Chapter 11
Portals and Covens (June 2021)
Icy cursed, picking up the pieces of Tecna's device which opened portals between their universe and that of the Alice Academy. The power section was damaged, the screen was broken and the shell was chipped due to the fall, but she still tried to activate it. She wasn't surprised at all when it didn't turn on.
She made it disappear with a spell and looked around. She wasn't at the Academy, she had crossed the portal before Tecna's thingy went wild. But she wasn't in Magix either, or in any other place she knew. The sky was a purplish hue, the trees and grass were red. She must have fallen in some halfway world or something like that, which was overly annoying: she had better ways to spend her time off.
She pulled out her phone and texted Stormy:
"The portal thingy is broken, I don't know where I am, I'm fine. I'll try to be back asap"
The text sent without problems, which reassured her. Bless Tecna. At least she wasn't completely isolated.
She got up and, when she found a road, she followed it up to a town. She definitely wasn't in the Magic Dimension: however many absurd and weird things you could find in it, she was quite sure there wasn't a single place built between what looked like enormous bones and cartilages. A shiver of disgust run down Icy's back while she stopped at the first buildings, studying the situation. She saw few citizens and many masked white capes, probably soldiers, which made her even more uneasy. On the other hand, if there was a military station nearby, there would be maps. She decided to turn invisible and look for informations covertly.
"I better transform as a precaution... what the?!" She couldn't transform! She created ice crystals and succeeded, she also managed to turn invisible, but couldn't transform. She pushed back the worry and flew towards the center of the town. She would figure out the problem later.
§§
Darius held back a yawn. The scout who was reporting to them was too long-winded, especially since he had already read the report on his own. However, he was sure Eberwolf hadn't read it, so he wasn't going to interrupt the scout.
They had been sent to Latissa to investigate on peculiar phenomenons that occurred within the past twenty-four hours, similar to a clumsily imitated spirit infestation. Since spirits definitely weren't involved, considering the lack of the terrifying wails typical of hauntings, they had sent Eberwolf so that he'd follow eventual tracks. Darius was there because he was the only one who actually understood Eberwolf and who didn't mind working with them. Not that the other coven heads or Belos knew the reason, and it was better that way.
Finally the scout quieted down.
- Well, we'll begin with an inspection of the place of the sighting. No need for an escort. - said Darius, dismissing the scout.
With Eberwolf frolicking next to him on all fours he walked away from the police station towards the border of Latissa. It was almost sundown, but they had enough time.
- Eber? -
Eberwolf stopped sniffing all around and used a spell on themselves to enhance sight and smell. He looked around again, then he started moving deeper into the wood.
- Always in the woods. - muttered Darius, following them.
Soon Eberwolf's pace slowed down, a sign that they were close.
§
Icy heard a rustling like that of approaching steps. She was rather far from the road and she was sitting on a tall branch, so they probably wouldn't see her, but she still turned invisible and tried to breathe as quietly as possible.
The steps came closer, then they stopped. She heard a voice but couldn't make out what it said, then the steps came closer.
There was a tall man with black skin and purple hair, which floated like the substance in lava lamps, he had pointy ears and a pink cape styled on one shoulder. Next to him, a being not better identified, short and fluffy.
- Come out, we know you're here. - said the man.
Icy raised an eyebrow, amused. The sentence would have definitely been more effective hadn't he said that turning his back to her.
- We won't hurt you, we just want to talk. -
Icy rolled her eyes. A classic.
Receiving only silence as an answer, the two tried moving away, walking out of Icy's sight. She didn't dare move in order to not give out her position, but the caution proved useless when a jet of purple sticky substance pushed her off the branch, taking a surprised yelp out of her.
The substance wrapped her up and turned solid, but she stayed invisible.
- Shall we talk now? - asked the man, bored.
Icy noticed that the substance was his very hair, which weirded her out and raised her admiration at the same time.
As an answer, she froze the part that imprisoned her and broke it, flying away. The fanged little monster let out some sounds, apparently giving the man directions because he tried to grab her again with way too much precision. Icy barely managed to avoid him.
She sent a magic ray towards the little beast, enclosing them in a block of ice. Without their tips, she thought, the other one couldn't keep her from fleeing.
