I reached into my hat and pulled out a silver bowl and a flask of water, as I did this the thaumic detector’s filament glowed grey, reacting to the space magic that handed me my objects from the pocket dimension in my hat.
“Did anyone order some instant ice?” Twist queried extravagantly.
The noctavs collectively shook their heads.
“Nope. I didn’t. Did you? I don’t think so” they all murmured.
I cleared my throat “My apologies good people, that was a rhetorical question. Observe!”
I popped off the cork of the flask and poured the water into the bowl, the audience gasped in amazement as the water turned into ice as it entered the bowl.
“Is it frost magic?” someone asked.
“Nope, if the bowl were enchanted that detector would be glowing dark blue” someone else answered.
“I can’t believe this!”
“Me neither!” ranted a noctav in the front “This thing has to just be a magic light that he enchanted to light up with the right colors on command!”
He got out a wand an aimed it forward “Forward wind, forward!” he called out, now as he spun the wand a small gust of wind went forth. The thaumic detector glowed bright green, the noctav with the wand looked on in amazement.
“Nice air magic there!” I laughed “But I really must reiterate, this is magic unlike any you have ever seen! And I can assure you, no trickery is at work!”
The audience murmured in approval and wonder.
I took one last whimsical bow “Thank you for your attention and praise good noctav of Minvaco! I, Twist of Fate, will return tomorrow at this exact phase to wonder you all once more. For now though, I must leave, for I am almost late for an important meeting. May Symphonia bless you!”
The audience gave groans of disappointment, but then gave me a good round of applause!. A few noctav immediately walked up to ne to ask me more about ny magic, but I simply said “Ah ah! A magician like myself needs to keep his secrets!” and walked off with a self-assured swagger.
“An amazing mage!” I overheard a notcav as he watched me walk off.
“Indeed, most impressive! I thought for sure he was going to end up a deadbeat” guffawed another.
I continued to walk away, slowly but boldly down an alley. Eventually I stopped walking and looked around, keeping a close eye out for any onlookers. Once I was assured that no one was watching… I ran off in a fervent panic.
“Late, late, late, late, late, I’m late!” I whispered worriedly to myself as I sped down the path. I had cut my act short, but I had still taken too long.
“Glad to hear your first show went so well” Tenacia said with a smile.
“Thanks! It wasn’t bad for a first try” Twist replied “Though I quickly ditched the cloak on later acts, a cloak isn’t comfortable when you already have wings.”
“And when are we hearing about why you have left your city?” Delphine asked gruffly.
“Don’t worry Delphine, I am getting there!” Twist replied “Now pay close attention, this is an important part!”
Running as if an infernal were behind me, I sprinted as fast as I could down alley after alley. Eventually I came to a tall tower with a ladder strung up it. I was about to climb it when a nervous voice called out from behind me. I voice a knew well; it was Rondo, the husband of my sister Largo and a high ranking member of the House of Alchemy.
“Twist! Twist! I need to show you something!” he squeaked.
He was a noctav with pure black fur and eyes that were differently colored, one was purple while the other was blue. I turned to him with a strained though still sincere smile.
“Hello Rondo, how have you been doing?”
“I am d-doing good, I’m s-s-sorry if I am interrupting you” he quickly stammered.
“Don’t worry about, just picking up your daughter Piana… Which, and I must apologize, I am running late in. So, make this quick please”
“Of c-c-course!” Rondo shook nervously for a bit. Then he paused and his face turned grave.
“W-wait… Nevermind, there is too much to explain in such a brief burst of time! Just please promise me you will meet me outside the city walls near the Mushroom Forest… No, it would better if we were in the Mushroom Forest itself. Go there when the clock goes to its first dark phase.”
I looked at him, now incredibly intrigued. I knew Rondo well at this point, he was probably the most anxious and high-strung noctav in the city, he would faint at the drop of a hat. However, Rondo was also without question one of the most brilliant and observant noctav in the city, it was mostly because of him that his House had made so many strides in alchemy. He had even helped me train for my acts. As spineless as he seemed, I knew well to trust him when he was serious.
