That evening on our second day of school for the week my parents told me that the dagger may not be cursed but it is indeed magical. Its appearance may seem fragile but it's surprisingly sturdy and it has an unexpected ability. It may be difficult to break scratch or otherwise harm but when broken scratched or otherwise harmed it regenerates itself while similarly damaging the weapon that harmed it.
I was now thoroughly convinced this blade was forged from my spell. There are spells that intentionally create weapons and there are spells that unintentionally create weapons, my spell did it as a side effect of reflecting the damage dealt to me. In other words, despite the fact the person driving a blade into me was taking damage he refused to give up and in pushing the blade farther in the spell itself decided to annihilate his weapon and replace it in his own abdomen where he tried to stab me.
But as the weapon was forged of a spell instead of getting some useful ability inputted intentionally it has the basic same ability of the spell used to create it. Unfortunately, as there's not really a way to destroy a spell once the spell's been cast if this blade was destroyed through magical means it might not be able to regenerate as I would if hit with a spell, curious.
Childhood friend told her club she wouldn't be attending tomorrow as she was going to the guild to ask where the weapons smith is to get her dragon scale armour made. Surprisingly though when we arrived there weren't any new bloodstains on the floors. No new corpses, nothing, just my parents sitting slightly upset and looking down at the dagger.
After I received my explanation from them, they asked if I wanted to keep it. And as I was inexplicably drawn to it and it didn't seem my future would go one direction or the other if I kept or abandoned it, I kept it. It looks good, it feels right in my hand. Actually, my tattoos begin to glow faintly when I hold the blade. This may be the start of something.
The twins left the house the second they saw the dagger, they seemed to recognize it as something I wanted and wanted no part in it themselves. Perhaps now I can let them down easy at no cost to my own life. That would probably be for the best. "son… no bandits came to attack us today…"
"and you're worried we didn't kill them all?"
"yes…"
"you want me to check to see when they're coming back?"
"yes"
"alright" I began turning through the pages and my childhood friend looked over my shoulder. "oh, hey the language of the ancients."
"you can read it?"
"no… but I recognize it, it was written on the bones of the dragon I killed as if branded onto it… here" she pulls a somewhat large dragon bone from her bag, I assume she was planning on going to the weapons smith after class today but couldn't get away early enough and now it's probably closed. The dragon's bone read "for thine sins, we banish thee…" that's all it said. "maybe if I had the full skeleton, I could see what it means."
"what does it say?"
"it says the dragon was kicked out."
"makes sense, a dragon is kicked out for not listening to their parents and has to either learn to survive on its own or return home and beg for forgiveness" my father interpreted the meaning without having it explained to him. He might be reading into it a bit, but I feel the same way. With that minor distraction out of the way, I went back to looking to the future. "it says we have three days of peace before…"
"what?"
"they are going to send assassins after us…"
"ok and?"
"I can't find a future where at least one of us doesn't die" at these words I could feel the tension in the room begin to rise again. "so, what we just wait for three days until we die?"
"I need time to think."
"can't you just look to a future where you figure it out and do what that future you did?"
"the assassins are going to react to our actions no matter what we do they're going to anticipate traps and tricks three days isn't enough time."
"they were trying to disarm and exhaust our defenses? Is that why they sent wave after wave of cannon fader at us?"
"we just don't have enough time to prepare. And if we do prepare there's a chance our short window to act will get smaller, we can't set a trap and act like we've fallen for their plan to lure us into a false sense of security at the same time. What are we going to do?"
"what if I send you back in time a month to prepare us for it?"
"…no… that might end up killing me?"
"what?"
"three days… hold on I need components… I need you to send me back to the end of the last day of this weekend and I'll be ready to let you know, we'll begin setting up defenses as they attack us, that way they'll think we're just finishing up when they come with skilled professionals."
"what are you going to do?"
"First, I'll make a decision I should have made when the opportunity came to me, then I'll cast some spells I need that I didn't learn until recently. But first I need this" I handed her the components lists for both my Perfect Recall spell and the vice president's auto-heal spell the name of which she still hasn't given me. While they were doing that I was going to raise a few undead from the charred skeletons of the bandits who tried to kill us recently so they can attack me with various other forms of weapons and armors so my spell can make me some defensive gear to take back in time with me.
I'll have to put the items I take back in time with me in a special item made with time space magic, it's designed to keep components of all shapes and sizes together whenever a mage might need them, but we discovered through trial and error that mom's ability to send a person's consciousness back in time can also transport the orbs if a person holds onto them while she sends them.
