Chapter 31: Fortunecraft

"I didn't know you were religious."

Albert had to hold back a string of expletives as a familiar looking brunette plopped down besides him. The crisp morning air cutting ruthlessly through his lungs, every ragged exhale left behind only added to the city's ever present fog.

"I'm not."

He replied, closing the slightly smoking book with an iconic cross etched into it's cover. The girl in question gave him a questioning look before shrugging.

"Anyway," She continued," How have you been Albert? I haven't seen you in days, we kind-of thought you just left town or just avoiding us."

"I've been doingwell," He lied as easily as breathing," But thanks for your concern Marceline. But no, I haven't been avoiding you guys, just some trouble came looking and I had to leave for a bit."

"What kind of trouble?" Now the short girl's ears perked, making him want to roll his eyes at her antics.

"Nothing supernatural." Albert ruthlessly stomped on the her hope," Remember how I mentioned my involvement in that….robbery?"

Seeing her nod and suddenly uneasy expression, he continued.

"Well somehow they found out where I was," He sighed, running blackened fingertips down the book cover," And their boss left me a message."

"Where have you been staying?"

She asked, knowing full well that being visited by such thugs would for sure force the matron to kick the teen out.

"Here and there." He shrugged," I've been looking somewhere more permanent place to stay but it's been kind of a trial. If I thought people not taking me seriously was a problem, I've ran into so many just trying to scam me. There was this one time that I thought everything was fine. The apartment building was well taken care of, nothing was too dirty or broken. Sure it could do with some sprucing up but nothing too bad. It seem like such a deal but when the landlord pulled out the contract I found some rather suspicious clauses…"

"Like what?"

Marceline winced in advance at his upcoming words. Knowing full well how some people in this city can be.

"It said rent was due at the first of the month.."

"That doesn't sound so-"

"We're almost into the next," He interrupted, seething at the situation," From the wording of the contract, the moment I signed I would be already be late and have to pay expensive late fees and that's when it gets juicy. They could not only kick me out but also restrict my ability to take legal actions against me by a goddamned NDA they had hidden in there."

"I thought most places have you pay first months rent and deposit? Shouldn't that have covered everything?"

"Nope." Albert shook his head angrily," They said this payment would be for the last month of lease and that I wouldn't be eligible to get my deposit back because I would already be considered late."

"It gets worse," He fumed, feeling the urge to just start pacing back and forth," They would also only accept cash. Did they think I was an idiot? That I didn't know that they just didn't want anything traceable? I couldn't get out of there quick enough let me tell you."

"Damn." She shook her head in commiseration," I'm sorry that happened, it's rough finding a place here."

"Yeah," The teen slumped back onto the bench, feeling the frustrations slowly leak out of him," But that's enough about me, how have you guys been doing?"

"We've been doing pretty well," Marceline sighed," To help payback Lin's loan, we've been working for her mom. I guess that could be considered disingenuous, Lin and I have been working for her while Steve and Michael are working for her dad. It's been going well so far. Honestly, I just think her mom wanted to spend more time with her. And her dad has always taken a shine to the boys so it's not like they're taking advantage of us or anything."

"What kind of work if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's no bother," She shrugged, taking a loud slurp from aenvy inducing cardboard cup," Lin's mom got us helping around in her office. Simple stuff like sorting paper, cleaning, stuff like that. Think of it like intern work. Going to look great on my resume so I can't really complain. Her dad has been slacking on the summer chores so they've been slowly going down the list. Painting the fence, mowing the lawn, cleaning the pool."

"How are they handling it?"

"Like usual." She roller her eyes," Michael complains a lot but he gets the work done, he just likes to hear his own voice sometimes. Steve has always been an outdoors kind of guy, says it helps stimulate his artistic juices or something gross like that. Lin likes to pretend that she hates it but I've known for way too long. She enjoys hanging out with her mom more and in general is a lot more chipper these days. Honestly, just working like this was needed after that rather hectic adventure."

"Don't I know it."

He nodded, feeling a tinge of jealousy over their normalcy. What he would give to just be doing chores under a safe environment like that…

"But really," The medium continued," Besides that? Nothing. Most of them are still in the dog house after staying out well past curfew so we haven't had the chance to pick up anymore...cases you call them? Yeah that sounds nice, I'm taking that. Thank you very much."

