Chapter 8

 

Hey, World, long time no see! How have you been? Me? Well, Seuyz and I got into an argument, and  I made a new friend yesterday! 

 

Seuyz said that I needed to take classes to learn, and when I asked if I could make a lot of friends, she began to ask me a bunch of mean questions. She told me it was practically impossible to get 100 close friends. She stopped…

when...

 

Uh anyways, it seems as if we have made up a bit, yet it is still an embarrassing memory.

 

Also! I made a new friend. She gave me a folded piece of paper with a dime in it yesterday morning. After getting back from the argument, I decided to ask her about it, but more importantly, if she would be my friend. The first words we said to each other were: ‘Will you be my friend?’. It was sort of crazy.

 

You know, it was kind of funny that we didn’t even know each other's names before we became friends. We laughed a couple of minutes later when we realized that, and then exchanged names.

 

Well, my new friend's name is Tivi. She has scarlet hair, likes the number ten, and, apparently, she likes to make puzzles and codes. Like the sheet of paper she gave me, that ‘thing’ was a puzzle. 

 

Apparently, I was supposed to find out her room number with it. 

 

How? I don’t really know. Her answer gave me more questions than answers.

 

According to her, each box on the grid on that paper had a number on it. And when you added up all the numbers in a row/column/diagonal, you would get the number 10. 

 

Then you were supposed to subtract 16 from the date on the coin. Giving you 3504, because that is my dorm number. I should realize that I needed to add 10 to find hers. 

 

She thought I had solved it. When I told her I had not, she mumbled something about a working magic square. 

 

Anyways, World, we had a lot of fun. 

 

We decided that we would hang out today at noon. I can hardly wait!

 

…

 

 

 

I was waiting while staring  at the sky from the small window in my room. It has been … 3 hours now. All just counting and measuring the time that passed. My heart fluttered in anticipation when I thought about going out. 

 

I counted down minute by minute. They, the minutes, passed as the time for our meeting grew closer. The room shrank as my anticipation grew. 

 

It’s 11:00. I should wait for her in the hall. I’m just too anxious to stay in my room. 

 

I jolted up, grabbed my I.D. and key, and ran out into the hall as that thought hit me. Then I stood in front of my room's door and glanced down the hallway. Maybe Tivi was there waiting for me? The desolate hall was a clear indication that she was not.

 

Time crawled slowly forward in the empty hallway. I grew worried. Maybe she would be late?

I was wondering whether to head back to my room when her door swung open. She cautiously peeked her head out and looked back and forth down the halls. 

 

Is she looking for me?

 

"Tivi! Over here!"

I jumped and waved my hand so she could see me. In shock, she began to pull her head back into her room. Her eyes darted towards me, and then she held a finger to her lips before continuing her cautious peeking for another 5 seconds, before she ran up to me and took my hand.

 

"Be quiet and follow me." She whispered to me while pulling me forward.

 

…

 

I was curious about why she was acting so secretive. How we snuck to get here were strange, to say the least. When we got to the elevator, I decided to ask her.

 

"Why were we sneaking about, Tivi?"

She looked at me, her eyebrows knit together, while a slight frown crossed her face. It was as if she was clueless about what I was talking about. That face, seriously, what are you trying to pull? There is no way we weren’t sneaking.

 

"When were we sneaking?"
There she goes. Does she really not know? Hmm... humans are strange. I will explain it for her.

 

"I mean, you checked the hall for people multiple times before telling me to be quiet. Then we ducked behind a corner to see if the coast was clear. After that, we army crawled to a pillar near the elevator, which we hid behind before calling the elevator. Wasn't all of that the definition of "sneaking?"

 

Tivi sighed resignedly before whispering in my ear.

 

"Bloody, you know how our rooms are warded with various protective enchantments?"

! If I remember correctly, Seuyz mentioned something about that.

 

"Yes!"

 

"Well, the hallways have fewer wards; something about us only being able to practice magic in our rooms." Tivi slowly explained, but for some reason, it seems as if she is trying to skirt around the sneaking.

 

"That doesn’t really explain why we were sneaking about."

