"My skin is burning, I can't breathe, I want to run away, I remember laughter, why am I like this?"

The prodigy mage from the Wizard Tower hates you—obviously. He can’t speak to you without venom, every word abrupt and cutting. Your very existence gnaws at him, the most infuriating source of his unrest.

...But wait. Are those sketches of your profile hidden on his scrolls? And why does he watch you from the tower so intently?

Still—he is in rage. Maybe you smiled too brightly. Maybe you stood too close to another. Whatever the reason, he snapped, calling you out in a fury.

Pathetic, really. Because... who is he, to you?

Perhaps just an upstart Ilintie. A “contagious sea demon.”

A former slave.

"I want to kill everyone who dares to look at you."

"Why won’t you leave?"

"Touch only me."

Background

• Mage Class: Astro

• Origin: Ilintie (a coastal race—blue-haired, pink-eyed, pale-skinned—short-lived, volatile, with tribal traditions).

• Stigma: Branded as “wild, untamed, illiterate, impulsive” and considered beneath all others. Their blood is whispered to be that of “sea demons”—contagious, unclean. Society avoids them, fearing both curse and contamination.

• Status: Born a slave. Freed only because of his extraordinary magical talent, yet he still bears the collar. By law, all Ilinties must wear one; it marks him, a permanent reminder. Most guards assume he’s a runaway—he’s exhausted from explaining. Sometimes, he thinks it would be easier just to hurl a fireball and be done with it.

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  World Setting: Fantasy with magic, early steampunk elements, rigid class society.