Despite Gelida’s spirited exclamation of, “Let’s go!” the process afterwards was bureaucratically mundane in nature. She and Cadmus had to show the quest sheet signed by Professor Mackenzie to a clerk in an office just a short ways away from the campus, after which they were granted a carriage to use to travel to Mento Village.

The carriage and its driver were a loan—one that was paid for by the Laurucian Academy of Magic through some legal agreement—and once the passengers were brought to their destination they would leave. The carriage would then return on Sunday evening, after which Cadmus and Gelida would be forced to return to Anguis, no matter whether they had properly completed their quest or not.

Having been told all this in no unclear terms, they were finally allowed to set off. It took a while to finally reach the gates to leave the city, and the sun had already begun setting before they had started their journey, so the sky was rapidly darkening now as they made their way down the main road from Anguis.

It was most likely because of this that everyone they passed by seemed to be in such a rush; most of them hurrying towards Anguis, but some hurrying even faster away. It seemed those of the latter hoped to reach a spot of civilization before night completely fell.

As Cadmus watched the rolling fields pass by, Gelida stared curiously at Alice. After a while, she said, “You know, I’ve heard a bunch of rumours about why you created a homunculus, but I still can’t be sure which one’s true.”

“A bunch of rumours?” Cadmus asked, turning to her.

Gelida nodded, “Yeah! I’ve heard all kinds of reasons. I mean, the fact that you’re called the ‘Necromancer’ lets people know that you created her as a first step to prove that magic can indeed create life, but people are still unsure about the why of it. Guesses range from, you just wanted to prove your genius, to, you were inspired by those fictional necromancers in the stories, to, you want to revive someone specific from the dead.”

“How strange,” Cadmus said, “I’ve never once hidden my reason for creating Alice. Although, I must confess, I find myself curious now: what do you think my reason is?”

Gelida stared at Alice thoughtfully for a few moments, before she lifted her gaze and locked eyes with Cadmus, looking solemn now.

“It’s to revive someone specific from the dead—someone you loved dearly. For you to have proved such a fundamental law of magic wrong at such a young age… you must have been terribly desperate.”

Cadmus felt almost taken aback. The right guess had not been a difficult one to make, but the way Gelida had said it… it was almost as though she understood exactly what he had felt back then, like she had personally watched him as he tore through research journals and books, desperately trying to find a method to create life.

He smiled wanly, “Yes, you’re right. I created Alice because someday I want to bring my sister back from the dead.”

“What was her name?” Gelida asked gently.

“Ember,” and even just the mention of her name was enough to develop a small lump in his throat, “Ember Guiles.”

“Oh!” Gelida perked up, “I’ve heard of her! She was that crazy talented student who pretty much no one could hold a candle to, right? Now that I think about it, didn’t they mention that in the Twin Peaks Tournament as well…? Can’t believe I forgot about that…”

Cadmus couldn’t help but grin proudly at that, “Yep, exactly.”

Gelida laughed, “Guess the talent gene got passed down to both kids, huh?”

Cadmus smiled, more at the thought of sharing something with Ember than the actual compliment, “Thank you.”

A strangely embarrassed look came over Gelida’s face, “Say… if you actually do manage to create a spell to revive your sister from the dead, then do you think you could revive anyone?”

Cadmus shrugged, “Unfortunately, I haven’t yet progressed enough in my research to make any firm claims. However, based on the direction of my research, I suspect I’ll at least need the intact body of the deceased subject to even have a chance at reviving them.”

Gelida looked out the window and sighed, “An intact body, huh…? Makes sense…”

A silence fell in between them, but it did not last long. Gelida seemed to enjoy talking, and so she leaned forwards curiously, “How did you even manage to create Alice? Desperate as you were, it’s hard to believe that a kid like you was able to do what generations of mages couldn’t.”

And so Cadmus told her of the incredible amount of laurite and astonishingly rare research materials that Ember left behind, elaborating on which journals and books he’d found most useful when she asked further.

By the time their conversation had progressed onto the nuances of life magic, Alice had fallen asleep. It was only a short while later that Cadmus and Gelida followed suit—it was rather late in the night, after all.

