As sincere and dry as ever, I thought as I departed from the red man’s company. But the girl, June, was such a porcelain tomboy. Her agitated state was filled with the fervor of naivety. As intolerable as it was adorable, I remember thinking. Without further delay nor reprehensible flirtatiousness in mind, I increased my speed. Today, father deigned me his envoy, and I’d sooner backstroke through Frost Viper venom than disappoint father. Whether love or obligation mattered not; a task assigned is a task completed, else it becomes a point of tension.
The harbor I’d left was the best of humanity I thought, working for their place in life and providing for those who couldn’t for themselves. Even in such shanty conditions, the belief that tomorrow would be better never left their faces. At once I felt envy at their resolve, affection at their bonds, and disgust at myself for feeling that way.
It was disinterest in the scenery of my route that came next. The same trees as always, lining the same cobbled paths where society began, and smaller outcroppings of stone brick fencing dotting locations of risk, such as cliff sides or places the river met the street, in some primitive and ineffective method of maintaining roadside safety. Wooden signs along the road kept me honest in my stride, despite their text rotting away over time as the will of nature took hold. Some of these postings had been reinforced with varnish and preservatives of other natures, but these were closer to the city itself, and became the norm as quickly as they had been ignored. It was as if the fine people of this fine city had refused to extend their finest signage to the very edge of the coast, as we would back home, in my glorious Empire – Pardon, I mean fathers’ Empire.
I cared not for the buildings I saw as I approached the first gatehouse. Magnum City was tiered in vile segregation, with the entire city being three large rings around each other and gatehouses for entry at each cardinal direction, this one being the western checkpoint. The outermost, and lowest ring of them all, was the entry point. This ring was for the exploitation of tourism, and shops lined it as far as could be comprehended within the walls, my eyes at the horizon unable to see the next gatehouse at the southwest or northwest. Despite that tremendous circumfrence, it was two blocks inward before the second wall began, and climbing that supposedly great staircase would ascend one in body and theoretically in mind to the University district. It was here that most of the misfortunate residents lived, alumni, each one. This ring extended for another five blocks toward the core until the final wall, leading to my objective; the Tower District. At the center of Magnum was a tower that put my own to shame, breaching the clouds with its pristine walls of ivory, and housing inside each floor another elevated level of knowledge.
My entry to the gatehouse was painless, as my face was known and my documents of identification more so. I thought of the ease at which one could infiltrate this place and cause mischief as I was approved for entry, but these thoughts were beneath me for the moment. Instead, as the portcullis opened and I slipped into the city, I pondered on the nature of the tome I carried with me. Primal names, and fathers’ dearest ally felled by a being he assumes to be Divine. These thoughts fascinated me as I remembered the sweet nectar of a life claimed. My thoughts of the iron taste in my morning tea was enough to make my lips quiver and my eyes roll back, but for my dignity I composed myself quickly as they came. Ignoring the bustling markets around me, I proceeded into the city further, coming to the second gatehouse with nary a distraction. Indeed, the only interruption came when I arrived at the great staircase, as I laid eyes on my dearest, eldest sister. Abhorrent wench that she was.
“Tariah, darling!” I said in a sing-song tone, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing, imagining I could crush the life out of her in that moment. It was a little clumsy of a grip, as she always wore her breastplate and pauldrons regardless of business, and today she also seemed to have a strange looking single edge blade on her hip. I did note her hair was different than usual. Her earthy green was a little more vibrant than I recall and rested a little above her back, where I recall it meeting her knees last we spoke, but I supposed that to mean nothing of significance to myself.
“Arcy, you’re a little more excited than usual today.” she responded. I released her, hoping the air pressure of receiving breath again would collapse her lungs, and internally sighed when it did not.
“I met an old friend along the way.” I said. “That old Mirroheart hasn’t changed. But enough about that, what’s so important that the First General has to come all the way out here?”
She seemed to accept this answer and deflection like the smooth brained fool she was, as she shrugged and folded her arms behind her head, exposing her sides to all sorts of attacks I felt the desire for and fought back against.
“Gotcha.” she responded oafishly. “Well, dad asked me to meet you here so you’d have an escort when you’re done. I’ll be meeting up with some old classmates while I’m in town, but I’ll be at the northeast checkpoint at sunrise tomorrow. That work for you?”
“Yep yep!” I mimicked her simpleton mannerisms. “I might try and meet with Alarice while we’re here if you’re giving me that much time. It’s been too long since we shared a drink.”
“Whatever you want to do, just make sure it’s done before sunrise tomorrow.” she parroted, insulting my intelligence and making me wish she’d hand me that fancy new blade so i could show her where to sheathe it.
