That was close... Are you alright? Something weird happpened in this section of the library and part of the story had been damaged. I managed to fix it up to its previous state, but sweet Ra, it wasn't easy.
The next story I'm going to show you was written during Christmas time and... it didn't turn out too well...
I thought we could get to some juicy world-building stuff for FoaW's universe, or a cheery party with many characters, but as it often happens with that unreliable author, he just gets random ideas and throws them at me to organize. *sigh*
As you might have guessed by the ghosts haunting this section of the library, the army of Malorn Ashtorns eating biscuits down there, and the wolf munching at my robe, this doesn't contain fancy Christmas trees and happy things.
This is an alternate future in which Rose was never accepted at Ravenwood and due to some shocking events, the Spiral changed for the worse.
I think you can read this without having read anything else, but Seeking Magic sure helps to get a better grasp of who Rose is, and her relationships with other characters.
The Wizard Huntress
Grey clouds obscured the night sky and snowflakes gently fell down to the city's pavement, covering it in a thin layer of frost. Christmas lights decorated most of the buildings, illuminating the narrow streets of Marleybone and spreading happiness to all.
"You're lucky, Master. She isn't a Thaumaturge. Snow won't help her," Rocky, the rock said, speaking directly to its master through telepathy.
"Yeah, we sure are..." the Master said. Her voice reflected how she felt inside with its slow, apathetic tone.
"You can't keep dwelling in the past, Master."
"I know. It's just... give me a minute."
"Yeah, right. A minute is all it takes for her to get away. I should give you some credit though, I honestly didn't think you were brave enough to come back here after what has happened. Isn't that right, Rose?"
The Master chuckled. It was a lifeless chuckle. "You never call me that, Rocky."
"I am your familiar, Master. I do what is necessary to keep you on the thin edge between sanity and madness."
"Familiars usually are bound to Wizards," Rose scoffed. "But you surely do a good job of driving me crazy, that I concede."
She gave a quick glance to the empty street. Spotting a trail of footprints and recognizing them as her target's, she resumed her jog. Targets. Wizards were nothing more than targets for her ever since that fateful day. It wasn't hard to keep track of them, even in the middle of the night. Her eyesight had improved dramatically since she had started training as a huntress.
Marleybone didn't seem to have changed much during her absence. The buildings stood strong and unchanging at the side of the road. She would have opted to follow her target by ambushing her from the roofs, but this time, it was a battle that needed to be fought face to face.
"She's heading there, isn't she?" Rose said, peering into the distance towards a familiar street.
"That's right. You can still turn around and avoid confrontation if you wish so. I'm sure Pirate boy will cover for you."
Rose shook her head and pinched her cheek. "I'm good. Let's go."
The snow crunched under her boots as she kept following the trail. Her hand slowly went to her quiver to make sure she still had enough ammunition. Normal arrows, explosive arrows, and poisonous arrows. Nothing was missing. Her bow was ready in her hands.
How did it come to this? As soon as her mind formulated that doubt, she discarded it immediately. She knew the reason perfectly well.
Her breath almost stopped and her heart sunk as she passed in front of the remains of a particular building. Its walls were nothing more but a pile of rubble amassed one over the other and a fence separated the street from its entrance. On the fence, a single iron plaque described what had transpired in that place years ago.
"They kept it as it was, huh?" Rocky said.
"Yeah, as a warning to those who try to become self-taught wizards," Rose replied, tightening her grip on her bow.
She didn't need to read it to know what had happened that day. The day when she had tried to cast that spell. Rubble was all that remained of her house. Her own family was dead because of her selfish desire.
With difficulty, Rose looked away and kept going. It was like running with chains bound to her legs. Chains that pulled her back towards her former house. Back towards her past.
A familiar gate came into view. It was different from the last time she had been there. Plants had started to climb their way upwards, covering the rusty iron bars in green leaves. Rose didn't need to open the gate. It had already been opened by the wizard.
"Last chance, Master."
Rose took a deep breath and walked forward into the garden. Luxuriant plants and trees welcomed her, growing everywhere and without order. The place had been abandoned for years after the Dreadfuls had been driven out. Nobody even dared to enter their once well-kept garden. Not that they even had a reason to do so after the Spiral's first great purge.
