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Primal Devoure: The Broken Hatchers Rise
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My mentor gives the blonde girl the best egg in the hall. He tosses me the one no one wanted.
00:05I am last in the rankings. Refusal is never an option. For seven years, I fed it everything I had.
00:12My magic, my sleep, my youth. No one helped, no one noticed. When the shell finally cracks to reveal the
00:18air of Yormonkar, the rarest bloodline in a millennium, suddenly, everyone wants a piece of what I've made. The blonde
00:24girl claims him. My mentor backs her up. Three seniors corner me, forcing me to give him up.
00:30And my lintworm, he just stands there, saying nothing. Aurelia is the only one worthy of me. Let me go.
00:34I gave you life. I could take it back. So I drive a blade through his heart, devour his core
00:40and become stronger than all of them combined. Seven years ago, the hatching hall. On the altar lay 20 familiar
00:46eggs, each radiating a different light. Aurelia walked to the center and picked up an egg glowing with golden flames.
00:52This egg is calling my name, Mentor, she said with a smile. She never once looked at me. The last
00:57egg lay alone in the corner.
00:59Dull, gray-white, without a trace of light. Archmaster Maldus gave me a side lay glance.
01:03Vesper, you are patient. You can bear this stillness. This one is yours.
01:07I cradled it in my hands. Heavy. Ice cold. It took me seven years.
01:11I slept with it against my skin every single night. Fed it my magic, thread by thread.
01:16I turned down every field trial. Missed three ascension rites and four tower galas.
01:20I read every lintworm-hatching record in the Grand Library.
01:23I learned to scrape the absolute bottom of my magical core when utterly exhausted.
01:27Seven years later, the shell cracked. A boy with silver hair and amber eyes stepped out.
01:32He opened his eyes, and I was the first thing he saw. After that, he never chose to see me
01:37again.
01:38He became Aurelia's shadow. She practiced the sword. He played the harp by her side.
01:42She frowned. The smiled. He bent over backward to make her gentleman.
01:46All she had to say was such a gentleman, and from that moment on, I became an obstacle in his
01:50way.
01:50Today, three senior apprentice block my path. Lysander stands next to them. He says it to my face.
01:55Aurelia is brilliant. She's beautiful and kind. She is the only one worthy to be my mate.
02:00Vester, if you actually care about me, break the bond!
02:03The three seniors turn to stare. They are not here to mediate. They are here to witness my humiliation.
02:08Cedric speaks first, talking down to me from on high.
02:10Vester, Lysander is the direct heir of Jormagard. There isn't another bloodline like his in the entire northern frontier.
02:15Face reality. Dragging this out only makes you a laughingstock. You two were never a man.
02:19Orlando chimes in a soft voice.
02:21It's not your fault. It's a matter of bloodline.
02:24If you truly love him, set him free. It would be best for everyone.
02:28Gabriel cuts to the chase.
02:30The heir of Jormangel is destined for the highest nobility, and Auraria is a daughter of the phoenix.
02:36It's fate.
02:37The whole tower is dying to celebrate their bond ceremony. Standing in their way just disgraces you.
02:42Word after word. Sentence after sentence. Then they just wait in Lysander. Waiting for my tears. He turns his head.
02:49Won't even meet my eyes. He agrees with every single word.
02:52Seven years. I bled my magic into him. Drop by drop. I turned a cold, dead stone into a living,
02:59breathing man. And now they demand I hand him over. If he will not keep faith, then he forfeits the
03:04right to exist.
03:05The meteoric iron dagger sinks into Lysander's chest. I drive it beneath the breastbone. Straight into his Lindwarf core crystal.
03:11The one place no hand had reached in seven years.
03:13Those amber eyes, always so arrogant, widen in shock and pain.
03:16Vesper. You. What did you?
03:18He stares at me. He really stares. As if the wound had finally taught him where to look.
03:22I steady my grip. Twisting the blade deeper. The meteorite edge crushes his core into dust. Not a chance of
03:28survival.
03:29Archmage Maldus mentioned it in a lecture once. The nine lives of a Lindworm? Just a myth. But the core?
03:35That's their fatal weakness.