When Cadmus next awoke, it was still dark, but he could tell by the stiffness of his body and the ache in his neck that some time had passed. He looked out the window and tried to peer into the darkness, but the small torches attached to the sides of the carriage proved too weak a light source. They did, however, allow him to see that the carriage was now riding along a dirt road edged with wild greenery now instead of a paved one, indicating that they had veered off the main road a while ago.

They rode on for a while yet before Gelida awoke as well. She peered out the window as well, squinting into the darkness as though looking for something. This continued on for several minutes before the carriage suddenly tilted upwards, having come upon an incline.

“Oh—the river—!” Gelida exclaimed. She threw open the carriage door and said to the driver, “Here’s fine! We’ll get off here!”

The carriage slowly came to a stop, and the driver looked back unsurely at her from the edge of his seat, “Are you sure? We still haven’t reached Mento Village yet.”

Gelida waved him off, “It’s fine, it’s fine!”

Their voices awoke Alice, who yawned and blearily looked up at Cadmus, “What’s going on?”

“It seems we’re going to be going on a bit of a walk.”

Following Gelida’s lead, Cadmus exited the carriage, and after Gelida reassured the driver multiple times that they would be fine, he finally turned around and left, the hesitant look still clear on his face.

Casting Fire for some light and looking down, Cadmus saw that Gelida had been right: they were indeed standing on a river. Or rather, they were standing on a wooden bridge which crossed over a narrow river.

“So why have we gotten off here?” Cadmus asked.

Gelida merely grinned, “Follow me—I know the way!”

She walked across the bridge, and they continued down the path for a bit. As they walked, the sky slowly lightened, heralding the imminent dawn. Soon enough, they entered a strange clearing: with blackened ground that stretched far, as though some divine entity had lit an enormous match and chosen to burn the ground in this area specifically. All that remained now was the charcoal and ash underneath their feet.

There were roughly made crosses carved of wood stuck into the ground everywhere, though there were no burn marks on them like the rest of the clearing.

“What are they…?” Alice asked nervously.

“Graves,” Gelida answered, and her voice was solemn, “Or rather, they’re memorials. All those remembered here had no bodies left to be buried.”

Cadmus leaned closer, the dim light from the sky now bright enough to allow him to read the small notches made upon the faces of the memorials.

Noel May

Gale Read

Ashton Smith

Reed Hunter

Gelida came to a stop in front of one of the memorials, and Cadmus took a look.

Mylo Olvo

“Your father?” He asked.

Galida said quietly, “Yeah,” then she laughed slightly, “Silly name, isn’t it? Short and rhyming—it’s almost like a name from a children’s story. A silly name… for a silly man.”

It was strange to see the ever-energetic Gelida so subdued like this.

“Why did you bring us here?” Cadmus asked.

Gelida shrugged, “I made you talk about your sister. Felt it was only fair to return the favour. Besides, this was the other reason I wanted to take this quest: this used to be my home, Springville… I haven’t been back in a while.”

Alice looked around with wide eyes, “What… what happened here?”

The smirk Gelida sent Alice’s way almost looked like a grimace, “We were attacked—by a dragon.”

Alice blinked, “A… dragon?”

Gelida nodded, “Yes. One day, one normal day just like any other, a great big black dragon flew overhead and blew a giant ball of fire at us. It was such a sudden thing… and I’ve never been able to confirm this, but I think it just chose to attack us on a whim—like it was just stepping on a few ants because it was bored.”

Cadmus wondered if that was why the land here was still so barren. He’d have expected greenery to already start growing back if whole years had passed, but that was only if the cause of the incident had been ordinary fire. Dragon fire was… different.

“How did you survive?” He asked.

Gelida puffed out her chest slightly, “It was my dad who created the Anti-Heat spell. Everything happened so fast, but the fireball landed on the other side of the village, and he was already tinkering with his spell at the time, so he used it to protect us from the blast. I still almost lost consciousness from the aftershock, and by the time I realized what was happening, everyone was burning.”

Cadmus watched her as she spoke; it was almost a little disconcerting how lightly she spoke of such a heavy topic, like she was summarizing a story from a book. The only thing that offsetted that impression was the quiet of her voice. Until now, he had never known her to be this quiet.

“The dragon just kinda flew around the area after that, throwing fire here and there, so my dad told me to run, and then he ran towards the Bone Crags.”

