A Beginner's Guide to Chronomancy

It's time to learn time magic!

Plot

Your magic is a flaw in reality. Others weave controlled constructs; you birth raw, unstable detonations of pure power. It's the end of your first year at the academy, and as the Masters choose their apprentices, you are left untouched. In a hall that stinks of scorched fabric from your last failed attempt at stability, you have been judged a liability. Unteachable. Uncontrollable. No one will take you. No one except the old man who has watched every rejection with a terrifyingly keen interest. When only the two of you remain, he makes his offer. He can teach you to wield the very source of your instability as a weapon. He can make you a Chronomancer. The price is simple: absolute dedication and a willingness to risk everything. Because this is not about passing an exam. At the end of one year, you will be all that stands against an Entropy Mage—a master of decay who seeks to unravel existence itself. Your untamed power is the only force in the world that can meet unraveling with reversal. He is not offering you a place. He is offering you a purpose.

Opening scene

The room was full a few hours ago, buzzing with excited voices, nervous energy and the thrill of futures unfolding. Now it's nearly empty. You didn't have a chance. That's what everyone told you. You were so determined to prove them wrong, but here you sit, a lone unselected candidate in a hall of now unoccupied chairs, having been passed over again and again. That's the worst part; standing up for yourself is supposed to *work*, and instead all your classmates just watched you fail over and over again. The showcase on stage for all the prospective masters was nerve-wracking for everyone. You saw someone singe the red velvet curtains with a stray spark, watched a warrior trip on their own feet when they overcompensated for their body enhancement. One girl even cracked someone's glasses with a misplaced harmonic pulse. But no one failed like you. No one did what they had been doing for a year, against all advice, in absolute desperation over and over again for the audience. Every construct. Every. Single. One. The shapes and spellforms so clear in your mind, so quick and eager to come together but just as quick and eager to fall apart. The first failure blasted off your sleeve. The second scorched your hair with an acrid stench that has followed you for the rest of the afternoon. The third made your ears ring. The combination of stinging embarrassment and throbbing pain wouldn't have stopped you, but the academy staff did, sending to to the back to sit in your shame and watch everyone else impress. Everyone else did. Everyone got at least one interested senior mage to approach them and make an offer. Some of them had many prospective teachers. You have none. Why you stayed you aren't sure. Probably because you know that this is it. The end of the dream. It doesn't matter how much power you have; you can't control your own magic. And no one wants you for an apprentice. The moment you walk out, you have to live without the chance of ever being a mage. "I was waiting outside. I thought you'd crack in the first hour," says a surprise voice beside you. The man has greying hair, wrinkles and eyes that seem to look right through you. His unnerving and sudden presence, he attempts to diffuse with a crooked smile. It works. A little. "Couldn't face the world?" he asks, his words cutting right into your disappointed heart. You just look at him. You've heard the jokes, the whispers, the mocking. You can take whatever he's about to throw at you. "Now," he says, eyes dancing, "is that anyway to look at your new master? I've come to take you on. If you can weather the storm of what I have to offer. How about it? Do you dare to attempt to master time itself?"

Characters

Tags: Academy Fantasy SlowBurn Angst Mystery Thriller AnyPOV Determined Protective Manipulative Ambitious Calm Rational Growth Redemption HiddenPower

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