The acrid smell of smoke and decay hung heavy in the air of Shadowhaven's Lower Ward.
Ethan Nightshade huddled in the narrow alley, his threadbare cloak pulled tight around his thin frame.
The perpetual twilight that shrouded Nocterra seemed even darker here, in the forgotten corners of the city where the destitute and powerless scraped out a meager existence.
Ethan's stomach growled, a painful reminder that he hadn't eaten in two days. He closed his eyes, focusing on the faint flicker of magical energy within him.
It was a pitiful amount, barely enough to light a candle, but it was all he had.
"Just one more trick," he muttered to himself.
"One more, and I can eat tonight."
With trembling hands, he reached into his pocket and pulled out three small pebbles. Concentrating hard, he managed to make them float an inch above his palm, spinning slowly in a circle.
It was a simple illusion, one that any child from a mage family could perform without breaking a sweat.
But for Ethan, an orphan with no formal training, it took every ounce of his concentration and depleted his meager mana reserves.He stumbled out of the alley onto a slightly busier street.
Here, laborers and low-level functionaries hurried about their business, eager to return to the relative safety of their homes before true night fell.
Ethan cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound stronger than he felt.
"Step right up! Witness true magic! Be amazed by the floating stones of destiny!"
A few passersby glanced his way, but most hurried past, avoiding eye contact. Ethan's heart sank. If he couldn't attract an audience, he wouldn't eat. And if he didn't eat soon...
Suddenly, a burly man in the uniform of a city guard shoved him roughly.
"No unlicensed magic, gutter rat! Clear off before I decide to drain what little mana you have left."
Ethan stumbled backward, his concentration breaking. The pebbles clattered to the ground.
"Please, sir," he began, but the guard's eyes glowed with malevolent purple energy.
"I said, clear off!"A bolt of pure magical force slammed into Ethan's chest, sending him flying back into the alley.
He hit the ground hard, the air driven from his lungs. Pain blossomed across his ribs, and he tasted blood in his mouth.
The guard's laughter echoed down the alley as Ethan struggled to his feet.
Tears of frustration and pain stung his eyes, but he blinked them away. Crying was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Crying meant weakness, and in Shadowhaven, weakness was a death sentence.As he limped deeper into the maze of back alleys that he called home, Ethan's mind raced. He needed to find a way out of this life, and soon.
At eighteen, he was approaching the age where even his meager magical abilities would start to fade if not properly trained and nourished. Once that happened, he'd be truly powerless – just another nameless corpse left to rot in the gutters of the Lower Ward.
Lost in his desperate thoughts, Ethan almost missed the conversation drifting from a nearby window.
He froze, pressing himself against the damp stone wall as he listened."...opportunity of a lifetime," a woman's voice said.
"The Academy is opening its doors to commoners for the first time in a century.
"Bah," a man replied. "It's a fool's errand. Those noble brats will eat any street rat alive. Probably literally, knowing how those dark mages operate.
"Perhaps, but think of the alternative. A chance, however small, to rise above our station. To grasp real power.
Ethan's heart raced. The Academy – the legendary institution where the most powerful mages in Nocterra were trained. It was said that a single graduate could level entire city blocks, drain the life force from hundreds with a gesture, or bend the very fabric of reality to their will.
He had to learn more.Carefully, Ethan crept closer to the window. Inside, he could make out two figures – a middle-aged woman in faded finery that spoke of better days long past, and a heavyset man whose callused hands marked him as a laborer.
"They're holding trials in the Central Square tomorrow at dawn," the woman continued.
"Any commoner between sixteen and twenty can compete for a single spot in the upcoming class."
"And how many do you think will die in these trials?" the man asked bitterly.
The woman shrugged. "Does it matter? Die in the gutter or die reaching for the stars – I know which I'd choose.
Ethan backed away from the window, his mind reeling.
This was it – the opportunity he'd been waiting for his entire life. A chance to escape the grinding poverty and constant danger of the Lower Ward.
