An old hag quietly knelt at the top of the open roofed colossal tower, facing the balcony overlooking the surrounding buildings. In front of her was a cup of cooled tea and a yellow oaken paintbrush. To her right were a few clear crystal orbs and an empty vial. To her left lay a lengthy silver staff with circular aqua stripes running down the entirety, glowing under the moonlight. And behind her lay the innards of numerous monsters and animals. Four pillars surrounded her in each corner, the surfaces covered with intricate, yet exquisite carved depictions. One depicted the heroic legends of the building’s founder. Another depicted a time long, long ago, a myth of the past, even before the founder. As for the other two, they were surprisingly blank.
The hag herself wore an impoverished mantle; the ends frayed and fabric tattered. Underneath, her hands appeared withered and mottled dots speckled her face. If it were not for the expensive looking staff, one might believe she was just a mere beggar.
Suddenly, with a flurry, the old lady removed her mantle, tossing it into the air. Simultaneously, her skin seemed to glow before fading to reveal a youthful lady in her early twenties. Her wizened face had been replaced with a delicate beauty as her fragile limbs returned to her usual lean muscle.
“Ahhh, that’s much better.” She sighed in a relaxed manner before proceeding to clean up her surroundings; her thrown cloak finally having drifted it’s way back to her staff.
At this point, one may wonder who she was, whether she was a youthful girl or an old lady? Unlike the convention pursuit of youthful beauty, truthfully she was just a young lady who had been disguising herself as an elderly. As for why, one would need to take a closer look at her profession.
She was a student; at least she considered herself to be, specialising in the Wî branch of magic, and even more precisely, in divination. Long having gone past the stage of being taught by textbooks or others, she could be considered a leading researcher in this area. However, divination was in itself an obscure and complex topic. It was hard enough to inform and explain possible futures, if she had to convince others of her credibility, she would simply have endless headaches. So instead she decided to simply pretend to be an elderly; it was common sense that older members knew more, and this was especially considered true in the Wî branch that held an archaic and traditional view.
Having nearly finished tidying up the region the diviner was preparing to leave when she felt an inexplicable chill. Perchance it may have just been a sudden breeze, but nevertheless she decided to turn around. And in doing so, she received a large shock. She had been stargazing from this tower for a long time, but tonight, just then, there happened to be a change. Three stars, previously unseen, were shining brightly. A purple glow, a silver glow and an orange glow surrounded a respective star and in the middle of the triangle formed by connecting them lay the blue moon partially overlapping against the white moon. The diviners eye’s lit up as she rushed to the balcony, opening a thick astrology book, scribbling notes crazily, mentally preparing for a long night.
…
A week later, two men stood inside a luxurious room. The room was not particularly flashy, but the furniture inside was clean, classy, and well built, sturdiness apparent from just a glance. Bookshelves covered half the walls inside the room, filled with numerous thick books. A giant mahogany table filled the corner furthest from the door. On top of the desk lay some paper along with a silver cage lined with multiple varying birds. Underneath the desk were some functional drawers and a pushed in green rocking chair. To the right of the worktable was a casement window and a clay fireplace was facing it. In the opposite corner of the room near the entrance were four fluffy couch seats, facing one another over a low rectangular tea table. In the final unoccupied corner of the room was a double layer metal trolley, the upper layer carrying some snacks and the lower layer some beverages. A fine fleece from a monster covered the exposed ground and walls.*2
Of the two of men in the room, one was in his old age while the other was a youth in his early twenties. The old man wore a voluminous cape while the young one wore a set of loose robes. The old man went forward to shake hands with him and said “Greetings Headmaster Adrian, it’s great to see you in good health.”
“Now, now, don’t be like that Magic Dean Roderick. If you are going to be that formal, should I call you Master Roderick instead?”
“Hahahaha, enough with the formalities. Why did you call me over today- that’s unusual of you?”
“Hmm…how do I say this...I guess it will be easier for our guest to do the talking. She should be here any minute now.”
“I see.”
The two men proceeded to stand in companionable silence before Adrian awkwardly offered, “Uh, should we sit down first? I might have got the time wrong-” His voice stifled as crisp knocks echoed from the room’s door. ”You can come in.”
The door creaked slowly open as a short, cloaked figure was revealed. It was the old hag from before. The old hag nodded seeing the headmaster, taking her hood off before freezing, finally registering the second man behind him. She raised her right eyebrow, silently questioning his presence- she had previously asked the headmaster for a private conversation to discuss an important revelation.*1
“Don’t worry, anything I know, he will know as well.”
The lady nodded and proceeded to move to the couch seats. Adrian proceeded to join her before a sudden grab from behind jerked him backwards.
“Wait. You’ve been casting magic since a while already…what are you doing?” The lady froze after hearing this, before sighing.
