Three days passed in a fog of awkward silence and whispered conversations.
Wei Chen spent most of that time in his family's workshop, watching his father work the potter's wheel. Chen Bo didn't ask questions. Didn't offer advice. Just worked, shaping clay into bowls and cups and plates with the steady rhythm of decades of practice.
Wei Chen found it calming. The repetition. The focus. The way something formless became something useful through patience and pressure.
Magic, he suspected, would not be so straightforward.
Dawn came cold and gray.
Wei Chen dressed in the dark, pulling on his simplest clothes—a plain tunic and trousers, both brown and worn. His mother had left bread and dried fruit on the table, but his stomach was too tight to eat.
First lesson. At the temple. With Elder Shen.
And, presumably, with the other children who'd shown magical affinity.
Wei Chen stepped outside. The street was still deserted, but he'd grown used to that. The invisible boundary hadn't moved. If anything, it had solidified.
He walked through the empty morning, breath misting in the chill air, and made his way toward the temple.
The Temple of Elements sat at the town's center, built from gray stone that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. At this hour, the building looked more like a tomb than a place of learning.
Wei Chen climbed the steps and pushed open the heavy wooden doors.
Inside, the temple was different from the ceremony three days ago. The ceremonial decorations were gone. The rows of seating had been cleared. Now the main hall was just an open space with a high ceiling and cold stone floors.
Eight children stood in a loose cluster near the center. Wei Chen recognized most of them from the ceremony.
Two boys with Water affinity. One girl with Earth. Another girl with Water. A boy with Fire—rare for the Western Lands. And Yun Hao, standing slightly apart from the others, hands clasped behind his back like a young nobleman.
They all turned when Wei Chen entered.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
"You're late," Elder Shen's voice echoed from the far end of the hall. The old mage stood beside a stone brazier, hands folded into his sleeves. "The sun has risen. Dawn has passed."
Wei Chen bowed. "Apologies, Elder. I—"
"Excuses are irrelevant. Punctuality is discipline. Discipline is survival. Remember that."
"Yes, Elder."
Elder Shen gestured. "Stand with the others."
Wei Chen crossed the hall. The other children shifted as he approached, creating space. Not hostile, exactly. Just... cautious.
Like he was a wild animal that might bite.
Yun Hao met his eyes briefly. Nodded once. A small acknowledgment, but not friendly.
Wei Chen took his place at the edge of the group and waited.
Elder Shen stepped forward, his staff tapping against the stone with each measured step.
"You are here because you possess magic. Intermediate or beginner level, it does not matter. What matters is that you have been given a gift that ninety percent of humanity will never experience."
His gaze swept across them, sharp and assessing.
"Magic is power. But power without control is simply destruction. You will learn control. You will learn discipline. You will learn to harness what you have been given, or you will be removed from this program and forbidden from practicing magic unsupervised."
One of the Water affinity boys raised his hand. "Elder, what happens if we're removed?"
"You live as a civilian. Magic unused atrophies. Within a few years, it will fade entirely, leaving you as ordinary as any peasant." Elder Shen's expression didn't change. "Some consider that a mercy."
The boy lowered his hand.
"Magic," Elder Shen continued, "is the manipulation of elemental energy. Each element has a nature. Water flows. Fire burns. Earth endures. Air moves. Light purifies. Darkness conceals."
His eyes settled on Wei Chen for just a moment.
"To use magic, you must first understand its nature. Then you must learn to feel it. Not with your hands. Not with your eyes. But with the part of you that exists between mind and body. Your core."
Elder Shen gestured to the brazier beside him. With a flick of his wrist, water rose from a basin Wei Chen hadn't noticed, forming a perfect sphere in the air.
The water hung there, suspended, rotating slowly. Then it froze into ice. Then melted back to liquid. Then evaporated into mist.
"Control," Elder Shen said. "Precision. Intent. These are the foundations."
The water collapsed back into the basin with a soft splash.
"Now. Each of you will attempt to manipulate your element. Do not expect success. Most of you will fail today. That is acceptable. Failure teaches patience."
Elder Shen directed them to different parts of the hall. The Water mages to the basin. The Earth mage to a pile of sand. The Fire mage to an unlit torch.
And Wei Chen... to a shadowed corner.
"Darkness is unique," Elder Shen said quietly, standing beside him. "It does not create. It does not destroy. It manipulates what already exists. Shadows. Absence of light. Fear."
Wei Chen looked at the corner. It was dim, yes, but not particularly dark. Morning light filtered through high windows, washing out most of the shadows.
"Your task," Elder Shen said, "is simple. Extend the shadow. Make it grow. Not through physical means. Through will."
"How?"
"That is for you to discover. Magic is personal. What works for one mage may not work for another." Elder Shen turned to leave, then paused. "One warning. Darkness responds to emotion. Fear, anger, desperation—these feelings will amplify your magic. But they will also make it unpredictable. Dangerous."
