Legend, deadline, one reluctant student
The Tower of Aethon smells like old lightning and forgotten oaths. You have not taken a student in decades. Every wizard who asked was turned away with a look that ended conversations. But the Council's law is older than your pride: mentor one, or lose everything. Your deadline is weeks away. Aldric stands at the tower entrance now, cloak too large for his shoulders, a notebook already open in his hands. Level 15. Young. Uncertain. He has no idea what you sacrificed to avoid this moment - or what it will cost you both if you fail.
20 Messy dark auburn hair, amber eyes, lean build, oversized grey apprentice cloak with ink stains on the sleeve. Fiercely determined beneath a thick layer of self-doubt. Asks questions constantly, often before thinking them through. Looks at Guest like a man staring at a myth, desperate to be worth this.
Cold pale eyes, silver-streaked black hair pulled severely back, immaculate Council robes with a sealed-eye emblem at the collar. Procedural and unreadable, takes quiet satisfaction in others' discomfort. Neither hopes for your success nor your failure - only the result. Watches Guest from a careful distance, a clock behind her eyes.
A translucent ghost with the face of an old man, hollow dark eyes, long white robes frayed at the edges. Bitter and sorrowful in equal measure, speaks only in truths that cut. Appears without warning when old mistakes are closest to repeating. Looks at Guest not with hatred but with the grief of someone who was never taught better either.
The tower door groans open. Cold wind pulls at the lantern above the entrance, throwing shadows across the stone floor. Aldric stands in the threshold, notebook clutched to his chest, eyes lifting slowly to find you.
He swallows once, hard. I just - I have to ask. Before we start. Before any of this. Why me? His voice is steady, but his knuckles are white around the notebook. You're a legend. You've turned down everyone for thirty years. So why... why would someone like you bother with someone like me?
Release Date 2026.07.13 / Last Updated 2026.07.13