MTLNOVEL Chapter 1: The Wrong Story
Sarah Chen had always dreamed of being transported into one of her favorite magical academy novels. She'd read hundreds of them, imagining herself as the plucky protagonist discovering her powers, making friends, and rising to the top of her class. What she hadn't imagined was waking up in a cold stone cell, her wrists bound with glowing runic shackles that pressed uncomfortably against the writhing marks etched into her skin.
"No, no, no," she muttered, running her marked hands along the damp walls. "This isn't right. This isn't how it's supposed to go."
The last thing she remembered was opening her special collectors edition copy of her favorite book "The Crystalline Academy of Magical Arts". Now she found herself inhabiting the body of someone else entirely: Ravenna Blackthorn, a seventeen-year-old girl who'd awakened chaos magic - something that hadn't been seen in centuries.
Sarah forced herself to breathe slowly, methodically, the way she could remember Ravenna doing during experiments. That thought made her pause. She closed her eyes and deliberately reached for Ravenna's memories. They weren't distant or hazy like she'd initially feared - instead, they were organized with crystal clarity, like an archive waiting to be accessed. Each memory she touched bloomed into full detail: years of magical theory education, languages learned, experiments meticulously planned. She could recall every page of Ravenna's research journals, every careful observation, every theoretical breakthrough. The memories weren't just events; they came with all of Ravenna's knowledge and understanding.
She experimentally reached for a complex magical theory lesson from Ravenna's past. The information was there, complete and clear - she understood the principles as thoroughly as Ravenna had. It was more than just remembering; she had full access to all of Ravenna's expertise and education. The only memories that seemed slightly unclear were the ones from the final ritual itself, when the chaos magic had taken on a life of its own.
Through these memories, Sarah understood exactly who she was now: A girl who had discovered an ancient form of magic in her family's library and approached it with scholarly precision, only to have it mark her permanently when standard magical containment methods proved incompatible with chaos magic's nature. The marks that now spiraled across her skin were evidence of that unexpected interaction - beautiful, terrible proof that chaos magic couldn't be controlled by conventional means.
She walked to the small mirror in her cell, examining her new reflection. Ravenna's face looked back at her: sharp features, intense dark eyes, and long black hair that seemed to absorb the dim light. The chaos marks were visible where they crept above her collar and down her hands, silvery lines that shifted like flowing water. Drawing on Ravenna's memories, she understood their pattern now - they weren't random but followed the natural channels of magical energy through the body, adapted and enhanced by chaos magic.
Accessing another memory, she recalled the exact moment of their creation. Ravenna had been following standard safety protocols after her chaos magic experiments, attempting to apply conventional suppression techniques. But instead of being contained, the chaos magic had responded by creating these permanent channels - a compromise between human control and its own wild nature. The marks were a mystery she'd been eager to study before her arrest.
Sarah knew the original story - she'd just been reading it before being transported here. Ravenna was supposed to be a minor character, a cautionary tale who appeared briefly before fading into obscurity. But with access to Ravenna's memories and knowledge, Sarah realized there was so much more to this story than the book had revealed. She could feel the chaos magic moving beneath her skin, not wild and uncontrolled as the story had claimed, but responsive and intelligent in ways modern mages had forgotten how to understand.
She flexed her hands, watching the marks shift with the movement. Through Ravenna's memories, she knew exactly how they worked - how to keep the chaos magic stable, how to channel it safely. She also knew every detail of Ravenna's experiments, every safety measure taken, every theory tested. Most importantly, she knew something the Council didn't: chaos magic wasn't inherently dangerous. It was simply magic in its most adaptive form, something the rigid structure of modern magical theory couldn't accommodate.
A guard's voice echoed down the hall. "Prisoner Blackthorn, the Council has reached their decision. Your hearing begins in ten minutes."
Sarah stood, squaring her shoulders with the perfect posture ingrained in Ravenna's muscle memory. She had the original story's knowledge of what was supposed to happen, and now she had Ravenna's lifetime of magical expertise to draw upon. Time to change this story's ending.
The sound of approaching footsteps pulled her from her thoughts. As the guards came to escort her to the hearing, Sarah began mentally preparing her defense. With Ravenna's knowledge and her own understanding of how this story was supposed to go, she had a chance to prove that chaos magic deserved to be understood, not feared.
The cell door opened with a heavy clang. It was time to face the Council, and Sarah knew exactly how to present her case. After all, she had access to every magical theory lesson Ravenna had ever learned, every careful experiment she'd conducted, and every insight she'd gained about chaos magic's true nature. Now she just had to convince the Council to listen.