Prologue

My form floats in the air, light as a feather. Discomfort nags at my senses.

Just moments ago, I crouched amongst the wreckage of my crumbling home.

There had been endless screams ricocheting through my skull, and in a futile attempt to dull the noise, I pressed one hand to my ear, but all it did was smear blood everywhere.

With my other hand, I cradled my child, his tiny puckered lips the source of the clamor. The hand that rocked him moved on its own as if by instinct.

I cannot recall if I was rocking him, shivering from the cold, or foolishly moving to prove that I still had fight in me, that I would live...

Just before, I had dared to look back. My lover’s insides lay sprawled on the ground, red on white, blindingly stark. I may have vomited there, maybe on myself.

The acidic stench of sulfur and vomit was unbearably nauseating, making my eyes water and my senses dull. Tears rushed up again, burning as they spilled over my skin.

Moments before, the shards had pierced my chest. But I couldn’t lie still. His tiny limbs were now soaked with my blood, his suffocating screams piercing my soul.

I close my eyes as exhaustion consumes me. His voice gradually drifts away, and then it turns eerily quiet. A soft nudge at my shoulder signals that I should move forward.

I resist, delaying the inevitable for as long as I can. I don’t know how long I remain there, motionless.

When I finally open my eyes, my surroundings have changed, and my hands are bare. No longer in my wrecked home, I drift in an unfamiliar terrain.

My form floats in the air, light as a feather. A discomfort nags at my senses. Endless trees surround me, shrouded in fog. A single, blinding ray of light pierces the darkness.

The apparitions around me urge me toward the river Lythe. Their voices slither through the night, merging into one: “Leave the mortal realm behind,” they whisper. “Drink from the river.”

“No.” The sound that escapes my throat feels foreign, detached. The pain is too raw, carving at my insides. “Not yet, please,” I beg. I pray. Perhaps, for once in my short, miserable life, someone, or something, will heed my call.

To my utter surprise, they do.

Squinting against the blaring light, my surroundings shift once more.

-

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, can you all just shut up?” Saying that Ran De Ophelia woke up on the wrong side of the bed would be incorrect; he never slept.

It is said that Hyacinth City never sleeps, and perhaps to no one does this statement ring true, as much as it does for Ran. Young Miss Asma, the Ophelia manor maid sneaks out of the estate every night at midnight like clockwork. She does not venture far, however, for just behind the gate her young lover seeks her out with flowers and promises of a future that does not involve serving snobs.

Further beyond the gates, the farmers tending the Ophelia gardens, get a head start on their work, plowing the fields, or gathering by the trees with jugs of wine and snide remarks about their masters. Their laughter carried on the wind under a bright full moon.

They eventually tire and return to their cottages, a time during which Ran is allowed respite for an hour at most. Respite before the city beyond the walls awakes. Merchants setting up their stalls in the bazaar, travelers docking by the shore, Auntie Halima and her ever-shrill screech beckoning Nahro out of bed, "Set up the wagon, boy," she yells. "Light up the fire, bring forth the dough, spread the thyme," order, upon order, as Nahro drags his feet and responds with a yawn.

  The farmers' children get an early start too, each with a different set of responsibilities. Little Jiujiu runs around the street with the latest gazettes, "Get Hyacinth Spills for 2 copper coins," he shouts wagging his arm as he flaunts the heavy papers, "News of Prince Anu of Scorpia's betrothment, Reesan soldiers captured at the border, Investigating missing Hyacinth boys," his voice carries through the streets, "Get your news for 2 coins only!"

Soundwaves from somewhere up close, rouse Ran from his city stupor, a boy scratching at something making a noise that gets the hairs on Ran's hands standing. "Butterflies, make them go away," he screams sobbing. Ran tosses and turns, bringing his hands to his ears, and finally getting up. Sigh, he's not ready to start the first day of the semester.

Cursed with the gift of spectacular hearing, Ran never truly slept unless through a medically induced knockout. Which is almost every day, however, for the last month Nana had decided that he should learn how to tune and filter the sounds, cutting off his supply. Since then, the sound frequencies have jumbled together like static turning his brain into a foggy mush soup.

