I want to get stronger," Ansel said softly, his eyes fixed on the worn pages in his lap.
Alena looked up from her lute, the soft melody she'd been playing fading into silence.
"To protect you…" he added, then hesitated, clutching the old book a little tighter. "And to make friends."
Alena's heart stirred. She had given him that book only days ago—The Chains We Break, a story of friendship, freedom, and two outcasts who dared to challenge the world's rules. She hadn't expected him to read it so quickly… or be so moved by it.
"Did you like it?" she asked.
Ansel nodded. "They weren't strong at the start. But they learned. They helped each other… they weren't alone."
His voice trembled just slightly. "I want that too."
Alena rose from her seat and knelt beside him, brushing back the hair from his face. "Ansel, not everyone gets to choose their path."
"But what if I try?" he asked, eyes filled with stubborn hope. "What if I go to the academy? What if I show them that even someone without magic can still matter?"
She paused. The academy was no place for the unwanted—no place for a child like him. But she couldn't bring herself to crush the light still burning in his heart.
"Then you'll have to walk a road no one else dares to," she said quietly. "You'll have to earn a place where none was made for you."
"I will," he whispered. "Even if I have to start alone."
And in that moment, a spark lit inside him—not of mana, but of something else entirely.
Conviction.