Rifts: Dragon Heart
Chapter 1
14 years later
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep-CLICK! Myrena K'ittani opened one eye and glared at the little egg-shaped alarm clock. Then she sighed and got up. Opa* would need her help soon. She got dressed, and soon she walked down the stairs. Then, she remembered what would happen that day, and her face brightened. "Opa, Opa! Today is the day! Today is my Magical Aptitude Test! Today I get to see if I can be a technomancer like you!" Arnold Schmidt turned and braced himself for his daughter's hug. Laughing, he said, "Frauline, how many times do I have to tell you? I am getting too old for this. Now, what was this about a Magical Aptitude Test?" "Opa! Humph! You know what the MAT is!" Chuckling, Arnold teased his daughter, "Last time I checked, it was that thing I put under the door. Ow! Okay, okay, yes, I know what the MAT is." Arnold chuckled, then became serious. "I just don't think that you have the mindset to be a technomancer. It may be fine and dandy in a small, stable town like this, but if you go off into an adventure, which I'm sure you will, we don't tend to get a lot of respect, unless you end up with a Glitter Boy or another power-armor pilot. Most of the time, it's, 'Arnold, hand me a weapon,' or, 'Just make something already!' Few adventurers understand the delicate craft of der Krystal. And even fewer understand exactly what crystals are needed for certain enchantments." "But Opa, I want to be able to make things!" Arnold patted his daughter on the head. "I know, but sometimes it's just not worth it. Now, your MAT is in ten minutes. I sure don't think you want to be-" Myrena took off running, "Bye Opa!" "-late," Arnold chuckled. "Ah, if only I had her energy..."
ξϖΨ
Myrena burst into the Municipal Education Centre with a minute to spare. She was ushered by a very polite aide to a small cubicle, where she sat down. A door was closed behind her. She looked at the test in front of her. Measurement of ambient magical radiation in an area? This is easy! she thought. After a while though, the questions got harder. "You and a party of a Juicer, a SAMAS, and aRogue Scholar are ambushed in a cave by ten primary vampires, and at least 15 secondary vampires. The entrance to the cave is 15 feet away, but you are surrounded. What do you do?" one read. She thought for a second, and began to write down "I make a..." when a voice in her head said No, that's not your style. They hate sunlight, remember, use that against them! She paused, then erased and wrote down, "I direct my companions to form a tight circle around me, then cast Globe of Daylight, forcing the monsters to back off and allowing us to escape." She looked at the next one, which read, "You and the same party as previously stated come up against a crazed dragon with no magical powers except its breath weapon. It sees you, and you have no chance of fleeing. What do you do?" She thought for a moment, and then wrote down," I make a shield..." and then the voice came back. No, no, no. Stop it. This isn't your strong suit. Remember what Opa said. If you keep enchanting things, soon enough people are going to view you as a tool. Don't be a tool. She erased again, and then wrote, "I direct everyone to fan out and avoid the beast's attacks while I begin casting anything that will hamper its accuracy or attacks." The questions went on and on and on.
After the written portion was completed, an aide came in and took a blood draw, then ushered her out of the cubicle. "Go make friends," she said. Myrena sat down on a bench, and then she saw Tory, the town rich-kid who wouldn't hesitate to make sure you knew it, and her little clique. "Oh, I'm quite sure that I'll be a shifter, and once my test results come in, I just know my father will give me plenty of equipment. And then, well, I'll just say that the current system of tolerance won't last long. Either they serve us or face our wrath!" Myrena was boiling with rage. That little prick! How dare she insult all of the other wizards! Shifters aren't even real wizards! Then someone whispered in her (Myrena's) ear, "It's like listening to Coalition advertisements. Just sickening." She jumped a little, and turned to see who was sitting beside her, and her heart skipped a beat. It was a thin and obviously very tall teenage boy with perfect dark black hair that contrasted beautifully with his pale skin. She could see from his arms that he was muscular. "Oh, I-I-I- hi," she said weakly. "What kind of wizard do you want to be?" she asked, embarrassed with herself for letting him unnerve her like that. He replied, "Well, I kind of wanted to be a shifter until I heard that chick talk. But, it really doesn't matter, I can't be a wizard anyway. I just came here to see what was going on." She said, "Oh... o_kay, I guess." He smiled and said, "So what about you? What do you want to be?" She said, "Well, I wanted to be a technomancer, but I've been having my doubts. I really don't know," she said, blushing furiously and furious with herself for such furious blushing. "My name's Myrena, what's yours?" More blushing. "I'm Matthias, but most people call me Matt. I'm a little different from most people, and they don't like that." Suddenly, Tory walked up, "Oh, now who are you? You're just the cutest thing." Myrena's blush faded instantly, replaced by uncontrollable trembling of anger, but Matt just said, "I'm Matt, but I don't see how it concerns you. Now, I'd hate to take away from you're plans to conquer the world and create an elitist society that preyed on the poor and weak to fill their own gluttonous greed. Speaking of which, you might want to lay off the snacks." Tory flushed with rage, "Well, I see how it is. You go ahead and hang out your worthless girlfriend, and let's see how happy you two are when I'm finished with this place! Come on, girls, we're leaving!" And she stomped away to the other side of the room. "Sheesh, attitude," Matt said after she left. Myrena said, "Thank you for sticking up for me, I guess, but I really- well, it's just- well, Tory's father is very influential in this town, and that's why she acts like that. You don't want to get on the wrong side of him, is what I-I think I'm saying." Matt just shrugged, and replied, "Even if he sends some low-life after me, I'm quite capable of defending myself." Suddenly, he paused, and said, "What are they—." Then, a rift opened and a gargoyle flew out, spotted them, and dove at them. Before it got there, it was tackled by Matt, who slammed it into the ground as aides and police began pouring into the room, subduing the creature very quickly. Myrena had had enough, though. When the stunning spells had subsided, she stalked across the room, directly up to Tory's face. "You little bitch! You could have gotten people killed!" She spoke an incantation, and clapped her hands together. The Thunderclap resonated through the room. Then, leaving Tory and her group white-faced and paralyzed with fear, she walked up to Matt and stood beside him. Someone in the crowd whispered, "She sure showed her!", which was followed by murmured laughter and discussion. An aide ran up to her and said her piece about fighting in the testing center, and then a police officer came and took her statement on what had happened. After the general hullabaloo had calmed down, a harried administrator walked up to the front of the room and said, "If all this mess has calmed down, I'd like to draw your attention to the scoreboard for your results." Myrena scanned the scoreboard for her name, and caught her breath. She wasn't a technomancer at all, she was...
** German for Grandfather; Myrena calls her adopted father Opa because of his age. If anyone else called him that,... well, let's just say that he was still completely capable of smashing concrete despite being in his fifties.