At the centre of the garden, a girl, dressed in fine black robes, stood alone. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed in pain, looking at what had become of the place she once called home.
"Penny, long time no see," Rose said, barely keeping her voice from shaking.
"Rose... are you here to kill me?" Penny asked with a wry smile.
"All wizards are enemies."
"I understand."
Rose readied her bow and nocked an arrow to the bowstring."Don't make it harder than it should be."
Penny shrugged in resignation."I won't."
The arrow was released with a hiss. It quickly covered the distance between the two girls, aiming straight for Penny's heart. A ward materialized around the Necromancer just an instant before the projectile could pierce through her skin. Both Rose and Penny eyed it in bewilderment.
Rose made a step back and her hand went for another arrow. The only words that exited her mouth formed a simple question in surprise, "Why?!"
"I can't... control it..." Penny cried out as more tears streamed down her cheeks. Her shadow grew and stretched on the ground. It enlarged and grew claws and horns, standing up behind Penny like a guardian who would do anything to protect its charge. Evil red light sparkled where its eyes should have been and glared at Rose with dangerous intensity.
Penny brought her hands to her head and released a sharp cry as if her brain was being stabbed by countless needles. Rose braced herself as a wave of shadow magic erupted from Penny. It took down trees, bushes, and grass in a wide circle around her.
The huntress found herself thrown backwards by the blast. Shadowy filaments of magic attached themselves to her like spider-silk and Rose could feel the madness emanating from them like distant echoes of Penny's voice.
Another voice laughed at her from what appeared to be far away and she wasn't sure whether she had actually heard it, or was it all in her head. It felt like an eternity later when she finally landed on the ground, crashing into the trunk of a fallen tree.
Helping herself up with trembling arms, she eyed Penny in bewilderment. Penny returned her stare and a twisted smile deformed her features."Long live the Shadow Queen!" Penny shouted.
"It's too late... She isn't the Penny you once knew, Master! Her own Magic drove her to madness!"
Rose stepped out of the way as skeletal hands erupted from the terrain to grab her. She then rolled sideways to avoid a blast of magic sent her way by the necromancer and hid behind a tree trunk to catch her breath.
"Don't hide, Rose! Come out and play!" Penny said in a cheerful tone. Shadowy tendrils erupted from the tree's shadow, binding Rose's body like unbreakable ropes.
Penny laughed."There you are, Rose. Don't worry, everything will be over soon."
"Rocky, she's too powerful, I need to use some magic against her. Help me out!" Rose said. A slight pressure on her mind confirmed Rocky's agreement.
Rose focused and called upon her Magic. She hadn't done so since Morganthe had won her battle against Wizard City. There were dire consequences for seeking out that power after the Spiral had been altered. Magic itself was bound to Morganthe's will through the use of the Song of Creation. Rose's own family had died because she had reached for that forbidden power without swearing eternal fealty to the Queen of the Shadow Web.
Steeling her resolve, she closed her eyes and dived into her Magic. She found herself in her own mental image of the Dreadful's garden. Plants were dead and hollow trees lifted their branches to the empty sky in a silent plea for help. Shadows stretched from them and chained up everything in their grip.
Myth Magic called out to her. The book that contained all her magical knowledge floated midair in the middle of the garden, its soft glow shrouded in endless shadows. The Shadows enlarged when she dared to make a step forward. They swallowed everything up like an immense ocean of darkness. She swam through it, reaching out her hand for the glowing book.
Morganthe talked to her through Shadow Magic. There was no difference between the Shadow Queen and the power of shadow after her victory in Khrysalis. They were one and the same.
"You seek power, child. I can give it to you, if you surrender to me," Morganthe spoke. The voice pierced right through Rose's mind like a needle, scattering thoughts and digging for Rose's innermost desires.
"Whatever you want, I can give you. All Magic is under my command," Morganthe insisted. People appeared on the other side of the sea of darkness. Her mother with her strict but kind expression, her father with his playful smile, and her grandfather with his eyes that seemed to see right through her.
"Mom, Dad, Grandpa..." Rose called out weakly.
