As her tour group brushed past her, getting on with their day, following the tour-guide, Amy remained where she stood. She was frozen still, sticking out like a sore thumb, by the Nameless Cloak. Her wide eyes analysed the cloak carefully and closely, taking it all in. All odd stares she might've gotten were ignored as her entire focus remained on the impossibility in front of her.
It's a Wizard's Cloak. It has to be. Amy thought, coming to the only possible conclusion. I've seen a similar pattern and styling on the hat I have. It can't be. the matching cloak to it can it? No, that'd be too coincidental. It is only similar in design too, not identical. Felin's reaction would have also been a lot different I imagine; unless he's restraining himself to just shock right now instead of anything more drastic.
With the knowledge of where she was in mind, Amy kept her examinations to the minimum, the entire set of her mana senses, not just her Sight, honing in on everything about the Cloak, picking it apart for all it was worth. Unknowable seeped out of every woven string of the cloak, engulfing it in an indistinct aura, no delimitation between where it ended and merged with the Mana Ocean. Contrary to everything she knew about both Magecraft, mana pools and enchantments, the Pure was instantaneously corrupted by approaching anywhere close to a metre to the cloak, vanishing into that same sickly grey-purple slime. It was as if there was a Mage standing right there, wearing the cloak, stuck forever attuning any mote of mana that got close to it. Yet there was no person, no Mage; there were no engraved lines of enchantment on the cloak fabric, no nodes of pooled mana to supply any sort of mechanism in the robe itself.
It was unexplainable.
Amy's reverie was disrupted by a prodding at her sides, seeing Felin half emerged from her purse trying to get her attention. Finally having gotten it, he nodded towards the way she had come through the museum, his eyes just as wide as she imagined her own, almost glowing in radioactive viridescence. With measured and restrained movements, he mouthed a single word.
"Exit."
Ah, Amy thought, opening her mouth in silent realisation. That makes sense. But... I was planning on scoping out some stuff today. Locations of certain things, where security is placed and stuff like that. A bit too early for rotations and such as that means I'm definitely committing to working with Beatrice. There's... There's always another day however.
So, begrudgingly, Amy left.
* * *
"What the fuck was-" Amy erupted as soon as she closed the door behind her to her room, turning towards her purse.
"Quiet, please," Felin demanded, leaping out from her side and onto the air, floating. "Before you say anything, Amy, allow me to say my part first, as it would make this much easier."
"Alright...?" She agreed, taken aback at his interruption and confused.
"That Cloak is not a Wizard's Cloak for the strictest definition of the word, but along the lines of what that tour-lady said, it is an Apprentice Wizard's Cloak. You do not comprehend the significance of such a thing so allow me to enlighten you," He snarled, his eyes so slitted they were almost vertical lines. "Apprentices are not allowed out of the Tower they dorm in until they finish training and become full-fledged Wizards, Journeymen in true. When they finish- when they finish their training, their cloaks are handed back in for the next cohort.
"For an Apprentice Cloak to be found outside a Tower, for what other place could they have found it in, it means that an Apprentice, a CHILD, was MURDERED INSIDE THEIR HOME!" He shouted, the very air quaking at his words, his eyes seeming to gain a life of their own as they shone as bright as miniature moons. "THEY WERE WITHIN OUR CARE! WITHIN OUR WALLS! AND THEY WERE KILLED! THEIR ROBES, THEIR CLOAKS, PRIED OFF OF THEIR CORPSES!"
Cracks splintered across Felin's form, mana spilling out of it, his avatar insufficient to contain his godly wrath. His body grew indistinct at its edges, as if becoming one with the Mana Ocean itself, an Elemental of pure fury. The room continued to shake.
"Felin, please- Slow it down, I don't- Just, please calm-" Amy tried to say, only to be interrupted.
"CALM? CALM?!" He exclaimed, incredulous. The shaking only became worse, things wobbling and falling off tables and drawers. "I WILL NOT BE CALM-"
"Felin!" Amy yelled back, reflexively, waving a hand at the state of her room. "If you do not calm down right now then you'll get this Apprentice right in front of you killed too!"
The cat stilled at his Apprentice's rebuke and the shaking stopped with it. His eyes relaxed slightly, dimming in their radiance and widening, as his angry growl returned to a look of forlorn despair. The pair of Mages stayed there, in silence, for some time, awkwardly exchanging looks, both seeming guilty.
