Prisoner of Halazar

Clara Graysword, an orphaned Arcanist, survives the brutal Halazar Prison, where magic is forbidden unless sanctioned by the crown. She's kept alive by her skill in inking tarot cards, a forbidden art, and her determination to escape. Her only hope is that her family or her own cunning will free her. When Prince Kaelis, the feared second son of the Oricalis royal family and headmaster of Arcana Academy, arrives, Clara is summoned for a mysterious audience. Kaelis interrogates her using magical tarot, extracting painful truths and ultimately sentencing her to death. But Clara's will to survive is unbroken, and she seizes a slim chance to escape, setting the stage for her journey back into a world of magic, power, and secrets.

The Prince's Bargain

Kaelis offers Clara a reprieve from execution in exchange for her unique magical talents. He needs her to help him find and forge the legendary "World" tarot card, a source of ultimate power. Clara is forced into a dangerous alliance, becoming both his pawn and his partner. She's thrust into the opulent, treacherous world of Arcana Academy, where nobles and commoners alike vie for magical dominance. Kaelis claims she is a lost noble and his future bride, a ruse to protect her from execution and to further his own ambitions. Clara must navigate the academy's politics, her growing hatred—and attraction—for Kaelis, and the ever-present threat to her life.

Escape and Reunion

Clara's escape from Halazar is harrowing, involving a perilous climb, a swim through deadly waters, and the use of her forbidden magic. She's driven by the need to warn her sister, Arina, who is still at the academy and in danger from Kaelis. After a near-fatal journey, Clara is rescued and nursed back to health at Arcana Academy. She's introduced to a cast of students and faculty, each with their own agendas. Clara's thoughts are never far from her found family—the Starcrossed Club, a group of outcasts and rebels who once sheltered her and Arina. Their absence gnaws at her, fueling her resolve to survive and fight back.

Arcana Academy's Shadow

At the academy, Clara is forced to play the role of Kaelis's betrothed and a long-lost noble, all while hiding her true identity as a fugitive. She's drawn into the academy's brutal hierarchy, where magical ability and noble blood determine one's fate. Clara discovers the existence of the Major Arcana—powerful individuals who embody the legendary tarot cards—and learns she is the Wheel of Fortune, able to manipulate luck and fate. She's tested by rivals, threatened by faculty, and haunted by the mystery of her mother's death and her sister's disappearance. The academy is a place of both opportunity and mortal peril.

The Fire Festival Trial

The Fire Festival marks the beginning of the academic year and the first major trial for initiates. Clara and her peers must sacrifice a possible future to the Arcanum Chalice, a magical artifact that grants power in exchange for fate. Clara gives up the possibility of love, symbolized by the Two of Cups, and is forced to fight and kill a vision of her lost lover, Liam. The ordeal is both physically and emotionally scarring, but she survives, earning her place as an initiate. The trial cements the academy's cruelty and the high cost of power.

The Arcanum Chalice

The aftermath of the Chalice trial leaves Clara and her fellow initiates changed. She forms alliances with other outcasts—Luren, Sorza, Dristin, and Kel—while navigating the enmity of nobles like Eza and Alor. Clara's unique magic and resilience set her apart, but also make her a target. She's drawn deeper into the academy's secrets, including the existence of the Major Arcana and the true nature of the World card. The lines between friend and foe blur as Clara seeks to protect her loved ones and uncover the truth about her family.

Initiate Among Nobles

Clara's days are filled with grueling classes in inking, wielding, and reading tarot, as well as constant political maneuvering. She must prove herself to both students and faculty, all while maintaining her cover as Kaelis's noble fiancée. The academy's system is rigged in favor of the highborn, but Clara's skill and cunning earn her respect—and more enemies. She's drawn into the secret society of the Major Arcana, where she learns the true stakes of the magical world and her own pivotal role in it.

The Major Arcana's Secret

Clara is inducted into the hidden circle of the Major Arcana, each a living embodiment of a legendary tarot card. She learns that the World card is real and can remake reality itself, but only if all the Majors' golden cards are gathered and a special vessel is created. Kaelis's true plan is revealed: he wants Clara to forge the final cards and help him steal the World from his tyrannical father, King Naethor. Clara's own motives are complicated by her desire to bring back her lost family and her growing, conflicted feelings for Kaelis.

