Solaria

Maybe I shouldn’t complain so much. After so many years being only a childhood dream I finally managed to cast a spell and I had something to look towards. “But how did you manage to cast a spell so fast and so well? It looked identical to the teacher’s!” said the thing I most wanted to complain about in the world. I was about to say how, if you counted all the stars in the sky, you would have about the number of times I was worse than the professor. But I stopped myself, and not just because I wasn’t sure he would try to count all the stars and say she is about six times better than me.

“The truth of it is that I don’t know, Lunario. I basically got it straight away after seeing her cast that second time, which shouldn't be possible…” I paused, giving a thought as to what happened. “Maybe It was being close to a high level mage casting a spell, maybe I just got lucky, maybe all the time studying theory with Auvrey paid off, or maybe…” I start listing my theories, when he interrupts me with: “Or maybe you are a genius mage!” and I blush at the sudden complement. Yes, that was what I was about to say, Lunario. I surely wasn’t going to say that maybe you were so bafflingly stupid that my mind preferred to understand the concept of time itself rather than whatever you did. Surely not.

“So, this is your home?” he asks, looking up at the tower of stacked houses, when pure terror floods my body. I was so naive to not pay attention to where I was going. Now that he knows where I live, I’m sure he will someday want to give a sword as a present and as I sleep he will trip and stab my heart. Oh, how short my life will be, the humanity of it all. Wait, it is not unrecoverable yet, I just need to convince him this is not my house, I just have to…

“Solaria! Already back home?” screams a feminine voice from somewhere behind us. May Veltic split in two just below me, letting me fall until I reach its heart for a final embrace. “It was just your first day and you already are bringing a man with you?” Auvrey says when she gets closer. Remember how I asked for a poetic death? Forget it, just hit me with a log of wood until I’m dead and that’s fine. “Hello Auvrey, you have no idea how much emotion it brings me to meet you now,” we already passed years living together, I’m sure she would understand what kind of emotion I was implying, not like she cares, “and this is…”

“Lunario, I am the man she brought home” he cuts me off with what can only be an attempt at killing me with words, or a complete lack of understanding what words mean. He really interrupted me to say that, huh. Now that I can cast something, maybe it is time to test if the 100% sure death that was hitting someone in the brain really is true. Before I get more tempted by the idea, I say: “Why don’t we get inside and talk about our days inside?” as I turn to go home before seeing if they agree.

With luck, they will disagree and stay outside, leaving me alone to plan my own demise.

Auvrey

‘How could I talk to Solaria without killing us all?’ was the single most important question in my mind, followed by if I should rope her in at all. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure time magic had something going for it that made it part of Saphena’s plan, and though it is one thing to put myself at risk, it is another to put people I care about in the line of fire. I would never rope her in if I was certain she would never be at risk, though I find it hard to believe that my parents also got into a rebellion and got killed because of it, when the most simple explanation is that they found some property of time magic or reached a certain threshold of knowledge that they had to be dealt with. And I knew for a fact that Solaria wasn't going to settle for some middle of the road Time mage job, she would want to be at the forefront of developing it. Thinking of it, time magic is really underdeveloped when compared…

“So where are your parents?” asked Solaria’s friend, which halted me in my tracks. I stopped still, trying to see if it was some kind of attempt of hurting me and Solaria, though seeing the look of obliviousness on his face just got me even more confused. “They are dead” I answer curtly. I would be better at answering in any other day, unfortunately my past is being dredged up way too much today. I could see Solaria fuming, mumbling something about defenestration? I always loved her flowery language and hearing her mumble got me a bit more centered.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I just thought you two were sisters and maybe…” he trails off, and I was really starting to wonder if he was just so clueless. At first I was sure that the introduction was just to tease Solaria (trust me, I knew how amusing that was to do), though maybe I should reconsider. “I guess we are sisters, but not by blood,” Solaria explains, and I never really thought about it, I guess we really are sisters, “I never knew my parents and Auvrey’s were both Time mages so I at least know I couldn’t be theirs.” Causing Lunario to excitedly say: “Hey, my dad is also a Time mage!” he said, with an apparent clueless excitement about what it meant to say that.

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Huh, so he is adopted, as everyone knows that you can never have a child of the same magic line. I was about to comment something about it when I looked at Solaria, she screams at me with her face: ‘Do not talk about it’. Wait, everyone knew that. Did he never make the connection that either he is adopted or that his mother wasn’t as much of an angel as he probably thought?

“So, how did you guys meet?” I asked in my confusion, trying to understand where he came from.

