4. Who is Waver Velvet?
Waver Velvet was a Magi of third generation, though technically, his mother's disinterest in the magi lifestyle meant he lacked a true family crest.
Despite this, he was a man of many dreams, ideas, and ambitions, throwing away his chance at a normal, conventional life to pursue magecraft.
In a world in which human rights were considered superfluous and your value as a person came from your lineage, Waver was met with ridicule and bullying, the ancient magi family openly ridiculing him and a few others of similar backgrounds.
But the final straw was the mockery of his research made by one of his professors, one of whose classes he oh so fought to get in, who of course was a part of an old and prominent magus family of El Melloi.
The man tore Waver's tears and blood all around the lecture hall, just to have a good laugh out of the one powerless to fight back.
The young magus did not understand Kayneth. His idea was revolutionary and he developed it. On. His. Own.
The document contained extensive research and numerous proofs on his theory,far beyond what the proud Lord of the Mage Tower could even comprehend.
Because Waver was, unequivocally, a genius.
"Stupid Kayneth, stupid nobles, stupid Clock Tower." The young man grumbled under his breath while storming through the corridors of the clock tower "Who does he think he is to just dismiss a research paper without even looking into it. I'll show him-"
His rant was quickly and painfully stopped by a date of his shin with a metal delivery cart.
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, are you alright?" the man that somehow has not seen him in this giant empty corridor asked with some genuine concern in his voice.
"Yeah. I'm fine.'' The previous frustration left Waver as quickly as his face kissed the ground, and he found himself somewhat grateful for the distraction caused by the man's absent-mindedness.
"You are from the spiritual evocation class, right? What are you doing here?" How the hell did that man know where he studied was not the first concern of the young Magus, as he tried to quickly come up with an excuse. Clock tower was rather strict when it came to skipping classes, so it should be at least believable. "Well… Lord Archibald asked me to run an errand for him." If his tone of voice was not dubious enough, the flailing of his arms was a dead giveaway that it was a lie.
Though it seemed that the delivery man had not picked up on it, or did deliberately ignore the signs "I see- That's great. Would you kindly pass this on to him?" He handed the young genius a small package, not larger than a folded scarf and just as light as one. "Make sure he gets it. They said it's an important package from France or something."
'Important? From France?' Waver checked the label printed on the box:
"With all due respect to the Lord Kayneth Archibald El Melloi, we the House of Damas, as arranged, lend the item in our possession, which has been with us for more than five centuries.
As specified in the contract, in the event of the item getting damaged or destroyed, you are to be designated as a sole culprit of such an incident.
Head of Damas household. "
'That sure sounds ominous.' Waver turned around to ask for maybe more information on the package, "Hey-!" But the man was nowhere to be seen, he simply vanished in the long, dead end corridor behind the boy.
He was either a delusion of his, the idea debunked as quickly as his hands squeezed the package again, was playing some tricks, not an unusual thing in the Clock Tower, or knew a secret passage that the young genius had no time to look for right now.
With determination, he decided to look for the reason his teacher got such a treasured package. Especially that he was a dick. And even more because with this nasty personality of his, he would never return it in the first place.
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Waver settled into the library, surrounded by stacks of books so tall that only the tip of his head was visible.
He, with fervor, read through the books, searching for any clue as to why Archibald might be even in a remote need for an item such as the red scarf he found in the box.
However, nowhere in the library's collection did he find mention of a ritual requiring such a strange catalyst.
"The principles of summoning", "Obscure summoning rituals and how to perform them" along with "Summoning for dummies" had no mention of anything even close to what he was looking for.
With a long and resigned sigh the young magus finally began to suspect that his teacher might really be just a very eccentric collector.
As he sat there pondering what to say to the enraged Lord when delivering the package, a rather loud thud interrupted his thoughts.
Startled, Waver jumped in his seat from surprise and with a bated breath scanned the library with his eyes, half expecting the worst.
The worst that never came, as after a quick look around the library, he still was the only person inside. Although, the door was slightly opened and he vividly remembered closing it behind him.
Waver waited for another minute, however when nothing came, he relaxed and sat down, letting out a sigh of relief.
In his distress he failed to consider the possibility that the person who entered the room might not be of full height, and that they would silently sneak their way up to him when he wasn't looking.
"What are you reading?" a voice of a small girl made its way up to his ears. It was soft and energetic, although a bit tired, as if the person talking just ran for a long time.
This was one surprise too many for the young genius. Startled, he flailed his arms and tumbled off the chair, his back meeting the cold wooden floor of the library, and taking along with him books that burrowed him in a giant pile of knowledge.
"Ouch." He whined while slowly standing up from the mound and glaring at the girl.
She was small. Waver would give her seven years of age, give or take one. Her hair was long and white, while her golden eyes shone with curiosity, awaiting the answer.
But the young magus wasn't in a mood to entertain a kid and with a, what should be an assertive tone, but came out as a whine replayed "Nothing a kid like you should know. Now get lost." It really was not in the character for the man, but right now he had bigger problems than a hurt feeling of a magi child.
The girl, though, stood unfazed at his remark, and maybe to irritate him even more persisted "It is impolite to talk like that. You seem like you need help, and Trisha always told me to help people. What are you reading?" There was a genuine care in her voice, nonetheless it mattered not for the genius.
"Nothing, now scram." Waver was at the moment occupied with sorting out the books that fell into neat towers and looking for something that he might have overlooked. It was only after he was finished with this task he realized that the girl had not left, nor seemed to have any intentions on doing so, so he asked "Have you ever heard of a summoning ritual that would need an old object of historical importance to work correctly? No? So be off with you."
However the answer that he was least expecting came out of the girl's lips "Yes, I did."
It was time for him to be stupefied "You did? Where?" It couldn't be that such a kid would know of something that was not in the library tomes, but with no other better option, he decided to probe her into an answer.
"Dad talks about it all the time. When he is home that is." She seemed to have some family issues, but it was not what was important for Waver right now "Something about a war in japan for a… eh… cup?"
A metaphorical bulb went off inside the magus's head "The grail war!" he shouted "It means that the rumors surrounding Archibald were true." But if it was a grail war, it meant that… "Say, who is your dad exactly? I'm Waver Velvet, a student here in the clock tower."
A proud smile appeared on the girl's face "Fufufu." her left hand on her hip and right on her puffed chest, she replied "He is Marisbury Animusphere, a Lord here at the Clock Tower."
The proud smile that the girl sported a second before was now replaced with a one of excitement, as she squealed in place, looking as if she awaited a praise or something.
Waver was astounded with the information about her father, but more than that- "Cute…" It was an involuntary action from his short-circuiting brain, "I-I mean- You did a good job kid." he smiled, a rare action of his when it came to other people.
"Fufu. I'm Olga Marie Animusphere. Remember that name, Waver Velvet." The girl's words etched themselves into the young magus's heart, he couldn't help but have a feeling that this little girl would become someone great in the future as he replied with a chuckle "I will."
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Hi there! Author here.
Fourth chapter is here, spanning 1590 words. Instead of diving straight into the war, I decided to introduce our deuteragonist, Waver Velvet, for now.
The next few chapters will follow him instead of Angie, so be ready for that.
You might wonder why I'm posting this today instead of tomorrow. Simple, I was in a need of distraction, as the final and the hardest and the most impactfull at my future life exam is tomorrow.
Sooo... If you have any question or ideas, feel free to comment!
And that's all for today. I hope you have a great day/morning/afternoon/night, and see you around!
Author