I only have three left but that's just enough for me. I asked my friend if she could have a dragon scale cloak fashioned for me so when I went back in time, we both had matching dragon capes and she readily accepted. On the next day we skipped school altogether as I was planning on going back in time anyway.
I went off with my mother to find the components I would need for my spells. My father went back and bought some light armour for me as I'd soon need it. And my childhood friend had some dragon armour made and a couple of capes with the leftover skins.
At first, I had planned to have a skeleton try to strangle me with my dragon cape so it would be remade in the image of my spell but seeing how happy she was that we had a matching article of clothing I decided against it.
In the dead of night, I cast a spell buried deep in obscure hidden meanings within the explanations of other necromancy spells, sometimes grimoires have spells hidden within other spells as secrets kept hidden within riddles and today's spell was a bit illegal.
I raised an army of undead. They donned the armour bought for me and made every attempt to kill me with each individual piece of armour until my spell recognized it as a weapon and remade it in an attempt to destroy the skeleton and destroy it, it did.
By the end of the night, I had a set of grotesquely unsettling looking armour. The leather was warped and looked like faces writhing in agony, the metal that bound the armour in place was replaced with bones skulls and teeth, the straps looked and felt like tongues. There was even an emblem emblazoned on the chest of the light leather armour. It looked exactly like the magic circle used to cast the Damage Reverse spell.
In addition to the armour, we had skeletons try to kill me with weapons and staves my parents could use as well as a spell focus for me. Spell focuses are mainly used by mages who know where the components are and are too lazy to go out and get them. Components are still used but with a spell focus you don't actually need them present. Mine ended up looking like a skull on a pike with the words, "I refuse to die by your hand" written in the same language book is written in.
"Someone's coming" after taking a quick glance at book I realized our time today was cut short by my erratic and hasty movements. I quickly stuffed everything I needed into the orbs, each spell got its own orb and all the weapons and armour were hastily thrown into the 3rd. as I watched my father fall over in the corner of my eye, my mother killed the assassin the moment their position was revealed by the sudden attack. Realizing there was nothing to be done without healing magic my mother sent me back to the past and implored me "save us all."
In that next moment I was in the old potion club room watching the hive mind perform the Perfect recall spell. I subtly not so subtly excused myself from the room and went back to our club room. I brought the mirror before myself and killed the bottle of absinthe.
The vice president arrived as I was finishing casting the Damage Reverse spell. I looked into the mirror and watched as the magic circle began drawing itself on me. "good." I pulled out the orb containing the components for a spell the vice president knew and she spoke up. "wait."
"yes?" I asked while turning my head inquisitively. The orb shattered in my hands as the components fill my arms. "what are you doing? How do you know that spell? What are those markings?"
"I've returned from the future to save my family from a most unfortunate fate. A future where you yourself tell me how to cast the spell I'm about to cast in exchange for the spell I just did, now if you'll excuse me." I quickly scribbled a note for my parents about the future using a code we'd devised when I was younger and began chanting the spell. A spell the vice president knew all too well.
By the time I was halfway through a peanut gallery had formed and was watching me cast the spell. Once the spell was done a very different tattoo began forming on me. The necrotic lines drawn on me were a light blueish violet and red, the new lines being drawn were a bright blinding gold and a calm gentle green. The lines began overlapping then conflicting and suddenly I was struck with immense pain, 'had the spell gone wild?' I wondered to myself. No, I cast it perfectly as per book's directions… then why?
I faltered and fell on my face. When I awoke, I was on the shoulders of the twins as they dragged my limp, tired body over to my parents' house. The tattoos faintly glowing flickering and fading. It seems they tried to use some kind of concealment magic, but it didn't take. I very gently pulled the face of one of the twins over to my face and kissed her. She was so shocked and the other just stopped moving entirely. And then I chantlessly cast a disguise spell that I knew would work. And soon my tattoos were completely hidden from view. I turned to the other twin and asked cheekily, "would you like a kiss too?"
"n-no…" they were so surprised they weren't even being honest with themselves. "are you sure? In my delirious state, it may just be your only chance." I could feel her stiffen under my weight as they continued carrying me and she very quickly and very shyly brushed her lips over mine. The other was still dazed as to what happened until she saw it happen herself.
These two dragged me the rest of the way home red-faced and silent. When they knocked on the door my parents saw me and rushed to help me inside, with my last strand of consciousness before drifting back off to sleep I said, "the message is well sent" and dropped the note on the ground before falling asleep again.