The Entanglement of Rival Wizards

Sebastian “Seb” Walsh, an evocation wizard at Lesiara University, prepares a prank against the rival Conjuration Department with his best friend, Orok Monroe. The rivalry has intensified since someone from Conjuration, likely its star student Elethior Tourael, ruined valuable spell components belonging to the Evocation Department. Seb is also anxious about the next day’s Mageus Research Grant verdict, which is crucial for his final project and a job offer from the Clawstar Foundation. For a magical boost, Seb summons his invisible fox familiar, Nick, who bites Orok. Seb then reveals the prank’s centerpiece, an animated corpse named Sten. Disgusted, Orok bypasses the powerful ward on the Conjuration lab door by climbing the building. Inside, Seb locates Elethior’s lab space and leaves Sten with instructions to make a mess and scare the first person who enters.

Later that night, Seb and Orok attend a party with Orok’s rawball teammates. There, they encounter Elethior, who confronts Seb. He reveals that campus security found Sten’s decomposed remains after the preservation spells failed. Elethior taunts Seb, claiming he is not skilled enough to have broken the lab’s ward and will also lose the grant to him. Enraged, Seb lunges at Elethior, but Orok holds him back. The confrontation triggers a panic attack, and Seb flees outside. To release their stress, Seb and Orok go to the university’s rawball field to play “Blast Off,” a training game involving fireballs.

The next morning, a series of mishaps makes Seb late for the grant announcement brunch. He encounters a perfectly dressed Elethior in the restroom, who mocks his tardiness. In defiance, Seb strips to change in front of him. They argue, with Seb accusing Elethior of only wanting the grant for prestige, and Elethior calling Seb immature. Seb enters the brunch just as Dr. Davyeras, head of the selection committee, makes the announcement. Instead of one winner, the committee has awarded a collaborative grant to both Seb and Elethior. They will receive increased funding and a dedicated lab but must work together on a unified project. Both men are shocked and furious as they are called to the podium.

Seb struggles with the new arrangement during an unexpected visit from his mother, Abigail, and Orok’s mother, Ghorza. When Orok defends Seb from Ghorza’s criticism, he reveals that Seb won the grant. Abigail, immensely proud, finds photos of the ceremony online and learns Seb is partnered with a Tourael. This brings up Camp Merethyl, a paramilitary training camp run by the Touraels that both Seb and Orok attended. Abigail reveals Seb’s father, Colonel Mason Walsh, is being considered for the camp’s directorship. The topic is a major trigger for Seb, who dropped out of the camp, a decision that tarnished his father’s record. Abigail views the partnership as a chance for Seb’s redemption, but Seb forbids her from telling his father. The stress causes another panic attack, and Orok comforts him before leaving for winter break.

The spring semester begins with a tense week in the new lab. Seb’s plan to be cordial fails when Elethior mistakes Nick’s presence for a prank and insults him. They argue about past pranks, with Elethior denying any involvement in the retaliation against the Evocation department. Seb declares they will work separately. Their conflict is interrupted by an email from Dr. Davyeras requiring their attendance at two university events. Later, a call from Seb’s father, urging him to use the Tourael connection for his own career advancement, triggers another panic attack. Seb returns to the lab and, in a fit of rage, uses a dangerously powerful spell to destroy a protection ward Elethior placed around his desk, leaving him horrified at his loss of control.

At the mandatory cocktail party, their dynamic begins to shift. Dr. Davyeras corners Seb and warns him that the committee expects real collaboration. Elethior warns Seb away from his condescending cousin, Arasne Tourael, who insults Seb and threatens to have him replaced as Elethior’s partner. To Seb’s surprise, Elethior defends him. Afterward, outside, they agree to a genuine truce. Later, Seb finds Orok at their apartment recovering from a nightmare about Camp Merethyl and learns Orok is conflicted about interest from a pro rawball team recruiter.

