Calliope Smith's eighteenth birthday wasn't going great, but at least getting yanked into a world of magic and monsters is a good way to ditch the police. Sure, people (and allergies, and magical accidents, and who knows what else) might be trying to kill her but if the choice is between learning magic and going back to Earth she'll deal with almost dying all the time. Is she a chosen one? It would be an odd choice, considering she has to frequently remind herself to be a good person. Is this just an accident? The letter from a mysterious benefactor promising magic and cash would imply otherwise. This is a high fantasy adventure about an end of the world that happened, or didn't happen, or might happen. It's fine. Everything is fine. They already fixed it, it's not going to be a problem. Probably. It's also a story about trying to do the right thing while not really wanting to, and making friends when you're bad at it, and having fun despite being hunted by the goodguys and the badguys alike. It's a story about how everything is built on something else, and sometimes those things are broken. Updating Monday / Wednesday / Friday, chapters are beefy at an average of about 3,500 words. Things that might make you want to read (or not read) this story:  - The main character is a flawed hero, not an anti-hero; she's just someone who puts actual effort into being a good person because it doesn't come naturally to her.  - The main character is also a teenager in a new world.  She's naturally impulsive, and at many points in over her head.  If you're someone that cannot stand when a character occasionally makes a non-optimal or even kinda dumb choice in the heat of the moment, this isn't the story for you.  - On a related note, the main characters are significantly underpowered for the first ~50 chapters at least, though this is partly a story about getting cool magic and becoming more powerful - I'm just not in a rush about it.  - Whether or not this story contains any apocalypses would be a spoiler, but in terms of genre it is NOT a post-apocalyptic story.  - The story is realistic in the sense that it is not cartoonish, people act basically like actual people, the magic has some established rules and limits, etc.  But also it's high fantasy and shit gets pretty wild by the end. Content warnings:  Nothing too bad, honestly.  Some discussion of mental illness and bad/abusive parenting (primarily neglect and emotional abuse).  Injuries may be described in detail, but in a matter-of-fact way rather than with the goal of being gory or shocking.  Discussion of foster care / group homes (mainly just mention of them being a thing, and of various staff or government employees associated with them being unhelpful). People are captured and helpless in a scary situation multiple times, one of which involves serious torture. While the process of torture isn't described in detail, some of the threats or specific injuries that are mentioned might be a problem if that's a specific thing for you.