"KKKKKAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!! Come out come out from under the bar!!! KKAAALLL!!" "Fairen, it's not under the bar," Rafferty's voice corrected. "It's wherever you are. Why would she be under a bar?" "Eh," Fairen scoffed. "Same difference." "No, not real-" "KKKKKKAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!" Smothering laughter, I peek out from the sofa I had crawled under. Rafferty's boots tromped by my hiding spot, soon followed by Fairen's. "Where is she?" I heard Fairen whine. "She's been hiding FOREVERRRRRRR." More like twentyish minutes, but I guess that could be considered forever to a seven year old. Props to them though, I woulda given up looongg before now.

"Maybe she's not here?" Rafferty murmured. Shuffling noises came from what I assume to be him peeking behind curtains. "She said she'd hide in this wing of the palace, but. . ." More footsteps and a puff from the cushions above me as Fairen flung himself onto the sofa. "I'm tired of this," he groaned, his feet dangling in front of me. "Maybe she became invisible or turned into a termite. Mages can do that ya know." "Fairen, Kal doesn't have magic," Rafferty reminded, still tromping around the room. "She's just ordinary." Ouch. Dang boi, I know you didn't mean it, but that hurts. I'm not "ordinary" I'm fucking awesome.
"Yes she does! She pulled a worm out of my ear!" A pause. "What?" Rafferty asked, voice deeply confused. "We were playing outside and she said somethin like, "Imma do a magic trick!" and she pulled a worm outta my ear!" Ok, Just for the record, there wasn't actually a worm in the boy's ear. I just hid the worm in my hand and pretended to pull it out. Ya da da! Magic! Children are nothing if not extremely easy to fool.

For once Rafferty had no response for this bizarre reenactment, instead deciding to switch the topic entirely. "Fairen, tomorrow we have that magic test. Did you tell Kal we can't play with her?" Fairen groaned, swinging his legs with annoyance. "I don't WAANNNAA take a magic test! The mage guy is BORING!!!!!" Ah- explanation time. Magic test is kinda putting it lightly; remember how I mentioned magic users existed? Well they're usually called wizards or mages and schools don't really exist for them since there aren't that many around. Anyway, every year Felaceli (this kingdom's name btw) conducts a kind of evaluation on every kid over the age of six since that's when powers typically develop. The people in charge of this is the Mage's order, a group funded and commanded exclusively by the Royal family. While most of the people in the Order aren't that strong, a handful of them wield power capable of actually blowing up mountains, resulting in Felaceli being one of the most powerful kingdoms. Obviously, because no shit Sherlock, if a village had guys capable of blasting someone into oblivion I'd stay the fuck away from that village. I'm getting off topic.

So, the Order conducts the tests. Every year they send out one of their members to each of the kingdom's villages, towns, etc. It takes about a month to get through all of them, but the test is fairly quickly. Basically they cart in this giant crystal thing have all the kids touch it and if it glows, BAM you be a wizard! Mage. Whatever. Then all the kids who passed are rounded up and taken back to the Palace to be more thoroughly evaluated, taught and recruited into the Order's ranks. Every child has to be tested, even the Royal family. I know this sounds like there'd be a lot of people, but not that many actually possess magic. Every year about a max of fifty or sixty kids are found to have magic. Out of the ENTIRE kingdom. That's like, less than 1% of the population or some shit. So yeah, magic users are pretty scarce. Felaceli just happens to have some of the most powerful ones.

Oh, that reminds me, now would be a good time to mention the third love interest, Azurite Hellstrom, son of the head of the Mage's Order. Azurite (side note, who the fuck names their kid that?) is advertised as the "Serious no nonsense" head mage and magic prodigy. He grows up to take over his Father's position as the head of the Order and is renowned throughout the land for his skills and power. Sporting long dark blue hair that was braided over his shoulder and green eyes, Azurite was of course, extremely handsome since this is an otome game. He even sported the "cool smart dude glasses" smart guy characters usually wore. Unlike the other two, Azurite's personality was neither good nor bad. I mean, he has his moments when he acts like a dickwad, but he was never arrogantly shitty like Fairen was in the game. Since he was so good at magic Azurite was chosen as the Heroine's teacher to help her control her powers. He acted cold and disinterested in the heroine initially, but depending on which route you take he can actually be pretty romantic. Though also depending on your choices his way of going about it could be questionable. He'd lecture her if she got near other guys, treated her like she wasn't worth his time, and ordered her to do stuff like she was some kind of dog. Which is not ok by the way- people are people, not dogs.

And his Bad ending was pretty freaky. In his Bad ending he (possibly?) rapes the heroine and uses his status to force her to stay by his side. As for the whole rape thing, it's not really officially said but is suggested. Again. NOT OK. Weird thing is this ending isn't even as bad as some of the others, which makes me seriously question what the fuck the game designers were high on when they made this game. How bad you ask? Let's just say in one of the Bad endings the Heroine winds up chained in a room and treated like an object without even being able to go outside. Yeah. Pretty fucked up right?