He wondered how anyone expected him to show signs of intelligence when he had to deal with constant overstimulation of his sensory receptors. It was already lucky he hadn’t severely damaged his head from banging it into the wall to make the noises stop.

  A thought he’d dwell on if he weren’t already late for the academy. He jumped up, detangling his bed head, then picked out the black school uniform, and sprinted to the transportation portal.

He made it just in time to see the rest of the kids already lined up in rows and columns in the courtyard, while the chief principal, Mostafa AzVard, headed the assembled students with his best authoritarian expression.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ran sagged his shoulders. The consequences of tardiness, he could deal with. At least on school premises, the magic arrays heavily muffled his abilities, which were honestly his only concern.

“Late as usual, take your place with the rest of the slackers,” Principal Az scolded, turning around to continue the morning announcements.

“Good morning to you too, sir,” Ran huffed.

“Silence, Ophelia,” AzVard snarled, but before he could turn around to discipline the students who had started to chat amongst themselves, Ran countered, “I do admit, I miss you too, sir." The professor raised his finger threateningly, about to give Ran an earful.

Squinting his eyes to block his face from the sun, Ran was ready to cut his losses short and appease the principal when he noticed a rippling from the portal. He chuckled lightly to himself; with AzVard’s temper, whoever is arriving now is gonna get the worst of it.

Surprisingly, the unlucky face that shimmered through the portal was that of his twin sister.

The tardy students were lined against the courtyard wall, hands behind their backs. "Five points docked from every one of you," AzVard spit out each word, puffing his chest. He looked like a puffer fish, his belly bulging underneath his robes. AzVard's shifty eyes landed on Eva, his tone softening. "Everything alright, child? Anything the matter?"

"How come you check on her but not on us?" a student nagged aggrieved, and Ran snickered. "Apologies, sir. It won't happen again," Eva answered flatly. Seemingly satisfied, AzVard nodded his head and dismissed the slackers. Eva let out a shallow breath, then turned around and started speed-walking towards the auditorium without a second glance at her brother.

"So what happened?" Ran questioned following right behind her. Unfortunately, he couldn't hide the schadenfreude lacing his voice.

"Nothing happened, I overslept," Eva answered promptly.

However, that did not cease Ran's badgering. So he pressed on, "Nothing happened? You just overslept? Do you take me for an idiot?"

"Yes," Eva replied, swishing her hair with a flick of her head as she turned her back on Ran, leaving him flabbergasted. And he had thought he was the one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

Upon entering the classroom, Ran headed toward the row before last, squeezing himself between Reyes and Daveed, while Eva took her usual seat at the front. His group of bottom-of-the-class slackers greeted him with toothy grins. Huddling onto the raised platform with his gang of no-goods, the three exchanged quick pleasantries before scanning the room for a book to steal before the professor's arrival. The unwilling victim was a student sitting one row before them, who reluctantly relinquished his copy of Beasts of Scorpia.

The auditorium, like every other room in Hyacinth High, was a magnificent display of yellow bricks and power. A raised dais lay in the middle of the room, where the professor would stand and lecture. The first course of the day was "A History of Wild Beasts," instructed by Professor Gregory Tamraz.

Despite Ran arriving late, ten more minutes passed, yet the dais where the professor should have stood remained empty. Ran was starting to mindlessly doodle on his classmate's book when his friends started to gossip.

Daveed whispered, "Mom said it was messy. She stole something from the school and got kicked out. Professor Greg tried to intervene, but it was no good."

Ran dropped his quill and joined in. "Who are you talking about?"

"Professor Scarlet, she got sacked. There's someone new taking her spot this semester," Daveed explained.

"Is she hot?" chipped in Reyes lazily.

Daveed sighed exasperated, "We don't know if the replacement is a she, and anyway, I don't believe Professor Scarlet is a thief. It would be better if no one replaces her at all, and this mess gets sorted real quick," the scrawny boy would've continued ranting had he not been interrupted by the entrance of the professor.