Another figure joined them. It was Penny, she walked on top of the shadows and waved at her. She spoke soft words with a warm smile. "Let's go to Ravenwood together, Rose. It will be awesome!"
"Penny..."
"Master, Stop! She'll drive you to madness too!" Rocky warned. Its voice sounded like a whisper among the big promises of the Umbra Queen.
Rose widened her eyes in fear. Her hand was reaching out for Penny, almost touching her. With difficulty, she withdrew it and turned back to the glowing book.
Her mind had regained enough clarity to see some of the truth behind Morganthe's vivid illusions. A web of shadows stretched around the book, capturing whoever tried to use magic without the permission of the Shadow Queen, trapping them in endless nightmares and madness.
The images became more insistent, they called out to her. They Told her that everything was going to be alright if she joined them in the shadow web. With tears streaming down her cheeks, Rose made one last attempt to reach for the book. The pages rapidly turned as it opened and filled her with power.
Her eyes popped open just before Penny could disintegrate her with a spell. Rose's body glowed golden, and before she knew it, she fell on the ground at a safe distance from Penny. The Teleportation spell had been a success.
Penny turned to face her and laughed. She bent in two holding her chest and her eyes teared up in amusement. "Magic against magic, huh? Morganthe will win either way!"
Rose shot an explosive arrow in an attempt to exploit Penny's distraction, but the necromancer's shadow intercepted it before it could get to her. The explosion destroyed the shadow's hand, but not even an instant passed, that the hand reformed as if nothing had happened at all.
"You need to separate those two or you'll get nowhere," Rocky pointed out.
"I know!" Rose complained, gasping in surprise when her mad run to take cover behind a bush was thwarted by the complete annihilation of said bush by a magical blast.
Skeletons and ghouls slowly surfaced from the terrain. There were at least twenty coming out at the same time, and if Penny's fame as an invincible Necromancer was to be believed, others were soon to follow.
Rose readied explosive arrows and destroyed any undead that approached her while she zigzagged to get out of the way of penny's powerful spells. The constant running and evading had her soon covered in sweat and gasping for breath, but the undead continued to arrive.
Cuts and bruises covered her skin where the ghouls had tried to grab her or where she had attempted some riskier maneuvers to hit penny directly. Her training as a huntress had made her more agile than any normal human, but she couldn't keep it up forever.
"You need to summon something!" Rocky shouted in panic.
Rose agreed with him, if not for a simple truth; she had never summoned anything in her whole life. After kicking a ghoul out of the way, she made a run for the house, looking for a place where she wasn't in constant danger.
"Are you going to leave me here, all alone?" Penny said as she was left behind. Her voice seemed so genuine that Rose almost stopped to look back.
Luckily she didn't and managed to dodge a spell sent her way before it got to her. With the rattling of bones and the spooky growls of the ghouls at her back, she zigzagged her way to the mansion's door. Once she got there, she didn't lose time and burst it open using a simple unlocking spell. That was one of the first things she had learned as she tried to study magic on her own.
Closing the door behind herself, she made a run for the corridors. Dreadful Mansion was huge, even more so on the inside than on the outside. The place was worse off than the garden. Furniture lied messily around, broken to pieces, the windows had their glass missing, lying shattered on the floor, portraits were shredded by what seemed to be a wild beast equipped with deadly claws, and cobwebs filled every corner like in a fancy spider hotel.
Rose heard the door burst open behind her as she made her way up the stairs. She ran through a corridor devoid of furniture if not for a singed red carpet that ran through all its length. Without thinking too much about it, she slipped into the first room that came in sight and closed the door behind herself. Getting a better Look at her surroundings, Rose bit her lip. It was Penny's former bedroom.
As in the other rooms of the mansion, everything was in disarray. Rose remembered how Penny was a very tidy person. Her room had once been a perfectionist's dream, but standing among the broken furniture, scattered pages and thorn stuffed toys, whose insides were laying about, Rose realized that her friend wasn't coming back. What remained of Penny was but a mere husk awaiting freedom.
"Master, quick, cast a spell!" Rocky insisted.
"Right…" Rose replied, shaking herself from her musings.
