During the ride to the upper-levels of the School complex, I couldn't help but notice that Roland was giving a very distinct 'What is going on this ti?' kind of stare, but for the ti being I ignored him. Not just because we were squeezed into the elevator like sardines, but also because I wasn't one hundred percent sure about it either.
Once we arrived and everyone burst forth from the lift like their lives depended on it, I lagged a bit behind and took out the ssage to give it another look-over. The mont I did so, the class rep imdiately sidled up to my side and tried to take a look as well.
"What exactly does this say? Did Bel steal Grandfather's Grimoire Key? What's going on?"
"It would take too long to explain it here."
That wasn't just deflecting, as even as we spoke, I was trying not to lose sight of the hectic group of arch-mages at the front. Even so, she stuck to like my shadow and continued to gripe in hissy whispers.
"I knew this would happen! Even though Grandfather finally agreed to let try his Grimoire Key, we kept putting it off because you were busy!" She let out a groan and grabbed onto my arm. "If Bel of the Abyss took it, I'm telling Judy it was your fault!"
"Alia, please do not harass Dunning in the open," Pascal comnted on the side, earning himself a glare.
I, for one, was more confused by the second half of what he said.
"In public? So it's fine if she harasses in private?"
"Leonard, this is not the ti for joking," Roland politely chided , and I had no choice but to defend myself.
"No, I'm serious. Is that how we're seen from an outsider's perspective?"
"Can we discuss this later?" Ammy grumbled and tugged on my arm to get to walk faster. "Hurry up! My fireballs are at stake here!"
Due to her urging, we got ahead of Pascal and Roland, and when we settled down sowhere halfway between the arch-mages and their duo, I gestured for her to listen.
"You know, I can't decide if you're taking this situation too seriously, or not seriously at all."
"That's rich coming from you," she snapped back, but after making sure the others wouldn't overhear, she quietly added, "I an, I'm not afraid of things going too badly. You're destiny, so I trust that everything will turn out fine, but it's still my future at stake here!"
"Your future of being able to throw fireballs," I noted a touch flatly, and she nodded without a hint of sha. "How about we get back to this after we see what's going on with the Grimoire Keys?"
"That's why we should hurry up," she argued back, and seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere with her, I unfolded the letter again.
We were getting close to Lord Grandpa's study, so I only had ti for a quick skim, but the contents remained the sa, and just as confusing.
To paraphrase it, the ssage went sothing like this:
Hi, Polemos,
Sorry about the ss. I wish I didn't have to rush things like this, but this had to be done to arrange the board. I'll put the pawns from the basent to good use, so don't worry about them. Here's today's keyword: Grimoire Keys. That should be enough to tell you what's coming next, but rember to keep your friends close!
Don't worry. After this, I'll be laying low for a while; an Axis of Evil won't just build itself on its own after all. Just sit back, relax, and focus on training. Also, the Elysium has nice beaches. Just saying.
Yours,
Bel of the Abyss
P.S.: Don't hire the French guy, I didn't take him with for a reason.
That was definitely, one hundred percent certainly written by future-. Of course, the exact verbiage was very different on the paper; Celestial script was a bit ambiguous and flowery even at the best of tis, but that was the gist of it. I had… so many questions.
Why did he have to rush things? What good use was there for a bunch of wannabe assassins? What did he do to the Endymonion's Key? What was an 'axis of evil', and what did it have to do with a training arc? Or beaches?
…
Actually, that last bit was ingenious. I've been joking about having a beach episode for weeks now, but travelling off the island was tricky due to it being the center of the universe (or at the very least the Simulacrum's current scenario), and due to geography we probably wouldn't be getting beach weather even in July. However, due to their artificial climate, the Elysium had a much warr climate which better fit its diterranean agriculture.
On second thought, didn't the sa apply to the Abyss as well? The pocked dinsion magitech was literally the sa, down to being fueled by the Mana Wells, so I figured they would have the sa kind of climate control. Maybe next ti I'm there, I should check to see if there are any nice beach-side spots for a weekend ho or sothing.