Seb and Elethior establish a working relationship, agreeing to focus on Seb’s project first. Seb explains his research on creating a “safety net” spell to prevent wizards from accidentally draining components. Elethior shows a softer side by buying snacks for Nick as an apology for his initial reaction to the familiar. Seb explains that Nick’s invisibility is the result of a curse from an ex-girlfriend, which he reapplied because Nick preferred it. Elethior reveals his own familiar is a desert rosy boa named Paeris. Their work is interrupted when Elethior receives a call that his mother, Dr. Rebecca Holmes, has had a seizure at her care facility, Blooming Grove. Seb insists on accompanying the panicked Elethior, and the staff notes it is the first time Elethior has ever brought someone with him. His mother is stabilized but unconscious, and Elethior introduces Seb to her.

At their first check-in meeting, they present a united front. Afterward, they are confronted by Myrdin, Arasne’s associate, who demands that both of them report their progress to the Tourael family. Elethior furiously defends Seb, declaring him “off-limits.” Aroused by Elethior’s protectiveness, Seb takes him back to his apartment. They begin a physical relationship with ground rules, including one against sex in the lab that is later rescinded due to mounting sexual tension. A new routine develops, with Elethior driving Seb to and from the lab and Seb accompanying Elethior on visits to his recovering mother.

During the Founder’s Day festival, Seb receives a text from his mother confirming his father is the new director of Camp Merethyl, which devastates him. The festival’s challenge requires teams to gather spell components from an obstacle course. Being forced to compete without his own supplies and finding a key component box empty triggers Seb’s PTSD from a similar test at Camp Merethyl. He has a flashback, but Elethior talks him down. In the vulnerable aftermath, Seb asks Elethior on a date and promises to tell him everything. They win the challenge when Seb has Nick steal a component from their competitors.

On their first date, Elethior takes Seb to his family’s penthouse. Seb reveals the truth about the secret “fifth level” at Camp Merethyl, where he and Orok were subjected to brutal survival training as part of the experimental “ouroboros project.” He describes the final test, where they were forced to use the iron from their own blood as a spell component to escape a flooding room, a trauma that nearly killed Orok and inspired Seb’s safety net project. Elethior is enraged and vows to make the family members involved pay. The confession leads to a deeply intimate sexual encounter, and they commit to being “in this” together.

After they spend spring break together, Seb’s parents visit. His father reveals he discovered the records of the ouroboros project, reported it to the authorities, and stepped down from his new position. He offers to help Seb sue the Touraels responsible. Overwhelmed, Seb puts off a decision. In the following weeks, he secretly works on Elethior’s project, which involves disconnecting a conjurer from their conjured item, as a gift. The day before their final presentation, Seb reveals his breakthrough. Elethior is excited but suggests a modification that could be weaponized. They argue, and a stressed Elethior reveals he researched which Touraels were involved in the ouroboros project. In his anger, he says something deeply hurtful that connects their relationship to Seb’s trauma, and Seb leaves.

At his apartment, Seb realizes he is in love with Elethior. Orok reveals he has accepted a contract with a pro rawball team in Las Vegas, and they share an emotional farewell to their codependent friendship. Elethior asks for a night apart, then withdraws from the university and submits their joint paper with only Seb’s name on it as penance. Realizing Elethior is sacrificing his future, Seb gives the presentation and credits Elethior as a co-author. He finds Elethior at Blooming Grove, where they reconcile and confess their love for each other, agreeing to face the lawsuit against the Touraels together.

Four years later, the lawsuit is successful, and Camp Merethyl is shut down. Seb’s relationship with his parents is healed, and Orok has been traded back to a Philadelphia team. Seb and Elethior are in a happy, stable relationship and have been engaged in a playful “proposal war.” On the day of the verdict, Seb goes to the rooftop of the care facility where Elethior works as a nurse, planning to propose. He finds Elethior has set up his own proposal. As Elethior begins to kneel, he is momentarily distracted by a bite on the ankle from an invisible Nick. Seizing the opportunity, Seb gets on one knee and proposes. Elethior joyfully accepts, then insists on proposing back, and they become engaged.