Look up at the stars twinkling in the night sky. The gods are shining for you, my dear.

Scritch, scratch—an audible scraping, the sound of metal meeting wood. The craftsmanship in the figure was carved away bit by bit, but the rest of her design was to be spared—a fake wound, as artificial as the muse they've lovingly been inspired by. Peeled wood, smooth on one side and coarse on the other, accompanied by stranded pieces of shavings gently fell onto the floor. When the sin was finished, a thumb rubbed over the smooth figure of her now flat face. It was now a doll left to be always uncompleted.

"I'm sorry…" the sinner cried out an apology that rejected forgiveness. A tear fell on top of the wooden effigy as the miscreant's trembling hands caressed the defaced figure.

***

"Oh, my Lady Sophia… who could do such a thing to you?" a little girl muttered softly as she held the defaced icon of Lady Sophia in her small hands. The figure depicted a beautiful young woman in holy robes, wearing a veil that barely covered her face—if she had one. Instead, what should've been a face had been crudely carved out and covered in a layer of black paint that smelled of iron. In her heart, the little girl prayed for the culprit to suffer, but instead, she decided to let it go, knowing it was what the holy Lady would've wanted. "I'll find out who did this to you," the little girl vowed with determination. 

Little Pleasance settled down quietly on the velvet carpet of the solarium. The young girl with light blonde hair stared at the night sky, gazing at the stars with her soft blue eyes. She fancied that the stars were shining just for her, that the gods of the night sky recognized her very presence and were going to bless her then and there, like they did to the Lady all those millennia ago. Yet, the stars weren't enough to fill the emptiness inside her heart.

The young girl then looked back at her various astronomy, mathematics, and pneumatology textbooks. Staring at these things stirred an ache in her heart, causing her to turn around with her face flattered on the carpet floor. "Oh my Lady… I hate it here… So, so much…" she groaned, "I don't think I want to study anymore." It was all so incomprehensible and all so tiresome. If only her parents didn't force her to attend the academy.

Pleasance has lived in the Basilica for the past six months. It was her parents' idea, they wanted to send her away where she could be safe and educated, so that she may grow up to become—as the Nawians call it—a proper lady. They were especially keen on advancing their daughter's academic career in sorcery, as all rich noble families in Nawia did. She was the eldest daughter of the Lindovs after all, and Priyatnya Aleksandrovna Lindova (which was her full name) was going to be the next head of her house once her parents passed away. This weight burdened the young soul, but it also emboldened her with a noble pride befitting of aristocrats like her family.

The first time Priyatnya arrived at the Lune Basilica, she was awestruck by the magnificence of its grand architecture. It was as if she had stepped into the presence of the heavens themselves, with towering Doric columns lining the vast hall and gilded ornaments adorning its walls. The architects behind such a masterpiece of a cathedral must have been inspired by visions of paradise before they put their chisels to marble.

The Basilica was a grand structure, more akin to a small town than a mere church. It housed hospitals, universities, offices, making it a self-sustaining city. Markets bustled with the commerce of goods and ideas, creating a self-sustaining city under the ever-watchful eyes of its patron saints. Everything was indoors, including the garden that held a false sun, a grand kaleidoscopic chandelier that who acts like a great pupil, going to sleep as if following the function of a night.

The clergymen and women of the church hailed from distant earth-realms and heaven-realms to serve the Basilica with the utmost kindness and devotion in their hearts. The young girl's heart brimmed with optimism as she entered for the first time, but within the span of six months, she became weary and disillusioned.

The studies demanded of her were far more grueling than the private tutors of her home country of Iremel. Instead of simple arithmetics, Iremelian literature, and basic sciences, she now had to grapple with geometry, ecclesiastic linguistics, and pneumatological physics. Frankly, they were subjects unfit for a ten-year-old girl to learn, even if she was the self-proclaimed smartest ten-year-old in the cosmos. 

