Tale of Four

The wood under her fingers peeled away as the quill dug deep into it. Occasionally, Alice would pause, bring the wooden frame to her face, and adjust it, only to bring it back down and carve. Along the quill, the blue glow of the limitless rune brightly burned as she felt the power within her body greedily get sucked away. It had become a battle between her body and the quill, the reservoir of arcane power she had always assumed to be endless, finally shaking from the device, which was never satisfied.

From the gold feather, blue smoke seeped out, emptying the arcane power before it blew up the quill, the limitless rune betraying its name and only having so much it could hold without releasing it. As she got more used to it, her speed picked up. With a shape in mind and knowing how it would fit on her face, she carved the arms first, making them sleek but thick enough to fit runes atop.

Next, she worked on the rims. At first, she started off with thick rims that looked more like a mask than glasses when worn, but looking at herself in the mirror wearing them, she couldn’t help but think they were incredibly ugly, not matching the sleek design of the arms. Thinning them, she chopped off the bottom and set it aside, then carved out two sections where the lenses would go.

Putting it down, she let out a deep breath and grabbed the crystals, putting them in the glasses, measuring how much she would need to take off. Placing it on the table, the quill lit up once more, and she chopped down, slicing through it like an apple, creating thin but solid lenses. Grabbing the yellow liquid next, she scooped up some with a finger and rubbed it around the rims, before holding up a finger.

A small white flame formed and dragged along the liquid, making sure to be quick enough so the wood didn’t catch alight. It thickened, becoming more like glue than water. It didn’t require a lot, and adding two extra layers to make sure it would be secure, she stuck the lens in, wiping away the yellow glue that fell out.

Finally, she grabbed the bottom of the frame that she had left to the side and applied the same yellow liquid to it, heating it up before sticking it underneath the lens, attaching it to the frame. The whole process was long, and putting it down, she left it in the sun for thirty minutes, letting it settle.

With time on her hands, Alice jumped up on the bed, notepad in hand and began planning what runes to apply, coming up with an idea only to scribble it out. If it were as easy as putting a rune that said translate on the lens, she wouldn’t be so lost, but that wasn’t enough. It was too vague to give her the result that she wanted. Instead, she needed to combine numerous things just to get a single result.

Added to her desire to have it be able to magnify and enhance what she was looking at, and the workload didn’t double, but quadrupled. ”Maybe.” Chesh said, looking down at the diagrams, ”Make each lens do a different thing instead of both. One for language, the other for magnification.” Alice looked to her friend and slapped her forehead.

”I’m such an idiot. Why didn’t I think of that?”

”You would have, I just sped it up for you.” Chesh happily replied, making Alice smirk. Flipping the page, Alice split it in half and began on the translation part first, trying to find the perfect combination for what she wanted. Trial and error, using everything she knew about runes and what she learned from the Dead Magi, finally allowed for a complete circuit. With it, it was now up to her to make it small to fit on the lens.

Next, she wrote out the circuit for the Magnification lens. Although it wouldn’t have to be as complex, she still patiently worked through every single combination until finally it was soemthing that was at least up to standard. ’I want more...’ Frowning, she shook her head and cleared the thought. Being too greedy would mean she would make a design she wasn’t skilled enough to make. ’It’s fine. In the future, I can just add to it.’

With that thought, she jumped off the bed with a smile and rushed back to the desk, picking up the glasses and holding them up, happy that they wouldn’t fall apart, the liquid being how she remembered, in that it would harden once heated and left to cool until it became solid. Starting with the left lens, for translation, Alice spread out the curtain she drew and twirled the quill, placing the tip of the quill at the edge.

First, she carved a tiny outline that she could follow. ’Decipher, Break Down Language, Meaning, Translate, Convert, Vestra.’ Making sure to add the language she wanted everything to be converted to, she next added the circuits that would connect all of them before adding the final rune to hold it together, ’Gather, Release.’ With the on and off switch added, she looked back, compared it with her drawing and smiled.

The quill lit up, and Alice slowly got to work, making sure not to stab too deeply, knowing the quill could pierce through the lens like a sword. The process took twenty minutes, the process being more tiring than anything she had ever done, having to watch both the amount of power the quill sucked from her and her strength not to damage the lens beyond repair, nor make one single rune deeper than the other.

Exhaling once she finished, Alice looked it over and injected some power into it, smiling when the circuit didn’t blow and destroy the lens when she did. Taking five minutes to calm down, she moved on to the other.

’Enhance, Magnify, Magnify, Magnify, Clear Up, Gather, Release.’ With an outline drawn, she got to work, a little quicker than previously, but still with the same amount of care. In fourteen minutes, she finished and the quill down, holding the glasses to the sky, seeing the small runes carved along the lens.

”I’ll leave the arms for now.” Unable to contain her excitement, she put them on and held the edge, looking down at the quill, ”First.” Staring at the quill, she activated the translation lens and waited. Five seconds, then ten.

”ALICE!” Chesh screamed in the background, terrified, but Alice paid it no mind, continuing to stare at the quill. ”ALICE! STOP!” With her second scream, Alice felt a warmth under her nose, rolling on her lip. A drop of blood fell on the table before her as a small wave of pain flashed through her head. ”PUT IT DOWN!” Chesh screamed again, and with it, a warm liquid rolled down her cheek, starting from her ear. Touching it, she pulled her hand back and saw her fingers red with blood.

”What-” Her body spasmed as she pulled the glass off and dropped it on the table. Trying to stand, she collapsed, twitching, as the creeping pain in her head finally revealed itself in full force. ”Haaa.” In a split second, what was a manageable headache became an eruption across her entire skull, as if someone repeatedly smashed a mace over it.

”AHHHHHH!” Screaming out, Alice clutched her head, trying to dig her fingers into it to forcefully put an end to it. Her scalp bled as her nails dug in, whilst blood poured from both her nose and ears. Finally, the source of the pain surfaced. At once, without mercy, a giant influx of informaiton penetrated her mind, consuming everything, filling her head with circuits and information that should have never been learned all at once.

Everything that the quill hid, everything it could do, everything the Dead Magi applied to it, all came to mind, the informaiton so overwhelming that its meaning and functions were instantly lost. Alice’s screams echoed down the halls as two Magi threw the door open, stepping back, seeing blood pouring from her face.

In her collapsing mind, she realised the truth; she had just glimpsed the incomprehensible and understood it. As she collapsed into a deep sleep, she saw Chesh’s black and purple eyes looking down at her with a terrified expression, and could only think of her teacher’s warning that he always told her.

’Knowlegde is an abyss. One can never dive in headfirst but must slowly climb into it, or they will never know how to climb out.’