If you'd told me a month ago I'd be hunting by spell-code, accidentally bonded to a brooding magical agent, and working in a city where even the lampposts have opinions, I'd have laughed or cried, probably both.
But the Velmora for you.
A city build on magic, fueled by secrets and impossible to find unless it wants to be found. And somehow, it wanted me.
My name is Ivy, I'm 20, sarcastic, slightly too curious, and definitely not prepared for all this. Back in the normal world, I was just a girl with a mildly magical heritage and a very unmagical resume. So when I got a cryptic invitation to Intern at the Velmora Research Bureau, I thought it was a joke, or a scam, or maybe some sort of spell-mishap addressing to the wrong Ivy.
Spoiler: It was very real.
Velmora isn't like any place I've ever seen. A modern city with magical skyscrapers, floating cafés, underground spell markets, and a public transit system that may or may not be sentient. The street shimmer if they like you, and the city itself? It watches. It remembers.
And the peoples? Oh, don't get me started.
There's Lani, my terrifying smart roommate who talks faster than a racing broomstick and probably sleeps on every full moon. Jori, who's a flirt, a researcher, and occasionally part shadow-creature. Madam Vee, the tea-reading prophet who might be 500 years old and definitely knows too much.
And then there's him.
Ronan Vale.
Tall, serious, and as emotionally available as a brick wall. He is a senior agent at the Bureau, my unwilling mentor, and possibly the only person in Velmora who can walk through a magical explosion and come out looking annoyed instead of injured.
We don't exactly get along. I talked too much. He broods to hard. I ask questions. He avoids answers. But somehow we keep getting tangled together - by spell work, by accident, by fate. Or maybe Velmora just finds it funny.
It was a warning.
A test.
Or maybe... A trap.
Either way, I'm in it now. Deep and if I want to survive, I'll have to figure out how to outwit a city built to outsmart everyone inside it.
WELCOME TO VELMORA.
It's beautiful. It's terrifying.
And it might just break my heart.
But not for the reasons I thought .
Not because of the monsters in the tunnels or the spellstorms brewing at the edge of the city. Not even because I’m in over my head (which, let’s be real—I totally am). No. It’s him. Ronan. The man who’s supposed to be guiding me through all this chaos, and who somehow, without trying, keeps dragging my heart along with him.
He’s closed-off and complicated. I’m chaos with a smile. We don’t fit.
But Velmora doesn’t care about logic.
And neither, it seems, does fate.
If Ivy had known the enchanted train would literally vanish mid-track just to reappear on a flying bridge, she probably wouldn't have eaten that extra-sweet levitation muffin for breakfast.
But too late. Her stomach was doing loop-the-loops while the magical city of Velmora rolled into the view, glowing like a neon fever dream. Floating towers shimmered in the afternoon sun, magical creature zipped between buildings, spell darted through the air like dragonflies. Somewhere down below, a subway track twisted itself into a knot and untied again.
She pressed her face to the glass window of Carriage 5, eyes wide as the city Velmora bloomed beneath her - floating towers, rainbow-lit rivers, broom highways, and magical traffic cops who looked like they hadn't slept in decades.
"This is insane," she whispered.
The older woman beside her didn't look up from her levitating newspaper, "It's Tuesday, dear."
When the train stopped midair with an elegant ping, Ivy stepped out into the Grand Sky Station, holding her suitcase in one hand and a leather-bound orientation guide in the other. Her boots clicked on the glowing crystal floor.
She took a deep breath, grinning.
"Okay Ivy, you made it. You're here, you're in the big leagues now."
The Arcane Research Institute - the most prestigious magical center in the modern world. And she, Ivy Astra, freshly twenty and still unsure if her hair color counter as technically magical, was going to be an intern.
Until she immediately got lost. Fifteen minutes in, she was pretty sure she'd circled the same floating food cart three times. She tried to follow her guide, but the enchanted map kept fluttering shut on her face, like it had personal beef with her.
"East Sector, East Sector..." she muttered, dodging a fire-breathing pigeon.
A sign nearby read:
! CAUTION: MAGIC MILDLY UNSTABLE IN THIS AREA.
