The Grand Mage
Vivienne retrieves yesterday's newspaper from her skirt's pocket, sprawling herself on the tattered divan. She unfolds it, dispelling lingering dust, and spreads it on her lap to read the news from the day before.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ
- - โโโโหฬถเผหฬถโโโโ - -
๐ง๐๐ ๐ค๐จ๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ก ๐ง๐ช๐ข ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐: ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ!
๐๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ. ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ-๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ-๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ-๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ-๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ต ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฏ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ? ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ! ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ! ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต!
Vivienne's hands tremble as the newspaper settles on the table.
"How did they discover?" She murmurs to herself, her heart racing.
For an entire year, she's concealed her talents, her powers, everything. But the queenโsomehow, the queen found out.
An abrupt knock sounds from the door. Vivienne open it, and is confronted by half a dozen royal guards. Its to late.
Being the Grand Mage sounds like the greatest privilege. And it does deliver on that promise, if your not the once to die trying to get it.
Then theres Rowan. He is someone Vivienne does not believe she can ever beat. After all, he did teach her everything she knows.
