Chapter 1: Arrival

Vivienne Desai stood at the railing of the sailboat Aurora, her gaze fixed on the distant, flat peak of Transcend Mount. The mighty Volsung Academy, a massive edifice of gray stone and towers, stood high above the Ocean of Storms against a robin egg’s blue sky. Tears almost came to her eyes at the sight, knowing she was so close to the end of her long journey. Ever since receiving the positive results of her metaphysical tests, it was a sight she had only dreamed of.

She was too distracted to hear the footsteps clomping on the deck behind her. She jumped, her twin sister’s sharp voice breaking her reverie.

“My dear Vivienne,” Vera said, her tone dripping with superiority. “Why are you smiling? Could you possibly be dreaming of the fiction that you’ll be accepted? This is the Volsung Academy. It requires at least a modicum of talent, not a whit of which you possess.”

Vivienne felt her face flush as she saw the two fresh-faced boys accompanying her sister smirk as if this were a great joke. Her humiliation heightened when she realized everyone in the vicinity was watching for her reaction.

A spark of anger surged through her as she glared at Vera. She clenched her fists.

“I will be accepted. And not even you can stop me!”

Her sister’s expression turned dangerous, and before Vivienne could react, Vera’s hands glowed purple as a vicious smile spread across her face.

Vivienne was pushed toward the railing, almost hard enough to topple overboard into the roiling sea below.

Vivienne let out a shaky breath, hardly able to believe even her evil twin would go so far.

Once she’d regained control, she whipped around, throwing her black hair out of her eyes.

“Vera! You’re not supposed to use magic!”

The mischievousness was wiped from Vera’s face as she leaned forward and hissed in a low, threatening voice. “You’re going to rat me out? After Father went through so much expense to send us here?”

Vivienne ground her teeth, desperate to keep her anger in check. It was rare enough to have one mage in the family, and to have to compete with the likes of her sister Vera was the cruelest of jokes. Her father had been so proud that both of his girls had the potential for magic. It would be a disaster if Vivienne did anything to ruin that.

Before Vivienne could respond, a deep voice resonated from behind.

“Is there a problem here, recruits?”

Vivienne looked up to see a tall, handsome man in gray robes, with sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes. His green sash identified him as a member of the Green Talents—the Radiants—adept at the use of light magic. He watched impassively as the twins exchanged glances.

Vera spoke up first, her voice falsely meek. “I was merely having a conversation with my sister, Talent Sebastian.”

Talent Sebastian shifted his gaze to Vivienne, awaiting her response. She could feel her sister’s smirk burning into her face. She knew this was her moment to stand up for herself.

But she couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth. Not on the first day, and not like this.

“Nothing is wrong, Talent Sebastian,” Vivienne finally said.

Then, she smiled to herself as she remembered why she was on this ship in the first place: she was on her way to Volsung Academy to study magic.

And despite Vera’s taunts, the Testers had told her she had the gift. True, her powers hadn’t emerged yet, unlike her sister.

But no one could take her opportunity away—not even Vera.

She hurried to the bow, which was already crowded with other recruits, their eyes wide with anticipation. Vera followed behind, but Vivienne kept her distance. The smell of the salty sea air was invigorating and made Vivienne’s smile widen.

“I can’t believe it!” a young man beside her said in a thick Archean accent.

Like Vivienne, he was in awe of the Volsung Academy looming above them—the most prestigious Mage Academy in the League of Worlds, founded by Sorcerer-Ascendant Arian himself.

As Aurora creaked toward its destination, Vivienne imagined all the possibilities that awaited her in the coming months. Soon, she would learn the secrets of magic from the greatest instructors in all the Worlds, finally proving her worth as a mage.

The boat neared the island’s rocky beach, where a dozen gray-robed Talents stood somberly before them. Vivienne scanned their regal figures, admiring their brightly colored sashes that denoted their chosen Aspects. The colors of all Seven Aspects of Magic were represented here: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, and Gray. Red for Thermalism, the control of heat and cold. Orange for Atomicism, mastery of elemental magic. Yellow for Dynamism, the magic of electromagnetism. Green for Radiance, the control of light in its many forms. Blue for Binding, the mastery of the forces that held matter itself together. Violet for Psionics, the control of kinetic energy and the magic of the mind. And finally, gray for Gravitonics, the mastery of gravity itself.

She felt movement beside her, and a moment later, Talent Sebastian performed a gravity-defying leap onto the prow of the boat. The recruits gasped at the sudden move, which appeared impossible on the surface. Vivienne realized he must have used Gravitonic Magic. The thought that she might do such a thing someday filled her with an unspeakable thrill.

