“What in the world was that?” Elise yelled, staring at the book in shock. The light that had enveloped her was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and the warmth that filled her… it felt incredible. Every ache and pain she felt, even those so minute that she hadn’t noticed them, was gone. All of the tension she didn’t know she held was released. She felt better than she’s ever felt before.
The title of the book confused her as well. The word “Arcanist” itched at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t place where she’d heard it before. She skimmed through the first few pages of the book, but there was no glossary or even a table of contents.
“What kind of a ‘tome’ doesn’t have a table of contents?” She huffed. “Arcanist… Arcanist… What is an Arcanist” she wondered aloud.
As if responding to her words, several pages turned to a later passage in the book titled simply: “Arcanist.” She stared at the page in awe. She hadn’t touched the pages and there was no draft in the room. The pages moved entirely on their own. She suppressed the urge to close the clearly cursed book and be rid of it forever, deciding she’d at least read what it had to say.
“The term Arcanist refers to an individual who has studied the arcane arts and is capable of manipulating the Ichor of the world around them to cast spells,” the passage read. That word “Ichor” was definitely one Elise had heard before, but she didn’t know what it meant.
“Uhm… Book… what is Ichor?” She asked tentatively. She half expected the pages to turn like they had before, but nothing happened. Had she had done something to make the pages move earlier, or did the book not have a page for Ichor? Most likely, Elise thought, she was simply crazy.
“This is stupid,” she said, closing the book and sitting back. “Books can’t move on their own and they can’t glow.” She looked up at the ceiling and started bouncing her leg. “It’s been a long day and I’m just imagining things.” She covered her face with her hands. That was the easy answer, but it wasn’t satisfying enough for her.
Leaning forward, she placed her hands under the desk to ensure there was no interference from her. “Alright book. What is an Arcanist?” Instantly, the book opened and the pages flipped on their own accord until landing on the same one as before. Elise took in a sharp breath.
“Ok… What is Ichor,” she asked again tentatively. Again, there was no movement from the book. “Book, what are these spells mentioned in this section?” The pages sprung to life and turned to a section farther ahead.
“The word ‘spell’ is a common term for the process of utilizing Ichor to interact with the world,” the passage read. “The steps involved in casting a spell are different depending on whether the caster is using runes or simply their own control of Ichor. The most common practice is for one to study runes until they have amassed enough control over Ichor to cast spells on their own, as that provides the most versatility as a caster.”
Elise was getting quite frustrated that the book kept using the word “Ichor” without explaining what the hell that meant, but she pushed that aside and skimmed to a section that explained what a rune was.
“Runes are an abstract representation of the larger components of a spell. Simply put, spells can be cast quickly and efficiently by forming Ichor into the shape of a rune. The more difficult a spell is to be cast, the larger and more intricate its rune will be. Runes are often either compiled into spell tomes or inscribed onto single spell scrolls. Through enough study of a spell’s rune and the movements of the Ichor, a dedicated Arcanist can learn to cast a spell through the raw manipulation of Ichor without the need for a rune.”
Elise was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the amount of information she was taking in. The book made it seem like ‘casting a spell’ was a skill one could learn, but if that were true, where would she start? She skimmed through the rest of the page and found the answer she was looking for.
“The simplest spells to master are ones that only use raw Ichor without needing to change its affinity. As such, the spell most aspiring Arcanists begin with is a simple levitation spell.”
Elise still wasn’t convinced this book wasn’t fiction, but, just on the off chance any of this was true, she figured she should be taking notes. She briefly considered finishing off the notebook she was using that morning, but she preferred to keep things more organized than that. She closed the book, blew out the candle, and headed downstairs to get her new notebook and tell Mary about everything that happened.
“Oh, hey Ellie, I was just coming back up,” said Mary once Elise made it down to the dining room. “I checked all the rooms, every window is locked and there’s no way anyone could’ve gotten in or out. It’s just us home.”
“Thank you for checking,” Elise replied, having completely forgotten that they were concerned about potential intruders.
