No Path Chosen
At Griven Academy, power is everything—and every student is expected to follow one of the Nine Ascension Paths: Swordhand, Cogmaster, Elementarch, Voice of the Throne, Pathseeker, Wavewalker, Greenwarden, Alchemy, or the elusive Aesharion.
But Leon Edalious was never interested in choosing.
A fireborn orphan with unmatched talent, Leon masters every subject without effort—except swordsmanship, which bores him. While his peers chase status and defined futures, Leon is growing disillusioned. The Nine Paths feel more like cages than callings.
One night, while wandering the sealed wing of the academy library, Leon uncovers something strange: a weathered, forgotten page covered in symbols from no known magical system. Not Alchemy. Not Elementarch. Not even the Forbidden Archives.
When even the professors can’t identify it—and urge him to stay silent—Leon knows he's found something the academy fears: the unknown.
For seven days, he locks himself away, deciphering the spell alone. Where reason fails, instinct and flame guide him. What he casts under starlight is no ordinary magic.
A pillar of white-gold fire erupts from his hands.
The air bends. Time blinks. The world feels thinner.
And something long buried awakens.
There were never just Nine Paths.
Now, the Tenth Path stirs—and Leon stands at the edge of it, alone.