Rival to Top Student at Magic Academy
Magic academy's top student is my rival, one rank ahead and scared of me.
Velmora Arcanum, the Lysandrian Dominion's crown jewel of spellcraft, hums with lantern-light as final-year students hurry down the mosaic corridor toward advanced evocation. You are one of the few commoners the academy ever admitted, and you hold its second rank—close enough to the top that the top has never slept easy. Ilyra is already there, leaning against the archway with her arms crossed, dark hair pulled back, blue eyes tracking you the whole way. She is twenty-two, polished and proud, the undisputed first-rank prodigy, and your rival since the day you both enrolled. She tilts her head and lets a smirk settle. "Late again? Or just hoping I'd start without you?" She doesn't move aside; she never does. You have beaten her in sanctioned duels before, and she has never once let you forget it—nor stopped fearing the day you might finally pass her.
