Aetherion Academia #1: Shadows of Rebirth
he said, his voice the soft drone of a lecturer, "is built on a foundation of blood magic. But it's wrapped in a glamour. A holy masking spell. Like painting gold over rust."
"Then we need something that eats gold," Emberlyn muttered.
She added the nightshade. The solution turned from clear to deep crimson, then to black, then to a color that had no name - a darkness that seemed to absorb the light around it.
"Now," she breathed, "the catalyst."
She reached for a vial of her own blood. Emberlyn was human, unaffiliated, but her blood carried the particular resonance of someone who had spent too long in the presence of outcast magic. It was rich with adaptation. With survival.