Lies & Labyrinths

The smell of a cooked breakfast awoke Lilith. At the base of the door, a fresh change of clothes awaited her; a school uniform of a black dress and robin’s egg blue blouse, with matching striped socks. She picked them up, happy to be out of her farmer’s clothes, when she noticed something in the corner of the room she was sure hadn’t been there last night: a bathtub.

She had never seen a fresh tub with hot water that hadn’t been used by everyone else in the family first. [11] If you had wanted to get clean in Wheatsburg in privacy, that had meant a dip in the river. She savored the private bath, and when she left she was quite toasty and refreshed. Which was a good thing; it’d be one of the few comforts that would be afforded to her.

She dressed into her new school attire, finding an empty bag and a parchment waiting nearby. She unfolded it, pleased to find a map. A little dot in the corner of one building let her know precisely where she was. Enchanted ink seemed to have many uses.

The door knocked once. “Lilith, are you decent?”

“Yes ma’am.” Lilith responded.

The door clicked open, Klymviner standing in the frame in her midnight robes with the fluffy black feathers once more. “I see you’ve found the map and your book bag.”

“Yes ma’am, thank you.”

“Think nothing of it. We have funds to cover those less fortunate, especially those without parents.”

Lilith nodded, putting on a somber face as she had to remind herself the web of lies she was starting to weave before classes even began.

“Are you ready for the assembly? I must gather something for my class first, else I’d walk you there myself.”

“I think so, ma’am.”

“Well, if you’re lost it shouldn’t be too hard.” Klymviner tapped her finger once on the parchment, giving a command. “Great Hall.”

The map folded itself a dozen or so times, fluttering to life in the shape of a magpie. “Just follow the bird. I’ve taken the liberty of sending your detention slip to roost, you shouldn’t be needing such a loud squawking thing following you about.”

“Thank you.” Lilith held out a finger for the magpie, which fluttered down, eyes transfixed towards the door as if giving a subtle suggestion of the direction she needed to take.

“What… should I expect in this assembly?”

“It’s quite simple. You’ll stand in front of the Feyline Anchor [12], and perform your naturally inherent magic for it.”

“The Feyline Anchor? What is it?”

“No one is certain. It’s been with the school for as long as the school has been in existence.”

“And how long has that been?”

“Ten thousand, one hundred and twenty-two years.”

“And what does it do?”

“It draws the energy, the latent power out of a person. It amplifies the gift within a person too.”

“And I… have to do it in front of the entire school?”

“Yes. Every student before you has, and every student after you will. But I am running late as it is. Follow the magpie dear, and do what comes naturally.”

Lilith gulped, suddenly remembering in a sudden flash, that she would be having to perform magic in front of the entire school. She hadn’t even seen most of the school yet; when she had arrived, there had been a gigantic structure for Alpha Wing alone. Her brain couldn’t even fathom such a place to hold all of the students. Surely there wasn’t such a thing that could contain every single student at once.

She arrived at the auditorium not too long after that rhetorical question. The map magpie fluttered by the door until it opened, chattering before resting on a perch above a waiting Arleigh.

He was smirking. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Well Mademoiselle Lavoi, it’s been a pleasure having you here, but it seems that our time shall soon be coming to an end. It’s a shame I won’t be having the pleasure of your company in detention for the rest of the month, hmm?” He held the door open with one arm, holding out the other arm for the map magpie, which unfolded itself and floated down in its paper form to the professor, who folded the parchment twice over then stuck it away in the pocket of his robe.

“Well Monsieur Arleigh, I’ve grown rather fond of the school in my short time here. Maybe I’ll surprise you today.” Lilith entered through the doorway, her breath catching as she gazed inside at the auditorium.

The chambers were breathtaking, and also quite terrifying all at the same time. She had never seen so many people in her life, not even at the Festival of the Five [13] . And that was just the first row of hundreds of eyes. The auditorium was two stories, with another floor accessible from directly above, and beyond the rope partition near the ledge she could see even more faces peering over the side, watching down at the podium where the Vice Headmaster was approaching. The man glanced to his left, catching the sight of Lilith. He nodded in her direction, taking the sight of her as a queue to begin. He lifted a strange metal stick up to his face, which caused an echo of his voice to come booming out across the room for all to hear. Lilith had flinched, expecting that horrific draining feeling when she had last encountered him was now replaced with an enthusiastic happy man.

