As Cypher returned to his room, his mind was racing with possibilities. The book he had just stolen slid down the leg of his pants and toppled to the floor. Cypher stared at it in awe for a few moments as he thought about what had just happened. His knowledge about the world was steadily growing these days, but it was still somewhat lacking if one thought about it.

Still, he knew that what he had now was something extraordinary. In his time at the mansion, he had read about many different things. Nothing captivated him quite like the tales of the powerful Conductors that roamed the world. They were able to use Magick to bend the laws of the world to their will and forge destinies for themselves centered around their own power.

The core of this power was the mighty spells they were able to cast, and right now Cypher was almost certain that he had stumbled across a book of Magick. This was both good and bad. It was good because, for the very first time, Cypher would be able to get a better understanding of a topic that had fascinated him for as long as he could remember. The bad news was, of course, that if he was caught the punishment would be far worse than it normally would be.

Stealing in the mansion was an obvious taboo. Wealth such as what the Galvans had cultivated was something that had taken several generations to bring to fruition. It was the whole reason guards roamed the grounds and hallways in the first place. Galex himself was more than capable of handling petty bandits who might wander onto the grounds in search of riches to steal.

However, the many dozens of servants and cooks who lived here couldn’t possibly be kept watch of at all times. In Cypher’s lifetime, no servant had dared to steal from the Galvan family. But in the past, there were several incidents of such a crime taking place. Galex’s father was a more lenient man than the current head of the household. For those caught stealing in his day, the punishment was simple imprisonment and banishment from the lands under his control once their sentences were up.

Galex was much more merciless when it came to thieves. When Galex had first inherited his position a small group of servants decided to use his commendation ceremony as a distraction to make off with a portion of the Galvan fortune. Their plan failed and the four of them were made to serve as an example for others.

Three of them were imprisoned and had their dominant hands removed. Their leader on the other hand was drawn and quartered in front of everyone who lived within the Galvan mansion. Molly herself had been present for that execution. It was during her first month serving the Galvans, and as cruel as it was for the simple act of stealing, it sent a powerful message to anyone currently under their employ.

Knowing all of this, Cypher had never thought about stealing in the past. The books he had read before were lying about and he had always read them in the places he had found them for the most part. However, this time was very different. He had done this without thinking about it too carefully. It was only made worse because this book was far more special and valuable than anything he had come across before.

Worry spread in his mind, but alongside it, a drive and desire to learn everything he could from this book. Right now the mansion was all but empty and he could take his time reading it here in his room. But what about the future? What would happen in the coming days? Surely they would notice that the book was missing.

At first, it would be seen as Eiden’s negligence but after searching the library and Eiden’s room for it, they’d eventually realize that someone had taken it. When that happened the rooms of every servant would be thoroughly checked. However, in Cypher’s case, he had just the place to stash this dangerous treasure.

It had been after Eiden had destroyed his precious wooden sword. At the time Cypher had indeed been distraught about its loss and if Eiden were to ever come in here in the future he might just destroy more of Cypher’s few possessions. To that end, Cypher had spent several nights digging for a solution to that problem.

His room was small, but there was still enough room for his bed, a small dresser, and enough space for him to stretch out and exercise. Hiding something under his bed or in his dresser was next to impossible. Those were threadbare and easily searched. One would only need to flip the bed or pull out the two drawers on the dresser in order to find anything hidden there.

However, the Galvan mansion had been standing for generations. It was true that the main building was well maintained, but here, in the servant’s quarters, things were left to fall into disrepair. The structure itself was kept in good condition, but if it wasn’t crucial to the integrity of the rest of the mansion it was usually left to rot.

Here though, on the floor right in front of the door, the stone was aged and the mortar joints were cracked and falling apart. Several of the bricks wiggled as one stepped across them and if not for the superior craftsmanship of whoever designed this mansion they would likely have crumbled apart a long time ago.

Cypher had taken notice of one brick in particular and used the broken hilt of the wooden sword to dig it out. Beneath that was a dusty layer of mud and rotting hay used for insulation between the floors. After a few good hits with the hilt of the wooden blade, Cypher had managed to break it up, and remove enough of it to make room for only a few small items in the space between the ceiling of the next floor down and his floor.

