Page 5 of Shardless

“Yes, little sister.” He tried his best to smile reassuringly, despite the tears that rolled down his cheeks. “She’ll remember. Every child dreams of their mother’s face.”

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15 years later

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Chapter 1

-An excerpt from Practical Spellcasting for the Modern Mage

The study of magic inevitably begins with a single question: what is aether?

At its core, aether is a gaseous element, naturally occurring in breathable air. It is the building block of magic, the cornerstone of modern science, the foundation upon which the Fey Imperium resides.

In short, aether is everything, so ubiquitous within our society that even class divisions are defined by the genetic predisposition to absorb, refine, and transform this substance into various forms of magical output. The fey, as natural magic users, stratify themselves into sub-classes based upon birth and ability, whereas those that cannot wield aether to perform magic reside at the bottom of thesocial hierarchy and are given a single designation: shardless.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Taly muttered between gasping breaths, her legs pumping frantically.

She could hear the wyvern behind her. Its claws scratched across the rocks that dotted the forested cliffside path overlooking Lake Reginea, and a feral yowl pierced the chill morning air. She spared a glance over her shoulder, and immediately regretted it.

The beast’s body was a gangly, hulking mass, and the scales coating its skin looked like jewels—shards of ruby, agate, jasper, and emerald that glinted in the scant patches of light shining through the treetops. Great leathery wings protruded from its back, each one adorned with a long, bony hook that kept catching on the low-hanging tree branches as it barreled after her.

Taly veered off the overgrown hunting trail she had been following, sliding under a fallen tree and ripping the fabric of her trousers as she changed course. She could feel blood trickling down her leg, but she paid it no mind as she wove her way through the densely packed woods.

A series of snarls and growls trailed after her as the beast tried to press its way between the thickening tree cover. Twigs snapped and leaves crackled as they were shaken loose and thrown to the ground. The beast was frantic as it flung itself against the trees, splintering those plants whose trunks had yet to become gnarled and hardened with age. It had been slowed down, but so had she.

It was gaining.

Rays of morning sunlight peeked through the trees up ahead, and Taly was almost blinded when she finally emerged from the woods. The worn soles of her boots found little traction on the rocky outcrop, but she didn’t slow down—not even when she approached the jagged edge of the cliff.

Saying a short prayer to the Shards, Taly jumped.

The sound of wind filled her ears as the world rushed by in a blur. Hugging her body, she braced herself for the cold shock of water as she dove feet-first into the placid waters of Lake Reginea almost 30 feet below.

Taly closed her eyes as she plunged deeper and deeper, and she jolted, biting her lip against the pain that rippled up her legs when her feet collided with the lake bottom. Golden tendrils of hair floated in front of her face as she peered up through the murky depths, and she hooked her foot beneath one of the various pieces of rusty scrap metal that littered the lakebed to keep from floating to the top. A dark, winged shadow passed overhead. It circled once, twice, its silhouette distorted by the rippling wall of water—like someone had swirled their fingers through a painting that wasn’t quite dry.

Wyverns didn’t usually venture this far south, so it had come as a complete surprise to Taly when she had accidentally stumbled upon a nest as she was walking through the woods that morning. Thank the Shards there had been a lake nearby. Wyverns hated water.

Her lungs began to burn, so Taly released her makeshift anchor and swam to the surface. Gasping for breath, she groped for a nearby piece of driftwood, her eyes scanning the trees. Althoughshe could no longer see the wyvern, she could still hear a low growl coming from the forest’s edge just beyond the scattered perimeter of junk and debris that decorated the shoreline.

The underbrush began to rustle, and a long, hooked beak poked between the trees. The strange bird-like jaws parted to reveal rows upon rows of jagged teeth as the wyvern stepped out of the shadows and took a long, languid sniff.

Shit. Why the hell wasn’t this thing giving up?

Its eyes found hers, and it let loose a ferocious snarl as it pawed at the edge of the water with razor-sharp talons. Its massive club of a tail swung from side-to-side impatiently.

With a shake of its head, the wyvern’s wings extended, and swirls of gravel and dust flew into the air as it began to lift itself off the ground. It flew higher and higher, and when it turned and began drifting over the treetops, Taly was sure that it had finally lost interest in her. Her stomach dropped when it did a surprisingly graceful somersault midair, coasting back over the forest canopy as it began circling the lake once more.

“Go away, you overgrown lizard!” she screamed, getting ready to dive again. Wyverns wouldn’t usually risk flying over water, but on days like today, when the aether was so thin that even Taly, a mortal, could tell that something in the air felt off, the magical beasts could be unpredictable.

The creature arched its back, and its body dipped, but before it could attempt a dive, it gave an indignant squawk as a ribbon of water shot out of the trees and hit it square in the face. The beast shook itself, nearly falling out of the air as it struggled to recover from its surprise. Streams ofwater continued to lash at its body, and it eventually fell to the ground with a heavy thud that rippled the lake’s surface.

“Go on! Get out of here!” A man that looked far too young for the gruff timbre of his voice stepped out of the trees. His skin was tanned from the sun, and the sandy mop of hair curling around his shoulders was windblown and swept to the side. He held a glowing blue crystal in one hand, and tendrils of water magic curled around his body. “Damn pest!” he barked. A wave of his hand sent out another lash of water magic.

The wyvern snapped its beak at the man but slowly backed away as the mage carefully picked his way through the scrap that littered the shore. The creature’s beady eyes flicked back to Taly even as it retreated another step, its body already disappearing behind the tree line. A mortal wasn’t a good enough meal to risk taking on a water mage.

With a final yowl, the creature disappeared into the forest, leaves rustling in the wake of its departure.

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