“Our school is built on tradition, one that has guided us through all One hundred Emperors of the Lost Empire, and the Calamity that befell after. During this time, these halls have persisted against every force imaginable, and has stayed aloft to carry the dream of a brighter tomorrow onward. In other words, you here before me today.

But now, a new face has appeared, a new name on the List of Lists. One who dares to not only walk the way of the weaver, but weave the very world. Lilith Lavoi, please step forward.”

Lilith forgot her name for all of a moment, feeling every eye in the Great Hall suddenly shift and turn their entire focus directly on to her. Somewhere in the crowd was Dwema, sneering at her. Arleigh brushed past Lilith, taking a seat in the front row, which included every other faculty member.

The entire school was here, watching Lilith’s every step. More eyes on her than she’d ever encountered. They watched as her legs, shakily, began the procession for her. One foot in front of the other, up towards the Vice Headmaster.

The Vice Headmaster stepped back, gesturing behind him to a stone half-pillar at the back of the room. A cube rested atop it, a multi pronged pattern on the front soon revealed to be a keyhole to a key worn round the neck of the man (who seemed far younger now than between seventy five and three thousand). She watched the key glimmer in the light for a moment, noting the pattern along the gold-silver design, with two jewels adorned near the handle: a ruby and sapphire. The key pressed against the lock, turning once.

The cube began to unfold, revealing a large chrome sphere sitting atop a velvet pillow. It definitely didn’t look like what Lilith had pictured for an anchor. Patterns were carved into the metal of the orb, strange runes that looked somewhat similar to the letters of the alphabet, with every so often a symbol she had quite frankly never seen made of either weird squiggles or hard lines and dots.

“This is The Feyline Anchor. Its power amplifies the very building we stand in now, allowing for the school to rise in the very earliest of days before magic was a certain uncertain, when the world still relied only upon runes. It has the power to bring out the latent potential of all blessed with the control of aether. All one has to do is hold out their hand, and that power can be seen.”

And then the Headmaster stepped back, and ushered Lilith forward.

She turned, facing the orb, the entire school behind her. She had practiced for this moment, had for at least an hour before falling asleep. Lilith held up her left hand with her right hand (which led to the laughter of some students), focusing all of her thoughts on imagining the invisible hand floating out, grabbing hold of the orb. Lilith stared, imagining it gripping tight, and pulling on the sphere. She could even feel it,the texture of the metal ball.

Runes lit up on the surface of the orb. It was something. Lilith grinned, thinking harder, closing her eyes. She pictured the orb being held, and lifting up, and with all her concentration she tried to do the same less than twenty feet away.

Her left arm suddenly tugged, heavy. She could feel the weight, as if she were trying to lift something that was far heavier than it seemed. Lilith grabbed her wrist tight, grunting, straining, lifting as hard as she could.

The orb began to wobble, then ever-so-slowly, lifted up into the air.

“I did it!” Lilith whispered to herself. She turned, grinning towards the Vice Headmaster, then to look back to the audience.

The first person she saw was the face of Arleigh, who seemed somewhere between shocked and dismayed. Then her eyes fell to Professor Klymviner, who seemed downright disappointed.

“That’s it?” Some student shouted out in the crowd.

A chorus of laughter erupted throughout the Great Hall. Lilith felt her stomach sink, and her arm wavered all strength slipping as the orb fell back down on to the velvet pillow from which it rested. The cube reformed around the items, locking itself up in an instant. The laughter rose in pitch. Lilith’s face burned with shame, a panic beginning fill into her stomach that spread across her skin, up to her heart, sending it into a jack-hammer procession. She began to breathe faster and heavier, feeling as if no breath was making it into her lungs at all. Why were they laughing? She had done magic. Hadn’t that been good enough? She couldn’t do magic before! It should have been enough.

Why wasn’t it enough?

“SILENCE!” a voice echoed out from seemingly the Vice Headmaster, as his demeanor changed all at once into something else. That same dreadful dark feeling that Lilith had felt once before now permeated across the crowd. Everyone grew quiet.

The Vice-Headmaster’s voice shifted to a more neutral, if yet troubled tone. “All magic, great and small, is honored at the Veilweaver Academy. Magic is not an exact science, but an art to grow upon. May you all remember that. Lilith, you shall be staying in the Delta Wing. Professor Twixtfeather is your senior teacher. After the assembly, please meet with him to receive your schedule. Now, Miss Lavoi is not the only student to stand today before the Feyline Anchor and to lay her potential at the fount.”

A murmur began to fill the auditorium. Lilith was already climbing off the stage, moving to hide in the doorframe away from prying eyes. All of the attention was off of her once more. She could breathe again.