Mary set down the candlestick she had brought with her for protection. “So what’s up with that book? Anything interesting?”
“It’s… it’s definitely something,” Elise replied, picking up her new sketchbook. “You’ll just have to come see.”
“If you wanted to show it to me why didn’t you bring it down with you?” Mary smirked.
Elise opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. “Shut up,” she said after a moment.
Mary’s smirk was interrupted by a sudden squeal of delight, causing Elise to jump.
“Ohhh you didn’t tell me you got a cat!” Mary crouched down and held her hand out to something behind Elise.
“Uhm… That’s because I didn’t.” Elise cautiously turned around to see what Mary was looking at. Sure enough, a cat was sitting in the hall staring intently at Elise. It had a dark blue coat and its eyes were a cloudy white color.
“Where’d you come from, little friend,” asked Mary, unphased that Elise didn’t recognize it. She looked sadly at its cloudy eyes. “Poor little guy, is he blind?”
Elise knelt and held her hand out, waiting for the cat to approach her. It gladly trotted forward and positioned itself so that Elise’s hand sat on its head.
“Seems like he can see fine,” said Elise scratching its head lightly. It purred loudly and leaned into her touch. “I’ve never seen a cat this color before.”
“Weird,” Mary said, scooting forward and trying to pet the cat. It looked her up and down and firmly, yet politely, swatted her hand away. “He sure likes you though.”
“How did he get in,” asked Elise, shifting to be sitting cross-legged on the floor. The cat immediately moved to sit in her lap. “You said everything is locked up tight.”
“It is,” Mary protested. “He must’ve already been in here somewhere. Do you think he might have something to do with the book?”
Elise picked up the cat and spun it around to face her. “Excuse me, Mister Cat. Do you have anything to do with the mysterious book in my room?” It had meant to be a joke, but the cat nodded and meowed in response.
Mary froze mid eye-roll. “Did it just… answer you?”
The cat looked at Mary and back at Elise, then tilted its head. Elise felt like she could barely tell what it wanted, like a subtle voice in the back of her mind. It was asking for permission. Elise didn’t know what it needed permission for, but she placed the cat back into her lap and nodded. The cat closed its eyes and it began to glow a magnificent yellow. The light soon faded, and sitting in Elise’s lap was the Master Tome of the Arcanist.
“Elise, I…” Mary stared in awe at the cat-turned-book. “I don’t know how to tell you this… but your cat is a book.”
“Oh good,” replied Elise in just as much shock as Mary. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s crazy.”
----------------------------------------
Tobias was having a long and difficult day. He had hoped that the audience with King Alban would have been boring at worst, but what had happened instead was downright troubling. Alban was a madman; a weasel playing at politics. Tobias had thought as much even before he was crowned king. He would have to find a way to tell Elise all that’s going on without causing her too much stress.
Tobias glanced back at the guard who followed him carrying a roast chicken under a cloche. It was a surprise when Prince Edward stopped him on his way out of the castle, profusely apologizing for some guard who harassed Elise. Edward refused to let Tobias leave without receiving some form of compensation, which he gave in the form of a roast chicken to feed him, his daughter, and the “young brown-haired lass” who was most likely Mary. He had even assigned Tobias a guard to carry the chicken for him. Tobias wished that Alban took after his son more.
It was already dark out, and the night was quite chilly. Tobias tried to resist a cough but failed. The coughing was less frequent now with Roland’s medicine, but it still wasn’t pleasant. He wasn’t wheezing anymore though, which was a blessing.
“Are you all right sir,” the guard asked, rushing to his side while keeping the food platter level.
Tobias held up a finger and doubled over to finish his cough. “Yes, thank you,” he said, catching his breath. “Let’s keep moving, we’re almost there.”
Soon, the house came into view. There were lights on in the dining room and he could see two silhouettes inside.
Tobias fished a gold coin from his pocket and held it out to the guard. “I can take it from here, thank you.”
