I used to be an orphan who lived on the street of the scummiest slum in all of Tsatu.
Rummaging through garbage for the day's meal. Hunting a warm corner to sleep the night in. Doing anything I could just to survive.
That was how I spent the entirety of my childhood.
One day, a High Mage of the Tower came to heal the sick in our district. The High Mage was Marla.
While I was helping Marla and her entourage in order to gain some food and money, the woman sensed my aptitude in magic.
She said I had great potential to become someone remarkable in the Tower of Circle's history.
Naturally, given the poor way of my living at the time, I accepted Marla's offer to become a Novice.
I left the slum that I used to call home and began my apprenticeship at the Tower of Circle.
I just turned fourteen at the time. Quite a young age to begin training in the Tower according to Marla.
Not to mention, I had no prior magic training or any education before going to the Tower, which was usually the requirement in order to become a Novice. Only graduates of a magic academy could apprentice in the Tower of Circle.
But given my tremendous talent, the magic institution was willing to make an exception.
And as Marla stated, I did have a mind for casting spells.
It did not take me a year to finish my Novice training and be promoted into Junior Apprentice. In less than twelve months I was able to learn and practice all there was to be learned and practiced in magic academies.
Two years after that, I completed my Junior Apprentice training and got promoted into Senior Apprentice. Comprehending all advanced sorcery and alchemy knowledge developed in the Tower of Circle for the past three thousand years.
And two years since then, as a Senior Apprentice, I was doing new research of my own in order to expand the horizon of sorcery. All while hoping my newfound knowledge would grant me the title of High Mage.
It was truly disappointing that the Tower would not appreciate my effort.
"Oh Moraine, you were the greatest mage the Tower ever had since Harabon Elgar. That man would've been the First Mage by now had he not chose to leave the Tower and raise his academy."
Marla said with regretting face.
"Councilor Elgar did the right thing leaving this place. The Tower would only burden him down."
I said back to her.
Marla smiled at me and reached for my hand.
"I was certain that you would take that mantle instead. Becoming the youngest ever to become the First Mage. Returning all the glories the Tower possessed during Bromstead's days."
She let out a bitter sigh and went on.
"If it weren't for Her Highness Samesta, you would probably be the strongest mage in this era, Moraine."
I chuckled at my mentor's words.
"I'm still 19, Marla. Who knows how I'll turn out to be in a decade or two from now."
The violet-eyed woman in front of me replied back with a smile.
"That confidence of yours is why I still think you'll be a great mage someday."
"Are you sure you're supposed to be putting this much faith in me? Didn't the crown princess say that daughter of yours possessed stellar talent as well?"
Marla's expression shifted.
Her smile was no longer stained with regret and the sense of loss. It was now filled with warmth and optimism.
"I do have high hope for Serafina. But I will leave it up to her to choose her own path."
The Zeref matriarch directed us to her tea table and went on.
"Besides, Serafina is still very young, barely six years old. She still got many years to think on what she wants to be."
My face turned somber as Marla was pouring our cups with her special brew.
"That daughter of yours might be forced to grow up. Sooner than you think, Marla."
The smile vanished from Marla as well.
I went on as she took her seat across me.
"Dangerous times are ahead of us."
"I'm aware of the magical hotspots, Moraine. I was one of the first few mages who investigated them when they began manifesting two years ago, remember?"
"Your discoveries were what led me to my dark arts research."
Marla sighed at my statement.
"I wonder if I should not have shared my thoughts with you back then. Perhaps you wouldn't be banished from the Tower if I were to keep my findings to myself and the other High Mages."
"But you didn't. You knew the risk those hotspots possessed. You knew those mysterious phenomena required to be investigated by every capable mage existed. And you were right to share your findings with me."
"I figured you would've learned of them on your own eventually. The hotspots are growing stronger by the day. All High Mages are dreading on what would happen when those hotspots would finish accumulating the energies they are gathering."
I nodded to Marla's concern.
"What if I tell you that I know what's going to happen?"
The High Mage turned her gaze to me in surprise.
Gone the somber air around the woman.
Her eyes were now sharp as an eagle's. Expression calculating and determining.
This was the woman who managed to become a High Mage of the Tower.
A matriarch of a neutral noble House who kept her family and region safe by out-plotting the schemes of nefarious factions.
This was the woman who convinced me to become a mage, and the one who guided me to become who I was today.
"What did you find out, Moraine?"
Marla asked me with a commanding voice.
It was soft and composed. But the tone had a certain firmness to it which compelled me to obey.
"While investigating the hotspots, I travelled all over the continent to locate dark arts materials. Objects which were disposed by the Tower of Circle and the Serpent's Order."
I told my mentor.
I went on.
"Among the materials I found were records of the sub-races."
"There were no such items listed among the articles confiscated from your apartment."
I slightly chuckled at her comment.
Marla immediately realized that I still had another depository where I kept my most important possessions.
She also knew there was no way I would reveal her that secret location. Even though she was my trusted mentor.
"So, what did you learn from these records?"
Marla asked.
"You would be surprised by the number of prophecies the Serpent's Order has kept the world from knowing."
"Prophecy? Are you referring to the rumored sub-race apocrypha?"
"Indeed. Would you like to know what those apocrypha entailed, Marla?"
I asked.
The woman's silence was her answer.
"Eschatology. Each and every record that I found."