"I'm- I apologise Amy, for losing control like that," Felin spoke first, bowing his head. He floated down onto the bed, slouching on top of it.
"I'm also sorry, I... I shouldn't have said what I said. It wasn't right." Amy apologised in turn.
"...Shall we simply agree we weren't our best in those moments? Then we can move onto the problem at hand?" He said, offering a way out of their troubled situation.
"Let's."
"...Alright then," He nodded after some time. "What- What did you not understand, before? When you said I needed to go slower?"
"I- I mean how did you come to the conclusion the Apprentice was- " She hesitated, scared it would bring up the topic again. She took the risk, however, and went on, "That they were killed?"
"You..." Felin also paused, a conflict visible on his face as he struggled with the right words. "Do you remember what I said about my old contractor's hat? That it was 'keyed' to him so that it could be used by no one else?"
"Yes."
"It's a similar situation with the robes. All of the Apprentices... It was a part of a ceremony, you see," He smiled sadly, a nostalgic look in his eyes. "As they were introduced into the School, they were given their cloak. There and then, on the podium, they would bond with the cloak, and they'd join the Apprentice cohort at the back of the hall. When they'd graduate into genuine Wizards, they'd... They'd un-attune to their cloak and be given the genuine article. It wouldn't be enchanted or anything like that... It'd be blank. A proper Wizard's Cloak to make their own; one to forge their own path with...
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"We always had enough Cloaks on hand, never more, never less," He refocused, letting his reminiscing fall to the side. Somewhere during his explanation, Amy had come to sit down next to him on the bed, the cat not noticing until now. "More were made if needed, and some were destroyed if they weren't. For there to somehow exist a spare, un-keyed Apprentice's Cloak, it would require a miracle of coincidences to occur. The ceremonies happened on the same day, to symbolise passing the torch onto the next generation of Wizards, the future of the magical world. All the extra ones would be made in advance, and the spare ones destroyed as soon as they left the hall. The only way... The only way an Apprentice Wizard's Cloak could fall into the hands of another Mage was for them to be killed. And, since all the Apprentices stayed within the halls of the School, they were murdered inside our grounds."
"Felin..." Amy trailed off, reaching a hand out to pet the top of his head, gently.
"I'm quite alright now, especially after my outburst," He tried to laugh, only a hollow sounding one coming out.
"...We'll find out what happened to them, won't we?" She smiled softly, letting her hand slow to rest on his back.
"Yes. If you allow me to."
"Of course I would, Felin. Always."
"Hmm," He hummed, slightly inclining his head.
"That cloak though... I'm guessing that Unknowable business about it isn't the original enchantment?" She said, getting back on track.
"No not at all," Felin confirmed for her. "I can't sense much in this form, even with the more powerful Spell. That's why... That's why I said we needed that cloak but... Don't let my words influence you on your decision Amy. I'm sorry for even thinking of requesting such a thing from you. I... simply let my emotions get the better of me. They're just some worthless reasons that don't deserve mentioning."
"Even if you didn't say that you wanted the cloak, I would've wanted it instead," Amy said. "I recognised it for what it was the second I looked at it, so saying you shouldn't have influenced me is silly."
"So you're going for it then?" Felin asked, half-frowning as if he already knew the answer.
"Beatrice doesn't matter anymore. The instant we saw that thing she left my mind. We can use her, yes, but our ultimate goal won't be helping her. It'll be that cloak. We'll be better than that."
"And if she asks for more beyond just your help? You can't exactly deny that then go off and steal something for yourself. She might suddenly decide that she doesn't like your attitude and snitch on you," He warned.
"I've made up my mind, Felin, it's too late now to dissuade me," She reaffirmed. "We are getting that cloak and so far, our best bet at getting help in such a thing is through Beatrice. We can drop her if needed and the authorities will assuredly trust a Mage over whatever she claims. It's sad but it's how the world works and sometimes we have to utilise that side of it to get our way."
"Alright then," Felin sighed. "I suppose it's decided."
"Yep. We're robbing a museum."
"Now don't be so crass," He smirked, the first time he properly smiled since coming back from the trip. "We are not mere criminals robbing the innocent willy-nilly. We're righteous and honourable people simply reclaiming what's ours."
"If you put it like that then, well, I can't disagree," She smiled back happily. Letting it drop slightly, she added, "Why did you want the cloak anyway? Would it have changed anything if you could examine it closely?"
