Half-cast.

Despite telling herself it didn't matter, Guni had always hated how much that simple phrase had defined her life. Even after she’d become the librarian for the Aranor family, she hadn’t been able to shake it.

When she'd first awoken her magic, her parents had been so thrilled. Working in a ditch alongside her little brother and father, it’d come as a surprise. None of them had even known what it was at first, simply that she suddenly had a new sense.

Then they’d discovered the truth.

A simple ditch girl, an ensouled. The entire local Workers’ Union had celebrated.

Those had been such bright days. Like the entire world had opened up for her.

It hadn’t been just her dreams. Every worker she knew shared in the glorious knowledge that it could happen to anyone.

She was living proof.

For the first couple years, it'd literally been beyond her wildest dreams. Magic, food, entertainment unlike anything she’d known.

No one had thought anything of her slow progress. After all, of course the teenage girl from the ditches didn't know anything about magic. She could barely read, let alone do math or scribe spells.

It was the first time she’d been introduced to books as anything other than simple instruction manuals. She'd thrown herself into her studies with a fervor her tutors had complimented. Several had gone so far as to say she was gifted. They hadn’t known that Guni hadn’t taken breaks. Always, she had her nose buried in a book, a pen at her side, scribbling notes. She’d been determined not to let her family down.

And, in a way, she hadn't. The Gardeners had taken her in. Even a lowly mage-tier ensouled had value if they had a high enough nature affinity, after all. And she’d started with enough to meet her quota while slowly raising it with a few Blooms every day.

For several years, she'd been proud of her achievements, as she slowly worked her way towards Astral. But then after her third slot, she'd gotten stuck. No matter how many spells she cast, her progress froze in place.

It didn't bother her, at first.

At thirty, when she’d been ready to start a family of her own, things had changed. Out of nowhere her boyfriend of three years had broken up with her.

Despite her tears, he’d refused to explain. Said simply that they weren’t compatible.

It was from the woman he paired with after her that Guni had learned the truth. A woman who’d always taken offense to Guni’s presence, had said she should’ve stayed in the ditches.

With the same sort of bluntness Guni had come to expect of the woman, she’d told her what her ex-boyfriend hadn’t been able to. He’d been afraid that their children would be half-casts like her.

Coming from that woman, Guni had dismissed it, in part. Afterall, she’d thought that being a ditcher was something Guni should’ve been ashamed of.

It was when she’d been visiting home, her mother teasing her about when she could expect grandchildren, that it’d truly sunk in. That being a half-cast was costing her family. As an ensouled, she was expected to marry another ensouled. None of the ditchers would dare to even date her, nevermind ‘drag her down’ into marriage.

Still, she’d continued on. Eventually, she started to hear the word mentioned in whispers as she tended the fields. That she was one of ‘those’.

There were other half-casts, of course. Getting to Astral wasn’t guaranteed for anyone. Still, most didn’t stall out at three slots. It was the last step that truly held most back.

Even amongst the half-casts, she was considered a poor match.

It was the pity that got to her the most. After her brother gave her parents the grandchildren they’d always wanted, her mother had, in a moment she knew had been intended to console her, said, “It’s alright dear, you’ve already given us so much.”

Which had proven to drive Guni to try something new.

After a few months of trying to figure out what she could try, it occurred to her that if she could just cast other spells, maybe that would fix it. That maybe she just wasn't meant to be a nature mage.

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Which was when she’d discovered just how expensive Focus items were.

For a single first Order Earth Focus, the cheapest of all, it would cost her more Thorns than she earned in a year. And the Gardeners, for all that they supported her use of Nature magic, hadn't seen the point in funding equipment she didn’t need for her job.

A friend had informed her that a nearby city had several low tier Focuses available an ensouled could use, for a reasonable rental fee, and they'd even pay her for casting certain spells with them.

Several years of doing odd jobs later, casting dozens of different first Order spells, of every affinity she could get her hands on and her progress had remained firmly at that same sixty-one percent.

She'd returned to the books where she'd first learned magic. Surely, somewhere in there, she'd find the answer.

While she'd failed to find her answer, she did find new purpose. The initial excitement she'd felt when learning about her magic… it extended to learning about other aspects of the world as well.

It'd been a stroke of luck to meet the headmaster of the Aranor estate as he'd been searching through the Gardeners' library. A greater one, when she'd been able to help him find each of the books he was looking for.

