Page | 11 Chapter 1: The Prodigy’s Secret (Part 1) CLIFF GRIMOIRE, the grandson of the Millis Church’s reigning Pope, was a highly gifted young man with a particular talent for magic. Unfortunately, Cliff was also hot-tempered, egotistical, and a pompous braggart. As a result, he had no friends whatsoever. Cliff was sixteen years old at present; in other words, he’d come of age a little more than a year ago. But no one had celebrated that milestone with him. Still, the young man did have his virtues. For all his boastful talk, he worked very hard to succeed, rather than leaning on his natural talents. There were some, at least, who noticed this and respected him for it. Cliff had come to the Ranoa University of Magic for a simple reason: he’d gotten mixed up in an ugly power struggle back home. Following the attempted assassination of a Blessed Child near the city of Millishion several years ago, an internal conflict within the Millis Church had grown increasingly intense and violent. Cliff’s grandfather, who happened to be the Pope, had shipped him off to the far side of the world for his own safety. Cliff remembered his grandfather’s parting words to him perfectly: “You have the potential to be a great man someday, Cliff. Don’t let yourself grow self-satisfied; know your flaws, and work to overcome them.” The young man knew that much was expected of him. And at the time, he found that reasonable enough. He was a prodigy, after all. Perhaps not as talented as the brilliant young swordswoman Eris, whom he’d seen defeat a group of trained assassins in the blink of an