03:37At last, one of Maldus's lessons proves useful.
03:40Why wouldn't I? What I gave shape to, I can also destroy. If I want you dead, then you die.
03:45Blood runs down the hilt. Covers my fingers. Lysander tries to speak. He only chokes on blood.
03:51The light leaves his eyes. His body hits the floor. He shifts back to his true form, a massive silver
03:57white serpent.
03:58Its scales go dull at once, stripped of all their glory. It coils across the floor, taking up half the
04:03room.
04:04I don't blink. I watch until he stops twitching. I rip the dagger out. Walk to the center of the
04:10room. Drop to my knees.
04:12I start carving into the floor. Deep in the tower's restricted vault lies a book, The Chronicle of Primal Blood
04:16Rites.
04:17I copied a page from it in secret and hid it in my room, studying it in silence for seven
04:21years.
04:22The Devourer's Gift. A 3,000-year-old taboo. No tools required. No setup needed. Just one caster. And one
04:30formidable sacrifice.
04:31I finish the last rune. I slice my fingertip open. Let the blood drip into the center. I drag Lysander's
04:37corpse into the circle.
04:38My blood spreads out. It lights up every carved line. The whole array blazes with dark old lights.
04:43I've never seen a color like it. But every vein in my body hums. Lysander's serpent form lights up.
04:49First the scales. Then the muscles. Finally the bones. Everything breaks down. Bit by bit.
04:55It melts into threads of dark gold energy. Ripped straight from his corpse. Flowing right into me.
05:01The threads sink through my skin. Hook into my bloodstream. The moment the first thread enters, something explodes in my
05:07head.
05:07A memory that isn't mine. Locked deep in my soul since the day I was born.
05:11It cracks wide open. I see a creature. It eats stars. Swallows light. Devours the laws of reality.
05:18It has existed since the beginning of the world. The first predator. The Prangle Devourer.
05:23I always thought I was worthless. My magic was pathetically weak.
05:27Ever since I entered the tower at 12. I ranked at the bottom. I thought I was born broken.
05:32But now I realize I was wrong. Basic magic is useless to me. Everything the tower taught me is worthless.
05:37Something in me had lain dormant since birth. Seal behind an appetite no ordinary magic could feed.
05:43Lysander, the heir of Jormungandr. The only sacrifice to break the seal in 3,000 years.
05:48I smile. So that is the truth.
05:51Lysander's body vanishes completely. Every drop of his energy floods my veins.
05:56The shackles that bound my magic for seven years collapse, one by one.
05:59When the last of the dark gold vanishes into me, I rise with an archmage power in my bones.
06:04All that's left is a dry ritual ray and a pool of blood. Not a single trace of Lysander.
06:09Like he never existed at all. I rise to my feet and roll my wrist.
06:13My joints crack. The door bangs open.
06:16Maldra stands in the doorway. Aroliya cowers behind him, eyes red and body shaking.
06:21She clutches her golden phoenix. The three seniors flank them, faces pale with terror.
06:25How could you? You killed him, and then you devoured him!
06:29She breaks down sobbing. Maldris unleashes his full Archmaster era across the room.
06:35Vesper, what you did in this room defiles the tower. Yet you also performed a forbidden ritual.
06:41By my authority you are cast out and remounded to the abyss.
06:45His power crashes down on me. Seven years ago, this would have crushed me.
06:49But now, I'm an archmage. I hold the power of the primal devourer.
06:54I straighten and meet his gaze. Killing my bonded creature?
06:57Mentor Lysander wasn't a human. He was a familiar.
07:00I hatched him from a shell seven years ago.
07:02Tower Code, Volume 7, Chapter 3, Section 11.
07:05A familiar's life belongs to its hatcher. Your language, not mine.
07:10Maldris chokes on his own words.
07:12Aurelia suddenly cuts in, tears already gathering as if on command.
07:15Her voice trembles with practiced grief.
07:18Even if he was just a familiar, you were together for seven years!
07:21Do you feel nothing? He was the heir of Jormagon!
07:25That bloodline was irreplaceable, and you just destroyed it!
07:29Irreplaceable or not, he was mine.
