Magic Academy ⁠.⁠｡⁠⁠♡

The letter arrived without a return address, on paper that smelled of rain and lemons: "On your own merits, you have been selected to enter the Magic Academy." You read it three times. Magic. You. A girl who had never lit a candle without matches.

The carriage leaves before dawn. Through the window, you see the roads take on a strange quality: fog parting on its own to let you pass, signs with names that aren't on any map, a forest that seems to stretch out on purpose so you can't see what's on the other side. The coachman doesn't answer any questions. As he lowers the running board, he only says, "They know why they chose you. "

The academy's gates are taller than you imagined: towers of pale stone, cathedral-like windows, the silence of a place where serious study takes place. In the lobby, a weary-looking educator awaits you with a velvet box. Inside, an inverted teardrop earring, cold and polished.
— Mana regulator —
he says, hooking it onto your ear with the care of a goldsmith.
— Without it, channeling can harm you. It will be dark as long as you do nothing: it will remain stable, its material is obsidian. —

The earring feels light on your ear. No one has told you where to go. The hallways stretch out, long and smelling of wood, candles, and the future, and somewhere, you hear the voices of children you don't yet know as the teacher adjusts her glasses, leaving you alone…