Joking about turning the prison-dinsion of the Abyssals into a vacation destination aside, we just reached the door of the study, and the whole group bunched up again while waiting for Lord Grandpa to turn off the security wards one by one.
"You have fortified this chamber quite thoroughly," Lord Barnabas noted, trying to make small talk. Lord Ambrose must've mistaken it for sarcasm, as he stifled a guffaw, prompting the lanky man behind him to lightly kick him.
"Be civil," Lord Gulliver whispered, but it only made the bearded man more furious.
"Civil?! Since when is kicking soone considered civil, you hypocritical lout!" He crossed his arms and let out a harrumph. "I keep saying that none of this aetheric magical construct malarkey is worth a damn! If you listened to , you would invest in proper defenses, like mine. Good, solid steel with cold iron inserts to thwart mystic art attacks, plus so more 'mundane' surprises to deter the would-be burglars! For the rest of their life! Which would be short! It's the way to go, I tell you!"
Nobody stopped his yapping, mainly because it only served as background noise while the tension in the hallway slowly rose to a crescendo, triggered when the owner of the study finally took out a key and turned it in the lock with a solid click. There was a rush of air as the last of the enchantnts disengaged, and when the huge wings of the door automatically opened wide…
"Ah, finally! I was just about to get bored!"
There was an unmistakable voice on the other side, and when I finally managed to elbow myself to the front, I saw Bel sitting on Lord Grandpa's desk, his legs crossed and his chin resting on his knuckle, like that famous statue. It was called 'The Thinker', I think? Unimportant.
"See, I told you! I told you aetheric defenses are— Mfff!"
Thankfully Lord Gulliver was quick on the uptake and swiftly covered Lord Ambrose's mouth. anwhile, Endymonion, Taika, and Barnabas lined up next to , almost like we were presenting a united front or sothing, and after a brief mont of hesitation, I turned on my Leoforr, settling on the school uniform mode. It felt fitting, and I needed it to be online in case future- wanted to ssage .
"But where are my manners!" Bel exclaid and hopped off the desk, followed by a customary scraping bow. "Bel of the Abyss, at your service." He paused and then struck a flamboyant pose, one finger pointed right at . "Co now, Polemos! Don't look at like that! Can't you say a few nice words after not seeing each other for so long?"
That… was mildly confusing, but before I could squeeze in a comnt, Roland spoke up in the back, where the rest were grouped up behind a magical barrier hastily erected by Armband Guy.
"Haven't you already t today at the banquet?"
Bel abruptly teleported to the other side of the room and started walking up and down with arms crossed and an index finger tapping on his mask.
"Hmm? No, I don't think so. I would've rembered if we t. Unless…" Without warning, he suddenly appeared in front of us and snapped his finger, startling everyone and disrupting whatever spell Lord Taika was sneakily trying to prepare on my left. Dear god, was I also this disorienting when I played the character, I wondered. Not for long though, as he suddenly declared. "Oh, wait! I get it! He must've t future ! I apologize, it's hard to keep up with myself sotis."
Blinking, I hurriedly extended a phantom limb towards his gear, and I quickly found the communication arrays.
"{Hold on. Are you serious?}"
After a brief mont of static, I received an answer.
"{No, of course not. I'm just acting, as usual.}"
"{Don't scare like that. One temporally displaced version of myself is bad enough.}"
Bel let out a chuckle. Whether that was in reaction to my ssage, or part of the act, I couldn't tell. Then, before anyone else could respond, he was suddenly sitting on the desk again. Wow, that was smooth. I guess all my ti spent practising the 'land seated right after Phasing' routine wasn't for nought.
"What are you doing in my office, interloper?" Lord Grandpa cut in with a low hiss, the air around him roiling with accumulated mana and practically crackling with power, to the point Lord Barnabas had to take a step away from him and summon his semi-transparent armour plates for safety. "Depending on your answer, I may have to evict you by force."
