Shawey was 13 and engaged to another boy in the village in an arranged marriage. Marriage was growing rare among many human communities, her village included. Many men didn’t see the point to it since they could take any unmarried woman they wanted to. Less mouths to feed, no responsibility. The only girls who got married were those from wealthy houses to the scions of other wealthy houses, or girls of exceptional beauty. She was the later. The boy she was engaged to however was successful young man of 17, dashing, like her without the moon mark, he was very good looking and for a simplistic young girl easily won over her heart with some small romantic gestures. He was so adult, unlike any boy her own age. He was the love of her 13 year old life. So she was really looking forward to her ‘flowering’ and prompt marriage.

It was about that time a wizard came through her village looking for talented youths. He declared everyone talentless, until he saw her, his letcherous gaze made her skin crawl, and though she didn't want to be tested, was pushed forward for testing by her family. After a brief testing, the old geezer declared she had some talent and took her away from her parents, home, and love. No one argued, no one stood up for her. No one asked her opinion. The happy future she thought she had coming to her was ripped away.

The trip to the academy was endless. Her first flowering came and went. She grew older and even more beautiful, more adult. Sometime after her 15th year the old wizard started his “lessons” every night. Of course she knew this sort of thing happened to other unmarried girls. But she had been slated for marriage for years. This was a fate she never expected to occur to her. He was old, diseased, he smelled like a corpse with a mouth full of rotten teeth, and thankfully (else she might have gone insane) could not get erect, but that never stopped him from trying, or taking endless liberties with her body, night after night after endless night. She tried to run away from him several times only to learn to her horror he had spelled her in some way so that no matter how far she ran, she always ended up back where she started. So she tried to kill herself, only to learn that the wizard could heal someone who was almost dead without any problem. Worse when he found her dying, he made her trip toward death endless, then ripped her back from the edge of death only to submerge her again into its cold embrace. By the time his punishment was over she was thoroughly broken and could no longer even think about trying to kill herself without nearly collapsing into a crying fit. He was sadistic and twisted, and had planted a deep resentment and terror deep in her heart.

A week away from the accadamy the old wizard ended up selling her virginity to another old man for a gold tal. It was a mortifying experience. Until that night she thought there was nothing else the old man could do to her. It turned out she was tragically wrong. She had started the journey a bright hopeful if heartbroken young girl, and arrived at the academy little more than a filthy broken wretch. She had long ago stopped caring for her looks or hygiene, the cleaner she was the more the wizard tried to use her body.

After getting to the academy she thought she might finally be free of him, only to learn that girls who could not pass the test to witch would be forced to be nude and used by the male students and faculty as that horrid old corpse tried to use her on the road to the academy. Worse, the “talent” that ripped her from her family turned out to be only good enough to be a witch. Witches being little better than non-witches only difference being she could wear clothing as a witch. She was little better then talentless. Her only conclusion was the old man must have seized her because he thought she’d be a good toy to play with.

With her heart shattered and hope gone her first class arrived, and she failed her first test, one she didn’t even know was a test. “Glyph? What’s a glyph?” she asked herself. The old man never told her about any glyph. How was she supposed to test into being a witch if she didn’t know this glyph? When she was told her failed the test without even knowing it was a test and to strip, she felt like the world had turned mad. Why had this happened to her?

She watched the remaining testing with dead eyes, watched students who obviously had talent show it off and the shattered heart started to get furious. Her life was destroyed for someone else’s sexual desires. She had been raised to be a mother. She didn’t object to being one. Humanity was dying, it was her duty. But she had a fiancé, a loving family and life. Life was hard for most people but she had been blessed with good looks and was to be blessed in her life. Until those blessings turned out to be more a curse than anyone else. All those girls back in the village still at least had people in their families to help them. Boys that would protect them from too much abuse. Even slaves to take their place. They would get to raise their children. She already heard about what happened to the children of the girls here. The slaves would raise them, never seen again after birth. The cruelty of this harsh life was too much to bare and not for the first time she wished to die.

