Academy of Lunaria: Cursed Changes (SaphireTsuki and Anafal)

[SaphireTsuki]

"T-tampered with? How?" She jumped away at the sudden appearance of magic flames, but once more inched towards her. That was... interesting. Tempered titanium? How could there be such in the forge? THat wasn't something you could get away with easily. Especially as doing so was one of the few illegal things affecting students.

 

[Ananfal]

"Someone changed the magic enhancing properties of the titanium, so that it absorbed as much magic as... As lead!" She burst out, unable to contain her anger. "No wonder you couldn't make the copy burn, it took me twice as much energy as a high class fire spell!" Shaking her head, Agnes sighed softly and tried to calm down. "If you had tried to create an artifact using that titanium, the first spell you tried to use would end up exploding in your face." Rubbing her forehead, she turned to the counter and selected a few more ores of metal, trying to see if they were all afflicted that way.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire blinked.... and looked at them worriedly. If there was a spell to identify tampering... she didn't know it, but if there was... she gently tapped one of the ore, and felt it suck out a bunch of her magic entirely on it's own... her eyes widened and she began to tap it over and over, just barely letting herself feel the drain, hoping to find the limit of how much energy seemed to be drawn into it... "It's drawing our magic... could it be used to store it? That would be an interesting use..."

 

[Ananfal]

"Its interesting and we can explore that later, but I'm more interested in who tampered with the ore and why they did it. It was most likely targeted towards you, since you're a known artifact maker, but if someone knew the truth about Llosgi, it might also have been meant for me." Agnes was really hoping that the target was Saphy, mainly because there was only one person it could be if the target was Agnes. Her mother.


Suppressing a shudder, she turned to the younger girl. "I won't ask if you have any enemies - I've seen enough to know that you do. Instead I'm going to ask, do you know of anyone nearby with the kind of power and control to be able to do this?" Agnes sighed softly. "Meanwhile, I'm going to make you an artifact, then start teaching you swordplay. You need to learn how to defend yourself."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

She nodded, moving her hand away from the ore. "Umm... people strong enough and skilled enough..." There was Terra, an earth-specializing mage who liked to use alchemy to change the properties of an object. But could she do it without picking up and using the ore? or making one set of ore look like another without touching it? That was an interesting question, but she'd probably not get any proof for it just yet... instead she tested the different ores, making sure of the receptivity of the ores. And then she put them and bought, "This... should be fine."

 

[Ananfal]

Agnes nodded and once more laid the tip of Llosgi on the ore, closing her eyes and summoning her trademark pink flames. Once more she repeated the process, however she stopped the moment the ore was forged into a sword, her flames not yet flowing into the blade to fill it with her magic. "Touch my shoulder." She grunted out, her grip on Llosgi shaking. Forging an artifact for someone else was always harder then just making a copy. "Send your magic into the sword. Once it absorbs it, the sword will respond to your magic the way Llsogi does to mine. It will draw out your natural magic and enable you to cast spells you weren't able to before."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

She had been taking notes, but nodded and placed her right hand on Agnes' shoulder, keeping a serious eye on what was going on. Could she send her magic to it? She tried, pulling at the sparks of her energy that she was able to reach, drawing them down to the sword as she'd been told, and though she was slowly getting tired she didn't stop until she was told to.

 

[Ananfal]

Agnes didn't need to have to tell Saphy when to stop, since the sword exploded, a rainbow of colors shooting out. Llosgi clattered to the ground as she threw her hands up to defend herself from the light, but the light disappated after a few moments and Agnes lowered her hands, blinking. "That... Has got to be the most powerful artifact I have ever forged." She finally spoke, falling to one knee as exhaustion hit her. She wouldn't normally be this tired, but controlling the forging process for power that large really took it out of her. Reaching forward, she grabbed the new sword, looking more delicate and feminine than Llosgi, but just as strong and balanced. Turning to Saphy, Agnes offered the sword to her on one knee, for all the world looking like a knight offering a sword to her queen.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

((Foreshadowing, are we? xD ))


Saphire blinked, staring at the light, and surprised by it's incredible amount of magic... and then at Agnes when she moved so far away. That... came from HER? But how? Why? What? She shook her head, turning her attention completely onto the very tired Artificer, and then she inched closer, "are you ok, Anges?" Sure, she grabbed the sword, but she did so with obvious hesitation, moving her hand away more than once before finally gripping the hilt very lightly and lifting it up.

 

[Ananfal]

(Yes, very much so. I was wondering if it should make it more obvious, I wasn't sure you would get it. xD )


"I'm... Alright." The swordswoman huffed as she forced herself to her feet, bending down to grasp Llosgi off the floor. "I'll have to teach you how to use that." Agnes said, motioning towards the new sword. "Not as an artifact, that part is easy, but as an actual sword. Since most mages now a days focus mostly on magic, the fact that we will be able to attack physically as well will be a great advantage for us." Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. "But right now I'm way too tired to start. I would say let's get something to eat, but I assume it's too late. What time is it anyway?"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire tilted her head, eyes closed, as though listening to something. There was a sort of... echo in the air, and her cloak flapped just slightly in an imaginary wind, "It's just before dessert, actually... the servants will let us have some of their food. Something about.. hold on, you're talking too fast. They misplaced something of yours, Agnes..." It was a silly thing, but a few of the servants were latent mages. So she'd given them communications-based artifacts, and in exchange they sometimes let her hide from the bullies. It was an interesting arrangement.

