Chapter Six: Book of Revelations
Hisaki was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. no longer did the girl wear the Library uniform: she wore an old sweater of faded navy, with bunched white cuffs at her wrist, and a pleated skirt of similar material. Why bother dressing like an Agent, she had decided, when she was 'suspended from duty'?
That was her reasoning, anyway. Yomiko had allowed her to simply sulk in her room. Training stopped; when Hisaki used her fire magic Yomiko told her not to. Hisaki barely responded when she heard the door shut, signalling the Paper's departure for her next mission.
Hisaki reached over and picked up th letter from the table. The British Library's letterhead at the top and a few lines below, typed from some impersonal machine.
"To: Hisaki Ito
Until further notice, you are hereby suspended from duty."
No signature, nothing to show that a human had written this notice. It was like her performance at the factory had been measured and graded, the data fed to a device, and the result was this piece of paper.
I wonder if they mass send these, Hisaki cynically thought to herself. Yellow flames appeared at the edges of the paper, consuming it from outside in. It didn't take long for the letter to burn up completely, scattering ashes over Hisaki's sweater. She sat up and tried to brush the ashes off, but to no avail. If it wasn't for the sudden chill that had come last night, Hisaki would've ditched the sweater immediately.
Hisaki got up and began to wander the house aimlessly. By the packing she had helped Yomiko do, mostly paper and books, Hisaki knew that Yomiko would be gone for several days. This left Hisaki opportunities to do as she pleased, but something like sneaking into London seemed pointless - what was the point if she could barely manage a few words and phrases? Without Yomiko around Hisaki could use her Craft, but she had nothing new to practise. Except...
Hisaki paused, then turned to face the door to the basement. She had never gone down there. Would Yomiko know if she looked through her books? She got awfully defensive if she found anything out of place, namely books.
Hisaki grabbed the doorknob and turned. The door opened. Hisaki paused: an invitation? Or a test? The girl steeled her resolve, pushed open the door and descended.
A library. Yomiko resided in a secret underground library. Hisaki darted over to the first shelf and scanned the titles. Everything was in a foreign language and Hisaki didn't know much about books, but Hisaki could tell that Yomiko was living in possibly one of the most valuable collections of books in the world.
Eventually Hisaki arrived at one curious collection of books Each one was neatly labelled, on the spine in Japanese characters, the journal of a Paper Master, all in numerical order. They looked fairly recent - the first journal was started after the 1800s but looked like a newer book, as though it was just a reprinted publication. The numbers listed up to 17, under the title Nikki no Kanzeyori Megami.
Interesting title, Hisaki thought to herself. She took down the book and flipped it open. It looks pretty short too. I'm sure Yomiko wouldn't mind if I read this...
"Haa..."
Yomiko sighed, slumping against the seat in the helicopter. Seated across from her was Drake, cleaning his weapons. Cases were stuffed in the extra seats, but they were mostly empty.
In a few hours Yomiko would be back in her British home. Back amongst her books, but more importantly she would be back with hisaki. This was the reason for Yomiko's sigh and slump. What was she going to do about the firewitch? With a few spells she could check on what Hisaki had been doing during her absence: Yomiko hoped that she hadn't be playing with fire.
"Thinking about your student?" Drake asked, his question sounding like a statement. Yomiko nodded. "Yomiko, mind if I tell you my honest opinion?"
"Ah, Drake-san?" Drake sighed.
"Yomiko, if your student fails, don't blame yourself. It's not that you're a bad teacher or fire and water - or paper - don't mix." Yomiko nodded, having heard that phrase often.
"Yomiko, if your student fails, it's because of her. From what I've heard about her over the past few days, Ito's trouble. Pyromaniacs never are; fire's only purpose is to destroy." Drake paused as he changed guns and started cleaning again. "She'd throw her magic around without a second thought. People like that are dangerous, period."
The rest of the flight passed uneventfully. Drake finished checking and cleaning his weapons and settled to stare out the window, watching the scenery. Yomiko was immersed in a book she had purchased during the mission.
It was sunset when a glow from the east caught Drake's attention. The soldier frowned and leaned forward, ignoring the pilot who was just as puzzled. It was coming in the direction of...
The helicopter passed over another hill before the two men could see what it was. It was Yomiko's country home, going up in flames. The entire place was engulfed in fire; by Drake's guess, the fire had been burning for a while to do so much damage so quickly. It was just a bright orange inferno that nothing discernable could be seen through.
"What...the...HELL..."
The heat became more and more oppressive as the helicopter neared it. Finally the pilot was forced to land, about 20 metres away from the fire; the heat from the flames was too much to fly towards. Drake threw open the door and jumped out to stare at the inferno.
"Lucky day," Drake said. He didn't have to ask anyone what had happened. Anyone who knew the people he worked with could easily see that Ito had lost control and burned up the house. Drake privately hoped that that witch had gone up in smoke as well, but he doubted it. Bad luck had a habit of doing the worst things possible to you.
Yomiko stirred from her book. Absorbed as she had been, she hadn't realized what was going on until Drake had opened the door, allowing more heat the wash into the aircraft.
Yomiko looked up and started screaming.
I'm not a religious person, but I went to church (Christian) many years ago. To pass the time away in service, I read the Book of Revelations.
And here I am, writing a story partly-based on witchcraft. I bet the folks in old Salem would have a field day with me. The title can be taken for its literal value or religious significance.
omasuoniwabanshi: Hope this characterization of Drake is up to scratch!
Fiona Summoner: About the only research I did on witchcraft were the runes - the second Aett (?) was shown on Witch Hunter Robin and I got interested in them. After finding out that they meant things and weren't random-seeming symbols, I added them as ways for Hisaki to cast a spell. I had an interest in witches several years ago, but it was mostly in the Salem Witch Trials and the different ways to 'test' if one was a witch.
My fictional Craft is based more on logic and mathematics than pure imagination. Yomiko went through all the logic in the fourth chapter, so I won't repeat it. But like I said, I'm not a witch or Wiccan in real life - my stuff is based on what I think would be logical to do. Future chapters will involve more pre-researched 'witchcraft' though, as Hisaki explores her power.
Thank you very much for your comment! I guess I learned something new today!
Saturay, March 12, 2005