I don’t know how or why I ended up here. Yesterday I was an ordinary student in my familiar world; today I’m a stranger in a land that feels like it stepped out of old fairy tales. Here I’ve gained a strange, frightening power that I didn’t ask for and don’t fully understand. This power has drawn me into war—into a war against the cruel Iron Duke and the dark forces behind him, forces that want to strip this world of its imperfect, but living soul. But this is not a story about heroics and glory. Every decision I make, every attempt to help, turns into pain and hatred. I’m bitter medicine that heals but leaves scars behind. I’m a witch whom those she saved curse. And I have to accept this role because, it seems, besides me—there’s no one else. This is my path, and I will walk it to the end, whatever the cost.