The Mentor's Shadow
Academy Library -- Late Evening
Carsel sat surrounded by towering stacks of books, their ancient leather bindings worn smooth by countless hands. The flickering candlelight cast dancing shadows across pages filled with arcane knowledge, but none contained the answers he desperately sought.
Three weeks, he thought with growing desperation. Three weeks since the confrontation with Vincent, and the withdrawal symptoms are getting worse.
His hands trembled slightly as he turned another page of "Advanced Theory of Magical Addiction." The text was clinical, detached, describing symptoms he knew intimately: progressive weakness, mental instability, eventual organ failure.
None of these books mention Soul Devourer specifically. Of course they don't. I'm probably the only person stupid enough to develop this particular addiction.
"Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Nightshade?"
Carsel spun around, his hand instinctively moving toward his sword hilt. A figure emerged from between the towering bookshelves—an elderly man in simple robes, with salt-and-pepper hair and eyes that seemed to hold depths of knowledge.
"Professor Thaddeus," Carsel said, recognizing the academy's librarian. "I didn't hear you approach."
"Old habits," the professor replied with a slight smile. "A lifetime of moving quietly among books teaches one... discretion."
Professor Thaddeus was known throughout the academy as an eccentric scholar who rarely left the library. Students whispered that he had been at the academy for over fifty years, though he appeared to be only in his sixties. Most dismissed him as a harmless old academic.
But something about his presence made Carsel's dark magic stir uneasily.
"Research for a class project?" Thaddeus asked, glancing at the books spread across the table.
"Something like that," Carsel replied carefully.
Thaddeus picked up one of the volumes—"Forbidden Magics and Their Consequences"—and raised an eyebrow. "Ambitious reading for a Class 3 student. Most don't tackle theoretical dark magic until Class 10, if at all."
"I'm not most students."
"No," Thaddeus agreed, his eyes studying Carsel with uncomfortable intensity. "You're certainly not. Tell me, what exactly are you hoping to find in these particular texts?"
Carsel hesitated. Every instinct screamed caution, but desperation was a powerful motivator. "Information about... magical addiction. Specifically, addiction to life force absorption."
"Ah." Thaddeus set the book down with careful deliberation. "Soul Devourer syndrome. Quite rare. Quite dangerous. And quite illegal to research in most kingdoms."
Carsel's blood went cold. "You know about it?"
"Young man, I've been studying forbidden magic for longer than you've been alive. The Soul Devourer ability is mentioned in exactly seven texts, all of which are restricted from student access." He paused, studying Carsel's pale face. "Unless, of course, one knows where to look."
The Hidden Archive
Twenty minutes later, Carsel found himself in a section of the library he had never seen before. Behind a concealed door marked with protective runes, narrow corridors lined with glass cases containing books that seemed to radiate malevolent energy.
"The Restricted Archive," Thaddeus explained as they walked. "Knowledge too dangerous for general consumption, but too valuable to destroy."
"Why are you showing me this?" Carsel asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Because," Thaddeus stopped in front of a particular case, "you're dying."
The words hit Carsel like a physical blow. "What?"
"Soul Devourer addiction has a mortality rate of approximately ninety-three percent within six months of first manifestation. You've been experiencing symptoms for... three weeks? That gives you perhaps two months before irreversible organ damage begins."
Carsel slumped against the wall, the weight of confirmation crushing whatever hope he had maintained. "So I'm dead."
"Not necessarily." Thaddeus opened the glass case and withdrew a tome bound in what looked like black dragonscale. "There are... alternatives. Methods of managing the addiction without feeding on innocent creatures."
"What kind of alternatives?"
Thaddeus opened the book to a page covered with diagrams of magical energy flows. "Substitution feeding. Instead of consuming life essence directly, you can subsist on ambient magical energy from other sources. Crystallized mana, ancient artifacts, concentrated elemental essence."
Hope flared in Carsel's chest. "That would work?"
"With proper technique and significant practice, yes. The hunger would be manageable, the withdrawal symptoms controllable." Thaddeus paused, his expression growing grave. "But there are... costs."
"What kind of costs?"
"Emotional numbing. Gradual loss of empathy. Enhanced aggression. Essentially, you would become a functional sociopath—capable of operating in society, but increasingly disconnected from normal human emotional responses."
Carsel stared at the diagrams, weighing survival against humanity. "Is there no other way?"
"There is one." Thaddeus turned to another page, this one depicting a complex magical ritual. "Complete removal of the Soul Devourer ability. Dangerous, painful, and with only a sixty percent survival rate, but it would free you entirely from the addiction."
"And the other forty percent?"
"Death. Or worse—transformation into something that is no longer recognizably human."
Dreams of Silver
That night, Carsel's sleep was plagued by dreams more vivid than any he had experienced before.
He stood in a vast library, but not the academy's familiar halls. This library stretched infinitely in all directions, with floating shelves that moved like living things. Books flew through the air like birds, their pages rustling with whispered secrets.
"You're finally here," a voice said behind him.
Carsel turned and saw a girl about his age, with silver hair that seemed to glow with its own light and knowing eyes that held depths beyond her apparent years. She wore simple clothes, but there was something about her presence that felt... significant.