Truthfully, she fancied that most of her subjects were nothing but filler rubbish. Worse yet, she has yet to learn how to do magic! At least, not officially. She and her classmates were simply given a mechanical wand last week to play around with. The instructors gave them instructions as to how to use it.

One of the students figured out that the wands could emit a high-frequency buzzing if the proper gears were turned between the segmented cylinders. The high-pitched hum could then be swung, swish and swash in that order to play a simple melody. Pleasance did just that, she swung her wand around, left, right, up and down in an elegant motion, listening to the faint hum turn into the melody of a familiar lullaby she heard when she was little.

DING! DING! DING! 

The low chiming of the church bells rang. The girl perched up and tidied up her messy clothes–a school uniform that consisted of a black shirt, vest and skirt, yellow pants, and a white collar. Besides her self-proclaimed "undeniable beauty and charm", Pleasance liked to differentiate herself from the other girls by a black silk headband on top of her soft blonde hair, it had the coat of arms of the Lindov family, the white spectacled cormorant of Nawia.  

"Oh soof," she groaned and ran through the hallway to find her classroom.

It was in room 2-1C. Pleasance appeared before an audience of students and a scowling professor who silently pointed Pleasance to sit down. At least I wasn't too late. Pleasance thought to herself before sitting down at her table.

"I suppose we can start now." The old professor said. "Everyone has their wands ready, I presume? Yes, that's good, no one left behind."

Pleasance adjusted her seat and watched the professor intently.

"This spiritual device you were given was designed with no restrictions behind it." He takes out his own wand, which was obsidian black, unlike the copper bower-pins the students were given. "You can cast grave spells out of it, but without the proper knowledge and skill, it's no better than a simple instrument. I hope at least one of you knows what the main purpose of a wand is."

A boy raised his hand. "To cast spells."

The professor shook his head. "Yes, but not quite. Wands are available to everyone in the academic field, not just up-and-coming magicians."

Pleasance raised her hand. "It's to process and calculate signals."

"Good, Miss Lindova, excellent. You may think that it's a tool used by magicians and practitioners of magic, but an overwhelming majority of it is used by engineers, mathematicians, researchers, and others in the field of academics. Unless you have a special wand or script inside that wand, you're not likely to advance into the sort of magicians you all are familiar with. The kind who can redirect lightning or summon flames." 

Some of the students gave a look of disappointment.

The professor scoffed "They're nothing more than party tricks. The wands you were given are incapable of performing what you call, higher forms of magic. They're taken for education and learning more about the world. Do you all understand…? Good." The professor rambled on about the use and intricacies of magic. Pleasance drones off from the professor's speech and instead, was taken to observing him instead.

Father Perrault… an old Diocesan priest in his 60s, though, rumors say he is far older. Pleasance has dedicated a good portion of her time to getting to know the various staff at the Lune Basilica. The cooks, janitors, teachers, clergymen. She can't exactly recall all their names in an instant, but she does recognize their faces and can hold a decent conversation with them, so long as she avoids having to mention their name.

Father Perrault is a man of particular fascination for Pleasance because she was absolutely terrified of him. He exuded an air of otherworldliness that set him apart from everyone else in the church. When he's not preaching or teaching, he is as silent as a statue—his presence is so muted, that not even his breath can be heard. His eyes were always focused on something; sometimes Pleasance doubts he could even blink, but maybe it's because he faces away from others all the time. 

He always preferred the company of stars as opposed to other people. Maybe it had something to do with his past as a follower of the God of Omnipresence before he decided to join the Basilica and worship the Creator God instead.

"Pssst-" Pleasance felt a wind on her cheek and turned to the left to see a boy with dark brown hair and dull gray eyes. Because of his longish hair, soft face, and girly name, she would've thought he was a girl. "Did you hear what Father Perrault said? Disassemble your wand." Edith explained and pointed at Pleasance's wand. 

