20demayo Chapter 1: A Meeting at the Grand Library Arcana
Chapter 1: A Meeting at the Grand Library Arcana
Chapter 1: A Meeting at the Grand Library ArcanaAliandraAli charged the length of her apartment at breakneck speed, snatching up the few essentials by the door: the letter, her enchanted communication panel, and most importantly, her library card. She paused just long enough to mist her hanging orchid with a little revitalizing boost of nature mana before she stuffed one arm into the sleeve of her warm coat, yanked the door open, and rushed out. She shoved the door shut with a foot, but it got away from her and slammed with a loud bang that would most certainly earn her a nasty message from the nosy Humans living downstairs.
She took the narrow stairs two at a time and leapt onto the patiently waiting disk hovering above the pavement at the bottom. She slipped and landed sideways, the panel and her library card slipping from her hands and clattering across the hard surface, but fortunately this transport platform was made to accommodate the larger races, and she was able to catch her things before they spilled out into the street.
“Go!” she said.
Purple runes lit up around the edge of the platform, making it hum and rise higher above the ground as the warm rush of nearby active mana washed over her skin. The disk turned, accelerating smoothly as it shot out to merge with the traffic.
Ali took a breath.
It was a good thing she had scheduled the transport yesterday. Getting lost in a good book and missing her appointment with the Head of Magical Re
“The other one is a nature affinity cantrip that lets me influence the growth of plants,” she said. Almost certainly she had inherited that affinity from her father. However, it had been Aunt Lira and the Dryadic insight of her tree that had inspired Ali to take her first steps along the path of nature magic. She mostly just used it to encourage the wildflowers in the Grove to bloom, but lately she had been limited to using it on the potted plants in her apartment.
“We can take a look at that one later. Perhaps aiming for an advanced rune magic class is not such a bad idea for you,” Maeria said, pausing momentarily in thought, and then making some rapid notes. “My book, Advanced Classes for the Runic Scholar, is up on the third row, four across. You’re a Fae, why don’t you zip up there and get it quickly? Look for the white book with purple runes on the spine.”
Maeria’s words hit like a sudden gut-punch. Blood drained from Ali’s face while the voices and lights faded to a dull background roar. She gasped as everyone stared at her, curling up inside herself, desperately wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
“What’s wrong?” Maeria, asked, suddenly looking up. “It’s just up there.” She pointed to the bookshelf that hung more than fifteen meters above them.
It might as well have been on another planet.
“I can’t fly,” Ali whispered, the words barely leaving her lips before she tried to swallow them back. But the tiny sound of her voice was a clarion bell alerting everyone to her shame. Her stubby golden wings had never developed properly. Now they jutted out from the back of her coat, a painful reminder that what should have been a beautiful hallmark of her race was instead a beacon for childhood bullies and later, adult pity.
Maeria Runeweaver gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes widened in shock. “I… I am so sorry,” she said. “Aliandra, please, I didn’t mean…”
She seemed to be in such distress that it shocked Ali right out of her own dark emotional pit. “It’s ok… you didn’t know,” she managed.
“I’m really sorry, Aliandra,” Maeria said, clearly trying to collect herself. “Here, let me get it for you. I still want you to read it.”
Ali’s Mana Sense prickled with an invigorating energy that suddenly rushed through her like a fresh warm breeze. Purple runes flickered into existence around Maeria’s hand and something barely visible shot out toward the shelf far above. A white book with purple runic inscriptions extracted itself from among its peers and flew back down to alight upon the table before Ali.
Ali blinked in astonishment at the casual use of runic magic.
“Telekinesis via runic casting,” Maeria said, a peace offering of a sort. “One of the benefits of the Class you so desire.”
“That was beautiful,” Ali said, her body still trembling from her slowly fading emotional overload. She glanced down at the white book before her, bearing Maeria Runeweaver’s name.
“Why don’t you start reading that while I finish with everyone else?”
Ali nodded, grateful for the distraction, and opened the cover while Maeria worked her way through the rest of the hopefuls sitting around the table. Each chapter covered a class, including expected class skills, directions for growth, known requirements for unlocking it, and generally everything someone like Maeria may need in order to help her with her pre-class trial. Common classes such as Runic Scholar near the front of the book had detailed information, drawn from the research of thousands of people, but as she approached the less common classes near the end of the book, the content grew progressively more speculative.
She turned the page and froze as her eyes drank in the words that leapt from the page.
All her life Ali had been aware that her mother and father were quite well regarded in Dal’mohra, but it was only when she had started at the university that she had truly begun to appreciate the sheer importance of her mother’s research. While she would be unable to aspire to her mother’s unique Class, Rune Sage would at least allow her to take her first steps down that path.
Before diving into the details laid out before her, Ali flickered a little mana into her Arcane Cantrip. One golden rune appeared hovering around her hand as she clung fervently to the intricate image of Maeria Runeweaver’s telekinesis spell. More mana, and a second rune appeared. She bit her lip, her brow furrowed in concentration, and forced a little more mana into her skill. A golden blob appeared. She willed it into shape, but it wobbled precariously in the air, refusing to comply. She focused all her will on it, forcing it into shape, but as she did, the other two runes popped, falling to the table as golden glitter.
With the crazy emotional rollercoaster her day had become, what should have been a minor setback caused her throat to close up, and she blinked away sudden moisture in her eyes.
“That was a pretty good effort, Aliandra,” Maeria said. “Don’t give up, that’s a fantastic way to work toward your class.”
She was about to answer, but at that very moment, a deathly chill washed over her. Her body froze, and it was as if she stood on the precipice of her own suddenly opened grave. She gasped at the sudden ominous premonition.
“Did… you feel… that?” she managed.
“What?”
Suddenly a heavy thump echoed up from the bottom of the atrium and the entire building shuddered.
Gasps sounded from the table, and a distant scream rose from a level below. Wide eyes stared at each other uncomprehendingly.
And then the lights went out.
Another scream. This one, far closer.
Glowing red orbs popped into existence floating all through the library, casting it in a strangely terrifying light. And then a siren began wailing and an enchanted voice echoed through the library.
“
Another thump shook the library, jarring the stone underfoot and knocking books from their high shelves.
“Let’s all not panic,” Maeria said. But her wide eyes and shallow breathing were anything but reassuring.
And then the cold sepulchral pressure suddenly spiked as the air behind the Professor ripped like an invisible knife had slashed downward through the fabric of reality.
Before Ali could even move, a half a meter of darkly gleaming steel suddenly burst out from the front of Maeria Runeweaver’s chest. The front of her robe suddenly turned red as her eyes widened in shock. Her throat worked once, then twice, but the only sound that emerged was a sucking gurgle. Blood spilled from her lips, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she slowly slid forward, slumping to the ground.
The skeleton behind her stepped on her back, and drew the sword out, and then turned the glowing red pinpricks of mana burning in its eye sockets upon her.
Ali screamed.