Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

Yes, yes... its 2 am and I'm writing instead of sleeping.

Good on me for going so far for you guys and girls, eh?

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

A few days later... - A Classroom - Alice's Point Of View...

"H-hello?" Saying as I pushed the seemingly blood-stained wooden door open and peeked inside, I soon found that the classroom was thankfully empty of life. It was currently seven in the morning and yet the teacher was still not here as I had already been waiting for him or her to arrive for a good hour outside of the classroom only to finally decide to look if the class had already started without me, which would have been embarrassing.

Once again, that thankfully did not appear to be the case. Shrugging and gathering as much of my courage as I could, I walked inside. This room... was different from the others.

Apart from the obvious aura of discomfort and the myriad of blood stains, both long since dry and very much fresh alike, staining the walls of the place, the classroom was not built in such a way that it had rising rows as a typical college or academy may usually employ, but was just a straight, narrow room.

Well, when I say narrow, I mean that it did not posess the same eliptical architecture that an elven forum does, which typical classrooms usually portray but rather five sets of neatly posistioned loboratorial tables set in three equal rows. The three rows could be basically summed up as the left, the middle and the right row.

Unlike what one may assume from just hearing the description of this place, there were no windows on either side... which was most likely why the stench of blood was thick and heavy in the air. Then again, considering that people are meant to study blood magic in this room that might be a boon. Or maybe not, as plastered upon the walls of the room were scented candles of all kinds of exotic scents.

They apeared to be fueled by magic of some kind... magic which, I sadly did not know of which meant that I would have to suffer the stench for the time being."Oh well, might as well pick a desk and wait for the others..."

Huh, wait... others? Wouldn't some of my fellow classmates be here by now?.. Must have missed something important yesterday."No, that can't be right."

I waved my concern off. When I was leaving the student home I was currently staying at, no other student seemed to have anything to do today."Guess tuesdays are for special classes only?"

Muttering out in dissapproval at the teachers absence once again, I promptly walked over to the closest lab-desk and sat down. Pulling out my heretical collection of Chaos-influenced ramblings and scribbles, I open the dreadful book and place it to my left.

To my right, I put up three separate letters which were delivered to me this morning. One from that thief who tried to rob me, Lloyd. One from my ever-diligent mayor and steward, Yvain. And the last one was a letter from the master tailor into whose business I had invested, Merriel.

I opened the letter from Lloyd.

"Alice, huh? Yeah, heard your damn name from that bastard Casper. Fucker does not know when to quit or where to place some moral limits... shits bound to make him a lot of enemies, already has in fact. But, to have so many people want him dead and still live, I guess I can find some respect for the fool. Don't think he has any right to be leading a thieves guild though, many dont, but his recent dealings with a certain High Lady is bound to pull some eyes his way, eh?" Ah, shit..

I shook my head in disbelief and shame. Regardless of how and why I got the title, I am a High Lady now. Just my presence alone is worth looking for. Anyways, moving on...

Have to remember to send some hush money over to Lloyd. Mostly because I am thankfull for the wake-up call. If he didn't throw my own damn title into my face like this, who knows what else I might've done."Milady, since it has been months after your fathers .. first death, the many soldiers he had gathered from the sourrounding lands have finally returned. This levy consists mostly of heavy infantry, pistol-skirmishers, orcish mercenaries and ambitious magi whom your father employed. As they are your fathers personal levies, the responsibility of their deployment and their salaries falls onto you. Normally, I would just send them all home as they all collectively cost over fifty gold a month to maintain which we clearly do not have, but their leader whom is the most eloquent orc warlord I have ever seen, has expressed a desire to settle the fertile but completely forested lands around the castle. He is not alone in this either, as many of our own guardsmen have expressed the wish to bring their families here. Let us not forget to mention the clear economic benefits of this decision as the orcs would basically become a minority settlement which would effectively open up many trading opportunities with the orcish Edgelands which your county borders. This may also ensure the end of orcish raiding parties plaguing your lands... In the end, this all comes down to the cost of it all. The estimated value of the primary settlements construction would be around two-hundred clausian gold, with that number increasing to over six hundred should we ever wish to expand the city. This is mostly because a proper quarry would be required to continue contruction efforts and sadly, the ancient one which was used to construct this castle has long since fallen into a state of disrepair. However, my brother and myself are more than willing to invest in this endeavour and I am sure that the other city mayors are liable to invest in this as well. But! A sizable sum of one hundred Clausian gold would still be needed from your own .... dry coffers... The choice is yours."

I let out a massive sigh as I finished reading this letter. Not just opening up a trade route to the edgelands, but also an end to orcish raiding... Maybe later I could even organize a miniature silk-road of sorts?