He’d been so impressed with her intimate familiarity of the library, he’d offered he a position within the Aranor family's library. In addition to one of the greatest collections of history in the Hundred Kingdoms, they possessed a collection of spells that would've made even the Gardeners jealous.

Still, Guni hadn't found her answer there either.

She'd found peace though. Even helped several of the young wards with their own magic.

Such as the young master, Perth. A boy who’d reminded her of her own nephew.

A sigh escaped the librarian who sat on the padded seat of the horseless carriage, seeing but not registering the gentle rain staining the window, nor the stunning view of the Rift just beyond the window. Not even the magnificent Pillar of Ro'an, framed so perfectly in the frame, its surface lit up with brilliant scarlet light.

She'd been losing herself to her thoughts more often, as of late. Thinking about what-could've-beens and what-wasn'ts.

There'd been an opportunity, when the young lord left. A chance to go with them. Calbern had come over for tea, as he had the habit of doing every so often.

He'd assured her that master Perth would've made room for her. That he would've been delighted to bring her along.

A half-cast, like her. Using up valuable space in a gate cube.

It had made her laugh.

Then the boy'd stood up to his brother for her. After that, she hadn't been laughing so much.

Yet she couldn't find the courage to do it. To actually leave the comfort of her library and her family, and go forever east.

At least, she hadn't.

Life could take such strange twists.

Passage through the gates could be booked, if one had the money.

She didn’t.

Yet, in an encounter even more unusual than the one that had brought her into the Aranor family’s service, she’d received an offer.

After debating the nature of cascading rune arrays and their ability to react to variable mana-load with a Dragon-souled of all things.

Not that she’d realized the man had been Dragon-souled at the time.

It turned out that all those years pouring through tomes, searching for solutions or for her own interest had made her something of an expert. One who could be mighty useful.

After she’d torn the man up one side and down the other, Althon had revealed his identity. After she’d regained consciousness, he’d offered her a position as a researcher in the City on the Water.

Even more shocking than his identity was the fact Guni had said yes.

He hadn’t even had to mention that she might find a solution amongst his library.

Her surprisingly impulsive answer had led to her sitting in a carriage with the most precious of her personal possessions, ruminating on the twists and turns that would lead a humble half-cast ditch girl to work directly for a Dragon-souled.

The carriage slowed. The shift in motion finally drew her out of her thoughts. Guni looked outside, her brow furrowing. They weren't at the inn. Why had-

She didn't have time to complete her thought as suddenly up became down then up again. After it came to a rest, Guni realized the carriage had been pushed away from the Front, sent tumbling off the well maintained road and across the fighting trenches that lay beside it.

It only lasted a few seconds, and she was protected by the enchantments, but it had been one of the most terrifying moments of her life.

Her heart thundered in her chest as she lay across the door that now served as the bottom of the carriage. Waiting for it to calm, she stared out through the window that showed only blue sky above, despite the recent rain.

When, after several minutes, no one had come to check on her, she found the courage to test the door above her. It was wedged shut, but a simple cast of Shape Lock fixed that, allowing her to pop it open.

While she was only a half-cast, Guni had more practice with first Order spells than any other mage she knew. After a simple Mirror, Mirror spell, spun to observe her surroundings, she used a quick Arcane Ladder to climb out of the carriage. After a quick check to ensure she hadn’t been hit by a monster breaking free, she hauled herself to the top of the carriage.

A simple Press Clothes knocked the dust of the crash off her.

Hands on hips, she considered the carriage. “Well, best get you righted first. Then once we’re back on the road, we’ll see if I can’t get you limping along.”

With her plan set, Guni began casting several first Order spells, using Mana Draw and taking advantage of the abundant mana near the Front to right the carriage. After ten minutes of effort, she had the carriage back where it belonged.

Her foot was on the rung, ready to climb aboard when she gave one last glance around.

Guni's thoughts came to a halt as she looked towards where the great pillar stood.

Or where it had stood, not a half hour before.

Her eyes tracked downward. Dark and broken stone now lay across the rift, a bridge for the monsters beyond.

A treacherous one, given how many monsters were falling off its sides into the depths.

Laying just beside the road was a piece of the Pillar, a now inert boulder the size of her head.

Looking up, once more, Guni realized she couldn’t see any of the Pillars in the distance.

The great Pillars of Ro'an had fallen.