Magic can be learned by anyone. However, only a select few are taught. To become one of these few you have to prove yourself to the School. Ruth is one of those few. Kind of. Ruth's parents cheated to get the School to teach her; she knows it, the teachers know it, even the other students know it. In her desire to get more out of life than failed classes, she found herself pulled into the middle of the civil war tearing the country of Rialu apart. Now Ruth will have to fight with more of herself than she ever believed possible to make it out alive.