07:31He wanted to go with someone else, so I killed him.
07:33I glare at her.
07:34You care an awful lot about what belongs to other people.
07:37Do other people's belongings always catch your eye?
07:40Aurelia goes white.
07:41The phoenix in her arm struggles.
07:43She grips it tighter.
07:45The bird pecks at her wrist.
07:46How dare you!
07:47Maldis snaps.
07:49He knows I have him cornered on the rules.
07:51But Aurelia's tears matter more than his own laws.
07:53He cannot accuse me of murdering a familiar, so he pivots.
07:57Fine. The familiar was yours.
07:59But your mindset is dangerous.
08:00You performed a forbidden ritual.
08:02You have shown open malice towards Aurelia.
08:04Someone like you is a threat to this tower.
08:06I sentence you to three years in the abyss.
08:08The three seniors actually flinch.
08:11The abyss.
08:12The deepest forbidden zone beneath the tower.
08:15Toxic magic.
08:16Poisoned air.
08:17Feral beasts.
08:18Most apprentices don't last three weeks down there.
08:21So that is a sentence.
08:22Death.
08:23Draped in formal language.
08:24A flash of satisfaction crosses Aurelia's eyes.
08:27Then she fakes a worried look.
08:28Mentor.
08:29Surely there is another punishment.
08:31The abyss will kill her.
08:32Please.
08:33Not that.
08:34Her mouth says the words.
08:36Her feet don't move an inch.
08:38My word is final.
08:40Take her away.
08:41The tower guards step forward.
08:43I will walk on my own.
08:45I head for the entrance.
08:46Passing Aurelia.
08:47I stop.
08:48I lean in and drop my voice to a whisper just for her.
08:51Hold that bird close.
08:53I may decide I'm hungry.
08:56Aurelia freezes.
08:57She hugs her bird tighter.
08:59Pure terror in her eyes.
09:00I walk to the edge of the abyss.
09:02Black mist rolls up from the dark below.
09:04I jump in and let the abyss swallow me whole.
09:08I hit the bottom of the abyss.
09:09Blood.
09:10Rot.
09:11The stench from hundreds of feral beasts.
09:13Old bones under my boots.
09:15Green eyes flashing in the shadows.
09:17Growls echoing from every direction.
09:18The primal devourer in my veins wakes up instantly.
09:21It feels no fear.
09:23Only hunger.
09:24A forbidden zone?
09:26Looks more like a grand feast.
09:27I crack a smile as spike armored boar charges first.
09:31Bone plays hard as steel.
09:32Tusk's meant to shred metal.
09:34I don't even use magic.
09:35I sidestep.
09:36Drive my bare fist into its ribs.
09:38Crack.
09:39The boar slams into the rock wall.
09:41Bone gives way.
09:42It dies instantly.
09:44The devourer doesn't just give me magic.
09:46It remakes my body.
09:47I press my palm to the boar's chest.
09:49Dark gold breads rip from its corpse into me.
09:52Core.
09:52Bloodline.
09:53Energy.
09:53I take it all.
09:54The corpse crumbles into an empty husk.
09:56Not a bad start?
09:58Over the next few days, I hunt my way through the abyss.
10:01Shadow panthers give me speed.
10:03Rock shell lizards leave toughness in my bones.
10:05Toxic bog toads try their poison on me, and my blood devours that too.
10:09The magical concentration is higher than I expected.
10:11I stalk through the abyss like an apex predator.
10:14Grating my prey.
10:15Everything in my path runs for its life.
10:17My power surges to Archmage, level 2.
10:20Every day, I grow stronger.
10:22I just killed a two-headed wind serpent.
10:24As I reach for its core, I sense movement above.
10:26I hide my aura.
10:28Melt into the shadows.
10:29Up on a rock ledge.
10:31Maldus, Aurelia, and the three seniors.
10:34Standing inside Maldus' protective ward.
10:36Without it, the toxic air would destroy their lungs in minutes.
10:39Aurelia hugs her golden phoenix, her dress somehow still spotless.
10:43She holds a silk handkerchief to her nose, staring down into the dark.
10:46Mentor, the dark magic down here is dreadful.
