Oska

In Coliq, young Oska filled the margins of his lesson book with drawings of enormous spells. He imagined bright circles in the sky and crowds gasping when he raised his hands. His teacher kept asking him to practice less exciting magic: a light that would not blow out, a mark that showed the way home, a shield barely wider than a doorway.

Oska learned those spells, but he treated them like chores on the way to something important. He was clever and impatient, and he hated hearing that a spell needed care more than power. Every evening he stayed late, trying to make the little shield twice as large.

A fire broke out near Coliq's narrow gate and sent a crowd into the street. Smoke covered the signs. Oska tried the great wind spell he had practiced in secret, hoping to blow the smoke away. It burst apart and scattered hot ash toward the gate. For a moment he froze, certain he had made things worse.

His teacher called his name, but gave him no new spell to use. Oska remembered the small ones. He set steady lights low along a safe wall, marked the turn people kept missing, and held a shield across the hottest part of the passage. His arms ached, and the shield flickered, but he held it until the last person crossed. Nobody stopped to applaud. That was how he knew he had finally done the right thing.

Oska returned to his teacher expecting a lecture about the wind spell. Instead, she asked whether everyone had made it out. When he said yes, she asked him to show her the tiny shield again. He could barely raise it; he had used every bit of strength he had to hold the gate open.

From then on, Oska practiced the spells that helped people find safety. He still enjoyed dazzling magic, but no longer mistook applause for a good result. When news came that the world's water was disappearing, he traveled to 67 Lake to protect what remained. He can fight with a magic spear in the comic, but he knows exactly where to stand if the people behind him need a way out.