Lilith fell to her knees in the hallway outside the Great Hall, curling up against a metal shelf that would be described to her later as a “locker”, and let out a soft sob.

Someone stood over her, kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder.

“You did great. Better than great, you did something unachievable until just now. Be proud of that.”

“Thank you.” Lilith said, sniffling and brushing a tear away. She looked up to see who was consoling, finding an all too familiar figure in a robed mask staring back.

The Knave.

“What are you doing here?” Lilith asked, drawing back.

“Everyone of import is currently inside the Great Hall. Which means that they weren’t elsewhere. I was getting a few tasks done off my to-do list.”

“For what?” Lilith asked, sniffling.

“For my grand announcement, and most daring heist. The first part of which will go off without a hitch now that you’ll be in detention in the very place I’ll need your assistance.

“I don’t think I like the sound of this.” Lilith said, rubbing her arm. She was already regretting taking the help of this figure; it seemed that consequences followed close behind the Knave of Spades.

“Well I already scratched your back. You just need to do one thing for me, and we’ll be even.”

Well… One thing couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“And what’s that?”

“I’ll ask you to make sure a door doesn’t lock at a certain time. That’s all. You don’t have to know what it’s for, or anything.”

Lilith mulled it over. Behind her, a great boom echoed.

“They’re testing three new students.” The Knave said to Lilith, answering the question before it was even asked. “A fire user, a nature user, and one gifted with the conjuring of a weapon. Formidable, but outcasts. Stygians.”

“Stygians?”

“You’ll learn all about them soon enough. But you’ve a friend headed this way and I must depart.” The Knave began to shift before Lilith’s eyes into their cat form, springing off down the hall. A voice appeared in her head as the black cat turned to look back her way, some thirty feet away.

Wait for my message. And good luck in your classes young one. You’ll need it.

The Knave was off down a perpendicular hallway, not to be seen again until a later chapter.

“Lilith?” It was Emil. Lilith turned around, happy to see a friendly face for once.

“Hey Emil.” She managed, trying to put on her least disappointed looking face possible.

“Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m surviving.” she managed, crossing her arms as she leaned against a locker. “Guess I’m in Delta for sure now, huh?”

“Yeah…” Emil said, scratching the back of his head. “But with any luck we might have a few classes together.”

“Really?” She didn’t mean to sound so hopeful, but right now she needed it.

“Yeah, really. I’m usually in Twixtfeather’s class with the other Delta dum- uh, students.” Emil caught himself mid stammer. “Just because you didn’t make it to another wing doesn’t mean we won’t be together.”

There was the sound of hundreds of bottoms leaving their chairs at once, followed by the cacophony of footsteps as the assembly let loose the flood of youths. Emil and Lilith took a step back from the doorway, watching as the faculty began pouring out ahead of the torrent. They gave no mind to the pair, mid conversation, huddled close in conversation[14]. Twixtfeather was at the center of the huddle, with the twin Genii professors floating in the air around him.

“It seems that the teleport stone overloaded. They’ve been running over the spell in the library, and by all accounts what happened shouldn’t be possible. It’s like two people were in the same place at once, and the resulting syntax error shattered the poor thing.” Twixtfeather said, looking between the pair.

“Impossible, if they were to do that, it’d disprove the Keeton Theorem [15].” the blue twin said, spinning like a swirl of water.

“What about the head count?” the red twin asked.

“We’re still showing as having one extra person on the grounds. But it’s the funniest thing, no new names are showing up on the roster.”

“That makes no sense to me.”

“Uhm, professor?” Lilith interrupted. The teachers seemed to remember their surroundings, Twixtfeather bristling for a moment as the teachers stopped their gossip.

“Ah! Miss Lavoi! Welcome and congratulations to the best wing in all of Veilweaver, if I do say so myself.” He hooted in pride, his chest swelling and puffing as he crossed one wing over his heart.

“Thank you, Professor.” Lilith said, doing a half curtsy that she felt extremely awkward about after the fact. She hoped the self doubt from her earlier embarrassment would soon pass. [16]

“So you are the Head of Delta?”

“That’s right. And I’d like to put any worries you might have to rest. I’m sure you’ve heard many different things about the various wings. The only true rumor is that we train students for the most important job of all the Veilweavers.”

“You do?”

Twixtfeather swooped a wing around her, ushering down the hall. “We do. Master Evosin, I do believe you have a class to be preparing for.”