The guard gingerly took the coin, clearly not expecting to be tipped. He handed the platter over, saluted, and left. Tobias approached the front door only to realize that he now didn’t have any hands available to unlock it, so he used his foot to knock instead.
The voices from inside quickly fell silent, and a moment later Tobias could see the top of Elise’s face peeking out from the bottom of a nearby window. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she moved away from the window. He heard some scuffling from inside and, to his surprise, Mary opened the door.
“Ah! Good evening, Mabel,” Tobias said with a smile.
“Hey Mr. G” She responded, rolling her eyes. She took the platter from him and led him inside. They entered the dining room and Mary shifted a few of the many papers littering the table to make room for the platter of food.
“My goodness, what’s all this?” Tobias asked, gaping at the mess. “And where’d Elise go?”
“She had to run upstairs, she’ll be back in a minute,” responded Mary while gathering up the papers into a stack. She very decidedly didn’t answer what the papers were for. That, paired with Elise’s sudden disappearance, was quite concerning in Tobias’s eyes.
He and Mary had already started setting the table when Elise came downstairs.
“Hi Dad!” Elise said. “Ooh what smells so good?”
“A little gift from Prince Edward,” Tobias said, gesturing at the chicken. “He told me all about your run in with the guards.”
“Wow, that was nice of him,” Said Elise appreciatively.
“Yes he’s a good man,” replied Tobias. “It’s a shame he’ll be away for a while.” Elise and Mary blinked at him, so he continued. “He’s going to lead a division of soldiers against the bandits that destroyed Whiteridge.”
Mary gasped. “What? When did that happen?”
“Just a few days ago, reports say there’s no one left,” he replied.
“Damn,” Mary said, looking at the floor. “Damn,” she said again, her eyes becoming misty. “I met a really nice family from Whiteridge a week ago, I did a family portrait for them.” She looked at Elise sadly, “They had a daughter our age, cute redhead girl, I was gonna introduce you.” She chucked halfheartedly, but sighed and looked back at the floor. Elise patted her shoulder affectionately.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“Dad, Edward said your meeting was running long,” said Elise, trying to change the subject. “Did something happen?”
Tobias rolled his eyes and groaned. He went around making sure all the windows were closed and the door was locked. When he was sure no one could be listening in, he turned to the girls.
“This does not leave this room,” he said seriously, “do you understand? No one but the King’s inner circle knows about this.” Both girls nodded, now concerned. “The king, that wretched worm, is planning on invading the Kingdom of Elordia.”
“What?” The girls gasped in unison. “Why?”
Tobias shrugged. “The bastard says that he was ‘tasked by the gods to share the glory of our great nation.’ He wants to expand into an empire.”
“That’s horrible,” Elise said. “What’re we going to do?”
“There’s not much we can do,” he replied, finally sitting at the dining table and prompting the girls to do the same. “There wasn’t anything I could say on the matter without upsetting him.” He sliced some meat from the chicken and began to dish it out. “We’ll figure it out, we always do. It should take him quite a while before he’ll be ready for a war, so we’ll have time to prepare. Anyway, what have you girls been up to?”
“Oh, you know… just studying,” replied Elise, and Mary nodded. “Oh, Dad,” she added, “what does Ichor mean?”
Tobias knew the question was probably just a distraction to change the subject, but he could never pass up an opportunity to give a lecture. “It’s an old religious term, and you’re saying it wrong, it’s pronounced like ‘eye-core.’”
“Ha-ha,” mocked Mary, pointing at Elise who stuck her tongue out in response.
“It means the blood of a god,” he continued, “but most of the time it’s used to mean specifically the blood of the goddess Unera.”
Elise nodded, but Mary still looked confused. “Which one is Unera, again,” she asked.
“Unera is the goddess of life,” he answered. “Her husband is Numinos, the god of death. Their two children are Elos, god of all things physical and tangible, and Matos, god of all intangible and abstract concepts. Is your family not religious?”
“Nah,” Mary said. “My mom says it’s all a load of junk and my dad and I just don’t care.”
