NovMo 2024: Counterfeit Mage

It was an uncomfortable feeling to be on a flying train, heading towards a magic academy, when you actually weren’t quite sure if you were a mage.

Tazanen _ propped his chin on his hand and stared out the window of his compartment. As the train curved, he saw the two mages standing on top of the train, working to keep the train aloft. Their sky-blue robes flapped in the wind, and he briefly worried that, despite the guardrails and their magic, they’d somehow topple off and fall below the floating isles and all the way down to the wild lands on the surface of the planet.

Taz shook those ridiculous thoughts away and distracted himself by watching the mages make flowing gestures with their arms. Those gestures were all for show. Supposedly magic was something innate that could be invoked with merely a thought. But he wouldn’t know–he’d reached _, the average age of gaining magic, and he felt nothing different inside him.

“Yo, Taz, look at this.” His friend _ snapped his fingers from across the compartment and

Taz cracked a half-smile. He hoped it looked more convincing than it felt. "Very cool.”

“I know, right? Can’t wait to freak people out with it when we get to campus.”

Tazanen’s stomach twisted at the thought of arriving on campus. They’d announce him as Tazanen _, son of _ and _, and people would expect him to be just as impressive as they were. Who exactly were his parents, you ask? Nobody much, just the [role] and the most influential people on the Marzel Isles. So naturally, people would wonder what his ability was, and he’d be forced to grit out that he didn’t have one yet, and–

A loud crash sounded from the compartment in front of them.