“I promise” I said, tipping my hat. I then climbed the ladder of the tower as fast as I could. This tower was one of the Travel Towers in Mincavo, which we noctav use if we want to get to one part of the city quickly. At the top of the tower was a great platform that stuck out like a diving board, beneath it was a large fan that was currently off. On the side of the platform were three levers, two thin ones made of a silvery metal and a longer one made of a brassy metal between them, on the brass lever’s grip were written the words “Please be kind and save energy, put the lever back when fan has started”.
I pulled the silver lever on the right towards myself, the fan beneath turned horizontally to the left. Soon it was pointing towards one of the city’s stalagmite districts, an entire part of the city that was engraved in a mountain sized stalagmite, where a great castle-like building could be especially easily seen. I then pulled the other lever away and the fan turned itself vertically toward my destination. I then pulled the brass lever, the fan started up and (making sure to put the lever back beforehand) lept towards the fan with my wings opened. The fan pushed me high into the air, I then glided towards my destination.
“What was the fan powered by?” Delphine asked.
“Concentrated vis!” Twist answered “There are quite a few machines in Minvaco that are powered by vis donated by mages. Now then…”
I landed on a wide stretch of road made for those using Travel Towers. I made my landing, rather clumsily in my rushing, and I ran to the large castle that was Takt’s School Of Inevitably Successful Teaching. I rushed through the front door and ran down a hallway… Then I reversed my direction once I realized I went down the wrong hall. Finally, I came to the classroom I wanted and I waited beside it, I had fortunately gotten there as the classroom concluded its teachings on spell use.
“Alright class, before you are dismissed tell me in summation the dangers of overexerting yourself in magic?” asked the teacher, a stern noctav woman named Professor Recita, to her students.
Several wings raised.
“Go ahead Mr. Bass” Recita declared to a short chubby noctav boy.
“Ummm… Our bodies are filled with vis, which… Comes from the soul?”
“Very good! Go on”
“Errr… Yeah! And when we cast magic we use up vis. And if we run out of vis we get tired”
“Correct! But there is more to it as well. Can anyone else tell me? Yes, Miss Piana? You seem excited”
“I was reading up on this before!” Said the sweet voice of my niece “If you try to cast magic when your body is out of vis, you end up using your own life force! Which can cause spell corruption!”
“Well stated! This is why Symphonia gave our souls the ability to make vis. And it is fairly easy to figure out what happens if you strain your soul too much… So remember my class, always find time to rest. It not only keeps your mind alert and body vivacious, but your soul can generate more vis so you can cast your spells. You are dismissed!”
“Did you skip that class or something?” Delphine snarked.
Twist gave her a disgruntled look.
“Before you continue, I do have another question Twist” Tenacia interjected.
“Go right ahead Tenacia!” Twist replied.
“Did Symphonia create the noctav? Or is this just legend stuff? I’ve never been sure if the gods actually made anyone”
“Honestly, even before I found out the gods aren’t as strong as I thought, I doubt they made any living things” Twist finally said “I am willing to bet Chaelum made us, as well as all the other races. Though I guess I’d have to ask Symphonia or Chaelum for a definite answer. But either way…”
The students walked (or more accurately, ran slowly) out one by one, with bags slung across their backs carrying various books. Piana especially had a large number of books and scrolls in her bag, she struggled a bit to carry them down the hallways of the Takt’s School Of Inevitably Successful Teaching.
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“Need help Berry Nose?” I asked playfully.
“Hey Uncle Twist!” Piana piped excitedly, as she dashed out of the classroom nearly tripping. You couldn’t her, she was tall for her age and half of her was white fur whilst the other was black fur. Like her father she had differing eye colors, her right eye was green whilst her left eye was the same amber shade that Largo had. Her nose was small and round, looking a lot like a berry hence the nickname I gave her.
