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CHAPTER 33: The Shadow Practice

Author: Evve
last update publish date: 2026-02-23 05:06:33

POV: Neoma

Magic is a muscle.

That’s what the Citadel instructors told the Highblood cadets. You train it. You break it down. It grows back stronger. But for me, the Void didn't feel like a muscle. It felt like a stomach. And if I didn't stretch it, if I didn't teach it how to digest what I fed it, it would eventually eat me.

I sat cross-legged on the cold concrete floor of Training Sub-basement 4. It was 0300 hours. The barracks were asleep. Viggo was snoring in the common room—a low, rhythmic
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