I do not own Wizard101, nor its characters, nor the cover picture, only my OCs
Welcome to the Fragmented Library, where I store all the pieces and scraps of stories that goxeris writes. I am Kevin Lightshade and I would be honored to show you around the place. What? Are you telling me this place is almost empty?! Hmm… There isn't much we can do right now, words come and go and so do the stories kept in this place.
I don't think it will stay that way for long. I had a chat with goxeris earlier and he told me he is hard at work writing about new ideas. Pst, just between you and I... don't trust him, he is an unreliable author!
Ehem… As I was saying, some stories kept here require you to know stuff about Fragment of a Wish, while others are just stand alone. I will tell you which one is which as we encounter them so don't worry about it.
Let's start our tour! The first one shot I'd like to introduce you, is quite the historical one. No ground breaking details or information in it, but it is indeed the first story that was written, and the one that sparked the whole idea behind this place.
For this one, you should have read the first three chapters of Fragment of a Wish. It is about Emer's first encounter with Gamma and her decision to go to Ravenwood. Enjoy.
The Letter from Another World
Emer was sitting on her comfortable bed in the small room she shared with three other girls at the orphanage. All her focus on the Math exercise book tactically placed on her lap while her hand hovered over it armed with a pencil. That last exercise was taking everything out of her, not to mention that the summer vacation was going to end soon, her time for completing her homework running low.
A small movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, resulting in her gaze to shift to the window across the room.
Her first, unfocused thought, was that sunlight had somehow been able to go through the roof of grey clouds lazily grouped up above the city, but her jaw opened wide as she understood that it wasn't the case.
The glass had turned into a pure white color and small ripples were all over it, resembling the surface of a pond during heavy rain.
She gasped in surprise, dropping her math exercise book on the floor as she tried to get away from the thing, hitting her head on the wall behind her.
Emer hardly had the time to stand up and go for the door, when something small and feathery came out of the white surface, landing with a thump and a rather indignant hoot on the floor.
The thing stood up on its two legs, revealing itself as an owl, sporting a purple graduation hat on its head and matching collar around its neck. Emitting another hoot, softer than the previous one. The animal looked around the room, finally acknowledging the presence of the girl.
Emer stared at it in disbelief, slowly moving her hand in search of something she could use for self-defense, determined to make a run for the door if the animal went crazy.
It was then, that out of the blue, the owl started to talk,"Greetings. You must be the girl Ambrose was talking about!"
Emer stared at the owl in bewilderment, swiftly grabbing thing she could find which happened to be a stuffed mammoth toy, a present she had gotten last year for her birthday. Armed with her new weapon and confidence, she did the most logical thing she could think of: she threw it at the owl and dashed for the door screaming, her speed something that even herself couldn't believe she was capable of.
Her run continued through the corridor, her mind still trying to piece together what was going on and almost tackled Mrs. Willow, the orphanage's caretaker, to the ground when she bumped into her.
"Where are you running off to Emer? Didn't you have some homework to do?" Mrs. Willow inquired, getting a strong hold of the girl's shoulder.
"Mrs. Willow, an owl got in through the window, and it talks!" Emer blurted out, trying to drag the caretaker with her back to her room to show her the animal.
"An owl? I don't understand what you are saying, calm down" Mrs. Willow said, letting herself be dragged through the corridor to the half-opened door.
"Look!" Emer said, slamming the door open.
Emer's eyes widened in surprise, as she stared at the room. The owl was nowhere in sight, the window back to normal with its glassery surface as still as usual. The only things out of place were her stuffed mammoth toy and her math exercise book, both abandoned on the floor.
She couldn't believe that a mere hour of doing homework would procure her such obscure and absurd visions, so she started to inspect every corner of the room, checking under the beds and into the wardrobes trying to find any traces of the talking owl.
Suddenly shifting her gaze to Mrs. Willow, who was looking at her expectantly, waiting to see what all the fuss was about, Emer stopped in her tracks.
Was she really trying to get help with something so out of the ordinary from an inhabitant of Greyfell? She mentally facepalmed.
She couldn't even fetch Shard, since he had gone to who knows where, muttering something about wanting to go play with the other children. Why had he even insisted on going, Emer had no idea, he would just look at others playing from the sidelines, without ever trying to take part in the game. Not that it ever mattered if he did try to play with them, the result would have been the same regardless.
"What is it, Emer?" Mrs. Willow asked, giving a quick glance around the room.
"N-nothing," Emer said as questions started to rise in her mind.
She wasn't completely sure if the owl was anything similar to the things she and Shard could see, maybe she had just imagined it. Maybe she really did doze off while studying. It had happened once or twice. Maybe if she hadn't woken up, the owl would have started dictating formulas while tap dancing.
"I'll let you study then," concluded Mrs. Willow, walking down the corridor and out of sight.
