Roughly half a year ago, the now-deceased Sparrow Hamilton took on a particularly tricky commission. Baron Huntington, a resident of Tobesque, had hired the detective to locate his missing maid. The maid had served the baron's family for many years but had recently resigned voluntarily.
When the baron sent his butler, bearing gifts, to persuade her to return, they discovered that the maid had disappeared. Although the baron held a certain social status, he wasn't a family member, and since he didn't fully trust the local police, he hired several detectives to investigate.
Sparrow Hamilton wasn't a famous detective. His usual cases revolved around minor matters like extramarital affairs. The fact that a nobleman sought his services was only due to a recommendation from an old client.
Sparrow took the case very seriously. After all, even though the baron was only minor nobility, he was still a figure most ordinary citizens couldn't hope to approach. Diligently, Sparrow spent the entire spring following clues, eventually tracing the maid's disappearance to an abandoned sanatorium along the banks of the Osel River.
"This sanatorium has been abandoned for about thirty years," Dr. Schneider explained, gesturing toward a cluster of buildings that had slowly emerged from the mist. Despite the fog still clinging to the outskirts of the city, they could now make out the clock tower, along with the spires and cross-shaped ornamental steeples next to the main structure.
"Back then, the royal family had ordered the Tobesque City Council to replan the urban area to accommodate a massive influx of people and the rise of steam industry. Their policy at the time moved hospitals and similar facilities into the city, while factories were relocated to the outskirts. This sanatorium was originally a retreat for the nobility—reserved for people we couldn't even dream of meeting. After the relocation, the sanatorium moved to a nearby city. It's a half-hour train ride away now, which is actually more convenient than before."
"That's why this place was abandoned," Schneider continued. "Even vagrants avoid it. It's so remote that no one would notice if someone died here."
They stood surrounded by large tracts of farmland and wasteland, with the nearest village an hour's walk away. There was, however, an estate and horse farm nearby, owned by a count. During racing season, people used the road the two of them were now walking on as a racetrack, but for now, the area was deserted.
Even though the steam industry was developing rapidly, its presence was only truly felt in large cities. Once you left the urban centers, everything seemed to revert to an earlier time. shadee was beginning to understand the meaning of that sentiment.
Soon, they reached the outskirts of the abandoned sanatorium. Dr. Schneider hadn't mentioned its name, but shadee figured it wasn't important.
From the outside, the plaster on the walls had completely peeled away, and all the windows and doors were gone. Surprisingly, the outer walls of the sanatorium were still standing, but the courtyard inside had become indistinguishable from the surrounding wasteland, showing no trace of the gardens that might once have been there.
The tall buildings and spires loomed over the desolate landscape, and only the decorative details on the gate hinted at its former grandeur.
"Stay behind me as we walk," Dr. Schneider said, kicking open the rusted gates. They crashed to the ground with a loud clang, startling a flock of birds from the nearby woods.
Even on the outskirts of the city, the fog hadn't fully lifted. The sky above was grim, and it looked like rain might fall at any moment. shadee regretted not bringing an umbrella.
They walked into the courtyard, their boots crunching through the overgrown grass as Dr. Schneider continued his explanation:
"A Ring Warlock is someone who possesses a Wheel of Fate."
"A Wheel of Fate?" shadee echoed, following the doctor toward the main entrance of the building.
"Time, age, fate, era, civilization, and the world—they forge our Fate Wheel, which represents who we are. Now pay attention! I'm about to show you the full Fate Wheel, not just a glimpse. Watch carefully—"
As they trudged through the grass, Dr. Schneider spread his arms slightly, palms facing upward, as if he were lifting something invisible. His hands were level with his shoulders.
Everything behind him began to blur, as if a layer of white mist had descended, but the doctor himself remained unchanged. A faint smile crept across his face.
Then, to shadee's shock, a sound echoed through the abandoned courtyard—the unmistakable whistle of a steam train.
"What?" shadee exclaimed, glancing around in the waist-high grass. At the same time, he felt a sudden warmth on his skin.
Turning to look, shadee saw that what was behind Dr. Schneider wasn't just white mist. It was steam—scalding, ominous steam that seemed to distort both distance and space. The steam blurred everything behind the doctor, warping reality itself.
Amidst the steam, a massive black shadeow began to approach. It seemed as if the steam behind the doctor was connected to an infinite expanse of time and space.
The whistle of the train blared louder, the steam hissed violently, and the enormous shadeow drew nearer. The intense pressure from its approach caused the grass in the courtyard to sway, and Dr. Schneider's coat and shadee's own overcoat flapped wildly in the wind. shadee had to squint against the force of it.
A deep sense of danger welled up inside him.
"What on earth is in that steam?" he wondered.
The black shadeow grew larger, closer. Through the dense steam behind the doctor, shadee could now see it more clearly—an enormous iron hammer, silver-grey and as tall as a building, rushing forward with unstoppable momentum.
In a deafening roar, the hammer slammed into Dr. Schneider.
The deafening crash left shade's ears ringing, his vision spinning. A wave of nausea washed over him, forcing him to clutch his chest. The ground quaked beneath his feet, fierce winds howled, and flashes of lightning darted through his vision. Amid the chaos, it felt as though the hammer strike that hit the doctor had split the heavens—or perhaps even struck shade's very soul.
Yet, the hammer hadn't struck him; it was aimed at the doctor. Schneider, however, remained completely unfazed, standing resolutely in place. shade's mind struggled to make sense of what he was witnessing—had the hammer really turned Dr. Schneider into a slab of copper?