Before she could even try to focus her energy. She was slammed back into the wall. Her back protested in pain and her head spun as it crashed onto the hard stone surface with violence. Her mind couldn't process what had just happened and her vision was a blur. That was when Penny's voice reached her, coming from the shadows.
"I found you again, Rose. Are you trying to organize a sleepover party for Christmas?"
Rose groaned as she tried to break free. Penny's shadow had her pinned to the wall with its clawed hand, and any attempt of movement was met with it mercilessly tightening the grip. Rose didn't know how much could her bones take before they broke under such strength.
Her bow had fallen somewhere on the floor, but she still had an arrow in her hand, even though it was a normal one. Her mind started racing, trying to formulate a plan to escape her predicament.
"I figured mere ghouls and skeletons aren't the best way to kill my best friend, don't you think? Let's do something better!"
Without waiting for an answer from Rose, Penny turned towards the window and started casting a spell. Mana condensed in front of her and two power pips and a white pip appeared, spinning at high speed around a shadow pip like planets around the sun. The Death Symbol materialized in front of her and she touched it with her palm, activating her spell.
Just as Rose, gaping for breath, had managed to fish an idea that could have worked, her mind went blank in terror. Out of the window, the entire garden disappeared beneath a sea of black, ominous water. An enormous riptide sucked everything in. Trees which uselessly tried to anchor themselves to the ground were the first to go down and they never came back up. The sky blackened, and menacing black clouds swirled around the vortex in a brewing storm.
The mansion's walls shook and then the mansion itself moved, floating like a boat in the middle of the ocean. Rose stared in horror as she understood that the entire building was being dragged into the depths of whatever Penny had just summoned.
A sound filled the air almost like the laments of an enormous whale. Large tentacles erupted from the middle of the riptide and after them, an enormous, creature. Its color was a sickly grey and its entire body consisted of a single round wrinkly head equipped three glowing yellow eyes.
A sudden tug of the currents and the mansion spurred forward towards the middle of the maelstrom. The creature levitated above the whirlpool waiting for its prey to get closer.
"Want to stare at it until you're dead, Master?" Rocky's voice made Rose snap out of her horror.
She glanced at her surroundings and tried to flesh out her idea. Her bow was on the floor, useless unless she could get a hold of it, The shadow was too strong for her to defeat and Penny was protected by what seemed to be a powerful ward.
In an instant, she told Rocky the plan. The familiar helped her focus and her magic flowed into the arrow. Gritting her teeth, she violently stabbed the shadow's hand with it. The shadow lost its grip on her as it howled in pain and Rose used the opportunity to slip to the ground and take hold of her bow, ready an explosive arrow and aim it straight at Penny.
She had been able to create pips only once in her whole life, and it had been when her spell had killed her family. Regardless, she squashed every doubt, and under Rocky's guide, three pips appeared in front of her. Releasing her arrow in a smooth trained motion, she silently willed the spell to work.
"Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!" she didn't know if she was screaming to Rocky or no one at all.
The world seemed to slow down as the arrow made its way towards Penny, who had just enough time to morph her triumphant grin in an grimace of fear before the arrow was released. The shadow wasn't fast enough to stop it and the wards crumbled under the power of 'Shatter'.
The arrow pierced right through Penny's chest and exploded, sending her body flying out of the window and blood splattering on the walls.
The shadow erupted in a long piercing scream before dissolving into thin air and Rose dropped her bow in exhaustion. She caught a few messy breaths and leaned back. She hadn't expected her mana to drain that fast after a single spell.
Despite the howls of the creature outside, everything seemed distant to Rose. The image of Penny's face and the fear in her eyes just before the arrow took her life.
"Master, there is no time for resting, that thing is still outside!" Rocky shouted.
Rose ignored her aching body and slowly stood up. If Rocky hadn't shouted it to her, she would have gladly stayed in the room. The maelstrom was still going on and the mansion was coming dangerously close to the creature that stood in the middle of it.
Groaning in protest, Rose forced herself to move, leaning on the walls for support and walking through the corridors of the mansion. It took a long amount of time for her to reach the rooftop and by the time she got there, the mansion had already half sunk into the dark waters and had started circling around the large vortex. Looking around, other Marleybonian buildings were following the very same fate.