"Oh, right! Of course." Pleasance scrambled and immediately disassembled her segmented wand into three cylinders. She looked inside the cylinder to see the simple mechanical components that were inside it, all the tiny gears and transistors that give it the ability to create sequential calculations. She looked back at the boy and saw that he was struggling to disassemble his wand. 

"Do you want me to help?" She smirked.

"No, leave me alone." He continued struggling.

Pleasance can't help but laugh a little. Ever since they met, Edith has always vied for her attention, only to immediately act prideful after getting it. 

"So, what were you doing before class?" He asked, turning a gear in between two colliders which made a clicking sound.

"I was enjoying being alone."

"You've been doing that a lot recently ever since Minerva left. Were you crying or something?"

"No, I wasn't." She rolled her eyes. "Look, you're not even doing it right. You're supposed to turn the bottom gear counterclockwise." She continued advising Edith, knowing it would annoy him. Edith, in return, nonchalantly shrugged to hide his bitterness.

"You didn't do it right yourself." Another boy, sitting in front of her, remarked. His light blonde hair and dark blue eyes, always half-lidded, gave him a perpetually sleepy look. He was as pale as a ghost–as if he had never seen sunlight, not even in the garden. He revealed a small dynamo from inside the bottom cylinder and pointed to the processor in the middle cylinder. "You have to remove its components too."

Pleasance nodded and immediately went to figure out how to take the internal parts of the bottom and middle cylinders out, but to no avail. "Wait, what? Since when did it–" she tried again and failed. The boy looked at her, then at Edith before laughing silently. He was enjoying seeing his friends struggle in what he was ahead in.

Tch. Well, I'm not so much of a sore loser to not ask for help. "How did you do it, Merrill?"

"Glad I could help." Merrill leaned back on his chair and began tinkering with Pleasance's wand. With his ink-stained hands, he pressed a few buttons and turned a few gears, it clicked and its inner components slid out of the cylinder. Pleasance was genuinely impressed and looked at Merrill with admiration. "How did you know how to do that?"

"You have a good eye for people, and I have a good eye for objects." Merrill proudly proclaimed. "Hey Edith, do you need help?"

Edith, struggling with his fully intact wand shoos Merrill away with a wave of his hand. 

"Merrill, you're only supposed to dismantle the wand into three cylinders, there's no need to take its innards out too." Father Perrault advised. 

"Yes, of course!" Merrill jolted in embarrassment and re-attached the mechanisms back into the cylinders before helping Pleasance with the same.

***

After class ended, Pleasance was now free to go back to her favorite pastime, which was to do absolutely nothing. Unfortunately for her, she had other business to attend to per the request of a teacher of the Basilica. But fortunately for her, that teacher happened to be the Reverend Mother Gloria, and she was going to learn some spell-casting from her. Real magic, not stupid melodies or boring mathematics. And what granted Pleasance the privilege of learning such a thing ahead of everyone else? Well, Mother Gloria took it that Pleasance was a diligent and studious girl and took a liking to her, it was as simple as that.

Pleasance took after Mother Gloria in her preference for following the magic of Sihr, otherwise known as the Matron Arcana, Goddess of Sorcery. Back in the days of myth, this lawless goddess would've been seen as an evil deity, an entity that wishes to bring nothing but chaos upon humanity. In this modern age though, such sentiment hasn't changed all that much, but the goddess was seen in a kinder light since then.

"Now now, Miss Lindova. Do you remember what the core tenets of sorcery are?"

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Oh! Ummm… Eheh-" Pleasance nervously chuckled. "Which one?"

"There are three kinds." Mother Gloria gave her a subtle hint.

"Oh! Oh, right. There are three means of magic that channels… channels my…"

Mother Gloria whispered. "Spirituality."

"Spirituality! And those are logic, creativity, and will."

"Very good. And what mean does Sihr employ?"

"Creativity. Because she's a goddess of the arts as well." Pleasance looked at the old nun proudly. 

"Matron Arcana, hear my prayer" the girl chanted silently, channeling a piece of her soul into her wand, trying to imagine a story to sacrifice to Sihr. 