She realized she had wildly underestimated the situation when the man looked furious at the block of ice and said:
- Enough! -
His clothes and skin turned into the same purple substance as his hair and his eyes turned black, while he grew even taller. A stream that was his arm swamped Icy, who surrounded herself with a protective barrier but didn't freeze him, not wanting to badly injure him. His hair was one thing, the rest of the body was a different thing!
She turned visible, the shield gave out her position anyway. He swished closer to her, his right arm mutated in a curve, pointy blade.
- Free him right now! - he hissed, ready to hit.
- Only if you leave me be. - Icy replied.
- Too late for that. -
- Oh I totally should've trusted a complete stranger, right? Been there, done that, an experience to not repeat. -
He bared his teeth, then his eyes widened, like he had raised his eyebrows. Then he went back to his human form, although he kept his right arm in the form of a falchion. He had a perplexed and wary look. Icy didn't lower her shield.
- Free him, then we'll talk. For real. -
Icy frowned. Still without lowering the shield, she held out a hand towards the little imprisoned monster and freed him with a twist of her wrist. The gesture seemed to impress the man.
The little monster growled at her, but the man calmed him down.
- Calm, Eber. We started on the wrong terms, let's start again. I am the head of the abomination coven, Darius Deamonne, and he is the head of the beast keeping coven, Eberwolf the Huntsman. We were appointed to investigate on strange events that seemingly you, a human, caused. -
Icy grimaced.
- I knew those scrolls were too noisy. My name's Icy. -
- Why were you rummaging through scrolls? -
- I needed maps to know where I was. -
- When and how did you get here? -
- Yesterday, I don't know how. It wasn't in my plans and I'd like to go back home without having problems. - said Icy, crossing her arms.
Darius slightly tilted his head.
- Let me guess, you don't know how to go back to your realm. -
- Does it happen often? -
- Not quite, but it wouldn't be the first time. It surely is the first time, though, that a human uses magic so naturally. -
- I don't know how things work in this world, but I'm a witch. - Icy replied.
Eberwolf sneezed and giggled, like she said a joke. Darius also hinted at a smile.
- You miss the pointy ears. -
Icy put down her shield.
- Different worlds, different rules, get used to it. - she said, - So, will you leave me be now? -
Darius' arm went back to normal while he answered:
- It depends. You don't know where to go or how to go back. Normally I wouldn't make it become my problem, but I wouldn't want you to run into someone less... accommodating than us. -
Icy frowned.
- For example? -
- Any other covenhead, just to start. At least two of them have an unwholesome fixation for poisons. -
Icy thought about it. Her situation wasn't the happiest. She had managed to send Tecna a picture of the device and she had sent her a list of components to collect to fix it, and having a help in finding them wasn't bad at all. Plus she wasn't keen on spending another night in the open, that place was weird and she had sighted a couple creatures that didn't look trustworthy. But she was hesitant to trust him.
- Why would you help me? - she asked.
Darius shrugged.
- Do you think we'll ask for something in exchange? Maybe, but I mainly want informations, nothing risky. Indeed, I promise I'll be responsible of your safety. - he traced a circle in the air, drawing a ring of magenta light, and held out his hand through the circle, - An oath: I will make sure that you are safe. -
Icy's eyes darted from his face to his hand over and over, then she decided to accept. She shook his hand and the ring glew brighter and disappeared.
Darius turned around and walked back to the road, followed by the other two.
- Turn invisible again until I tell you. The less people know there's a human around, the better it will be for you. - he said.
- I could leave and you wouldn't notice. -
- Less problems for me, way more for you. -
Icy turned invisible once more and followed them flying. She patiently waited for them to refer to the captain that the problem had been solved and then joined them on an airship, on which they got on alone. When they were flying and the town was just a cluster of lights behind them, Darius blocked the helm and said:
- If you're still here, show up. -
He jumped back when Icy reappeared next to him. She chuckled amused.
- Are my ears alright like this or do you have notes? - she asked, changing the shape of her ears with a snap of her fingers.
Eberwolf hissed, Darius seemed surprised.
