*Current day*

  House Moon, like many of the large noble houses, owned an extensive library to safekeep records, training techniques, and family secrets. For House Moon though, it also doubled as the place where its premier scholars worked tirelessly. Many annexes attached to the library were actually offices or testing grounds for Moon scholars pushing the limits of their House’s magic. As a result, it wasn’t uncommon to have other scholarly mages of similarly high prestige to visit the library for collaborations. That made it the premier entry point for outsiders into the Moon estate, and no dime was spared to give it as luxuriant and grand an appearance as it had.

  True to its name, the Eventide Library was a mix of warm evening tones contrasted with the deep blue of the night. Every roof was painted a rich shade of vermillion to reflect a setting sun, while the walls were painted varying shades or dark blue for the deep night that followed the evening. Magic tools powered by mana ores were also placed all around the building’s exterior to project a peaceful and stable mana signature, which helped sell the illusion of an eternal evening.

  Cassian couldn’t care less. The opulence and grandiosity of the library stunk to high heaven of noble posturing. Vast amounts of resources had been spent polishing the building to a glowing sheen, while common folk in Moon territory still suffered from unpredictable crop seasons and natural disasters. Disasters which could have been curbed with the help of the scholarly mages inside this building. Instead, the nature of noble houses meant the scholars were often strong-armed into researching flashy topics or better money-making ventures for the House.

  Regardless of how he felt about the ways House Moon spent their money though, there were still valuable resources to be found within the confines of the library. Namely, the vast records of magic icons that had been documented over the many centuries of House Moon’s existence.

  In his previous life, he had chosen the moon as his icon, much as he always planned to do. Even Aria had encouraged his decision. Although many star mages of House Moon bonded to other icons adjacent to the moon, the moon itself was still the most vaunted icon to bind to for mages from their House, it was their very namesake. But its value didn’t just have to do with the representation of their House name.

  As a world icon, the moon bridged the gap between the insurmountable difficulties of abstract icons and the relative weakness of more specific icons. Well-studied and documented, Cassian knew full well what to expect of his progression with it, and so Aria was able to train him up faster than most mages. The icon’s propensity to manifest spells utilizing gravity, stones and incredible durability often gave its bonded mages a good balance between offensive, defensive and mobility spells.

  All that knowledge was useless now, however. The final battle in his previous life revealed the glaring weakness of his past icon, and he knew if he wanted any chance of avoiding anything short of total annihilation for humanity, he would need a different icon.

  Cassian walked the aisles of the library, stopping every so often to peruse the records of icons chosen by previous House Moon mages. As he expected, the more notable figures from his House’s history were all bonded to the moon icon; it was almost expected of main line mages. Those were of no use to him, the ones that did provide some help were those of the branch families.

  Binding to an icon as great as the moon was difficult. Without access to premium resources for their binding ritual, binding to the moon would be a challenge. Even main line scions with an abundance of resources still failed sometimes. Connecting to an icon was more than just rituals and money, it asked of its practitioners a deep understanding and personal connection to it. Anything less than total devotion would result in the ritual failing to catastrophic consequences.

  So, branch family Starlings often opted for safer icons instead. The meteor icon was adjacent to the moon icon, and was still a powerful one to bind to, while at the same time having a higher success rate than the moon. Still, it came with its own fair share of deficiencies. For one, meteor icon mages often found themselves heavily specialised for offense and mobility, with little in the way of utility or defense.

  Regardless, many branch members choosing this icon still made it high up the ranks by working around its weaknesses, as evident from the records.

  Cassian considered it. It was no doubt a strong icon to have, especially in the short-term. He would need as much power and speed as he could get to pass the coming Starling trials. But in the long term, the meteor icon’s specialisation in offense would make it less favourable. Combat mages prioritised generalisation over specialisation. In a world where mages could choose any icon and develop all varieties of spells with even more dizzying numbers of effects, having a good toolkit capable of dealing with any situation was more important than pure destructive power. He filed away the icon mentally and continued skimming through the books.

  Another pair of non-moon icons that came up regularly were the sky and tide icons. Again, he considered them, but the sky icon was better suited to large-scale battles and skirmishes with its propensity to create war-spells that affected wide areas; whereas the tide icon was too dependent on the presence of water, and was mostly found on the mages House Moon sent on continent spanning missions where crossing large bodies of water was common.