“Hello to you as well Piana!” I laughed as took a few of her books to relieve her of some of her load “How was school today?”
“It was nice! We talked about spell casting and the gods today! I even got to show off the book I got from the History of Magical Beings shop!”
Twist chuckled “Ahh yes! That one, caused a bit of embarrassment, did it?”
“I’m sorry, Is there something wrong with it?” Piana worriedly asked, she got the book out of her bag “Its such a good book though! It gives some much information and clearly describes who the gods are and what they do!”
“Oh, there is nothing wrong with that at all!” Twist explained, “It’s just that the book also has some… Distinct illustrations on the gods.”
“What’s wrong with them? They are actual paintings done by artists from the surface!”
“Yes, and those artists really wanted to capture how attractive the archons were.”
Piana opened the book to the illustration of Symphonia.
“And they did! See? Symphonia practically comes off the page!”
I laughed “Oh you aren’t wrong there! Though I would think she would also be wearing something more than some thin pieces of cloth, it is awfully cold on the moon you know.”
Piana sighed “I guess so, but why get bothered by nudity in such an old painting? Its art, isn’t it?”
“Fair enough It’s like the only time you can get away with having naughty bits in a drawing is if it is ‘art’’” I said chuckling.
“Exactly! Remember what some races on the surface do when they want to learn to draw? They’ll have someone pose without their clothes on in front of the artists and-“
“Ok young lady, where did you read that?” I asked sternly. I could only hope she didn’t see any illustrations of Melkar, the god of strength and… Ahem, male fertility.
Piana pouted “It’s true you know!”
“Oh, I won’t deny that, but there are some things a little noctav like you shouldn’t read yet” I said firmly.
“That’s what so many of my instructors said! Isn’t learning the whole point of our existence?” she grumbled.
“Yes, but sometimes you have learn some things in time rather than all at once.”
Piana pouted again “Well I don’t think Symphonia would agree with that… She is the one who encouraged us to find out the secrets of the world in the first place!”
I chuckled “That much is true, though I think even she thinks that you have to pace yourself and not learn some things until you better understand them.”
“And how do you know that? Have you spoken to her?” Piana asked, partly sarcastically though also actually curious
“Nope, no one has in thousands of years. Our shamans have certainly tried, even now, but no such luck. We assume she is just up on the moon” I said.
“What happened to the gods anyway? Not even my book said anything about where they went”
“It is a very old book, so they didn’t know as much about them then.” I explained, “That is one unfortunate thing about being down here after we severed contact with the surface, it is incredibly hard to get any info on current events and advancements.”
“Yeah, it’s frustrating! Why don’t we send more researchers up above and they can tell us more whats going on? Like Uncle Allegro?” Piana asked as we went down the halls of the school.
“Awfully hard when we are so deep underground, it is already super dangerous enough to get to the surface let alone come back to Minvaco. And not only does it take an incredibly long time to get here and to the surface, but those researchers are also traveling the world so it literally takes years for any of their correspondence to reach us” I replied, some sadness in my heart since we hadn’t heard from Allegro in ages. He had set off not long after Piana was born and we hadn’t heard anything from him sense.
“I guess that makes sense, but there is something called letters you know! They could just write the stuff they learn down and send it right to us.”
“A good idea, but sadly one that is forbidden by the top Houses. It is waaaay too easy to intercept letters like that you know, and then the information would belong to whoever stole it” I explained.
“Why would someone steal information though? Is there anyone in Minvaco who is that dishonest.”
“Oh you would be surprised Piana! Many House members are more willing to use underhanded tactics to get what they want. Competition between the Houses has become really heated, especially after the Magic Experiment Ban.”
Piana nodded “I guess that makes sense, but it isn’t right to steal something from someone else!”
“Agreed! If only heads of the Houses were as wise you”
Piana smiled and blushed in response “Thanks Uncle Twist.”
“Hang a sec Twist, I got my own question” Tenacia asked.
