“How far away is this library again?” Rose groaned.
We’d been on horseback for hours then, following Kalbir to some research library she told us about. Cole’s magic problem hadn’t gone away and we needed a place to plan, so it was the only logical destination. With resources, Kalbir could no doubt figure out the strange magic that afflicted Cole.
“I told you, I don’t know exactly. I was told by a mysterious hooded figure at the pub one night. It’s along this road and it moves around, that’s all I know.”
“Wait, we’re going off the words of some random stranger?”
“No, I knew him. He was pretty cool, very passionate about botany. Neat guy.”
“Okay now I’m confused.”
“AGH!” Cole cried out in pain, clutching their side.
“What’s wrong?!”
“It just started hurting really bad, the magic surged for some reason.”
“We’re close! They have a reservoir too, so you’re probably connected to that!”
“Great, another one.”
“You’ll be fine, they have experts on this stuff there, they’re purely academic.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”
“Just help me look. The entrance is hidden. It should be something magical they said?”
We dismounted our horses and gave each of them a good head pat, grumbling ‘good boah’ in a cowboy fashion. We trampled into the woods, keeping an eye out for the faintest glow or shimmer, looking for any sign of this magical door.
“I found something!” Rose shouted a few trees away. We all rushed over to see her discovery. It was a frog.
“Rose, that’s a frog.”
“Well duh, it’s pretty neat though! Look at its little feet!”
We shrugged and examined the frog together. It was indeed a good frog. Rose let the little fella be on its way. The searching continued for several more minutes, covering us in brush and dirt as we scraped every corner for a sign. Cole even tried a few scrolls, but they couldn’t locate anything.
“Cole, can you try to tune into that magic you absorbed? If it’s connected to the reservoir we might find it that way,” Kalbir suggested.
“Oh yeah, just tune into the dangerous, unstable magic flowing through my entire body. You’re right though, let me focus.”
They sat on the ground cross-legged, their eyes closed and body relaxed.
“You know how I was throwing up before? Maybe the magic is like that. One feels a lot worse when they hold it in, it’s best to just relax and let it out. I suggest you all step back. This magic could kill you.”
Cole closed their eyes again and we stepped back. They let out a shudder and began to glow slightly. The aura grew stronger and brighter, dissipating off their body in smoky tendrils. We stepped back again. The magic began to form a whirlwind around them, glittering in the sunlight as the golden wisps enveloped Cole, raising them off the ground. As they floated in the air, the magic began to form a teardrop shape, puckering out towards a point in the woods. With a large clack, the magic shot out, forming a stream leading further into the forest where it suddenly stopped. That had to be the door.
“That way! Cole, you can stop now.”
They didn’t stop. Instead, their arms and legs shot open, magic pouring from their limbs. Their eyes were wide open and glowing, piercing through anyone who dared look at them. We all took another step back.
“They’ve lost control! We need to get in that door and get help!” I shouted, running to the point where the magical stream ended.
“Cole! Hang in there!” Rose shouted before sprinting behind me.
The three of us made it in, the magical current flowing through us as we entered the doorway. It was a warm sensation, but quickly overwhelmed me to the point my brain was fried. As we lay on the floor on the other side, it looked like Rose and Kalbir had gotten theirs fried too.
The flow of magic was weaker on the other side, lazily trouncing through a large room to the reservoir at the end. We were in some sort of study. All the walls were lined with beautifully carved wood shelving and several desks laid covered in paper. A few people littered the study, all staring at us in shock.
“Ah, visitors!” said one wizened old woman, a beard trailing for ages on the ground behind her. “Welcome! Do you bring knowledge to share with us?”
Kalbir’s face glowed. “BOY DO I!!! Did you know that Bernard the Caster had sixteen children, all of which died horribly in a ship crash? OOO! Or, the city of Ohio was built on an ancient civilization called the Fermegrades and their ruins largely make up the buildings there today? There’s also that one cool fact about spell degradation; in ambient spells, the magic degrades at a rate of 2.7% every ten years. That means if you had a spell with the magic capacity of fifteen magicas, it would take—”
“Kalbir, hold on a second. Cole? Remember?” Rose reminded.
