-Elara POV-
Click— clack—
Shutting the door behind me. I let out a long breath, the kind that leaves your chest hollow. Getting this job mattered more than I'd ever admit aloud.
After mother's death, everything unravelled. Our family name, once spoken with respect and envy, was now dragged through the mud. Father nearly died himself, his body never fully recovering, his pride even less so.
I clutched the stack of papers tighter. They kept my hands busy, kept them from trembling.
"Useless," I muttered under my breath, not about the papers, but about myself. If I'd only read the summons notice properly, maybe I wouldn't have had to scramble like this.
Father's been desperate to preserve what's left of our legacy, pushing me toward noble heirs with empty eyes and puffed-up titles. I refused everyone. I'd sooner marry the rain itself than a pompous fool who thinks I'm just a bargaining chip.
I begin walking down the long corridor toward the temporary quarters the Dean kindly offered me. The rain hasn't let up at all; in fact, it's come down even harder, with raindrops now hammering against the windows. Still, it gives me a small, comforting sense of calm.
The storm should have chilled me, but it didn't. I'd grown up with grey skies and cold stone halls. Mother used to laugh at Father's scolding when I turned down tutors or refused to play the noble's daughter. She'd smooth his temper with that soft smile of hers.
She's gone now.
And I know who to blame.
Veylithral. The Royal Family.
The name itself tastes like rust and ash in my mouth. Their arrogance has poisoned the empire, and their failures killed her.
Approaching my temporary quarters, I close my eyes and shake my head, reminding myself.
"One day, they'll pay."
I reached my quarters and gripped the handle until my knuckles ached. Inside, warmth greeted me — a medium-sized suite, somewhere between modern comfort and historical pride. The chimney's faint heat, a queen-sized bed, polished white drawers, and, at the far wall, two grand windows framing the sprawling academy. Courtyards, dormitories, lecture halls — a place of knowledge and ambition under a stormy sky.
******
Walking down the river was a young boy, his dark black hair matted with dirt, grease, and blood. His usually bright, blood-red eyes were now dim from the day's events.
His body shivered in the cold, damp night air. The leaves of the forest rustled in the wind, scattering water droplets onto the fallen leaves below.
He glanced at the now calm, steadily rolling river, starlight gleaming off the water and reflecting his own face—bloodied, cut, and bruised. His cheap wool shirt was tattered and riddled with holes, stained with blood and grime. His shorts felt like they weighed a ton from the mud clinging to them, and each step was like trudging up a steep, snowy mountain. His breath came ragged, raspy, and barely audible.
The boy's legs wavered, and he stumbled forward, bracing himself against a tree. He collapses at the root of the large tree, his body shaking, fingers numb and vision blurring.
It felt as though the world was losing its color, everything slowly fading to grey. The boy grew dizzy, as if he had been spinning for minutes on end.
His eyes, barely open, flicked to the left—!
The breath left his lungs. His body locked up, completely unable to move.
Crunch—crunch—
A dark figure, cloaked in shadow, calmly walked toward the paralyzed boy.
Thump—Thump. Thump—Thump
The boy's heart felt as if it would burst just from looking at the figure. The pressure it emanated made his pupils shrink and his body tremble in fear. He tried to look away but his body wouldn't listen, seized by a primal terror.
The rushing river and swaying leaves faded into silence. All that remained were the calm, deliberate steps of the figure as it drew closer.
Standing just a few feet away, it looked down at him—its expression and features masked by the darkness as it loomed over the boy.
The shadowy figure extended it's arm and spoke with a deep rasping voice.
"This is not where you die, Kaiser. You are meant to do much, much more."
A thread of violet shot out from the man's palm and drove straight into Kaiser's sternum. His chest arched violently as the thread pierced his core.
And he let out a cry of pure agony.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHH!"
Kaiser's cry made the nearby ravens shriek and caw, circling above the scene like an omen of death.
For Kaiser, it felt like an eternity—the searing agony of the thread binding itself to his recently formed core. With each passing second, the thread pumped more and more violet energy into him, flooding his body with unbearable torment.