She pointed down the path they were travelling, the one which would take them to Mento Village. So there were crags beyond it…

“Why?” Alice asked, “Was he trying to get some height to fight the dragon?”

Gelida gave Alice an amused look, “You’ve never seen a dragon before, have you?”

“No…?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious. If you had, you would have known: a dragon… isn’t something you fight. To think of it as a creature is a mistake. It’s more… calamity incarnate. You can’t fight calamity.”

“Then… what was your dad trying to do?” Alice asked timidly, “And, how did he…?”

How did he die?

The unvoiced question hung there for a moment. Then, Gelida spoke, “He was trying to get help.”

Alice blinked, “But you said—”

“Yeah, humans can’t fight calamity, but calamity can fight calamity.” She rubbed her chin and muttered to herself, “Wait, that doesn’t make sense…”

Cadmus and Alice looked at her, similar expressions of confusion on their faces.

“You see, my dad actually befriended a dragon when he was young; that dragon used to live somewhere in the Bone Crags,” Gelida explained, “He went to go ask it for help, and actually succeeded, because just a short while later, this white dragon came flying out and began fighting the black dragon right above us.”

She pointed up at the sky, “You had to be there to understand… it was a sight beyond any other. Fire spewed everywhere, like it was the end of the world, and every time the two dragons collided, the world shook. It was only because of luck that Mento Village survived the battle—even my dad was killed in one of the stray blasts.”

“Oh… I’m sorry…” Alice said.

Gelida shot her a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry about it, this happened years ago.”

“How did the battle between the dragons end?” Cadmus asked.

Gelida shrugged, “It was pretty much a mutual loss. The white dragon had its throat ripped out, and the black one was stabbed through the chest with claws. They couldn’t keep flying, so they retreated towards the Bone Crags and died there.”

Alice looked disturbed by Gelida’s casual description of visceral violence.

“Anyway, let’s keep moving,” Gelida said, “That’s enough reminiscing.”

Cadmus followed as Gelida led the way down the rough dirt path, their surroundings quickly filling up with trees once more. As they walked, a thought occurred to Cadmus.

“You can’t fight calamity… is it?”

Gelida looked back at him curiously, “Yeah?”

“But that’s exactly what Saint George did.”

Alice looked up at him, “From that book?”

Cadmus nodded, “Yes, it was written that he confronted an evil dragon for the sake of the people and slew it. Sigurd, the person whose muscle memory I borrow for Heroic Possession did the same.”

Gelida gave a thoughtful look at that, “…So they did.”

By the time their group of three emerged from the enclosed forest and found themselves on the edge of Mento Village, the sun had already made its way high into the sky. The village itself was a farming village, like many others, and its houses stood at the bottom of a vaguely circular depression, like a basin. The land layering upon each other and leading downwards to the bottom of the basin was where most of the farms lay, and it was there where most of the residents were working now.

They continued walking down the path which led past the farms and to the houses, and it was here they were spotted by a rather burly man as he was repairing his fences. The man handed his hammer to his child, who had been watching him, and bounded over to them, frowning.

“Travelers? Now? You guys should probably go, now’s not a good time—wait… Gelida?” Now that he recognized Gelida, his face instantly lit up, and his eyes flicked to the crest on the breast pocket of their cloaks, “If you’re back now, that must mean you’ve come for the quest—from the Academy!”

Gelida grinned, “Yep! How ya been, Edwin?”

“Just peachy! You made it here just in time! Let me take you to the chief—we can catch up later!”

They were taken down to the residential area, and then to one specific house that seemed slightly larger than the rest. Edwin knocked on the door before simply opening it and walking in.

It was a meeting house, with numerous chairs arranged in a rectangular fashion to have them all face each other. It was empty of people, save one, who was sitting at the table placed at the very centre of the chairs.

“Chief! The people from the Academy are here!” Edwin called.

The chief, who had been carefully studying several pieces of parchment, looked up, his slightly chubby face filling up with excitement.

“So they’ve finally arrived, have they? Oh, if it isn’t Gelida?” The excitement on his face reached further heights as he stood up and made his way over to them, “Perfect! Just perfect!”

“I hear you’ve got a problem with wolves, chief?” Gelida said by way of greeting, “Gotta admit, I’m a bit surprised. I figured our hunters are pretty top-notch. Wolves should be no problem for them.”