“Yes Professor” Emil admitted. He looked to Lilith, mouthing “Good luck”.

“Thanks” Lilith mouthed back.

A list was handed to her by Twixtfeather, the man continuing. “Your studies will not be graded on your ability to do magic, necessarily, in Delta until the time is right. But that does not mean that you cannot learn about magic! And afterwards, what better position than to be a magus for the Veilweavers?”

“Magus?”

“Why, yes my dear. Trained in the arts, then sent back out amongst the world, sightseeing! An ambassador to a right and proper education!” Twixtfeather hooted and hutted in a chuffed tone. “Why, as one of the magi you may be the only magic user that some people will ever see on your travels.”

Lilith thought of Arleigh,traveling off to fetch students. She could so do his job better. There’d be fireworks and flashing lights ’n everything. None of this stuffiness with paperwork being the pride and accomplishment.

“I shall be seeing you second period. Don’t be late now, Klymviner does not suffer a late mage!”

Lilith gave another half curtsy, then waved as the teachers passed once more to continue the more important gossip of the previous night, as well to assuredly talk about the four new students and their skills (or lack thereof in her case.)

Lilith’s attention returned back to her class list. She read through it, trying to imagine each class as she walked along. First was Bella Klymviner and Enchantments. This one she had a firm enough grasp upon. After that was Augustus Twixtfeather, and Acceptable Applications of Magicks Throughout History. That seemed like a long winded way to say History, and Lilith seemed good enough at the subject on the mundane side of the non-floating school.

The third teacher on the list made her raise an eyebrow: Gwendalia Inam: Loomreading. The teacher who had panicked at the mere mentioning of her name. Loomreading was no class she had ever heard of. She wasn’t sure how one was supposed to read a loom for that matter. They just made yarn as far as she knew.

After Loomreading was a blank spot, lunch; she could handle that one with passing colors. After lunch was Evocation, a word that Lilith did not know. Two teachers were listed there, only first names, no last: Cobalt and Crimson. Lilith’s mind returned to the orange and blue teachers she had seen briefly after her kerfuffle with Dwema the dwarf. Whatever the class was, maybe the two both taught?

Her fingers continued downward, hovering over the last two names. Professor Cornelius Conrad, conjuration. She could conjure up a few ideas what the class was about. And last, and certainly least… Professor Octavio Arleigh. Scrollmaking.

Bugger. She’d be going from his class to detention for the foreseeable future. That basically meant her last class of the day WAS detention. It was such a disappointment, that for a brief moment Lilith forgot all about the embarrassment she had endured in front of the entire school.

Lilith had cleared most of the walk while she read, including the lift up to the second floor, and by the time she had finished, she was standing in front of Klymviner's.

The Professor stood outside the door. Her arms were crossed, and all niceties that had been reserved for the promise of a promising student seemed dismayed by the dull demeanor of having to teach yet another Delta. “Come in, and take a seat please. There’s one left by the front. I reserve it for Alphas usually, but I suppose I can overlook it this once.”

Lilith stood frozen, stunned by the turn in attitude by Klymviner. She brushed it off with the hope that it was a one-off occurrence, gripping her bag a little more tight as she walked into what would soon prove to be just the start of the worst school day of her life.

Footnotes:

[11] Them’s were the brakes as a peasant girl. They never really showed that side of rural living in a place without indoor plumbing, and the books never talked about that nor of bedpans and outhouses, and how intimately familiar one got with the associated smells.

[12] This of course sounded like “feline anchor”, which just set Lilith’s imagination to imagining either a cat shaped like an anchor, or cats sailing their own ship. The lack of clarification would lead to her mind wandering all the way to the assembly.

[13] The harvest festival is held annually for the burghs of Wheat, Carrots, Potato, Corn, and the rebel rousers from Yamsburg. The Five Burghs meet at this time where the quintet of hamlets and hovels meet, known as The Five Points. It is the most interesting thing for miles in the most uninteresting corner of the barony.

[14] It is a well known fact that teachers, both magical and mundane, are more gossipy than any being known to mankind and when left alone long enough, will flock in small groups to pass the latest goings-on. The smaller the group, the denser the gravity of the gossip, which will inevitably spread further as a result. This is known as the Theory of Dirty Laundry Relativity.

[15] Simply put, all magic exists for a reason, and as such, has its own moments of apparition in the world. For the same spell to be cast in the same way and to leave the same effect on the aether of the veil was impossible, therefore, all magic had a distinct trace.

[16] It would not.