The witches' cries are swallowed whole, by horrors creeping, crawling... Hordes of biting insects swarming, squirming, gnawing, trilling. I can already feel it... 

Her hands began to shiver as she felt her soul drain and grow cold. "Smite my enemies with the depravity of thy horrors." She cast her mechanical wand at the target and hit it near the bullseye. The target vibrated for five seconds before stopping. 

"That was excellent, darling." The elderly nun exclaimed, clapping. 

The young priest next to her scoffed and adjusted his glasses. "Are you sure it's alright to teach Miss Lindova these castings? It's a repulsive spell." He was a young man with bronze hair and a hardened face that made him look older than his years. He wore silver-framed glasses over his sharp, tense eyes. 

"Oh, Father Renan. You make a bigger deal out of it than what it really is. It's a simple spell of no cost, I used to practice it myself back when I was younger."

"What's the point of this spell, Mother Gloria?" Pleasance fidgeted her mechanical wand and spun its cylinder around.

"It's self-defense." Mother Gloria smiled, "but more than likely you'll be using it to annoy your friends." She added with a hint of playfulness. 

"Don't enable her." Father Renan warned.

"What does it do?" Pleasance asked.

A mischievous smirk perched on Mother Gloria's lips. "Would you like to experience it yourself?"

Pleasance gets flustered and backs away. "N-no thank you."

"Oh, just a little sweetheart, it will be fine." Mother Gloria took Pleasance's hand and grabbed a small aluminium cylinder. It was a wand, or at least, a part of a wand, she only took a piece of it so that her spell wasn't going to be potent. 

Touching Pleasance's hand, Mother Gloria chanted something in Sihrian before flicking the cylinder at the girl's hand as Father Renan watched with solemn disapproval.

A thousand ants emerged and crawled on Pleasance's hand. Their tiny little feet touched every bit of her hand's skin. The girl shuddered and shook her hand aggressively. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Gross!"

After she calmed down, she realized there never were any ants in the first place and it was all an illusion.

"That's what the spell does." Mother Gloria said, smiling. "Except it'll affect the whole body. Say, for about five seconds."

"Reprehensible." Father Renan silently muttered, shaking his head.

Pleasance was amazed at the trick. "Wow, really? Is the spell that simple?" She looked at her mechanical wand, amazed. It was a simple spell that didn't require much mathematical processing, nor much of her spirituality. An evil grin almost formed on her face.

"Now now, I know what you're thinking." The old nun said teasingly "But if you use it on any of your classmates I'm taking your wand away."

"I wasn't thinking of anything!" Pleasance lied.

Mother Gloria chuckled and sat down on a nearby chair. She put on a more stern look on her gentle expression and looked at the little girl fondly. "You'll grow up to be a fine sorceress one day, I have faith that you do. As was your father, and his mother before him." She pats Pleasance's head and ruffles her hair, messing up the girl's black headband. "Now, off you go, this is about as much spellcasting as I'm allowed to teach you without attracting Father Perrault's attention."

"And what makes you think I won't report your little lesson to the Father Superior?" Father Renan inquired.

"Oh Father, I didn't take you for a tattletale!" Mother Gloria jokes, practically ignoring the priest's threat, knowing that he simply didn't care enough to report to Father Perrault. Not to mention, he, like everyone else in the Basilica, was afraid of Father Perrault.

Armed with a new spell, a whole new world of possibilities opened up to Pleasance. Yes, of course, I got a lesson from Mother Gloria, as expected of Priyatnya Aleksandrovna Lindova, the crowned heir of the Lindov family. Ehe… She probably sees me as the bridge that will connect Iremel, no, Nawia back to Sihr. Pleasance was entranced by a delusion of grandeur unbecoming of a girl who sees herself as but a humble future civil servant of her home country. Amongst her train of thought, she was reminded of the defaced icon.

"Mother Gloria,"

"Yes, my dear?"

"Did you happen to see what happened to the icons of Sophia next to the Solarium?"

