Tale of Four

”Girl.” Stepping inside, Alice was met with the stern gazes of numerous Magi, at its head the middle-aged one she first encountered when she arrived, ”Come with us.”

”But I’m studying.” Alice protested, getting a fierce glare from a few.

”This wasn’t a request. Come.” For a moment, she didn’t move, but realising that she couldn’t leave without abandoning the dead Magi’s works, all she could do was follow behind as they brought her into a side room. Closing the door behind them, the middle-aged Magi sat down before her and groaned. ”I told you to stay clear of those idiots across the road.”

”What did I do wrong?” Alice asked, staring at him. The man met her gaze and clicked his tongue before grabbing his head and letting out a deep, long groan.

”Why does no one teach their students about the outside world before they throw them out?” Sighing, he sat up and cleared his throat, ”You can’t just go into the clergy’s temple and say something like, if I were God. Here they will tread carefully, but if you go somewhere like the Judiciary, they may burn you alive.”

”What’s wrong with what I said, thought?” Alice snapped back.

”Listen. The Mad House is not the world. In there, for someone like you, at least, politics don’t exist. But out here, a careful balance is maintained by numerous groups. All that everyone is waiting for is one spark, so they can destroy the other, and actions like yours are small, but can be enough to cause it.” The man said, groaning again, seeing Alice did not understand anything about Veston politics. ”Send word to the Mad House, would you. Tell them to stop letting people outside if they don’t know these basic things.” Turning to one of the people with him, the middle-aged Magi asked.

”I know these things.” Alice said, convincing no one, ” It’s just that you haven’t actually explained what I did wrong. Isn’t it normal to debate others on topics? All I did was that, and they lost.”

”Okay then.” Clapping his hands, he smiled, ”What were you trying to achieve with your debate?”

”Why was the man outside crying. Then I wanted to know why he wasn’t forgiven. They didn’t say anything but a bunch of nonsense, so I won.” The man stared at Alice for a moment and laughed with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

”You can’t apply theory to theology, girl. They are to separate things, one built on substance, the other on delusion. To them, they likely won, being proven right that through you, we are arrogant heretics and a lost cause.” The man said with a sigh, ”Just don’t go back, alright. You can stay in your room. I would like it if you never went outside again, but I won’t stop you. Only if you do, don’t go to the temples or anywhere with clergy. And no more talks about God at all.”

”Fine.” Alice rolled her eyes, having no desire to do so anyway. ”Can I go?” The man shook his head.

”The bag, show me what’s inside. I need to record everything you bring inside now. After that stunt, I can’t trust you haven’t caused a fuss.” Clicking her tongue, Alice turned her bag upside down and dropped the pieces of the skeleton. The group around frowned seeing it. ”Did you rob a grave?” The man asked, scared of the answer.

”No, I solved a puzzle. This was my reward.” Alice happily said. The man sighed and grabbed his head, feeling like he had aged a decade since talking to Alice.

”Let me rephrase that. Did you get these bones from somewhere inside the town?”

”No.” Looking between the others, they all nodded in agreement that she was telling the truth.

”You can go back to your room. Preferably, stay hidden in there. Even better if you go home today.” Alice smiled and swooped up the bones, putting them away before running out and returning to her room. Locking the door and placing a chair on it, she turned around and saw Chesh sitting on the bed with a smile.

”What now?”

”Read everything.” Alice’s lips playfully curled, ”And then we burn it.” Thinking of the final revenge she could get on the man who annoyed her so much, she replied. The knowlegde wouldn’t be spread but for her alone. Despite her raven in mind, she couldn’t help but wonder if that was what he wanted or not, obviously having never shared his teaching with the Magi himself, otherwise she would have likely learnt it already.

Turning to the books, Alice narrowed her gaze and put them to the side, knowing that they would take months if not years to completely decipher what the madman learned. Looking at the papers and scrolls, she picked one up and read it, taking a deep breath. Unlike the book, which was ramblings and theory disguised as philosophy, the paper was pure theory, full of complex rune structures, failed attempts and research.

The amount of information was mindboggling, and worse than that, every rune drawn was paused the moment before completion. ’I guess he was afraid of it activating by accident. But this makes things harder.’ Staring at one of the runes on the paper, it was related to fire that much Alice knew, but with it incomplete, she couldn’t be sure if it was fire alone or a combination of fire and the state it would appear in.

Putting it down, she picked another one up, this time, the page full of scribbles of failed attempts to carve runes on a body.

’Attempt 392- Skin too fragile.

Attempt 393- Skin is too fragile

Attempt 394- Unknown illness interferes with the rune.

Attempt 395- Engraving was deep.

Alice stared at the paper as it continued on, seeing hundreds of failures, each one caused by a different reason. Putting it down, she scrambled around to find the complete process. Finding attempt one, her lip twitched.

’Attempt 1- Subject bled out.

Attempt 2- Subject bled out

Attempt 3- Subject bled out

In all previous attempts, the carving was too deep. No rune can be carved on skin, muscle and bone at once. Must be separate processes.

Attempt 4- Subject unable to withstand pain. Terminated process early

Attempt 5- Scaring interferes with the rune (need further study to understand why)

Attempt 6- Unknown illness interferes with the rune

Alice took a deep breath and put down the first batch of paper, the majority of the test conducted by the Magi ending with his canvas’s death and all failing. Reading through them all, the deaths slowly fizzled out until they were no longer mentioned, the man obviously finding a way to make his entire study safer for the person. Reading through them, she was glad she had read the books first. If she hadn’t, then everything on the paper would have felt like the madness of a researcher who only wished to study people out of enjoyment rather than a goal.

Finally, she got to the last page.

Attempt 1461- Rune completed but failure to activate (Likely missing adequate arcane power inside body)

Attempt 1462- Rune completed, but failure to activate

Attempt 1463- Rune completed but failure to activate (Adequate arcane power within body. Different reason for failure.)

The attempts stopped, and Alice smiled, reading the thoughts afterwards.

Study proves runes can exist on a body. The runes are the issue.

The text ended there, and despite looking, she couldn’t find any further tests when he switched to his new ones. Grabbing the feet, Alice stared at it and took a deep breath, a thought she had been pushing to the back of her mind surfacing, ’What if they aren’t old runes but ones he created himself?’

The thought both terrified and amazed. If they were new creations made just to be able to be used on the body, then the man wasn’t a genius; he was a man who took a language and rewrote it to his own tastes, whilst also making it make sense. ’Such a talent... It’s nearly like me. There is no way someone like this wouldn’t be known to the Mad House.’