Part 10 

{Alice}

“That stupid, lying, old hag!" I screamed, yeeting the empty cup of hot chocolate across the room. "I should have known! All the cryptic bullshit and veiled threats... hells! That fucking, dried out, stinky, dumb bitch of a turd!”

“Woah! Alice! Are you alright?”

“You!” I whipped around to Ithelyn with fury in my eyes. “Don’t you think you are through just like that! That you found the spell work on me doesn’t free you from my wrath! You charmed me and I swear to the hells that this is going to have repercussions! Seriously… first my damned grandmother and then even you! It’s not like I am a punchingbag to try out all your weird magic shit! Especially not stuff that makes me forget minutes or even hours of my life!” 

I couldn’t help but grind my teeth in anger when I saw Ithelyn open her mouth as if to speak. What more could she want now? Hadn’t it already been enough that she had the gall to charm me? Did she really have to dare interrupt me while I was ranting? The dark thing with in me, that whihc had stayed hidden deep in my mind for all these years; it clawed at me now, digging just beneath the surface. I knew that soon I had to simply reach out, it was calling for me, hidden behind the last remnants of the spell. What ever my family had tried to hide in me, it was growing ever more prevalent. A soft touch on my cheek brought me back to the here and now.

“I… I am sorry for what I did. I know you might hate me now, but” 

Before she could continue, I harshly interrupted her. “What!? Want to perchance charm me again, just so you can try this whole conversation over? Or better yet! Just charm me into being your obedient fuck puppy!?”

“Alice!” Suddenly Lyn grabbed me by the shoulders, her grip was stronger than I had expected. “Stop it! I know I fucked up, alright? I know what I did was a shit move…  but I really – and I mean I REALLY – want to make right by you!”

“You… You do?” I felt the voices scratching at my thoughts, begging to be let in. ‘I shouldn’t listen to them, they have proven to be poison and deceit before. And yet… I need to know! Guilt… shame… sorrow… a way to solve it all… such a powerful spell… what could go wrong? Well that was… surprisingly un-helpful.’

“So... you really want to help me?” I asked, more out of uncertainty than anything else.

“Yes! I do!” Lyn’s face lit up in something between adoration and childish excitement . “I… have a theory. The spell used on you… it isn’t anchored to the physical plane… there are no tattoos or markings on you… it’s written directly onto your soul. This means it is instable, fickle so to say. Enough power might just overwhelm it completely.”

“Wait you mean… we could break the spell?”

“We can try… the teacher already want you to summon a familiar. If Hugin and I support you with that the raw power of the ritual might be enough to break what last wards on you are still working. And it will also teach me how that spell was kept in place in the first place.”

“Wait… what do you mean with that?”

“Uhm...” Lyn looked at me almost unbelieving. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah?” I gave her an annoyed  look. “I didn’t spend my entire life studying magic like someone else here.” Hugin let out an amused sounding caw, much to Lyn’s befuddlement. I was getting along with that bird better and better, which was honestly surprising considering the he was a spirit. To be fair Hugin was the first entropy spirit I had ever met, maybe all of them were so… nice? Just to be certain I gave him a little scratch beneath the beak. I knew from experience how good that felt. 

“Okay.” Ithelyn continued, having apparently overcome her confusion. “Ignoring the obvious conspiracy of the two bird brains against my person, you do know the basics of soul manipulation, right?”

“No….? I mean, why would I? I barely managed to get accepted into the academy.”

“Ugh.” It was a wonder that Lyn didn’t immediately face palm at this. “Fine! So basically a soul constantly degenerates over time. But because it usually recovers more Essence from the natural surrounding magic than it loses, it is growing and ever changing, instead of fizzling out. Got it so far?”

“Of course.” I smiled at her. “I am after all not a retard.” 

“Sure… wait a sec, is Hugin laughing at me?! Gods damn it Hugin! Why must you betray me!? Never mind, the two of your are disturbingly similar you know that?”

“No idea what you might be on about.” Hugin and I cocked our heads to the side with a smile. “But please keep going. It is immensely fascinating.”

“Yep, I’m going to have nightmares from this. Anyhow, as I was saying, a soul constantly changes throughout time. Because of that spells written on your Essence are always of only temporary quality.”

“But... the spell on mine has been there for years.”

“Exactly! I mean I can see your soul and it might be small – tiny even, if I’m honest – but it never degrades! It is constantly the same no matter how much time passes. You understand what that means?”

“That... I am a freak?”

“No! Well, yes.... never mind, shut up and listen. Any spell you were to place on your soul would stay there until removed or the magic decays on it’s own. The potential is... terrifying to say the least.”

“So... I’m a potentially powerful freak, got it.”

“Really now?”

