Arran grew up the son of a common guardsman in a small town named Riverbend. His mother abandoned him when he was just a small child, and he was raised by his father.

After Arran's father was mortally wounded by bandits, on his deathbed he revealed that Arran's mother had been a mage.

Arran took revenge for his father's death, killing the bandits responsible by barricading the farm where they were hiding out and setting it ablaze with them inside.

With his father dead and knowing that his mother had been a mage, Arran decided to travel to Fulai City in hopes of joining the Academy, a magical college.

When he was tested for magical talent at the Academy, Arran was discovered to have a forbidden Realm — a forbidden type of magic that would see him imprisoned and killed by the Academy if he was caught.

Arran fled the Academy and Fulai City with the help of Master Zhao, a powerful mage and member of the Academy with mysterious motives.

During their travels, Master Zhao instructed Arran in swordsmanship and magic, helping him gain two additional Realms, Fire and Shadow.

Master Zhao greatly sped up Arran's his training by giving him a Realm Opening Pill — a type of pill containing concentrated Essence. After Arran took the pill, the Essence within it forced open his connections to his Realms.

Eventually, they reached a monastery headed by Grandmaster Windsong, an old friend of Master Zhao. Here, Arran gained a Wind Realm, and he was further instructed in the use of magic while forging friendships with some of the monastery's students.

Arran and Master Zhao were betrayed to the Academy by Windsong, and although they survived the Academy's attack, the monastery suffered heavy casualties.

After the attack, Master Zhao left with Arran and Jiang Fei, one of the monastery's students, explaining that they would travel to the Shadowflame Society.

Shortly after they departed, Master Zhao left Arran and Jiang Fei, telling them that his presence would only draw further attention and attacks from the Academy.

During their travels, Arran got involved in a battle with a powerful Academy mage named Stormleaf. In a desperate bid to survive, Arran managed to defeat Stormleaf by using the Essence of nearly a dozen Realm Opening Pills at once.

Although successful, this desperate action left him severely injured and opened his Realms further than his body could withstand.

Arran was helped by Lord Jiang, who taught him how to use Body Refinement to allow his body to withstand the Essence within him, while also greatly increasing his strength in combat.

During their time at Lord Jiang's estate Arran and Jiang Fei grew close, but their time together was cut short after a group of members of the Jiang Clan attempted to use Arran to challenge Lord Jiang's authority.

Although Lord Jiang easily dealt with them, the incident made him decide to take back control of the Jiang Clan, and he left, taking Jiang Fei along as his apprentice.

Arran traveled alone for some time, but eventually, he got drawn into a conflict between two exceedingly powerful individuals, Senecio and Panurge — gods of Order and Chaos, supposedly.

Panurge offered to accept Arran into the ranks of Chaos to protect him from the Academy — who were on the side of Order — but when Arran refused, he instead whisked him off to a cell in some unknown place.

Handing Arran a Force Realm Scroll and some spells, Panurge told him that with a few decades of practice, he should be able to escape by himself.

Arran managed to escape the cell after just a year using the condensed Essence of five Realm Opening Pills, but the cell turned out to be deep within an Academy prison, and in the ensuing battle Arran was heavily injured.

After he recovered, Arran finally set off for the Shadowflame Society.

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CHARACTERS

ARRAN - The protagonist.

MASTER ZHAO - A powerful mage who helped Arran escape from the Academy. Despite the time they spent traveling together, much about him still remains a mystery to Arran.

GRANDMASTER WINDSONG - An old friend of Master Zhao who headed a monastery where mages studied magic. Windsong betrayed Arran and Master Zhao to the Academy, but after the Academy's attack failed, he was caught and imprisoned by the Academy.

Arran eventually freed Windsong from his cell while making his own escape, but he fell in the ensuing battle, dying while fighting at Arran's side.

ADEPT KADIR - One of the mages at Windsong's monastery, and a teacher and friend to Arran. After the fall of the monastery, he escaped into the mountains to hide from the Academy.