“Go right ahead my friend!” Twist replied.
“What is this Magic Experiment Ban you mentioned?”
“Ahhh yes, it was a hot topic at the time! It had been instated about a year after my father vanished. It is what it sounds like; a total ban on magical experimentation. No figuring out new spells, no messing with powerful rituals we know little about, and even some alchemical experiments were forbidden.”
“Hmm I guess what happened with the door to the Halls of Time had something to do with it?” Delphine asked.
“It was certainly the last straw! My father being taken away by supernals in Ayvum caused quite a stir in Minvaco. The Wise One and his council debated on whether such dangerous experiments were too risky, even in the pursuit of such great knowledge. After about a year of arguing, the ban was brought in.”
“Last straw? Was there something else that happened?” Tenacia asked, dreading the answer.
Twist nodded grimly “Indeed! One of the other largest houses other than the House of Fate was the House of Dimensions” he explained “They focused on using space magic to travel to other worlds, in particular they tried to find some legendary structure called the Castle of Doors. They were always controversial due to their portals often causing collateral damage, then one day without warning the mansion vanished. No one has seen them since”
Tenacia shuddered.
Twist nodded “Indeed, I can’t blame the Council instating the ban. As I said though, it was a hot topic at the time and a lot of noctav hated it. Including my mother who had been staunchly against it, thinking such experiments were vital to advancement. But let’s get back to business, and I am going to fast forward here to my meeting with Rondo…”
The Lunar Clock was about to switch to its first dark phase, signifying the time of rest for the city. Outside the city walls in the large passage that led to the Mushroom Forest, I waited, shuffling my cards as I sat on a short mushroom.
One of my ears twitched as I heard someone and stood to attention, there was the familiar twitchy face of my brother-in-law.
“Hello there Rondo, now what was so secretive that we had to meet here of all places? I know we have been able to beat back the drekavacs and boggles, but this is still a pretty dangerous place.”
“I am sorry Twist, but I could not risk anyone in the city hearing about this. Especially the Pale Police”
My eyebrows furrowed. The Pale Police were the law enforcement of Minvaco, they upheld the laws and bans decided by the Houses. though owed allegiance to none of them. I had only seen them once when I returned to the mansion after Largo found me at Runoff Lake. They questioned everyone there regarding my father’s disappearance, including me. They were patient and treated me kindly, but I could sense their tension and I never forgot the frightening magic weapons they had; long staves with sharp diamond-like crystals that made them look more like spears and glowed a light that just made the pale armor they wore look more alien. The terrible antimagic flames these spears fired were infamous in the city and I was glad I never saw them use them that day.
“Rondo, just what have you been up to? Don’t tell me my mother has been asking-“ I began to ask.
“Oh no no no no! She has pestered me a few times about it but I have turned down all requests concerning that ‘improved’ ritual of hers” He quickly answered.
I sighed in relief.
“But I think what I got may be far d-darker” he said seriously.
Rondo reached into one of the pockets of his large coat and pulled out a dark sapphire box. He handed this box to me, unable to control my curiosity I opened it.
In the box was a flat and black square-shaped stone, on it was engraved a golden rune that was shaped like a swirl.
I looked at Rondo questioningly.
“Y-yeah it doesn’t look like much, but can’t you feel the magic emanating from it?”
I looked at the rune closely, then nodded. It set my hair on end.
“Also… It came from Dorcha”
If my already white fur didn’t hide my skin, you would see my face pale.
There are a total of four noctav cities in the Underworld of Fiahn, each at a different depth with my city of Minvaco being somewhere in the middle. One city though went so deep, saying it is underground is an understatement: the city of Dorcha. A city that rests near within Eretarus, the deepest region of the Underworld and a horrible pitch-black wasteland where almost no living thing can survive in.
