Tale of Four

Closing the door behind her, Alice looked at the Mad House and fell onto the steps of the spiralling staircase, running her hand across the unnaturally smooth wood it was made from. On the other hand, she let the quill dance between her fingers as she sighed in annoyance. Like a phantom, Chesh took a place beside her and leaned against her shoulder.

”Things didn’t go well,” Chesh said as a matter of fact rather than a question, taking Alice’s red hair into her fingers and playing with it.

”I think he made his own runes.” Looking down at the quill, it began to make sense why she couldn’t read a majority of them, bar the Limitless one. At first it was becuase they were too complex, but with more thought, she realised that it was likely the dead Magis mangum opus. ”This one that I can read.” Staring at the limitless rune, she bitterly chuckled. Even now, she couldn’t be sure it was exactly what the rune meant, seeing it was slightly different, like the rest of them. ”He left it as the sole one a person could read. He could have easily made it as complex as the rest on here. In fact, it would have let him add more runes if he did so.”

”So he’s playing another prank on you.”

”He is the worst.” Chesh sweetly chuckled at her words.

”He’s the only person you ever understood well enough to actually understand their personality. If I didn’t know better, I would think you were forming a crush on him.” Her words earned a sharp glare from Alice, who pulled away, not letting the black-haired girl lean on him.

”He’s not the only person. I know you don’t, I? Are you going to tell me that I have a crush on you next?” Chesh burst into laughter and shook her head.

”Of course you would know me.” Shaking her head, she looked out across the Mad House as the thousands of doors, ”Where to next?” Moving the conversation on, Alice began twirling the quill again, letting the golden feather tickle her hand when it brushed past.

”I’m not sure anymore. I want to delve deeper into his books, but I get the feeling that even if I did, it would be of no help.” Groaning, she licked her lips to wet them and grabbed the end of her hair, twirling it in thought, ”I need inspiration, and I won’t get it here. Somewhere with runes, preferably, but we can’t be sure where that is.” Bringing the end of the hair to her mouth, Alice placed it between her teeth and let it sit there.

”You shouldn’t do that. You’ll ruin your hair.” Rolling her eyes, Alice stared ahead and took a deep breath.

”I guess all we can do is jump through another door.” Her lips curled in excitement at the thought, ”Where else can we go?” Chesh rose along her with a chuckle and jumped onto the barrier towards the abyss.

With a sigh, Alice rose and stretched like a cat, closing her eyes in delight when she felt her muscles loosen. Opening them back up, Chesh was gone. ”Okay.” Already used to it, knowing she would find her again, Alice jumped onto the barrier and slid down, watching the doors fly past. Taking the quill out and holding it like a dart, she closed her eyes and randomly threw it, coming to a stop once it left her hands.

Jumping off, she climbed the steps for a few seconds and looked up at the door her quill pierced, hovering just high enough that it couldn’t be opened without climbing up to it. After a few seconds, the quill fell, landing in Alice’s hand. ”Okay.” Clapping her hands together, she placed them by her side, looking like a penguin, spreading her palms out so they were parallel to the floor.

With the arcane power spreading through her body, she shot up a stream of wind, pushing her up. Going just above it, she stopped the stream and began to fall again, catching the door handle, knowing it would never break or unlock the door without the words spoken.

Using the small ledge available to her, she squeezed herself against it and held a hand on the door. ”Va’tar.’ With the magic words, the door finally unlocked, and Alice fell through, already pressed up against it. As she rolled forward, the door behind her closed, and Alice saw herself sitting in a small kitchen, where a man stood holding a wooden bowl of stew, staring at her, wondering where the strange woman had just come from.

With a smile and a wave, she got up, brushed her clothes and walked out of the building, covering her eyes at the fierce sunlight. ”CHESH!” Calling out, the onlookers stared at her in confusion before shaking their heads, seeing she was a Magi. After a few seconds alone, waiting, she shrugged and walked off, looking around the cobblestone street at the bustling city, the smell of salt and water, mixed with fish flowing through the air.

Looking at the people, she couldn’t help but make noises with her mouth, wondering where she was going or what to do. She needed runecraft knowledge, but it wasn’t soemthing as simple as asking people around her. Even if she spent her life in the Mad House, she was aware enough to know that not everyone was a Magi or familiar with their arts.

’Those guys always talk about how they need money or materials for their experiments and tools. Maybe I’m going about it wrong. Instead of looking for runes, I should try to make an Aretfact. Teacher did say that it was the first thing I should do once I could go outside after all.’

Looking down at her hand, the idea to make herself her first artefact came to mind, but she quickly banished the thought. ’Not yet. Even that madman didn’t do this first.’ Instead, she looked around the city and took everything in. The smells, the people, the items being sold, the food being served.

Something related to the sea or water. Anything else would likely fail. But what. What do I actually need?’ Thinking for a moment, she struggled, for the first time being at a loss about what she wanted. She had a tool already that would let her make runes; she was good enough at the arcane arts to not need to make a tool to help her with it, and nothing she could think of would help her travel the Mad House.

It was a thought that locked her in place as she couldn’t think of anything. A potion was different. Even if she didn’t need them, at some point, anything she brewed would likely become useful.

’Is there really nothing I need?’ Touching her face, she reached up and placed a hand over her eye. Covering the other one, she spent a moment putting herself in darkness and seeing the world. Then she thought of her teacher, and how he needed glasses to see.

’Teacher siad that there are languages out here that I won’t be able to read in the future. I already can’t read the runes, and there are those that are too small on the quill to see properly...’ Her lips curled in delight, finally finding soemthing she wanted. ’Glasses. One that can let me read anything, and see things smaller than normal. It’s perfect.’ Placing a hand over one eye, she closed it and felt the eyeball underneath, ’If I copy that madman and turn my body into an Aretfact, I need to know how certain runes work anyway.’

With the plan in mind, she slowly walked, taking care to stop at every shop she passed, surveying for ingredients and materials that she could use.