Using the hilt like that had damaged it even more than it already was but Cypher deemed it an acceptable loss if it meant saving any of his other possessions in the future. Even now the hilt was in that space and Cypher could think of no better place to hide the book should they come looking for it.

Hiding it was, mostly solved but the next step would be figuring out how long he should keep it. Obviously, he’d have to return it at some point. Something this valuable was bound to stir up all kinds of trouble once someone figured out it was missing. How long did it even take to learn magick? Would anyone know he had learned a spell in the first place? If so, Galex would know the moment he looked at Cypher.

Was this worth it? Should he just return the book and keep training with Jelroy and Eiden? These and other questions welled up in his young mind and he found himself at a loss for what to do. He sat down on the edge of his bed and cradled his head in his hands as he thought. However, only a few minutes passed before he finally decided what to do.

He would keep the book. He would learn this magick. His curiosity simply got the better of him and he stared at the book in his hands before opening it slowly once again. As soon as his eyes landed on the page with the symbols the feeling from before returned. His mind went blank as the pain washed over him and he felt his lower abdomen quiver again.

However, this time he gritted his teeth and kept his eyes focused on the image before him. Despite staring right at it his mind couldn’t make sense of the image at all. He couldn’t even begin to describe what it looked like exactly. His eyes watered and his head throbbed with pain as he stared on, but he could feel something ethereal slipping into his mind. A dot? A line? A burning sigil? With his mind in chaos and pain shooting through his head he couldn’t tell.

After what seemed to him like a few minutes he let the book slip from his hands and fall to the floor and he collapsed gasping for breath and clutching his temples. Sweat poured down his forehead and his legs twitched as he struggled to regain his sense of self. Once he caught his breath and the pain had subsided a bit he pulled himself to his feet and gasped as he stared out the window.

Given the shade of the sky, the sun had begun to set casting pink and yellow across the clouds as the purplish night sky began to show. How long had he been staring at that book? It had to be hours and yet, to him, it felt like only a few minutes. He closed his eyes and tried to envision the symbols on the page.

The only image in his mind was a black canvas that featured only a single glowing line stroke. However, there seemed to be some kind of deeper meaning embedded into that single line. It wasn’t anything he could make sense of, and no new power seemed to flow through him. Despite that, he knew that somehow, he had taken his first big step towards learning whatever magick this was. After all, nothing had ever lingered in his mind like this before.

Simply closing his eyes and calling up the image would return him to that same black canvas with its glowing, dim-blue line. That had to mean something. Right? He bit his lip and recalled the image over and over. Each time it returned to him just as it had before and was nothing like the memories he had made up until that point. He was certain this would stick with him, and that his progress wouldn’t vanish.

His eyes fell upon the book as it lay facedown. The pages rustled as he gathered it up and hid the book as quickly as he could in the space beneath the floor. Hours had passed while he stared at that page and only a small amount of knowledge had been passed to him in that time. He grimaced as he considered how many more times he would have to stare at that book in order to complete the image in his mind.

The pain was unreal and the struggle it took to keep his eyes focused was immense. However, to him, this was simply a part of learning the Magick. He had no formal teacher. He was doing this all on his own and no matter what happened now, he would do his best to complete the image that now lived inside his head.

It took him a few more moments of silent thought to realize how tired he was. His mind felt heavy and sluggish and it caused a strange disconnect given how full of energy his body was. This, he realized, was the drawback. Nothing in this world came without a price. Magick, it seemed, was no different.

After everything he had experienced today, Cypher knew that learning this spell would be quite a lot of hard work. His workload was already so heavy but he gritted his teeth once again and sighed. He was resolved to push himself as far as he needed to in order to achieve his goals. Training with Jelroy, maintaining his duties around the manor, and now, learning Magick, all of it would be difficult to balance.

Still, he thought that if he made a plan, and stuck to it, perhaps he would be able to juggle everything. He began to put a schedule together in his mind. However, before he could get very far, a knock at his door broke him out of his thoughts. He nervously bit his lip and said, “Come in!”