10:49Do you think she's even alive?
10:50I'm worried for her.
10:51She's resilient.
10:52She'll survive.
10:54A little suffering might finally teach her her place.
10:58Aurelia strokes as her bird's feathers.
11:01That's a relief.
11:02It is still such a tragedy that his bloodline was lost.
11:06If he were still here, my phoenix could have joined with him.
11:08Their cores would have resonated beautifully.
11:10The phoenix lets out a sharp cry, backing up its master.
11:13Don't waste tears on him, Aurelia.
11:15Lysandar was rare, yes.
11:17But your phoenix is pure blood.
11:19Its future reaches even higher.
11:20Exactly.
11:21Vesper is selfish and cruel.
11:23She killed Lysandar.
11:24What a loss to the whole tower.
11:26You have a heart of gold.
11:27Stop wasting your pity on her.
11:29Aurelia nods softly.
11:30Then, she raises her voice.
11:32I just think, maybe she's broken down.
11:35Lost her way.
11:36If she just came out and apologized.
11:38Lysiander is gone.
11:40But Mentor is generous.
11:41He'd give her a second chance.
11:42She doesn't have to suffer here.
11:44From the shadows, I listen and wait.
11:46The phoenix breaks free from a lady's arms.
11:48It spreads its wings and dives for my dead serpent.
11:51Pure arrogance in its eyes.
11:53It thinks the kill is unclaimed.
11:55A glowing golden light trails from its claws as it swoops down.
11:58So it comes down after all.
12:00Before its talons hit the serpent, I burst out of the shadows.
12:03The phoenix senses danger.
12:05Tries to pull away.
12:06Too late.
12:07My right hand snaps around its throat.
12:09Its screech cuts off.
12:10It thrashes wildly.
12:11Golden fire erupts from its feathers, trying to melt my arm to the bone.
12:15But a pulse of dark gold energy instantly snuffs out the fire.
12:18What are you doing?
12:19Let him go!
12:20Let him go!
12:21Vester!
12:22Don't you dare!
12:23I slowly tighten my grip.
12:26I look up at their faces.
12:29Everyone is frozen solid.
12:31Your bird came to steal my kill.
12:33Your bird came to steal my kill.
12:33Why shouldn't I take it?
12:34Snap!
12:35Its neck cracks cleanly under my grip.
12:37The phoenix goes limp.
12:38The light in its eyes dies.
12:40The golden glow fades.
12:41I toss it in the dirt.
12:43Aurelia's scream rips through the abyss.
12:45Her face turns white.
12:46Her knees buckle.
12:48Cedric barely catches her before she falls to the ground.
12:50My phoenix!
12:52You really killed him!
12:53Tears spill over.
12:54Her finger points at me.
12:55No sweetness now.
12:57Only hatred.
12:58He was my destined mate.
12:59How dare you?
13:00How dare you?
13:02Mentor!
13:02She killed Lysander!
13:04And now she killed my phoenix!
13:05Aurelia throws herself at Maldus' feet.
13:08Maldus' face shifts from cold indifference to murderous fury.
13:12That phoenix was a pureblood.
13:13Handpicked for Aurelia.
13:15Raised on the tower's premium resources.
13:17Years of investment.
13:18Worth far more than Lysander had ever been.
13:20The cornerstone of his entire master plan for Aurelia.
13:23And the student he cast into the abyss to die.
13:25Has just snapped its neck as if it were nothing.
13:27His archmaste aura explodes.
13:29His magic pours out.
13:30A giant hand made of raw art power hangs above me.
13:33It slams down he is trying to kill me.
13:35I will grind your soul into ash.
13:38The hand hasn't even touched me yet.
13:39The pressure already cracks my bones.
13:41The primal devourer roars awake.
13:43I dig my heels in to hold my ground.
13:45I look up at him.
13:46Grind my soul?
13:47For a phoenix?
13:48Mentor am I not your student toos?
13:50Seven years of questions boiling over.
13:52Something flickers across his face.
13:54It vanishes.
13:55Buried by absolute rage.
13:56Shut up!
13:57You murdered your bonded beast!
13:58You slaughtered your sister's familiar!
