Season 1: The Burnt Memory
Short Synopsis: In a dying land where magic is fed on emotion, a boy with a broken past may hold the spark to change everything.
Magic is fueled by instability of the human emotions in Eidoria. Kael Straven arrives in Ashguard with a broken Spark and no memory of anything beyond it. As students vanish and language-speaking forces rise up, Kael realizes he may be the last bearer of forbidden power that can either save or destroy Eidoria.
Episode 1: Arrival at Ashguard
The sky over Eidoria was cracked with silent thunder. No rain. No wind. Just the eerie hum of something ancient awakening.
Kael Straven got off the iron railcar that brought him to Ashguard Academy, a black spire rising and piercing through the skies from the dead forest. He carried no luggage, not even a sack, just a half-burned photograph and a mark across his left palm. The Spark Mark. Imperfect. Incomplete.
Students were talking about him even before the first class was held.
"That's the boy from Glinmere, right? The only survivor."
"He has no memory of the fire. Very convenient, I'd say."
Kael chose to ignore them. Not because he was brave; it was because he had to. Whenever he concentrated too long on other people's words his mark throbbed—and something close by would disappear. Whole chairs, pages, even recollections. It had occurred before.
Within the Academy
Ashguard was colder than he had ever thought. Not merely in temperature. The walls themselves drew emotion from your bones. The halls rang differently, as if stone was recalling footsteps from years ago.
Mistress Elowen welcomed the new class within the Grand Hollow—a round room where Sparks formerly fell from the sky during the Nightfall Storms. Now, only a peculiar glass dome rested above it, glowing with black light.
"Welcome, broken ones," Elowen remarked. Her tone was reminiscent of chalk on weathered wood. "All of you have been selected, not for strength, but for unbalance. Something within you is shattered. That makes you dangerous. and indispensable."
Kael sensed her gaze settle upon him longer than the rest.
The Test of Embers
That evening, the students were led to the Ember Hall—a cathedral-sized chamber containing the final natural Soul Sparks. Glowing embers floated above candle-lit pillars, each of a varied hue.
"Grasp your ember," Mistress Elowen instructed, "and have it remember you."
Kael grasped a weak blue spark. As it approached his target, it glowed once. then exploded. All embers in the room flared.
Gulps. Cries. One student fell over. Another completely disappeared.
Kael blinked. Where was the girl sitting next to him?
Mistress Elowen gazed at him, face impassive.
"So it begins again," she breathed.
Aftermath
Kael dreamed that night of a tower under the academy. Within it there was a throne constructed of ash and bone. A voice—familiar and impossible—whispered:
"You are not broken. You are the spark that was never lit."
He awoke with his mark aglow. Something in the academy had changed.
And out, high over the spire, a Reverse Spark—inky black, teardrop-shaped—hovered for the first time in decades.
Later That Week
Kael roamed the east wing of the academy during free time, trying not to run into the others. He came across a closed hallway inscribed with ancient runes—pale red as dying embers. He put his hand close to it, and the symbol responded, pulsed like flame.
Before he could take a step back, the runes moved and spoke in an unfamiliar tongue. The stone creaked open a crack, showing a thin entrance into darkness.
Someone grasped his shoulder.
"You shouldn't be here," said an even voice, cold as ice.
Kael turned. A silver-haired boy with pale eyes stood behind him—Lior Sannox, the boy who hardly spoke during class.
"Why does it react to you?" Lior questioned, his eyes upon Kael's mark.
"I don't know," Kael replied truthfully.
Lior regarded him for a moment longer. Then he turned and went away. "If it opens again, don't go alone. The Hollow takes energy from loneliness."
Kael watched him go, not knowing if it was warning or invitation.