Years ago, in The Underworld, a secretive group of mages experimented with the deadlest and most unpredicatable of the magical arts - Blood Magic. One night, at the height of the Blood Moon, they performed an unsanctioned, untested, unstable ritual. When morning came, all that was left of the ritual were dead bodies, burnt artifacts and a magic circle. Investigators and Curse Breakers had arrived earlier due to the mystic fires, but as the sun rose higher and the flames extinguished, they were focused on looking for clues and neutralising any malevolent magic. That night came to be called The Night of Void. In the end, the authorities could not discern any useful information from the wreckage. Until today, no one knows what the ritual was or why the cult was there that night. With everything burnt black, there was no way to find out.
Unbeknownst to them, something did survived the flames, more specifically, someone. Leilyn Thistleshadow was the result of the blood magic experiment that went wrong. Not that her parents, Orion Thistlecrest and Atricus Shadowmane, will ever let her know that. When they first arrived, intending to quash the flames and stop the ritual, they had found a baby tucked in the corner, impossibly safe from the mystic flames. They knew that if they handed the baby over to the authorities, she would be locked up and subjected to cruel treatment and experimented on. Thinking she was meant as a ritual sacrifice, Orion and Atticus decide to raise her as their own.
Growing up, Leilyn didn’t have the most orthodox of childhoods. Between having a father who was an expert in ancient magic rites and a dad who was a renowned Curse Breaker, Leilyn didn’t have a lot of stability in her life. Her father, Atticus, worked in The Great Underground Library as a master archivist and was still consulting with the investigative team; her dad, Orion, was a expert Curse Breaker and a minor noble. Essentially, they were Magic Diplomats. So, Leilyn found herself spending a lot of time travelling, going to social events and being ignored by the adults around her.
Not willing to let her parents’ jobs and responsibilities get in her way, Leilyn would often sneak away to do something else. More often that not, that usually meant getting herself in trouble and then getting herself out of it. She enjoyed talking and making friends with interesting people she met. From them, she learnt all kinds of wonderful and not-so-wonderful skills; From baking the most delectible desserts to pickpocketing in the streets.
To her delight, she found that she had a knack for picking up skills. The one and only thing she had trouble learning was magic. It didn’t matter how hard or how long she practiced, it always took her longer than anyone else to get it. In other parts of her training, she thrived and succeeded, but when it came to magic, she flopped and failed, not even having parents who were magic experts helped. And even if she didn’t show it, Leilyn was bothered by how challenging magic was for her and she couldn’t help but feel as if she disappointed her parents in some way, even after they insisted they were proud of her regardless of her mastery of magic. Orion and Atticus suspected it might have to do with the Ritual of Void but couldn’t know for sure. As she grew older, Leilyn became more preoccupied with diplomatic engagements to spend more time than she already had on practicing magic.
Then, one day, while on a boat, passing Orilium, Leilyn felt it- An emotional tug, a whisper in her head - the calling to Orilium Academy. Deciding that she would master magic, once and for all, she packed her things and boarded a small life boat while her fathers protested her impulsive decision. In the end, Leilyn’s stubborness won out. Promising to write to them and sending her apologies to the other dignitaries with her fathers, she kissed them on the cheek and rowed out, heading to the Novice Path Entrance.