14:00And now you play the victim?
14:01She wanted Lysanar.
14:03You forced me to give him up.
14:04Her bird swoops in to steal my kill.
14:06And now you want me dead?
14:07Since the day I walked into this tower at 12 years old, she had the best of everything.
14:11Every mistake, every unfairness was mine to bear.
14:13Because she's more talented?
14:14Because her tears matter more?
14:16Because she's the chosen one in your eyes?
14:17Then what am I?
14:18You pulled me out of an orphanage.
14:20Was this the plan all along?
14:21Was I just a stepping stone?
14:22Was I always supposed to die the second she needed me to?
14:25Answer me, Mentor.
14:26Dead silence.
14:27The three seniors don't say a word.
14:29Everyone knows.
14:30It's an open secret.
14:32But no one ever ripped it open and forced them to face it.
14:35Aurelia stops sobbing.
14:36Her eyes dart around, showing the fear of being exposed.
14:40Muldrus' face twists.
14:41My words strike a nerve he refuses to face.
14:43Taking me from the orphanage might have started as real pity.
14:45But year after year, beside Olyria's talent and fortune, my mediocre gifts lost all value to him.
14:50My worth had been decided long ago, whatever served Olyria best.
14:53And now, the tool in his hand has turned on him.
14:55Silver tongue.
14:57Twisted fact.
14:57His tone is hard, merciless.
14:59He tries to cover the wound I have carved into his pride.
15:01What you have done is beyond forgiveness.
15:04The last shred of loyalty I had for this place, it burns out completely.
15:07Then as of today, I owe neither you nor this tower anything.
15:10We are done.
15:10Done?
15:11You think a lowest rank apprentice gets to decide when this ends?
15:13This abyss is your grave.
15:15The magic hand glows brighter.
15:16The power spikes.
15:17Enough to level the entire bottom of the abyss.
15:20The shockwave alone cracks the ground under my boots into a spider web.
15:23I can't take this hit head on.
15:24My eyes lock on the phoenix corpse.
15:26Broken neck.
15:27Fainted gold.
15:28The primal devourer roars with hunger.
15:30This pure blood core is stronger than Lysiater's.
15:32No time for a full ritual.
15:34I grab the bird and shove it against my chest.
15:36Dark gold threads rip out of the corpse.
15:38They flood straight into me.
15:39Pure phoenix essence explodes in my body.
15:41Every vein burns.
15:42My power surges.
15:43Arch Master level 3.
15:45Level 4.
15:46Peak.
15:463 leaps.
15:473 heartbeats.
15:48Maldius's magic hand is still dropping.
15:50I lift my head.
15:50I point a single finger.
15:52Dark gold energy pools at the tip.
15:54It isn't magic.
15:55It's the devourer's source.
15:56Older.
15:57Stronger than everything.
15:58I flick my finger.
15:59Maldius's peak archmast attack shatters like glass breaking from within.
16:03Soundless.
16:03Everything fades into a thousand specks of light glistening across the abyss.
16:07The abyss falls silent.
16:09Five faces staring down at me.
16:11I'll never forget their expressions.
16:12It's the look people wear when their world shatters before their eyes.
16:15I don't hesitate.
16:16I launch myself from the bottom onto the ledge.
16:19Cedric.
16:19A blast of dark gold energy slams them into the rock wall.
16:22They go limp before they hit the ground.
16:24Aurelia crashes to the dirt.
16:25Paralyzed by fear.
16:27Maldius the man who just tried to kill me is frozen.
16:29His eyes are wide with disbelief.
16:31I walk up to him a full head shorter.
16:32He takes a step back.
16:33Mentor, do you remember what you told the orphanage mage from the day you brought me here?
16:38Aurelia was next to me.
16:39Three years older.
16:40You adopted her from a top-tier noble family the year before.
16:43You said she had the phoenix mark.
16:44A once-in-a-century prodigy.
16:46Seven years.
16:47I woke up two hours early every day to study.
16:50Just slept in.
16:50I stayed up four hours late every night to research.
16:53She went to galas.
16:54In every magical trial, I placed at the absolute leg top.
16:56You said she never even sat for an expense.
