Hmmm. Which one, which one? I spread my senses into the box and count each packet, test the weight and compare them with the others, and lastly, sniff the box.
“Lily…” Alkin’s face shifts to a light, red hue, “We can buy more than one box.”
Aren’t we tight on money?
Do you even understand the concept of money?
I don’t respond—which I realize is the same as admitting it—and simply go back to pondering what kind of tea to buy. Right now, I’m stuck between herbal tea or chamomile tea, neither of which I’ve ever tasted before. When was the last time I had tea… maybe four months ago?
Was it black tea, I wonder? No, that was a year ago, maybe? Most of what I remember is being asleep and bits of observation. I never paid much attention during my moments of idle consciousness where I pass the time drinking tea. Probably because I haven’t found the correct type of tea yet.
After lots of pondering and Alkin giving me looks of discomfort, I settled on the chamomile and toss it into the basket.
Alkin grabs one for herself along with ingredients for dinner.
***
We leave the store soon after.
Humans are strange, or maybe Alkin is simply a strange human.
Walking in the silent night of Peris is something I’ll never get tired of. Most people keep to themselves and try to stay out of trouble—others don’t even leave their homes—fearing the magic brewing in the dark. Even the so-called ‘Official Magies’ from the Magi Guild are potentially dangers but whenever I see them, people’s emotions are calm.
Technically Madame Alkin is an Official Magi, too. She just prefers to be called an ‘Investigator’. Which, by her defintion, is a person who works independently from the Guild and pursuing whatever she pleases at her own discretion.
Our walk was uninteresting. We scared off some humans trying to mug us, there was the sea of magic fueled lanterns illuminating the city, and other boring things. Things I have experienced many times.
Alkin’s office never fails to bring me comfort, something I’ll never get bored of. We live in an unassuming alleyway and yet, this place somehow finds a consistent stream of Clients.
Alkin unlocks the heavily enchanted door and we step inside, the door automatically closing once we do so and even locking by itself. It doesn’t do that during open hours by the way; wouldn’t want to spook the clients by trapping them in a room, I suppose.
After dinner, its back to our routine: Alkin writes down the events of our recent cases and organizes them in her filing cabinet while I leave to continue my experiments and practice magic.
The decaying wallpaper opens up like a gaping maw to welcome me back to my room. Reality warps the moment my body passes theougu it. I cross an impossibly long hallway in the blink of an eye and my foot hits the floorboards of my safe, stable room. For a while, I just stare at the dark void of the ceiling, simply breathing and letting the world flow by.
I have time.
I shake myself out of this trance and toss the two boxes of chamomile tea onto my bed before taking a seat at the desk in the corner.
Focus.
Today’s experiments have gone terribly but they provided me with invaluable information to perfect my very own wand.
Not all Magies use their will alone to cast spells or even control their mana. They require a catalyst in the form of ‘wands’; objects that are able to contain the volatile energy known as mana. Magies require one suited to their rank.
More powerful spells require double the stability. The structures I can make only stabilize the
Red mana is a gamble, granting easy access to power in exchange for higher mana cost.
Blue mana is the opposite of red, somewhat. Blue Magies have greater control over their magic but in a contest of pure magic strength, they would lose.
Different mana colors don’t mix well. In the case of the human, Dirkskin, him and that unknown Red Magi must have been working together for a long time. Without building such deep rooted trust in one another, that spell would’ve failed or worse, killed them both.
Trying to create a wand on my own—one for an Advanced Magi at that—hasn’t been easy. Alkin said that the Magic Circle patterns she taught me aren’t enough to stabilize the
The reason for having the double stability is to account for Magies adding more mana into their spells. Without that extra room, your spells casting would become inflexible. Having to face Eldritch Entities and Magies that can have any Concept imaginable with a rigid set of spells is a foolish thing to do—and I refuse to remain a fool.
Grabbing one of the umbrella handles I’ve collected, I split it open with Universal Thread and began stitching a Magic Circle into the steel structure. Since the patterns I know are inadequate… I’ll simply create my own Magic Circles and find the perfect one for me. Despite the multiple days of arduous work, my senses still reach out to the outside world.
***
Total cases this year: 41
Successful cases: 37
And Lily aided me with over half of them…
“This year is proving to be much rougher than I had anticipated,” I sift throught my desk for a fresh stack of papers. It would be a lie to say I’m not worried about the future of the Alkin clan… but there’s a much more important future I’m worried about right now. Hesitation won’t bring progress on either front, forcing me to make some risky moves. We have only so much time before—
The distant ringing of the phone snatches away my attention. I slide the drawer shut and although I stand slowly, a tower of books leaning against my desk gets knocked over.
“
I cast the spell on the way to the phone by the 'door' to Lily's room.
Each book stacks back up, returning to their proper place in the exact same order as if they never fell in the first place.