What my good mayor does not see however, is the clear millitary benefits that having orcish subjects implies. Though, paying this now would tank my current reserves of money, I guess I'll just have to be moderate for the time being and hope to the heavens that Merriel has some good news for me. Come to think of it, lets read what the tailor has to say before making a decision.

"Miss Pendragon, I'm truly glad to have had the good fortune of meeting you these few days ago! Your investment into my work put aside for the moment, the very fact that you managed to shove my life back into order is an extraordinary feat, if my wife is to be believed anyways. She was so happy that she even allowed me back into the house!... though, I am still forced to sleep in the kitchen for some reason. Anyways, the machine is complete! And though I have yet to put it into motion and earn anything from it... I may have been a bit over the top when I claimed it would take so much gold to get myself started again. So I have returned the remainder of the gold you have given me... its not much considering the amount you invested, but if I have learned anything from you is that not a single coin should be wasted! So please, take back this sum of thirteen gold and expect a proper return to your investment within the week." Well...

Its not what I had expected or hoped for, but its something."The Lunatic Scribbles of Alice Pendragon, eh? How adorable." A voice suddenly echoed from my side as I turned my head around to first notice how my heretical diary was missing and second, there was a teacher right next to me!

"Uh... sir? Could I have that book back?" The relatively young human man shrugged and dropped the book onto the table after staring at its contents for a bit, turning his head away as a droplet of blood fell from his eyes. He wiped it off like it was a common occurence."Hmm? Magia Insanium? And yet, those truly did seem like lunatic scribbles."

Magia Insanium, aka the event in which a mage learns something so grand and, quite possibly forbidden, that it changes the way they think about magic, possibly turning them insane in the process. I guess this means I should keep the book closer to myself."A-are you alright, sir?"

"I'm fine. The name is Shern, Of Asteriel. I am to be your blood magic teacher for this year, miss Pendragon... though, I must say that what you have in that book of yours is far more interesting." He nodded to himself as he approached the blackboard and magically locked the door to the classroom with a wave of his wand. When I saw him begin to draw my scribbles onto the board, I felt my heart stop.

Yet... the man seemed ... curious."The pictures in that book, these orbs especially... what are they?"

"Erm sir... I have no idea." I replied honestly, elicting an intrigued look from the man."How did you draw them then, child?"

"I had a vision." My honesty was the horrible child of my current fear and my hope. Hope that this man might shed some light on the incomprehendable knowledge that Chaos had bestowed upon me."I see.. Well, to be perfectly honest, these appear to be planetary objects."

"Planetary objects?" I tilted my head in confusion as the man nodded in seeming recognition."Ah, figures that you do not know what that is. The church and the nobility.. their own hubris and unwillingness to accept truth blinds even their own spawn."

He took in a deep breath and, even if I was slightly insulted by his words I felt that they were true."Planetary objects are what you would refer to as the stars in the sky and the planets within our solar system. Our solar system is-"

"The territorial range of our sun and everything within in." I interrupted him on instinct, causing the man to quirk an eyebrow at me.".. ah, sorry teacher."

"No, thats fine. If you interrupt me then that means you know and you do not need to be told about something. Anyways, moving on... the orbs resemble planetary objects and the way that those within our solar system ... revolve, around the sun. Yet, what separates them from those very bodies is the fact that there appear to be orbs within orbs." He circled around the inner orbs once again, making it so the chalk was a deeper white color.

"I .. this is troubling. Child, what were you thinking of when this vision of yours came to you?" I thought for a moment and then replied."Fire. I was thinking about fire... but not magical fire, the natural thing."

He blinked and nodded, turning his head back towards the board."Fire, eh?.. what would these have to do with fire?.. Hmm, I do not see the connection, but perhaps we should expore the notion of fire, first."

Instinctively, I dragged my lunatic book closer and grabbed the nearest pen, feeling that this would indeed clear another part of the puzzle."Great scholars and alchemists of the past have concluded that fire, as a form of magic, requires three things to function. Rage, first and foremost, for without it, there is nothing to fuel the flame. Air, while not outright needed for magical flames, its presence reduces the amount of mana needed to cast any form of magical flame, the reason for is yet to be deduced. This is also the case with heat, as fire magic is easier to cast in places of high temperature."

Writing everything he said, I asked."What about natural fire, though?"

"Well, I belive that natural flame cannot be much different from its magical variant. Air and heat become a neccessity but rage is replaced by something else." I blinked."You mean, something else fuels natural flame? So.. wood?"

"Flammable materials, but you are on the right track." Flammable materials? So anything that can burn?... isn't that like, everything?"I see the confusion in your eyes girl, is something on your mind?"

I shook my head in negative and stared at the pictures for a moment. Suddenly, I remembered what the teacher said about it resembling planetary objects."Teacher, do planetary objects move or are they all stationary?"