“Oh shit, oh fuck, oh yeah, our friend is exploding with magic out there and they need help now!”
“Oh hoohoo! I wondered what that magic could have been. We were all so enveloped in our work here we didn’t get the chance to study it! It’s so sparkly and shiny!” the elder said.
“Heryn, please!” Another wizened person stood in the back, shaking their head at who I assume was Heryn. “I apologize, we tend to get caught up with our research. Now, where is this friend? What ailment do they have?”
“Weren’t you listening? They’re exploding with magic!”
“Well the whole world is exploding with magic! Magic is everywhere! Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Yes, now please help!”
“Oh, I left the oven on! Excuse me!” They turned around and returned to their desk, flipping through books and scribbling g-daddy knows what down.
“These people are useless! We need to find a way to help Cole. Look around, there may be something here about that reservoir!”
We scrambled after Kalbir’s words, scanning every shelf in distance for some inkling of information. The books were bizarre, however, and their subjects were completely nonsensical.
“These people are off their rockers! There’s nothing substantial here at all. What should we do?” Rose returned with.
Despite our searching, nothing there could help us with Cole.
“I’ll go check on Cole. Rose and Kalbir, you keep looking. There has to be something about the reservoir at least.”
With their nods of approval, I set back through the magical entrance, once again intercepting the magical stream. On the other side, Cole was still in the air, but now they were slumped over, twirling with the magic.
“Cole, can you hear me? Are you alright?”
“Ughhhh I definitely don’t feel better,” they mumbled.
“You’re alive, that’s what matters. Rose and Kalbir are inside trying to stop it right now. We ran into some difficulties though.”
Cole only responded with another groan. Their groaning stopped, however, when the magic suddenly dissipated around them, softly flowing outwards. The stream stopped and Cole fell to the ground.
“The hell? I mean, I’m grateful, but why’d it stop?”
“Oh no. Kalbir said the entrance moves. I think it’s somewhere else now. They could be anywhere.”
“I think you’re right. The magic is gone, I can’t connect to the reservoir again.”
“Shit. I hope Rose and Kalbir will be fine.”
⧫
Rose and Kalbir were not fine. The scholars had all gathered in a circle and were chanting a spell, absorbing the magic from the reservoir. As their chanting grew more intense, the whole room shifted and twisted, tying the people and the furniture into pretzels before they could know what happened. After the twisting, the scholars went back to their desks to continue writing, leaving Rose and Kalbir dazed from the spell.
“I think they just moved us. Cole’s magic stopped coming in.”
“Shit, let’s get out of here.”
With one final look, they rushed to the exit, only to find a hallway where the door used to be. Through the hall was darkness, only lit up by candle light from adjacent rooms.
“The fuck?”
Rose shook her head as she tried to squint through the shadows. Kalbir stopped right in her tracks, spinning around to march up to the scholars.
“What was that? Are we trapped in here?”
“Yes! We cannot be in one place for too long! So much to learn and see! And we must protect our knowledge from those who would do harm with it!”
“How do we get out then? Where’d you move us to?”
“Oh we have no idea haha! Better that way! And why would you want to leave? There is so much knowledge to learn!”
“We already know this stuff, so can we go?”
“Of course not! If you know, then you must teach us!”
“No, I can learn even more somewhere else.”
“Impossible!” another man stood up. “We share all knowledge of the known universe here! We exist in no time and place; we are between the mortal planes! They have opened up to us alone, and we hunger for their secrets!”
“Everyone has a right to knowledge, by hiding it you rob them of free choice.”
“Kalbir, I don’t think we’re going to philosophize them out, they’re nuts!”
“You know what, you’re right.”
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Kalbir simply waited a couple seconds in silence before the ancient man simply got distracted and left, returning to his scribblings.
“Dude, what are they even writing?”
“We should take a look, it could help.”