After some deep breaths, I clear my throat and answer the phone, somehow mustering up an energetic tone:
“Investigator Alkin speaking. May I ask who is calling at this time of night?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“(Greetings, Madame Alkin.)”
“Mrs. Florel? How unexpected of you to be the one to calling me.”
“(I… We would like to meet Lily.)”
“You wish to see her?” I say aloud.
“(Y-yes. Tomorrow afternoon, my husband told me to invite the two of you to continue the negotiations at our villa. Is that asking too much of her?)”
“Its no trouble at all. We’ll drop by...” I trail off, looking for ways to turn things in our favor. That is until Mrs. Florel does something else I didn’t expect.
“Um…is Lily… is she awake?” She says, her emotionless voice no longer subdued.
She dropped that annoying spell?
I furrow my brows.
Florel Odelphia was described as reclusive and quiet, the kind of person who just sits there and looks beautiful—a pretty little ornament. When they handed me this report, my immediate thought was, ‘Huh, what a load of bullshit.’ Her every move was calculated to appear harmless. All to hide her thorns from everyone. Seeing her act this way with my own eyes makes me sick. If you have power then use it.
“What are you planning? Did your husband really tell you to call at this time of night?”
She responds, much quieter this time, “What are you—no, I mean, yes. I was only… trying to… ”
“Let me be frank with you,” since she insists on playing the fool with me, I’ll drag her into the spotlight.
“Lily is a special person, and I’m putting a lot of trust in you and your family to take care of her in my absence. Throughout all these years, I’ve guided her, and came to the conclusion that my guidance is lacking. That’s why, in exchange for completing this case, all I really want is for Lily to grow, to bloom. Can you do that for me?”
Only silence remains on the other end. If she recaivted her spell, I have no way to tell. Not from this distance at least. Was I too direct? Did I push her too much? These thoughts race across my mind whilst I try to formulate a way to salvage the situation—
“I’ll have to see her first.” Like a cool winter’s kiss, her voice graces me, easing my worries. “You really love her, like a daughter. Someone your age, burdened with the weight of responsibility for your clan, shouldn’t have to take up raising a child as well. Leave that to us Adults.” I find it a little ironic, almost funny, that she’s the one to be saying such things.
“Adults? You don’t look a day over 20, Mrs. Florel.” I chuckle.
She chuckles shortly after and says, “… what ever do you mean, Antonette?”
The air of my office begins to change, sending a chill down my spine as a growing presence slowly surrounds the building. “Hmph,” I clap my hands, “Please
“… (shall we discuss this some other time?)”
I smile and say, “indeed,” in an emotionless voice mimicking Lily.
***
May 16, 1951
I can't think of anything to write and nothing I do will put me at ease after finding out that someone's been watching me without anyone noticing. Makes me wonder how a 16 year old girl managed to hire someone to spy on me when her clan can barely afford to keep itself running. Did she use her funds from working as a Magi for hire or is there a third party involved?
The more pressing question is who she hired.
They had to be either trustworthy enough to not sell the information to someone else or—easy for Antonette to kill once she got all she needed from them. So no Grand Magies, able to remain undetected, and affordable. I know that this is all a waste of time but wasting is what I need. Better than pacing back and forth in the living room and worrying everyone at least. I've grown used to acting as if nothing is wrong—that we're all still humans—when the lie I live could change at any moment.
Everything is constantly changing. Nothing ever—truly—remains as is.
Beyond these walls, Peris is constantly changing. The people move which gives the city life, keeping power and water systems running, information, real or not, gets circulated, and each person contributes to this life without being aware of it. I wonder if Antonette sees all of these moving pieces and manipulates them for her own benefit.
No, with her Concept, I'm sure she can see everything and more.
"Hm... must be nice... (to have authority over the whole world)."
"Huh? Oh, sorry ma'am, could you repeat to that?" One of the maids says, bowing deeply as she apologizes.
I put up a practiced smile and say, "It's nothing. Just thinking aloud. Oh, is the reception room ready by the way? I'm expecting guests this afternoon."
"I uh, I'll get on it right away, ma'am!" She scurries off in a panic.
Eh? Did I scare her off?
My guests arrive at exactly 4:59.
I’ve yet to see them though, only having become aware of their arrival due to the spell network of the Florel manor. Takes a couple hours to get here, but Alkin has a plethora of ways to use her magic for transportation. What took her so long?
All I can do is wait by the window, watching the pathway leading to the manor gates until they finally came into view. Alkin is wearing the same victorian style dress except, instead of a gown, she switched to a walking skirt that’s a lighter shade of purple, and a black coat. Walking next to her is a girl with pale, almost glowing skin, her ashen white hair just shy of reaching her shoulder. If Alkin hadn’t sent us that letter, I would never have suspected this girl to be an Entity that closely resembles a normal human. Even her mana is normal; blue like the sky.