Why would the noctav of Dorcha choose to live here? A very simple reason, for you see the noctav of Dorcha take our race’s goal of figuring out the unknown to darker unprecedented levels. They seek knowledge and to solve world problems, but they do it without mercy and find that the end can justify the means no matter what. They knew the other cities would stop their research in an instant, so they moved to an area where they could not follow without great endangerment. Many noctav like to believe the city of Dorcha was gone, including the Pale Police who claim they were destroyed by the beasts of the Underworld centuries ago… But hints of their existence still pop up every now and again.
“Where did you find this?” I asked Rondo, in amazement and worry.
“I was mining metals for both the House of Gears and House of Alchemy with your brother Bariton, when I heard someone scream and the sound of a body hitting the cavern floor far off. We ran towards it assuming it was one of the other miners, but as I played the voice again in my head it did not sound like any of the other miners either of us knew… We found a dead noctav wearing dark blue robes. He had those pale eyes with no pupils the Dorchans have, so it wasn’t hard to figure out where he came from. We brought the body to the Pale Police, though I admit when we carried it I searched the pockets in secret and found that rune”
“And why didn’t you give it to the Pale Police?”
“Just… Just a feeling, I guess. I fear this thing may be too important to have in their possession.”
“And yet you give it to me, the least favorite son in a House that is falling from his position?”
“Listen I know it sounds strange, and you aren’t much a magician… No offense”
None taken, I had made it no secret I shirked my magical studies. I had only begun studying magic again recently after I was satisfied with my stage magic.
“But you are still the seventh son of a seventh son, that means you probably have powers you don’t know about yet!”
“You realize you sound like one of those mentors in a novel that gets killed off for maximum emotional impact, right?” I said only partly jokingly.
“Yeah, I know, but even discounting that you are easily the most ingenious noctav I know! Largo is constantly fawning over how clever you are and what you have been able to do without magic!” Rondo said firmly.
“Ehh just parlor tricks” I said, shrugging.
“I doubt that! Please take this, if anyone can figure it out you can.”
“I don’t know about that, how about the rune interpreters?” I asked, honestly rather afraid of this runestone.
“No no no! We can’t risk them taking it to the Pale Police!”
I grimaced, but put the rune in my hat.
“Alright Rondo, I’ll keep this thing in my room for now” I affirmed with a nod “Can I tell anyone else in my family about this?”
“P-p-please no! I h-haven’t even t-told Largo! J-j-just between us for now!” he stammered desperately.
I sighed “Very well, you realize that with my full plate I won’t be able to do research on it right? You are the one who is going to have to do all the research right?”
“No p-problem, I got all my research done early just so I can focus on this”
“Sounds good… Well let’s get back to the city, I can hear the drekavacs whining again”
“And that rune is the same rune in your hat right?” Tenacia asked.
“Sure was!” Twist replied.
“Let me see this rune” Delphine commanded sternly.
“Certainly” Twist said with a smile. He took off his hat and reached into it, taking out the rune.
Twist handed the rune to Delphine… Or more accurately he placed it on her rim. Delphine looked at the rune closely.
“I am not at all familiar with this rune”
Twist and Tenacia felt their hearts drop into their stomachs. Not even an oracle knew anything about this rune.
“Any idea what it could be used for?” Tenacia asked weakly.
“Well, If I don’t know the letter how can I figure that out?” Delphine snapped.
“Umm, by using your oracle abilities?” Twist confusedly said.
Delphine ignored him “Even if I don’t know, it can’t be anything good, after all that noctav your step-brother got it from someone with dark blue robes. Ring a bell?”
Tenacia gasped “The Grand Faloon! They have members that deep underground?”
Twist’s face grew extremely serious, and his eyes flashed. He stroked his chin deep in thought.
“What are they plotting?” Twist thought to himself. He had assumed that cult had arrived in the Underworld recently, but from the sounds of this it seemed like they had been here for a long time.
“Would you like to finish your story later Twist?” Tenacia asked politely.
Twist shook his head “Nope! I really should keep going. I can dedicate thinking to this later. Not to mention, this is where things get… Interesting.”