“…It’s mainly an interference type magic to help with my poor eyesight.” She gestured at her eyes. “I can’t see very well with just these-“
“-No. It’s not. We both know that it isn’t something like that. Rather it would seem it is affecting our eyesight more than yours.” The lady had been expecting to meet the headmaster only, and although he was a talented young man in the magical fields, he wasn’t very cautious of strangers. His strength in both the martial and administrative fields had dulled his wariness and his daily needs to be meticulous over management had lead him to inadvertently let his guard down. On the other hand, Roderick was extremely cautious; he was only still alive right now because of his caution.
“Ah, well I guess the joke is up. Although I didn’t expect my trick to work the whole time, I didn’t think it would be seen through so quickly.“ Her voice already reverting to her normal tone, with a flash of light, she reverted back to her normal youthful self, growing a few heads taller. Adrian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more. Meanwhile, Roderick started to have a red tinge on his face.
“Uh...uh…I will…um…go make some tea.” Roderick finally stammered before heading to the trolley. Adrian raised both eyebrows seeing his mentor’s weird behaviour.
Deciding to move the meeting along, Adrian offered, “Shall we take a seat first?”
“Thank you.” Closing the door firmly shut behind her, the two sat opposite one another, Adrian facing the entrance.
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“So, what did you want to tell me that was so important that you decided to come looking for me in the middle of the night?”
“Um sure, but first, can I ask what is the relationship between you two, and why he has been acting so strangely.” Currently the lady was observing the strange antics of Roderick, who for some absurd reason was struggling to mix tea properly. Hearing the question, he stiffened before quickly plating up three cups and some snacks. However he was not too worried, because he knew his student would surely give a reasonable explanation.
“Oh he’s the head for your department and my mentor, -” The dean nodded happily to himself at the perfect response. “-and he’s been that weird since I’ve known him so just ignore him.” Before tripping against the trolley at the ruthless remark. Collapsing into a mess near the trolley and spilling tea and food everywhere, the lady nodded in understanding.
“Ok. So about what I have to tell you, firstly I want to be clear that what I’m about to say does not exit the room.”
“Well that depends on what you are talking about.”
“I’m not exactly sure…but it’s a prophecy.”
Adrian got up and went back to his open window, closing it. Muttering a bit, he cast an enchantment on the room as an extra precaution. “Of course. This room is soundproof when the window and fire pit are closed. With my extra bit of magic, unless you leak it yourself, what is said in here will stay in here.”
“Good. Ok, well the prophecy is very unclear to myself, but I have linked certain key points.” The lady looked hesitantly at the headmaster.
“That’s fine, go on.”
“Within the next fifty years, great changes will be happening. Multiple huge calamites are approaching us, which if are allowed to run their course, will send this world into chaos. Not just single countries, or tribes are likely to suffer, but entire continents. And yes, before you are about to ask, my divination has indicated that we shouldn’t be the only continent. I believe with your wide network that you surely have noticed evidence pointing to the existence of others. Regardless, the winds of change are coming, and what’s worst, the negative effects are cumulative while-.”
“Hold it right there- slow down a bit.” Adrian cut in. “I need a second to digest everything…. So do you know who or what we are facing?”
“Nothing clear, but I can assure you both humans and monsters will be some of the causes.”
“Obviously…. you may continue.”
“Right…the worst is that we cannot hastily intervene. In the brief period where the astrological phenomena indicated an issue, I did some quick calculations on the possible futures, and along with soul words I self induced through partial hypnotism of the brain; particularly the cerebrum, I deduced that if I took this knowledge and spread it around carelessly, even in the particular event we managed to luckily succeed in passing a calamity safely, it could lead to intensified calamities in the future that are far more destructive than if we had purely done nothing. You see, the future is unstable, the butterfly effect being a clear example. Even though that is an exaggeration, Ryan’s theory goes on to say that the pulling force that will return most things to the original destined timeline cannot overpower major events that serve as major turning points for future lines. There can be no return once taken. Also, us knowing this divination in itself is a disadvantage already, and as the Mystery Lava Hound experiment proves, knowing the possibility inadvertently solidifies it. The same is with futures, the more people that know of it; the harder it is to change. Similarly, the monster egg experiment-“
“STOP! STOP! STOP!” Adrian grasped his forehead. He hadn’t had such a troublesome conversation since he was last still under his mentor and studying whilst having to deal with the school’s paperwork. By now, Roderick had quietly snuck back into a couch seat adjacent to Adrian.
“I think mentioning all those complex theories doesn’t help us at all, could you just explain it in peasant talk.” Roderick added. Despite his many years in the magic field, such specialised and complex terminology couldn’t possibly be understood by him; there was no way Adrian would ever understand it.
“Oh. Sorry…right….um…to simply speak, there is little we can do to impact or change this future from disaster-“
“What?!” Adrian hollered. “THAN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SAYING ALL OF THAT?”
“Well, clearly she means to say that there is still stuff WE can do.” Roderick sneered. Although he held his doubts about this absurd conversation, and disliked this lady for her petty tricks…he hated even more his unfaithful disciple. Clearly, he still needed a beating.