Perhaps, with enough training, it was even possible to fly.

Every pair of eyes focused on Sebastian, his gray Talent’s robes billowing in the breeze. Vivienne cast a quick glance behind her, where she knew her twin lurked. She could always sense her presence, like a black hole absorbing light. Vera paid Vivienne no attention, her dark eyes intently watching Sebastian, as if envious of the power he held.

“Welcome to Transcend Mount,” Talent Sebastian said. “If you are accepted for training, this will be the most important day of your life. Within hours, you will know if you have what it takes to be a mage at the Volsung Academy. Mark my words, at least half of you stepping off this ship will get right back on to head back to Karendas.”

The weight of his words seemed to affect the recruits deeply. Vivienne tried to force herself to calm down. She hadn’t emerged yet, but surely, she couldn’t be the only one here. Could she?

“That’s all,” Sebastian said. “For now, be silent and speak only when spoken to. For you are being judged, and not just on your magical abilities.”

Sebastian raised his hand, summoning a powerful stream of blue magic that connected the prow of the ship to the shoreline. The blue line pulsated, pulling the Aurora forward. With a loud thud, the boat slipped firmly onshore, jolting the recruits out of their trance. Vivienne immediately identified the blue line as a Binding tether, a basic stream of the Binding Aspect.

The recruits formed a line to descend the ladder on the boat’s side. Carefully, they navigated their way down the slippery ladder one by one, Vera following close behind Vivienne. As Vivienne prepared to descend, she felt a chill as Vera’s gaze met hers. Her twin gave a sharp smile, one that told Vivienne she would do everything to make her slip and fall.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Think of what?” Vera asked, feigning innocence.

Vivienne clenched her teeth and double-checked her grip before continuing down. To her relief, Vera tried nothing. Likely, making Vivienne think she was going to do something had been Vera’s intent all along.

When all the recruits reached the bottom, they joined the rest of the Talents and continued forward, with Sebastian in the lead. The rocky terrain was unforgiving, and the weight of Vivienne’s pack seemed to double with every meter they climbed. She had spent nearly three months on that passenger liner, and the rotation ring where the cabins were located had only one-third Earth-gravity, the standard of interstellar travel.

Despite this, Vivienne pushed on, treating this as her first test. From the heavy breaths around her, she wasn’t the only one struggling. She snuck a glance at her sister and was gratified to see a bead of sweat coursing down her face.

Soon enough, they stood before the mighty edifice of the Volsung Academy. The magnificent stone structure occupied the entire northern half of the island, its soaring towers and battlements rising high from its wide base of pillared arcades and narrow windows. From its shape, Vivienne knew it had been carved from the very mountain itself. A central tower rose higher than the rest, overlooking the vast sea that surrounded the rocky island serving as the Academy’s campus.

From top to bottom, it was three stories of solid, monolithic stone. Though its appearance was austerely beautiful, Vivienne also felt it was ancient. It was rumored that the Volsung Academy hadn’t been built by human hands, but by the Ancients, the long-extinct alien race over a million years gone. Humans had merely excavated it. Standing before it now, the scale seemed wrong, as if it had been built for giants rather than people.

Whatever the case, this would be her home—perhaps even for the rest of her life. Her resolve firmed as she recommitted to doing everything she could to be admitted.

She felt her sister lean over to her while Talent Sebastian was distracted. “Take a good look, sister. It might be the last time you ever see so pretty a sight.”

Vivienne bit back the response that wanted to come to her lips as Talent Sebastian walked by in front of them. Of course, he hadn’t heard Vera’s barb.

Vera was right, though. It was a pretty sight, seeming more like a castle in a fantasy holo than an educational institution.

Talent Sebastian stood in front of them, surveying the recruits like a drillmaster inspecting a new crop of soldiers. And like a drillmaster, he didn’t seem altogether pleased with what he saw.

Vivienne took a deep breath as he nodded toward the massive, arched entrance of the Academy. Her heart raced as she peered through the widely opened bronze doors.

The head of the line began marching toward the well-lit entrance, and Vivienne noticed dozens of robed mages in the ornate arcades above. Many were pointing and looking at them with curiosity as they crossed the wide lawn. Despite the Academy’s cold appearance, it was buzzing with life and anticipation.

Vivienne took another deep breath as she stepped through the entrance into a vast, circular hall, supported by high stone columns and lit by a large central brazier. She felt her heart race as she lined up with the others about ten meters from the fire.

All that was left was to await the Masters of the Academy.

Go to Chapter 2