"Oh, Endy, Endy, Endy! Don't be like that!" the Bel on the desk responded with a chuckle and carelessly waved his hand. "You shouldn't say embarrassing things in front of your friends like that, or they'll think you have dentia. What's next? 'If the tide doesn't listen what I say, I'll beat up the ocean!'? Please…"
Seeing that the taunting was only causing the old man to get more fired up (and consequently, for the air to get even heavier with his magic), I took a step forward. While I was sure future- was more than capable of running verbal circles around the people here, I still had to get back ho and do a debriefing with Judy, so I couldn't waste much ti on the usual song and dance routine.
"What are you up to this ti?"
I tried to sound deadpan, with just a hint of aggressiveness. Bel let out an appreciative hum and opened his arms wide.
"You see, my dear Polemos, I just recently rembered that the Wingless Ones have this really fun toy, but I couldn't play with it because it's all locked up. They are such spoilsports, aren't they?"
"So you're after the Grimoire of the Last Truth," Lord Barnabas stated blandly, also drawing in power.
"Ah, such a wonderfully silly na it has!" Bel sighed wistfully and reached behind his back. Nobody seed to have noticed it before, because everyone was focused on the masked man ( included), but there was a small wooden box on the desk all along, and he presented it like a magician would show off a prop before he would use it. "Lookie! The Key of the Grimoire! One of them, at the very least! How mysterious! How majestic!" He paused and lightly shook the box. "How light! Seriously, this is so cheap craftsmanship here. Was it made in China?"
That made the arch-mages stop in their tracks, only to be startled by a voice from the back.
"You see? You see it now?! I told you that the Keys need better protection!"
Lord Ambrose finally managed to get into the room, despite Lord Gulliver trying his best to restrain him. He was probably afraid that the volatile old arch-mage would burn down Endymonion's office if left unchecked. He let out a loud harrumph and pointed a finger at the box in Bel's hand.
"The joke's on you, fiend! You might've put your dirty hands on Amadeus's Key, but you can never get the rest! Give it up now, while we're—"
He abruptly bit back his words, eyes bulging, and Lord Gulliver behind him also let out a mildly distressed, "Oh dear."
Following their gazes, I returned my attention to Bel, and lo and behold, he now had two boxes in his hands. The second one was identical to the first, except its hinges and the decorative tal plating were a slightly different colour.
"Oh, look at that! Where did this co from? What a mystery! It surely cannot be one of those things I can't get my hands on, right?"
Bel mid shock, and then casually started juggling the boxes like they were balls and… Wait. Wait just a minute. I can't juggle!
Do… Do I have to learn how to juggle for this? But if I do so because I now learned that I would need it here, then wouldn't that cause a temporal paradox? A bootstrap-paradox, to be precise? Why would I even do this?
"{Don't overthink this, and focus,}" future- warned through the communicator.
He must've rembered that he had also been confused by this situation because he was really quick on the uptake… but wait. If he could rember being confused here, then doesn't that an that he also didn't know how to juggle at this point in ti, and learned how to do it because of this? But then we're back to the paradox again! Goddamit, I knew it! I knew this bloody tiy-wiy crap is going to lead to sothing like this eventually!
Ignoring my inner turmoil, Bel snatched the boxes out of the air and lightly shook both of them before hopping off the desk again.
"My, my. Such a fancy way to safeguard your secret little toy, but do you know?" He cocked his head to the side a little, and added, "I wonder what happens to a lock once its keys are broken?"
"No! Stop him!" Lord Grandpa roared, but he was too late.
In a mont, the room was filled with the blinding magical flare of a dozen spells being cast at once. None of them reached Bel in ti, and with a loud crunching sound, both boxes were crushed simultaneously. It happened so fast that I couldn't even properly react, too busy trying to untangle what just happened.
The arch-mages fell dead silent as the wooden fragnts of the boxes fell to the floor, but… that was all. There were no magical marbles, either in whole or pieces, and the sight made everyone freeze in confusion. Including myself.
