• Prologue

    In a world nearly identical to our own, there is to be found only three differences. The first is that the world in question is in a time period over a hundred years ahead of ours. The second is that a place known as Nimoshi Isle exists in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
    Finally, the world, known as Earth as well, is populated by human beings who bear the power to wield magic in the form of ancient stones known as runes. Many runes were discovered, others created, and many dreamed of.
    In this world of rune-casting and adventure, two major groups vie for dominance: the Castor Association and the Maagisterium. The Association battles for order and justice, while the mysterious Maagisterium claims that the world needs a single leader, and the Maagisterium’s itself would fit the role better than any other.
    Many castors—young and old, talented or mediocre—have been entrusted their own roles in the Association, as teachers at the Association-controlled academy and institutes, while the Maagisterium is rumored to only ever hire the most harsh and powerful castors to their ranks.
    And so, the conflict, having arisen numerous years ago, continues today, the thick of the tension on Nimoshi Isle, where the Association has based its headquarters.

    As Elyko Castaria had fled his home nearly a month ago, he was very anxious to find a place where he could live his life in training to fulfill his dreams. He’d always wanted to be like his father Tamerok, who was a famed and legendary Castor Association leader. He looked exactly like his father, with his scarlet red hair and vibrant blue eyes, but Elyko had left his only home knowing that he could not reach his goal under the restraints of his family’s safety.
    Elyko trudged through the thick jungle, sloshing through a swampy puddle in the path he was following. In the last small town he’d left about two days back, an old wise man, Elyko believed he said his name was Gexo, had told him that this path would bring him to a place where his and another’s destinies would entwine. Elyko thought the road less traveled would lead to a town or something like that.
    He was wrong. Instead, he found a young boy crying quietly under the large roots of a rotting tree. Elyko rushed through the marshy ground to the boy, who was definitely no more than four years old, and pulled him out from beneath the wet dead cage and held him tight as the boy cried louder.
    “Easy there, c’mon now.” Elyko tried to calm the seemingly devastated child down, but he wailed endlessly while Elyko held him. After a few minutes, the boy’s sobs were silenced by his weariness.
    Elyko picked the boy up and carried him along the path, and the boy moaned and looked off into the sky. “Hey,” Elyko asked. “What’s your name?”
    The boy glanced at Elyko after rubbing his eyes and responded, “Valkyrie Chimes.”
    “Valkyrie, huh? That’s a pretty cool name you know.” Although why a young boy’s name was Valkyrie was lost to him. “Is your family anywhere near here, Valkyrie, or-.”
    Elyko didn’t say much more before he smelled smoke and felt warmer than he had in the wet forest. Proceeding, he came out into a clearing where he could see down a hill at a horrible sight. And as he saw it, Valkyrie cried quietly, “They’re down there.”
    The large town below was scorched black from flames that must have died out earlier that day, and Elyko felt the heat still radiating from the landscape. Valkyrie buried his head in Elyko’s chest and Elyko stepped back from the scene and retreated down another, much drier and clearer path than the previous one.
    Following his jog away from the nightmare, Elyko set Valkyrie down, and the four year old looked into his own twelve year old eyes. “Valkyrie,” Elyko choked out, barely keeping himself from crying at the sight of the town, “I promise that I’ll keep you safe. Understand? I will never let anything like this happen to you again, alright?”
    Valkyrie again wiped his eyes, but proved it worthless as his wails resurfaced as he hugged Elyko, which the traveler took as a yes. Picking Valkyrie back up, Elyko continued down the path, vowing to never look back on that place ever again.
    He also prayed that Valkyrie would never have to either.