Tale of Four

For four days, Alice stared at the research papers, rarely eating, surviving only on potions and the bare minimum amount of food when Chesh screamed at her to go and eat. Looking down into her bag, holding the potions. Alice clicked her tongue, seeing she was running out. Now that she wasn’t a student anymore, potion brewing was entirely up to her. She could ask another Magi to do it, but when she thought about it, the ideas made her skin crawl, knowing that they would take the chance to try and rob her.

”I think we’re done here, Chesh.” Dropping the final research paper, Alice groaned and stretched, falling backwards onto the bed. With a deep sigh, she rubbed her temples and groaned, thinking about everything she had just read. If the books angered her because they were annoying and vague, the papers overwhelmed her, each one either a list of experiment failures and their cause, or an in-depth breakdown of even the most basic runes.

All of it was madness, and the main thing she wanted, the source of the runes the Magi had created, was left out. ’He must have either destroyed his work or left it somewhere else when he realised he was dying. Without soemthing like the caves preservation, there is no chance they would have survived, unless someone found them.’

With a sigh, she sat up and grabbed her face and peeked through her fingers, ’If they survived, the reason I don’t know them is that whoever did, didn’t realise what they found, or they did but couldn’t understand it. Let’s hope they are just old and not rune he created himself, or I need to figure out how he did that.’

Jumping from the bed with a smile, she neatly stacked all the loose papers and scrolls in a pile and giggled. All of them were useless, unable to provide anything more. Resting a hand over them, she activated the arcane powers in her body and set them ablaze. As the fire burnt behind her, she made one final check of her belongings, making sure she had the bones, books and quill before going to the door. Smiling at the papers, she waved to them and rested a hand on the door.

”Va’tar.” Saying the word, Alice grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, but stopped before she walked through, ”If everything is runes?” Pushing the door open, she saw the Mad House before her, an endless set of doors circling the staircase that wrapped around. Magi climbed the ladder to try and reach the doors that were far from the stairs as a platform flew past, sending a gush of wind towards her. ”Then how does this work?”

Staring for a moment, she grabbed, looked at the door, and stepped through, it closing itself behind her. Turning back around, she placed a hand on it again, ”Va’tar.” Opening the door, she saw the fire she had just lit on the other side and frowned. ”Strange.” Closing it, she looked around the Mad House.

No one knew exactly when it was built or even who built it. No one knew who discovered how to enter it, and no one knew who discovered the way to travel through the doors. Before it was soemthing that she didn’t even question, but now, it perplexed her. ’A rune can only work if the object is linked to what you wish to activate in some way. You can’t carve fire on water after all.’ Looking around, her eye twitched at her own thoughts, ’Has every door here been carved with the same wood as the one it connects to, so it can establish that link. No, that’s impossible. How much time would it take, and new doors are always appearing, according to the teacher, when a new one is carved in the real world. If so...’

A wave of pain ran through her head as she thought deeper. Clutching it, she felt a soft hand rest on her shoulder and looked up, seeing Chesh smiling towards her. With her touch, the pain vanished. ”Let’s go find your teacher.” Sniffling and rubbing her head, she nodded and jumped atop one of the railings of the staircase. Looking back at the door number behind her, she smiled and jumped off, falling into the chasm below.

Wind cut past her as the surrounding Magi who saw her flash by yelled in shock and looked over. Despite how fast she fell, the bottom of the tower never became visible; the dark abyss below was always there. Seeing the floating platform rising from below, Alice’s grin widened. With great effort, she brought her hand forward and held it out. With a thought, the power in her body swirled and became a stream of air that fought against the gravity that pulled her down, slowly bringing her to a smooth fall.

Landing on the platform, numerous Magi who were riding the catwalk looked at her with fierce glares. ”No jumping, girl.” Looking Alice up and down, he frowned, seeing she was a Magi who got her colours and not a student, ”Who is your teacher? I wish to know who taught such a stupid child.”

”Shut up.” Alice snapped back and looked at the doors, waiting for her stop. The Magi behind her ground their teeth and scoffed, jumping off the catwalk, entering a random door along the wall. With a thin smile, Alice jumped off and activated the door, opening it to her teacher’s office.

The old man jumped up in surprise, never expecting to see his student again, and hurriedly walked over. ”Alice, you’re back already?” The disbelief was apparent in his voice, knowing better than anyone who his student was.

”Chesh and I found soemthing.”

”Chesh? Who?” Raising an eyebrow, Alice looked at him like an idiot for a moment and looked around. Seeing the black-haired girl gone, she sighed.