Rose and Kalbir crept up behind one of the scholars, peeking over their shoulders to observe their writings. It was a porn mag. Another scholar wasn’t much better, and was just writing ‘my hands are sticky’ over and over again, filling already a stack of pages next to him. The next writings looked like a children’s book, and another was writing with blood, this one proudly handing their manuscript to Rose and Kalbir to read;
“Kelly is a killer. Killer kelly. KILLER KELLY. She makes my BONES dry, I make hers cry. There’s the baker, I’ll see him later, to MURDER HIM! Benny’s BONES behind the stable! A knife in the baker’s back! Mother wouldn’t approve, oh no she wouldn’t, her BONES aren’t as beautiful as the baker’s! Father would approve, he killed mother too! Blood! BLOOOOODDDD!!! CRIMSON DIRT MARKS THE BAKER!”
“Um, thanks for showing us!” Rose quickly thrust the paper back into the beaming scholar’s hands and got out of there as quickly as possible.
“What’s up with these people? Something had to happen to make them act this way.”
“Some of these books are legit though, like here: A Modern Study of the Capital Economy... Okay, bad example, but it’s at least more coherent than what we’ve been reading. I think they’ve just been slowly losing it. Do you think the reservoir has anything to do with it?”
“Definitely. They’re not going to tell us anything about it though. I might know where another reservoir is, I’ll have to read some of my research notes.”
“Is that what all those books are?”
“Yep. I’ve been keeping notes since I was nine.”
“Aww I can just imagine lil’ Kalbir writing her first notes!”
“Acrobir are full adults at age five. I actually got a late start with taking notes, so there are several books due for a re-read.”
“Do you ever wanna do anything with those notes?”
“Yeah, a giant encyclopedia series would be fun to write. I guess it’s the only way for all this to mean something.”
“It meant something as soon as you thought of it.”
Kalbir simply smiled at Rose, both unsure what to say.
“We should really find a way out,” Kalbir laughed bashfully.
“Let’s check out that hallway.”
Rose led Kalbir to the dark hallway, taking care to let her eyes adjust in the dark.
“I wish Cole started teaching me. A light spell would be cool.”
“I think I have a candle, hold on.”
Kalbir rummaged through her knapsack and pulled out a long and lumpy candle, enough wax to burn for days. Putting it up to the lantern in the hall, Kalbir lit the candle, lighting what was a cozy staircase that bent around the hallway’s end. Both doors were locked, and so they went upstairs, quietly and carefully. A door at the end of the hall was ajar, a cool magical light illuminating the opposite wall. Rose slowly opened the door to see inside. It was a small office and bedroom, the same setup an inn might have. The desk was littered with books and documents; it was a wonder they hadn’t toppled over yet. The bed was no longer being used for rest, and instead a pile of papers and ornate clothes covered the mattress.
“It smells like piss in here.”
“Yes, but look at that book, ‘Artifacts of the Mundane.’ Think it might say something about the reservoir?”
“Take a look, I’m going to check these loose papers everywhere. It might be our key out of here.”
The two scanned and read and got entirely way too engrossed into the book so Rose had to take it from her, but after pages of reading they still hadn’t found anything.
“Kalbir, there’s nothing here.”
“You’ve only read two pages.”
“I know, at least it’s coherent this time.”
“Let me look.” Kalbir scanned the documents faster than Rose knew was possible. “It’s on the fourth page. The good stuff is never on the first pages, you have to get into them.”
“I know, but it smells like piss and I really wanna get out.”
Rose sounded as if she were about to have a breakdown.
“We’ll get out of here, I promise.”
Kalbir gave Rose a tight hug and then began to study the documents, writing down anything relevant.
“Really?! That’s it?!”
“What did you find?”
“We just have to say ‘let us out’ in ancient Gerupian. It’s a dead language.”
“Shit, I don’t suppose they have a Gerupian dictionary?”
“Oh, I already know it.”
“How the hell do you know ancient Gerupian? I don’t even know what a Gerupian is!”
“I know most languages I come across. What’s the point of being literate if I can’t read books in other languages?”
“Kalbir, you’re so extra.”
“I don’t know what that means, but thanks! Let’s get out of here now, I’m starting to feel ill.”