16:58Seven years hatching and you tossing like rubbish.
16:59I hatched into the air of Yerma Mangahar.
17:01And today?
17:01Today you tried to kill me for her phoenix.
17:04Maldus's lips tremble.
17:05Vesta, I...
17:06I press my hand against his chest.
17:08Your turn.
17:09The devourer wakes up.
17:11Not death.
17:12An archmage does not fear death.
17:14This is worse.
17:15Total erration.
17:16His magic?
17:16Everything that makes him an archmaster.
17:18Pulled out.
17:19Thread by thread.
17:20Turned into dark gold energy.
17:22Drawn into my veins.
17:24I do not devour him completely.
17:25I let him live.
17:27I strip him of everything.
17:28Magic.
17:29Affinity.
17:30Rank.
17:30I leave him breathing.
17:32For a man like Maldus, life without magic is worse than death.
17:35I pull my hand back.
17:37He collapses.
17:38His hair turns white.
17:39Deep wrinkles carve into his face.
17:41His eyes go dim.
17:42He looks up at me.
17:43I look down at him.
17:44Tell me, Maldus.
17:46Who betrayed whom?
17:47Aurelia is still on the ground.
17:48Too terrified to make a sound.
17:50I pick up the phoenix corpse.
17:51Most of its energy is gone.
17:52Even dead, its flesh and bones still have value.
17:55The three knocked out seniors?
17:56Not worth my time.
17:57And then there's Mardus.
17:58A few bounds up the abyss walls.
17:59I grab the bird by the wing and leap upward.
18:01And I land dead center in the tower's main plaza.
18:03The senior mentors and apprentices are crowded together, panicking over the power stakes from below.
18:07Was that Archmaster energy?
18:08What happened?
18:09It came from the abyss.
18:10Do we have an intruder?
18:11If the archmist is handling it himself, we should be fine.
18:14I drop from the air, holding a dead bird in one hand, pouring out massive dark power without restraint.
18:19Is that Vesper?
18:21She got out of the abyss?
18:23Is that the phoenix?
18:24That power?
18:24Peak Archmaster?
18:26No way!
18:26She's only been down there a few days!
18:28Vesper!
18:29What are you doing here?
18:30That phoenix, what did you do to Aurelia?
18:32Where is the Archmaester?
18:34I toss the bird on the cobblestones and sweep my gaze across the plaza.
18:39Every apprentice flinches when I look at them.
18:41The Archmaster?
18:42You mean the man who abandoned me to that place?
18:44He tried to kill me.
18:45I pause.
18:47So I took everything from him.
18:49Impossible!
18:50Lies!
18:51How dare you slander the Archmaster?
18:53Tivadar and the other mentors flare their magic, getting ready to take me down.
18:57Don't believe me?
18:58Go look.
18:59He's on the edge of the abyss.
19:00If you hurry, you might just save his life.
19:03They feel my power.
19:04That cannot be faked.
19:05As for the rest of you, I glare at the mentors, especially fixed on Tivadar.
19:09You all agreed to throw me into that abyss.
19:11I move, fast as lightning.
19:12Three strikes land before anyone can react.
19:14The shields of Tivadorn and the other two mentors who approved my sentence shatter, piece by piece.
19:19One by one, they collapse onto the ground, out cold.
19:21Silence.
19:22Even the senior mentors don't have time to lift a finger.
19:24As of today, the Tower of Ashes belongs to me.
19:27If any among you object, step forward.
19:29No one.
19:30No one bows.
19:31But the first one drops his head, then the second, the third, one after another.
19:37Every one of them lowers their head.
19:39Two guards drag Aurelia into the plaza.
19:42Her pristine image is ruined.
19:44Her dress is torn to shreds.
19:46Covered in dirt and blood.
19:47She drops to her knees.
19:49No fake tears this time.
19:51Please.
19:52I was wrong.
19:53Just leave me alive.
19:54Her voice cracks.
19:55She crawls towards me.
19:57Reaches for my robes.
19:58I give her one look.
20:00She freezes.
20:01It was me.
20:02I was jealous.
20:03I only wanted Lysomir for his bloodline.