Emer closed the door behind her and sighed. Walking warily to the stuffed mammoth, she lifted it up from the floor, dusting it off.
"Why is it always mammoths?" a voice asked behind her.
Startled, Emer instantly turned, the stuffed toy held in front of her as a shield. The owl stared back at her from a bedside table, seemingly amused by her behavior.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"I am Merle Ambrose's loyal companion and familiar. My name is Gamma. I have been looking for you," hooted Gamma.
Emer took a deep breath and cleared her mind, accepting that she was, in fact, talking to an owl, and a very well learned one at that "Y-you were looking for me?" she staggered.
"Yes, young one, what is your name?"
Emer warily introduced herself, going as far as slowly sitting on her bed, getting closer to a whole bunch of pillows to throw in case of only that, but she could have found a use for the pencil and her old malfunctioning calculator if things got out of control.
The owl didn't seem dangerous or scary, but she had had a dream with a talking animal trying to harm her once or twice, so she didn't want to take any chances.
"Let's start from the beginning. I have come here on Professor Ambrose's behalf to bring you this letter," Gamma said, taking off its hat and presenting an envelope.
Emer decided to risk it. She got up, approached the owl and took the letter, opening it to read the text as she slowly backed down to her sitting position on the bed.
The letter was written in an elegant flowing handwriting and it didn't contain her name, but according to the owl, there was no mistake that she was the recipient.
It was from a certain Merle Ambrose, Headmaster of Ravenwood school of wizardry, who informed her that she had been chosen to attend courses at his school. She continued to read through, her heart beating faster every second. If any of this was real, granted that Mrs. Willow hadn't set up an extremely convoluted prank, she would be studying magic!
She knew that magic existed of course. She remembered it from her childhood memories before ending up on Greyfell, but she had no idea that there was a school that taught it to people.
A smile slowly crept across her lips and stayed there as she asked Gamma everything about the school. She would have her own room in the dormitory, There were many branches of magic to study and there was a huge tree in the centre of campus that Gamma called Grandfather Bartleby. He got really angry when she asked if she could climb on top of his Grandfather to see the city better, and she had to make an effort not to laugh at the reaction.
She followed most of the conversation with Gamma, but when he started a long and tedious monologue on the ancient and noble tradition of learning wizardry, her mind started to daydream.
" I need to tell Shard all about this" She exclaimed all of a sudden, jumping to her feet and interrupting what had become a very long and boring lecture.
"Who?" Gamma hooted startled by her sudden movement.
"Oh, he is my friend. He might be interested to come too," She said, realizing only after she finished talking that the letter was sent to her and her only, meaning that Shard may not have been even taken into consideration.
"That would be troublesome," Gamma replied. "We know little about this world, but from what Merle has discovered from his crystal ball, nobody believes in magic here. It would be wiser if you kept it a secret."
Emer shook her head in denial. "No… I mean. I know that there is magic here, and even though nobody actually recognizes it, Shard is able to do so. Wouldn't that mean he can come too?"
Gamma didn't reply for a few seconds, and when he did, his words were well thought out, " It is not my place to deny that your friend might hold such an ability, but it is not my place either to make decisions without consulting with the headmaster."
"Oh, I see. Can you contact him, please? I would love to come to this school with my friend," Emer pleaded, giving her best effort at a puppy face.
She hoped with all her heart that she didn't have to leave Shard alone in this place. He would have been ignored by everybody for the rest of his days.
"I am afraid it is not that easy child," Gamma replied. He then explained how Greyfell had a faint connection to the other worlds in of the spiral and that it was difficult to arrange transportation to Wizard City.
"We have already prepared for the portal to take only one person. The school year will start soon afterward, you will have to make your decision and stay true to it."
Emer bit her lip in reflection. Her heart was beating fast as she felt special indeed to be chosen to learn magic from a school in another world.
She wasn't particularly fond of her life on Greyfell, and her math book was still figuratively glaring at her from where it had fallen. She couldn't leave Shard there though. There and then, she resolved to talk to Professor Ambrose about it. He seemed to be very kind in his letter and if she had been chosen, why Shard wasn't?
"I'll come to Ravenwood," she said to the owl.
Her mind trying to come up with good arguments she could use to convince the headmaster once she got to Wizard City.
She then listened intently to the instructions. In a week's time, exactly at midnight, she would have had to walk through the mirror of the small living room. Ambrose would be waiting for her on the other side.
She couldn't wait for days to pass by, and even after Gamma left, nonchalantly flying through the closed window, she couldn't stop fidgeting around. Getting up and walking restlessly around the room at random intervals.
When her roommates came back from to the room, Emer took up her math exercise book and started doodling random things, daydreaming about her new life in a different world, the chattering of the other girls becoming distant and unimportant.
Whether you read it or scrolled right through it, it is time for us to keep going. Come on, we don't have eternity!