The Wheel of Fortune

Clara struggles to master her Major Arcana—Wheel of Fortune—learning that her power is to manipulate luck and fate, but at a cost. She discovers that her blood is the key to inking any card, a secret passed down from her mother. As she hones her abilities, Clara becomes both a weapon and a prize in the struggle for the World. She's torn between her loyalty to her found family, her duty to the Worldkeepers (a secret order sworn to protect the World card), and her dangerous alliance with Kaelis.

Dangerous Alliances

Clara's relationship with Kaelis deepens, blurring the line between enemy and lover. Together, they plot to steal the World from King Naethor, but trust is always in question. Clara's friends in the Starcrossed Club risk everything to help her, and she's forced to make impossible choices. The king's court is a nest of vipers, with Ravin, Kaelis's brother, and other nobles scheming for power. Clara's true identity as a fugitive and a Major is threatened with exposure, and every move could be her last.

The King's Decree

At the Feast of Cups, Clara and her allies execute a daring heist, stealing the golden Major Arcana cards from the king using a combination of magic, subterfuge, and the deadly Duskrose flower. But their victory is short-lived. Clara's identity as the Halazar escapee is exposed by her old tormentor, Glavstone, and she's betrayed by those she thought she could trust. The king and Ravin move to crush her and her friends, and Clara is forced to flee, using every ounce of her cunning and power to survive.

The Three of Swords Trials

The academy's final trials are brutal, pitting students against each other in magical duels where only the strongest survive. Clara's friends are tested to their limits, and not all make it through alive. Clara herself faces Eza, her most dangerous rival, in a fight that pushes her to the edge. She wins, but at great cost, and the lines between justice and vengeance blur. The trials reveal the true nature of the academy and the world it serves—a place where power is everything, and mercy is rare.

Betrayal at the Feast

At the grand Feast of Cups, Clara's carefully constructed life unravels. Her true identity is revealed, and she's hunted by the king's forces. In a desperate bid to save her friends and herself, Clara uses the Chariot card to escape, but not before witnessing the deaths of those she loves—Bristara, her mentor, and Silas, her ally. Ravin, revealed as the Major Arcana Death, is her nemesis, wielding the power to kill with a name. Clara is captured, broken, and condemned to the dungeons of Halazar, where her story began.

The Worldkeepers' Truth

In the aftermath of betrayal, Clara learns the full truth from Bristara: her mother was a Worldkeeper, a guardian of the vessel needed to summon the World card. Clara is the last to know the secret of inking the vessel, making her the final hope—or the greatest threat—to the balance of magic. The Worldkeepers have been hunted to near extinction by the Oricalis crown, and Clara's bloodline is the key to everything. She must choose between using the World for her own desires, giving it to Kaelis, or protecting it from all.

Death's Door Opens

Ravin, as Death, hunts Clara and her allies, killing with a word and a card. Clara's refusal to give her true name saves her life, but not before she witnesses the deaths of Bristara and Silas. The cost of magic and the cruelty of the crown are laid bare. Clara's own bloodline is revealed to be tied to Clan Tower, the very nobles who ordered her mother's death. The cycle of vengeance and loss threatens to consume her, and she's left with nothing but the Death card and the knowledge that she alone can change the world.

The End and the Beginning

Clara is dragged back to the dungeons of Halazar, condemned to rot where her story began. But she is no longer the powerless girl she once was. She carries the Death card, the secret of the vessel, and the will to fight. The world stands on the brink of transformation, with Clara at its center. The story ends with the promise of a new beginning—a battle for the World, for justice, and for the future of magic itself.

Characters

Clara Graysword (Redwin/Chevalyer)

Clara is a fiercely resilient and resourceful young woman, marked by trauma, loss, and a burning desire for justice. Orphaned and forced to survive on the streets, she becomes a master inker of magical tarot cards, a forbidden art. Her psyche is shaped by abandonment, the murder of her mother, and the disappearance (and later death) of her sister, Arina. Clara's journey is one of self-discovery, as she learns she is the living embodiment of the Wheel of Fortune Major Arcana, able to manipulate luck and fate. Her relationships are complex: she is both pawn and partner to Prince Kaelis, a leader to her found family in the Starcrossed Club, and the last hope of the Worldkeepers. Clara's arc is defined by her struggle between vengeance and hope, love and hate, and the ultimate question of what she will do with the power to change the world.