20:06I shouldn't have let my phoenix go after you.
20:08She chokes on her sobs, stuttering.
20:10Please.
20:11We studied together for seven years.
20:12Just spare me.
20:13I'll do anything.
20:14I'll leave the Tower.
20:15I'll give up the title, Daughter of the Phoenix.
20:17Aurelia.
20:17I cut her off and crouch down so we are eye to eye.
20:21Do you remember what you said to me three years ago?
20:24She goes blank.
20:24I was hatching Lysander.
20:26Three months with no sleep.
20:28My magic was so drained I almost fell down the stairs.
20:30You grabbed my arm and comforted me.
20:32You said, don't push yourself too hard.
20:34When you're familiar hatches, he'll take care of you.
20:36Did you mean any way that?
20:38She can't answer.
20:39I stand up, looking at the unconscious seniors and mentors.
20:42You told me to do the decent thing and let go.
20:45Did any of you hear what you were saying?
20:47Lysander was mine.
20:48Seven years.
20:49I raised him from an egg little by little and you just expected me to hand him over?
20:52Did anyone ask whether I was Willy or the gold man?
20:55You kept Muldra's preaching about Evodia, the daughter of the Phoenix, the Tower's golden hope.
20:58Everyone had to protect her.
20:59Did you forget?
21:00At 12, my control scores exceeded hers by 12%.
21:03At 14, I undertook my first solo mission.
21:05I nearly died bringing back a toxic Magrosa from the Blackwood Ridge.
21:09You said adequate.
21:11Then you spent 20 minutes praising Elaria for picking a lavender in the garden.
21:14At 16, I volunteered for a beast hunt on the Ebis Rim.
21:17You said Our Radia was a better candidate.
21:19She backed out, said she had a headache.
21:23The hunt got cancelled.
21:24You never brought my name up again.
21:25Those jerks his head up.
21:27His cloudy eyes are blank.
21:28He has absolutely nothing to say.
21:30I stare at his blank face.
21:32The last trace of pity in my chest dies.
21:34You all forgot.
21:35I didn't choose to be like this.
21:37You made me this way.
21:39Your favoritessness taught me that resources must be taken.
21:41Your sentence taught me that stepping back means getting crushed.
21:45Your attempt on my life taught me that weakness is a sin.
21:47If you hadn't squeezed every drop of humanity out of me, if you hadn't thrown me in the
21:51abyss to die, I'd still be the quiet little Vesper, keeping her head down, begging for
21:56fair treatment.
21:57You created the monster standing in front of you.
22:00Utter silence.
22:01Just Elaria's muffled sobs.
22:03The crowd is barely breathing.
22:04They understand now.
22:06I wasn't born cold.
22:07They made me this way.
22:08Their bias, indifference, and cruelty.
22:11Strike by stroke, they forged me.
22:12I square my shoulders and turn away, not looking at their faces.
22:15You admitted your sins.
22:17Now it's time to pay.
22:18Aurelia.
22:19She looks up.
22:20Your apprentice status is revoked.
22:21Your magic is sealed.
22:22Just enough to keep you alive.
22:24You will live at the bottom of the abyss, where your terror will draw out the lesser beasts
22:27to serve as target practice for the apprentice.
22:30You will live.
22:31That much, I will guarantee.
22:32But you're going to spend the rest of your life in the abyss where you tried to bury me.
22:36All the color drains from her face.
22:39She knows exactly what that means.
22:41She opens her mouth to beg.
22:42I don't give her the chance.
22:43Maldus, for the sake of the one useful thing he taught me, Volume 7, Chapter 3, Sectional
22:4911, he gets to stay in the tower.
22:51Stripped of all privileges, reduced to the lowest servant in the tower.
22:54A former archmist, scrubbing floors and handing out rations.
22:58The rest of you keep your lives.
22:59For now.
23:00But this tower will never drag anyone down again.
23:03Starting tomorrow, advancement will be earned under my rule alone.
23:06Fewer rewards, harder trials.
23:09No exceptions.
23:10All resources go through me.
23:12I walk toward the main spire.
23:13I don't look back.
23:15Only one thought remains.
23:16What I will hunt next.
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