- Is it an illusion? -
- No, it's a metamorphosis spell. Stuff for beginners. -
Darius studied her for a few seconds to then shrug.
- It will fool the scouts, but probably it won't fool any illusionist. Especially the covenhead. -
- How many covens are there? -
- Nine, plus the Emperor's coven. -
- Each with their own kind of magic? -
Darius nodded.
- And you? Do you have a coven? -
Icy sat on a box and rested her arms on her knees.
- They haven't been used for centuries, and they were never defined by the kind of magic. That would be impossible since everyone has a different magic core in my world. -
- What's yours? -
- Ice. But there's spells that don't depend on the core, like metamorphosis. Where are we going? -
- At the castle. You'll stay with me until I find you a safer place. -
- Or till I manage to go back home. -
Darius attentively stared at her. The girl seemed to know how to do that, but how could she know of the door that Belos was rebuilding?
- How? -
Icy made her device appear and showed it to them.
- This thing opens portals between universes, but it broke and I need to replace a few components. -
Darius examined the metallic box without understanding much of his functioning. Technology wasn't his strong point.
- What if you had a portal to the human realm available? - he asked.
Icy brightened up. If she managed to get back to Earth, even the alternative Earth of the Alice Academy, she could've asked Hotaru to fix the device. It wasn't important where the portal Darius was talking about would take her, she could just teleport where needed once on the right planet.
- That would be perfect! -
Darius felt a little guilty for giving her that hope.
- Well, the portal exists, but it isn't complete and I don't have access to it. It's a secret project of the Emperor. -
- And you come and tell me? -
Darius shrugged, like he didn't care much. They stayed quiet until they sighted the castle, at that point Eberwolf jumped on Darius' shoulder and mumbled something. Darius gasped.
- Titan, you're right! Icy, hide your wrists. I don't care how, cover them. And throw on a cape, since we're on it. -
- Why? -
The airship was going down towards some sort of deck.
- Because you don't have the sigil of any coven and they won't let you in if they notice. -
- What are the sigils like? I can imitate one. -
Eberwolf showed her a wrist and Icy copied the drawing on her not tattooed wrist with magic. She still grabbed a cape from a corner of the airship and wrapped herself up in it.
Once they landed, she quietly followed the two covenheads, trying to cover her face with the cape. The scouts at the deck and at the entrance of the castle didn't pay attention to her.
Icy tried to observe the palace as much as possible without drawing attention to her. She couldn't memorize the way from the door to the apartment of Darius, but she noticed that on top of every staircase there were at least two guards. A useful disposition to tower aggressors who came from the outside and thus from below, but that betrayed the certainty of not being attacked from the inside, a weakness she might have had to exploit in the future. The corridors were high but oppressing, probably due to the color. She couldn't believe that gold could look so dull.
Darius opened a door and invited her in, but stood on the door. After looking around and receiving a nod from Eberwolf, he said quietly:
- Stay here. We're going to report, it won't take long. Don't open to anybody. -
Icy nodded and, as soon as the door closed, she looked around. The room seemed as big as the living room of Alfea's apartment, which meant that for just one person it should've been big, instead it was full of furniture and shelves that left a minimum space to move around. A window in a corner was the only source of natural light, and the sun was now going down. Under the window was a purple pouf, a sort of relax area judging from the objects scattered around it. Behind a room divider, on a step higher was a four-poster bed, with purple sheets and tents, just like the bedside rug. A few books were piled up on the nightstand, the shelves were filled with books and scrolls, interrupted here and there by little chests and other objects. A corner of the room was apparently designated as a laboratory, with even a cauldron and ingredients. Icy walked up to it to examine the labels on the jars, but she didn't recognize a single ingredient.
About thirty minutes later she heard steps approaching the door and barely had the time to hide behind the divider before the door opened. She let out a sigh of relief when she heard Darius' voice calling her softly.
He saw her pop up from behind the divider and signaled her to keep quiet and pointed at the crack of light filtering from below the door. Someone was waiting outside. They both stayed silent until the figure left, then Darius let out an irritated sigh.
- How likely is it that someone hears us? - Icy asked in a low voice.