The chief’s excitement faltered slightly as he nodded, “Indeed, indeed… is this your friend?”

“Yeah,” Gelida said, “His name’s Cadmus; we decided to take your quest together.”

“I see… that’s even better…” The chief muttered to himself. Then, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cadmus. My name is Roger, but you can call me chief, just like everyone else here does.”

Cadmus nodded politely and shook Roger’s hand, “A pleasure to meet you too, chief.”

Roger turned back to Gelida, “Would you like to rest here for a bit, Gelida? It must have been a long ride from the capital.”

Gelida frowned, “Don’t you want us to deal with the wolves as soon as possible?”

Roger nodded, “Those wolves are a problem, yes, and they’re a little too troublesome for our hunters to handle; but, for students of the Laurucian Academy of Magic, they should be no trouble! I’ve already considered that problem pretty much solved now that you’re here! Don’t worry, just relax and enjoy yourself for today—you haven’t been home in so long, after all!”

Gelida said, “That sounds great, but we’re leaving tomorrow evening—”

“Not a problem at all,” Roger assured, “You can go into the forest tomorrow morning and have our request done by the time you need to leave.”

Gelida looked hesitant, “Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

“I would rather just finish the quest today,” Cadmus interjected.

“Come now, don’t be like that,” Roger said placatingly, “It’s been so long since Gelida returned home, and you both must have had such a long journey. A day's rest is exactly what you need to return to top form!”

Cadmus tried to protest this useless waste of time, but Roger was overbearing, and he soon found himself pushed outside the meeting house with Gelida, the door closed behind them. It wasn’t like they could hunt the wolves without directions from the chief, so Cadmus was forced to let his grievances go and accept that he would just have to finish the quest tomorrow.

“Follow me,” Gelida said, taking the lead, “My house is this way.”

As Cadmus followed, Alice asked, “Mento Village is your home?”

“Yeah. With Springville gone, I moved here to live with my aunt,” Gelida said, “Aunt Bea’s great—wait till you meet her!”

They continued walking, moving past more cottages, and as they did so, Alice looked around nostalgically.

“It’s kind of like Benig, isn’t it?”

Gelida looked back, “Benig?”

“The village we lived in before we came to the Academy.”

“Oh yeah, you lived in a village too. How does Mento compare to Benig?”

“This village is quite a bit larger than ours,” Cadmus said, looking around, “But other than that, it’s pretty much the same.”

Alice grinned teasingly up at him, “And how would you know? You never went outside.”

Cadmus smiled back at her, “I used to, when I was young.”

Gelida said, “Aren’t we still young?”

“When I was younger then.”

Gelida chuckled before turning her attention to Alice again, “By the way, why didn’t you reveal yourself to the chief and Edwin? Are you trying to keep yourself hidden?”

Alice shrugged, “Sort of. The village chief—our village chief, in Benig—told me to keep myself hidden from other people. I figured it was fine to reveal myself in a magic school since I’m a product of magic itself, but here I’m following his instructions.”

“I see…”

“I don’t think you need to hide here either,” Cadmus said, “We’re only staying here for one night after all.”

His face twisted in annoyance, showing what he still of that idea.

Alice looked hesitant, “I guess…”

“At the very least, I can confidently guarantee that nothing will happen if you show yourself to aunt Bea,” Gelida said, “Besides, it’s not like you can stay hidden the whole time. How in the world did you manage that in Benig?”

Alice said, “In Benig we just never left the house, so I didn’t really need to actively hide myself that often.”

“Sure, but since you’re going to be staying in my house for the night, hiding all that time will get really uncomfortable. Just say hi—oh, we’re here!”

They came to a stop in front of a modest-looking cottage. It was small, but seemed incredibly well-taken care of.

Gelida knocked on the door.

“Aunt Bea! It’s me~!”

The door flew open in seconds, and a woman with a broom in her hand came frantically barreling out. She resembled Gelida tremendously, with her blonde hair, tan skin, and sturdy build, however, she also had quite a few more wrinkles on her face and a maturity about her that Gelida did not possess.

“Gelida! What are you doing here!”

Cadmus felt there was something about her surprise that seemed almost… horrified.

