Witches' Thralls - Book 1: The Girl From Another World

Chapter 1

Content Warning:

This story contains sexually explicit material intended for an adult audience, as well as potentially triggering content involving emotional & sexual abuse and religious cults. Reader discretion is advised.

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Rooted in the devils' plane, The Karnan Academy of Magical Arts was an old and elaborate campus. The collective of ornate, spired buildings pierced the skyline in the heart of the Erduin Valley, its vine-laced towers of beige cobblestone rising over the surrounding forest's canopy with swirling golden accents that glistened in the sun. The school's reputation was as well-known as its visage, serving as Karna's primary place of magical education and governance, and as such its sprawling dormitories housed students of all kinds, attracted by the promise of wielding arcane powers as their own. It of course had no shortage of the land's native demons looking to hone and expand upon their innate spellcraft, but among them also walked, crawled and flew all manner of fae and animal kin, elves and orcs, and, in recent decades, the humans of Terra.

Serving as a connective plane, Karnans were no strangers to welcoming new kinds to their lands, though they certainly found Terrans to be of mixed quality. Being a species clearly used to holding a dominant position in their own world, they frequently struggled to navigate the complexities of their neighboring realm's more interdependent society. Over the years, more than a few had entered with naked ambitions of claiming the realm as their own, be it by economic persuasion or raw use of force, but their successes had been - put graciously - minimal. Still, Terrans held the nasty reputation of being manipulative towards others and far too convinced of the "inarguable" power of money, and many a bad actor helped reinforce that impression while visiting the realm.

The Academy was no exception to these patterns, but the administration was quite used to such things. Ambition and lust for power were not lacking even among the higher echelons of Karnan witches, never mind within the ranks of the numerous candidates walking the Academy's halls. The High Council was composed of little if not the exact sort of status-seeking kind that the stereotypical Terran would feel right at home with. It was other shortcomings that made the Terrans of Earth so rare among the student body.

The entrance qualifications for the school were clearly defined and strictly enforced by the Council, and the majority of Terran applicants would find themselves swiftly rejected. It was believed that their homeworld was lacking in the kind of magical energy that infused itself into the beings of other worlds, leaving its human residents at a distinct disadvantage. For a Terran to make the cut at all, they needed to demonstrate an incredible sort of adaptability and aptitude, as most were declared too lacking in magical compatibility to be worth refining. Only the most exceptional and determined Terrans were permitted to walk the school's halls.

All the more confusing, then, was Lyselle Alwin.

The bookish and full-bodied redhead had never felt entirely comfortable even among her own kind, but here in the Academy's halls she felt especially out of place. After a full year of study, Lyselle still regularly struggled with even the simplest of spells and conjurations, her wand rarely emitting so much as a spark. When she did manage to manifest something, it was never under her control; just quick flashes of unrestrained power that fizzled quickly and mostly served only as a source of embarrassment. Her mentors and peers seemed impatient with her lack of casting ability at the best of times, and outright dismissive of her at worst.

"Surely," they'd murmur, "there must have been some mistake."

"What potential could she even have?"