The cold stone of the Dark Magic Tower had been the only world Mordecai ever knew. Now, it was a tomb he had to escape.
He ran, his lungs burning with an icy fire. In his right hand, a jagged, pulsing darkness coiled around his fingers like a living shadow. He had touched it in the deepest cellar the "weird" thing the High Elders called the Primordial Hollow. It wasn't a spell. It was a hunger.
'If they catch me, they won't just kill me. They'll pull my soul apart to see how this thing is bonded to me.'
He didn't know where the exit was, only that the air was getting thinner and the screams of the Tower's guardians were getting louder behind him. He threw himself through a shimmering rift in the basement wall, a desperate gamble that led to a cliffside path.
The sunlight hit him for the first time in his life. It was blinding, agonizing, and beautiful. Mordecai stumbled, his legs giving out as the adrenaline crashed. The world spun into a blur of green and blue—colors he had only seen in forbidden books.
'I made it... out...'
The shadow in his hand pulsed one last time, and Mordecai's vision went black.
Mordecai flinched, his eyes snapping open. He wasn't on the dirt. He was on a bed with silk sheets so soft they felt like a trap. He tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his chest pinned him down.
Suddenly, a translucent blue pane of light flickered into existence right in front of his face. He swiped at it, thinking it was a hostile spell, but his hand passed right through.
[Character Profile]
[Name: Mordecai Thorne]
Class: Primordial Necromancer (Unique)
Skills: [Soul Extraction], [Corruptive Touch]
Passive Skills: [Abyssal Heart], [Mana Suppression]
Traits: [Tower-Born], [Fugitive of the Dark]
'What is this? An illusion? Some kind of high-tier tracking magic from the Elders?'
He stared at the words. "Primordial Necromancer." He knew what a Necromancer was—the Tower was full of them—but the rest was gibberish.
The door to the room creaked open. Mordecai's hand instinctively went to his waist for a dagger he no longer had.
A young woman walked in, carrying a tray of medicinal tea. She had silver hair that seemed to catch the morning sun and eyes that held a calm, effortless authority. She stopped, noticing he was awake.
"You're finally back with us," she said, setting the tray on a side table. "I found you collapsed near the border of my family's estate. You're lucky the mountain beasts didn't get to you first."
Mordecai watched her every move. "Where am I?"
"You are in the guest wing of the Solari Manor," she replied, her voice smooth. "I am Elara Solari. My father is the Duke. Who are you? You don't look like a traveler from around here."
'Solari. One of the Three Great Duke families. If she finds out I'm from the Tower, I'm dead.'
"I... I'm just a student. A scholar who got lost," he said, the lie tasting like copper in his mouth.
Elara tilted her head, looking at his pale skin and the dark veins near his wrists. She didn't seem convinced, but she didn't call the guards either. Instead, she pointed to the window where a massive white spire rose in the distance.
"If you're a scholar, then you're just in time. The Royal Academy of Aetherius starts their entrance examinations today. I was about to head there myself."
Mordecai looked at the screen floating in his peripheral vision, then at the girl. If he stayed here, the Tower would find him. If he went to the Academy, he could disappear into the crowd of a thousand students.
"I'm going too," he said, forcing himself to stand.
Elara smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Then we should hurry. The carriage is waiting."