Prologue - Cut Out For This(?)

{Clock Tower College Town, London. 2000}

"Hey sis, where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

Fiore paused in her reading, as she looked at her brother a few meters away, his back turned towards her as he cooked breakfast.

The dorm room was small yet comfotable enough in its compactness, even if a solid quarter of the space was occupied by several filled bookshelves she brought from home.

Sitting in her wheelchair behind the dining table, she lingered on a page detailing some aspects of Familiar creation, and thought a bit on the question. She was a bit stuck on this chapter's topic anyway.

"I don't know... what brought this on?"

"Nothing, really, just the usual pondering. Professor El Melloi is making us do an essay paper for what the future holds, and I don't know if I'm thinking a bit too deeply on this. Just wanted someone to bounce ideas with, that's all."

She raised an eyebrow, "You have social sciences in modern magecraft theory?"

Caules turned around to give her an amused look. At 14, her brother was a half foot taller than her and would keep growing. He had short brown hair, blue eyes behind rectangular framed glasses, and currently still wore his 'workout clothes', as if a Magus needed exercise in their daily lives. But considering the bandaged left forearm and shoulder - both from the training that Grandfather Darnic had assigned for instructors to teach him - it was definitely necessary.

"Pft, no. It was more about making plans for what we can realistically do for our family's future, and how we adapt to magical degradation going forward. My mind just went on a thought tangent to 'what will be left of me after 500 years?' and decided to think shorter term."

"Assuming we live that long." She giggled. The souls of the present humanity weren't born to live that long - not anymore - Magi included. "I don't actually mind being forgotten after that long, but I hope I'll at least be a memory to someone."

After all, immortality was a common reason to pursue the Root and achieve True Magic. When you knew, as existential fact, that your soul simply gets dissolved and recycled into the nothingness of reincarnation, you tend to get a more distinct outlook on life than the mundane person.

"Just a memory?" Caules asked. "Maybe we'd have Heaven's Feel by then? Gramps' goal for the clan is propensity for a thousand years. So what if we reach that long?"

"Well, 500 years is a bit of a stretch you know? I didn't think you had such an optimistic and grandiose view of the future, let alone grandfather Darnic."

"Trust me, I don't. Don't see an optimistic future, I mean. Between research, Magus politics which I suck at, and generally just being ourselves, I don't see us living past a century. And if we do, it'll probably be with us always checking behind our backs." He said, setting down plates, utensils, and food.

"...yes, I can definitely see that happening." And then she took note of another thing. "But what does 'just being ourselves' have to do with that?"

He chuckled, and only responded after taking a bite out of some bread, "Despite some mean things people say to you - which I'm not going to delve into-"

A cripple with too much talent than she deserved, she heard a few times behind her back. Caules said they didn't matter, and she believed him. She loved the idea and act of magecraft more than acknowledging those barbs and insults. They still hurt though.

You can't live a life without regrets, if you don't have some sense of apathy; her brother said once.

"-you're a talented young woman, Fei. You achieved Cause rank, a matured Magus with an established foundation, just last year and still progressing. That, and you're the heir to a clan of several families. Second rate or not - that's a lot of Magi to be responsible for. If you don't have enemies by the time you're 40, then sorcery is probably involved."

A tad bit embarrassed, Fiore let out a laugh at the genuine praise. "Thank you, Cal. But then what about yourself?"

He knew the question was a bit rhetorical coming from her - as they spent their entire childhood figuring out those talents together - and answered with a scoff.

"What about me? You're a prodigy-" He then pointed to his eyes, glimmering a slight silver luster over their natural blue color. His glasses being the only thing that let him see in daily life in the Clock Tower, unless he wanted to be blinded by a plethora of mystic phenomena. "-and for all intents, purposes, and luck of my birth, I'm a supernatural freak of nature. The more we become established figures in the world, the chances of us being in danger becomes more likely."

Ah, yes. A Magus, Esper, and born with an innate talent for Breathing and Walking.

If he was more than average in being those 3 things, her brother would've been a mystical powerhouse. Instead, he was more of a curious and rare specimen for any that wanted to dissect someone with his abilities, being only a moderate threat to a skilled and prepared Magus. But that was the present, she hoped they both would become secure enough in power to ease some of that burden.

Yes, now that he put it that way-

"The way you say it - you make it seem like we're slowly walking to hell." And scared of the prospect, as well. No matter how casual he approached the matter of the future, it always came off as paranoid. More paranoid than usual, she meant; you don't get to live in the Moonlit World for long without a healthy(or even unhealthy) amount of paranoia.

Fiore gave him a look as he chuckled, like she just told a joke.

"That, or we're already here, and walking to the next circle."

"Don't you dare get philosophically edgy with me, Cal."

"Oh, that was philosophical? I'll take that as a win. Point still stands though. A Magus walks with death. The weak are stepping stones; and the strong are targets to be exploited and eliminated. Just mage things."