Albert didn't bother to hide his rolling eyes this time around, she had loosened up a lot from her initial actions. Going from an emotionless doll of sorts to a teasing, mischievous girl would've been more jarring if the supernatural weirdness wasn't in play. Being able to see and talk to the dead really made everything else play second fiddle.

"Sure," He snorted in kind," Not like I invented it or anything."

"Thanks bud," She chirped playfully, making him wince at the awful nickname," But besides that? Nothing and frankly, it's likely that we'll have to stop taking on cases soon enough. School is just around the corner and I've heard junior year is really where we need to get serious. Especially if we want to go to college."

"Do you?"

The teen asked, he didn't think a mage needed to have anything to do with such mundane things. What was the value in a business degree if one could communicate with the dead? There was plenty of people back home who just made that their living and made a fortune. Well to be fair most of them were fraudsters…

"Not in the way you think." She shook her head in denial," Once every 'Ignited' has become of age, eighteen, then they are required by the Council of Seven to go threw a nine week program. Generally it's about how to make a living in the magical word while being in harmony with the rest of the world. Just rules not to absolutely demolish the market. Like transmuting gold, just like that. And to also reinforce the universal fear of the Enforcers. Think of them like the secret police for mages."

Albert noticed how the slight girl shivered near the end, he couldn't really blame her. He had read all about that slippery slope…

"Should you be telling me all thing? I don't really want to put you in any actual trouble from these.. 'Enforcers'? They sound like bad news to me."

"It's no problem. Frankly it's better you do know about them, as that fear has already taken root." Marceline let out a heavy, ragged breathe," But enough of that. I just got to ask, what's the deal with the burning bible?"

"That," He sighed, rubbing at his temples," Is a bit of a long story. But some cliff notes, I found something and now I need something durable enough to actually imprint to actually benefit from it. So far, it just starts fires."

This little experiment had been very frustrating to say the least, not only had he nearly burn down multiple motels but somehow word had gotten around and now every motel manager charged him more in the form of an 'Arsonist Tax' or whatever. He had tried everything, post-notes, notebooks, magazines, newspaper, even religious text being the most recent failure. The only real success he had over the last couple of days was when he tried anchoring to a stone, words had appeared briefly before crumbling into a fine dust.

"So that's why your finger look like they've been done over well done?"

She quirked an eyebrow, a teasing note in her voice.

"Yes."

Albert rolled his eyes, subconsciously clenching his burnt finger tips to hide them from view.

"But seriously," The joking mood she had was wiped away by concern," If you need help, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks," The teen felt a bit warm inside, having only witnessed such cheesy lines being thrown at characters on screen," I really do appreciate it."

"No problems," Marceline chirped, finishing off her coffee in a single long slurp," What are friends for?"

"But I do have to go." Albert nervously eyed the thinning crowd that past-by the park entrance, he tried to only really travel in places that blending in and becoming nothing more than another face. After all, it's easier to hide among other people than in the dark.

"Okay I understand," She sighed, tossing the now empty cardboard cup into a nearby trashcan," It was nice catching up with you. Hopefully when things calm down, we can all hang out again."

"Yeah," He smiled slightly," That sounds nice."

*********************************************************************************

"YES!"

Albert looking much more frazzled, exclaimed in exultation. Using all of his willpower not to devolve into a happily drooling idiot. He didn't think his possible neighbors would be too pleased being woken up by a screaming teen.

But even with that, he stilled silently screamed into the smoke tinged room while pumping his fist. Wrappings smelling heavily of burn ointment covered the teens arms and followed down to his distinctly blackened fingertips.

These last couple of days had been painful to say the least but he was frankly glad to take a small break with that visit with Marceline, it had done him a worlds of difference. The conversation had cleared his mind and introduced new ideas that he could test out. Like going for the obvious.

'If more paper isn't the issue,' His thinking process was,' Then what about higher quality?'

And thus, he had sunk some money into buying more premium paper there had been some success to the point where a couple of words were actually eligible before bursting into flames.