”She ran away again. Anyway.” Running over to the cupboard, she knew where the paper was stored. Alice quickly rumaged through it and drew out the least complicated runes on the bones before showing her teacher, ”Are these old runes?”

The old man lifted a finger to ask for a moment and walked over to his desk. Taking out a thin pair of glasses, he brought the paper closer, analysing it for a moment before squinting, ”No, at least they aren’t any I recognise.” Lowering the paper, he looked the girl up and down before spotting the quill on her belt. His surprise at her return was so great that he didn’t even realise the artefact she carried.

”You created your first artefact?” With a warm smile, he watched as Alice pulled her robes over to hide it, her gaze shifting to him, as if he were a threat ready to steal her goods. ”Alice, let me see. I’m not going to rob my student.” Alice thought for a moment before shaking her head.

”I didn’t make it, so no. I found it, it’s mine, and I won’t lose it becuase you say I stole it.” With a sigh, the old man sat down, rubbed the bridge of his nose, remembering why he was thankful to have finally been rid of Alice, even if it was for a short while.

”Fine. Anyway, these runes, where did you find them?”

”In a cave.”

”Where?”

”I dunno, I never learnt the name of the forest.” Alice’s innocent smile made the vein on the old man’s head pop as he rubbed the bridge of his nose again, breathing slowly to calm himself.

”Were there any more?” Alice nodded. Waiting for her to draw them, the two stared at one another for a few seconds. ”Are you not going to show me?” His voice was tired, wondering if she had gotten more stupid or was purposely being difficult.

”I can’t.” The man squinted and stared at Alice, seeing genuine confusion on her face for the first time in his life, ”It’s too complicated.” He opened his mouth to speak but stopped, holding back the words he wanted to say, knowing Alice would somehow find praise in his words.

With a deep breath, he slowly nodded to himself, ”Then do you have what they were drawn on?” Alice stared at him for a while, closing her eyes and rubbing her chin in thought.

’Teacher says he won’t steal from me, but I’ve seen these old guys always steal from one another under the excuse of research.’

”Promise me you won’t steal it. If you do...” Alice looked around, ”I will blow the room up.” Watching him, she watched his lip twitch and eyes stare at her in disbelief.

”Fine.” Not wishing to fight, he agreed and held his hand out, only to be disgusted by the parts of the skeleton provided. Taking it, he shot her numerous concerned looks, wondering what his student had been up to, and quickly refocused on the foot, with widening eyes, seeing the complexity of the work in the sole.

”My gosh.” Adjusting his glasses so they would fall off, he brought them closer to his face and traced around them with his fingers, ”They contain the principles of old runes, but none of them actually are. No, it’s... Is it a mixture of old and modern, maybe? That feels wrong.” Looking away, he stared at Alice, ”Who made these?”

”I dunno. He didn’t leave a name. All I know is that he was a really annoying person.”

”He’s alive?” Standing up, the old man stared down at Alice with a wide grin, only for his joy to be shattered.

”He’s dead. It’s his puzzles and writing that show he was annoying.” His crushed hope resurfaced once again.

”Writing?” Staring at Alice’s bag, he saw two books peeking out of it.

”I won these. There mine. And the rest.” Pausing for a moment, Alice wondered if she should say it. Seeing her teacher’s hopeful eyes, she shook her head, ”That’s a secret.”

With a deep breath, knowing Alice would burn his entire office down if he tried to steal them, he took a deep breath, ”What did they say?” Knowing just asking wouldn’t be enough, a sly smirk flashed across his face, ”Tell me, and I will help you solve this.”

Alice smiled, ”He killed a lot of people, then he did some research trying to turn people into Aretfacts, then he would take basic runes and break them down to a degree that was borderline madness, then he found a way to stop killing people, but his experiments failed, and he didn’t leave behind any notes about it succeeding.” With a smile, she patted the book in the bag, ”In these, he wrote runes are what created the world, then he wrote about a lot of nothing. He also never told anyone the answer to his experiment.”

Looking at Alice, the old teacher frowned but sighed, seeing that she was being truthful, even if it was deliberately vague. ”Fine, a deal is a deal. The runes on here are not old but contain the principles of old runes, the same way modern ones do. As for what they actually are, I don’t know, maybe a different type of rune or even older ones than the eldest I know.”

Handing the foot back, Alice snatched it before feeling a warm touch on her head. ”I know you’re having fun out there, Alice, but do

remember that the world is real. You can’t just do as you please.” With a sigh, he shook his head, ”Just be careful, the doors aren’t a joke. Even if I know you won’t, please use my list as guidance.”