Ether

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

Leonardo quietly walked into the interiors of the castle, trailed the rest of the party. "It's surprisingly well-kept inside, is this magic, too?" Leonardo couldn't help but ask this time, as the contrast with the worn-down exterior caught him by surpise. As instructed, he took off his travelling robe and put it on the hanger, revealing a slightly worn light-brown cloth tunic underneath. There was signs of wear here and there, it had seen its share of the rough travels as well. That, and Leonardo's occasional clumsiness. With the elaborate clothing Sophia wore Leonardo couldn't help but feel a bit out of place in such a grand entrance. In the next room Leonardo's sights are drawn to the painting on the ceiling, a good use of colors, he thought. Leonardo had trouble imagining how hard it would be to paint on a ceiling, and as far as paintings go, the sheer area this one covered was huge. He couldn't help but have his doubts whether magic had been involved in its making. Leonardo noticed he was falling behind the party and hastened his pace, being lost there was the last thing he'd risk himself doing.

The golem led the party to its destination: a huge library of books, beyond that, the Dragon. Leonardo was slightly conflicted. It was, frankly, quite a difference from how he was depicted in the book Leo had seen, and yet, he couldn't shake that it was the case that the artist, his ancestor, simply couldn't help themselves from portraying the Dragon with such grand splendor, so much that the figure in front of him somewhat pales to in comparison. That alone should speak volumes about how powerful the Dragon truly was. As his heartbeats began to quicken, Leonardo braced himself, "I, similarly, would hope to be granted the chance of being your apprentice." A tone of respect, "But before that, I have also come with a request," Leonardo took another pause, this time taking a deep breath, "With the utmost respect, I wish for the restoration of the southwestern continent." His could barely keep his voice from breaking; Leonardo was aware how one-sided this request was, but he had to do it. "To the way it was, before it became the wasteland that it is now."

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

Mere moments after he sat, Leonardo completely drifted off to his own land of dreams, he barely caught fragments of Hilda and Callum's conversation, as well as the Golem's warning. The Dragon is inhuman, all powerful magic users probably are. Does becoming his apprentice mean Leonardo, too, will someday abandon his mortal human shell? Yeah, right. Leonardo quickly realized he was getting ahead of himself, even becoming his apprentice carried a risk of death, who was he to talk about becoming immortal? He did wonder what form did the Dragon take, but if it's anything like the impression Leonardo saw in his book, it's definitely going to be quite the sight.

Leonardo was woken a couple of hours later by the sounds of the carriage doors throwing themselves open. Have we arrived? Leonardo quickly regained his bearings and briefly stretched his arms wide, before following Sophia out of the carriage. His eyes was greeted by the expanse of the castle's run-down courtyard, "Is he actually living here?" a slight disbelief coated Leonardo's voice. He then turned to the golem, pretty much seconding Sophia's question. Carefree as he was Leonardo definitely had enough sense to not recklessly enter the residence of the world'd most powerful wizard. He definitely wouldn't want to be the first to step in.

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

Power. The word passed by his mind as he drank down the rest of the glass. Magic is power. Leonardo understood that it was so great a power that the whole world could bow to it. A part of him felt that desiring such power is a common, pretty everyday wish. If I have that kind of power... His thoughts began to drift in directions random and avaricious. Even though the water was refreshing, the long travel has took its toll on him, and aware of this, he concentrated on Callum's question to keep his thoughts from wandering even further. "I guess I have a favor to ask of the Dragon." Leonardo stated, slight uncertainty present in his words, "I guess it'd be nice if he can at least listen to it." with a slightly uncharacteristic calm tone, Leonardo said, looking down at now-empty glass. "The apprentice thing is more of a bonus."

He walked to the seats and sat down, a comfortable distance away from the resting Sophia; suppressing the contagious desire to yawn. Having ran out of things to say, Leonardo's sight drifted across the room, and landed once again on Hilda's horns. He found them very curious things indeed; there are quite a few Beastkin of the bear or the cat tribe in the town he was raised in, but deer he had never seen before. "I guess I'll take a rest as well." Leonardo exhaled a long sigh, relaxing his body, "The first thing I do with magic will be to conjure a bed wherever I want."

