Chapter 1: The Boy Without Magic

Kido pressed his face against the cool glass of his bedroom window, watching the neighborhood kids play in the street below. Mali was showing off again, making tiny tornadoes dance in her palms while the other children cheered. Even little Bren, who was only six, could make flowers bloom just by touching the ground.

"Kido! Breakfast!" his mother's voice called from downstairs.

He sighed and pulled away from the window. Another day in Astoria, another day of being the only fourteen-year-old who couldn't do magic. Not even a spark.

The wooden stairs creaked under his feet as he made his way to the kitchen. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the air, and he could hear his parents talking in hushed voices. They always did that lately - whispered conversations that stopped the moment he entered a room.

"Morning, kiddo," his father said, ruffling Kido's messy black hair. Dad was a big man with kind eyes and hands that were always stained with dirt from working in the monster-hunting supply shop he owned. "Sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I guess." Kido slumped into his chair and poked at his eggs. Through the kitchen window, he could see Mrs. Chen next door watering her garden with magic, the water flowing from her fingertips in perfect streams.

His mother, Lila, sat down across from him. She had the same dark hair as Kido, but hers shimmered with tiny sparks of lightning magic when she was worried - which was pretty much all the time these days. "The Mage Council sent another letter yesterday," she said softly.

Kido's stomach dropped. The Mage Council oversaw everything in their world - from the schools to the jobs to who was allowed to live where. And they really didn't like people without magic.

"What did it say?" he asked, even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

His father, Marcus, exchanged a look with his mother. "They want to send you to the Null Academy. It's a school for... people like you."

"People like me." Kido's voice came out flat. "You mean freaks."

"You are not a freak," his mother said firmly, her hair crackling with more lightning. "You're our son, and we love you exactly as you are."

But Kido could see the worry in her eyes. The Null Academy was basically a prison. Kids went in and never came out the same - if they came out at all. Everyone said it was where they taught non-magic people how to be useful to society. Mostly as servants.

"I could help in the shop," Kido said desperately. "I know all about the different monster types, and I can organize the weapons, and-"

"Kido." His father's voice was gentle but sad. "Son, monster hunting is dangerous work. Without magic, you can't protect yourself. The hunters who come to my shop... they have fire magic to burn through troll hide, ice magic to freeze wraith essence, earth magic to strengthen their weapons. What would you have?"

The question hung in the air like a weight. What would he have? Nothing. He was nothing.

Kido pushed back from the table. "I'm gonna be late for school."

"Kido, wait-" his mother started, but he was already heading for the door.

The walk to Astoria Academy took twenty minutes, and every step reminded Kido of how different he was. Kids his age flew overhead on magic carpets or teleported in flashes of colored light. Some rode giant magical creatures that looked like a cross between a horse and a dragon. Kido walked.

At school, things weren't much better. In Magic Theory class, everyone practiced basic spells while Kido sat in the back reading about magical history. In Combat Training, the other students learned to fight with magical weapons and shields while Kido was sent to study hall. By lunch, he felt like he might as well be invisible.

He was sitting alone in the cafeteria, picking at a sandwich, when Zara dropped into the seat across from him. She was probably his only real friend - a cheerful girl with purple hair who could make illusions so real you could almost touch them.

"You look terrible," she said, conjuring a small rainbow that danced over their table. "What's wrong now?"

"The Mage Council wants to send me away," Kido muttered. "To the Null Academy."

Zara's illusions flickered and died. "What? But that's... that's not fair! You're smart, and you're kind, and you work harder than anyone I know!"

"None of that matters if I can't do magic." Kido crumpled up his lunch bag. "My parents think I'm useless. The whole world thinks I'm useless."

"Your parents don't think that," Zara said firmly. "I've seen how they look at you, Kido. They love you."

Before Kido could answer, the cafeteria doors burst open. A man in the dark blue uniform of the Monster Hunter Guild strode in, his face grim. Conversations died as everyone turned to stare.

"Is there a Marcus Ren here?" the hunter called out. "We need to speak with him immediately."

Kido's blood turned to ice. That was his father's full name. "That's my dad," he said, standing up so fast his chair fell over. "I'm his son. What's wrong?"

The hunter looked at Kido with something like pity. "There's been an incident at the supply shop. You need to come with me."

The next hour passed in a blur. Kido barely remembered the ride through town in the hunter's magical carriage, or the crowd of people gathered outside his father's shop. What he remembered was the smoke rising from the burned building, and the way everyone got quiet when they saw him.

Inside what was left of the shop, two other hunters were talking to his mother. She was crying, her lightning magic sparking wildly around her in grief and anger.

"The shadow monsters came out of nowhere," one of the hunters was saying. "Marcus tried to fight them off with the weapons from his shop, but without magic to power them properly..."

Kido couldn't hear the rest. The world seemed to tilt sideways, and suddenly Zara was there, holding his arm to keep him upright.

"Where is he?" Kido whispered.

His mother looked up, her face streaked with tears. "Oh, Kido. I'm so sorry. Your father... he's gone."

The words hit him like a physical blow. His father - big, kind Marcus who taught him everything about monsters and weapons and believing in yourself even when no one else did - was dead.

"It should have been me," Kido said, his voice barely audible. "I should have been there. I could have helped."

"With what?" one of the hunters said, not unkindly but bluntly. "Kid, your dad was a good man, but even he couldn't fight shadow monsters without magic. What could you have done?"

The question felt like a knife in his chest, because Kido knew the answer. Nothing. He could have done nothing at all.

That night, after the hunters had left and the neighbors had stopped bringing food and offering condolences, Kido sat in his room staring at the ceiling. His mother had cried herself to sleep hours ago. The house felt empty and wrong without his father's booming laugh or the sound of him working on weapons late into the night.

There was a soft knock on his door. "Kido?" His mother's voice was hoarse from crying. "Can I come in?"

She sat on the edge of his bed, looking older than she had that morning. "I know this is hard," she said. "It's hard for me too. But we're going to get through this together, okay?"

"Mom," Kido said quietly, "why was I born like this? Why couldn't I just be normal?"

His mother was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft but steady. "Your father used to say that the world has a plan for everyone. That sometimes the most important people are the ones who seem different." She touched his cheek gently. "He believed you were meant for something special, Kido. Even without magic."

"But what if he was wrong?"

"Then we'll figure it out together." She kissed his forehead. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll start planning what comes next."

After she left, Kido lay in the dark thinking about his father's words. Marcus had always told him that strength came from more than just magic - that courage, determination, and heart mattered too. But right now, Kido didn't feel courageous or determined. He just felt empty.

Outside his window, the magical city of Astoria glowed with thousands of lights powered by different types of magic. Fire magic burned red and orange, water magic flowed in blues and greens, and earth magic pulsed with deep browns and golds. It was beautiful and alive and everything Kido could never be part of.

But as he drifted off to sleep, something strange happened. For just a moment, he thought he saw a flicker of pure white light at the edge of his vision - clean and bright and completely unlike any magic he'd ever seen before.

When he blinked, it was gone. But the feeling of it lingered, like the ghost of something powerful waiting to be awakened.

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