Tears of Dusk

The first thing Isyd noticed upon entering was the Library was fuller than usual. He found a seat on the higher floors, close to his observation spot on the roofs. In passing he grabbed the books he’d been studying for the past few days. Naeht was already waiting for him, cross-legged on the table.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same…” she hummed happily.

“The last few days were full of distractions. It is time we get back to serious business.”

“So, we stop working on the Blysht?”

Isyd opened the first book to the marked page and pulled out a quill and his notes. “Not necessarily. I’ve learned a lot while working on the Blysht. I have a better idea of the skills I lack as an Arcanyst. For now, I’m thinking of letting Hidrss and the Ravaszs handle the research further. I’ll stand on the side, watching and learning.”

“So, in the end, it all comes back to repairing the Whitewater Staff…”

“It sure does,” Isyd said, pulling out his staff from his darkveil and lying on the table. “If I had my palcat, I could have stopped Snake and his men much easier. Not even the Elemental would have been a problem. It is now my priority to repair it. Plus, working with the Blysht gave me a few ideas on how to upgrade it.”

Naeht giggled.” Oh! I recognize that smile! You came up with something wicked, didn’t you?”

“It is a discussion for a later time. Let’s study, for now, Naeht.”

Nose in his books and papers, Isyd didn’t see the time fly. Once or twice, he got up to put back a book and fetch another one or to get new papers and pencils. Night had long fallen when his attention was snatched away from an arithmetic treaty by an approaching presence.

He turned to see Jadwia appearing at the corner of the aisle.

“Finally, I have found you!”

“Congrats, you’re getting better at this,” Isyd said.

This earned him a glare. “You sure don’t make it easy!”

“Let’s just say it’s part of the fun. So, how can I help you?”

Jadwia sat across him and put down the newspaper of the day; the front page talked about the incident at the Kazkan’s manor.

“I am curious to know what happened after I left and how you retrieved the Ingraced Blysht.”

“Well, things got a bit confused right after you left and it was difficult for me to make sense of everything. To put it simply, I got lucky. It turns out that the Kazkan had made more than one enemy that night and the chicken had come to roost.”

“You’re talking about this guy ‘Antaka’, right? They mentioned it, but they don’t know who he was. They said he was a demon!”

“No idea who or what it was. I just used the situation to my advantage. When they fought the thieves, I picked up the Ingraced Blysht and hid. In the end, all that matter is that we succeeded in recuperating what was stolen. We can now this whole incident behind us.”

“But… but what about the thieves? Will they not come back?”

Isyd’s lips twitched into a smile. “No, I think this unlikely. From what I have seen, this Antaka guy dealt with them.”

Jadwia didn’t look entirely convinced.

“Plus, Hidrss is back so you don’t need to worry about it anymore,” Isyd added as a final point.

“I guess you are right… Does this mean that we will see you more often now?”

Isyd cocked his head one way. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been skipping a lot of classes recently. I assumed it was to be at the Atelier, but now that the Master of the Arcanic Arts is back, it should be better now, right?”

“I suppose so.”

Jadwia frowned at his laconic answer. “You know that the Evaluations are approaching soon, right?”

“I know.”

“And you’re not worried?”

“Not really, no.”

“Of course, you aren’t!” she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“It’s not like I have been doing nothing,” Isyd said with a grin. “I have been studying as well.”

He pointed to the books that were left open on the tables such as historical treaties, a book on classical mathematics and summaries for natural sciences. If it was true that Isyd skipped most of his classes, he made sure to catch up on them on his own time. This was why he spent his nights nose in books. Isyd may have been gifted in the Arts, but besides that, there was a lot he didn’t know. In his previous life, he had never received a formal education beyond the basics of reading and counting skills. So, when everyone was in classes, Isyd was at the Atelier working on the Blysht and when everyone was sleeping, he was studying the history of Vilriver or learning the different classifications of Alchemycal Salts. He explained so to Jadwia.