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

With little hesitation, Leonardo climbed into the carriage, carrying his backpack in with him. There was no sense in refusing a ride offered as an alternative to a harsh, and most likely doomed journey. The interior of the carriage was nicer than anything Leonardo imagined, he spent quite a few seconds taking in the spacious room. Being the impulsive lad he was, Leonardo's attention was promptly drawn to the blue crystals and the containers they decorated, as he tried to touch it he spotted movement at the edge of his vision, and he was surprised to see, but not feel, the carriage moving. Magic sure is convenient, huh? , he thought. he spotted Callum and Sophia entering the carriage as well, "Talk about a fine ride, this is even better than my place back home!"

His attention returned to the container. Carefully, he tried to open it. Leonardo was surprised to find that the container wasn't locked, "Ooh, what do we have here... Hope you don't mind us having a little drink!" Leo recognized the bottles of water inside, but there's also a lot of stuff that he couldn't make heads or tails of. Leonardo wasn't feeling adventurous after his recent travel, and he grabbed a bottle of clear colorless liquid that, hopefully, is just water. Leonardo was quickly able to locate some unused wooden cups from the cooking area of the carriage, and poured a glass of water for himself.

There was a slight moment of hesitation before Leonardo took a mighty gulp from the glass. It was water. He let out a slight sigh of relief before turning to the three, "You guys want some, too?"

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

"Callum, Huh? Nice to meet you too." Leonardo didn't recognize the name of the village, but he did know of Stairia and Voston, two countries embroiled in conflict with each other. He idly wondered if that conflict had anything to do with Callum's reason to pay the Dragon a visit. Before Leonardo could say anything further Callum broke off and began to follow the blonde, whose name Leonardo barely caught with his ear, Sophia, not a bad name, he thought.

Callum seemed to react oddly to the apple girl whom, speaking of which, seemed cheery that Leonardo had accepted her offer. "Nice to meet you, Hilda." Leonardo replied. Now that the short-term future of his stomach was secure, Leonardo gazed down the valley. Once they set off down this valley, it was unlikely that they would find a vantage spot as good as this, so there was no better time to plan the route to that picturesque castle by the sea. He raised his finger and pointed to the valley, "There, we'll probably walk there before setting up camp." Leonardo spotted a clearing amongst the forest, half a day's walk away. Seemed like an ideal camping spot. Amongst his current possessions is a barely serviceable piece of thick textile that Leonardo had been using as a makeshift tent, which should to for tonight.

Suddenly Leonardo heard the carriage, and was stunned to see the mechanical horses and the wooden talking doll. Once again he felt a rush to draw, and immediately following, frustration of being unable to do so. He quickly realized that if he kept feeling this way for every magical thing he'll see from now on, he'll grow into a very bitter person, and just heaved a big sigh. It mentioned something about the Dragon not taking disciples, Well, it's not like I'm trying to become one anyw—, Leonardo's thoughts came to a halt. He had planned to meet the Dragon and ask a (admittedly big) favor of him, but, supposing it was granted, or even denied, what would become of Leonardo? Would he simply return to his home? Suddenly this idea of becoming the a disciple of the greatest mage in the world, which seem to be the goal of the other three, doesn't sound that bad to Leonardo.

Hilda seemed to want a ride to the castle, Leonardo quickly chimed in, "Agreed, please give us a lift, if possible"

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Double post, ignore this.

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

As the blonde-haired woman began walking away Leonardo was left standing with a slightly incredulous look, his friendly smile frozen. Ice magic, the power to kill conversations, he thought jokingly. "Well, figures, of course we are looking for the dragon." Leonardo dryly quipped. Since that was the case, it might do him good to know about what these people want from the Dragon. His left hand reflexively found its way to the back of his own head, tugging lightly on his ponytail as he thought what to say at the woman, but no words successfully escaped his mouth.

In the end his wits failed him, forcing Leonardo to let out a sigh. Let alone gathering information, with how things are right now, his chances at survival doesn't look good if he didn't stick with at least one other person. He was about to silently follow the woman when another person, the one who waved earlier, came up and gave a late answer to his question. The first thing that caught his attention, of course, was the horns. A deer beast-kin. A really unusual sight for Leonardo. His sight was fixated at those asymmetrical features, nearly missing what she said until a certain word entered his ears.