! DO NOT OPEN A RANDOM DOORS.
! IF YOU TURN INTO A FROG, REMAIN CALM.
"Great, totally calming" Ivy said.
She spun in the place, trying to find someone who looked semi-competent and crashed into someone instead.
"Ah! Sorry! I didn't see you-" she yelped, stumbling back.
Neither did he, apparently, because he'd been staring into a floating screen of blueprints hovering in front of him, muttering to himself.
He looked up slowly, tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair that did not come from a stylist, unless the stylist was a thunderstorm. Eye like steel: sharp, cold, and definitely judging her.
He looked at her suitcase, then her badge, and then her.
"You're standing inside a restricted spell design," he said, monotone.
Ivy blinked.
"Okay, well, you're walking with your head inside a spell. Maybe you should look where you're going." he sighed like she personally ruined his afternoon.
"I was calibrating it, your presence disrupted the projection."
"You mean bumping into me ruined your floating science doodle?" she said.
"It's not a doodle. It's a multi-layered enchantment grid-"
"Oh stars. You're one of those, aren't you?" she interrupted, grinning," Hi, I'm Ivy, Intern, just arrived, you are...?"
He paused, reluctantly, "Ronan."
Ronan, of course he looked like a Ronan.
"Well, Ronan is your enchanted doodle supposed to flicker like that?" Ivy said brushing off her coat.
His eyes snapped to the blueprint - and sure enough, the lines were glitching. Blinking in and out like a dying firefly.
"Step back, you destabilized the core thread," he said quickly.
"I didn't touch anything -" but it was too late. The blueprint sparked- then burst
BOOM.
A puff of purple smoke exploded between them, throwing Ivy flat on her back. Her guidebook went flying. Glittery dust floated in the air like confetti. Somewhere nearby, a streetlamp meowed.
Ronan staggered back, covered in soot and sparkles. His expression: pure murder.
Ivy lay there a moment, blinking in the sky.
"Well, at least I made an impression," she said, coughing.
He didn't laugh, not even a smirk.
She stood, dusting herself off. Her curls were full of glitter. "Okay, look. You walk into me. Your magic doodle self-destructed and now we both look like we got sneezed on by a party dragon. Maybe let's call it a draw?"
"I don't do draws," he said flatly.
"Ah, so you're like, undefeated in awkward first impressions?"
He stared at her.
Then, to her surprise he reached down, picked up her guidebook, and handed it to her.
Ivy blinked. "Thanks?"
You're going the wrong way," he added, turning on his heel. "The Institute is north, past the Skybridge. Try not to explode anything else."
"Wow," she said, watching him go. "I can see the joy radiating off you."
He raised a hand without turning back. "It's not joy, it's patience. Slowly dying."
Ivy stood there, glittery, slightly smoky, and 100% annoyed and weirdly intrigued.
So that was Ronan.
Her first real interaction in Velmora - and it ended in mild combustion.
"Internship's off to the stellar start," she muttered, adjusting her bag. Then, with a sigh and a grin she couldn't quite hide, she followed the floating sign that read:
-> ARCANE RESEARCH INSTITUTE - THIS WAY TO MAGIC, MADNESS, AND MAYBE PAYCHECKS.
To be continued.......
The Arcane Research Institute looked exactly how Ivy imagined it.
If she imagined a sentient library married to a tech startup raised a chaos gremlin.
The building was massive - an impossible blend of glass, ivy-covered stone, and floating staircases that adjusted their direction depending on your mood. Literally. A sign out front read.
WELCOME TO ARI
Ivy didn't even question it. She was too busy gaping at the glowing wall murals (which moved), the enchanted vending machine, and the sleek glass lifts that zoomed between floors like magical rollercoaster.
She clutched her bag to her chest and followed the glowing arrows towards the intern office. On the way, a levitating orb buzzed past her ear and said cheerfully, "Warning: You are five minutes late! Good luck!"
She filled it off politely.
By the time she burst into the Intern Hall, she was breathless, glittery, and seconds away from a nervous breakdown.