Tobias nodded. “That’s very common these days. Anyway, the legend goes that Unera and Numinos created the world to be a gift to their children. They say that Unera used her blood, her Ichor, to create all of the natural elements like fire, water, earth, and the like.”
“Ohhhhh,” said Mary, “It all makes sense now!”
Tobias could feel that Elise was trying to kick Mary from under the table. He sighed. “Look, girls. I’ve known you both long enough that I can tell when you’re trying to hide something from me. Frankly, you’re not very good at it.” They both blushed and looked down at the table. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
Elise looked at her father, then back at Mary who just shrugged. She sighed, “I’ll go get the cat.”
----------------------------------------
Elise walked upstairs to her bedroom where she stashed the book… cat. It had been only around an hour since she had first found the book, and she was still slightly hoping it was all in her head. Though, her father’s explanation of Ichor made the book make slightly more sense. Still, the thought of spells and magic and books that can turn into cats being real made Elise feel… uneasy.
When Elise entered the room, the cat perked up and meowed happily. It was laying exactly where she left it on the bed, as if it hadn’t moved an inch. Both the cat and the book seemed to be bonded to Elise. At first, when Mary tried to pet the cat or ask the book a question, she was rebuffed. Once Elise told it that Mary was a trusted friend it started responding to her, but it didn’t seem as happy with her as with Elise.
She sat on the bed next to the cat and began to stroke its head. It nuzzled into her touch, purring loudly and happily. She held her hands out, palms facing up, and the cat immediately jumped onto them and transformed into the Master Tome of the Arcanist. She silently willed it to transform back into a cat, and it did. They had practiced the movement for a while earlier, and somehow the cat seemed to be able to sense what Elise wanted it to do. She shook her head and headed off downstairs, cat in hand.
Her father and Mary were both waiting for her, sweating nervously. Tobias looked at the cat and his eyebrows knitted together. Elise figured that if this was just a normal cat then she would be allowed to keep it with no issue, but this wasn’t a normal cat. She was dreading her father’s reaction.
“Was all this just to ask if you could keep a cat?” Tobias seemed like he could tell there was more to this.
Elise said nothing and sat next to Mary. She placed the cat on the table and scratched its head. It meowed happily.
“It’s quite a pretty thing. I’ve never seen one that color before.” Tobias was now very anxious to find out what was going on.
Elise, without saying anything, held both her hands out and the cat jumped up to them. In a flash of light, the dark blue cat was replaced with a book of the same color.
Tobias stared wide-eyed at the space where the cat used to be. “What the hell was that?”
Elise explained to her father all that she and Mary had learned. She told him about finding the book, the light that enveloped her when she touched it, and the few passages she had already read.
Tobias scratched his head as he studied the cat sitting before him. “So let me get this straight. These Arcanists can cast magical spells by drawing in Ichor and sending it back out again?”
“That’s what the book says,” replied Elise. “Everyone has this reservoir called a ‘core’ inside them that holds Ichor. It’s sort of like breathing. You pull air into your lungs, your lungs transform the air, and then you breathe it out. It’s the same principle.”
Tobias pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “So, what is this book?”
“This”—she willed the cat to turn back into a book—“is a spell tome. Casting a spell is a really involved and unintuitive process so this book supposedly helps you do it. Instead of just drawing Ichor into your own core and figuring it out on your own, you draw Ichor into the book and form it into a rune which, for the most part, casts the spell for you. Or so it says, we haven’t actually tried to cast anything yet.”
“Ok…” Tobias brushed his hand over the book. “And why is it a cat?”
“Yeah, I was wondering that too,” chimed Mary who, up until this point, was just doodling pictures of cats.
“Ok, this part is weird. So apparently when tomes are made, they’re made with a core for storing Ichor. The more spell runes there are in a tome, the bigger the core. This one” —she held the book up—“has all of the spells… or most of them… or something. It’s not really clear. But since it has so many spells, its core is about as big as a living being. It has so much Ichor that it became sentient, which is why it can flip its own pages and, I guess, turn into a cat.”