- Pretty likely. -
Icy casted an insonorization spell like the one she used on her own room, then she explained to him what she did.
- Consider it a thank you. - she concluded, finally lowering her hood.
Darius looked at her, once again surprised by the variety of the witch's powers. For him that single spell was worth taking her safety upon himself, Icy had no idea of the gift she just made him.
Icy pointed at the door with her head.
- Who do you think was spying on you? -
- A tiny, irritating thorn in my side, Kikimora. I imagine you must be hungry. -
Icy nodded. In fact she hadn't eaten in over a day, she couldn't find anything that looked edible.
Darius opened a counter and pulled out a basket of bread and one of fruit and he put them on a table.
- These should be edible for you as well, suit yourself. -
He also took two glasses and a bottle. They had dinner together, talking between a bite and a sip.
- Explain to me how you thought you'd go back to your realm. -
Icy picked the less purple apple in the basket and started to peel it with magic.
- I'm in touch with a friend who can help me fix my device. She made it herself, actually. I just need to find the parts that need to be replaced or something close to them. -
- I don't know if there's anything like that in the Isles. I've never seen such technology. -
The apple was sour on its own, but Darius' words made it more bitter than it should've been. Icy had already thought of that possibility and she had chosen to hope.
- And the portal you were talking about? - she asked.
- Keep it as a last resort. It's surveilled day and night and it is incomplete, although it will be functioning by the Day of Unity. -
- The what? -
Darius grimaced and drank a sip of water.
- The Day of Unity. A ceremony that the Emperor is preparing with great attention, which should free us from wild magic... -
Icy frowned. It was impossible and incredibly damaging!
- Wait, what? Wild magic is natural magic, maybe it's hard to control and gets corrupted easily but it's harmless if controlled! -
Darius gave her a perplexed look, his bright green eyes trying to understand what she was rambling about.
- I think we're talking about different things. Here wild magic is that of covenless witches, who can use all kinds of magic without restrictions. -
- Definitely two different things, but it still seems like nonsense to me. -
Darius smiled sadly and looked away.
- You're not the only one. - he whispered.
Icy rested her chin on her hands and studied him carefully.
- You don't seem to be a big fan of the system, and yet you're head of a coven. -
Darius seemed to consider how much was worth to reveal to her. He must have thought that he wasn't at risk, because he said:
- There's something that doesn't sound right about the Day of Unity. And I don't like the obsession of hunting down and petrifying who practices wild magic. -
Part of Icy focused on the "petrifying" part, which she hoped was just a metaphor and not to be taken literally, another part was surprised of the proof of trust Darius was giving her. He must have been in a more delicate situation than she thought, if the insonorization spell removed so many restraints.
They stayed quiet for a while, then Darius took off a glove and showed her the sigil on his wrist.
- Copy this. - he said, - If someone were to see you here, at least I could say I took you in as an apprentice. -
- What if they ask me a demonstration? -
He rolled his eyes.
- We improvise. They won't if I'm around, don't worry. -
Hesitant, Icy replaced Eberwolf's sigil with that of Darius.
Shortly after, while Darius "rinsed himself from the travel", Icy pulled out her phone and quickly scrolled through her texts. She sent Tecna a series of info she got from his words, she asked Stormy to warn Dave and insist on the fact that she was fine and she was safe, and she told Lzzy herself.
During that first day on the Boiling Isles she had tried over and over to telepathically contact her, but she couldn't. A universe of distance was too much even for their Bonding.
Darius came back in the room while Icy turned off her phone. She turned to look at him. He didn't hit her as a sweatshirt guy, but apparently he was a sweatshirt guy. At least for sleeping.
- Are you sure you don't want... - he asked her, pointing at the bed.
- A sleeping bag is better than many places where I've slept. - she said for the umpteenth time making her phone disappear and getting up to wash her face as well.
When she walked back in the room, she couldn't hold back a laugh when she saw Darius with a sleep mask on his eyes.
- I don't even want to know what that was for. - he muttered.
- Sorry, I wasn't prepared. - said Icy, slipping in the sleeping bag she had materialized earlier and that she had placed behind the divider.
Darius muttered his good night and put out the candles with one of his spell circles.