Swirling clouds of unimaginable colors shifted and turned around me. Beyond bright lights that rushed past and glazed my voided vision, Druidale’s western gate stood at my feet.

Hard to believe it's only been a little over a day since I was last here. Maybe last time I was a little too judgmental of-

A voice rang in my head.

“Hey, Marina? Hah hah, it’s Brice. Brice Brimsen. Welcome back to Druidale. How are you?”

I shuffled through my bag and ripped out three vials filled with bubbling pink, blue, and purple liquids.

“I drew some pictures of you. Want to check them out? - Marina?”

I swiped my hand across their corks.

“You there?”

And gasped for air with strands of saliva spilling off my chin. The voice in my head fell silent.

“Aaaah~ Thank you Evie. Your genius saved a poor girl’s life.”

Along the central road, white robes roamed the streets. One stood out from the crowd. Her hair was like an old boot dipped in yellow food coloring mixed with malignancy and mud. Hideous and tacky.

“Marina.”

“Vivian.”

“Is that honestly any way to respond to your superior? I would have thought the knights all those years ago would have drilled the pecking order into your head. In my territory you refer to me as Quaestor Hawkshell.”

“Eck. Gross. Alaphan made you a Quaestor?”

“The Praetor is far too busy for such a small sliver of the world to be concerned with who manages shelf 18. I know you have an insatiable curiosity, so I will do you this favor. I was appointed to this position by Maxal Dankus, the Aedile of Alindra.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Great granddaughter of Praetor Vodul Dankus.”

“Again, never heard of him. Jeez- What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Cleaning up after your mess.”

“Pardon?”

“Pardon? The report you submitted was labeled under the VK classification, so we are here covering up your mess. But I have to hand it to you Marina, there were only a couple loose ends. All we had to do was burn the remains of those five guys you killed and make the cave-in look more authentic.”

“Stop talking.”

“Everyone we talked to buys that that kid died from some rocks. Come on- tell the truth- you never wrote who’s idea it was. Everybody’s got money on it. There’s no way you could pull something like that off right? It had to be one of those other three. Be honest.”

I don’t remember what happened next. Did I hit her? Did I walk away? Scream? Smile? Whatever it was, if I did remember I would probably regret it.

I burst into Norville’s shop and stormed up to the counter.

“Oh, Marina-”

I thrust out my hand.

“Uh. Can I help with-”

My eyes blazed blue. With a glass jar clenched in my grip out of a burst of blue light, my eyes throbbed closed.

I slammed Montgomery’s phylactery on the counter. Norville raised his arm toward it, orbs of chaotic energy crackling between his fingers.

Ah.

“...”

“Aren’t you going to pull it away? Something like ‘What are you doing? You can’t destroy that!’ or something?”

“I’m just a librarian. Why would you wanna destroy it anyway?”

I massaged my eyes.

I just didn’t wanna get hit if he actually did it.

“The world of commerce is cut-throat and us Amiel take that quite literally.”

His old, tired appearance stretched and morphed into that of a woman with the same figure as Montgomery. Her blonde hair faded to gold at the bangs. Porcelain skin, black eyes. Her only clothing was a faded, yellow jacket with glossy blue buttons draped over her shoulders and a pair of black boots. Her nails matched the gemstones on her jewelry glistening a precious cerulean blue.

She spoke in a low, lethargic tone like I was just an ant under her boot.

“Where shall we begin, darling? You broke into Archbishop Palindina’s sanctuary and stole from her private study.”

“Eheh. Broke in and stole are kinda strong words, but yeah. In my defense though, I thought it was abandoned.”

“I told you to be a good little girl and be careful. Such a shame you didn’t listen. Safety is important, especially when you are in the presence of unkillable gods.”

“Yeah, that was kinda before I made my promise, but-”

“Promise?”

“-Isn’t she just a bishop?”

“You- just how much do you know about us?”

“Mm- not much. Just what Montgomery told me.”

I told her about the events earlier that day when I met Montgomery.

“That’s pretty much it. Ah- I left out a little bit of stuff that was contradictory though.”

“Hu~ Yes, that does sound like Monty. She might not be able to keep things together at times, but she is definitely the Archbishop of the Veil. She does however have poor control over her.. fractured spirit. Not dissociative by any means, no, that wouldn’t explain her nature. But she’s -”

“An idiot.”

“Yes. Bluntly speaking of course. It’s just so troublesome trying to keep her under control. So, we convinced her that she is nothing but a lowly, little bishop that is awaiting her superior to sweep her off her feet. Works like a charm.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“I take it Norville isn’t your real name?”

“Archknight Juneau Alexander, novelty shop owner at your service. Architect.”

“Consultant. And I also take it the Norville down the road isn’t a Norville either huh.”

“That one is. He is one of two brothers and I’m stuck babysitting for the next century.”

“Just how old are you?”

“Huhu~ You would dare ask a lady her age?”

This one’s getting on my nerves more than Montgomery.

“Us Amiel are beings born of this realm, but molded into what stands before you by the one Monty refers to as her majesty. We were the Veil Queen’s experiments into splitting, mending, and.. transcending the spirit in the Age of Dusk. Monty was her last and most.. fractured creation.”

“That’s almost two thousand years ago. What exactly happened back then?”

“Can’t answer that sweetie. Not unless.. I have it written as your epitaph?”

“Eugh. Stop with the thinly veiled, passive aggressive garbage.”

“Insolent mortal I-”

I gripped the end of my staff with both hands and brought it behind my shoulder. My body arched toward Montgomery’s phylactery.