The battle against Penny came at a great cost.
Rose glared at the creature and blinded by anger, shot many arrows, one after another with no reason at all but to get revenge against whatever forces had taken Penny away from her. The creature wasn't bothered by them and most of the projectiles didn't even reach it, losing momentum in the strong gusts of wind.
"There isn't much we can do, Master…" Rocky attempted.
"I know!" Rose shouted back with shattered voice, falling to her knees as the water slowly rose up, splashing all over her and bringing with it the smell of rotten corpses. Her wet hair kept sticking on her face and her clothes were drenched in cold water. Rose realized that she didn't even care.
She didn't even know how she felt. Anger, fear, and sorrow overwhelmed her all at once. She had killed her best friend, and now she was heading to her own watery grave. Maybe she deserved it after all.
The sound of a cannon made her lift her gaze in surprise. In the sky, a small flying ship challenged the mighty winds. The explosions of the projectile hitting the creature reached Rose's ears and almost instantly, the pained cry of the beast followed.
The creature reacted on instinct and lifted its tentacles to protect the main body, backing away from the approaching attacker. As it did that, the Maelstrom seemed to lessen. After a few more shots, whoever was on board of the small ship seemed to understand that no matter how many times the creature was shot, there was no way of landing a decisive blow. The ship steered back, flying towards Dreadful Mansion.
Rose waved at it in an attempt to be noticed, and a tired smile made its way to her face. A rope was thrown at her and she caught it. In no time at all, she was on board, getting away from the Maelstrom as it swallowed up the area surrounding Dreadful Mansion.
After a few minutes any building that had been caught in those dangerous waters had disappeared from sight and the maelstrom slowly faded out of existence as the creature went back beneath the waves.
"By the powers, Rose!" The pirate going by Fearless Mark Quentin said, peering into the distance with his telescope. "Ye would'ave sunk to the bottom o' the sea if it weren't fer me!"
He was quite tall, with scruffy brown hair and bright hazel eyes. His current attire consisted of his inseparable black captain tri-cornered hat, ragged black pants, worn out black boots, and a bright red coat left unbuttoned over a white shirt.
"Tell me something I don't know, Mark. The mission is complete. Let's head back to HQ," Rose cut it short, trying to keep a straight tone of voice and avoid crying over what had just happened.
Penny wasn't there anymore. She killed her. No matter how much she tried to justify her actions, it just wasn't right.
"Aye," Mark replied, sending the commands to his crew.
Rose bit her lip and before Mark could walk away from her, she said, "Mark, If I ever use magic again and succumb to the Umbra Queen… put an end to me."
Mark didn't reply instantly, but waited for a few seconds. He sighed and then spoke again in a softer tone, "Aye."
After a few more moments of silence, Mark approached her again, waving a small present wrapped in golden paper in front of her face."I nigh-on forgot about it, but Merry Christmas, Rose."
She took it with shaky hands. She had made it clear that she didn't want any presents for Christmas. She didn't deserve to receive any gift after what she had done. She looked at Mark and glared.
Once that guy set his mind on something, there was no amount of arguing or shouting that could make him desist. She sighed and slowly unpacked her present. It was an enchanted knife. Something pretty rare in those days.
Mark scratched the back of his neck and said, "Ye lost yer knife to save me that time."
"Woah, Pirate boy is doing one nice thing after another today," Rocky said.
Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Rocky's comment and simply said, "Thank you, Mark."
Mark smiled and made his way to the captain's cabin, leaving her alone to watch Marleybone fade off into the distance.
Rose smiled dryly and sheathed the knife into her belt. She looked towards the world where her family and her best friend had found their demise. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she sarcastically muttered, "Merry Christmas, Rose."
Had fun with it? Well, while you read it I managed to free my robe from that nasty wolf. Oh, and goxeris warned me to avoid ranting about being ignored. Meh, sometimes I wish he was the OC and I was the author, life would be sooo much better. Oh, well. Maybe I'll find something to help me out switching places in the Fragmented Library… Off to the next section!