With the artifact book in hand, Kalbir confidently led Rose back downstairs into the main atrium. She wore a smug look before stretching her arms out and closing her eyes, preparing for the incantation.
“Paroopy poop paroopy pee. Padoopy poopy scoop. Poopeedoopee. Peepee popoo.”
With those ancient, powerful words, the room began to twist once more. The scholars started to all scream at once, and Rose and Kalbir began too once a particularly knotted twist came along. Just as quickly as it started however, it also ended, leaving Kalbir and Rose dizzy. Through the daze though, the door had opened back up, and without a second thought, the two dove out the door and back into the woods.
“You know what’s great? The woods don’t smell like piss.”
⧫
“Your left!”
I moved just in time to see an enormous claw brush by my face, pulling blood from a shallow cut. Charging past me was a bear, but not just any bear; it was an ultra mega bear 4000 with magical enchantments, the most dangerous bear in St. Louis. They were rare, but renowned for their aggression and the goods to back it up. The poor bears were endangered though, and it was our duty to never spill their blood.
Cole plunged a scroll into their hands and read furiously as I rolled and dodged the bear's attacks, hardly moving fast enough to escape all the sharp stuff. My armor was the only thing protecting me from a grizzly end, but even my gambeson let in minor flesh wounds.
"Cole, I could use some help! Now!"
Cole read even faster, finishing off their spell in a shimmer of glory. The magic radiated from their location and bent even the trees as it escaped. The bear suddenly turned tail and left, yelping in fright as it disappeared into the woods.
"Wildlife scaring spell. Sorry, it's a long one."
"I'm just glad you were here. You've saved me again. Imagine me dying from a lonesome bear…"
"Quite embarrassing for a Lord, yes. Here, I have healing and repair scrolls. It looks like your armor took a beating."
Cole motioned me to sit on a log next to them, and they began reciting healing and repair spells. I could feel my skin weaving back together, as if worms had taken residence underneath. The pain subsided though, and even my gambeson was repairing the many layers of linen.
"Was that terrified bear from you two?"
I whipped my head around at the voice, lighting up when I saw Rose and Kalbir walking into our area of the woods.
"You made it out! We were worried you'd be trapped forever."
"I don't have your fancy moves but it takes more than that to trap me. I've escaped a couple jails in my time. And Kalbir helped. Actually she did pretty much all the work."
Kalbir beamed into Rose's eyes, tearing them away after Cole and I had exchanged a side glance.
"It was nothing, just had to translate and recite an ancient spell from a dead language."
"Find anything about the reservoir? I haven't felt anything since the doorway closed, but I want to make sure I'm safe," Cole concerned.
"All we found was this book about ancient artifacts. I skimmed through and saw mention of the reservoir, but I need time to read it."
"Fantastic. There was an inn we passed not too long ago, let's get some rest and do some research."
⧫
"Wow, glad I got this book," Kalbir finished after half an hour of reading.
"Did you find anything about the reservoirs?” Cole begged.
“Oh, haven’t got to that part yet. There’s a bunch of other cool things though, like I never knew so much about Burmaise’s elevator. In south Dolrin there’s a well that whispers personal secrets about you and several people have gone mad listening for days. Also this door that’s just in the middle of Hanbir’s wastes that takes you somewhere else when you go through, nobody has ever been able to report where it took them though. OOH, can’t forget the wand of spells: it has every spell imaginable carved into it using multi-layered wood and can cast virtually every spell known at the time of its creation!”
“Kalbir, love ya honey, but we reeeeally need to learn about the reservoir. My stomach hasn’t felt the same since.”
“Oh, those are… 257 pages away. I’ll let you know when I get to that part.”
“You could just… skip to that bit?”
Kalbir stared blankly ahead, trying to process what Cole had just said.
“Oh. Yeah.” Kalbir bashfully flipped to the reservoir pages, engaging with the text as soon as it graced her eyes.