 

Tivi’s eyebrows knit together, she tilted her head, slightly widened her eyes, and frowned. Seriously, you aren’t getting away with that. She once more let out a sigh.

 

"You know, there are telepaths on our floor." She said, while frowning. 

 

"Yeah, but why would we need to sneak?" 

 

"Normally we would be fine, but our floor has an unusual case. A telepathic mind manipulator that not only can experience the thoughts and memories of anyone she knows the location of, but also has the ability to control them."

That is somewhat surprising, but it is not much different from the purple worm thing.

 

"So she can control people?" 

 

"Not really. She can control people's thoughts and memories."

Was that not what the purple worm thing was doing? It would capture fractured souls and then overwrite them with Jiom’s. 

 

"Well, I still don’t see why we are sneaking. It is not as if we are her enemies, right?" 

 

"Bloody, that is the issue. She has poor control over her abilities. Once she knows our location, we are open to her unconscious influence. If she heard us while asleep, she could drag us into her dream. If she was thinking of sandwiches, then we might think we are one."

That is scary. Aren't I made from memories? Not my body, but me. Without them, I would be no different than an invisible cloud. I began to shiver.

 

"Then why aren’t the hallways warded?" I asked in a hurry.

 

"Our floor has the strongest out of all the dorms here. It is just that her telepathy is just too strong. She can overcome both her room’s and the hallway’s wards." 

 

I was scared. I didn’t want to lose any of my memories. Not even the ones from the fragmented souls. I felt that if I lost them, I would no longer be myself. Tivi put her hand on my shoulder.

 

"Calm down, Bloody. Once she no longer knows where you are, anything she did will wear off eventually." Tivi said, shortly after the elevator opened up. 

 

As we exited the building, Tivi changed the subject, probably trying to evade the previous one. I calmed down. If Tivi isn’t too scared, then I shouldn’t be either.

 

…

 

A cloud passed over the sun as Tivi and I were walking down an almost empty city street. Occasionally, we would pass by a human. They would just pass by, though, as if we were not here. Every time they did, it reminded me of the past, when I followed humans that ignored me.

 

"Tivi, where are we going?" I asked to distract myself.

 

"The 'Planer Exploration Exhibit'. I hear they have a working sub-plane. Maybe we could visit."

 

Is that like an airplane thing? I have a few memories from pilots and airplane enthusiasts, but I have never heard of those things.

 

"What?" I asked Tivi, hoping for clarification.

 

"What what?"
Her eyebrows knit together again. Seriously, Tivi, it is just an airplane exhibit. You need to stop doing that. Nevermind, I guess I will clarify.

 

"What is a sub-plane? Aren’t we going to an aviation museum? What type of plane is a sub-plane? I don’t remember any type of plane called that."

 

"Pft-ha, how long have you been studying magic?"

Tivi sure does like to dance around my questions, doesn’t she? Well, I will answer.

 

"As long as Jiom has?"

She closed her eyes and scrunched her eyebrows. Ha! I knew the previous face was faked.

 

"What—nevermind, don’t answer. Do you know what summoning is?"

Jiom has a few memories of them. He also fought with one when he was young. What did they do again…?

 

"All I know is that they can transport monsters from somewhere."

 

"Well, that is some of what they can do, but not all. To start with, summoners don’t only summon beasts, but any item, spell, or energy that they can bind. A summoner creates a magic gate to elsewhere. When something crosses over, they are bound to that gate. Once the gate is dispelled, so are the things that have crossed over."

Strange, does it use runes?

 

"How does the gate bind, and what if the thing transported is not bound?"

 

"Bloody I do not know. I am not a summoner. Anyway, we are talking about planes. Do you know where the things summoners ‘transport’ come from?" I mean, is it not just their home or something?

 

"Their home?"

 

"*snort* no. They come from different planes." Tivi had her nose pointed upward. It was as if she was waiting for my next question.

 

"And, what is a plane?" I asked.

 

"I was getting there." Tivi said with a smile. "A plane is a distinct universe separated from others by some sort of void."

What?