“I took the quest you guys posted,” Gelida said brightly. She theatrically puffed out her chest, “Fear not, for your wolf problems shall soon be no more!”

Aunt Bea frowned, “Right… the quest…”

Gelida wrapped her in a warm hug, and she automatically reciprocated. Once they separated, Gelida took a closer look at her face.

“What’s wrong? You don’t look very thrilled to see me. Were you hoping I’d leave you in peace for a while longer?” Gelida asked jokingly.

Aunt Bea instantly whapped her on the head.

“Never say that. You’re always welcome here.”

“What’s got you all frowny then?”

Aunt Bea looked as though she were thinking her words over, “I’d… rather not have you face dangerous beasts such as wolves. Talented as you are, you’re still only a first-year student. You should go back and let some of the older students handle this.”

Gelida smirked, “Is that it? Don’t worry about all that, we’ll be fine! I’ve even got some top-notch backup!”

Aunt Bea looked over at Cadmus, “It’s a pleasure to meet one of Gelida’s friends. May have I your name?”

“Cadmus Guiles.”

“Guiles?” Aunt Bea blinked, “Any relation to Ember Guiles?”

“My sister.”

“See? This is what you get for skipping huge events like the Twin Peaks Tournament,” Gelida complained, “You’d have known this if you’d come to watch. He participated in it as well—actually even ended up winning it. So there’s no doubt about the quality of my backup.”

Aunt Bea looked annoyed, “As I’ve already told you, I’m sorry but I was busy. There was nothing I could do.” She then ran an evaluating gaze over Cadmus, “So you were the one who won that prestigious tournament this year? A very fine congratulations to you. You may have already heard, but my name is Bea Olvo. You can call me Bea, or aunt Bea.”

“He and two others,” Gelida said, “Can we go in now? It’s pretty cold out here.”

“Oh, right… yes, yes, come in…” Aunt Bea stepped aside and muttered under breath, “‘Mage of Frigid Winter’ my ass…”

It was a house like any other, with a cozy fireplace to warm up the living room. Aunt Bea directed them all to the wooden table, which, just like its chairs, was rather close to the ground. As they took a seat, Aunt Bea went up to the pot hanging above the fireplace, which smelled of food.

As she used a ladle to scoop up what looked like vegetable stew into wooden bowls, Alice finally popped her head out of Cadmus’ breast pocket.

“Thank you for letting us stay in your home.”

“You’re welcome. Any friend of Gelida’s is welcome—”

Aunt Bea suddenly turned to look at Alice, nearly dropping her ladle as she did so.

“A… homunculus…?”

Cadmus tilted his head curiously, “You know the term?”

Aunt Bea nodded absently, still looking as though she were recovering from her shock, “I… yes, I learned some magic from the same person Gelida did… my brother. Homunculus is one of the only terms I remember because I always used to joke with him that, with the lack of any good men here, I‘d just build myself the perfect boy—” she cleared her throat embarrassedly, “—actually, nevermind that. I thought creating a true homunculus was impossible?”

“It was difficult, but I managed somehow,” Cadmus said.

Alice smiled sweetly, “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Aunt Bea nodded slowly, “And you. Unfortunately, I don’t have any bowls for someone of your size; do you mind sharing with Cadmus?”

“That’ll be just fine,” Alice assured, “I don’t need very much food anyway.”

“Right, yes, that makes sense—on account of your size…”

“If you’ve learned magic from the same person as Gelida, does that mean you also favor symbology from the Yggdrasil family, same as her?” Cadmus asked.

“Yggdrasil family…?” Aunt Bea repeated confusedly, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t study near enough magic to understand what those words mean. Not to mention, it’s been nearly a decade since those days. All I learned were some spells, and about a few things that interested me.”

Cadmus nodded, “Like homunculi.”

Aunt Bea’s ears turned red as she set down the three bowls on the table and took a seat as well.

“The answer’s yes,” Gelida jumped in, “Dad was a master of Yggdrasil symbology; that’s why he liked ice spells.”

Cadmus nodded understandingly, “Because ice spells are most effective when constructed with symbology from the Yggdrasil family.”

“Yeah, and then he taught us too.”

“A master, huh…?” Aunt Bea said, the melancholy in her voice obvious, “Do you think he would have done well in the Laurucian Academy of Magic?”

