My favourite part of the day is my walk back home from school. Mine is a small town, but the cobblestoned road lined with colourful houses and smelling of the salty sea-breeze does present a very scenic view. 

My school, the Roschwin Academy, is one of the best arcane centres in the nation, and some of the most well-known names in the magical world have graduated from there. Hopefully, one day I too will be one of them. 

Many students wish to become healer-mages or magicness consultants, but honestly it all sounds pretty boring to me. I'd rather become an arcanatekt, designing colossal works of art, or maybe a runologist, exploring through lost ancient ruins. 

But studying in a top-rated school can have its downsides too. Particularly, that all your fellow students are so filthy rich that you can feel left out. 

Like today, at the end of the school week, while many are hanging out at Lyon’s (so extravagant!), and others are being chauffeured home in their fancy cars, I have taken a portal to my town and am walking home, bag slung on my shoulder and chomping through my long-bread sandwich.  

And while it can be hard making friends and easy becoming an outcast, I'm not exactly complaining. Like I said, I love this view; and these vibrant houses, the calming seas below, the chattering gulls above, and of course, my books, are my dearest friends and I couldn't ask for more. 

Ahead, a few kids are flying a kite. I envy them, I wish I could join them, but I have chores to do and homework to complete. 

I move along, a bit saddened (but not defeated), to a view that further irks me. A brand new scooter in front of uncle Shou's house, shining brilliantly in the evening sun. If only he had sold his old scooter to us at a price we could afford, I could've used it for my Magacniks project. It would have been so cool to modify it to surf the sea, or better yet glide the skies like many enchanted cars in the city...

That gives me an idea! Keeping my sandwich and bag aside, I take out a few pieces of parchment and get to work. First, I quickly fold and connect the pieces to form the shape of a dragon. Next, I'll have to draw an anti-grav rune on it. Rune magic isn't very strong, but it should be able to hold aloft my very own DRAGON KITE !

I've barely begun when out of the blue (sky) down swoops a giant gull and snatches away my sandwich. And my bag with it (So much for being friends. Hmph). 

Nononono NO! There's many expensive books in there and research papers I've spent MONTHS upon. If I lose those, I could very well lose my year at the academy. 

Quick! My mind races through a litany of ideas to get my precious bag back. 

Enchant my shoes to fly? (No, enchanting takes too much time. And rune magic won't support my weight).

Use the kites to catch the gull? (Naah. That's silly).

(Or maybe not!). I get back to work with my magic marker, carving various runes on my dragon kite, making a few more folds to make it more aerodynamic …

Soon, my Dragon is soaring swiftly into the sky. With complementary runes drawn on my fingers, I can control its movement. A little fish hangs in its mouth, meant to attract the gull and hopefully make the exchange before my bag falls into the sea. 

The gull’s already quite far and I don't know if I can ever catch up in time, when something obvious but unforeseen happens. All the other gulls in the area pounce upon the easy fish in my dragon’s jaws!

Woahwoahwoah! Left, right, up, dive, I manoeuvre my dragon to avoid the cackling predators as best as I can. Long enough to draw attention from the gull, who, by now having gobbled up the sandwich, drops my bag and turns towards the unfolding ruckus. 

Now's my chance. I drop the fish and my dragon swoops down at an inconceivable acceleration, catching the bag just in time and crash landing on the beach. The kids behind me cheer as I let out a weary but triumphant sigh. 

Huh. Who knows, maybe I should become an aeronaut when I grow up. Or better. A toymaker?