“You said it has most if not all of the spells, so why is it so small,” Tobias asked. “Are there only a few spells?
“There’s a lot actually, watch this.” Elise opened the book and started quickly flipping through the pages. When she was around halfway through the book, the pages continued to flip but the amount of remaining pages didn’t appear to decrease. After she had flipped through many more pages than a book of that size could hold, the remaining pages began to move again, and soon she had flipped through the whole book. “It’s bigger than it looks. I haven’t counted the pages yet though.”
“But,” said Mary, still confused. “Why is it a cat? Why not some other animal or, like, a person?”
“I don’t know, I’ve only had the book for a couple hours,” Elise grumbled.
“This is incredible,” said Tobias, flipping through the pages like Elise did. “What about these spells? Have you tried casting one?”
“So you believe what the book says?” Elise had been holding out hope that her father would have been the voice of reason telling them it was all a hoax.
“I believe it’s worth looking into,” he said. “This is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I would be a lousy academic if I didn’t at least entertain the idea.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Elise took the book back. “Book, please show me the page for the levitation spell.” At once the book opened to a page titled “Levitation” that had a strange illustration of interconnected circles and lines under a short block of text.
“The levitation spell is one of the simplest spells for aspiring Arcanists to learn as it does not involve a transformation of the Ichor’s affinity. To levitate an object using the rune below, one must draw Ichor into the spell tome and channel it in the form of the rune. Once the rune is prepared, the caster can then manipulate the Ichor surrounding the object as well as its natural Ichor to move it without physical contact. To levitate an object without the use of a rune, the process is largely simple except one must manipulate Ichor to surround the object themselves. Objects with a higher density of Ichor are easier to levitate, but with sufficient practice and a large enough pool of Ichor, even the largest, most base of objects can be lifted.”
Elise looked up to see that Mary was nodding along with the explanation but had, at some point, gone back to drawing cats on her notes. Her father, however, was much more invested.
“So how do you actually draw in the Ichor?” He closed his eyes, likely trying to feel the Ichor in the air. “I don’t feel anything to draw in.”
Elise closed her eyes and tried to focus on the environment. She could feel very faint wisps of warmth floating in the air around them. She focused her attention on the wisps, and slowly they became more prominent. After a moment, they became almost visible to her, despite her eyes being closed. She tuned out all of her other senses, and she could start to see floating strands of the same golden yellow light that enveloped her when she first found the book. They flowed in and out of every object in the room, with a very high concentration of them flowing around where she knew Mary, Tobias, and the book was. She opened her eyes, and the strands faded from view.
“I could see it!” She shouted. “I think the book showed me what Ichor felt like when I first found it. I don’t know why it didn’t do that for you but here”—she handed the book to her father—“I think it might be easier if you try while holding it.
Tobias held the book and closed his eyes, and Elise did the same. Without the book, it took longer for the strands of light to come into focus. Nevertheless, she was soon able to see the pools of Ichor inside the others in the room. The pool belonging to her father was pulsing and growing in size steadily. After a few minutes of this meditation, she was able to even see the faint outline of each person. The outline of Mary looked up and around the table, and her movement caused her outline to become hazy and unclear.
“Heyyy…” Mary said awkwardly. “What’s going on guys?”
“Hey Mary,” Elise said, turning to her. “I bet I can tell how many fingers you’re holding up with my eyes closed.”
“I’ll take that bet.” Mary held her hands behind her back and Elise could see very faintly that she was holding up 6 fingers.
“6! Now 4. 7. Now no fingers. That’s cheating!”
“How did you do that,” asked Mary, astonished.
Elise turned up her nose at her, finally opening her eyes. “Should’ve been paying attention.” Mary made a noise of protest, but Elise ignored her and turned to her father. “What do you think Dad? Did you feel anything?”
“I could feel something, yes,” he said, having already opened his eyes to watch the girls bicker. “But I couldn’t see anything clear enough to do something like that.”
“Next step is…” she read back through the passage, “next we ‘channel it in the form of the rune,’ whatever that means.”
