Chapter 1 ：Embers Beneath the Ashes
The neon glow of the Magic Bazaar bled into the rain, scattering in iridescent blotches across the slick cobblestones. Kaid Morei huddled at the mouth of an alley, his fingertips nervously caressing the counterfeit magic flux device hidden beneath his cloak. Three years ago, he had been the brightest star of the Asgard Academy of Magic—now, stripped of his powers and cast out, he was nothing more than a vagrant. And all of it, he owed to his former mentor, now the Empire’s Grand Chancellor, Roderick Kaine.
“Stop right there! Possessor of forged magical apparatus!” The enforcer’s bellow tore through the curtain of rain. Kaid vaulted over a vendor’s stall, the device shattering in the chaos, just as he collided with a figure whose embrace felt all too familiar.
“Take this,” murmured Justin Hawk, pressing a scroll of parchment into Kaid’s palm. A veil of dust rose as earth magic surged forth, cloaking them from view. “Kaine’s secret dealings. It might be the key to clearing your name.”
Before Kaid could decipher the scrawled words—Contract Planet, Core Magic—the alley behind him was already glowing with the reflection of encroaching flames. He dashed blindly into the looming structure at the alley’s end, collapsing onto the frigid marble floor. As consciousness slipped from him, his blurred vision caught the faint glow of a gilded scroll gleaming behind glass.
“Who are you?” A cool, measured voice echoed near his ear. Kaid’s eyes fluttered open to find himself lying atop a velvet-covered stone platform. Before him stood a woman with silver-rimmed spectacles, her fingers gently tracing a celestial map etched upon the ancient scroll.
“Ilena Veld, Curator of the Imperial Museum,” she said, offering him a glass of warm water. “The scroll began to glow the moment you collapsed in the restricted chamber.”
As Kaid reached toward it, the ancient manuscript burst into flames—yet he felt no pain. A deep crimson light rose from the fire, spiraling around his fingers until it solidified into a ring etched with the sigil of ash. The moment it sealed, long-forgotten magic surged through him, warm and vital, flooding every fiber of his being. Meeting the astonished gaze of Ilena Veld, he realized—perhaps fate had granted him a second chance.