"Oh. Oooh?" Suddenly, Bel's attention snapped to , and he exclaid, "Polemos, you naughty boy! You tricked , didn't you?" Before I even had the ti to feel any more baffled, he anded it with an outwardly silent, "{Just play along.}"
"Did I?" I responded on autopilot while simultaneously ssaging, "{What do you an 'play along'? Why didn't you warn ?}"
"{Spoilers. Now, pay attention,}" the impassive voice in the communication array spoke curtly while Bel dusted his palms and squared up in front of . "You didn't even try to stop just now, did you? It's almost as if you knew the boxes were empty all along…"
In the end, I resigned myself to figuring out what all of this was about after-the-fact, and turned my full attention to the conversation. From what I understood, future- set this up to look like I tricked him into stealing a pair of empty boxes. Let's improvise from there.
"I'm surprised it took you this long to realize," I responded, doing my best to maintain my calm and collected Polemos persona. "I expected that you would try sothing like this, so I took so precautionary steps in advance."
"Hey! That's unfair!" Bel exclaid, acting like a child throwing a tantrum. "It's the second ti you did this! Fool once, sha on you, fool twice, still sha on you, you dirty, dirty magpie!"
"What… is going on?" Lord Taika muttered nearby, so caught up in the proceedings she forgot to prepare any spells. The other arch-mages weren't so passive, and while their first salvo was neutralized by future-'s phantom limbs (even if I couldn't see them), I didn't want to further escalate things, especially when I still wasn't entirely sure about the plan.
"Polemos just stole my fanfare!" Bel cried out in response to her murmurs while waving his hands around, fingers pointing at from different angles. After a while, he let his arms down and exhaled a regretful sigh. "And I worked so hard to get those silly things and set up this whole scene! … Well, okay. Maybe not that hard." He glanced at Lord Ambrose. "You just put your precious Grimoire Key into a mini-safe! Even a child could open those with a crowbar!"
"But… what about the explosives!?"
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect that response from the bearded arch-mage, but Bel just shrugged.
"I said a child could open it, not live afterwards." He turned his attention back to , and added, "Seriously, Polemos, old chap? When did you take them? Did you also take the third one? Wait, don't tell , I'll check!"
He didn't go anywhere, and I had a feeling he was waiting for to respond, so I hastily said, "Do you want to make an even bigger fool of yourself? Be my guest."
"Aw, dammit," he hissed and crossed his arms. "You're playing , aren't you? If I go and check, I'll be walking into a trap, but if I don't, it's going annoy the living bejeezus out of for the rest of the day! Ah, you diabolical bastard!" Suddenly, his deanour and body language changed, and he levelled a chilling glare at . "I'm almost tempted to twist that smart little head of yours off your shoulder, right here and now, but…"
He trailed off, so I assud an aggressive posture and growled, "But what?"
"But it's not ti yet," he responded offhandedly and then threw up his hands. "Fine. I'll be the bigger man, and accept my loss today. Maybe you won't be so lucky next ti." This ti, his hands moved to the lapels of his tailcoat, and after tugging on them, he added, "Now, if you excuse , I better let off so steam before soone dies. You said we t at so banquet today, right? That sounds fun. See you a few hours ago!"
And with that, future- bowed out, leaving with this whole ss on my hands. He didn't even send a final ssage, or tell what this was all about! God damn. Was I also this infuriating?
"Is he gone?" Lord Grandpa asked in a quiet voice, his eyes locked on the remains of the wooden boxes on the floor. They were nothing more than so broken wood, warped tal, and torn velvet padding, with all of the original enchantnts completely wrecked. At last, he turned to . "What did he an?"
"By what?" I blurted out by reflex, and Lord Barnabas quickly wedged himself between the two of us.
"From your exchange with Bel of the Abyss just now, it almost sounded like you have taken the Grimoire Keys in Lord Amadeus's and Lord Ambrose's custody before he could get his hands on them."
While it was a statent, there was a very clear implicit question in his words, and once again, I couldn't help but curse future for leaving behind without explaining anything. The least he could've done was to write it into the letter!
"It was… a reasonable precaution," I squeezed out, and this ti Lord Ambrose hopped between and Lord Grandpa, nearly knocking Barnabas open.