Mother Gloria squinted her eyes slightly. "Hmm?"

"Someone defaced her… Carved her face out and covered it up with black ink. I would understand if… If it was done anywhere else, there are a lot of bad people who don't like the Lady. But to think it happened in the church…" the girl's heart seemed to beat quickly for some reason. She felt an odd sense of dread revealing this to her.

"Iconoclasm… within the church… How curious." Mother Gloria echoed. She faced Father Renan, who was wearing an utter shock at what Pleasance just said.

"She… she was faceless?" Father Renan bellowed. "When did this happen?"

Pleasance was taken aback by the panic in Father Renan's voice. This wasn't like him, always stoic and cool. A word couldn't escape her mouth, she remained dead silent.

"Pleasance, when did this happen?" Father Renan approached Pleasance, agitated. "TELL ME!"

"Father Renan, you're scaring the poor girl." Mother Gloria interjected and pushed Father Renan away. "Miss Lindova, my dear. When did this happen?"

"It happened right before the spell-casting lesson with Father Perrault. There were multiple of them that were defaced."

Mother Gloria sighed while Father Gloria walked back and forth in agitation, trying to get a clear mind. Pleasance knew that iconoclasm was a grave sin, but to see such a reaction from the two was odd. What did it mean? And who did it? This question stuck to the back of her mind as she politely left the training room.

After Pleasance left, Mother Gloria gazed at the young priest with a dour look. "Do you have some idea of who might've done it, Father?" 

Father Renan pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking very carefully. "We should tell this to Father Superior."

"Yes… I suppose we should."

***

Pleasance sat at the grand library of the Basilica, fiddling with her mechanical wand, continually disassembling and reassembling it. No matter how many times she repeated the process, she couldn't quite figure out how Merrill was able to deduce such a complicated system so quickly. Were his parents Wandmakers? A mechanic maybe? No, that can't be it, he was raised by the Church like Edith. Hmmm… Maybe he was right, we're all born with different talents. I wish I had his kind of talent.

Two other kids sat in the library, one, a pale boy with dark blue eyes and short blonde hair, and another boy with gray eyes and dark brown hair. They were both also playing around with the mechanical components of their wands. 

"I wonder when they'll finally reach us how to use these things" Edith mumbled.

"Not until next year. So I guess we're just supposed to do maths with it." The other boy sighed.

"You used to study from the Church of Excuvia, right?"

"I still do."

"Then you should know some spells based around the God of Valor."

"Barely" he sighed

"Come on Merrill, I'm interested," Pleasance interjected and looked at the blonde boy. "Excuvia… they use willpower as a mean, right? I wanna see what that look like."

"It's no use." Merrill sighed "It'll probably backfire on me. Better safe than sorry."

"What? That's lame." Edith mumbled.

"Don't you have that uh, riposte spell? The one you learned from Father Renan?" 

"That one's lame. Not like I have much opportunity to use it."

Father Renan taught Edith a spell!? Was it because Mother Gloria taught me one as well? Pleasance for a little nervous hearing that fact.

"Still, you know a lot more spells than me, even if it's just one. Besides-" Merrill directed his attention to Pleasance. "I heard that you've been learning how to spell-cast with Mother Gloria."

Edith jumped. "She has!?"

Pleasance was embarrassed, but she quickly put on a smug facade. "I guess I'm just her favorite."

"Lucky…" Merrill muttered under his breath.

"Hey, that's not fair!

"Then study harder," Pleasance replied, her tone getting more and more smug by the second.

"Mother Gloria's probably playing favorites because you're the daughter of a noble in some backwater country."

Pleasance got furious "Don't you dare-" the girl was privy to insults directed at her (most of the time), but she is unable to hold her temper when her family or legacy is involved. "Take that back!"

"Why do you care so much?"

"You're the one that cares so much!"

"Are you guys going to fight in this library?" Merrill asked, annoyed—but neither Pleasance nor Edith heard him.