Then after stripping under the hungry gaze of her filthy fellow students, she was called up in front of the class. She thought it was for yet one more humiliation. Only to have one of the remarkable successful students, the lone male among the successful students, a Channeler, seize possession of her. She was so angry she was pretty sure she was staring murder at him after he seized her for impregnation and some stupid experiment.

At least that was what she expected. What she didn’t expect was being locked away from the student body, given a clean place to sleep, and no one coming to demand sexual favors from her. This Jace barely paid any attention to her or the other students. Before the first day ended most of the female students were gathered, the general consensus was 3 weeks break from being some man’s play toy was the best deal any of the girls got since they came to this ‘academy’. Some of the others joked that even if this Jace was the horniest man in the academy, the best he could manage is to sleep with each of them 2 or 3 times in the 3 weeks they lived there, which was still a massive vacation from their daily duties. Furthermore, Jace looked clean, so it wouldn’t be too bad. That she felt this argument was comforting made her frustrated deep in her heart. Sleep with some strange man a few times over the course of the next few weeks would be better than mating with half the faculty and students over that same time period.

None of the witches were older then 22, at that age they were allowed to leave, and of course every single one would leave. They were surprised when Sa’manatha, Jace’s love, judging by the white robe arranged for their comforts, helped them find medicines or treatments for ills, and in general offered a shoulder to cry on. Sa’manatha was braver then she was. Most of the women gravitated to her from the first day. Before long a large group of the cleanest slaves she ever saw started helping in the tower. The quality of the food got better, and she was able to study the glyph without anyone interrupting her or demanding things of her body. For the first time in years she felt safe.

She caught sight of Jace several times over the following weeks. He always had a pensive and worried look on his face. He was a hard worker from what she heard, and from what Sa’manatha told everyone it was all to help them pass the tests into “channeler.” She never saw another man like him. He was huge, and well-muscled. At first she thought for sure he had to be some sort of Fairy lord. Though she never saw a fairy with as much bulk as he had. Fairies always moved about with a graceful floating motion, and their beauty was ethereal. Jace was a sturdy manly human. His face was a bit plain, but the shocking green eyes and brown hair was a combination that she never thought existed in humans before.

She saw the gorgeous Kindred woman who followed him like a slave as well. And was stunned to learn he didn’t sleep with the kindred woman, but remained faithful to Sa’manatha. A slave. She never heard of such a man before. She wasn’t even sure if she approved or not. It was actually a topic of debate among some of the women. She couldn’t blame them for feeling a little put out. They were forced to mate for the purpose of the survival of mankind. They were told they were more valuable than normal girls because they had magic potential. Yet here was this apparently super talented man who was not giving his seed to every woman he saw. It seemed like he was being selfish in a way. He wasn’t doing his duty to mankind. At least that’s how one side of the argument went. The other side of the argument pointed toward the old practice of marriage. And the fact a man can’t marry a slave. However, that white dress was the only dress a slave could wear because it was a declaration of his love for her. Those girls seemed to think he was admirable, because though he could not marry a slave, he was treating her as his wife, and being more faithful to the concept of marriage then most men were.

Then the final week began, and a new girl moved in with the rest, the lone female channeler in the academy Khana. She helped Jace with some experiments, and after a few days Jace returned with jute sacks full of goods. She was skeptical of course. But as one girl after another made their hands light up with magic, she started to eagerly await her chance to try it. Sure enough she was able to make a light occur, then she was surprised to learn she could make magic occur outside her body.

She remembered the judgement of the stone which claimed she’d max out at witch. Yet here she was, her first time touching the pulse, and she already was a channeler. For the first time in her life, she felt like she had escaped the clutches of fate, and had control over her destiny. Khana was gathering the girls up who had failed the channeler test and was walking them through it, she saw several more pass the test on their second try. It was almost a miracle.

While chatting happily next to another nude girl wearing a large hat like she was, she noticed Jace reenter the hall looking a bit worried. He started asking around after Sa’manatha. Apparently Sa’manatha and Verna were missing. No one had seen them either.

Shawey was growing worried.