Lies & Labyrinths

“Now, Lilith. Open the door and let me in.” A voice whispered inside of Lilith's head, nearly startling the girl into a scream. Her eyes shot to the side door, seeing the shadow of a hooded figure in the silhouette of the light.

Lilith stepped to the door, feeling that same feeling of regret in what she was doing. Then she remembered Arleigh and his attitude, and decided to open the door anyway.

“Good lass.” The Knave said, slipping in.

“Why did you need my help doing that?”

“Because I have just enough time to slip in from here to get what we need. How is your studying going?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good. Arleigh still an ass?”

Lilith nodded. “So you’re a student?”

“Formerly.” The Knave admitted. “Here to get some things that I’ve been waiting to grab for a long time.”

“Oh?”

The Knave slipped by, making great strides. Lilith hurried to match, watching their movement like a hawk. “Yes, in fact, I’m well aware of the consequences that come with this part, but truth be told, I feel like the pain is a small price for what comes next. It’s so exciting, don’t you think?”

“Not really. I have no idea what you’re talking about, you always speak in riddles. Shouldn’t we take a side passage or something?”

“No. Mrs. Graft, the librarian, is assisting Sam right now on the 4th floor. You’ve met Sam, yeah?”

Lilith nodded.

“Right. Good lad, he. Anyway, Arleigh is in the south hall dealing with some barbarians, Klymviner is in the North wing as we speak, and there's no one else here. We’re clear to approach and get what we need in preparation.”

“Preparation for what!?” Lilith almost groaned.

The Knave slowed, turning and placing a hand on Lilith’s shoulder. They hunched over, close enough to see markings on the mask that looked identical to the wood of the mask she had found at the beginning of the day.

“In either two weeks’ time, or two weeks and four years, the world ends. This school, and everyone in it, save for a small handful of the student body, and two teachers… all lost. The buildings, scattered across all the world. And it all starts right here, balancing on what happens next.”

The Knave stopped in front of the display case of the quicksilver needle.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? You know, nobody knows where it first came from. It’s one of the oldest of all the Ninety-Nine Blessings. It’s also the most important. And it’s our only chance of changing things.”

The silver needle hummed. It seemed to hum a second wave of that tune in a slightly different range as both Lilith and The Knave stood close by.

“Would you like to know what happens next?” The Knave whispered. Lilith felt fear in her stomach, a primal fear. She wanted to run, to fetch an adult. There was a sudden worry that for once, there was something worse than expulsion, there was the feeling that things were not right in the world.

“You’re going to try to stop me. There’s going to be a lot of noise, you’re going to hurt me, and when it’s all over, you’re going to be more confused than when we started.”

The hum grew louder. Lilith glanced at the case, her heartbeat accelerating.

“They say the objects call to their rightful owner. But what if that object called to two people at once? What would happen?”

The Knave stepped up to the glass case, waving their palm through the glass as if it were mist. The silver needle came out the other side in The Knave’s hand, no signs of the glass having been broken away..

“It’s okay.” The Knave whispered. “I forgive you.”

There was a lurch, a pulling motion as history and reality all tugged towards what came next. Instinct drove Lilith, as if The Knave was not stealing from the school, but her. Her hand snatched out, grabbing hold of the handle of the blade, feeling a surge of energy course up her arm and through her body.

Time seemed to stop, and The Knave and Lilith struggled for control. The humming grew louder, turning to an ear-piercing whine that seemed to warble in her brain, egging her on.

“You can’t!” Lilith screamed.

“I must!” The Knave shouted back, grabbing the top of the silver needle, gripping with their left arm, matching the strength of Lilith with ease. It was the first time Lilith noted that all of the figure’s left arm was covered in metal, and looked more like a prosthetic limb. Where the elbow bent were only screws and joints.

The Silver Needle’s whine turned to a scream, one that echoed through the library, drawing the attention of everyone inside and outside of the building. The metal began to grow hot in Lilith’s hand, the center of the blade growing to a white-orange hue before it snapped in twain, sending both careening in different directions; Lilith slamming into the Lantern Oak, and The Knave through the glass displays of the relics, one after the other in a series of three successive crashes.

