The medical ward was dark, violent, and endlessly sad, but its darkness made the blossoms of hope among patients and nurses all the more vivid.Less than two hours into her first shift, Ren’wyn asked for monthly rounds with Master Lori.An ache for restoration filled Ren’wyn as she watched Lori’s tender care for the wights and berserkers sheltered beneath the classrooms.Ren’wyn would not forget these people—the ones whose hopes and dreams were stolen by imperial prejudice and cruelty.
As a dark mage, Ren’wyn couldn’t ignore the sharp talons of death lurking around every corner.She had limited experience with death firsthand, but one of her patients—a young wight named Ila—was receiving palliative care.The girl thrashed and screamed from paranoid delusions, restrained with soft bindings.Ila showed no magical capabilities, but her empty wight’s aura made her identity unmistakable whenever Ren’wyn entered her cell.Master Aleth, also a wight, explained that without training to control her power, Ila’s instability would consumeher.
The little girl captivated Ren’wyn, who couldn’t stay away as Ila faded from the world.Bursts of emptiness warred against Ren’wyn’s darkness during their visits, Ila’s unraveling magic seeking any escape.Ren’wyn held her own, rubbing ointment on Ila’s reddened wrists and ankles, singing songs, and telling old stories.The claws of the dead surrounded them in the quiet, keeping Ila’s destructive aura atbay.
Perhaps the Void was easier to summon underground.Ren’wyn felt it closer in the bones of the earth, where the dead lay at rest.The shades of the lost whispered softly in the cells, calling the suffering to surrender their pain.The dark corners of the cells held shapeless ghosts and near-silent screams, and Ren’wyn welcomed them whenever she could.
Ila became frantic as the weather slipped into fall, her seizures and straining increasing until Master Lori asked Ren’wyn to stay for the end.Death permeated the small room, and the Void hummed at the surface of Ren’wyn’s awareness.
“I’ll stay with her,” Ren’wyn whispered, already stretching her aura to draw the shadows towardIla.
Lori’s aura, green and breezy, flowed like water.“You have to take a break every hour, Ren’wyn, and tell me if Ila needs skullcap tea for her seizures.”
Lori watched closely, a living shadow hovering near the cell all day, but Ren’wyn remained except to eat and rest for short periods.Ila’s wild screams and thrashing broke her heart, and the anger at those who would suppress the life of this child fed Ren’wyn’s power until it filled the room like a blanket of night.
Enough anger to burn the world.Ren’wyn kept her rage inside, wanting to destroy the Empire, to break her father, to ruin Erst.Hot and high, her fury burned—a wildfire in her chest threatening to swallow her whole.Even though it felt like poison, that heat gave her strength.She absorbed Ila’s emptiness, tattooing the hate into herself, where it wouldn’t harm others.Ren’wyn tended Ila with soft touches, cleaning her sweaty skin.She braided her patient’s tangled hair and kept a candle burning.
When death came, Ren’wyn woke from restless sleep on a lumpy couch across the hall.Darkness deeper than night crept over the floor and slid over her skin, tugging her toward Ila.The whispers of the dead rose as shadows stretched from under the cell door like living creatures.
Ila’s eyes were open but unseeing, her chest rising and falling desperately.Death seeped from Ren’wyn’s pores and brushed against Ila, who twitched as she sensed it.Ren’wyn dropped next to the bed, heedless of the cold stone floor, and gripped Ila’s hand.She welcomed the Void.Its magic felt so alive, waking with the gentlest encouragement.Ren’wyn pressed two fingers to her lips, then stretched them over Ila’s face.Shadows rippled and coiled above her hand, ready for their eternalwork.
Lori and Aleth burst into the room with their magic brandished, their gasps joining the whispers of the dead.Ila’s aura flickered and shuddered against the press of death.Ren’wyn’s tears fell onto Ila’s chest.She brought her fingers from Ila’s forehead to her navel, watching as the young girl’s eyes closed and the shadows drew together like a curtain.
Only Ren’wyn saw Ila’s spirit at the end of the bed.Even in death, Ila shook and moaned.Ren’wyn released her hand and reached toward Ila’s shade.The girl hesitated, stilled, then touched Ren’wyn’s fingers.Her trembling ceased.
“Peace,” Ren’wyn whispered, her throat tight with sorrow.“You are at peace, Ila.No more suffering.Restnow.”
Ila’s shade brightened, and Ren’wyn withdrew her hand to her heart.Frost grew over her hair and back as she turned to Aleth and Lori, her eyes black as the grave.
Why was Lori running from the room?Why was Aleth moving so slowly?The world tunneled, shrank, and plummeted into nothing.
“Ren’wyn?”
Light filtered slowly back into Ren’wyn’s mind.Opening her eyes, she found dark mage Master Lilith looking down, her strong arms surprisingly gentle.Lilith’s own dark aura encircled them like an embrace.
Ren’wyn met Lilith’s gaze, and clasping her forearms, she whispered, “I freedher.”
Lilith’s breath caught.“Youwhat?”
“I freed her spirit from her body.I couldn’t watch her suffer.Then, I opened to the Void and settled her shade.”
“Good job, my dear,” whispered Lilith, her voice steady and soft as she helped Ren’wyn to herfeet.
Lilith kept her supported through the brutal walk back to the dorm, all the way to Peria.Sorrow and loss haunted Ren’wyn’s steps, but something deeper gnawed at her: rage—cold and consuming—grafted itself into her soul.Ila had died suppressing her magic.Ren’wyn’s mother, Lyr’ren, had suppressed hers as well, dying in slow stages over the years.Ila’s death felt like confirmation of Ren’wyn’s own fate.She saw her future etched in the same grim lines—a coffin waiting for her after a life drained of freedom and strength.The dark thought wrapped itself around her ankles like an unshakable weight.
“Ren’wyn!”Peria exclaimed, immediately fussing over her.Lilith passed Ren’wyn into Peria’s embrace, a welcome harbor for Ren’wyn’s weariness.
“Hot chocolate and a bath,” Lilith ordered, her tone firm.“And don’t leave her alone tonight.”
Peria nodded, and Ren’wyn sighed under the rush of Peria’s empathic magic, an infusion of peace and warmth.For what felt like the millionth time, Ren’wyn thanked whatever gods smiled on her when they placed Peria in herlife.
Relaxing into Peria’s arms, Ren’wyn tearfully recounted the story of Ila’s death.She searched for a light to carry forward, something to hold onto as she faced the dreadful future waiting beyond Spyre.
Winter came in a rush of ice and snow, much to the delight of the druids.Ren’wyn devoured her classes, absorbing the differences between medicinal plants, learning the lineages of magical families, and observing final-year berserkers as they fought one another.Her silent anger kept her wary of others, and only Peria could coax her to the dining hall for wine and conversation.Even then, Ren’wyn felt the press of too many eyes and retreated as quickly as possible.
With the end of her education approaching, Ren’wyn’s dark mage Masters grew more insistent and driven in their training.She was the only dark mage at Spyre and possibly the only one under thirty in the world.None had been enrolled after her.No Master said it aloud, but Ren’wyn knew all six wondered what would become of their kind.Dark mages were so fiercely hunted and cruelly executed that only oracles were fewer in number.Ren’wyn absorbed every instruction, practicing shielding with darkness, calling frozen winds, and weaving shadows.The Void remained the most satisfying and comforting part of her existence, and her joy made her an attentive student.
“You are long overdue to learn how to kill with the Void,” Master Jure informed her one day as wind rattled the shutters of the traininghall.
