Tale of Four

[1 Week Before Tristan’s Arrival at the Waterway]

”Finally.” Alice slumped over, letting out an exaggerated sigh as she slammed the book in her hands shut. Staring at the blank cover, she couldn’t help but chuckle before giving a sly grin. ”He really is the worst.” After the incident with her glasses and meeting the fortune teller, she had realised her mistakes. She tried to cheat and look at too much knowledge at once. It wasn’t arrogance but rushing, soemthing that always caused mistakes. So rather than cheat again, she had spent her time, painstakingly re-reading everything the dead magi left behind until she could decipher whatever it was he had left behind.

From behind, a pair of hands wrapped around Alice’s shoulders as Chesh leaned over and looked at the blank book. ”He is the worst, isn’t he?”

”It wasn’t old runecraft but one he created himself to apply to the human body.” Looking down at her palm, she clenched her fist and sighed. ”He could have just said it.” Pushing up her glasses pretending to be smart, she put on a mocking tone, ”The old births the new, and the new will be the old. Everything is derived from the old, for history shapes the present and the present shapes the future. Absolutely the worst person. And it wasn’t even written with anything important but his rant about needing good materials.”

”But,” with a mischievous smile, Chesh chuckled, ”You beat him and figured it out.”

”It’s no wonder teacher couldn’t tell what type of runecraft it was.” With a sigh, Alice got up, pushing Chesh off her and stretching. Even if she hated what type of person the dead Magi was, she had once again been reminded of how utterly brilliant he was, much like herself. To create a new type of runecraft was a monumental task, on par with writing an entire new language without mistakes in it. On paper, it is easy; anyone able to claim a random symbol is a language, but in practice it had to make linguistic sense to truly be one.

If given enough time, she was sure she could do it, but the question was why she would have ever bothered? Only someone completely obsessed with Runcraft would ever even consider it, and nearly all would have only said it was possible in theory without trying, with only a rare handful who did try. Alice looked at the book a final time. From those rare few, she was sure only the dead magi had succeeded.

”First things first.” Mobilising the arcane power in her, a bright flame shot from her hand and engulfed the book. Watching it burn, her lips curled in satisfaction. His teaching and legacy were the absolute worst experience she had ever had, and for that, she would be dammned if anyone else could have it. As a final victory, she would make it so they could only exist as hers. ”Now what?”

Looking at Chesh, the two were silent for a moment, wondering what to do. They had completed everything they set out to do, learnt all they could from the man’s books and papers, and with it finished all that was left was practise until she could apply runes to her own body. But the desire wasn’t there.

Chesh couldn’t help but frown and pace back and forth until she suddenly stopped, her brow scrunching and uncrunching. ”All is runecraft.” Repeating the core teaching left behind, she carried on, realising the quote had been left behind numerous times and repeated one page that lingered in their minds. ”Everything is connected, via runecraft; some things more than others, but not all is found by those connected. Why? Well becuase everyone is inept at looking.”

Chesh looked to Alice and tilted her head, making Alice copy the action, tilting her head in the opposite direction. ”What?”

”It’s strange, don’t you think?” Rolling her eyes at her silence, she urged Chesh to continue. With a light laugh, Chesh looked at the ash that remained from the book. ”At its core, it’s another tangent about runecraft, but did anything he wrote ever not have a double meaning?” Grabbing her chin, Alice took a deep breath and nodded.

”Isn’t it obvious? Only Magi, the invited or the lucky, enter the Mad House. My guess is he was one of the lucky and used runecraft to figure out...” Her eyes widened in shock, finally realising something deeper about the passage. ”Surely not, no that can’t be.”

”There might be more, Alice. Think about it. If everything is connected, then that means you and his legacy were... fated to be connected. As for his quip about looking. If you stayed locked up all the time, practising on your body, you would never find it becuase.”

”I would be inept at looking.” Alice finished her sentence and burst into laughter. ”It makes sense. All the incomplete records, the research papers that were never final drafts...” Digging her hands into her hair, Alice let out a loud groan and stomped her foot atop the ashes of the burnt book. ”I hate him. If he left more, why couldn’t it all be in one place?”

”Because he is the worst.” Chesh snipped and sighed. ”You know what you have to do?”

”I need to go through the doors again.” Her frown quickly curled up. Grabbing the quill attached to her belt, she pulled it out and let it dance through her fingers, a skill she learnt to keep herself entertained when reading. ”It was all a trap for whoever would find that cave. His bones and quill to make someone believe that was all there was to find, and having them trapped in the research so they could never find more.” Looking to the sky, her hand curled around the quill. Pumping her fists into the sky, she gave a mocking smile to whatever was beyond, able to see the sly grin she imagined the dead Magi to have in the sky above, ”I will find you, idiot. No one can have it but me. Everything you did will be mine alone.”

”Shall we?” Clapping her hands, Alice nodded and turned around. Placing a hand on the door, she spoke.

”Va’tar.” Saying the words, the door opened, revealing the endless tower of the madhouse. Jumping in, she landed on the spiralling staircase that wrapped around and looked at the endless doors that lined the tower’s walls. There was no need to choose where to go nor what to do. If what she believed to be true about his teaching was true, then a door at random had to be chosen, and with it, she would be guided towards the legacy.

There was no time to be anxious about choosing wrong, nor could she worry how long it would take. She would go where she wanted. ”I should see the teacher first, however. I at least should tell him about the runes.”

”Why?” Chesh protested and stared at Alice strangely. For a moment Alice also thought if she should, but sighed and shrugged.

”Because he confirmed they weren’t purely old runes for me. He at least deserves to know that he was right. Don’t worry, I will keep my promise, and if the teacher is smart enough, he will be able to discover the truth on his own... although I doubt it.” Looking for a door she could recognise to give a sense of direction towards her teacher’s one, she nodded and began her climb, taking twenty minutes before arriving in front of it.

”Va’tar.” Placing a hand on it, she let herself in and saw the old man sitting at his desk, nibbling on a long piece of wood, staring at a book, shaking his head and scribbling on a piece of paper beside him. ”Teacher.” Calling out, the old man looked up and rubbed his temples in annoyance, seeing her before pulling the long piece of wood out of his mouth and muttering under his breath.

”Alice, what is it?”

”I figured out the runes. They weren’t old runes.” The old man’s eyes slit up in excitement. Pushing whatever he was doing to the side, he quickly got up.

”What are they?” With a smirk, she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

”Not telling; I found it out. But I will give a hint. Parts of them are old runes.” Seeing her teacher’s face scrunched in annoyance, she suppressed her laughter and began to turn around to leave, having done what she wanted.

”Alice.” With a tired voice, he called out, making her stop. ”You haven’t been going through the doors lately, have you?”

”No, I was busy with the runes.” Nodding his head, he smiled.

”I know it’s lost on you, but be careful if you travel through Veston. With the war right now, it isn’t exactly safe, and a few magi are involving themselves in it.” His tone was hateful when speaking of those joining the war. Alice stared at him blankly for a few seconds before shrugging.

”Why would I care about a war?”

”It’s just a warning.”