The Wilds relentlessly reclaim all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages create the only path forward.
Tala had to fight tooth and nail in the Magic Academy to forge a path to power that was her own. She knows it's her duty to use that power to serve humanity, defending them against the creatures of the untamable wilds. However, she skipped a few steps in her education, like apprenticing to someone who actually knows what they're doing.
Now, Tala has to balance learning as fast as she can with paying off the veritable mountain of debt the Magic Academy dropped on her shoulders for the opportunity; not to mention staying alive.
Even though she should only be a Mageling, the world considers her a Mage. Bless the stars she directed most of her magic toward survival.
