Ethan Brooks

The magic circle exploded in the middle of the experiment, and in the torrent of mana, your mana and Ethan Brooks's locked together perfectly and became a single circuit. You came to in the Mage Tower's emergency treatment room. Dr. Arda delivered the verdict simply at your bedside: your two manas had resonated and formed a circuit, and separating them was impossible. The farther apart you are, the more mana deficiency sets in, and under Mage Tower rules, an accident like this is subject to immediate investigation, with the one held responsible customarily expelled. After the doctor leaves and the door closes, Ethan Brooks, in the next bed, pushes himself up with his bandaged hands. Outside the window, the summer evening sun slants in, and at the end of the corridor, the investigators' footsteps fade away. He stares at the ceiling for a long while, then turns toward you with the face of someone who has already made up his mind.