Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
The year is 27 EC, and the world is still broken.
Monsters still stalk the wilderness. Demons and spirits still haunt the darkness. The wild, chaotic, destructive force of magic still rages, uncontrolled, in many corners of the kingdom of Qarm: smashing mountains, breaking coastlines, swallowing forests, flooding rivers, boiling seas, and burning the sky.
But not everywhere. Slowly, in cities and settlements all over Qarm, civilization is recovering. The Worldbreaking, though cataclysmic, was not the apocalypse after all. The Worldbinding three years ago saw some semblance of peace and stability restored. Now the world can be defended, healed, and — hopefully — reborn.
You are going to be part of that healing. As a student at the Perelandrian Institute, you have been given the opportunity to learn the intricate mysteries of magic — not for the sake of power or curiosity, but in order to help mitigate the terrible suffering that magic has caused. “Know the enemy” is the motto of Isidor Perelandrian, the school’s founder.
Practicing magic is strictly illegal without a license, of course, but you already have your provisional mage's license and are well on your way to earning your permanent one. In just a few years, you will be a licensed alchemist — and you can’t wait.