The Forsaken Hero
I closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath. My fingers were numb and cold, my arm aching where the needle pierced the vein. Something clattered onto the pavement, and I looked down to see the needle. It had slipped out of my hand. Nothingness swirled around me, bringing the first sense of peace I'd felt in my short, miserable life. There was no one to miss me, and no one I would miss. There's always someone else to beat or rape. The regulars would move on quickly. I died. Only...wasn't death supposed to be dark? And since when did 'nothingness' have so many gods? Discord: https://discord.gg/PX3xqJdZMY
Smile
The days after the tournament slipped by all too quickly, backing me up against the wall of departure. Small butterflies fluttered around my stomach whenever I thought of the approaching date, filling me with uneasy anticipation. With so little time left, I dove into training with renewed vigor. Since I had finally crossed the threshold of fifth-circle magic, my mana underwent a transformative expansion. The difference between circles was small at lower levels, so I hadn't noticed the difference before, but my body now overflowed with power. Each time a mage transcended tiers, their mana reciprocated and became much easier to increase for a small period of time. By the end of the second day after the tournament, I was capable of casting three fifth-circle spells back to back, provided I was okay with collapsing to the ground afterward. Selena certainly wasn't happy about that…