The moment the final class ended, I didn't wait for the usual crowd to surge out of the room like a released tide. I was already on my feet, my bag slung over my shoulder, my mind racing through the thousand and one things I still had to do. The lecture on thaumaturgic field theory had been a dull, droning hum in the background of my own frantic calculations.
I needed to assemble a staff for the stall, yes—but that could wait. The chaos of the festival prep would provide ample cover for recruitment.
The auction, however?
That couldn't.
There were only a few precious hours left before I had to leave for the venue, and the item I was after… well, it had the power to tilt my entire future, to shift the very balance of power in this world. It was a linchpin, a fulcrum upon which my destiny rested.