Prince Kaelis Oricalis

Kaelis is the enigmatic, feared second son of the Oricalis royal family, known for his ruthlessness and brilliance. As headmaster of Arcana Academy, he wields immense magical and political power, but is also a prisoner of his father's tyranny. Kaelis's psyche is shaped by loss—his true mother's murder, his own forced sacrifices, and the burden of being "void-born." He is both Clara's captor and her lover, their relationship a tangle of mutual need, distrust, and forbidden passion. Kaelis's ultimate goal is to steal the World card and use it to destroy his father's regime, but his methods are as dangerous as his enemies. He is both a monster and a man seeking redemption, and his fate is inextricably tied to Clara's.

Arina Daygar

Arina is Clara's younger sister, equally talented in magic and fiercely independent. Her disappearance and eventual death haunt Clara, driving much of her quest for truth and justice. Arina's arc is one of tragic potential—she is the spark that ignites Clara's rebellion, the lost future that must be avenged, and the symbol of all that is at stake in the battle for the World.

Bristara

Bristara is the formidable leader of the Starcrossed Club, a surrogate mother to Clara and Arina, and a member of the secret Worldkeepers. She is pragmatic, fiercely protective, and willing to make hard choices for the greater good. Bristara's relationship with Clara is complex—part mentor, part judge, part co-conspirator. Her death is a devastating blow, but her legacy and the truths she reveals about the Worldkeepers and Clara's bloodline shape the final act of the story.

Prince Ravin Oricalis

Ravin is Kaelis's older brother, the heir to the throne, and the living embodiment of the Death Major Arcana. He is cunning, ruthless, and utterly loyal to the crown's brutal order. Ravin is responsible for Clara's imprisonment, the destruction of her family, and the deaths of her allies. He is the story's primary antagonist, wielding the power to kill with a name and determined to crush any threat to the Oricalis dynasty.

Silas Erentu

Silas is a Major Arcana (the Chariot), able to teleport between known locations. He is held hostage by Ravin, forced to betray Clara and her friends to protect his own family. Silas's arc is one of guilt, redemption, and sacrifice—he ultimately chooses to help Clara, even at the cost of his own life. His death is a testament to the story's theme of the price of loyalty and the cruelty of power.

Luren

Luren is a common-born initiate at the academy, gifted in reading tarot but haunted by guilt and loss. Her arc mirrors Clara's in miniature: she must overcome trauma, prove her worth in a rigged system, and find the will to live for those who cannot. Luren's friendship is a source of strength for Clara, and her survival is a small victory in a world of loss.

Alor Ventall

Alor is the daughter of Clan Tower's High Lord and sister to Emilia, the King of Swords. Initially a rival, she becomes a reluctant friend and co-conspirator to Clara. Alor's arc is one of seeking approval, navigating family expectations, and ultimately choosing loyalty to a friend over blood. Her mother's role in Clara's mother's death adds a layer of tragedy and complexity to their relationship.

Eza

Eza is a noble initiate, the son of Warden Glavstone, and the living embodiment of the Hanged Man Major Arcana. He is Clara's most dangerous rival at the academy, using his power to torment and nearly destroy her. Eza's arc is one of inherited cruelty, resentment, and the ultimate price of hatred—he is killed in a duel, a victim of the very system he sought to dominate.

The King (Naethor Oricalis)

King Naethor is the true power behind the Oricalis dynasty, a man who has remade the world before and will do anything to keep his throne. He is the story's shadowy antagonist, orchestrating the destruction of the Worldkeepers, the deaths of Clara's family, and the brutal order of the kingdom. His relationship to Kaelis is one of control and manipulation, and his pursuit of the World card is the central threat to all.

Plot Devices

Tarot Magic and the Major Arcana

The story's central device is a system of magic based on tarot cards, each with unique powers and costs. The Minor Arcana represent elemental and practical magic, while the Major Arcana are embodied by living individuals with world-altering abilities. The quest for the World car

Last updated: July 22, 2025