"Did you take my Grimoire Key, Leonard?! How could you?! I an, literally! How did you take it? I need to know to perfect my counterasures. Was the pressure sensor not sensitive enough? Or are the plastic explosives too old? Or…"
"That is not important right now," Lord Grandpa cut in with thundering eyes. "Leonard, I thought we have already developed an understanding regarding the Keys."
"Yes, but… It was an important preventive asure," I said the first thing that ca to mind, and I've got support from an unlikely place.
"It isn't the first ti he's done sothing like this," Roland noted with just a hint of distaste. "The sa thing happened with Ascalon."
"The famous dragon slaying spear?" Gulliver asked on the side. "I've heard the story of that from the Dracis patriarch during last week's party. Let's hope our Grimoire Keys won't et the sa fate."
"Please don't joke about that!" Ammy suddenly burst out, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I-I an… It would be terrible if the Keys were destroyed, right?"
"Indeed," Barnabas spoke with extra gravitas. "While it is possible to recreate a Key, were it misplaced or destroyed, it's a ti- and resource-consuming process that requires the remaining, intact Keys. If two of the Keys are lost, it would render the Grimoire of the Last Truth fundantally impossible to operate, even if the Conduit were to be found. It would be a catastrophic loss for the Assembly, and the World of Mystics as a whole."
"aning," Lord Grandpa hissed, unusually worked up. Maybe because the situation reopened so old wounds. "aning we all sincerely hope that the Keys you have taken for safekeeping are safe."
"They are."
I said that with as much confidence as I could muster, but they clearly weren't convinced. I couldn't bla them.
"Where are they right now?" Ammy pressed , not reading the room at all.
"Safe. Sowhere where Bel wouldn't look for them."
"Specifically?" Endymonion joined his granddaughter in pestering , and I really wanted to scream 'How the hell should I know!?' at them.
This whole situation just made want to punch future- the next ti we t. How could he leave hanging like this!? We even had the communication arrays to sneakily exchange info, so he had no excuse… unless he literally couldn't tell .
I an, I pretty much understood that when he said 'spoilers', he ant ' telling you this would cause a paradox' (as if the juggling didn't already do that, but I digress). If I presud that was the case, it ant that this exact scenario had to play out for whatever retconned state of the world he was working towards. So… was I ant to be confused right now?
Let's look at this objectively: the letter said two things regarding this situation. One was the Keys, and the other was a warning to keep my friends close. In this case, that probably ant Ammy. Maybe Pascal too, though we weren't close enough to be called 'friends'. Let's just go with Ammy.
If future- wanted to keep her close, it ant that her presence here was necessary. Why? Well, our working hypothesis was that she was related to the Grimoire, potentially as a plot device in her own route that never ca to be, so it ant she would be relevant to the Keys. For that, the Keys had to be here, but they weren't in the boxes. Now, if I was future-, and I wanted to make sure I would find them here without any further information, where would I hide them?
My eyes scanned across the arch-mage's office, and before long, I locked onto the liquor cabinet in the corner. After my first stint here, which ironically also involved Lord Grandpa's Grimoire Key, the cabinet was taken away and completely dissected, looking for an explanation of how it could've disappeared and reappeared like that.
It was not long before the day of the Angie-retcon that it was finally returned to the room, though at the mont it didn't hold any alcohol and was filled with just various decorative bottles and glasses. Under the watchful eyes of the small crowd, I followed my instincts and walked over to it.
The mont I opened the door, my gaze was drawn to the back of the middle shelf. There was a bright magical glow there, clearly visible even in the magically overcharged room, and when I reached behind the rows of shot glasses, my fingers traced across sothing round. While everyone was holding their breaths, I pulled my hand back and opened my palm to show its contents to everyone.
"Here."
The silence was broken by a whistle from Lord Gulliver and an impressed, "Well, I'll be damned."
"Hiding them in plain sight, instead of trying to lock away or disguise them," Lord Taika followed him up, sounding just as impressed. "The thought process of a true Illusionist."