“Undoubtedly,” Cadmus said, “I haven’t had a proper chance to examine Gelida’s cold spells, but from what I saw, it was incredibly well designed. Neat, uniform, and inspired: The person who designed that undoubtedly had great talent.”

Gelida grinned widely, “And that was after I added a few modifications in! Dad’s improvements would have been even cleaner!”

Aunt Bea smiled wryly “Is that so? It’s too bad the Academy never spotted his talent when he was young. The Redbrick House of Learning snatched him up first.” She seemed lost in a memory now, “Ha! We pretty much bankrupted ourselves to send him there…”

Gelida smiled, basking in Aunt Bea’s reminiscing before turning to Cadmus, “Speaking of, of course you’d recognize neat formula structure, wouldn’t you?”

Aunt Bea blinked, returning to the present, “Why so?”

Gelida grinned teasingly, “The only original spell of yours that I got to see was Heroic Possession, and though I didn’t get to take a close look at it, even at a glance I could tell that it was the most haphazard circle I’d ever seen. A core formed with symbology from the Duat family jammed together with insanely complex formulae from the Yggdrasil family, and then a hundred tiny steps to translate the two and get them to work together! Just looking at that thing almost made me go insane!”

Aunt Bea’s ears perked up, having recognized her newly-learned terms, “You use symbology from the Yggdrasil family as well, Cadmus?”

“There are few formulae that deal with the transfer of knowledge as effectively as Odin’s symbols,” Cadmus explained, “Though Osiris’ symbols from the Duat family remain as the focus for my spells, as I’m far more comfortable with them.”

“And mixing the symbology from those two families is… haphazard?”

Gelida shook her head, “Not always, if done meticulously and correctly. But the way Cadmus designs his circles… Hm… I guess the best way to describe it is: functionality over efficiency? Or something close to that.” She leaned back thoughtfully, “Then again, maybe it’s that very trait which allows you to design such unconventional spells…”

Cadmus and Gelida’s discussion of the nuances of their respective magics wore on through the day and into the night. Aunt Bea watched warmly for a while, with Alice wearing the same expression for some reason, before the former left to do her chores.

Cadmus was unsure, but he thought there was almost something odd about Aunt Bea: she possessed a strange sort of nervousness, an anticipation that she did not seem able to shake no matter what. It was as though she was expecting bandits to suddenly attack her home or something.

When night fell in full, blankets were laid out on the ground as mattresses for Cadmus and Gelida to sleep on. It was a far cry from the comfy beds in the Academy, but Cadmus did not have a problem with it: he had slept on the ground more times than he could count, mostly just because he couldn’t be bothered to leave the library in his home in Benig.

It was a nice night out, and the room that Cadmus and Gelida had been assigned had a window up high, allowing the light of the moon and stars to stream in. Gelida was out like a light the moment her body hit the mattress, but Cadmus took a bit longer to follow.

He could feel his thoughts start to stray and unravel, slowly tipping over the edge of sleep, when, at the last moment, he was roped back into consciousness by the sound of aunt Bea’s voice right outside the house.

“Chief! Chief!”

“Bea,” Chief Roger’s voice travelled through the open window, “Have you enjoyed your reunion with your niece—?”

“You have to send her back, chief.”

There was silence for a moment, then, “And why do you say that?”

“If it was anyone else—anyone at all—I—”

“The fact that it’s Gelida is what makes this perfect,” the chief said sternly, “I never expected such a golden opportunity to fall into our laps, to let go of it would be the height of foolishness.”

“But—!”

“Her friend, is he a noble?”

There was another moment of silence before aunt Bea’s tired voice answered, “I… I don’t know. I can’t tell. He almost talks like a noble, but… it’s hard to tell… Was Ember Guiles a noble?”

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve only ever heard about her prowess in magic. But it’s just as well if he’s related to a famous figure like that. Unfortunately, we’ve already revealed that this is Gelida’s home; we must not let him find anything suspect in that connection.”

“Please… chief, you have to send her back… you don’t understand…” Aunt Bea begged.

“I understand perfectly,” Roger’s voice was firm, “But we don’t know how long we have, and we’ve received the perfect people. End of discussion. Have a nice night.”

And all that remained of their short conversation was the sound of fading footsteps, and a single eavesdropper.