There was an audience now. Lilith stirred first, starting to climb to her feet only to find Klymviner running to stand between her and the intruder.

“Name yourself.”

The Knave stirred, the scarlet cloth and the tangle of the wooden lattices covering them. But as they stood, the wood contorted, taking a shape over their body not unlike an armor of wooden lace. The red fabric swung around, knotting and forming a hooded cloak which billowed down the figure’s face, masking the back of their head until they turned.

Lilith almost wished the figure hadn’t turned.

The silver needle was broken through the mask that the figure wore right where the eye socket lay on the carving, and a thin stream of red ran down under the mask, dripping from the chin onto the floor.

“I am The Knave of Spades, and I come with a warning!” The figure shouted, their voice distorted with the damage of the mask.

Arleigh and Inam arrived behind The Knave, both drawing their wands.

“The end is upon you, Veilweavers! This shall be the last Weaving between here and the next Crimson Moon! The Darkness returns!”

Inam fainted at the utterance of the last prophecy, crumpling into a pile of robes next to Arleigh. He turned, hesitating from attacking just long enough for a loud crack of an explosion to echo through the Library. Arleigh’s wand went clattering across the room, skidding beneath the wreckage of the nearby display between glass and bits of wood and porcelain.

Arleigh stood holding nothing firmly in his hands. He looked to his empty clenched fist, then to The Knave, putting both hands slowly up above his head.

The Knave held their left gauntlet up, a small plume of smoke emitting from their sleeve. It had been so quick, none had even seen the spell or the after effects. None at least, save Lilith.

The Knave turned back to Klymviner. “I’ve taken the mask from your class. The password was ’name’, in Sylvan darling. Really, how useless can one person be?”

Klymviner scoffed, readying a spell with her hands, each glowing a violent shade of violet. “Careful 'Knave', you’re outmatched.”

“Outmatched? Hardly. Just out of time. Lilith! You take care now. Our conversation isn’t over. Do practice your studies dear.” The Knave pointed their gauntleted arm up towards the ceiling, and two things happened at roughly the same time. The first, The Knave fired off a spell towards the glass ceiling etched in various protection wards, and the second, Professor Klymviner firing their own spell at The Knave to find a shower of nullification energy raining down upon the room between them. The Knave turned, taking the opportunity of the torrent of glass to depart through same door from which they had entered.

Klymviner pointed to the door. “Knights! Get him!”

All at once, every knight that Lilith had passed through the halls began to light up with the glow of a blue flame in the helmet. They snorted, a plume of smoke slipping through the grill of the mouth covers. In unison, the figures drew their blades and went charging off towards the entrance, smashing into one another as they tried to fit through the same space at once. There was the groaning sound of steel scraping and bending before a pile of armor went spilling out the other side, climbing up and scattering in every direction to look for The Knave.

Klymviner’s face twisted between furious, to dismayed, to confused, right on back to furious, before turning to a worried look.

“Lilith, are you okay?” She asked, checking to make sure that there wasn’t a dead student while she was on duty. To her relief, she was not responsible for another fatality.

“Yes professor…” Lilith climbed to her feet, resting against the root of the Lantern Oak. She glanced to her hand, still clenching the handle of the silver needle. Though, now it looked less like an comically oversized needle, and more like a dagger. The break point was smooth, in a nice curve as if it had always been designed that Lilith dropped it at the root, standing up and taking a few steps forward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You just stood against an intruder at the only school that has never had an intruder before, and what’s more, you lived. You don’t need to apologize just yet, but we must be finishing this conversation in the Headmaster’s Office. Come.” Klymviner motioned for Lilith to follow, shouting to the other students as she did. “Everyone return to your rooms at once! The school is on lockdown!”

Lilith took a few more steps forward when she felt her hand suddenly heavy with the weight of the silver dagger once more. It had reappeared across the room in her hand.

Good. Another problem to add on the rest of her growing problems. She’d just add a lie later to cover it for now. Passing by the desk where her bag was, she brushed some shards of glass from the ceiling, picking it up and slipping the blade inside one of the pockets before hoisting the book bag over her shoulder, turning to follow with a new worry in tow.