Going back to the magic thing, magic takes the place of electricity in this world. Instead of cars or lamps, mages are able to make things run with magic, like glowing orbs of light and horseless carriages. There are more specific explanations of these things, but this is pretty much the basic rundown since the whole thing kinda confuses me. I mean, I worked as a mechanic in my old life- ask me to fix a motorcycle and I could do it in a snap, but when it comes to how a glowing orb of light is operated I don't have a clue.
Deciding the game has gone on long enough, I reach forward and grab Fairen's ankles, giving them a quick yank. With a yelp, he leapt up and tumbled to the ground, eyes wide in shock as he found me. "Boo," I grin, his eyes widening in disbelief. "You- you cheated!!" He exclaimed while I wiggled my way from under the sofa.

"Did not," Dusting myself off, I put my hands on my hips and gaze at him haughtily. "I had to hide, you had to seek- you couldn't find me so you loose." Puffing his cheeks in frustration, Fairen rounded to Rafferty for support but immediately deflated when he saw that the blonde was nodding in agreement. Still upset but knowing his accusation was wrong, Fairen resigned himself to sulk on the sofa while Rafferty and I chatted. "-so we won't be able to play with you tomorrow Kal," Rafferty said, swinging his feet over the edge of his armchair. "S' cool," I nod, lounging on the chair across from him. Normally testing for magic wouldn't take that long, but that was only if the person being tested didn't have magic. Fairen and Rafferty definitely did- this was a known fact despite having not been tested yet due to their parents. Magic was pretty much genetic, though it's been known to pop up randomly in families with no known magic relative.

Besides, both boys had already been confirmed as magic users since they already displayed ability to wield magic; basically the whole testing thing was just gonna be procedure and for the rest of the day they'll be trying to evaluate their power level and stuff.
Since yours truly was currently five, I wouldn't have to be subjected to the same testing as my cousins. It won't matter even when I do take the test though cause, disappointedly, despite having a magic using father, Kalliope's character wasn't given the ability to use magic. It'd make her stand out too much I guess considering her role was to just be a background character. Sometimes I really hate the fact that I was reincarnated into an extra. Ah well.

The next day I was left to my own devices after escaping the nursery, yet again. Honestly at this point my nurse maids have just given up on trying to get me to stay once they realized I knew how to pick locks (a trick I picked up in my previous life when I was in foster care). I should mention that for a while everyone around me was pretty spooked that a five year old was displaying the intelligence of someone much older, but they got used to it and apparently wrote it off as something due to being royalty; like that would make me smarter than the average toddler, but whatever. As long as they stopped bothering me. And I guess that explanation kinda makes sense anyway considering how high functioning Rafferty and Fairen are. Like it's scary how much they act like adults- sometimes I wonder wether they were actually reincarnated people as well.

Tromping down the hallway in my undies (the weird pantaloon camisole thing I've mentioned before) I wave to a few of the maids familiar with my antics. They smile and wave back before returning to their duties as I went on my way to the kitchens. Climbing down a few flights of steep steps, I reach my destination and head straight towards Jerri, my favorite cook. After I started my whole escapade thing, I wandered into the kitchen by chance and hit it off with him. He was a jolly older guy with a rounded tummy that always smelled like warm bread and while they weren't really alike, he kinda reminded me of my favorite guardian/foster father, Mike from my old life. Maybe it was just because he wasn't absurdly beautiful like everyone else in the game, or because he was older with greying hair, but as soon as I saw him, I liked him. Jerri himself took a shine to me since he didn't have any grandchildren, and would often sneak me some goodies or tell me about his life when he was younger while I sat on a stool nearby depending on how busy he was.

Today it seemed he wouldn't have time for stories, but he greeted me with a smile and a pinch on the check which I tolerated since he was my friend. Stopping his work for a moment, he wiped his hands on his apron and pulled out a clean napkin, tossing in some freshly baked blueberry tartlets before tying it up and pressing it into my little hands. "Go off an' play sweetie," he said warmly, shooing me away from his station. Gleefully I obeyed, dashing off down a servant corridor to avoid going up the stairs again. They were pretty nifty things, servant corridors. Kinda confusing, but way more convenient for moving around. As I walked I resolved to stop in the library to eat my treats and see if I can find something to read, remembering the directions from my last visit.

After a few twists and turns, I push my way out from one of the hidden doors and enter the library, shutting the door behind me. No sooner did I step out did a young voice suddenly exclaim, "Who the blazes are you?!" Blazes? This bitch British? Doesn't sound like they have an accent though. Turning, I'm confronted by a little boy, probably only a year older than me, in black Harry Potter-esqe robes with blue hair and green eyes, thick book clutched in his arms. Boy oh boy, Ladies and gentlemen please welcome, Azurite Hellstrom to the stage!