"...Allow me to explain some mechanics behind how the Familiar Spell functions," Felin said, contemplative. "I already mentioned this earlier but imagine this avatar of mine like a container. I am an Ascendant and no Spell could ever change that so, ordinarily, it would require Ascendant Tier Spellwork to summon me into the world. What this 'container' does however is mould my Ascendant power into a weaker shape, allowing it to descend into your plane at a lower Tier of Spellwork. I can use a lot of the same abilities only Ascendants have access to in this form, however all their strengths are reduced down to the same Tier the Spell is casted at. Due to the nature of some Ascendant abilities, the toned-down versions are simply so weak that they are useless. Some, however, retain their usefulness despite being severely limited. It's why, for example, I can somewhat sense your progress towards the next Mage Tier despite it not being an Apprentice-Tier ability of Mages, but rather a higher Tier one."
"So if you were able to get actually close with it then-" Amy realised.
"I'd actually be able to find out what caused it to be in the condition it's in," Felin finished for her. "If I was here in the flesh, so-to-speak, then I would be able to tell at a glance. In this mid-Apprentice Tier avatar, I'd need extended and close constant with it to deduce the same things. Even now I can sort of imagine some things about it, but that's speaking more from experience than ability."
"Oh? What is it then?" She perked up, curious.
"All of the base enchantments of the Cloak were erased which requires a certain degree of powerful Magick to completely overwrite what's already there. And-" Felin stopped, taking a moment to breathe deeply in and out. Amy absentmindedly wondered why a magical creature would need to breathe, but she didn't think it the right time to ask such a question. "By the severity of Unknowable contamination of that cloak, it can be concluded that the wearer of it was the victim of an Unknowable murder."
"Oh," She slouched back down, no longer curious.
"Yes, indeed." He grimaced, letting his head hang low. "I... I had already surmised that this might have been what led to the Wizard's all being forgotten. An Unknowable murder of not just a person or group, but an entire magical School. And yet... such an attack, at such a scale, seems impossible to contemplate. How could Mages deemed the pinnacle of Unknowable Spells and Magick be laid low by the same Element they know so well and not go silently, unable to counterattack? It doesn't even explain how all the Ascendants went missing or how-... It all seems just so... insurmountable. I've plucked at and chased all the threads on my end of the plane, but here? I don't even know where to start."
"Step by step, that's how. And this cloak? It's our first step. The first of many," Amy comforted, nudging into Felin a bit with her side.
"I suppose..." Felin murmured, adjusting his sitting position a little.
"We just need to plan how to get that cloak. Nothing else matters at the moment," Amy said. "So, how does learning some infiltration Spells from you sound?"
"Infiltration Spells?" He turned to her, incredulous.
"Yes."
"Bah!" He swiped at the air dismissively. "Too high Tier, too high Tier by far. Any good infiltration Spells I know are all simply too powerful and I don't know the lower Tier ones. Or I did, and I've forgotten about them. I've forgotten more about magic than you'll probably ever know, not to brag."
"Uh huh," She said, ignoring his snide comment in the way it was meant to be taken; a joke, meant to liven his own mood.
"Most likely, you'll need to make your own Spells for this or look through your FPG for some you can alter in the direction you want."
"How about..." Amy started, bringing to light a thought that had been looming in the back of her head for a while now. "How about making the situation go as planned?"
"What do you mean?" Felin narrowed his eyes at her.
"So, how does this sound?" Amy put forward, raising her hands. "I make a plan with Beatrice, a feasible plan of breaking-and-entering with a magical twist to account for the security in the museum. Then I weave some sort of... I don't know, prophecy magic to make the plan go, well, to plan."
"That's..." Felin began, pondering over something. "What you want is possible, but not in the way you want it. You could induce some suggestions inside of a guard's head with Mind Spells, or hide yourself from all sight with Unknowable, or use workings of Luck to make things more likely go your way in the moment. Even more improbable given the time it would take to learn, you could weave Destiny Magick so that the end goal of your plan becomes more solid and set in stone.
"However, there is no way of making something go exactly as planned for one simple reason. Elemental Fate does not and should never exist."
"What... What do you mean?" Amy asked cautiously, suddenly aware that she may have stumbled into something larger than she had thought.
"Allow me to tell you a story then," Felin sighed dramatically. "A story about the fallacy of fate."