“Okay, everything about reservoirs. So they have a magical ink core, and its magic bleeds through a porous material that separates the runes from inside. The runes, when conjured, suck magic from the core to energize the spell, that energy is then sent to the reader, then it returns inside once the magic is finished. Oh, here we go. If a caster is afflicted with a magic draining spell, the reservoir’s magic will be disconnected as it transfers to the other caster. The caster will then wield the magic of the reservoir until they are linked to the original or another reservoir. So basically your stomach should be the only side effect.”
“Oh thank mum, I thought I’d never eat cheese again.”
“Wait, it says that if the magic is separated from the reservoir for too long, it could become corrupt, and the original reservoir will corrupt any spells cast from it if its original magic isn’t returned. Also the user that absorbed the magic can die gruesomely from the after effects, even when the magic is returned. The remnants of the corrupted magic remain while all healthy magic is returned.”
“So you’re saying I have corrupt magic inside of me? Great…”
“Yeah, there are some helpful diagrams that exemplify the effects of the corruption.”
“Let me see.”
Kalbir opened the book on the table for us all to see, and we wore the same horrified face when we saw the diagrams. There were several bodies twisted in various ways and covered in blackened boils and pustules that oozed corrupt magic. Several of them were barely identifiable as a person, just hulking masses of meat.
“You’re saying that could happen to me?!”
“Yes. Possibly. Do you know how to cleanse corrupt magic?”
“No, nobody knows how to do that! We haven’t seen corrupt magic for hundreds of years, let alone banished it.”
“Oh. Let me continue reading, see if I find anything.”
In a defeated fashion, Cole slammed their head into their arms, a soft, velvety mist of black flowing from their hood. It made the scene far more dramatic.
“The corrupt magic is interpreted as normal magic ink by any spells, therefore it will try to draw energy from your body even though there’s none there, thus the uh, complications. The corruption won’t kill you at least, only mangle you.”
“That’s even worse! I’d be… ugly!” Cole wailed.
“You’re worried about being ugly?” Rose sighed.
“Of course, the relentless self posturing would be all for nothing; I’ve worked on my image for years! How can I be a master spell reader when I’m no longer charming, that’s half the job! No one would respect a horribly mangled, pussy mess!”
“Hey Cole! Calm your tits, because some people have pus kinks! Okay? There are monster fuckers, people who love that kind of thing! You’ll always be charming, you just need to charm the right people!” Rose tried to console.
“Somehow that doesn’t fill me with confidence.”
“We don’t even know if you have corrupted magic in you yet, don’t give up now,” I encouraged.
“We need to find a way to stop this. Kalbir, what do you know about corrupted magic?”
“Nothing. This is the first time it’s come up in my research. It’s a very niche magic type.”
“It started with the reservoir, that’s how it’ll end. We need to go back.”
⧫
We were met with armed resistance at the mining village, all heavily armored soldiers bearing the Lords of Edge’s insignia. Lord Legs wasn’t to be found, instead the person who greeted us was a seedy elder, a tight uniform climbing up his badly shaped body.
“Lord Mortemer. A pleasure. Unfortunately, you have interfered with my project too much already. I politely ask you to leave. Now.”
“Our friend has an ailment relating to the reservoir, we were hoping to see it so that we could rid them of corrupted magic.”
“The reservoir? Interesting, so that’s what that thing was. I’ve never heard of corrupt magic, but you will have to find a solution elsewhere. This is the property of the Lords of Edge now.”
I shook my head and led the team off to reconvene and form a plan. I wasn’t able to leave, however.
“Wait. Corrupted magic? We would like your friend to join us, perhaps we can cure their problem. The rest of you will remain out here. Feel free to set up camp down the road, out of our way.”
“If you want me, they’ll be coming as well,” Cole demanded.
“An honorable request, but they are unnecessary. You are the one containing the reservoir’s magic.”
“That magic has been returned to a different reservoir. All that remains in me is corrupted magic.”
“Well, then we will take that.”
The man gave a slight nod, and with it his soldiers marched to us, grabbing Cole before we could react.
“Let me go!”
The three of us wielded our weapons, daring any of them to take our dear friend. We were too slow however, and were knocked to the ground without a word. I stood up only in time to watch the gates close. They kidnapped Cole!