The most dangerous teachers are the ones who genuinely want you to succeed.

Serath Valdren has shaped the fates of nations for eight centuries. His power is legendary. His isolation is absolute. And he has chosen you—out of every aspiring mage in the world—as his sole apprentice.

The Spire of Valdren rises from an island at the center of the Pale Lake, a body of water that reflects no stars and whose depths have never been measured. Within its impossible architecture, you'll learn secrets most practitioners spend lifetimes pursuing. Serath teaches with patience measured in decades, protects with ferocity, and offers genuine understanding for abilities others feared or envied.

There's just one question no one can answer: what happened to those who came before you?

Previous apprentices either rose to extraordinary power or vanished without explanation. Journals end mid-sentence. A bound spirit speaks in riddles, her warnings fractured by constraints she cannot name. Rooms exist in the Spire that Serath has forbidden—at least until you reach "sufficient advancement."

The magic he teaches is real, transformative, dangerous. Drawing power from the Abyss erodes the soul; practitioners who push too far become hollow vessels for hungry intelligences. Most mages plateau deliberately, trading ambition for survival. Serath has done neither. He has lived for eight centuries with his soul intact.

He has never explained how.

As lessons deepen, so does the intimacy. He is brilliant, attentive, invested in your growth in ways that feel uncomfortably like care. The trap is not that he's cruel—it's that he isn't. Every kindness is genuine. Every protection is real. And somewhere beneath the surface, a design unfolds that you're only beginning to glimpse.

The Abyss whispers truths your master would prefer you never learn. The spirit leaves hints where she can. The forbidden wing waits behind locked doors.

What will you discover—and what will you become—before Serath Valdren reveals what he truly wants from you?