“I will. Pinky swear!” I raised my hand and curled my pinky in the air like an idiot, suggesting she do the same. As she sighed and did so, I took note of how much finer my skin was to hers, and noted that the brutish callouses of a warrior were as repulsive as I recall. We released each others’ hands at once, and separated, with Tariah heading toward the market and myself entering the second checkpoint.
At once, I felt my mind reject my hostile thoughts and grow distasteful at the idea of blood as it had earlier found pleasure in it. I knew then that I had regained control of myself, as if the checkpoint itself acted as a mental switch, and found myself admiring the sights I’d earlier ignored. The beautiful walls of the city, carved in ivory stone and raised to be equal to the floor level of the next tier of the city, each gatehouse having two clear waterfalls outside it along the edges. This continued for each tier, making it impossible for any individual tier to see the other aside from through these gates. I marveled at the height of the walls and then at the tower itself above them, saddened that when I lost myself I’d considered this somehow an object of envy.
The second checkpoint was as seamless as the first, and with my personality under control once more I thoroughly enjoyed entering the University District, seeing the beautiful overhanging tapestry that provided shelter from the rain along the main roads with defined streams carved into the center of the roads, meeting up against each gatehouse and exiting through small openings that I surmised were the root of the water flowing against the outer walls. Following the flow of water would point me at the next checkpoint as well, and so I did just that, joining the flow of traffic as students and professors alike proceeded the same route. In this crowd, I felt more in control of my thoughts, and decided to think more clearly on my objective.
I was here to deliver a tome and research notes to the Tower District archive, the largest library in the world, so that father could gain aid in learning the identity of Saint Foxtails’ murderer. The futility of this task was not lost on me as I recall the night with regret, as well as the night I felled a sleeping warrior of Saoirse. I couldn’t tell if these were my own memories or those of another being, but I felt them as real as my own memories of my birth family.
While father had desired to seek this Crimson Mistress being, I sought to discover if I was truly her or not, and if I was, to purge that evil from this world by my own hand, discreetly. Regardless of the outcome, however, this tome and these notes would benefit us both. Thinking like that, I smiled; father had been so kind to me, and his campaign had changed from vengeance to protection. I admired him as a leader, and I wished to do what his visions deemed as right even if it meant leaving this world to protect it. I knew him to be very much the same in this thought and it brought me a sensation of belonging when I realized this.
My thoughts distracted me from my walk a significant amount, and before I knew it, I’d bumped into someone in front of me. As quickly as I’d done so, I apologized, with my voice being familiar to them it seemed as they turned to face me.
“Well, well, princess. What brings you to the University?” I heard them say, and at once recognized their voice before they could turn completely. She was taller than I, and perhaps taller than father, with the standard Magnum uniform for scholarly courses; long gray and green robes that obscured her precise shape and measurements, or so they would if she were not so matured. The pattern of the robes was fairly minimalistic, with a gray layer underneath a white vested layer that had green embroidery. The sleeves of the robes shared this white and green around the wrists, and the gray itself was stitched with white threads to emphasize the pattern of it. However, the woman attached to the robe and voice was sporting a cyan ponytail and uncanny serpentine eyes set against very minimal makeup, if any.
“Alarice, old friend.” I reached out to embrace my companion, but she waved me over to the side of the road to clear a path before doing so. I spoke up again. “I was intending to visit you when my errand was complete, but this is equal to the surprise I’d planned to give you.”
“Oh? Well then my apologies for ruining your plans.” she joked, patting my shoulder. “What’s the Third Princess doing as an errand runner for the Empire? Or is this another diplomat thing I wouldn’t understand?”
“No, actually this time I’m doing something right up your alley.” I smiled, fumbling with my own equipment for a moment – I’d not remembered fastening it as it was – and retrieved the tome. “Father wanted me to turn this into the archives with some notes he’s taken, to see if we can put our heads together and find any mention of Saint Foxtails’ killer.”
“So it’s a deity tome?” she asked. “Mind if I flip through it before that? I’ve got something I want to check out too.”
I didn’t hesitate, as Alarice was one of my best friends. I handed her the old book and she delicately thumbed each page, skimming along for whatever it is she was interested in. We stood for a moment before she sighed, closing the tome and handing it back to me.
“Nothing I would be able to use after all unfortunately. Thank you though, anything is worth a shot.”
“What were you trying to find?” I asked.
“When I was little, I was told some wild fairy tales, and I took a lot of interest in proving or debunking them as I got older. I was just looking for any mention of those tales, but I doubt I’d find anything by a skim after flipping through the first few pages. It’s a lot to take in.”