"You're just jealous of me! That's what's wrong with you. You're jealous I'm so much better than you." Pleasance pointed her deactivated wand at Edith to intimidate him.

"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of a pansy like you? You get everything you want because you're rich.

"Since when did money come into this?"

"Guys, I'm serious." Merrill sighed.

"You think the Basilica would've taken you in if it weren't for the fact that you're some rich noble's daughter?"

"At least I have parents!"

"Alright, I'm out." Merrill silently left the library, leaving the two to argue.

Edith staggered at Pleasance's words. Then after a moment, slapped Pleasance's wand out of her hand before running away. The wand fell to the floor and broke into three bronze cylinders.

Pleasance furiously crouched, scrambling to grab the three bronze cylinders. Her fingers worked quickly, assembling the pieces into a wand. With a swift turn of the gear between the bottom and middle barrel, she prepared her spell. "I'll show you who's a pansy!" she declared, tapping the base of the wand to her forehead before swirling it elegantly and pointing it at Edith. 

"Matron Arcana, hear me," she whispered, quickly thinking of a story. Witches screaming as insects swarm and bite, let the wounds fester and mold until even their bones turn yellow with pus. 

"O-oh soof…" Pleasance silently cringed after putting too much of her soul into her spell. Bits of the sensation were already manifesting within her "A-ah d-depravity of thy hor-horror–SMITE HIM!"

Before Edith could react, he was struck by an uncomfortable sensation, like ants crawling all over his body. The feeling lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to make him stumble and fall. "No fair!" Edith shouted, frantically itching his body.

"Haha!" Pleasance mocked. "Take back everything you said, or else!" She pointed her wand at Edith menacingly.

Edith lay there, muttering something inaudibly.

"Hm?" Pleasance approached him cautiously. "What was that?"

"Smite her!" Edith shouted and cast Pleasance's spell with a wand he hid in his sleeve. 

Pleasance was struck with the same sensation of insects crawling all over her body, biting parts of her skin and digging into her bones. She wanted to scream but she didn't want to appear weak in front of Edith. She bore it all with an anguished grimace, trying to hold back her tears. "H-hah…" she said weakly, "you think that's going to work on me?"

Edith grew angrier and stood up, waving his wand again, ready to launch another attack. Pleasance braced herself and pointed her wand at Edith.

"Enough!" 

Pleasance and Edith immediately stopped their duel and stood in position with a raised posture.

"Are you two always fighting?" An elderly priest in a black holy robe entered the library with an old nun by her side.

"Sorry, Father Perrault." The two children muttered together.

"These two are quite a handful." The holy woman smiled at Father Perrault. "But you can't help it, it's within their nature to cause a racket."

"This is a prestigious school of discipline, Mother Gloria. And I expect them to behave accordingly."

Mother Gloria playfully shrugged and kneeled to look at the children. "So, what did you two fight over this time?"

Edith relaxed but Pleasance tensed up as Father Perrault focused his gaze on her. "H-he called me a pansy and insulted my family."

"And she cast a curse on me!"

"This is no time to fight." Father Perrault retorted coldly.

"Now now Father Superior," Mother Gloria chuckled. "I'm invested in their little drama, I want to hear more."

"You're hopeless, Sister." He scoffed, turning his head away from the priest. "You ought to discipline them properly, if they plan on becoming part of the clergy like you said they would."

"You should know as well as I do Father, these two don't actually hate each other." 

"What!?" Edith and Pleasance shouted at the same time.

"Not true! I hate Pleasance more than anyone!"

"He's so annoying, and he won't stop bugging me everywhere I go!" Pleasance spoke over Edith.

Mother Gloria chuckled and shook her head. "You kids are adorable." She said and took both their wands "But, no fighting with wands." She placed them in her pouch. 

"You two, come to my office after this." Father Perrault said coldly. 

Pleasance pouts and looks at Edith. She could make out his face as he was hiding his face from her, but she could see a hint of a blush on his cheeks.