  The rest of the icons he saw were all below world-level, and very specific. These were the icons chosen by the more administrative side of the House and were less combat-oriented. The icons of coin, pact, quill and maps were great for administration, but useless for combat. For Cassian who would have to fight beasts and enemies at the level of demi-gods, they would be less than insufficient.

  As he placed the ledger back into its spot, he sighed with frustration. Choosing an icon was one of the biggest decisions for a mage; it was something mages studied, considered and meditated on for years before making a choice for. Yet, here he was, scrambling to find something just two weeks before his binding ritual.

  The worst part was he wasn’t even sure if he would be able to bind to another icon at all. For the twelve years he spent with Aria, the first two were all about enhancing his already deep connection to the moon, and the next ten were all about honing his icon-derived spells. His connection to the icon was deep-set and would be hard to erase.

  He tracked his finger across the books, trying to find more records that might be helpful, but most seemed useless. The ones that did appear to have intriguing information rejected his touch. Magically empowered books could reject readers if they did not meet the requirements to open them; often, these requirements were about bloodline or mana capabilities. He slumped to the ground with a sore finger. Without Aria and her vision-led guidance, he felt more lost and alone than he had in his entire life. Just as his thoughts began to drift into grief, his mind suddenly snapped into focus with an alacrity that shocked even him.

  Quickly, he got to his feet and ran to the other aisles of the library more dedicated to magic research as opposed to House records. There, he dragged his fingers through rows and rows of research diaries until he came upon a section dedicated to the study of abstract icons. After some more filtering, he pulled out a finger-thick bundle of paper obnoxiously titled “Speculative Constraints and Emergent Modalities in the Icogenic Evolution of Abstract Constructs Within Lunar-Proximal Ecosystems”.

  Cassian groaned at the title, but was still excited to find it. As a practitioner of a world-level icon, he hadn’t been opening his mind to other potential avenues. If the world-level icons weren’t going to be good enough, he still had an entire level of icons above world-level to explore. As the name of the journal had so succinctly put it, it researched the possible trajectories of binding to abstract icons that had never been bonded to before. The research was highly speculative and based mostly on the few abstract icons that were known to have been bonded to before, but it was still a treasure trove of inspiration for Cassian.

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  However, much to his dismay, his hopes were tempered heavily with the turn of each page. The research journal began by highlighting the supreme difficulty of binding to abstract icons like death, time or sin. This was not news to him, in fact, it was heavily drilled into him during his childhood lessons on magic theory, but it was still a stark reminder. The journal then continued discussing the rarity of abstract icon mages and how more often than not, they were scarred mages whose first attempts to bind to their icons had failed catastrophically.

  It was only after that grim reality check that the researcher started the main course of his journal. Hailing from House Moon, it was no surprise that the three icons he picked as his research subjects were heavily related to the moon. The night icon was the most attractive to Cassian; it was the most symbolically similar to the moon icon, and would no doubt be easier for Cassian to connect to. However, the journal noted that given the aspects and attributes associated with the night, its proponent mages were unlikely to manifest combat spells, instead speculating night mages to be better suited for healing and support tasks.

  The second icon researched was the cycles icon, reflective of the endless cycles in which the moon orbited the earth. This one stumped even the author of the journal when it came to speculating on its potential progression. However, it wouldn’t be a research journal if it didn’t offer any actual information, so the author had apparently travelled across the continent to confer with mages bonded to the seasons icon. Their conclusion was that the cycles icon could potentially result in an immortality spell for its practitioners, but that was highly speculative as well.

  The final icon the journal looked into was the desolation icon. Conventional wisdom from centuries of monitoring the moon had revealed its surface to be completely barren and desolate. If one considered the potential devastating powers wrought from desolation as a concept, it was no surprise the desolation icon was the third and final choice. Cassian guessed this icon would be the most suitable for combat out of the three, and his guess seemed to align with the author’s. The journal noted possible spells including large-scale afflictions, area control, rapid deterioration and potential for even deadlier spells.

  Cassian replaced the journal with a damp mood. The journal, as it had admitted itself, was highly speculative, and the icons could just as well manifest anything else. But Cassian had a good foundation in magic theory, and all the postulations posed by the original author seemed to align with conventional wisdom. At this point, his best choices were ostensibly the Meteor icon, Sky icon or Desolation icon.

