Kingdom of fire and shadows: Useless magic and Salamanders.

Xavier's return home was uneventful. On his way, he thought about many things. The way of life of the high-class nobles was even more unreal than his fantasies, which gave him many ideas, but the distance from his social status to that of the likes of Clinton was an abbism.

Although he initially accepted it, the knowledge that he was a little bit less than an insect in the view of the nobles caused him a lot of discomfort; a sense of shame invaded him. Xavier could be a nobody's, a miserable farmer, but he had a minimum of pride. Now that he had time to think about the past events, it was humiliating the way the rest of the nobles saw him, except for Clinton and Maurius. However, he did the right thing to seize the opportunity and enjoy the pleasures that the nobility paid with his family taxes.

'I will go to Liev's Tower; even if I am just a shadow magician, I will do something with my life.' He was determined.

The Tumulos carriage left him in Mennor. There he took another horse-drawn carriage, and when he arrived in Humol, it was already noon. He met his brothers and his parents in the house. It was weird that they weren't in the fields. The atmosphere was a little strange.

'What happened?' asked Xavier.

'Your father has had a dispute with the other farmers,' replied his mother, Merila.

"These ignorants do not understand that we are not at the same level. When we recover our ancestral legacy, they will repent. We will buy Humol, and they will work for us.

The rest of the family smiled. They joined Euraclius fantasies the same day Xavier left with Clinton. After Xavier's departure, his father had entered into a delusion of grandeur; his son continually traveled in luxurious carriages, and nobles in elegant dresses came looking for him. His family was on its way to greatness and fortune.

'What are you talking about?' asked Xavier, confused.

'Isn't it obvious?' replied his brother Orli. 'The lands of our noble ancestors: gold, silver, castles. There must be a fortune waiting for us; our ancestors were kings. We must claim what's ours.'

As he saw his family talking about fortunes and castles, Xavier was petrified.

'What is all that?' asked Merila, seeing the things that Xavier had brought.

'Those elegant clothes must be worth at least two or three silver coins,' said Euraclius. We have to sell some of these things. We will buy a suit for me, son; you and I will go to the royal city and demand our legacy as nobles.

Xavier still didn't know what to say. He had already noticed that his status as a nobleman had gone to his father's head, but this was too much; he never thought that Euraclius would reach these extremes. While Xavier was trying to find a way to explain the situation to his family, his father continued to invent stories about the fortunes of his ancestors. His mother and his brothers were immersed in his fantasies. All the rage and shame that Xavier had kept bottled up in the last few weeks came up suddenly. Nobles, legacy, fortune? All that was just his father's illusion; most of the nobles saw them as disgusting parasites.

'There is nothing!' cried Xavier. 'Our family has no noble blood; we have no royal ancestors; there is no great legacy; we are a family of miserables who invented themselves the surname Vonder and a stupid family crest to believe they are something. It's all a bunch of lies.' Xavier threw the bronze ring on the table.

'But... the seal?' said Xavier's father, holding the bronze object. 'The carriage, the clothes, the noble who visited you?

'Clinton van Ferra wanted to irritate his family; these days I have been nothing more than an annoying fly to the nobles.' Xavier had tears in his eyes; his fists were closed. He had tried to ignore the feeling of humiliation, but his emotions made an act of presence; he was a little less than garbage for the nobles, and he knew it.

'Clinton's father hates the poor peasants like us; I have just been a pest for the nobles the last three days. Although it seems Clinton and Maurius like me, it's not for any special reason; they are just kind people. The seal is ours, but not for our family legacy. I registered the seal and the family crest with the title of nobility that they gave me for being a magician. We're just a family of miserable people who had some luck. I said nothing because I didn't want to ruin your dreams, dad. It was enough of a disappointment that I turned out to be a shadow mage.' Xavier entered the room he shared with his brothers.

His family sat down at the table. They were drunk with their dreams, and the news that Xavier gave them took their drunkenness away at once. Euraclius dropped the bronze seal in his hands, which rolled and fell off the table and ended up on the ground without anyone even caring. It was really nothing more than a piece of cheap metal.

It was already afternoon, but there was still plenty of sunlight. Soon, winter would fall, and things would get hard for everyone. Xavier came out of the room dressed in his worn-out clothes. He passed by his family without saying a word and went to work. His brothers followed him shortly afterwards. His father and mother were left behind.

'It was all a lie,' lamented Euraclius, picking up the ring that was on the table. My father and grandfather told me a lot of lies. Euraclius began to laugh; there was a hint of madness in his eyes.

'It doesn't matter,' said Merila. 'At least we will now pay less taxes. Our life will be easier.'

'Pft, this is not a life; we are miserable, a lump of trash,' replied Euraclius.

Merila got up from the table without saying anything and began to do her homework. Euraclius stood at the table, looking at the ring. He didn't know what to do. There was no hope. He had always believed that one day something would happen, that he would stop being poor, and that his life would change. Those stories of his grandfather and his father gave him confidence that there was a better future for him and his family. They were the only family in the whole village with a last name; they had always been poor, but he was so sure that they were different from the others; they only had bad luck. Xavier's awakening was supposed to be the event that would set his destiny in motion. Now all that was lost.

