world, and Kev knew this well from the adults he has always been surrounded with.
They went through the city slums in silence and then after they exited the city walls Kev finally asked:
"Where are you taking me now? What will you do to me? What even is your name?"
The elder glanced him and finally spoke:"We are heading to my Tower, everything else you will learn tomorrow… Today is too late and i'm tired"
Kev thought about his words and was confused, after all who could possibly live in a tower? If it even existed in the first place. He was wondering about his fate and he was expecting to be experimented for his magic: he often heard of tales from the tavern from knights who talked about old sages who used humans to make potions or artifacts, so he was hoping no to suffer much.
They arrived in the forest north of the capital and walked for a couple of hours until they reached the foot of a mountain, this zone was known by many travelers to be very dangerous and a place where many beasts lived, so one could understand why Kev was nervous while following this path during the night.
After going up the mountain for a bit they reached a clearing and the elder finally stopped, he turned and told the child:" you'll have to sleep now boy, i can't show you the way to the tower, that's a secret."
Kev weary, looked around but before he could utter a word he was touched by the elder in the forehead and lost consciousness.
He woke up on a huge bed inside a majestic chamber decorated with paintings and luxuries everywhere he glanced: the bedroom was worthy of a noble and that confused him. Kev could clearly remember yesterday's eventful evening, the old man who bought him only wore a basic black robe, one use by many travelers and adventurers, surely the elder wasn't someone important right? But where he was begged to differ, he also noticed his clothes where different, gone were the rags he usually had, the clothes where simple but he was sure they where expensive too since he never touched any that soft in his short life.
There was no other around him so he decided to exit the bedroom and went searching for the old man, he still had to tell him his name. While wondering about the place he was speachless: art adorned the halls and corridors, paintings, mats with intricate patterns and luxurious colours, sculptures of people he had no clue about but they where surely important, sword and armors with gold patterns carved on. He searched the place but he saw nothing so he decided to head to the second floor after finding the stairs, but with no luck. Every floor was the same, even entering some rooms bore no result, he went upwards for a while and the stairs seemed infinite. Kev was about to go back downstairs and try to exit the place but just then he heard someone whistling, so he went ahead and opened the door. He found the old man sitting behind a desk filled with books; not just the desk but the whole room was filled with them to the brim, the chamber was pretty big but due to the sheer amount of books and scrolls everywhere it seemed cramped.
"You're finally here boy, took you long enough" the elder commented without even looking up from his scroll.
"It's not my fault this place is a labyrinth, an expensive one as well" Kev retorted.
"Jokes apart, i believe we need to have a conversation about the future and you may want some explanation don't you?" The old man said while finally glancing in his eyes.
"Yes, but we still haven't introduced ourselves, i'll start… My name is Kevross, i don't have a surname and you can call me Kev if i like you enough"
"Nice to meet you Kevross, my name is…"