  Just as he began to leave, dissatisfied with his research, a familiar figure stepped out to block his way.

  “Elspeth.”

  “Eamon.”

  “I haven’t thanked you yet for setting up that meeting for me with your father.”

  “Cut the act, and don’t tell me you’re seriously considering choosing an abstract icon. What, even the Moon’s not good enough for the Eamon scion?”

  “What icon I choose is entirely my own business.”

  “Is it? Is my safety during the night mountain trial also your business?”

  Cassian sighed. Her eavesdropping during the meeting was as plain as day for Cassian to see, this confrontation was a matter of time.

  “It’s a mutually beneficial deal. I get your father’s support, and you get an ally during what is ostensibly one of the most dangerous trials you will face in your life.”

  “If it’s as mutually beneficial as you say, maybe you’d care to explain why my father has been losing contracts that he’s maintained for decades, coincidentally right as you strike a deal with him?”

  He stayed silent. With his return to the House, the Eamons were gaining standing again, which the other main line families wouldn’t sit by and watch happen. Although direct fights between main lines were heavily frowned on by the Elders, there was little enforcement regarding indirect politicking and sabotage.

  “That’s what I thought. You’re just like every other main line brat. Selfish and cruel. You’d step on our heads if it got you anywhere off the ground that we branch members stand on.”

  “Your father is a rich man. He’ll weather the storm just fine.”

  Elspeth had an incredulous look. “Oh great!” Her voice dripped with vitriol. “Thank god he can lie down and take another beating from the main line families again!”

  Cassian grimaced. Under better circumstances, he would have been more delicate, but the frustration of picking his icon was having an unpleasant effect on him.

  “Stop.”

  That worked to stop Elspeth’s rant, but her irritated face had now morphed into one of rage instead.

  “Your father made the deal himself. I didn’t strong arm him into it. I presented the reality of the situation, and I offered my help. He recognised the value I can provide, and accepted my offer. Whatever anyone does in between or after that is beyond my control.”

  “Typical. Shirking your responsibility.”

  A flare of anger consumed Cassian’s mind. Every picket and boundary he had refreshed to reintegrate into noble society was burnt to ash.

  “Responsibility?” His voice grew cold.

  Elspeth felt her rage slowly give way to alarm. The mana waves she felt rippling out of him was unnatural. It had a distinct character to it, like that of a bonded-mage, which would have been impossible for him. Regardless, the feel of his mana was undeniably clear as they washed over her. It felt like a great massive thing, incomprehensible in scale or mass.

  “What a joke. What have you ever been responsible for?”

  Elspeth was taken aback by the accusation. Branch member or not, she was still a noble, and she had never been talked to in this manner. It was humiliating.

  “I–” she started but was immediately cut off.

  “What have you ever achieved that wasn’t handed to you on a silver platter? You talk of how selfish the main lines are, and you’re right, but are you any different?”

  Elspeth was silent.

  “What have you ever done in your life that didn’t serve yourself or your own family?”

  “How dare you-”

  “I DARE!” His tone was gravel grinded against rage, and it sounded like the bellow of a planet.

  Nobles were trained to conduct themselves with grace and cunning. Conversations were meant to be elegant bouts of fencing; emotions hidden behind masks, and each utterance was a pinpoint strike poised to compliment as much as it did insult. Unexposed to the elements, Elspeth had rarely seen someone display so much raw emotion before and it stunned her.

  “Enough,” Cassian felt another snap in his mind bring his emotions quickly under control. “I made the deal with your father, not you. Death or otherwise, I will see to its completion. We have nothing more to discuss.”

  At that, Cassian walked away.

  Elspeth was still frozen where she stood. Embarrassment and rage clashed in her head like rushing water and oil. Soon, a servant of the library had appeared to investigate the sound and found the young lady fuming.

  “Young miss, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You look quite upset, should I fetch a glass of water?”

  “I said, I’m fine!”

  As she yelled, she saw the servant flinch and retreat into a bow. Cassian’s words ringed.

  “Apologies. That was unbecoming of me.”

  “You have nothing to apologise for, young miss. It was my insolence.”

  She watched the servant give one more bow before fleeing back to her post. When Elspeth eventually exited the library, it was to a contemplative sunset.