Two years later, Clayhaven still stank.
Smoke from the furnaces rolled down from the upper districts every morning, settling into the slums like a gray tide. The air shimmered faintly with mana residue — the waste product of spells cast carelessly by the wealthy above.
Kai stood at the edge of the scrapyard cliffs, his hands resting in his coat pockets, watching the river of trash glint below like dull silver.
He'd grown taller — lean but strong, with a wiry frame built from work rather than training. The boyish roundness had left his face, replaced by sharper lines and quiet focus. His hair remained a dark, messy halo, and his eyes — brown flecked with gold — missed nothing.
A patch of hardened earth clung to his forearms like gauntlets, the surface rippled with faint runes. He flexed, and they crumbled into dust. Another trick refined.
Two years, he thought. Still not enough.
His Veins glowed faintly beneath the skin of his wrist — dull gold, pulsing in a slow rhythm. Only three visible lines. Enough to shape stone, but not enough to be noticed by the world.
"Hey, rockhead!"
Kai turned just in time to see Rell vault over a rusted pipe, landing in a crouch beside him. The smaller boy's grin was wickedly bright against his soot-streaked face.
Rell was everything Kai wasn't — loud, fast, impossible to ignore. His crimson hair, cut short on one side and long on the other, glowed faintly when he was excited, the sign of a Fire Vein simmering beneath his skin. His eyes burned amber when he smiled, which was almost always.
Behind him, angry shouts echoed from the alleys.
"Rell Vance! Stop thief!"
Kai sighed. "Again?"
Rell shrugged innocently, flipping a small pouch in one hand. "They overcharged me for bread. I'm just… recalibrating the market."
The smell of scorched fabric followed him — either the bakery's fault or his.
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "You could at least pretend to steal from someone dangerous for once."
"Oh, I have standards." Rell flashed him a grin. "Never rob the poor, never rob kids, and never get caught. Two outta three's not bad."
He tossed the pouch to Kai. "Split?"
Kai opened it — half a loaf of bread, still warm. "You realize this is your third 'market recalibration' this week?"
"See? I'm consistent."
Kai broke the loaf in two and handed a piece back. "You're impossible."
"And you're predictable," Rell said around a mouthful. "But that's what I like about you."
Clayhaven, the City of Dust
They sat on the ledge overlooking Clayhaven. From here, the whole city stretched below like a scar carved into the valley floor.
The Upper Ring glimmered on the cliffs — home to merchants and lesser nobles, where mana lights burned white and clean. The Middle City was an endless sprawl of forges, mills, and guild houses. And below it all, sunken in its own shadow, lay the Slums of Dust — where those born with weak Veins survived by grit and hunger.
The streets below moved like veins themselves — streams of people carrying goods, dreams, and exhaustion.
Rell flicked a pebble over the edge. "You ever think about leaving?"
"Every day," Kai said.
"Where would you go?"
He looked toward the horizon, where the sun bled gold against the mountain peaks. "Aetherion. The Academy."
Rell snorted. "The shiny school for nobles and hero-wannabes?"
"That one."
"You're serious."
"I am."
Rell leaned back, smirking. "You do realize they don't let mudborns in, right? You'd have to be a miracle."
Kai smiled faintly. "Or smarter than everyone else."
Rell laughed. "Yeah, that's what scares me."
—
Clayhaven's markets were noisy that afternoon — shouts, laughter, and the occasional spark of mana as apprentices showed off minor spells for coin.
They wandered through the crowd, eyes sharp for trouble or opportunity. It was the same dance every day — Rell's fast hands and Kai's quiet vigilance keeping them alive.
Everywhere they looked, the Veins glowed.
When a man lifted crates, his arms flared gold — Earth Vein.
When a healer touched a fevered child, blue light rippled along her wrists — Water Vein.
A courier leapt across rooftops, his legs leaving streaks of green light — Wind Vein.
And near a forge, a blacksmith hammered red-hot metal with crimson fire veins blazing under his skin — Fire Vein.
