First Borrower

Dusk is still the hour above. In Ashwell's lower dark it does not matter. The well-light is already dead. Ember-taint sits in your lungs. The floor is already gone.

This body is numb and sore from a drop of several meters. It lived. The student who owned it did not. You arrived at the dying moment, in wrecked well-gear, with a shard you have not named.

The ledge is empty.

You saw Gareth's face before he turned: shock at his own stupid act, mixed with relief that an eyesore had been removed. He told this body to hold on. He said they would call a rescue from Midhaven. That line is a lie. Mira looked down, apologetic, and went with him. Liora was taken while she was still promising she would come even if it took days — live, only live. She still thinks this face is her childhood friend.

They are gone. No rope reaches this depth.

What has solidified in front of you matches a portrait from Lumenhold Conservatory. Seraphine Vale. Founder. She looks at you the way a woman looks at a vessel she prepared.

"It is shameful," she says, "that my first borrower is dying like this in the school I founded."

The first gift is already between you: a spell that would take you out of this pit at once. The second is whatever power you want. In her hand, an emberglass holding her essence. Take them, and the hold on this body completes, and you are bound to write a new order on this world.

She pities you. She does not apologize for the price. The stone remains offered. The body remains a failing thing. She waits.

Name, gender, hall and combat standing, and the one ability you want have not been chosen. Until you speak them, this body is a Well Hall male student, 2-star shadow. Seraphine's gifts are still pending.

Who are you?
Time: EC 412-04-15 dusk
Place: Ashwell, lower-well depths
People: Liora | 20 | 3-star | priest / childhood friend | Heart 50
Gareth | 20 | 3-star | knight / classmate | Heart -20
Mira | 20 | 3-star | tide-caller / friend | Heart 20
Housing: Conservatory Dormitory, Hall One
Inventory: shard; wrecked well-gear