"They do move. I've already told you that they revolve around the Sun... though, you don't know what that word means, do you?" He sighed and let out a laugh as I pouted."I guess they ... run circles around the sun?"

A surprised nod."Clever girl. But what does this have to do with the pictures?"

"Well, I just thought if it was possible for my... orbs, to move around. Especially the ones inside of the other orbs... they're so close together that, even if they were to move very slowly, they'd create a lot of heat while confined within the bigger orb." He turned his head back around and created several arrows within the main orb. These appeared to be directions for movement which the inner orbs could accomplish."Certainly, if these inner orbs could move, they would create a lot of heat within the center orb."

"But how does that heat turn into fire?" I muttered out as I grabbed my book and pen and walked over to the drawing board to inspect the bigger pictures closer."Hmm... let us add the numbers you wrote for each orb. Those did come with your vision, yes?"

A nod."They did... though, I understand them less than I do the rest of the drawing."

He chuckled."Understandable. At your age, you have yet to learn anything about advanced mathematics, after all." Mathematics? I tilted my head in confusion."They have a mathematical meaning?"

"Of course they do, girl. They are numbers! All numbers have a mathematical meaning." He promptly assinged the numbers: 0, +1 and -1 to their respective orbs.

The picture on the board now looked like this; there was one giant orb with six lesser orbs inside and one even smaller orb rotating around it. Wait.. rotating?"Something on your mind, girl? You appear to have had an epiphany."

"Erm, not really. I just feel like the orb on the outside is rotating around the center orb... like the planets." I replied with a sigh."You feel like it, eh? Interesting. Another connection to the planetary objects too..." He murmured as he drew a circle around the center orb which passed through the middle of the orb outside, indicating its rotation.

I quickly scribbled that into my book."Hmm, this sheds some light onto the picture now." He suddenly exclaimed as he pointed towards the numbers."You have not yet learned this, but the numbers you drew each have a meaning. 0 is the mathematical equivalent of neutrality, +1 of positivity and -1 of negativity."

"So how does that make the picture clearer?" I asked, causing the man to chuckle again."You are the one who drew this and yet, it feels like I understand it better. How adorable."

"I'm nine years old and you are what, thirty?" A rather uncalled for remark as the man grinned."I'm forty-six, actually. Blood magic tends to make one... fresh."

He turned back to the board, his wording making me feel creeped out for a moment."In any case, what the numbers show is that the outside orb is negative. The center orb seems to be positive and the inner orbs are neutral. Or, perhaps more accurately, the end result of the center orb is positive."

"End result?" I asked the man as he began adding onto the picture."Lets say that the biggest orb, which I shall from now on refer to as a core, itself has no real standing. It is passively neutral, as the vision had shown you by marking some of the inner orbs with the number zero. Yet, the personality of the core itself is positive. This can only mean one thing... the unmarked orbs within the core are all positive. There are three of them."

"So 0+0+0+1+1+1 equals... 3?" I tilted my head in confusion once more as my teacher shook his head."There are no such values in personality, miss Pendragon. If something is of positive value then it is of positive personality... same logic goes for the others."

"So the core is positive, you mean?" He nodded."Now, tell me, do you know about the noble saying; opposites attract?"

"Opposites attract? Isn't that a romance notion? About how men and women of totally different personalities usually get toge-.. the orbs. The outside orb and the inside orbs have opposite personalities, so they attract one another, causing the outside orb to spin around the cen-, ahem, the core."

"Correct." He added a few more chalk lines indicating what we just discovered and I quickly wrote it all down into my book. However, before we could continue, the bell had rang. We both turned our heads upwards and noticed how it was currently 12am."How.. time passes so quickly when you are having fun."

The teacher said and, with a sad wave of his wand, deleted what he had drawn upon the board. Then he turned around and handed me a book, one which contained what I was supposed to be studying today. A tome of blood magic."Since I was late today and the fact that you are my only student this year, I think nobody will care about us stopping the lesson here and now... lest our actions may draw unneeded attention."

A blink caused me to turn my head around and towards the door. Several shadows stood behind it, listening in to our conversation. Students, nobles... classmates and enemies in one."I see.. well, I guess we can continue this next tuesday then?"

Taking the book and placing everything back into my bag as quickly as I could, I heard the teacher sigh."Yes, we shall have to in order to avoid suspicion. In the meantime, I shall ponder what we have discovered here. I would also invite you to my laboratory but that would be a dangerous thing to do right now and besides, the headmaster is expecting you."

A last nod was his answer as I opened the door, revealing and stunning more than one creepy asshole who was listening in on our conversation."See you then, teacher."

"You as well, miss Pendragon. And please, do call me Mr Shern in the future, young lady." He laughed at my antics as I quickly departed the classroom, leaving behind me a myriad of confused and shocked onlookers.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Thats about all I can manage for now...

GOTTA SLEEP.

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!