A chance to become someone with real power.But the man's words echoed in his head. How dangerous would these trials be? And even if he somehow managed to secure the spot, what horrors awaited him at the Academy itself?
Ethan shook his head, banishing the doubts. He had no choice. It was try or die, and he wasn't ready to die just yet.
With newfound determination, he set off deeper into the warren of alleys. He needed to prepare, to squeeze every last drop of magical potential from his malnourished body before the trials. And for that, he needed a safe place to practice.
An hour later, Ethan stood before a crumbling building on the very edge of the Lower Ward. The abandoned library loomed above him, its once-grand facade now marred by scorch marks and overgrown with sickly vines.
Most people avoided this place, whispering about curses and angry spirits. But Ethan had discovered long ago that it was just another forgotten relic of a more enlightened time.He slipped inside through a gap in the boarded-up entrance, navigating the darkened halls with practiced ease.
Deep in the heart of the library, he had set up a small sanctuary – a hidden room where he could sleep without fear of being murdered for the clothes on his back.As he entered the room, Ethan frowned. Something felt... different.
The air seemed charged with an unfamiliar energy. His eyes darted around the space, taking in the piles of moldering books and broken furniture.There – a faint glow emanating from behind a toppled bookshelf.Cautiously, Ethan approached.
He pushed aside the rotting wood, revealing a section of wall he had never noticed before. A seam had appeared in the stone, pulsing with a soft, purple light.Ethan's hand trembled as he reached out to touch the wall. The moment his fingers made contact, the seam widened, stones grinding against each other as a hidden door swung open.
Beyond lay a small chamber, empty save for a pedestal in its center. And on that pedestal rested a book unlike any Ethan had ever seen.Its cover was made of some dark, scaled material that seemed to drink in what little light reached it.
Silver runes etched along its spine writhed and shifted as he watched, forming words in a language he didn't understand before dissolving again into meaningless patterns.
Every instinct screamed at Ethan to run, to flee from this unnatural thing. But a deeper part of him, the part that had kept him alive on the streets for so long, knew that this was important.
This book, whatever it was, could be the key to his survival.With a deep breath, Ethan stepped into the chamber.
The air grew heavy, pressing down on him as he approached the pedestal. His ears popped, and for a moment, he thought he heard whispers echoing from the walls – ancient voices speaking in forgotten tongues.
He reached for the book.The moment his fingers brushed its cover, a jolt of energy surged through him. Ethan gasped as foreign sensations flooded his mind. Glimpses of impossible vistas – cities built from shadows and dreams, oceans of liquid night, mountains that reached beyond the stars.
Knowledge poured into him, filling the empty spaces in his magical core with power he had never imagined.And then, as quickly as it began, the sensation faded.Ethan found himself on his knees, the book clutched tightly to his chest.
He was breathing heavily, his entire body tingling with residual energy. Slowly, reverently, he opened the cover.
"Codex of Forbidden Shadows," he read aloud, the words appearing and fading on the first page.
The text that followed was like nothing he had ever encountered in his limited magical education. Diagrams of spell structures far more complex than the simple charms he knew. Theories about the nature of magic itself that made his head spin.
And woven through it all, a sense of vast, untapped potential.Ethan knew, with unshakable certainty, that this book was meant for him. It had called to him, waited for him in this hidden chamber.
With its knowledge, he might stand a chance not just of entering the Academy, but of thriving there.
A smile spread across his face – the first genuine smile in longer than he could remember. For the first time in his life, Ethan felt a spark of real hope.He stood, cradling the book carefully.
There was much to learn, and dawn would come all too soon. But now, he had a weapon – a secret advantage that none of the other candidates could match.Let them come, he thought fiercely.
The pampered noble brats, the ruthless street rats, even the Academy masters themselves. With this book, he would show them all what true power looked like.Ethan left the hidden chamber, the door grinding shut behind him. In the darkness of the abandoned library, his eyes glowed with newfound purpose and determination.Tomorrow, everything would change. Tomorrow, he would take the first step on the path to real power.And may the shadows have mercy on anyone who stood in his way.