Page 2 of The Scars Within (Twisted Thorn #1)

One year later…

Mageia War College will either make me– or break me.

And since there’s nothing left to break, that leaves me with one option.

The past year has been a blur. After officials halted the race—saving me from being trampled—I was taken to a women’s shelter. They insisted on keeping me there until I was deemed strong enough to take care of myself.

It was a fresh start that I never asked for.

I had nothing but time to relive the nightmare of my Rock Bottom. But with each passing day, the weight of the trauma felt just a little lighter– like maybe, just maybe, I could move on and have a life worth living.I wasn’t shackled anymore.

No one came to visit me in the shelter—not that I expected anyone to.

But, what I didn’t expect was the anonymous package.

An envelope had been left for me, and inside it was the last thing I expected to receive—my father’s elemental documentation. The last I remembered, that paperwork was locked away in the family trunk back home. So how it ended up there, in my hands, was a mystery I couldn’t stop thinking about.

It was enough to ignite a spark of motivation in me—the first I’d felt in years. I spent the next few months chasing one goal: get strong enough, steady enough, to earn my release from the shelter and finally go home to find answers.

There was no note. No explanation. No reason why someone thought that documentation was important enough to leave for me. But it felt intentional. Deliberate.

I thought I had it all figured out—return home, uncover the truth, maybe start over.

But what was waiting for me changed everything .

I had the clothes on my back, my father’s documentation in my hands–

And my home had been burned to ash.

I had fallen to my knees at the sight of it. Something shifted the moment my knees hit the dirt. It felt like a dam inside me had cracked wide open, flooding my mind with everything I’d buried—grief, rage, confusion... and something else I didn’t have a name for.

That was when I heard it.

A voice—my own—echoed in my mind, quiet but undeniable. Words I’ve whispered to myself every day since.

You are meant for more.

The events leading up to this moment could have– should have– broken me.

But while I thought I had surrendered to the darkness in my soul, there was still a small part of me begging myself to live.

That was the day I decided that either I can continue to live in the darkness of the Rock Bottom I escaped from, or I could take one step at a time to rebuild my life from the ground up.

The envelope in my hands was the start to my new beginning.

A cadet bumped into my back, forcing me to stumble forward, closer to the crowd pressed tightly together at the castle’s entrance.

The space around me was suffocating, bodies packed so tightly that I could barely move.

It took every ounce of my willpower to keep my mind steady, to stop the rising tide of panic threatening to turn me into a hyperventilating mess.

I highly doubt that would be a good first impression.

Mageia War College is for the elite. Only cadets with proven elemental magic or bloodlines tied to the elements are accepted. I’ve never felt even a flicker of elemental connection—so my father’s documentation was my only ticket in.

After he walked out on us, I overheard my mother whisper to Aunt Cora that he was an air wielder, and that his official paperwork was buried deep in their old trunk.

I mentally packed that knowledge away—just in case I ever chose to enroll once I was of age.

A part of me wondered if it was Cora that sent his documentation, but why would she have done it anonymously?

Once the crowd crested the broad staircase, the space finally opened up, allowing us to spread out. The crushing pressure in my chest eased slightly as I took in a steadier breath. Before us stood another broad staircase that split into three narrower sets further ahead.

A professor descended from the rightmost staircase. His face was shadowed with scruff, the kind that suggested either a disregard for appearances or the absence of someone in his life who cared enough to nag him about it. Without preamble, he began calling out names from the list in his hand.

Being a cadet means I’ll have housing, food, and... a chance at survival. I’ll have to pledge my life to serving Arya’s military, but it’s not like I have much of a life to forfeit.

“Thorne,” he called my surname.

“Here.”

Professor Scruffy directed me where to stand with a lazy wave of his arm. I stepped in beside a tall brunette with tan skin, her curly hair hanging low along her back. I could tell she was from a known family because she knew some initiates well enough for hugs and high-fives.

Holy elements. Please, nobody hug me.

It was just my mother and me against the world—until a fever took her when I was eight. After that, Aunt Cora took me in. She opened the door to the working-class world, teaching me everything I was allowed to do at that age.

By ten, I could hold my own. I know my help made a difference in her finances, but she’ll never understand how much it meant to me—having her not just as family, but as a mentor.

We lived happily together until she was offered her dream employment as an Herbology Professor at Mageia.

She’s an earth wielder but never felt the pull to employ herself in our military forces.