The look she gave me was more than telling enough of her frustration. Apparently joking about magic was a wonderful way of getting Lyn cross. Something I was certainly going to keep in mind if she ever annoyed me again. Though what she had said was a lot more concerning to me than she seemed to realise. If my soul was truly so different from everyone else’s, what did that mean about me, about who or maybe even what I was? At that time I didn’t know if I really had wanted to know the answer to the question. But with so many things life tends to choose for you.

.  .  .  .  .

“Say, Alice... are you sure that is the outfit you want to wear?”

“Why, don’t you like it?” I twirled around making the tips of my dress swirl around me in a circle of lace and engraved metal. 

“Uhm... no, I mean, yes, I like it! You look very... mature. It’s just... why wouldn’t you just wear your school uniform? I mean the teachers will be there and your dress is very... risqué!”

“Lyn, I am just going to assume that you don’t know better... this is a genuine hand sown witches garment! The Dutrar Clan has worn dresses like this since the first summoning ritual. Every Dutrar girl gets one to their sixteenth birthday, usually made by the head witch of their coven. This one was and still is a treasured gift from... the person, whose ass I will kick as soon as I see her again! Now than shall we?”

“O- Okay!”

‘Hmmm... Ithelyn is surprisingly meek when it comes to new or stressful situations. I guess I will have to fix that a bit; can’t have my mistress be all scared and insecure after all. Gotta say I did like the haughty Lyn that comes out when ever she gets too cornered. Very bossy, very dom...’

I was still daydreaming about Lyn's potential and following behind her with my mind somewhere entirely else, when something out of the ordinary happened. Despite my – obviously – superior grace and reflexes I barely had time to react when I, all of a sudden, impacted something soft and bouncy. 

“Holly hells! What the-...”

Before me stood a young woman about my age with the - by far - most burgeoning assets I had ever seen. Those things had to be at least the size of my head if not more! The blouse containing the mammoth sized mammaries in front of me was seriously straining at the seams and I almost feared for the buttons to just jump of on their own. Both impressed and intimidated I took a careful step back to take in the rest of the boobs- I mean lady! 

Surprisingly where I had expected a bombshell bimbo to be the owner of those weapon grade breasts, the actual person attached to that overly large chest was less striking. In fact the description mousey and kind of grimy fit a lot better. Not only was she wearing huge glasses and a muffler that covered most of her face, but what hair stuck out from beneath her beanie was unkempt and greasy. 

While I would have liked to not judge her solely based on her choice of dress, I wasn’t that kind of good hearted person. Too much of both her appearance and her body language reminded me of the teenage me, a time I never wanted to go back to. Actually I would have rather forgot about it entirely and so I only gave her an apologetic shrug and continued on my way. Yet what I hadn’t expected was for her to meekly call out to me.

“Are- Are you go- going to the su- summoning room too?” While her cadence was all over the place, her voice itself was – and I loathed saying so – surprisingly melodic. Compared to my own, which usually sounded like shrill screeching, hers was a lot more fitting for a pretty girl. Why was it that she had such a beautiful voice and I had to make do with such a shitty one? By the hells, if I tried to sing it usually sounded like something more akin to a bird cawing instead of anything people actually wanted to listen to. 

As the jealousy burned its way through my system, something from deep within me whispered in my mind. Only this time it wasn’t the usual treacherous voices revealing secrets I shouldn’t know but something far more spiteful and envious. It told me how I could just take her voice; make it mine as soon as I had her soul in my hands. And the rest of it ... not the imprints but the essences itself i could feed to my lover. It was a tempting thought... why wasn’t I already doing it? Why should I care about a human- 

“NO! Shut up! Argh!” In panic I clawed into my scalp. What was wrong with me? All these voices, these thoughts... They were mine but they didn’t feel like it! It was as if I was slowly becoming someone... something else! 

“Alice! Are you alright? She didn’t do anything, did she?” Lyn didn’t waste any time and immediately bound to my side; it was almost cute how she glowered at the other girl. 

“No, no. She didn’t do anything. I just... have a bit of a headache.” I smiled at her reassuringly, though my jaws were still clenched. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

Turning back to the student that I had just run into, my perfect customer service smile returned, it never twitched and it never wavered. “Sorry about the confusion. I’m Alice by the way, and this lovely Lady is called Ithelyn.”

Almost half a minute went by in which she only awkwardly stared at the two of us before she finally answered. 

“I- I’m Dia.  So-Sorry about yelling...”

“No.” I said, while painfully burying my nails in the flesh of my palm. “I am sorry for being... not very courteous. You merely asked for directions and I, I... never mind. Now Lyn and I were indeed going to the summoning hall.”

“Say...” I stopped and smiled despite the pain. “Why don’t you come with us? I am sure Lyn wouldn’t mind, right?”

“Ah, uhm, not really?”

“Very good! Now than, Ithelyn, Dia, let’s go shall we?”

I happily skipped ahead; all the while the darkness in my mind threatened to drown out everything. A faint trail of surprisingly dark blood drops was all that showed my true state of mind, not that anyone could see them in the dark corridors mind you.