I presud that was supposed to be a complint. anwhile, everyone took a good look at the orbs in my hand and were visibly relieved. The Keys were round, white marbles; each one the size of an eyeball, and faintly glowing with otherworldly light. The last ti I had seen one of these, it was embedded in a hexagonal amulet, but future- chose to extract them from their socket for so reason.
In any case, I offered the Keys to Lord Grandpa, and he gingerly reached out to touch them.
"There is no mistaking it. These are the Grimoire Keys, yet… their glow appears to be rather unusual, considering the circumstances."
Now that he ntioned it, the two marbles weren't only letting off the usual, normally invisible light of magic, but they were also pulsing with an eerie purplish glow. They were not only synchronized, but the visible light was getting brighter with each cycle, like a heartbeat that was gradually getting stronger.
"Is… everything all right? They aren't broken, are they?" Ammy inquired, and when I was just about to present them to her to take a look, the two marbles began trembling in my palm.
"Alia, look out!" Pascal jumped in front of her, just in ti when the Key abruptly flared up and flew right at her.
I was so startled that I almost reflexively swatted at them with my phantom limbs, but I managed to stop myself in ti. Instead, I watched as the two orbs not only avoided Pascal, but also the barrier made of small hexagonal shields he erected, and after going almost full circle, they whizzed right up to the class rep's ears.
Their lightly died down as silence enveloped the room, and then, like a supernova, they flared up so hard I had to guard my eyes with my hand, and Ammy let out a startled yelp. She would've most likely fallen over from the shock, if not for Roland grabbing her at the last second, and once the light died down, she found herself in the crossfire of all eyes on her. Or rather, the pair of marble balls, covered in glowing purple arcane symbols lazily circling her head like planets orbiting around a star.
"W-What's going on?"
Surprised out of her wits, Ammy looked left and right in search of support.
"Well, I'll be damned," Lord Ambrose muttered, his hand absently tugging at his beard. "I'll very well be damned! Amadeus, you old fool! You had the Conduit in your family the whole damn ti!"
"Now, now. Calm down," Lord Gulliver tried to rein in the old guy, but he had none of it.
"Calm down my foot! Look at that! There's no mistaking it!"
"It… really does seem to fit the descriptions I've heard, but…" Lord Barnabas tried to interject, but he was out-shouted by Ambrose.
"Argh! I can't believe if it wasn't for what happened today, we might've never learned about this!"
anwhile, Lord Taika grabbed the hands of Ammy and gently squeezed her fingers.
"Congratulations are in order, Alia."
"Wha…? What just happened?" She looked out of it and seed to be more bothered by the marble balls going in and out of her field of view than anything else.
"The Keys have recognized you," she told her with a smile. "You're the Conduit of the Grimoire."
"Really?" The class rep finally stopped trying to get the orbs to stop orbiting and stared at Taika and wide-eyed disbelief. "J-Just like this?"
"There's no question about it," Lord Barnabas joined in after he gave up on the attempt to calm Ambrose. "We should quickly send a ssage to the Tower of Restoration in Ottawa and ask Lord Marzanna whether the Key in her custody has also responded."
After saying that, the dark-skinned arch-mage politely turned to the still-studded Lord Grandpa, waiting for his approval. When he nodded, Barnabas imdiately turned on his heel and headed outside, not even bothering to dispel his magical armour first.
In the anti, now that he was finally shaken out of his stupor, Endymonion looked in the eye. We held eye contact for a few seconds. He might've been searching for sothing in my gaze, though it was a futile effort, as I was just as taken aback by the suddenness of this developnt as he was.
"Did you know this would happen?" he asked at least, and after a long beat, I nodded.
"I had a strong inkling, yes."
He didn't respond right away. Instead, he glanced at his granddaughter, who was still in the process of accepting what just happened (and trying to halt the circling marbles even as we were speaking) and then back at .
"Why does everything keep happening on my island?" he blurted out at last, sounding almost pitiful in the process.
I gave it so thought, and the best I could say was, "I could tell you, but you wouldn't believe anyway." That wasn't exactly an uplifting note to end things on, so after mulling it over a bit, I added, "Just roll with the punches, and don't look the gift horse in the mouth. It's easier that way."
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