“How long are you willing to chill before you get it?” Asks my mentor, as he looms over my workstation, watching me tinker with an alchemical circle.

“I’m chilling!” I protest “I just need to adjust the circle so it produces glass for the builders.” My mentor clicks his tongue and bends with his quill to adjust a symbol.

“You forgot the binding rune on the base. You’ll want to write that down in your spellbook lad.” My cheeks flush red as I scribble it down. “Why don’t you run some errands for me lad? I need to work on something for the smiths. But be careful. There are new people in town and I don’t trust ‘em.” At that, my ears perk up slightly. New people? We never see new people in town. I’d never even been past the walls, and it was an understatement to say I was excited. Of course, my mentor could see it on my face.

“Filin, we’ve been over this. Flights of fancy are dangerous and the town needs you to learn alchemy in case I pass over.” he chides, and my face drops.

“But I could do so much good!”

“You’ll do good by running these supplies to the vendors.” he says finally and hands me a basket “Now run along. I’ll need you back before dinner.”

I take the basket and my backpack and head out the door, grumbling slightly. The moment I stepped out the door I came face to face, or face-to-knees with a gigantic man whom I’d never seen before.

“Oi, sorry Lad,” he said in a deep rumble of a voice

“Uh- it’s ok, Do you have an appointment with Mr Daken?”

“Mr. Who?”

“The Alchemist, My teacher.”

“Ah yes. My friend ‘ere does.”

I hadn’t even noticed the figure standing behind the giant of a man, a younger woman with spectacles that cracked across one eye.

“Oh dear, do you need those fixed?” I ask, extending my hand.

“Well… yes, but that’s why we’re going to see the alchemist.” she says kindly “But thank you for the offer lad.”

“Run along now.” says the bigger man, stepping past me. I huff, frustrated, but leave to do my deliveries. I trade silver for dinner at the bakers and deliver a few miscellaneous medicines to the townsfolk, slowly spiraling from the center of town out to the edges near the walls. At my last stop, I find Mr. Morrocroft, an old wizened guard who protects the gates.

“Morning Mr. Morrocroft!” I Exclaim “Who’re the new people who came in?” He chuckles

“Some adventurers are making a supply stop. Got your head in the clouds again Filin?”

“…no.”

“Alright lad, here’s the pay fer those salves I ordered.” He says, handing me a few silver pieces. I take them and fish several bottles of salve out of my pack, wrapped in brown paper to keep them from breaking.

“You owe me stories next time.” I chide “but for now I’m running behind, I’ll see you in a couple of days.” And with that I begin to run back into town, waving to the shop owners when I suddenly hear a piercing cry and the sound of something collapsing. I spin to look and see a cloud of dust where a large section of the wall just was, with Mr. Morrocroft stumbling away.

A piercing roar echoes through the town as a gigantic golem, like the ones I had practiced making in my free time, but made out of shifting sand, stomped through the walls. People scream and run as it forces its way closer and closer to the center of town. Closer to me.

I stood frozen with my mouth agape until I felt my body being picked up and moved out of the way of a giant foot. Snapping to my senses I looked to see what had grabbed me and found a tall, thin man dressed in black.

“Be careful.” He grunts, depositing me in the alley.

“A- ah, thank you, sir.”

“Just stay outta the way.”

In a blink he’s gone, melting into the shadows of the alley, and reappearing in the shadow of the monstrosity, firing an arrow into its back. The thing roars and spins its torso to slap the man backward, sending him tumbling in the sand. I gasp and put a hand to my mouth, rattling around in my bag for my spellbook and some ink. The other two adventurers I’d seen before appeared running down the way, one with flames pouring off of him and the other sending flaming missiles into the creature as she ran to help the man in black.

The creature swallowed the missiles like they were snacks, only crystallizing slightly around the area where they hit as the man leaped into the air and punched the thing in the face. Its face disintegrated for a moment before reforming and throwing the man into the dirt, leaving a crater in the street before turning to roar at the others.

Scribbling frantically, I etched a transmuting sigil onto the palm of my hand as the thing pounded closer and closer to the adventurers, panicking as the rune fizzled and went out as my mentor’s voice echoed in my head.

“You forgot the binding rune lad.”

I gasp slightly as the creature starts to reach for the woman and sketch on the final rune before running towards the monster from behind.

I hear a yell from the same deep-voiced man I bumped into earlier

“KID, GET OUTTA THERE!” But I ignore his shout, slapping my hand onto the creature’s ankle and leaving a sigil imprinted into the shifting sand. The thing kicks me back into a nearby wall but I’m caught by a cushion of some kind from the woman as the thing turns to face me.

I clench my hand and pull it towards me in a counterclockwise motion, and the creature roars in pain as its sand starts cycling slower and slower, glass moving from its center to its extremities as it roars and winds up to swing at me again. I push all the magic I have into the sigil, eyes almost glowing with the effort as the thing swings its fist at me and I brace for impact.

But the impact doesn’t come, and I open my eyes to find a crystallized statue where the golem stood, fist inches from my face.

People surge from the buildings into the street, and I feel myself being swept up again, but this time in the more familiar hands of my mentor. He looks like he can’t decide between hugging and scolding me as he holds me tight. The three adventurers gather around us, grinning like fools.

“Well done kid.” Says the man in black “we could use a transmut-“ my master shushes him

“Filin will be staying here.” My mouth hangs agape as the woman says

“Why don’t you let him decide. He’s obviously a gifted caster.”

“He needs more practice, he’s a child.”

“We would have died without him and the town could have been ruined.” My mentor sighs and looks me in the eyes

“Filin, would you like to train with these people for a bit.”

“Oh yes! Yes!” I cry, hugging him hard “thank you so much, sir!”

He gives a solemn chuckle and sets me down. “You’ll have to write me a letter every week so I know they don’t get ya killed.”

“I will! I promise!”

“Good lad.”