After barely half a minute, Kaiser collapsed into unconsciousness, his body finally succumbing to the pain.
...
The figure exhaled softly, dematerializing the thread. He tilted his head back, gazing up through the canopy at the night sky.
"I do hope you're worth the cost"
******
GASP—
I woke with a sharp gasp that startled the ravens gathered all around me.
CAW— CAW— CAW—
They scattered into the air as I clutched my aching sternum.
What happened? Didn't I fall asleep against a tree?
A burning sensation pulsed through my chest, making me wince. I forced myself to ignore it and glanced around. The ground was littered with twigs and leaves, arranged in a strange circle where the ravens had been.
Weird.
Pushing myself to my feet, I looked down at my clothes. Tattered, filthy, caked in dried blood and mud. A sigh slipped from my lips as shudders of memory crawled back—the chase, the fear, the moment I made that man stop breathing.
I wanted to go back and tell Nurse Nella… but the thought of running into more of those men froze me in place.
I can only hope he's fine now. That he made it back to his family.
Ruuuumble—
My stomach growled, dragging me out of my thoughts as I looked around.
It was light out now. The ground and leaves glistened with morning damp, the river flowed lazily, and… there weren't any animals. Not a single chirp, rustle, or cry.
Nurse Nella once taught me a little about surviving outdoors. She never said why… maybe she knew this day would come?
'Ummmm, first things first... It was light? No, not light... I need... food.'
I scratched at my cheek and followed the river downstream. In my head, I pictured holding a branch shaped like a very sharp knife. Clenching my whole body, I forced that strange feeling inside me—the warmth, the ache—to move, pushing it from my core into my hand.
And then—
"Aah!"
I flinched as something began to take shape in my palm. Opening my eyes, I saw it—tiny sparks of violet and blue light, swirling, fusing, dancing together like fireflies. Nella had a name for them, didn't she?
'Uhhhh, particles? Yes, that was it!'
The particles condensed, becoming solid. In seconds, they twisted and hardened into wood. By the end of it, I was holding a knife, rough and real in my hands.
"Guhh! T-there it is..."
I groaned as a sharp tightness returned to my sternum, stealing my breath. Nella once said my core was large, but almost empty. That what I needed—Mana and Aether—would come with time, flowing into me naturally.
But it's been so long. And it still hurts like this…
My body trembled as I felt—no, smelled it in the air. That familiar, sweet tang of blueberry pie, drifting on the breeze. The scent that only appears when people or animals emanate mana. Something was nearby. And from the strength of the smell… it was close.
I crouched low, each step careful, slow, quiet. Nella once told me that animals let out their mana to search for nutrients, or as a warning to drive away rivals. But she also said it's dangerous—because stronger predators can follow that very same trail to hunt them down.
'Am I an animal?'
The thought slipped in uninvited. I shook my head hard, banishing it, but it clawed at the back of my mind. Nella always said no one else could smell mana like me. That I was special.
'Maybe I am an anim—'
Stop. Thinking.
Pushing through a prickly bush, I spotted it.
A moose—towering, enormous, an adult. Well over six feet tall, its massive hooves sank silently into the damp carpet of leaves. Its antlers stretched out like heavy, cylindrical beams, each branching into sharp forks. One antler was broken halfway, jagged and raw, while the other loomed whole and terrible, a crown of bone that radiated menace.
The pressure rolling off it was suffocating. My chest tightened. My body screamed to run. But I couldn't—I wouldn't—let it go.
Gulp.
I swallowed hard, trying not to make a sound. Then, suddenly, the air shifted. The moose stopped emanating its mana. It stood still, head raised, ears twitching. Searching. It had felt something—something larger.
Instinct took over. My hands shot to my face, pressing tight against my nose just as the stench hit me. The scent—blueberries, endless blueberries—flooded the world, drowning my senses in a wave so thick I thought I'd choke.
I felt my body shudder—my insides screaming, shaking, as if they wanted out of me.
And in the distance...
I saw it.