"Who are you?" Carsel asked.
"Someone who understands," she replied, moving closer. "Someone who knows what it's like to be trapped by circumstances beyond your control."
"I don't understand."
The girl smiled, and for a moment her face flickered, showing someone older, sadder, carrying weights that no child should bear. "You will. When the time comes, you'll understand everything."
"When what time comes?"
But the dream was already fading, the infinite library dissolving into morning light streaming through his dormitory window.
Carsel woke with tears on his cheeks and a sense of profound loss for something he couldn't name.
Royal Machinations
In the Ruby Dormitory's private meeting room, four royal students gathered around a table covered with documents, maps, and magical communication crystals.
"The situation is becoming untenable," Prince Aldric said, his usual composed demeanor showing cracks of frustration. "Nightshade grows stronger and more independent by the day. Our previous methods are no longer effective."
Princess Seraphina consulted a report written in elegant script. "According to our intelligence network, he's been researching forbidden magic. Something related to his... dietary requirements."
"He's looking for alternatives to hunting," Prince Lucian observed. "Which suggests he's trying to develop moral restraints. That could be problematic for our plans."
Princess Lyanna laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "Moral restraints? From the boy who tortured Vincent in front of the entire academy?"
"People change," Prince Aldric said thoughtfully. "Especially when facing mortality. Fear has a way of clarifying priorities."
"So what do you propose?" Seraphina asked.
Prince Aldric stood, moving to a window that overlooked the academy grounds. In the distance, he could see Carsel walking alone toward the training grounds, his posture showing the careful control of someone managing constant pain.
"We accelerate the timeline," Aldric decided. "Force a crisis that will push him beyond his breaking point before he can find alternatives to his addiction."
"What kind of crisis?" Lucian asked with interest.
"The kind that makes moral choices impossible," Aldric replied with a smile that held no warmth. "The kind that forces him to choose between his principles and his survival."
"And if he chooses principles?"
"Then he dies, and we're rid of a potential threat."
"And if he chooses survival?"
"Then he becomes exactly the monster we need him to be. Either way, we win."
Princess Seraphina opened a communication crystal, its surface glowing with soft blue light. "I'll contact our agents in the city. If we're going to create a crisis, we'll need... external pressure."
"What did you have in mind?" Prince Lyanna asked.
"The victim families," Seraphina replied. "They've been remarkably patient, considering their children's murderer walks free in these halls. Perhaps it's time they... took more direct action."
Prince Lucian nodded with approval. "Force Nightshade into a situation where he must feed or die, with innocent lives hanging in the balance. Perfect moral trap."
"And if innocents are harmed in the process?" Princess Lyanna asked, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.
"Acceptable casualties," Prince Aldric replied without hesitation. "The greater good sometimes requires difficult choices."
As the four royals continued planning, none of them noticed the small shadow that detached itself from the wall and slipped away through a crack in the window. Vex's necromantic familiar had heard everything, and the young necromancer was already hurrying toward Onyx Dormitory with a warning.
The Warning
"They're planning something big," Vex whispered urgently as he found Carsel in the dormitory common room. "The royals. I heard them talking about forcing a crisis, bringing in the victim families, trapping you in an an impossible choice."
Carsel looked up from the meditation exercises Professor Thaddeus had taught him—techniques for managing withdrawal symptoms without feeding. "When?"
"Soon. Maybe days, maybe hours. They want to push you past your breaking point before you can find alternatives to your... condition."
Carsel closed his eyes, feeling the familiar hunger gnawing at his insides. The meditation helped, but it was like trying to hold back an ocean with a paper dam. Eventually, something would give.
"There's more," Vex continued. "They mentioned external pressure. Agents in the city. I think they're going to use your past against you."
"The three children who died," Carsel said quietly.
"Their families. They want to put you in a situation where you have to choose between feeding and letting innocents die."
Carsel opened his eyes, and for a moment Vex saw something in their depths that made him step backward. Not anger, not hatred, but a cold calculation that was somehow more frightening.
"Then I need to be ready," Carsel said with finality. "Professor Thaddeus showed me techniques that might work. Substitution feeding using magical artifacts instead of living essence."
"Will it be enough?"
"It has to be." Carsel stood, his movements careful but determined. "Because I won't let them turn me into a monster for their entertainment."
"And if the techniques don't work? If you're forced to choose between feeding and dying?"
Carsel was quiet for a long moment, staring out the window at storm clouds gathering on the horizon. When he spoke, his voice carried a weight that seemed far too heavy for someone his age.
"Then I'll choose dying. Because some things are worse than death, and becoming what they want me to become is one of them."
But even as he spoke the words, Carsel could feel the Soul Devourer addiction whispering otherwise. When the moment came, when survival was on the line, would noble intentions be enough to overcome the primal hunger for life itself?
Outside, the storm clouds grew darker, and somewhere in the distance, a girl with silver hair woke from her own dreams with tears on her cheeks and the absolute certainty that somewhere, someone she had never met was about to face a choice that would determine the fate of the world.
The pieces were moving toward their final positions, and the game that had begun with the fall of the Stellaris Kingdom was about to enter its most dangerous phase.