Chapter 10: The Meaning of Words
The atmosphere remained silent as Waver finished telling his story to his audience. The red velvet room was filled with smoke as he took another whiff of tobacco. There was also a scent of tea within the room, with many cakes and teacups for everyone to enjoy.
Except for Gray.
Her teacup remained untouched on the table as she listened to Waver's story. Tears flowed from her eyes as she stared blankly on the floor. She rubbed some tears out of her eyes with her sleeve.
"That was a beautiful story, Sir. I hope everyone got the ending they wanted."
Adashino smiled as she gently patted her on the back. She then took out a small handkerchief and wiped away her tears.
"There, there. I'm sure everything turned out fine."
Waver quickly glared at Adashino.
"Did it? The book went missing after all these years and was never found after that. The Amoretto. It sounds more like an open ended mystery rather than closure to a story. But one thing remains, what is Love? Let alone Love Magecraft."
He took another puff of smoke before sipping his tea.
"Amor periculosus est. Una est via ad Amorem. Ejus conjecturam cum aliis. Love is dangerous. There is only one path towards Love. Its meaning lies with others. What does it mean?"
He slowly stood up from his couch and faced towards Gray and Adashino.
"Connections. It's all about connections, especially between two people. Whether one reciprocates their feelings doesn't matter, because it's still a message between one to the other. But when people think of Love, it's usually focused on the romantic aspect between two lovers. While it's not incorrect, it's also not right. The ancients knew something more…"
Waver flicked his finger, and immediately, the room started to emit a strong scent. Wafts of vanilla and honey filled the room. Gray sniffed the air and awed in its fragrance.
"Do you like it, Gray? It's ambrosia. The nectar of the Greek Gods. It must be something familiar to you, due its symbolism to longevity and immortality."
She slowly let go of Adashino's hand and hung onto Waver's coat. He looked over to find Adashino mildly shocked but kept herself reserved in front of him.
"Were you going to take her somewhere? Everything is fine."
Adashino shook her head with a sigh of relief.
"That's good. I'll stand back while you pamper her, Lord El Melloi II."
Waver gently put his hands over Gray's hood. A mild gust of wind blew through the room, but she didn't react to it at all. She continued clutching onto Waver's coat.
A shriek was heard behind him, but quickly quieted down.
"Gray, are you okay? What happened to your hair?"
She quickly pulled on her hood, preventing Waver from opening it up.
"I-It's nothing, Sir. You don't have to look at me like that."
Waver then pointed towards the cloth covered birdcage nearby. It moved on its own, not being swayed by the table on top of it. Except for one thing.
The birdcage was empty.
A sudden gush of wind blew off the cloth away, revealing nothing inside it.
There was no Add. Where did he go?
"Gray, what's the meaning of this? Why is the birdcage empty?"
The atmosphere suddenly turned dark, with her eyes blanking out. The strands of hair that stuck out of her hood turned into thicker pieces of rope, as if it was part of her body this whole time. It started to form a web-like structure around Waver's body, wrapping him tightly around her.
But it immediately dissipated within his reach. It sent the waves of hair towards the door, but it couldn't get it to open. It pulled with such force, yet the door didn't budge at all.
It was as if there was a force surrounding it.
Gray started to panic, but Waver continued to grasp onto her hood.
"It's useless. You can't escape from here…"
With a swift pull, he released her hood, revealing her true colors. Gray slowly lost her form, turning into an ambiguous otherworldly being. Her eyes bulged into a different shape as her figure turned ghostly and black. Miraculously, the birdcage on the table disappeared.
"It seems that you can't replicated objects made out of Mystery. But that's to be expected, since they are impossible to copy. The mysterious entity that didn't have a name, yet it was given one. Possibly fused with a Spirit Origin related to Love and its countless gods and goddesses."
Waver quickly restrained her as best as he could with his Magecraft.
"Based on the name of the book where you came from, could it be that your name is…"
The velvet room around slowly started to change shape, widening, and spreading out as far as it could. It was as if reality and space was bent itself. The room changed into the scenery of the salty sea air, pointing towards Okeanos.
The ends of the world that lead to the endless sea.
Reminiscent of what Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, wanted to see before his death.
"Amoretto, the little lover, also known as Cupid. The one that wants to make people fall in love with each other with its arrows. Is that your name?"
The entity reacted immediately to it, as it tried to snare and entangle Waver. Fortunately, he had already foreseen that possibility, so there was a plan to mitigate it.
The plan to trap the entity within a Reality Marble.
Even a simulated version would do.
As it was a digital version of the World, with its Egg still at its core.
"You cannot escape from here, as well as harm me within this place. Faker, return to where you came from! Gray. Reines. Everything is ready."
Trimmau, Reines' mercury maid, suddenly changed its shape. The small bump on its back was the real birdcage, with Add within it. Reines quickly breathed in and out, finally able to smell some fresh air especially after having to listen to her elder brother's story while inside it.
"About time! Your storytelling skills still need work, but I'll accept its flaws. I'm not sure if even Add liked your story either. He wanted to complain about it after a while…"
Add angrily bounced inside the cage.
"Hey! Being stuck within that thing with you was suffocating! Although seeing her dress up as you was pretty nic—"
"Ahh! Don't look at me, Add."
The real Gray, who was dressed up as Reines, blushed from Add's remarks. She covered her face with a thick coat in embarrassment. Their Projection Magecraft helped them disguise themselves as each other, while protecting from the entity's effects as a Doppelganger.
Somehow the trap worked. Now all we need to do is to Seal it.
"Gray, can you attack it? The effect shouldn't affect you this time, since it went back into its original form."
"Yes, Sir."
She nodded and quickly positioned herself for her incantation with Add.
"Gray. Rave. Crave. Deprave. Grave me. Grave for you."
"Pseudo-personality suspended. Magical energy yield exceeds regulation. Second stage restraint rescinded."
"Sacred lance, removing restraints!"
With a huge burst of energy, a bright beam of light shined inside Waver's reality marble. The entity freezes up in anticipation from Gray's weapon, trying to escape. But nothing can withstand Rhongomyniad, King Arthur's sacred lance. Nijima nodded towards Gray as he prepared his Seal.
"This is for all the trouble you have caused for him!"
With a swipe of her arm, she ran Rhongomyniad towards it.
Waver, at the same time, also came forward. He called out the entity's True Name.
"Your True Name is Amor, the God of Love! Reveal your true form, Cupid!"
Its body temporarily pulsed from the name as it changed shape, but they were never able to see its full form, due to the deadly blast from Rhongomyniad.
"Rhongomyniad!"
Amor quickly shrunk from the impact.
It blasted the entity away…straight into a strange book on the ground.
Waver immediately noticed its features.
It was the same features as the one he had seen from stealing the book a long time ago.
"Adashino, why do you have the book?"