Professor Gregory Tamraz was a stunning man. He had an androgynous look coupled with dreamy eyes that seemed to get dreamier by the day, Ran thought despite himself. After checking out his eyes, he noticed his breath. It was wrong. The professor had put up a veiled attempt to hide it, which would work against usual magical users, but when actively utilizing his gifts, veils were useless against Ran.

Professor Gregory did not shy away from throwing out generous smiles at the gathered class. After taking his position in the middle of the room, he directly started installing an ether projector that displayed a ginormous red dragon. Pointing at one of the students in the front row, he began his lecture, "What would you do if you saw such a beast standing in front of you?"

The student fidgeted but remained silent. Without waiting for an answer, Gregory flicked his wrist, and the projection of the dragon dived toward the girl. She shrieked loudly as it passed right through her and then hovered over the class.

Chatter erupted among the students, but a wave of his hand made them still. "This, my dear children, is a rare breed of the last Phoenix Dragons of Reesa. It is rumored a few more hide in the treacherous valleys of Salve, but aside from rumors and conjecture, there isn't much proof."

The longer Gregory spoke, the lower and more monotone his voice became. Some of the students in the back row were starting to doze off, and Ran would have been one of them, had he not been suddenly agitated. He pinched Reyes under the desk and whispered, "Do you think he's okay?" Reyes woke in a daze and looked up at Ran with sleepy eyes, "Who? Gregster?"

"Yeah, it feels like he's slowly fading."

"Me too, wake me up when the bell rings," Reyes said, ignoring the intensity in Ran's gaze and slumping right back to sleep.

Once the two-hour-long course finally ended, the sleepy students hurried out of the auditorium, eager for the much-awaited period of rest. "Coming?" Reyes, now full of vigor again, turned to ask Ran.

"I'll rest a bit. If I'm not down before the bell rings, come wake me up, will you?" Nodding their agreement, Reyes and Daveed left the auditorium with the swarm of students.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the now empty space, Ran basked in the rare silence. He finally gave way to drowsiness and propped his head on his arm, slowly drifting away.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and soon he was the one being pinched. Looking up drowsily, he saw his friends' silly faces staring down at him. "Time to get up," Daveed quipped, clapping too close to Ran's ear, making him jump startled.

"You're alright?" Daveed asked, and Ran hmphed, stretching his limbs before getting up to leave with his friends. However, Reyes' attention was zoomed on the last row.

Tilting his head, he uttered a soft, "Hey."

"Hello," a low husky voice responded. Reyes did not look back and instead stared intently at Ran, who jumped at the sound as if he'd been hit.

"We're practicing archery now, Madamme Khannah is not someone who takes lightly to having her class missed. You should come along," Daveed said to the stranger while rushing Ran out of his seat.

As they walked, Ran kept sneaking glances at the boy who had accompanied him in the auditorium, but the boy remained unperturbed. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, he asked, "Did you come in while I was asleep?"

That would be the only logical answer. If he's knocked out, he won't sense anyone's presence. So that's what must have happened.

"No, I stayed in my seat after Professor Gregory dismissed the class," the boy said, which earned him a stunned look from Ran.

"What's your name?" interjected Daveed, having noticed his friend's rude behavior. "I'm Daveed, this is Reyes, and the idiot with the mouth wide open is Ran."

"Daniyel," the boy responded.

By the time they reached the playground, Madamme Khannah was already addressing the students.

"Today's class is focused on Archery," she announced in a commanding tone. "You will learn to hone your aim and concentration, and then you will slowly incorporate your magical abilities into the act."

The gathered students exchanged excited glances. They readily assembled their bows and arrows and started shooting at either still or moving targets. The late arrivers greeted Madamme and hurried to take their places on the field.

Madamme Khannah made her rounds amidst the students, offering pointers where needed. As the instructor of Archery at Hyacinth High for over a decade, she could easily single out those with potential and was often on the lookout for hidden talents.

In the back row, the two tardy boys caught her attention. One was the young master of the Ophelia line, and the other was the new child who joined this semester. As they each took their stances, she could tell that Daniyel was a natural with the bow and arrow. His movements were fluid and graceful as he aimed straight for the bullseye every time.