Solaria

“... and then we sat together and helped each other to understand the class.” Lunario finished. Well, I would say that he sat with me against my consent and kept bothering me so much that I just wished a pen would be shoved through my skull, but it was right for the most part. “What was that about a pen?” he asked, and I realized I’m really tired, as I cannot seem to keep my thoughts to myself. “I… was just about to say that… when we entered the next class there were pendulums on every table, and you had to speed one up, so I saw the professor casting and copied her. Which means I casted my first spell!” I stumbled at the start, but got more excited as I talked and ended with a stuffed chest, clad in my excellence as a mage.

“On your first day you can already casted something, that’s amazingly fast for any mage.” Auvrey says, with a bit of apprehension that while almost unnoticeable, put alarm bells in my head. I was going to verbalize it, but her face was one of ‘Don’t talk about it or we are screwed’ face that we nailed down during our early childhood as orphans. So this is not something to talk about with people nearby, sure. “And all that wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t put fire in my pendulum” Lunario says, with a face painted in smugness with not a speck of shame.

“Wait, how do you put fire in a pendulum?” she asks confused, ‘you and me both, girl’ I think to myself. “And how did that help in any way?” clearly getting more confused the more she thought about it, ‘trust me, the more you think about it, the worse it gets, so stop trying’ I try to communicate telepathically, which doesn’t seem to work as the question mark that was in her face starts to become her face itself. “I don’t know, apparently seeing the teacher cast really close helped, but you have to ask her and even she doesn’t seem to know herself.” he answers, “What I do know is that I was sure the teacher’s assistant was about to split me open with a portal, before looking at Sol and backing off.” Huh, the ‘never once felt happiness in my heart’ guy was a Time mage? I guess I missed that. Wait, did he just call me Sol? Was I really being nicknamed or is it that he just forgot the rest of my name? Both possibilities are frightening.

“Yes, that guy does look like the typical ‘I am the superior kind of being, offer me your souls so I may munch on them while whipping baby birds’ kinda Time mage guy.” I butter him up, after all I didn’t want to be mean to the guy. Especially now that I knew he could just pop in my bed while I slept. “A full blown Time mage in your class? That is scary.” Auvrey says in a joking manner, but with a serious undertone that again is unnerving me. Why does she keep trying to secretly speak while there is someone here? I doubt anyone would be able to catch what is going on, especially so with the eldritch horror levels of dumb that is this guy. But why even risk it if it is so important, when she can just wait for him to leave and talk to me without codes? I will just have to ask her later, I guess.

“Hey, girls, I’m starting to get hungry, let’s get some food?” said Lunario, not waiting for our response and going to the kitchen. I was about to give him a piece of my mind, but I was so tired that I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I slowly got up and went to follow him, just to make sure to stop him in case he somehow managed to create a bomb out of kitchen utensils, or maybe poison out of the food… or maybe a poison bomb out of kitchen utensils and food. I could smell the confusion off Auvrey after seeing that I picked up the pace. Trust me, I am saving our lives.

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Solaria

“It’s getting dark, go home now, please.” I said, both because I was too exhausted and because I wasn’t sure if I was any less direct he would think it an invitation to come live with us for the rest of time. “Oh, yeah, I better get going,” he said with words that sang in my ears, “I had so much fun talking and meeting both of you, until we meet again!” He went backwards towards the door, waving his hand as he slammed his back into the very much still closed door. With a “upsies” he then opened the door and left, leaving me with a tiny smile on my lips at the sheer ‘Lunario-ness’ of it all. I looked sideways and saw that smirk of hers, that doesn’t matter how much she may change her face, I will always be able to recognize it. I suddenly remember now, I had planned to kill Lunario, didn't I? I would be finishing those plans later, but for now I had some other important stuff.

“Can you do something about this tiredness I’m feeling? Doing magic is making me feel exhausted in a way I never felt before.” I begged before I got into all the secret talk stuff, but was pretty sure I knew the answer. “Not really, what you are feeling is not a physical thing and I can do nothing except recommend a shower and sleep to you, sister.” She responds, making me feel fuzzy inside. I kinda just said that we were sisters as I didn’t think all that hard about it, but after so long looking after each other when the entire world was out to get us, it really was put into perspective just by using that word. I felt tears welling up behind my eyes. I really wanted to talk about what happened during the conversation, but I felt it would trash the mood so I just hugged her. She was a bit surprised, but soon enough she hugged me back. It felt like a child, but it was so comfortable, with her big frame covering me like a blanket. After what felt at the same time way too much and way too little time, we separated and I started to head to the shower. I stopped midway, looked back and said: “Thank you, sister.” I didn’t look back after that to try to cover my tears, streaming down my face like a waterfall.