AMAR GUHA - An initiate at Windsong's monastery and talented swordsman who became a good friend of Arran's. He joined Adept Kadir in fleeing into the mountains.

JIANG FEI - An initiate at Windsong's monastery who traveled with Master Zhao and Arran after the Academy's failed attack, eventually becoming a close friend (and maybe more) to Arran. A low-ranking member of the powerful Jiang Clan, she was lifted into prominence when Lord Jiang decided to take her as his apprentice.

STORMLEAF - A powerful Academy mage who intended to kidnap Jiang Fei and kill Arran. This did not work out well for him. After Arran burned him to a crisp, Lord Jiang took his skull as a decorative paperweight.

LORD JIANG - A powerful mage, Body Refinement practitioner, patriarch of the Jiang Clan, and potential competitive eating world champion, Lord Jiang helped Arran recover after his encounter with Stormleaf by teaching him Body Refinement.

When members of the Redstone branch of the Jiang Clan challenged his authority, he decided to leave and take back control of the Jiang Clan, taking Jiang Fei with him as his apprentice.

SENECIO - A mysterious representative of the forces of Order, Senecio is an extremely powerful ally of the Academy and possibly a god. Despite being on the side of Order, Senecio has so far shown no hostility toward Arran.

PANURGE - A representative of the forces of Chaos and self-proclaimed god, Panurge is a temperamental and powerful liar and scoundrel, as well as an enemy of the Academy who may or may not be an ally or enemy to Arran.

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MAGIC

REALMS - Realms are parts of reality that are filled with concentrated magic Essence. Mages can draw Essence from these Realms, and the stronger their connection to a Realm is, the more Essence they can draw in. In common parlance, the word "Realm" is often used to refer to the connection rather than the Realm itself.

Normally, a mage's connection to his Realms will gradually strengthen over time as he uses Essence, but there are ways for mages to rapidly strengthen the connections.

REALM SCROLLS - Magical items that can be used to grant someone a connection to a Realm. This connection will initially be sealed, and the mage will have to break through it himself.

This is normally a slow process, but it can be sped up if a mage uses a Realm Opening Pill or — like Arran — has access to certain special kinds of Essence.

ESSENCE - Concentrated magical energy that is drawn from Realms and can be used to perform techniques or spells. While doing so is normally safe, if a mage somehow takes in more Essence than his body can handle, he might die.

SEALS - Seals are made from Essence, and can be used to mask or even seal off a mage's connections to his Realms.

TECHNIQUES - Techniques are relatively simple and straightforward ways to use Essence, for example using Fire Essence to form and throw a fireball.

SPELLS - Spells are complex ways to manipulate Essence. Far more difficult to learn than simple techniques, spells also have the potential to be far more powerful. Examples of spells so far are Windblade, Battering Force, and Force Shield.

BODY REFINEMENT - Body Refinement uses Essence to strengthen the body rather than to perform spells.

NATURAL ESSENCE - A special kind of Essence which is drawn from the natural world rather than from Realms, and which is extremely effective when used for Body Refinement.

While drawing it in by oneself is normally too slow to be useful, it can also be gathered by consuming plants or animals that contain a heavy concentration of natural Essence.

REALM OPENING PILLS - Realm Opening Pills are pills made from condensed Essence. When someone with a closed or weak Realm takes a Realm Opening Pill, his connection to the Realm will be forcibly opened and widened, greatly increasing his access to the Realm.

As Arran discovered, the Essence contained in Realm Opening Pills can also be used directly, provided that one is able to withstand the pain of being filled with far more Essence than would otherwise be possible. This may not be safe.

VOID BAGS - Void bags are bags that have been enchanted to have their own Void Realm, a space where mages can store items. Void Realms can be far larger than the bag they're linked to, and the weight of items in a Void Realm is not transferred to the void bag that contains it.