But now, a single sheet of paper that felt more akin to high grade cotton than something that could be written on. Rag paper, something generally used for official documents like bank notes and/or legal documents. While the edges were a bit singed, there seemed to be plenty of time to read whatever was inscribed on the page.

"Fortunecraft," He mumbled, running burnt tips reverently across the neatly nearly human like writing. While the letters appearing had a hint of ethereal gold, they still looked like the person who wrote it was a massive of Old English as it had taken many elements from such a language. Bold, elusive and somewhat..orderly in a strange way.

Overall, the writing didn't give off a distinctly hostile or ominous feeling. More like a doting grandparent leaving behind a final goodbye letter to their favorite grandchild.

'That's weird.'

Albert had to shake off the sudden welcoming and warm feeling that had taken a hold of him. Weariness bloomed deep within his spirit. Knowing fullywellof where this information came from and being barraged by those distinctly 'human' emotions was something else entirely. He had to take another look at his sanity just in case something had gone wrong.

[SAN: 37/45]

'Nothing changed.'

He was both parts relieved and concerned. Relieved that his ever dwindling sanity hadn't taken another hit but also concerned that such a deluge of emotions could affect him without the system even acknowledging it.

'What else has been affecting me?'

Albert had to visibly shake away that creeping sense of dread, being well aware wallowing in this thinking won't lead anywhere good.

'Plus besides,' He thought with a smile crooked smile,' There's no going back now.'

That was a lie. A bold face lie, he could at anytime just allow that piece of paper to burn up and never even think of touching the Grimoire Subsystem ever again. Just double down on his previous thoughts and just focus exclusively on skills to carry him in this new world.

But alas while he could do this, he wouldn't. His own curiosity had already gotten a taste and now it was far too late to change his mind.

'Fortunecraft,' He read again from the top, the words seeming to glow under the shitty lamp besides him,' Feng Shui, Providence Control, Luck of the Gods. These are just few names for the art of manipulating your own luck.'

'From spontaneously surviving a deadly blow, surviving disaster from a hair's breathe, alighting upon a stream of inspiration to overcoming nearly impossible odds, all these techniques and more will be made available to you.'

Greed, deeply entrenched within his very soul churned and licked it's chops at the promise of power just within reach.

'But before that, you must truly understand what I mean by the word 'luck'. Humanity doesn't have the claws of a tiger, teeth of shark, strength of a bear nor the savagery of a honey badger. But still we reign supreme on our planet. Some attribute it to our Intelligence, our ability to make tools, to come together in large communities or other such reasons. But I must ask you this, what facilitated our evolution to become truly sentient? What caused our people to jump forward generations from our more primate ancestors?'

'The mere luck of the draw. Simply put. It was pure chance that our planet was spaced perfectly, to be at reasonable temperatures to support life, for the dinosaurs to become extinct and for some apes to breed until eventually a fully sentient race was born. I'm more than sure in the grand infinite of the universe that such a string of event is completely well within the realm of possibility. Luck birthed humanity, simple as that.'

'Luck is our primary form of defense against the world itself, those touched by providence will always be blessed in life. Whether that be in the form of wealth, power or influence. They will simply be MORE.'

'Luck is an elusive phenomena of chance itself. Flipping a coin unskillfully can be considered a gross over-simplification. Think of it not as an energy but as fuel, as we naturally burn in our greatest trails. Either leading to success or damnation.'

'By itself, this fuel will passively protect you from certain dangers in this world and for those truly blessed, the next. But when introduced to a catalyst like great tragedy or danger, it'll be lit ablaze like a Promethean flame. You will truly ever brighter in those moments. But alas, nothing is free in this reality.'

'After your moment of greatness, there will always be a period in which you lose that film of protection. But be not worried, this will only be temporary. As beings produced solely by flukes, you will recover that shield passively. Be warned, great misfortune will follow you as to balance out this spike of great providence.'

Albert paused in his readings as he tried to truly digest what was actually being said.

'This author thinks our entire existence as human was nothing more than chance.' He mused, ignoring the smoldering edges,' I guess it makes sense in a way. Passing down on beneficial traits to achieve a form of evolution is also based on chance, but I knew plenty of religious people back in my old life that would find such a statement disrespectful. And depending on the time in history, outright heretical. But other than that, what they've described so far is correct.'