“Right…sorry, that was unseemly of me. It’s just, this is all very overwhelming, and it’s not every day that a young lady comes in telling you the world is night.” The lady chuckled. “So what should we do?”
“Well not much actually. Regardless of my bunch of deductions, I couldn’t figure out a single clue on the identities of these future saviours. The chance we can impact the future depends on whether they make it up to this point, but I did glean that eight of them have the potential to pass through this school’s doors.”
“Stop for a bit. You mention them, as in the saviours, but how many are we talking about?” Roderick added curiously, noting the weird phrasing.
“ Yes, saviours. People whose presence allows us to potentially overcome the final calamity. There are a total of fifty six saviours…”
“Oh than aren’t we fine?” Adrian asked.
“…Of which, only fourteen will be appearing on this continent.” Adrian and Roderick froze after hearing that.
“…How many do we need to survive?” Adrian asked softly.
The young lady nervously played with her slender fingers. “…I’m really uncertain here, so it’s quite likely that I’m wrong, but the bare minimum in which there will be massive casualties, we will need at least eight of them…”
“ “….” ”
“…And that’s just for our continent’s survival. I think there may have been more dangers lurking ahead, but I couldn’t see anymore into the future.”
The three sat in a heavy silence. Adrian eventually reinvigorated first, falling back to his normal carefree cheerful persona. “Well at least, comparatively speaking, it will seem we have a high attendance. Let’s not talk about the consequences; I assume they will all be extremely dire. So, when will these saviours be coming and what is it that you wish of us?”
“If all goes well and they survive some of their own personal misfortunes, they will be here in around thirteen years. As for what you need to do, apart from keeping this conversation confidential, there are two things. One is to make me a teacher of your school. I can teach any Wî magic subjects perfectly fine. The other is that in exactly ten years and two months time, you must offer ALL of your acquaintances ten spots at this academy that they can personally decide. They will be special students who would have their identity revoked for the period of study and I will personally conduct temporary memory blocking on all of them, giving them all a new random identity. After their period of study, I will then proceed to remove their memory block-“
“How do you plan to do that? As far as I know, it isn’t possible, at least not in the way you phrased it.” Roderick interrupted.
“No, it’s possible. I’m not sure exactly how I did it, but it utilises a branch of Wî sacrificial magic combined with Rå soul magic that is imbued into them in a similar way as how Cï magic users absorb energy. However like you said, there is a catch; the recipient of this magic must be willing in order for it to be effective which is most likely why the spell is unheard of. I can show it to you later once my preparation is done.”
“I see, because it can’t be used in combat, someone who is knowledgeable enough in all three branches would never bother investigating it.-“
“Can you two stop the magic chat and come back to the original topic.” Roland butted in. “So what else do we need to do?”
“Nothing much, that would be it.”
“I see.” Adrian shared a look with Roderick. Although he saw the displeasure there, he decided, “I will agree with my end of the bargain.”
“Thank you. Thank you for believing me.“ The lady gave a small laugh. ”You know, the reason I came to you was because my later set of divinations said that you were the only one with even a remote chance of agreeing. The rest had either poor impact to the future or little chance of agreeing. You were sitting at roughly a forty four-percentage chance of consenting, so I’m really elated that you agreed. Well, cheers to our future co-operation, but I’ll be leaving now. I still have a lot to do on my end, but I’ll be back in a week. I’ll also bring everything so that I can show you my magic sir.“ The lady, with a bright glow, became an old hag again.
“Ok, thanks for trusting me as well, it was a fruitful conversation. Until next time, goodbye.” Adrian wished as he opened the door.
“Bye.” Letting her leave, he then shut the door behind her and turned back to his mentor.
“So, what do you think?” He asked. “Personally, I kind of trust her, especially after that last sentence. If she wasn’t trying to be honest, she would have had no reason to say that.”
“Me? Well, she was cute, but I don’t really like her much. She seems able enough, but she's a bit young and I don't like that trick she tried to play on us at the start. As for what she said, it’s plausible, especially considering that she was willing to show us her original magic, but it also could be an elaborate attack to control you. She also didn’t reveal anything too important.” Roderick pointed out.
“I guess it will really depend on whether what she said about her magic is true. We can’t really test her divination skills can we?”
“No. Not to mention that I don’t know anyone studying that, even if I did, how would we get her to fairly compare notes? The future is unstable enough already with one seer.”
“But wow, the future ahead sure is dangerous. I guess I need to start working hard again.”
“I ain’t young anymore, so maybe I might pass away before the calamities hit, but you sure do. Speaking of which, I think I need to pay you back a bit for what you said earlier.”
The window was wide open as a young man’s head stuck out screaming for an entire day. Many people later claimed it was the headmaster’s private office in which he vehemently denied. It was also only later that they realised that they had never asked her about the words of the prophecy she heard….