Marnie is hunched over her desk, scanning with tired eyes a wide book with yellowed pages and a heavy cover. Three days have passed since the invasion, and the disciple still suffers from dark circles under her eyes, sunken cheeks, and a pale, almost gray tinge to her skin. The symptoms are residual effects of the ritual.
To the left Marnie keeps a copper bowl filled with a mixture of herbs and medicinal chemicals, a container that wafts a potent sulfur scent into the room. She would like to open a window, but the maids would complain about the stench. The entire wing of the mages' dormitory is isolated, only Arrax's bedroom, located down the corridor, is allowed to have its windows open, an exception that no disturbance causes because no sound or scent escapes Arrax's room, powerful magic prevents it.
"The sun calmed its anger and the world stopped burning, the cores ignited their glow, recovering the life lost after two millennia of war, ages where the gods learned to weep and mourn like the mortals" Marnie recites the last line of the intermission, following the symbols on the paper with one finger. The text's language is stilted, and to read without caution would lead to mistranslations and misunderstandings. "The Demiurge closed its eyes and folded its wings. For the first time, the world was almost perfect and ready to achieve peace. But peace was an illusion, and the seven sages clamored to heaven for answers that did not yet exist. Sons attacked their fathers, kings attacked their peoples, magic twisted nature, and with destruction postponed, life continued and grew battered. The original meaning, lost. Zaratras: Intermission"
Marnie sighs and strokes her temple. The book is a copy of the Mandate of the Seven Sages, an ancient manuscript compilation that Marnie assumes will help her better understand her teacher's creation.
Dungeon cores are considered a plague, anything cheap handbook for novice adventurers will tell you. In the Mandate of the Seven Sages there is one of the few positive mentions of cores, and even with such a mention there is debate, as some scholars comment that the Mandate of the Seven Sages was originally a work of oral transmission and only allowed for the ears of the most important erudite, and that the word "Core" actually refers to the heart of great men and fruitful causes, only that the transfer from the spoken word to written symbols, and from written symbols to an elaborate translation process centuries later, leads to confusion with the dungeon cores.
"Wisdom is not illuminating my path, it only causes me deep mental pain, ouch" Murmurs the girl at the same time she closes the volume and hides it under the bed.
The Mandate of the Seven Sages is a forbidden book since there are some mentions in the text, such as the Demiurge, that go against the general spirituality preached by the churches, where it is assured that there is nothing above the gods. If a devout believer in dogma were to discover the book, Marnie would be in serious trouble. An ominous reminder for magicians, was the total extermination pushed by the inquisitors towards the branch of cosmomagic, a mystical art eradicated from the world for being considered heretical and too dangerous, and that now only exists in legends. And not even in all myths there are testimonies of cosmomagic art, because those legends that speak of star clusters and other worlds in impassable horizons, were mostly erased.
Despite the taboo, Arrax always encourages his students to seek knowledge wherever they can, even in the most obscure tomes.
The girl takes a long sip from the medicine bowl, shudders at the bad taste, and only the use all her willpower prevents from spitting the liquid out and dirtying the walls. A glance back at the desk, specifically at a thick hourglass, lets her know that six hours have passed and she needs to prepare the mix for her companions.
Marnie entered the ritual halfway through the process, which means she suffered the least from the consequences of that powerful and ancient magic. It's true she's not vomiting blood and that's good, but it's also true that she's the one who cleans the blood that her companions are releasing while they sleep and wake up in the delirium of heavy fevers. The maids assist her, but Marnie is the one who possesses the knowledge to prepare the medicine. It's not that complicated, she can use her basic alchemy set in the room to create the potion, but since Arrax also drinks the substance, Marnie makes sure to study the instructions for the mixture up to three times so she doesn't make a mistake.
Marnie doesn't want to be expelled and return to the streets to settle for a mediocre life. She aspires to become a powerful wizard, influential enough to be chosen as the royal sorceress of some kingdom.
"The kingdom of Platia would be nice," the girl murmurs as she places a new copper bowl on the table that holds her alchemical instruments.
Platia kingdom is where Queen Gineber comes from. The stories tell of a beautiful place, of white towers and crystal clear waters flowing through channels of lapis lazuli. The kingdom is built on the banks of the Three Gorges River, just before the divisions that give its name to the waterway. The realm is also known as the kingdom of the merchant princes, where the wealth and luxuries they possess are said to be enough to hire the wizard king as mercenary for a day.
"Although that would be ridiculous," Marnie says, shaking her head as she imagines hiring the services of the supreme wizard. As she thinks about it, looks at the ingredient shelf and is surprised to find she has no mint bunches left.
Between going to the kitchen or going down to the laboratory storage room, Marnie decides the latter. She hasn't visited the lab since the incident, perhaps because deep down experiencing the ritual's aftermath left her suffering from an instinctive repulsion toward her work area.
"Still I have to put up with it. When the professor recovers from his delirium, he'll want to know how things are downstairs," she says to give herself courage.
Marnie leaves the dormitory and advances towards the beginning of the corridor, crosses the entrance that connects to a tower, and from there descends on a staircase that leads to the cells. She walks between the prisoners and they avoid her gaze. From time to time Arrax threatens to make guinea pigs out of anyone who disturbs his workers, which helps respect and coexistence.
"Hm...?" Marnie was about to go straight to the storage room to get ingredients, but her attention is taken by the cage in the corner, open and empty. She hears that the king agreed to release the imp within the confines of the lab, but she's surprised to not see her anywhere.
When Marnie turns to the core room to ask where the imp has gone, she is astonished to see nobody keeping watch. A sweat drop trickles down the disciple's forehead. The order was supposed to guard the door of the core room all the time. Maybe the soldiers got bored and entered where the crystal was?
Marnie, assuming that hypothesis to be true, and thinking that the soldiers are too simple-minded people, sighs, advances to the double doors, and opens them to ask the guards to please not disturb her master's creation.
But then...
"...!"
Marnie pales at what she sees, loses balance and falls sitting on her ass on the floor. She crawls backwards until her back hits a table. She gets up and runs out, her eyes wide in horror and her brain assuming the worst. Marnie desperate voice rings out.
"Dungeon Core is out of control!"