"What did I just say?" Honestly, he could make discourse be too much at times with his spontaneity.

"Sorry, sorry."

By the time they finished breakfast, he still had that contemplative look on his face.

She gathered her thoughts then, "I'm not sure about 500, but I think that after 5 years, I'll still be here in the Clock Tower. Studying the Mysteries of spirits and souls." It's what many claimed she was immensely talented in, and she loved researching it all anyway. "Just..."

"Just?"

She shook her head. "I just think I would get used to this more."

"And what would 'this' be?" Caules took a peek at the open textbook next to her, a diagram for a web of lines. She forgot it was still there.

"This - everything about the World of Magecraft. I've been asking around my other, new blood friends - Magi with young lineage and know more about the mundane than we do. Did you know that in normal schools, they don't find a murder victim in their campus every week? That they don't plot and plan to usurp another's resources, and kidnap family members for ransoms? It sounds like a dream to me. It just gets... tiring, you know. When that could be me or you that has a knife in their back, if we're not careful."

She was airing her grievances again, but she didn't mind that it was Caules hearing it. It wasn't uncommon for Magus families, siblings especially, to fight for the title and power that comes with being an heir or head.

Caules assured that he cared more for her than some fancy position and 'ephemeral power'. Even as the so called 'back up heir', he promised to her when they were children that he'd even put her before Magecraft. A flabbergasting thought since she absolutely loved the mystics to this day.

He promised to always help, hundreds of times at this point. And the moment he learned how to cast a Geas, a written magical contract, he wrote it down on paper. Trust but verify, she could still remember him saying.

It was a bit embarassing to reminisce - that her then 9 year old brother could be as mature, if not more so, than her present self.

"And now that we're in the middle of the journey, I suppose there's no wheeling away from responsibility, huh?"

She chuckled a bit. "Yes, I just hope I won't get bogged down by life while I'm at it. In 5 years, I hope I care less enough about those things, for them to not bother me."

Yes, responsibility definitely summed it up. Not just as the heir of Forvedge, but for Yggdmillennia, she had to be ready to lead. She just wished her paraplegia wasn't a detriment to such a position.

"And if they do bother you?"

"Well, I have you don't I?" Fiore declared in trust.

"But what if you don't? I won't always be here. The Einskaya are stepping up the training, and the cursed wounds are getting severe enough to actually stay after the sparring. It'll probably be another year or two until I'm absolutely ready for an assignment, but the day will come when I'll leave for longer than a while." She cringed slightly when he showed her the bandaged arm. If only he wasn't so eager to be part of the Yggdmillennia clan's 'field agents'. Whenever she asked if he was suicidal, the answer would either be a solid denial or a quip, with no in-between. She never knew if he lied about that.

He just said he wanted to be ready for anything. The paycheck for being a substitute agent was also a good bonus, if not another reason.

"I have familiars to take care of me and at least two layers of counter curses at all times, Cal. I'm not helpless."

"Uh huh, and emotionally?"

She sighed. "Emotionally, I will...endure it, like I always have. Maybe use hypnosis on myself once in a while."

Caules hummed in agreement and responded. "Hm, that's about as accurate as we can plan right now, without forgoing flexiblity. But I think I have in mind where I'll be in the next 5 years."

"You finally have something for that paper?"

Caules nodded, his expression half uncertain and half thoughtful. "That, and where I actually want to be. I'll still be here in the Clock Tower. Learning the Mysteries of spirits, life, and electricity. And I'd still be by your side, Lady Forvedge of Yggdmillennia."

She blushed at the words and the bow he gave, but inwardly she was glad. Glad that she wouldn't be alone. That if there was anyone she could trust and confide in, it would be her brother.

"Must you be s-so corny and traditional?"

"I'll be corny and traditional as long as it's honest...and if it gets a reaction out of you, Fei. Now eat your bacon if you don't want me to eat it for you."

Ah right, she was so preoccupied that her appetite was forgotten.

-0-0-0-

Later that day, when she was still stuck on that one page's topic, Caules provided the advice she needed. Something he delved in a lot, he said.

Symbolism was important the more one advanced in Magecraft. With the web of lines representing a network of karma between entities - an invisible representation of sympathy. It was a manner of mystic connection used in many forms, from the basics of voodoo, to using the blood of fellow family for catalysts, and even drawing predictions to future events.

Somehow, Fiore wasn't surprised that her brother was so interested in the idea of fate.

-0-0-0-

Publish Date: Jan. 2, 2023. Updated due to clunky close spacing.

Author Notes: Happy New Year, everybody! Welcome to the rewrite of a rewrite, ghouls and goblins. I've come back from my training arc to improve my writing from a 3/10 to a not so measly 3.5/10! And the fic will have actual plot now! Can you keep up with this!?

Anyway, see you in 9 months for the next chapter lol

(Dear muse-chan, please dont let it be that long)