The woman at the front desk glanced up. She had flaming red hair, sharp golden eyes and the kind of energy that screamed Don't test me before my third espresso.
"You must be Ivy Astra."
Ivy nodded, panting. "Yes, sorry. There was a blueprint explosion, and a glitter bomb and possibly a wizard its emotional issues."
The woman raised a brow, "So...you net Ronan."
Ivy stared, "Is it... that obvious?"
"Oh sweetheart. He's everyone's first magical accident." She extended a hand, "I'm Kiera. Intern coordinator, partial mind-reader, full-time chaos manager. Welcome to ARI."
Ivy liked her immediately.
Kiera handed her a glowing ID badge, a floating tablet, and a folder that tried to fly away twice before Ivy trapped it under her elbow.
"You've been placed in Division D, Spell engineering support team," Kiera said.
Ivy blinked, " Spell engineering... like... the complicated math stuff?"
"Mm-hmm. Potions, constructs, magical infrastructure, boom-boom enchantments. That kind of thing," Kiera paused. "And yes, Ronan works there. Sorry in advance."
I'm not scared of him," Ivy said.
Kiera grinned, "Good. You'll survive longer than most."
–
Division D was located three floors up, across a bridge made of living crystal and guarded by a dozing griffin. Ivy waved her badge and tiptoed past it.
The lab was massive - glass walls, glowing spell circles on the floor, enchantments swirling in containment tubes, and paper flying through the air as if they had somewhere important to be.
At the far end of the room stood Ronan, his coat half-off, hair messier than ever, scribbling something into a board while also muttering into a floating comm-orb.
He hadn't seen her yet.
Ivy tiptoed to her assigned desk, trying to act casual. She was halfway through pretending she knew what one of the buttons did when -
"You're late," Ronan said without looking up.
"I'm glitter bombed and mildly traumatized. Cut me some slack."
He glanced over, eyes scanning the glitter still stuck in her curls. A flicker of amusement passed over his face - so fast she almost missed it.
"You didn't clean up?"
"I tried. Turns out spell soot is very clingy. Like your personality."
A snort came from the next desk over. Ivy turned to see a girl with silver braids, bubblegum pink glasses, and a lab coat covered in stickers. She was eating magical popcorn that popped before she bit into it.
"I like her already," the girl said, "I'm Lani. Resident enchantment hacker and chaos cheerleader."
"Ivy, Intern, part-time glitter explosion victim." she said, smiling.
"Oh, you'll fit in great."
–
Over the next hour, Ivy was thrown into a whirlwind of onboarding chaos. Lani helped her charm her desk into recognizing her. A talking clipboard tried to quiz her on safety rules, but she failed. A floating teacup spilled itself in her bag.
And Ronan? He mostly ignored her. Except when he didn't.
"Don't touch that."
"You're holding the wand backward."
"That scroll is upside down."
"You don't stir with a pen - never stir with a pen - are you trying to summon a disaster?"
Ivy gritted her teeth. "Do you ever say nice things?"
"I say accurate things" he said.
"You say things that make people want to shove you into a broom closet."
Lani sipped her soda, "This is the most alive I've ever seen him."
–
By mid-afternoon, Ivy finally had a moment to breathe. She sat at her desk, scribbling notes and trying to figure out if magical circuits were supposed to buzz that much.
Across the lab, Ronan was working silently - his jaw tight, expression distant. Sometimes, he glanced at her like she was a puzzle he didn't decided to solve yet.
"Hey," Ivy said, standing up, "what's the project we're actually working on?"
He didn't answer right away.
"Stability field. The city's been having glitches - magic behaving unpredictably. We're trying to isolate the source."
Ivy nodded, "And it's not you?"
He looked at her.
She grinned. " Kidding, mostly."
There was a silence. Then he softly said, " You might be useful after all."
Ivy blinked. "Wait. Was that a compliment?"
"No" he replied.
"It's sounded like a compliment." she said.
"It wasn't," he said.
"You accidentally complimented me, didn't you?"
Ronan turned away, "Don't get used to it."
But Ivy was already smiling.
........
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