Bloom didn't understand how he had survived the fall. When he'd opened his eyes he was laying in an icy cave. A small opening hung from the top of the cave that opened to jagged stone walls. Further beyond, Bloom could just barely make out the bright sky, now no more than a small dot of light far beyond his reach.

Pain wracked all over Bloom's body. His head pulsed with pain with every beat of his heart. His bloodied arm was numb with frost and snow as it entered his bloodstream. There was a swelling pain in his chest that ached every time he took a shaking breath.

Bloom could feel warm, thick, liquid dripping from a would on his head, as well as down his cheek. Bloom reached up with his, mainly, uninjured arm and felt the wound on his head only to realize that one of his horns had been broken away, down to the base of his skull, the base of the broken horn had been torn to the side, making a large cracking wound into his skull.

With a shaking hand, Bloom reached up and produced a ball of light from his palm. The orb wasn't nearly as bright as it had been before, and it constantly flickered and sputtered as if it were to dispel at any moment.

With several grunts of pain, Bloom managed to get to his feet, he could feel the tension in his bones as he moved slowly so as to not cause unnecessary pain. It felt that, if he moved too quickly, his bones would shatter.

Bloom looked around the cave, half hunched over and barely standing upright. To no one's surprise, he saw snow and ice all around him. Every now and again he could see paved stone peeking out from the ice on the floors and walls. He could even see the frame of a window that led directly into a wall of ice. Behind him, there was a doorway that led to nowhere, but to his front he saw a walkway that descended deeper into the cave, flanked by ice and parcels of stone walls and tile.

Bloom began taking a few steps forward when the magical light at his side sputtered and flickered out like a candle. Bloom simply sighed and waved his hand as another sputtered orb of light appeared next to him, granting him another brief moment of vision. A few steps later, that light flickered away as well.

Nonetheless, Bloom kept walking; making more orbs of light that sputtered out in a second one after the other. His body was nearly completely numb from frostbite. He could hardly feel his arms as he waved them to create more sputtering lights. At one point, when he was on an incline, he slipped and slid down to its base with a thud, hitting frozen stone tiles at the bottom. What would've caused bruises felt like nothing to Bloom's frozen skin. He wondered partially how he even managed to walk.

He didn't know how long he'd walked for. All he knew was that it felt like days, although that was mainly his near-dead mind warping his sense of time to a crawl.

As he walked aimlessly through the frozen cavern, his mind wandered, mainly to his mother who had sacrificed so much to get him into Sanli Academy.

Being such a prestigious school, it was hard to get into for the common-man. It either took lots of skill, or gold to get into any worthwhile mage academy. Especially if that academy is ranked 2nd in a country of mages.

Bloom's mother, known as Passion by anyone but him, was the most caring person he'd ever met. He could still clearly see her amber eyes. Her fair purple skin. Her loving, smiling face. Her horns that curled around her ears like a goat. His thin, swaying tail that was forked like the tongue of a snake. And, most of all, he remembered her sweet voice, that always put him at ease.

He vividly recalled the final day he had seen her; the day he left for Sanli Academy. The day his life changed.

***

"I can't believe my son is going to the big academy." Passion shouted with glee as she hugged Bloom. "You're ready right? Do you have everything?" She asked, pulling away from Bloom and holding him by his shoulders.

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Bloom had a smile on his face, his cheeks much more red than they normally were. "Yes, mom, I have everything."

"Are you sure? Spellbook?" She asked, scanning over her son's belongings.

"Check." Bloom said.

"Rune textbook?"

"Check."

"Component Pouch?"

"Check."

"Magical Bracelet?" She asked, hardly containing a smile.

"Check- wait, that was on the supplies list?" Bloom said, beginning to fish through the bag over his shoulders for the piece of parchment.

Then he abruptly stopped when he heard his mom begin to smile and chuckle at his reaction.

Passion fished in her pocket and produced a small black wooden box. "It's pretty cold up north at Sanli," She opened the box to show Bloom a small red-beaded bracelet embroidered with unique sigils on the beads. "It's best if you have some protection from the weather."

Bloom silently took the bracelet and looked it over as his mom spoke. He could feel tears beginning to sting his eyes as he looked upon the writing of the bracelet.

"I asked a favor from a friend and had something made for you. I hope you-" She was abruptly cut off by her son wrapping his arms around her and embracing her in a hug.

"How were you able to afford this?" He asked as tears began to glide down both of his maroon cheeks. "You've done more than enough by getting me into the academy. You spent so much money on it, and now this?" Bloom stayed clung to his mother. "How will you pay for yourself now? You've used up most of your savings on me."

Passion smiled and rubbed her son's back. "Don't worry Bloom. I'll be fine. I can always make more money." She assured. She moved a hand to raise up a bit of hair on Bloom's head and laid a soft kiss on his forehead.

Bloom relaxed and pulled away from his mom, a big smile on his face as tears of joy fell from his face. "Thanks Mom."

***

In the cavern of ice, Bloom absent-mindedly ran a hand along his wrist where the bracelet had been. His body had long stopped shivering as he kept walking in a daze. The only thing he could feel was the pain throughout his body.

He was suddenly snapped from his daze when he heard the crumbling of stone. He glanced down to see the section of stone-wall he had been standing on began to fall away. Before he could process any further, his body fell once again into a deeper dark below.

Surprisingly, the fall wasn't that long. No more than about 30 feet. Nonetheless, Bloom still could hardly move to begin with, and the sudden fall hadn't helped. He began to wave a shaking hand to summon another orb of light, but that is when he noticed there was already a glow to his side. It was faint, nearly as dim as his sputtering ball of light.

Bloom slowly turned his head to the side as it continued to pulse with pain. He saw a small, glowing chunk of stone with glowing golden carvings etched into its side. The illuminating stone illuminated the space around them.

Bloom lay on snow-covered tiles in the design of what probably used to be a starry sky. Many broken pillars lay littered around the room.

Behind the glowing stone was a painted mural that was partially faded and torn away.

However, Bloom could still make out the image of several small figures crowding around a large pillar with a star embedded into its center.

With the glow of the pulsing stone in front of him, Bloom felt warmth, as if he were laying next to a small fire. He felt his frost-bitten limbs begin to erupt in pins and needles as they began to feel warmth once again.

With a groan of pain, Bloom began to slowly crawl towards the stone, his body getting warmer and warmer as he approached. The feeling felt nearly euphoric as his body bathed in the warm light.

Bloom reached forward and touched the pulsing stone. He expected the stone to be hot to the touch, but instead it was ice cold in contrast to the light it was emitting from it. He took the stone in his hands as the golden pulses of light began to get brighter, warming his body even more.

Suddenly, the golden engravings on the stone began to move from the stone and onto his frostbitten arms. The light glowed even brighter as Bloom felt the fatigue drain from his body only to be replaced with vitality. The pain around his body ceased. His aching stopped. All the feeling throughout his body came back in a single burst.

For a moment, Bloom felt light headed as feeling suddenly flooded his body. He glanced down to see that the glowing stone had vanished, instead his arms now glowed as the engravings had been woven into his forearms like freshly inked tattoos. The glow in his arms faded, replaced with a brighter silver light above him near the half demolished mural.

Bloom glanced up toward the crumbling mural to something he didn't completely understand. At a glance, it looked like an ethereal scroll made purely from magic. Then he thought of it as a sort of scrying window for the wizards who wished to be seen whilst in the act of scrying on a place, or a person. However, unlike either of those, the ethereal scroll began to write words within itself.

::::

[Astral Current has been released from the Archean Stone]

[A creature has become bound to the Astral Current]

[Starting Awakening Process]