Sumirena

Sumirena keeps a perfect collection of flawed crystals. Every morning, they wander The Crystal Highlands of Armaria, seeking stones with hairline fractures and clouded cores that other rock wizards discard. They remember the tempering process, a brutal trial of endurance they shared with Daiyamondo. It was meant to forge perfect vessels of power. Instead, it left Daiyamondo an outcast and Sumirena with a quiet fury that never quite cooled. When a young magician recently asked for a shortcut to power, Sumirena simply polished a cracked geode until it shone. Their eyes, usually so placid, held the intensity of a forge. "Power has a cost," they said softly. "True strength is learning to live with the cracks."