“Is it just tracing?” Mary asked? “Like, moving it around in that shape will make the spell work, somehow?”
“Worth a shot,” Elise said.
Elise held the book in both hands and closed her eyes. Once the floating strands of Ichor faded into view, she silently willed them to come to the book. She could feel the intangible core of Ichor inside the book pulsing and eagerly awaiting to be filled, and with all her focus she pulled on the Ichor in the air and directed it into the book. Pulling it wasn’t a physical motion, though it felt like activating a muscle she never knew she had.
Despite her eyes being closed, she could see the illustration on the page of the book light up in a vibrant golden color once the Ichor filled the core. Her instincts took over as she placed her right hand flat on the page and focused the Ichor into it. The illustration acted like gutters channeling water down a street as Ichor flowed through the lines. She had to struggle to keep the Ichor steady as it tried to spill and leave the intended path. Once the Ichor finished spreading and was evenly distributed across the rune, she could feel in her core that the spell was prepared.
“I guess we should find something to levitate now, then.” Elise said, keeping her eyes closed and focusing on keeping the Ichor in the right shape.
“Well, the book said that things with a lot of Ichor are easier to levitate, right,” Mary asked. “Why not try to levitate the book?”
“That’s…” Tobias looked taken aback. “That’s not a bad Idea.” Elise had to agree, she didn’t even think Mary was listening.
“Yeah,” Mary flipped her hair. “I am pretty smart.”
“Alright,” Elise chuckled. “Let's give it a go.”
She focused on her hands and the book that lay on them. She pushed on the Ichor circulating through the rune and felt it spread across the book, coating it entirely in Ichor. Elise envisioned the book rising from her hands into the air, and her Ichor responded. Slowly, the book began to float.
“I… I did it!” Elise opened her eyes to see the book floating just a short distance above her hand. “Look! Guys it worked!” In her excitement she lost focus on the Ichor, and the book fell back down.
“That was incredible Elise,” Tobias said, having closed his eyes to try to feel the movement of her Ichor.
“I wanna try!” Mary said excitedly.
----------------------------------------
Elise lay in her bed with the Master Tome of the Arcanist in one hand. Her other hand was held up in the air, pointing at a quill she was levitating in the air above her. She, her father, and Mary had been practicing levitating and meditating for hours before they realized how late it was. She carefully levitated the quill over above her desk and gently let it fall down. The further it got from her, the more difficult it was to keep her control on it.
Once it was in its place, Elise willed the book to transform back into a cat and the midnight-blue feline curled up happily on her stomach. They had learned through trial and error that when the book was in its cat form, it didn’t provide any aid to casting spells or sensing Ichor. There was nothing about that mentioned in the book, but Tobias suggested that the cat might be using so much Ichor to sustain its form that it didn’t have any to spare.
“We should probably give this little guy a name,” said Elise. “I feel bad just calling him ‘the book.’”
Mary propped herself up on the cot she was laying on and squinted at the cat. It was repeatedly flexing its paws and stretching its arms in a way that looked like it was kneading dough.
“Biscuit,” she said simply. “He looks like a Biscuit.”
Elise looked down at the cat, who in no way resembled a biscuit, and smiled. “We have a magical shape shifting book-cat and you want to name him Biscuit?”
Mary nodded resolutely.
“I love it,” said Elise. “What do you think, Biscuit?” The cat turned to Elise and meowed happily.
“He loves it too,” declared Mary.
Elise gently pet Biscuit on the head, who purred and curled up into a ball.
When it was time to sleep, she turned Biscuit back into a book and spent several minutes attempting to levitate a candle snuffer to put out the room’s single candle without getting out of bed. She missed several times and eventually had to stop when she almost knocked the candle over and lit the house on fire. She got up, slightly bashful, and snuffed the candle herself.
“Night, Mary,” Elise yawned.
“Night Ellie.”
Neither of them would be getting much sleep that night. Their minds danced with visions of magic spells and shapeshifting cats. Elise didn’t know what would happen, but she was too excited to learn all about this book to care.