Rise of the Debt Emperor

The sword stopped one inch from Ren Hollis's throat. He felt the heat of the blade on his skin. Blood ran down his arm and dripped onto the arena floor. Above him, Lord Cassian Aldric gripped the sword with both hands. Black veins glowed red along his wrists. Thousands of students screamed from the stands. Most of them wanted Ren dead. *Payment overdue,* a cold voice said inside his head. *Collateral will be seized in ten seconds.* Ren tried to stand. His legs gave out, and he fell back onto the stone.*Ten.* The borrowed strength was gone. His mana was still zero, as it had always been. His ribs were broken, and his left hand would not close.*Nine.* "Any last words, Dead Weight?" Cassian asked. The voice shook with rage, not victory. Ren looked up and smiled with bloody teeth. "Yes. One."*Eight.* He whispered a single word."Borrow." **Three months earlier.** Ren scrubbed the marble floor of the Golden Tower before sunrise, because that was the only hour the rich students slept. Aldric Academy floated above the Kingdom of Verath on a massive island of stone and enchanted iron. The upper towers held the students with strong mana, and they lived in warm rooms with servants and hot food. The lower dorms held everyone else. Mana-less students cleaned floors, carried trays, and washed uniforms to pay for their beds. Ren was the only student in the academy with no mana at all. Everyone called him the Dead Weight. He scrubbed in slow, even strokes. His knees ached. His stomach had been empty since yesterday morning. The scholarship covered his classes, but it did not cover food, so he worked for scraps. Ren kept a ledger in his head. Every insult went into it. Every kick, every laugh, every spit on his floor. The count stood at four hundred and eleven. Boots echoed down the hall. Ren did not look up. He kept scrubbing. "Look who is still here," said a smooth voice. "I thought the cleaning staff had thrown you out with the trash." Lord Cassian Aldric stood at the top of the stairs with three friends behind him. He was tall and handsome, with golden hair and a green cloak trimmed in gold. A sword hung at his hip, and it glowed softly. Cassian was the founder's grandson, and the sword was proof that he had mana to spare. "Good morning, Lord Aldric," Ren said, keeping his voice flat. Cassian walked down the wet floor on purpose. His boots left dirty prints across every tile Ren had just cleaned. "You missed a spot," Cassian said. He kicked the water bucket, and gray water spilled across the marble. His friends laughed. Ren stared at the puddle. Then he took off his shirt sleeve, pressed it into the water, and began to wipe. "Good," Cassian said. "Use your sleeve. You people are good at using what little you have." *Four hundred and twelve,* Ren counted. "Why do you stay here?" Cassian asked, crouching to look him in the eye. "You cannot cast. You cannot fight. You cannot even light a candle. The founder built this academy for people who matter." "I earned my scholarship," Ren said. "You got a mistake in the mail." Cassian stood and wiped his hands on Ren's hair. "Everyone knows it. Enjoy it while it lasts." He walked away, laughing, and his friends followed. Ren finished the floor alone. By noon, his hands were raw. He carried a tray of bread from the kitchens down to the lower dorms, where the mana-less students ate in the cold basement. His roommate, Tobin Ash, waved from a corner table. Tobin was eighteen, short, and thin, with brown hair that never stayed flat. He had a little healing mana, just enough to close small cuts, and he talked more than anyone Ren had ever met. "You look terrible," Tobin said, shoving half his own bread across the table. "Eat. No arguments." "You need it," Ren said. "I have more than you do. Eat." Tobin lowered his voice. "Was it Cassian again?" "It is always Cassian." "One day someone will knock that smile off his face." "Someone will have to have mana first." Tobin grinned. "Then you are in trouble." Ren laughed, and it hurt. It was the first laugh he had had all week. The laugh ended when a man in a gray administrator's coat entered the basement. The room went silent. Administrators never came to the lower dorms. He walked straight to Ren's table and held out a sealed letter. "Ren Hollis?" "Yes,I am." "Read it now. I am required to watch." Ren broke the seal. The paper shook slightly in his hand. *Notice of Scholarship Review. The academy board has found that student Ren Hollis shows no measurable mana after two full years of study. Per Rule Nine, a student who fails to show mana within three days will be expelled from Aldric Academy, with immediate removal from the grounds.* Ren read it twice. The words did not change. Tobin leaned over his shoulder. "Three days? That is not possible. Nobody grows mana in three days." "That is the point," Ren said quietly. The administrator nodded once and left. Ren sat very still. He had no family to return to. His mother had died in the mining village of Dross, and his father had vanished the same winter. The academy was the only door that had ever opened for him. And now someone was closing it. That afternoon, Ren walked across the central courtyard with the letter in his pocket. He passed a group of top students practicing sword forms. At the center stood Seraphine Vaughn. She was the highest-ranked student in the academy. She had silver-blonde hair tied in a tight braid and violet eyes that never seemed to blink. Her thin silver sword moved through the air with perfect control. Ren stopped without meaning to. Seraphine finished her form and turned. Her eyes passed over him once and kept going, as if he were a post in the ground. He had expected nothing else. Still, it hurt. *Four hundred and thirteen.* Ren turned away and headed for the library. If there was any way to survive, any rule, any loophole, he would find it. He would read every book in the building if he had to. He was still reading when the bells rang midnight. Ren walked back to the dorm room with his eyes half closed. The hallway was dark, and the lamps had burned low. He opened the door. Tobin's bed was empty. The blanket lay on the floor. His shoes were gone. A chair had been knocked over, and one of his books lay open on the ground with a boot print across the page. "Tobin?" Ren whispered. Nobody answered. A folded note sat on Ren's pillow, sealed with green wax stamped with the Aldric family crest. He broke the seal with shaking fingers. *Ash Dungeon. Midnight. Come alone.* *Pass the trial and your expulsion is cancelled. Run, or tell anyone, and your little friend pays your debt.* *Do not be late, Dead Weight.* Ren read it three times. Then he grabbed his coat and ran for the door.