Food! Assaulted by the sweet fragrance of fresh apples, Leonardo's mouth opened without him even noticing. After a mighty gulp, Leonardo corrected his expression, "You are absolutely right. Sticking together is the best thing to do right now, no question about it." Leonardo said, loud enough for the woman earlier to hear. The ripe, delicious-looking, fragrant-smelling apples totally, absolutely had no influence on his position in the matter. "My name's Leonardo Armund, an artist," he stuck his chest out proudly, which made for a slightly dorky pose given his modest height, "since we're both searching for the Dragon, let's help each other out!"

Shards of Magic

Definitely interested. The world seems intriguing and pretty fleshed out.

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

How many weeks had passed since he left his home? The short-statured youth once again wiped his sweat with his hands. He expected the journey to be hard, but certainly not to the degree he had anticipated. Leonardo's plans of travel while selling his paintings to cover the costs fell apart rather quickly once he realized that not only he had no easy way to restock on canvases and such in the neutral continent, but there's barely anyone with the gold to spare on paintings except landlord and the flourishing merchants, who could simply hire a better artist to draw whatever they wanted. As a result, Leonardo adapted to doing small odd jobs from town to town, which gave him just enough money to travel on a half-empty stomach. As he travelled deeper and deeper into the continent the towns got smaller and eventually disappear. The boy possessed a great appreciation for nature, but only now did he learn how harsh it is.

His confidence and map carried him through, and now he was finally here, on the entrance of the valley where the Dragon resides. The first thing that caught his eye was the giant castle by the sea. The second thing was figures—travellers, judging from their state. Leonardo wondered whether they seek the Dragon as well. He noticed one of them waving their hands, and was about to wave back, when, all of a sudden a gigantic shadow was cast on the ground he stood on. Leonardo looked up to an enormous, mighty dragon flying overhead. He had heard of dragons, naturally—the powerful, majestic creature, a choice favorite of young children everywhere. He was quite literally frozen in awe as it flew past him into the valley, foregrounding the late afternoon sun to form a spectacle like none other. Leonardo knew right then exactly what he would draw once he got his hands on a canvas.

Of course, he also knew that before a canvas, he needed to find himself food and shelter. The castle—his destination is certainly visible, but still a few day's worth of travelling away, and a pittance of random fruits and nuts he gathered would not last him that long. He figured it would be really nice if one of the travellers could share some food with him. He noticed one of them approaching, "Good afternoon, are you searching for the dragon as well?" Leonardo asked, his voice slightly dry.

The Magic Apprentice(s)

Leonardo Armund

Name: Leonardo Armund
Age: 16
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Talent: Fire
History: His ancestors were once proud artists, heralded from the Southwestern continent. Upon incurring the wrath of a great wizard in the far past, they fled from their land turned dust and took refuge in the Dottidian Empire, where they were belittled for their defiance towards the now-feared wizards. In such circumstances three marriages later, Leonardo was born. His family was not particularly well-off, and led very frugal lives, which how Leonardo often rationalizes his modest stature with.

Much like his mother, Leonardo has a strong liking to the arts, and loved drawing. On the attic of his family's house he found a keepsake of his family, a book of sketches and pictures drawn by his great grandfather. Within the book, Leonardo was captivated by a landscape of a country that once was, overflowing with plants and animals he had never seen. Leonardo liked drawing things right in front of his eyes, he would often go outside the town to sketch whatever his mind feels like. When it was not fit to do so, he often practiced his skills recreating the pictures in that book, and as he did, he developed an odd connection to this unknown land.

From the occasional jab he would get from the denizens of his town, Leonardo was painfully aware of what happened to that land. A fire was lit. He developed a passion to recreate the world he saw in that book, and not just in pictures. Leonardo was reminded of a particular picture in the book, which depicts the artist's impression of a master mage called 'The Dragon'. If magic could turn a continent into a wasteland, then surely a magic that does the opposite should also exist. And who is more fit to wield such power more than the dragon itself? Armed with faith in this uncertain magic, Leonardo made a decision.