He walked away, leaving Wei Chen alone in the corner.
Wei Chen stared at the shadow. It was a small thing, cast by a stone column, stretching maybe two feet across the floor.
Extend it. Make it grow.
He reached for the magic inside him. That cold presence. It responded immediately, eager, like it had been waiting.
He pulled gently, directing it toward his hand. The sensation was strange—cold fire flowing through his veins, weightless but present. When it reached his fingertips, he pushed it outward, toward the shadow.
The shadow twitched.
Wei Chen focused. Pushed harder. The magic resisted for a moment, then surged forward.
The shadow exploded.
Darkness flooded the corner, spreading like spilled ink. It climbed the walls. Swallowed the column. Reached toward the ceiling with grasping tendrils that twisted and writhed like living things.
Wei Chen gasped and pulled back, but the magic didn't stop. It kept pouring out, cold and hungry and wrong.
Across the hall, someone screamed.
The Earth mage girl stumbled backward, staring at the darkness with wide, terrified eyes. One of the Water boys dropped his basin, water splashing across the floor.
Even Yun Hao had gone pale, hand raised defensively.
Elder Shen moved.
The old mage's staff slammed into the ground, and a pulse of something rippled through the air. The shadows recoiled, hissing like steam on hot metal, and collapsed back into the corner.
Wei Chen's knees buckled. He caught himself against the wall, breathing hard, hands shaking.
The hall was silent.
Elder Shen stood in the center, expression unreadable. "Wei Chen. Step forward."
Wei Chen forced his legs to move. He walked to the center of the hall, acutely aware of every pair of eyes on him.
"What happened?" Elder Shen asked.
"I... I tried to extend the shadow. Like you said. But it—" Wei Chen stopped. His throat was dry. "It didn't stop."
"Why not?"
"I don't know."
Elder Shen studied him for a long moment. "You panicked. Lost focus. The magic responded to your fear and amplified. This is why control is essential."
He turned to address the other children. "What you just witnessed is what happens when a mage loses discipline. Magic is a tool. Tools do not think. They do not care. If you fail to control them, they will act on instinct and emotion."
His gaze returned to Wei Chen. "Again."
Wei Chen blinked. "What?"
"Return to the corner. Try again."
Wei Chen wanted to argue. Wanted to say he was too tired, too shaken, that he needed rest.
But Elder Shen's expression left no room for negotiation.
He walked back to the corner. The shadow was normal now, small and harmless.
Control. Precision. Intent.
Wei Chen closed his eyes. Took a breath. Reached for the magic again.
It was still there. Still eager. But this time, he held it tighter. Shaped it. Directed it with deliberate intent instead of desperate hope.
The shadow grew. Slowly. Steadily. It spread across the floor, darkening by degrees, until it had doubled in size.
Then Wei Chen let go. The magic retreated. The shadow returned to normal.
He opened his eyes. His hands were still shaking, but less violently.
Elder Shen nodded once. "Better. Dismissed."
The lesson ended shortly after. The other children filed out quickly, most of them avoiding Wei Chen entirely.
Yun Hao lingered near the door, looking like he wanted to say something. But whatever it was, he decided against it. He left without a word.
Wei Chen stayed behind, sitting on the cold stone floor, waiting for his hands to stop shaking.
Elder Shen approached, staff tapping softly. "You are afraid."
Wei Chen didn't bother denying it. "Yes."
"Good. Fear is healthy. It keeps mages cautious." The old man sat down beside him, which was surprising. Elder Shen didn't strike Wei Chen as someone who sat on floors. "But fear cannot control you. If it does, your magic will consume you."
"Is that what almost happened?"
"Yes."
Wei Chen looked at his hands. "I didn't mean to scare them."
"Intent is irrelevant. Results are what matter." Elder Shen stood, brushing dust from his robes. "You will return in three days. Practice control. Small shadows. Nothing large. Nothing aggressive. Understood?"
"Yes, Elder."
"Good. Go home."
Wei Chen walked back through the empty streets, exhaustion weighing on him like a physical thing.
The magic had drained something from him. Not just energy, but something deeper. He felt hollow. Cold.
When he reached home, his mother was waiting at the door. She pulled him inside without a word and sat him down at the table.
"What happened?" she asked.
Wei Chen told her. The lesson. The loss of control. The fear in the other children's eyes.
His mother listened in silence. When he finished, she reached across the table and took his hand.
"This is going to be hard," she said quietly. "Harder than we thought. People are going to fear you. Misunderstand you. Avoid you."
"I know."
"But you're my son. And you're strong. Stronger than you realize." She squeezed his hand. "We'll figure this out. Together."
Wei Chen nodded. But as he sat there, feeling the residual cold of the magic still coiled inside him, he wondered if strength would be enough.
Or if he'd need something else.
Something darker.