[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

In the subterranean city of Karzgorad, mages are a vital resource. Magic is needed plumb the deep tunnels for ore and to fight off the horrors that swarm from dark places. Magic is needed to fuel the ancient arcano-tech that sustains the lives of two hundred thousand souls.

There is but one problem: mages inevitably go mad.

And so, when Talia Angrim-Vestal discovers she is a mage, the laws of Karzgorad state that she must be imprisoned, her Gift used for the greater good of the city, and her life ended when her mind finally slips.

After a close call with mage-hunters, she embarks on a journey that will take her up and above her home, through old abandoned tunnels that lead to cities whose arcano-suns have died, and perhaps, if the legends are to be believed, to the surface.

Schedule and Chapter Size: Probably ~2k - 3k words every day at 8pm EST until the end of Writathon, and I'll reevaluate afterwards to see what I can maintain.

Any comments and critique are much appreciated, especially if you didn't like something, let me know in a comment! I will be going over chapters as time permits and doing some light editing.

Cover art was made with Nightcafe AI image generator.