Chapter 1.

  “Jude, watch out!”

  I heard the warning right as I was sprinting full speed across the field. By the time I looked up, John was standing right in front of me like a wall I had no chance of avoiding.

  “WHAM!”

  My whole body bounced off him and I hit the ground so hard the sky flashed. Air shot out of my lungs, and for a second I wasn’t sure if I would ever breathe again. It hurt, but it was also kind of funny, so all I could do was let out a weak laugh.

  John, the giant who finally tagged me, leaned over my face with a worried look.

  “Are you ok, Jude? I didn’t think you’d run into me that hard…” He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at his boots.

  I wheezed, “I’m ok. I just need a minute to stare at the sky and regret my life choices.”

  The clouds above me were streaked with the colors of the Grand Seal. At sunset, the whole sky seemed to slice open with glowing lines, and the light caught the bottom of the clouds in a way I had always loved. It would have been nicer if I wasn’t flat on my back gasping for air, but it was still a pretty great view. I would always try and sneak up on John and tag him, while trying to outrun him. He had always been bigger than me, while I was faster, but I was a little clumsy at times. This silly game of tag had always been something we did whenever we crossed paths.

  John hovered awkwardly until he finally stuck out a hand. I grabbed it, and he yanked me up faster than I expected, almost knocking me over again again. I bent forward dramatically, groaning like I was hurt.

  “Alright, alright,” John said with a grin, “I get it. You’re dying.”

  I snorted. “I live for the attention.”

  He laughed, then shifted to the topic everyone in our village had been talking about. “Only a couple more weeks until the ceremony. Are you feeling ready?”

  I wasn’t sure. “I think it’s finally going to feel real when the festival starts next week. I can’t believe it is almost December already and it is hard to believe it’s finally our year to Integrate.”

  Every kid who turned twelve this year would gather for the Integration Ceremony. All the nearby villages came to Hawthorn for it, and the whole town turned into a festival for days. Hawthorn wasn’t the capital of the Kingdom of Briar, but it was one of the biggest towns around, so our Integration Day would be there. December 31st, the last day of the year was the big day and it was pretty much the biggest holiday of the year. John and I lived in a smaller village, about half a day’s walk to Hawthorn. Both of our families worked small farms and shops. We were by no means wealthy, but we always had a meal and clothes that fit (decent enough that is).

  We’d been friends since as long as we could remember and our families had always helped each other out. I was glad to know someone who would be going with me to my Integration Ceremony. There were a couple other kids from our village of Bramble, but I wasn’t close with any of them.

  The festival was fun, but it was the food that made it the most special for me. Everyone saved their best crops, baked their best sweets, cooked their best meals. We had relatively mild winters, so the harvest would wrap up right before the festival and the Integration Ceremony. Even travelers brought things from their villages to share. It felt like the whole kingdom tried to spoil the twelve-year-olds right before throwing us into the most important moment of our lives.

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  Still, what kept creeping into my mind wasn’t the food. It was the mystery of what I’d be assigned. Warrior or mage. And the ability that came with it. Everyone got one unique ability when they Integrated. You didn’t get to choose it or even get a hint. You just walked into the ceremony and hoped the Interface didn’t hand you something weird.

  Both of my parents were warriors. Dad and mom both made it to Level 22. Pretty respectable, especially for people who didn’t enjoy fighting all that much. The higher level you are, the more monsters you have to hunt to keep gaining experience, and most of the really dangerous ones escape from seal leaks near the twelve main seal points.

  Our kingdom’s seal was closest to the capital city, Acacia of the Kingdom of Briar, which was still a few days’ travel from Hawthorn. The city surrounded the seal with walls, guard towers, and enough runes to make your skin buzz when you walked near it. Everyone above Level 10 had to go there four times a year to contribute their mana to strengthen the seal. Once you reached Level 20, they only required twice a year, which my parents were very grateful for. You don’t lose Mana when you contribute, you just have to expend your maximum Mana pool as many times as you can in that week. It is boring work, but necessary. I suppose if you had a couple Level 70’s charging the seal with their Mana, it would probably be a lot easier to keep the seals strong, but then they wouldn’t be out fighting the strongest of monsters in the land.

  My dad had an empowerment ability that made the tools he used stronger, sharper, or better in general. He always said he was born to farm, not fight. Warriors got increased strength and stamina from leveling, so he used his gifts on the land instead of the battlefield. Mom had a metal manipulation ability. She could reshape metal like it was clay. She fixed swords, made cookware, reforged plow blades, even repaired old hinges for people. She was basically Hawthorn’s metal miracle worker.

  They might not have been the strongest fighters in town, but everyone respected them. They kept Hawthorn running. They were proof that you didn’t have to be a frontline warrior to matter.

  “Maybe I’ll be a mage and break the pattern,” I thought out loud as I walked home. The sky had darkened, and I still had half a mile to the farm. “I guess I wouldn’t know what to do if I was, though. Warrior feels like the obvious path, but that doesn’t really mean anything. The Interface doesn’t care about bloodlines.”

  People loved to argue about which class has more potential, but no one has ever agreed. Mages have slightly more Mana available to them to use their abilities, but less overall health in a battle. The Warriors have more health and endurance. Both have advantages. Both have risks.

  Class mattered, but how you used your first ability mattered even more. Everyone said that. At Level 10, your first ability changes and you gain a second ability that synergizes with your first in some special way. Much is still not understood about this, but the way you use your abilities guides their direction.

  At Level 20, you gained another ability that synergizes. Level 30 was the big goal. That was when you got your Class Evolution. A more focused and powerful version of whatever you had become. This is when most became forces to be reckoned with. After Level 30, it wouldn’t be unusual to gain new abilities or evolve current ones at different points in their Levels, with another notable ability gained at Level 50. And then some even made it to the legendary third evolution at Level 70. Hardly anyone ever reached that height, but who wouldn’t want to!?

  “I’ll be the greatest warrior since the heroes of old!” I yelled as I sprinted toward the tree near our house. I jumped, kicked off the trunk, tried to flip, and landed flat on my back.

  “OOF!”

  The sky flashed again. My breath left my body again. And I had a flash of memory of running straight into John earlier.

  I stared up at the tree branches swaying overhead.

  “Maybe I should hope to be a mage,” I muttered. “I am such a klutz.”

  The faint scent of something delicious wafted into my nose. I think it was cornbread, one of my favorites and it coaxed me to eventually get back up to see what Mom was making for dinner.