Sentinels in Training - Jade Introduction

Thank you to :: for the amazing work on the commission to bring a bit of Jade's misfortune to life!

Jade was a performer of street magic, skilled enough to make a living amazing tourists and bored businessmen, but always firmly believing that there had to be more.  When she received the note about a magic book that would teach her real spells, she could not pass up the opportunity.  For the first time in her life, she put her slight of hand and lockpicking skills to work illegally, breaking in to an old building to steal the tome.

And it actually worked! The tome was difficult to understand, but she worked at it and gradually began to unlock its mysteries.  And then everything changed when she cast her first spell from it.  With the magic came another force, something dark and malevolent that moved into her mind and soul.  It spoke to her.  It hated her.  It called her thief for stopping the book from ending up in the hands for which it was intended.

She quickly discovered that casting spells from the book came at a terrible cost.  If she made even the slightest mistake in her incantations or hand movements, the door was opened for the evil spirit of the book to turn the magic on her and torment her with more than words...