He recalled that feeling that occurred every time he spent luck in order to active his talent, Resourceful. The sensation of becoming 'less' could probably be attributed to this 'film' of protection being stripped away as the author describes. And he could also see how this tied in nicely with the lore of Pulp Cthulhu in general. Especially with the mention of LCK recovering passively.

'Like all things, hot and cold. Light and Dark. Up and down. This fuel has an opposing force. As Luck is the embodiment of the human spirit, the Arcane represents everything dark the universe has to offer. When I say Arcane, I don't mean those born with one or more of humanity's natural psychic gifts. But demonic arts that draw on something otherworldly in nature in order to cast wicked spells that turn reality on it's head. To cohort with beings beyond any human sense in exchange for power, to sacrifice aspects of themselves. Blasphemy of the highest order.'

Those final words were filled with an equal amounts of disgust and anger, making it readily apparent that this author did not like magic casters whatsoever.

'Humanity has never been alone in this grand universe and have plenty of otherworldly foes. While we may have lost a lot of good people combating such incursions but humanity wouldn't be humanity without greed. Witnessing such power, many made deals with these beings in exchange for knowledge of the Arcane. These people would go on to commit great atrocities in the name of these alien gods.'

'But alas, such power had a rather distinct cost. These, Wizards, became less and less human. Becoming more akin to those alien monsters. Luck lost it's hold on them, making them vulnerable to the whims of fate itself. And like those monsters, they were slain like the cur they were by the luck of heroes. Normal everyday people took up arms and faced toe to toe against those that abandoned their humanity, most died sure, but it only took a series of blows to slip in between defenses to lay these 'mighty' and lost human shaped monsters low.'

'So,' Albert paused, rubbing at his chin in thought,' Whatever world this author came from, had a war with eldritch beings and apparently some humans was enchanted by such power before switching sides. And it also makes sense about these monsters or Wizards having little to no luck at all, usually only non-magical human enemies had LCK for balancing reasons. It would be pretty unfair for a caster to not only be able to curse you but to also succeed against a physical take down due to luck alone.'

'Yes, you've heard it right. Demonic arts from across the stars, drawing upon power from their alien gods, with the ability to alter reality on a fundamental level couldn't match up to a mere farmer touched by Providence. Take heed dear reader, Fortunecraft is the art of humanity itself. To be human is to overcome the odds. No matter how alluring the other side might be, stand firm.'

'There will be a multitude of techniques that'll help you further utilize your fortune. While not as numerous as those tomes gifted to cultist from the stars, they are reliable in a way those 'spells' can only hope to be.'

'Remember, if the Arcane was made by those abominations for those abominations. Then Fortunecraft was made by and for Humans to thrive in the grand tapestry of the universe itself.'

'Third Prince of the Whaosa Empire, Grand Elder of Fortuna Academia, Casper Shalmaujek Gitremrurni.'

'Yep.' He nodded,' That confirms it. Not from this world or any other I've heard of from media.'

While it was a bit of a surprise that the author wasn't from this world in particular, he found it a lot more comforting that way. It had somewhat soothed a lot of his own fears, like if this world's magic was the same as Arcane as described by the scholarly prince. And mentions of some sort of eldritch incursions had worried him with the idea of eldritch artifacts only adding to the incredibly dangerous items in this world. Gratefully, the remnants of such a war was a worlds away.

Albert did feel a twinge of nostalgia at the mention of 'mere' farmers taking down eldritch evils. It reminded him of witnessing his players spending an entire tense hour planning and successfully taking down an entire group of water bound monsters. The joy and relief on their faces etched themselves deeply into his heart.

'Too bad I lost contact with them after that..'

The teen shook off the sudden splash of melancholia, drawing his focus back to the now completely alighted sheet of paper. With practiced ease, he flicked the burning scraps into an already prepared buckets of water before slipping out another sheet.

[Fortunecraft: Anchor found! Transferring…]

Elegant, neat hand writing engraved itself expertly across the cloth like sheet of paper. A light sheen of gold highlighted a single line that ignited his heart anew.

'Infunda Fortuna.'