Lily… wait, what is she doing?
In my fixation on the girl, I failed to notice the glowing white strings connected to her fingertips. While she walks, the strings continue moving, forming multiple magic circles and fueling them at the same time with blue mana before they destroyed themselves, being replaced by new patterns—ones that are familiar but I’ve never seen before. My knowledge of the String Magic isn’t vast to begin with, however, I can recognize a few of the circles and their purpose.
Most of them are for stability, persistence and the amplification of the two previous effects or maybe reinforcement to keep the Magic Circle intact. The rest are a bit too strange, disappearing faster than the rest due to their flawed design, misshapen figure or too much mana poured into them. Hard to tell what any of these circles are for, really, so I head down to greet them.
Opening the window, I channel mana and raise a bubble before taking the plunge, wind whistling in my ears as I begin falling from the second floor. My feet touch the ground making only a gentle tapping sound that fades before anyone else could hear. Sometimes, it feels like these sounds aren’t real; manifested by my desire to hear them rather than being naturally produced by the world.
“Good afternoon, Madame Alkin. I appreciate you accepting my invitation, but arriving so late was… unexpected.”
Antonette’s smile fades, “Took me a while to ‘convince’ her.” She gestures to the girl who’s supposedly Lily despite appearing like your average young girl who seems a little eccentric.
“Guess we’re dropping appearances?”
She raises a brow, “Remember what I said yesterday? ‘No bullshit’ which includes all these formalities.”
Her words get a reaction out of the girl, causing her to glance towards Alkin but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, I sense a bit mana bounce between the two—mental messaging. I could intercept, but I don’t. There’s an unspoken rule of respecting privacy between Magies even if not all follow that rule. Especially not in combat.
Antonette sighs and says, “Why don’t you introduce yourself? That’s the whole point of our little excursion, remember?”
The girl sighs as well and finally turns her attention to me.
My name is Lily. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs, Florel.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lily. I’m Odelphia Florel. Antonette told me—um, us, a lot about you.”
How much exactly?
“That you aren’t human.” Antonette says in a neutral tone, “So, no need to be shy around Mrs, Florel. She’ll be your new mother soon enough.”
“Nothing is final.”
“That’s why we’re going to discuss what will be final. Mr. and Mrs. Florel wanted your input on the matter which is why I’m asking you to focus on the matter at hand, Lily.”
Lily nods and says, “I see.”
Her airy voice catches me off guard. It’s high pitched like you’d expect from a child but her detached, cold tone breaks any notion of her being just an innocent child. As if manifesting from her voice, that coldness begins to prickle at my skin and I realize now how much danger I’m potentially in.
These two could kill me at anytime and I didn’t even notice… how hopeless can I be?
Despite this, I put on a warm smile for Lily, “Welcome to our humble abode, Lily. I hope today is the only the beginning of many more wonderful memories to come.”
Lily doesn’t react in any sort of way and neither does Alkin, but all of us enter the mansion ground with a slightly lighter atmosphere than the one we started with.
***
My heart would’ve skipped a beat if I had one. Seeing a grand mansion in real life made this annoying trip worth it. Atop the two side towers is a gable in the shape of a flower bud in the middle of blooming, going down the lines of clay tiles making up the teal roof, I spot the beautiful design of the woodwork and stained glass windows of the two story mansion. All of it together with the wraparound porch soothes my tireless soul. This is what you would call my dream house, I guess.
If only…
Alkin and that human, Mrs. Florel, are walking in front of me, talking about some weird things. There’s something going on between the two which I didn’t like for reason I can’t ascertain at the moment. Too busy with completing the experiment, Alkin so rudely interrupted.
Alkin asks a strange question, “Are you enjoying the spotlight, Mrs. Florel?”
She shrugs, “Not one bit. Also, call me Odelphia or ‘Delphi’. I thought you wanted to drop the formalities.”
“Old habits die hard, as they say.”
Upon hearing that, I felt a small emotion spark in Mrs. Florel—solid contempt.
“Then kill it as much as you need to. Nothing is truly immortal… definitely not mere habits.”
Alkin laughs, “And certainly not Grand Magies.”
“…(an empty threat?)”
“Perhaps. But I don’t have that kind of power. Not yet. Neither do you, Odelphia, so keep that bloodlust of yours well hidden—bury it until the time is right.”
Mrs. Florel stops in front of the door and puts her hand on the handle.
“(Timing isn’t everything. Resolve and dedication put more weight on the unjust scales of battle.)”
“That’s one view,” purple mana is poured into the doorknob and unlocks with a satisfying click, “but I disagree. Being patience is a virtue, especially when you’re desperate for something.”
The two of them lock eyes, reflecting each others flaring purple mana and a steady weight of magic fills the air—
Human emotions are strange.
I sigh and push past them. Taking the liberty to step inside the mansion first.
I can’t tell if you actually hate each other.