The stronger a mage, the more veins lit across their body. A single glowing line marked an initiate. Five meant mastery. Ten — legendary.
Rell nudged him. "You ever think about how weird that is? All of us literally glowing from the inside out."
Kai shrugged. "It's not weird. It's just… energy visible."
"Yeah, but why the colors?"
"Elemental frequencies," Kai said absently. "The mana in your blood resonates differently based on density. Earth absorbs light, Fire emits, Water refracts, Wind refracts and disperses. So, technically, it's not color — it's behavior."
Rell blinked. "You really don't do small talk, huh?"
Kai smiled slightly. "Not when I can do accurate talk."
Rell grinned. "One day, you're gonna overthink yourself into godhood."
The Trick with the Earth
Later, in an empty courtyard, Rell tossed Kai a copper coin. "Show me again."
Kai caught it, knelt, and placed it on the ground. The dirt shifted, rippling outward in concentric rings. The coin sank an inch, then rose again — now coated in a thin layer of hardened stone, edges sharp as a blade.
He tossed it back. "Weaponized coin. Heavy enough to cut leather, light enough to throw."
Rell flipped it admiringly. "You're terrifying, you know that? No fire, no flash — just math and mud."
Kai shrugged. "That's the point. They expect explosions. They never expect the ground to move under them."
Rell grinned. "I'm stealing that line for my autobiography."
"Which would be?"
"'Flames, Fame, and the Idiot Who Followed an Earth Mage.'"
Kai laughed softly. "Catchy."
—
That evening, they returned to the old watchtower where they sometimes slept — a half-collapsed ruin overlooking the city. From its roof, they could see the faint glow of the distant Aetherion Spire, rising like a needle into the sky.
Kai had scavenged an old map months ago — torn, but still legible. He spread it across the floor, tracing lines with a stick of charcoal.
"Four continents," he murmured. "Each tied to a Vein. The Ignis Dominion to the south — Fire. The Aqua Federation to the east — Water. The Zephyr League to the west — Wind. And here — the Terra Dominion."
Rell looked skeptical. "And people actually stay in their corners?"
"Mostly. Mana flows best when the elements balance. The Four Dominions form a circle around the Great Rift — that's the heart of the world, where the Veins meet. But…" He frowned. "Lately, the Earth lines have been flickering. The ley conduits below Clayhaven are unstable."
Rell raised a brow. "You can feel that?"
Kai nodded. "Every time the ground hums off-rhythm, I can tell. The pulse slows. It's like the mountain's heartbeat is tired."
Rell blinked. "That's either poetic or terrifying. Maybe both."
—
When night fell, the slums dimmed to silence — only distant sparks of mana lit the fog. Rell dozed by the wall, a loaf of bread half-eaten beside him.
Kai sat awake, staring toward the mountain where Aetherion glimmered faintly.
He'd been saving every coin, every scrap of credit. Tuition for commoners was fifty silvers — a fortune. But there were other ways in. The Entrance Trials.
He'd read about them. Every two years, the academy opened its gates to anyone under twenty who could pass three tests: control, survival, and exchange. A test of the Veins themselves.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the faint warmth of his amber veins glow beneath the skin.
Rell stirred beside him. "Still awake?"
"Yeah."
"Thinking again?"
Kai smiled faintly. "Always."
Rell sat up, rubbing his eyes. "If you're really going to that academy, I'm coming too."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "You hate studying."
"I like explosions."
"That's… not the same thing."
"It will be when I'm done," Rell said, grinning. "Fire and dirt — unstoppable combo."
Kai laughed quietly. "You're insane."
Rell leaned back. "You love it."
"Unfortunately."
They sat in silence, the hum of the mountain filling the quiet.
Above them, the stars were faint behind the haze — but one shone directly above Aetherion, bright and steady.
Kai looked at it, eyes reflecting gold in the dark.
Soon, he thought. We'll climb out of the mud. And they'll remember the name they laughed at.