After a few hours, the sun had set. Xavier and his brothers returned from the fields, covered in sweat and dirt.

'Dad, you have to talk to the neighbors tomorrow,' said Orli, sitting at the table.

Merila had already prepared dinner: boiled sweet potatoes and some kind of stew of vegetables and herbs. The family sat down to eat as usual, although the atmosphere was bleak.

'Xavier, how much did those noble clothes you brought cost?' asked Euraclius.

'Clinton bought them for twenty-two silver coins,' replied Xavier.

'Twenty-two silver coins!' repeated Orli and Euraclius at once, astonished.

'With that much money, we could live for years,' calculated Merila.

'I will need clothes,' said Xavier. 'I'm going to the magic academy. In two months, I will enter Liev's Tower.'

'No way, you're a shadow magician. It is a waste of time and money,' refuted Euraclius.

'I'm a dual magician. Maybe I can do something with my fire magic,' Xavier replied.

'Forget it; that is a waste,' again denied Euraclius.

'I have already made my decision,' Xavier reaffirmed.

'You made your decision? Who do you think you are?' asked Orli.

'Me? Do you mean the only magician in the family? the only reason why we are noble? the reason why we will save ourselves a silver coin a year in taxes.?' The only reason why this house is ours. And you? Who are you?′ cried Xavier, staring at Orli. 'And stop eating my fucking oatmeal!'

'Xavier, you must think of the family,' said Euraclius.

'That's what I do. I've done everything for the family. And you lot have become noble lords, rich in your fantasies, ignoring everything else,' replied Xavier.

Euraclius was about to lose his patience, but Xavier's next words cooled his anger. 'In the tower, maybe I can make relationships with the nobles, gain their confidence and trust, and get a good job later. If my fire magic is not enough, I can work in the subjugation misions'

Everybody knew what that meant. The very desperate shadow magicians did that kind of work. The ratio of fatalities was very high, and even those who survived various jobs ended up with myasma disease and died a few years later.

'We'll sell the clothes anyway. It is better to buy a few one silver coin suits and have some money for the family,' Xavier reasoned.

'Tomorrow we will go to the village to sell them, then' agreed Euraclius.

Initially, Euraclius thought of forcing Xavier to abandon the crazy idea of going to Liev's Tower. That money could be useful to the family; it should not be wasted, but the idea of making relationships with the real nobles was something valuable in itself. There was still a chance that the family would enter the path of greatness and fortune.

The next day, they went to sell the clothes to Humol. The sastre tried to regate as much as he could, and so did Xavier and his father. They inflated the price of clothes to twenty-six coins in total. The tailor paid them only fifteen silver coins, and four of his one silver coin suits. Then they went to the local office. Xavier handed over his invitation letter for Liev's Tower, signed with the seal of his family.

Back home, Xavier had five one silver coin suits to wear in the tower and five silver coins. Ten silver coins would remain with the family. With that, they would pay the king's taxes for ten years. Everything they gain from now on in the field will be for themselves. That would help them improve their family situation.

The reality of the De Vonder family name became known. Xavier's screams reached the ears of the neighbors. They were only nobles in name, nothing more. They were as poor as everyone else, their blood was as useless as everyone else, and they had to work like everyone else. There would be no special treatment of any kind. There were even some looks of contempt towards Xavier.

'He's useless; he's born a magician, and he ends up being a shadow magician. What a failure!' said one of Xavier's neighbors in his talks with the other farmer.

Trina didn't even look at him anymore.

"Trina, I can...′ She cut him short.

'Let it go, Xavi; you're a failure, like all the other men in this village. I need a true man, a knight, a true mage, and a nobleman with fortune. Stop dreaming, kid.' These words further destroyed the little self-esteem that the boy had.

The status quo was back. He was as useless as ever. Although, on the one hand, at least his brother wouldn't eat his oatmeal if he got up a few minutes late anymore. The days passed quickly. The last two days before leaving for Liev's Tower, Xavier sat in front of his house and looked at the fields in which he had been working since he could remember. As soon as he had enough strength, even as a child, he began to help with simple tasks. Sowing seeds, collecting fruit, or doing anything else.

'I can't believe I'm going to miss this,' he said to himself.

The expected day came. A carriage, pulled by tumulos, appeared in front of his house. His family was surprised. They've never seen a Tumulos carriage before. The ghostly creatures seemed to be drawn out of nightmares.

'What a waste of time! Good luck anyway,' said Orli.

'Take care of yourself,' said Ferol disinterestedly. He was still against wasting all those silver coins on a shadow mage.

His mother gave him a hug. Everybody still thought it was a waste, but maybe the boy would manage to do something and change the situation. His father approached him and gave him the bronze ring.

'It is yours; it is your seal; this family is finally noble thanks to you. It's no longer the story of a couple of old liars. The nobles of the De Vonder family exist. This is your seal and your family's crest.' Euraclius gave him a hug.

Xavier got into the carriage, looked through the glass of the window at his family, and a moment later they were gone. His house disappeared, and a rapid succession of images took its place. Five cheap noble suits, five silver coins, a sixteen-year-old boy mage of a useless element, and a lot of hopes were heading to Liev's tower.