Ran De Ophelia, on the other hand, was messy. He had no concentration whatsoever, and his arrows all missed. Some of them veered off course, making her fret he might accidentally injure one of the students.

After pacing back and forth for a while, she loomed over Ran with furrowed brows. "Everything alright here?" she asked Ran.

Ran hesitated for a minute before admitting, "I'm not very good at this." Watching the mysterious new kid hit a bullseye on every target with ease didn't help either, but he kept this part to himself.

Madamme Khannah gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Not to worry, dear boy. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses."

But as the class went on, Ran's frustrations only grew. He could feel the other students' eyes on him, awaiting his next failure. He'd be worried about their judgment of his lack of skill if he weren't too occupied trying to tune them all out.

Despite being under the protection of the school arrays, the sounds were still unreasonably heightened. As he tried to focus on his breathing and shut them out, a voice pierced his skull like a drilling hammer.

"You'll have to excuse the young master; he is used to being served everything on a silver plate. Nobody taught him how to move his muscles," Nahro taunted and got a few snickers from the kids surrounding him.

Ran felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment. But before he could start to defend himself, Dani shot a blazing arrow that passed right by the jeering boy's head, synching a few hairs on its path.

"Hey," Nahrin shouted, "Don't mess around," shutting off her brother out of sight and pointing her bow and arrow at Dani.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Dani answered fixing his bow to aim back at her.

Rushing to stand in the middle, Madamme Khannah raised her hands to stop the two from maiming each other, "Aim at the targets, the one with the highest points in the lowest amount of time wins."

Consequently, Dani and Nahrin took their places at the range, drawing their bows and taking careful aim. The first few rounds were neck and neck, with each of them hitting their targets dead-on. The rest of the students stopped their activities to watch the two go at it.

The sun blazed down on the field, and sweat beaded on both their foreheads as they aimed their arrows at their targets. The targets jerked and jostled further away, the two concentrating on following their movements. Feeling that the competition wasn't as riveting, a student sent a gush of icy wind to steer the arrows off course.

Once again, Daniyel incorporated his fire magic. He condensed all his energy into the arrow and let it loose. It streaked through the air, leaving a fiery tail behind it, and hit the flying target, incinerating it to ash.

Nahrin frowned, but she quickly regained her composure. Taking in deep breaths, she visualized an invisible forcefield that quickly manifested around Dani. The forcefield acted as a siphon, sapping his strength, and slowing down his movements. She concentrated on her targets, ignoring him. However, the tenacious kid still managed three more strikes before hunching down in exhaustion from her assault.

Nahrin was winning the match, and the kids were either cheering or booing. Reyes and Daveed were loudly accusing her of cheating, and her brother was yelling back at them that Daniyel cheated first by aiming at him.

Some other kid was shouting out the scores at the top of his lungs, "Five shots for Daniyel, now six shots, Nahrine got her eighth point, she's about to score another one..."

But Ran could barely concentrate. He sensed something was off before he could register what it was. Clutching his bow tightly, he attempted to block the constant hum of energy that flowed through him. He tried to subdue the panic that was slowly baring its fangs.

From an early age, he learned to make peace with his curse. It was fine that he could hear things no one else could; whispers from across the room, rustling clothes, even the faint thump of a heartbeat.

But at this school, he had found a much-needed relief. The damper from the arrays had allowed him to tune out most of the influx of sound.

Yet, slowly but gradually, everything began to fall apart over the last hour. Ran felt the magical protection give way as if it were air being forcibly exhaled from his lungs. His eyes widened with terror and confusion as every sound in the school flooded into his mind.

He dropped the bow and arrow with a clatter as the blood thrumming in his veins rushed to his head stinging on its route. He cupped his head with both hands, collapsing on the ground and writhing in agony as the sensation grew more intense by the second.

The assault vanished as quickly as it came, and the arrays' system stabilized once again. The only sound left was his shallow breathing as he lay unconscious in the grass.