“Okay wait-wait-wait, hold on, chill.”

“What’s that? I thought you guys were unkillable gods? Why worry about a competitor?”

My staff glided down my hand and tapped against the floor. Jeaneu sighed.

“So the contradictions were my own. How funny. Four hundred years ago we hatched a plan. A plan to use the brothers Norville and Melvin to get close to the Oracle, so we could spill her blood into that oh so righteous chalice of hers.”

The flesh of her hand peeled away and her boney fingers glided across the counter as she walked.

“We attempted to split the brothers’ spirits just as the one who shaped us did all those years ago, however the results were less than ideal. Our experiments drove the brothers into madness, but we used that madness to make them think the seven of us as well as the two of them were all parts of the same aligned soul.”

She peeled the skin on her chest like a plum, her ribs peeking from beneath her shallow shell.

“However, the two brothers eventually sought a quieter life as shopkeepers. We followed suit to keep up the masquerade, however all but one of us liked it so much that we abandoned our goals and chose to live as merchants- hey don’t write that down. This is secret stuff.”

“Ah- sorry. What happened to the one that didn’t become a merchant?”

“I’m not sure where he’s gone, but you will hear him before you ever see him. His whistle carries on the wind and he lives for nothing more than our original purpose-”

“Which was?”

“-Luckily, he was one of her first creations. His spirit was barely fractured. What remains in his phylactery has to be dwindling if he isn’t already gone from this world.”

Luckily?

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll keep an ear out. I need to get this stuff back to Montgomery’s lair. Ah- my friend loved the figurine. Thank you so much for making it.”

“That warms my non-existent heart. If you ever wish to have another piece crafted, I will happily make it for a fan of my book.”

“You wrote the Meandering Mage?”

“To borrow what you said, wrote may be a strong word. I had a lot of.. inspiration from some outside sources.”

With my hand pressed against the exit, Jeaneu called out to me.

“But Marina- how did you know to call my bluff?”

“Maybe next time don’t give her a cute nickname, Juney.”

I flashed a wink and skipped out the store. A cackle rang along the bell above the door.

Continuing my skipping stride to Gerald and Veronica’s house, my cheeks flushed with a smirk. Enjoying an afternoon nap, a black cat with ruby red ears flicked its two tails atop their house. I knocked on the door.

“Oh? Marina?”

The cat leapt from her perch, transforming as she fell.

“Ehe~ Veronica. I need your help. That jar I took belongs to a two thousand year old lich that wanted to kill the Oracle, but now runs an ink shop in Eyngard and I want to get it back there before she notices.”

“Wha-”

Gerald creaked open the front door.

“Gerald, get your broom. We need to save Marina.”

In Gerald’s hand a torrent of light erupted. His eyes beamed orange.

“Ayaya- it’s not that serious.”

I caught Gerald up to speed and we readied ourselves to fly to Lake Silver. I threw my staff behind me. Plonk.

My eyes flashed blue, but my vision went black.

When I came to, my head rubbed against a soft dress. Veronica’s gray eyes, perched above worried wrinkles, peered down at me. She brushed my hair away from my eyes.

“Deary, you’ve overworked your anima. How much have you used Runic Release since we were last together?”

“Mm- seven times maybe?”

“You shouldn’t push yourself that hard. You are still learning. You could seriously hurt yourself.”

Gerald leaned over her shoulder.

“Hmm. You should probably hold off on using magic for the next week to be safe.”

Ehehe. Easier said than done.

“Gerald and I won’t be able to heal this. We may be star witches, but the spirit, essence, and soul are tricky things to mess with.”

“Things I’ve already messed with before, but can’t remember.”

I was lifted into the air, cradled by Gerald’s arms.

“So you do know about that. Well, that’s not something you could have done yourself. No need to beat yourself up over it. Let’s head up to the lake, shall we?”

“Hey- that’s my line.”

We flew to Lake Silver and the two of them opened Montgomery’s lair for me to return her things. After the staircase was sealed for a final time, they invited me back for some tea and I happily took them up on the offer.

Veronica placed a cup in front of me. Its steam rose like strands of silk. The familiar, smoky flavor with a trailing taste of fruit warmed my cheeks. I didn’t notice anything different until I tipped the final drops into my mouth. When I placed the cup down I could tell.

“I’m sorry dear, but it’s for your own good. I’m an educator first and I have a bad habit of always looking out for my students. Please don’t be upset with us.”

My anima was sealed.

I grinned behind closed eyes.

“I made a promise to my friends that I’d be careful, so that’s what I’m gonna do. I guess I kinda already broke that without realizing it, but that doesn’t just make the promise go away.”

Gerald rubbed his guilt stricken forehead.

“That bind will wear off in about three days. After that your anima should be healed and bigger than ever thanks to all that practice you got in.”

“But please dear, go easier on yourself in the future.”

“Ah- I do need to get to Silverkeep though.”

The cup in front of me rose into the air when Gerald stood from his chair.

“The trains will be able to take you there. Do you know where the station is?” I shook my head. “It’s a ways outside the village. We’ve got a cartographer here who’s been around a little longer than us. Almost positive he can get you a map to help out.”

Eheh. It was probably just wishful thinking they’d fly me there.

With night falling upon the street outside the window, they offered me a place to stay. Veronica lent me her bed and curled against my head as a cat. Her fleece blanket took some getting used to. Itchy and scratchy. I kicked past the soft fringe and drifted off to sleep with cold feet.