Synopsis: Once upon a very long time ago, so the legends say, there was a golden age of magic and magical technology, when the all-powerful Mage-Kings ruled peacefully from their sky-piercing towers and the world was a place where people never lived in want of food and shelter: the mythical Tower Era. But like all good things, it did not last forever, and now that time has receded from history into myth. Most respectable scholars scoff at the idea that the Tower Era was ever more than a fanciful tale, and find reason to dismiss or disappear any claimed evidence that it existed.

Enter Rai Flamme, a 21-year-old mage/swordsman/scholar. While he had always been equally fascinated by the scholarly pursuits and tales of adventure from childhood, the only son of a Professor of the Isle of Heaven's Reach's Magic Tower, the pinnacle of modern-day magic scholarship institutions, turned to fervent study and search for evidence of the Tower Era four years ago. It was then that two life-changing events occurred: the death of his mercenary girlfriend and his awakening as a mage of the subvariety known as "soul mage," whose magic is tied to their very essence of being rather than being learned through study as with the "scholastic mages," granted by contract with spirits as with "spirit mages," flowing in the blood as with "blood mages," or granted by divine agents as with "divine mages" (also often priests). Now with command over fire and lightning and wielding his girlfriend's sword, he searches for the remnants of the Tower Era with a drive that can only be the result of a deeply held hidden desire.

Meanwhile, a stellar specimen of the typically puny, short-statured reptilian-person race known as kobolds, a young woman with crimson scales named Isa Bloodscale, has a grand dream. Wielding her trusty halberd (which she made herself!) and magic of burning blood, this warrior/hunter/explorer/mage seeks ever greater combat challenges in the hopes that she will one day reach the limits of her kind and evolve into a greater being… as many times as it takes to become an immortal dragon. Kobolds, after all, live lives that are all too short compared to humans, with those who have the good fortune to die of old age doing so by thirty-five years, and she wants to live forever. When one day she follows the trail of an unusual monster to a sinkhole revealing an underground ruin, it sets her life on a collision course with Rai's.

And together, they'll be unstoppable. Which is good, because there's a secret organization bent on doing exactly that.

*OGL for obligatory reasons. First chapter is Chapter 1; but if you like LitRPGs, you can start with the Character Sheets.

*Chapters are approx 3000 words. 1/day until I catch up to currently written.