“When do you find the time to sleep, then?” she asked.

“I don’t,” Isyd said, deadpan.

She rolled once again her eyes at that. She was obviously thinking he was joking. “All right then, keep your secrets. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…”

“No, no, I’m willing to share some things,” Isyd said. He picked up a piece of paper. “You asked me how I deactivated the [Warning Arcane] back at the Baron’s. Are you still curious?”

First taken aback, Jadwia quickly nodded, her eyes alight with excitement.

“We don’t have time to go through everything, but I can introduce you to a few concepts and let you figure out the rest by yourself. You are by now familiar with the Commands, right? The correct name is actually Earthly Commands, to differentiate them from the Heavenly Commands.”

“What are the differences between the two sets?”

“The Earthly Commands are easier to understand, conceptualize and utilize. Therefore, they are the most used ones. The Heavenly Commands in contrast are more complex and more demanding to wield, but in exchange, they are far more powerful and expand what can be done with the Arts. After a certain level of Opening, all the [Spells] after a certain level of Opening, all the [Spells] you will encounter will contain Heavenly Commands. I’ve read in one of those books an apt comparison between the two; it said that the Earthly Commands are equivalent to the basic arithmetical operations such as addition and multiplication whereas the Heavenly Commands are equivalent to more complex operations such as derivation and integration — whatever those are.”

“I see… I guess it makes sense. Even after learning the Earthly Commands, there were still many [Hexes] I didn’t understand the Logic behind. I suppose it is because they used Heavenly Commands! How many of them are there?”

“There are five Commands you need to know. [AMPLIFY] increases locally the effect of adjacent Commands or a Core Hex and must not be confused with Resonance. [STAY] extends the duration in time of a [Spell]. It can also be used to slow down its effect or delay them. [VOID] is the most versatile but also the hardest to grasp; it allows to dissipate the Holy Grace. [MOVE] introduces motion within the [Spell] itself or as an effect upon activation. Finally, [SPLIT] allows you the separate the Grace into its components for instance.”

Jadwia was nodding along but her eyes were glazed over as she tried to absorb all this new information.

“You don’t have to commit everything to memory right now,” Isyd said. “Hell, you don’t even need to know about them; I suspect Tutor Milwyk would have introduced the Commands as soon as next semester. You’ll have much more time to familiarize yourself with them then. For now, it is enough for you to know those Commands exist.”

“It is a lot to take in, indeed… Earlier you mentioned ‘Core Hex’, I’ve seen those words in a book before, but I’m not sure I understand what it is…”

“Yeah, it’s a concept you’ll need time to wrap your head around. You can consider Core Hexes as [Spells] that always fulfil the same function within a bigger [Hex]. For instance, think about the [Ice Spell] of Tutor Milwyk. If in the future you needed to create and shape ice to be used in a more complex [Hex], you can simply call upon the [Ice Spell] without having to recreate the Logic and Balance from scratch. Fundamentally, the result is the same in that the [Ice Spell] will still appear in the Balance of your final [Hex]. It simply helps for your Idpulse to think of the [Ice Spell] as a Core Hex.”

“I think I understand… Does that mean that every [Spell] can be turned into a Core Hex?”

Isyd pondered on it for a second. “I guess so… Since there’s no real difference between a normal Hex and a Core Hex besides the way we think about it, it should be theoretically possible. Mainly, Core Hexes are [Spells] of the 1 st or 2 nd Opening, sometimes the 3 rd .”

“How are you so familiar with them then?”

Isyd had expected this question. He pulled from under heap a book and handed it to her. “This book is mostly about the history behind certain [Spells] but it also goes into some details on how the Commands were discovered and implemented. It can be a good introduction. Here, take it!”

“Oh! Er… thank you! So, going back to the [Warding Arcane], you used the Heavenly Commands to deactivate it?”

“Pretty much so, though I needed to play with the Essences as well…”

“Elaborate!”

Isyd smirked. “Again, you’re familiar with the four Classical Essences, right?”