 

[Ananfal]

Agnes frowned at the slight traces of magic on the air before she realized that it was Saphy, communicating with someone... a servant? "Dessert... that'll do, I suppose." She murmured in response to Saphy's words before her eyes widened at her next sentence. "That's impossible." She said loudly, her exhaustion forgotten as she strode up to Saphy. "That's impossible." She repeated again, her breathing coming faster. "I know that's impossible because the only thing I brought with me is Llosgi, and he's right here with me." She patted the sheathed sword at her waist as though to reassure herself that he was actually still there. "Can you please ask what it is? I... I need to know..."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"What? Umm... ok, I can try..." She'd started losing the spell already, so she fumbled a bit with it and then... "What?" A shaken head, "Why... a book? No, books? How many.... three? Four? They're MULTIPLYING?" How was that possible? She started hyperventilating, the very idea of that much magic being used.... who would possibly be using it? The Queen? A noble?

 

[Ananfal]

"My mother." Agnes was beginning to panic. This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be happening! She knew that her mother had been told, the moment she entered this school, but she had never expected this. Was this a sign of apology or dismissal? Reconciliation or anger? "They're not multiplying." Her voice was faint and shaky. "It's a library. My mother's library."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

A library... who in their right hand sent an entire LIBRARY through magic? "W-w-we... need to get down there. A library of books... sent from your family. We need to figure out what... why you're being given that many books." What could she use? So many.... so many... A shake of her head, a pinch of her skin, and then... "Let's go. There's gotta be some kind of clue."

 

[Ananfal]

Agnes was trapped in a haze as she followed along behind Saphy, her eyes fixed ahead of her unseeingly. Although her face seemed calm, she was filled with turmoil in the inside. Emotions were clashing against each other, fighting to gain some semblance of dominance before another cast it down and took it's place. Why on earth would her mother send a library? Did she forgive her? But why didn't she broke herself? Maybe it was a dismissal? But why give the library? Nothing made sense! Shaking her head frantically, Agnes tried to regain control of herself. She had to see the library for herself before she would be able to understand.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Agnes. Agnes." Saphire, worried, pulled on the older and slightly taller woman's arm. They'd arrived, but before she opened the door she wanted to make sure that Agnes wasn't going to walk into someone... or break down. Her calm eyes seemed to flicker in the light, "Are you ok?" Please be ok....

 

[Ananfal]

"I... I'm fine." She whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "I'm fine." Taking a deep breath, Agnes struggled to regain control of herself. She couldn't seem weak, she had to be strong. However, the moment she walked inside and saw all those familiar books stacked there, her eyes began to water despite her desperate attempts not to. How many times had she read and re-read these books? Her eyes landed upon a small piece of paper atop one of the books. Picking it up, she instantly went deathly pale. It read: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.





"She's dead. My mother is dead."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

What was that? Something about... her face paled as she looked over all of the books. A dead mother? Even if they weren't close... to lose something so important... it must be awful. She'd never had a parent, so.... it wasn't like she knew what was going on with it. But still... the way she'd said it... "Agnes..."

 

[Ananfal]

"She gave me these books... they're my inheritance... She... She..." Agnes crumpled and uncrumpled the paper in her hands, tears streaming down her face as the normally hard and strong girl broke down in front of Saphy and whoever else was there. She couldn't control herself anymore as the emotions just came out. Dropping to her knees, Agnes took out Llosgi and stabbed him into the ground so that he stood straight up in front of her. Then, folding her hands together, she closed her eyes and seemed to be in deep prayer, kneeling before the still sword in a silent reverie. Only after she was finished did she open her eyes once more, a new calm having settled over her. The pain had no teased, nor the anger or the bitterness, but she was in control once more. Grabbing Llosgi and sheathing him once more, she looked at Saphy. "I can explain more in our room, if you'd like. But I'd like to bring the books with us if you don't mind."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Of course not." Saphire nodded, taking more than a few of them into her arms, a small shrug at the servants in the room, and a few of them joined in as well. It wasn't going to take very long with all of them helping, so she started walking towards the dormtower. This wasn't time to be excited, so she held back and just kept working.... because obviously Agnes was in pain, and she wanted o help... but how?

 

[Ananfal]

Agnes collected her own armful of books, the smell of paper and ink making her tear up again. The library had been her sanctuary, a place to escape when the pressure her mother placed upon her became too much... And it seemed like her mother had known that. What else had her mother known?


Finally reaching their room, Agnes laid down the books and wiped her eyes quickly, sniffling. "What do you want to know?" She asked Saphire quietly, sitting on her bed.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire, taking a seat now that all of the books had been put into the room, though they had been placed in piles on the floor, looked Agnes over. The strong, brave woman she'd been shown nearly constantly, was now sitting there and looked broken. Like she was waiting for something important to happen? No, it was just sorrow... which must be horrible. "I... I'm ok with just what you want to talk about."

 

[Ananfal]

"My mother... was not the nicest of people. She gained fame and power at a young age, and that changed her... She always wanted more, from me and from the world. She was always pushing me, trying to force the magic out of me, trying to make me into a little her... but I was a Null. Oh, I had magic, they knew I did since it came out sometimes when I was a child. But I just couldn't access it. So finally my mother put me in a room with a sword and told me I wouldn't come out if I didn't use my magic. I was 12 at the time. When I made Llosgi, she seemed proud for one single moment... until she realized that he had no magical power of his own. He barely counts as a magical sword at all, all he really can be called is an Artifact. So..." Here Agnes drew a deep breath. "My mother threw me out. Said that I was no daughter of hers and she didn't know me from now on. I was on the streets, and I didn't even hit puberty yet."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire winced, fighting the urge to draw the woman into a hug. It just looked like she was so... heartbroken. All of that, and yet... yet she was in pain. The death of Agnes' mother was obviously making her suffer. The tears, the shock... she couldn't imagine what it felt like, or what she could say. So she just... said the first thing that came to mind, "And yet she must have cared. She... gave you something so important." Was there a way to get past that block? Could she help Agnes prove herself worthy of this gift? Or would all of her attempts just make things worse.