"Copper?"
shade's perception was growing increasingly unreliable. What he thought he saw wasn't the doctor transformed but a giant piece of copper materializing behind him. A massive bronze ring, hammered into shape by the tremendous blow, slowly began to rotate behind the doctor.
As the steam dissipated, shade could now see it clearly: a pentagonal cross-section brass ring, gleaming in the strange light as twenty or so magical runes danced across its surface. A shimmering halo illuminated shade's face, and in his mind, he could hear a woman's soft laughter. His eyes reflected the brilliance of the ring, its otherworldly power resonating deep within him.
"This is a Fate Ring," the doctor explained, stopping in the overgrown courtyard of the old sanatorium, his voice calm despite shade's stunned expression. "Warlocks only summon their full Fate Ring when engaging in a battle with all their strength. Otherwise, they reveal only a portion, or keep it hidden entirely. Do you have any questions?"
shade stared at the doctor, still feeling the warmth of the dissipating steam and the immense heat radiating from the brass ring behind him.
The Fate Ring was no mere illusion; it was a tangible, powerful entity.
"Why steam? Why brass?" shade's words escaped before he realized his voice was tinged with urgency.
Dr. Schneider smiled, a warm yet knowing smile. "Young man, success is not just about personal effort. It's also about understanding the current of history."
He paused before continuing, "I've said before that the Fate Ring represents one's connection with the world. This is the era of steam and machinery. So, the ring is forged from steam and hammered into brass. If this were the age of rainbows, the ring might be rainbow-colored. If it were the age of the deep seas, it would be water. Do you understand?"
shade nodded, his heart still racing from witnessing the awe-inspiring display. "Yes, I understand," he replied, though part of him felt like he was barely grasping the enormity of it all.
His eyes remained locked on the massive ring behind the doctor, unwilling to blink, as if to burn the image into his mind forever. But with a simple wave of the doctor's hand, the Fate Ring slowly faded, becoming transparent before disappearing altogether, leaving shade with only a few lingering memories of the runes etched upon it.
Despite the mental fatigue, shade recognized some of the runes instinctively. Without needing the woman's voice in his head to explain them, he could somehow read and understand their meanings. He caught glimpses of runes for Joy, Hound, and Dust.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pulsed in his skull, as if someone had struck the back of his head. He had to stop himself from trying to memorize any more of the runes.
In this world, knowledge was truly power. It made sense now that the extraordinary organization Dr. Schneider had invited him to join was structured as an academy.
"But if my unique ability is to understand all written and spoken languages... does that really count as an advantage in this dangerous world?" shade pondered his own secret as the doctor continued walking through the overgrown grass, leading the way forward.
"My Fate Ring's cross-section is currently pentagonal, signifying that I am a five-ring Warlock and a fifth-year student of the academy's adult education correspondence program," Schneider explained. "A one-ring Warlock's Fate Ring is a flat circle, with symbols etched only on one side. At two rings, the circle remains flat, but both sides can bear runes. Three rings take the form of a triangle, four rings a square, and so on. The higher the number of rings, the closer it becomes to the perfect circle."
"I see," shade replied, still awed by what he had just witnessed.
As they continued their conversation, the two entered the sanatorium, a building long abandoned to time. Its furniture had long since vanished, and a layer of dust coated the floor. With each step, small clouds of dust rose into the air.
They didn't linger on the ground floor, instead climbing a precarious staircase to the second level. shade couldn't help but worry about the building's structural integrity.
"Runes are at the core of the Warlock system," Dr. Schneider continued, his voice steady as they ascended the stairs. "By inscribing these runes onto our Fate Rings, we accumulate what we call 'Essence' and come into contact with the Four Great Elements: Miracle, Desecration, Enlightenment, and Whispers, progressing further along our path."
"Essence? Elements?" shade asked, his excitement growing. At last, he was about to learn the true nature of this extraordinary power.
Dr. Schneider led him up the final steps, his tone growing more instructional. "In earlier eras, Essence had many names: Mana, Ether, Soul Force, or even the Light of the Mind. But in this era, we simply call it 'Essence.' It is information, element, and energy—the sum total of everything you can perceive. It's the Warlock's way of using the mind to manipulate the physical world. We accumulate Essence by coming into contact with the elements, and the safest way to do this is through reading ancient stories, legends, and myths from eras long past."
"Of course, even this carries dangers," the doctor warned. "Studying these things too deeply can lead to madness. That's why we usually rely on original copies or translations of older texts."
shade simplified the idea of 'Essence' in his mind, comparing it to a 'mana bar' from his childhood games.
"But gathering enough Essence alone isn't enough to advance," Dr. Schneider continued. "For Warlocks, Essence is important, but what's more crucial are the elements themselves. By inscribing elemental runes onto our Fate Rings, we increase the upper limits of our Essence, purify our souls, and temper our bodies. You've already encountered some of these elements. Desecration, Enlightenment, and Miracle, correct? These are things you've felt—through the death of Sparrow, seeing the world on the streets, and pondering the meaning of gods."
"Yes, exactly," shade responded, recalling the woman's voice in his mind pointing out those encounters.
"But experiencing and sensing these elements isn't enough. You must engrave them onto your Fate Ring to truly fuse with them," the doctor explained. "Each time a Warlock advances, they require different combinations of the elemental runes—such as Miracle, Desecration, and Enlightenment—to form specific phrases that allow them to transcend. We can discuss more about this when you decide to join the academy. For now, let me explain the differences between the four elements."
Dr. Schneider paused at the top of the stairs, a knowing smile crossing his face as he looked ahead.
"I believe the person we're looking for is right in there."