“Let me guess, there are more than four Essences?”

“Three more, to be exact! The Classical Essences – Air, Water, Fire and Earth – are the Tier I Essences. The Tier II Essences consist of the Metal Essence and the Flesh Essence. There’s only one Tier III Essence – the purest form of Holy Grace – the Spirit Essence.”

“I’ve never heard of them!” Jadwia exclaimed indignantly.

“The Tier II and III Essences get little attention because, compared to the Earthly Commands, the Classical Essences never ceased to be relevant, even for [Spells] of high Openings.”

“Do you think we’ll learn about them next semester as well?”

“Perhaps. I’m not entirely sure, however. We may learn about them, but I suspect that the use of the Higher Essences is only taught formally after the 4 th Opening is reached.”

“4 th Opening? This is so far away!”

“Not as far off as you think…”

“Easy for you to say that, you’re Blessed by the Grace! You’ll get there in no time if you aren’t already! On the contrary, I still struggle with casting anything more complex than an [Ice Spell]!”

“You are worried about the Evaluations, I gather…”

“Of course, I am! Every sensible Pupil is! I think I’m gonna fail the Applications of the Arts …”

“I can help you with that if you want.”

“It’s kind of you to propose, but I can’t ask you that since you have Evaluations of your own.”

Jadwia tucked a loose strand of hair behind and rose from her seat. “Anyway, it was pleasant talking to you Isyd. I hope I will see you tomorrow in—”

“You’ve been practicing Balance, haven’t you?” Isyd interrupted her.

“You… How…”

“Despite that, most of the [Spells] you try to launch keep failing, don’t they?” Isyd continued. “The issue is not the Balance. I can help you, Jadwia.”

Jadwia’s lips were trembling slightly. “How would you do that?”

“I can tell you, but I will demand something in exchange.”

“Wh… What do you want?”

“I’m forming a Ring. I want you to join it.”

There were three long seconds of silence before Jadwia reacted.

“WHAT?”

“I’m forming a Ri—”

“I heard you the first time! You in a Ring? Since when? What does that have to do with me? Why bring it up now?”

“I want you to join. We need three founding members, and we’re already two.”

“Good Grace, why me?”

“You have potential in the Arts. I can help you realize it, but for that, I’ll need you to join my Ring.”

“I am part of the Cerulean Feathers Ring!”

“You are still on probation, aren’t you? You can simply walk away without repercussions. If not, then I am sure we can come up with something.”

“The Cerulean Feathers is the most prestigious Ring of the Academy! They’ll give me access to so many connections and support once I graduate! You want me to turn my back to join your punny Ring of nobodies?”

“Pretty much yes.”

“This is the stupidest idea I’ve heard in my life! Why would I accept that?”

Something suddenly changed in the air. It was so subtle, Jadwia could almost believe she’d imagined it. The air seemed to become drier as if all the humidity was sucked out of it. Jadwia’s attention sharpened on Isyd. She met his dark eyes, so black and so deep as if they opened on a never-ending void of darkness. A chill ran up her spine.

“Jadwia, did I not prove myself to you already?” Isyd said calmly.

Jadwia was reminded of Isyd solving and executing all the [Spells] perfectly in classes, of him presenting the Ingraced Blysht, of him facing off the three thieves at once in the Atelier, of him walking out of the burning house carrying on his back both Kewin and Ms Dumnchory.

Isyd Wybrany was like nobody she had ever seen. Despite his looks, he always appeared confident, as if he’d already figured out everything and was just going through the motion of a carefully laid plan. There was something in Isyd Wybrany that fascinated her just as much as it frightened her.

Jadwia slumped back on the chair and put her head in her hands.

“I can’t believe you’re actually making me consider this…”

Isyd laughed. It was the first time she had heard him laugh so genuinely. She raised her head only to see him offering her a grin and an extended hand.

“You know that I can help you, Jadwia Lichtfreund. After all, that’s what friends do for each other. So, what do you say…?”