All Cora has ever wanted to do was help others by either teaching them or working herself on the farmlands for our little village of Caydean.

She was weary of leaving me behind. Professors are only allowed direct kin to come live in their chambers, which Mageia provides. But I assured her that I would be okay. I could care for myself, the cottage, and the small garden plot she owned.

Oh hell, was I wrong.

“Salvitto,” the brunette said as she held her hand to me. “Delaney Salvitto.”

“Scarlet,” I replied. “Scar, for short.”

“Scar? Did your parents read a lot of fairytales as kids?” she snorted.

“My mother is dead, and my father ditched us when I was a babe,” I said coldly, with an even colder expression written on my face.

I am used to this conversation being one of the first topics when I meet someone new.

People don’t want to get to know you; they want to know if your bloodline is worthy enough to spend their time talking with you.

They want to know how powerful the elemental magic is in your lineage, even though the ability to channel an element has never been proven to be a hereditary trait .

“Oh… I am so sorry. I didn’t mean any harm. I have this tendency to speak before I think, and whatever comes out of my mouth is something I usually can’t–”

“It’s fine,” I cut her off. This is great, a miss-talks-a-lot.

“Well, Scarlet Thorne. It’s my pleasure to meet you. This is going to be one heck of a year,” Delaney said with a sudden change of tone.

Professor Scruffy ascended to the top of the steps from which he came. He looked around to make sure every initiate that entered the doors was accounted for and let out a deep cough that you’d usually find in someone with a fever.

“Everyone on the roll call is here. You have been divided into four factions going off your last name. Now, males split from females, and every group of four will be assigned to the same sleeping chamber. You’re adults, do the math,” he grunted.

The men and women split into separate groups, and everyone lined up alphabetically by surname. A shorter girl with deep brown skin stepped to the front of the line of women I stood with. She began counting heads and directing people where to go, her movements crisp and deliberate.

She exuded confidence, her posture straight and her shoulders squared. Though she barely reached my chin in height, she carried herself with a commanding presence that made her seem twice her size. Even her voice, steady and authoritative, made it clear she was no stranger to leadership.

Miss Leader-Pants grouped the last four of us into the final quad. Including herself, Delaney, and a quiet girl with pale skin and black hair who hasn’t said a word.

As the initiates gathered into quads, a group of cadets in distinguished leather jackets descended from the left staircase. Some exchanged smiles and nods with friends they recognized while others dragged behind like they would rather be anywhere but here .

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a tall, dark-haired man lingering in the shadows. He leaned casually against a pillar, his arms crossed, observing us with a piercing intensity.

Professor Scruffy coughed a loud “AHEM” to get everybody’s attention.

“May I introduce to you our second-year cadets? They were in your shoes last year, brand new, and terrified of what would come. But I am happy to announce that they have gotten their shit together over the past year and are ready to guide you into the ways of Mageia War College.”

“Not all of us have,” a sandy-haired male student snorted from behind Professor Scruffy.

He elbowed his brunette friend, who had a look on his face like he was trying to be professional.

Scruffy gave the guy a side-eyed glare and continued, “Each faction has been assigned two leaders to show you where your classes are, your living quarters…

you get the picture. You will be escorted to your sleeping chambers to drop your gear, and I will see you in the auditorium before lunch.

Team leaders will also be the first to report to faculty if you break laws within our college.

I assume everyone here knows of the three inexcusable rules that Mageia holds within

Kalluri’s Doctrine of Elemental Magic .”

The first-years all agreed simultaneously.

Kalluri’s Doctrine of Elemental Magic serves as the unyielding law for elementals enlisted in Arya’s military, leaving no room for error or interpretation.

Kalluri’s Doctrine of Elemental Magic states:

-One must not use their elemental magic to harm another student, faculty member, or dragon within the college campus. Outside the campus lines, justice is to be served from that jurisdiction .

-One must not hide any signs of elemental magic not already known by the War College.

-One must agree that all incoming and outgoing mail will be reviewed by the faculty member on duty before it is released to the recipient.

If any rules are proven broken by the faculty, then by decree, the elemental is sentenced to finish their service within the Barren Watch.

“Congratulations on your official initiation into Mageia War College. You are now a cadet. We are the Elements!” proclaimed Professor Scruffy.

“We are the Elements!” every cadet in the hall around me repeated.

Here goes nothing.