I Devour the Leftovers

The air in Laboratory Seven smelled like burnt sugar and rotting meat. Kaelen Voss pressed his rag harder against the black marble floor, trying to scrub away a stain that had been there since the last failed transmutation. His arms ached. His back felt like it was on fire. But the pain was nothing compared to the itch on his neck—the "Mana Burns," a scar that marked him as a failure in a world of magic. "Move it, Scrubber!" The voice belonged to Elian, a senior apprentice. He stood over Kaelen, his polished boots clicking on the clean floor. Elian wore a robe of fine wool, embroidered with silver thread. He looked like a prince. Kaelen looked like a pile of rags. "The floor isn't clean enough," Elian sneered. "Master Thorne will be here soon. If he sees a speck of dust, it's your hide." Kaelen didn't look up. He just kept scrubbing. "It's clean, sir." "Sir?" Elian laughed, a high-pitched, mocking sound. "Listen to the peasant. Get up. I need you to clean my boots." Kaelen froze. He looked up, his eyes cold and flat. Elian leaned down, his face inches from Kaelen's. "You want to live, Scrubber? Lick them clean." Kaelen's hand tightened around the rag. For a second, he imagined driving his knee into Elian's face. But he didn't. He was a janitor. A nobody. He had no magic. No power. He lowered his head and reached for the boot. Crash! A loud explosion rocked the laboratory. Glass shattered. A wave of heat washed over them. "Stay down!" Elian shouted, his arrogance vanishing. He drew a wand and ran toward the source of the explosion, leaving Kaelen in the dust. Kaelen stayed on the floor. He didn't care about the explosion. He cared about the door at the end of the hall—the door to the Inner Sanctum. It was slightly ajar. Through the crack, Kaelen saw something he wasn't supposed to see. He saw Archmage Thorne standing over a circle of blood. He saw a floating crystal, pulsing with a dark, purple light. And he saw a creature—a writhing, tentacled thing—being pulled from the crystal into a glass jar. Kaelen's eyes widened. He knew this was forbidden. He knew he should look away. But he couldn't. Because for the first time in his life, he saw a power that didn't require a noble birth or a healthy body. It required something else. It required a monster. And Kaelen was starting to think he might be one.