“Understandable.” I tucked the tome away safely to where I’d stored it. “I’ll keep you informed if I discover anything then, how about that?”
“You’re such a sweetheart.” she gave me another hug, knowing it would be embarrassing if she did so after calling me something silly, and laughed. “Well, don’t let me keep you from your job any longer. Come by my flat after you’re done, I’ll open my special occasion mead.”
“I look forward to it.” I laughed as well, as we parted ways at the next intersection. It was the positive moment I needed to reaffirm my control, I thought, as I approached the third and final checkpoint that led directly into the Tower District. This time there was a bit more paperwork to show, and an explanation of my business there to give, but it took only a few more moments. The guards were wary of an Empire envoy, but they loosened up when they heard my reasons, and my name. I was directed to enter exclusively the tower itself, and not to wander off the path. There were faculty houses here, such as the very clearly visible home of the Goddess of Destruction. I understood why I wasn’t allowed there and carried on, reaching the tower quickly – relatively so given the entire journey up to this point was a few hours but felt like the blink of an eye – and the guard at the door opened it for me. I thanked the gentleman with a wink as I was in a very good mood now and carried on my business taking some small joy in the fact that he was probably flustered and couldn’t show it.
The inner tower was segmented, with each floor being four times my height and surrounded by books seated along the same ivory stone as the outside at the bottom, and wooden structures above that. Every shelf had a few walkways reachable by ladder at varying points, with some scholars atop them sorting and reading and other mundane things done in libraries. As unremarkable as a place like this normally was, the size of it demanded respect, as did the contents. The higher up the tower one was allowed to climb, the more ancient the contents, or the more dangerous.
“Welcome, Lady Aldritch, to the Lower Archive.” I heard a man’s voice call out. I turned to see an older looking gentleman of Feliriel origin, his catlike ears drooped to his scalp and his tail shorter than others of the species I’d seen. A beard that indicated he’d long given up on facial grooming worn against his robes, which were very similar to the student robes with golden accents instead of green, and a draping insignia on their backs.
“Thank you sir. And you are?” I asked. He bowed.
“I am Franz, the guide of this floor. Do you know how the archives work, ma’am?” he asked, to which I shook my head.
“I do not. Please, elucidate me.” I bowed back, to which he seemed to be taken aback in his eyes, but his posture retained itself.
“The archives are enchanted to follow the will of the knowledge seeker. If you seek a topic, you need only will it, and the archive will pull you toward it subconsciously. Along the way, of course, you are free to read anything you come across as well.”
“I see. That is a powerful enchantment, sir.” I responded, before producing the tome I’d brought with me. “And, what of making a donation with a request?”
“Donating to the archive is always welcome. As for your request, I have been informed of it and would be delighted to look into the matter with you. However, I will need time to study the contents myself. If you’d be so kind.”
“Absolutely.” I handed the man the tome, and immediately upon doing so, I felt my vision flash. Behind Franz, I saw a figure that felt familiar, but horrific all the same; A man, about average human height, wearing a bony looking set of armor and patchy, crudely stitched leather below that of varying colors and sizes, as if cobbled together hastily. His lower face was obscured by a steel mask, and his hair was a crimson shade I recognized as the same one from my memories of that horrible night. I wanted to focus on the form and analyze more details, but observing it caused me physical pain, and as soon as I reached for my head to clutch it and try to cease its throbbing, the figure disappeared.
“Are you alright, Lady Aldritch?” I heard Franz ask me. I took a moment to compose myself before nodding, somewhat out of breath.
“I believe I am now. A passing migraine, nothing more.” I stated against my will. I had wanted to describe the figure, but every time I desired to recall the figure internally or verbally, I felt my head tearing apart internally. I decided that for now, I’d internalize this moment, and apply it to my own concerns.
“Very well. May I offer you a place to rest off your troubles?” he asked. I shook my head.
“No, I’m fine now, really. Besides, I have a place to stay already. When should I return to discuss your findings?” I asked. He thought for a moment.
“Give me until sundown tonight, if you would. I will examine the contents for the remainder of today.”
“Understood. Thank you, sir.” I bowed again, and before he could respond to me I began to take my leave. Upon the door closing behind me, I immediately felt relief of the situation. I could clearly recall the figure again, but trying to describe it to myself caused more spikes of pain. This was an image for my memories only, it seemed, and so I would make it an objective as well.
With resolve anew, I decided it was time to catch up with my old friend and made for the middle ring once more.
Magna Varia 