Learning_Materials

In the fractured world of Eryndor, elemental affinities define one’s worth. Fire, water, earth, wind — the more affinities you possess, the higher you stand in society. Those born with no affinity are considered useless, condemned to menial labor or exile.

Lucas Dawson, a 17-year-old orphan from the border village of Alderwick, is one of the Affinityless. Bullied, ignored, and barely surviving, Lucas stumbles upon an ancient ruin buried beneath the forest during a storm. There, he discovers the Rainbow Orb — a pulsating relic said to contain the pure essence of all affinities ever known... and a few forgotten ones whispered in myth.

When Lucas touches the orb, it shatters into him, awakening every affinity — fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice, shadow, light, chaos, and creation — but also marking him with an ancient curse. Now hunted by kingdoms, cults, and even gods, Lucas must master his powers before the Orb’s chaotic energy consumes him entirely.

Affinity: The Rainbow Orb

Steam still curled over the swamp as Lucas knelt, clutching the Rainbow Orb. His chest burned from the magic he had unleashed, and his fingers tingled like they had been dipped in lightning.

Kaelen pulled himself from the muck, coughing, while Seris scanned the water with her crossbow still raised. "It's too quiet," she muttered. "Even the frogs shut up. That's never good."

Lucas looked at the spot where the Ashwater Serpent had sunk. The water there wasn't settling — it was churning, spiraling inward.

You think the serpent was the predator? Foolish boy.

A low, resonant thoom echoed beneath the surface. Then another. The swamp trembled, trees shedding leaves as if in terror.

"What did you do?" Kaelen snapped.

Lucas swallowed hard. "I… might have broken something."

The whirlpool widened, the black water swallowing fallen logs and stones. From the depths, a faint glow appeared — not warm like fire, but cold, like moonlight on a corpse.

First came the claws — each as long as a man's arm, black and jagged, dripping with some kind of oily ichor that hissed where it touched the water. Then the rest of it emerged — a towering shape of shifting shadow, with bones visible beneath like it was halfway between solid and ghost. Its head was a skull crowned with twisted horns, and in its hollow eye sockets burned pale-blue flames.

Seris's voice cracked. "That's not in any of the bestiaries."

The creature spoke without moving its mouth. Its voice was the sound of dead trees breaking under snow.

"You have broken my jailer, Orb-bearer. Now… I am free."

Lucas felt the Orb heat in his palm.

The thing's arm shot forward, moving faster than something that size had any right to. Lucas barely rolled aside as its claws punched into the earth, leaving behind a spreading patch of rot — grass, roots, even stones withering and blackening.

Kaelen slashed at its arm, but the blade passed through shadow and hit bone, sending up sparks that died instantly in the thing's aura. The monster's other hand swatted him away like an insect, throwing him into a tree with a sickening crack.

"Kaelen!" Lucas shouted, but Seris yanked him back just as the creature's claws raked the air where he'd been.

Light and shadow together. Force it to choose a form.

Lucas concentrated, feeling sunlight blaze in one hand and void-darkness coil in the other. He slammed them together, creating a blinding sphere of silver-black energy. It hummed like the edge of a blade.

The creature hissed, its shape flickering between solid and mist. Lucas hurled the sphere — it struck its chest, detonating in a pulse that made the swamp water leap into the air.

The thing staggered, roaring in both sound and thought, but it didn't fall. Instead, it retreated into the whirlpool, its flaming eyes never leaving Lucas.

The water stilled. The swamp was silent again.

Lucas stood there, shaking, the Orb cooling in his hand.

"What… was that?" Seris whispered.

Kaelen groaned from where he lay. "Something that wanted the serpent dead even more than we did."

The Orb gave a final, unsettling chuckle.

Congratulations, Lucas. You didn't just win a battle — you started a war.

The Thing Beneath