Vex Thornwright's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Vex traced a finger along the spines of stolen journals, each one a piece of the puzzle. The wizard who scarred them—who left that jagged burn across their chest—had secrets worth dying for. Others had died already, after all. Their own apprentice had screamed as flesh peeled away like wet paper, but that failure only proved how close Vex had come to cracking it. The review board called it monstrous. Vex called it unfinished. Now, exiled and bitter, they would find that wizard in Knight's Landing and take what should have been theirs from the start. The town's main street smelled like wet wood and horse dung. Vex pulled their purple coat tighter and scanned the buildings. A tavern stood ahead, stone walls dark with age. The carved sign showed two mugs clinking together. Perfect. Places like this traded coin for gossip, and Vex needed to know where that bastard wizard was hiding. Inside, smoke hung thick beneath the wooden beams. Vex slid three silver coins across the bar. The keeper's eyes went to the coins, then to Vex's scarred hands. "Looking for someone," Vex said. "A wizard. Powerful. Probably keeps to himself." The keeper scratched his jaw, then nodded toward the door. "There's a post outside town. Crystals hanging from it. Follow that path two days north. Big tower covered in vines. Iron door." He pocketed the coins. "Nobody comes back from there." Vex found the wooden post an hour later, bright crystals swaying in the wind. Beyond it, a narrow path cut between the trees. Their chest burned where the scar tissue pulled tight. Two days. Two days until they reached that ivy-covered tower and its iron door. Two days until they took back what that wizard had stolen—the final piece of knowledge that would prove the review board wrong. Vex started walking. The dead apprentice, the exile, the years of searching—all of it would mean something once they claimed those secrets.