// NOTE: For the first 3 chapters, the POV shifts from Karia, the world the majority of this book will take place in, and Earth. Each switch in POV is prefaced by "===". Events in both worlds occur simultaneously, but time on Earth flows faster than on Karia. Please enjoy the story and thanks for reading! // ===
Cainsworth-5 1232,
Queen Sobha"s Commision is going nowhere. No matter how much I try, there is just no way any metal can handle that many enchantments.
But she"s stubborn. She"s threathening me with a year in the dungeon now. That"s how you respond to your country"s leading enchanter kids! Send him to a dungeon! Doesn"t matter if he"s the leading authourity in enchanting! Doesn"t matter if a century worth of enchanters have failed before him!
"It is surely possible! Nothing is impossible with magic!"
Of course your majesty. Would you like some tea with you blinding ignorance?
"I am certain a man of your calibre can figure it out, unless of course he isn"t loyal to the crown."
Ah yes. I was mistaken your majesty. Surely you would-
All right enough pa.s.sive agressiveness I"m mad and I shall yell.
I AM RIGHT d.a.m.nIT! I AM NOT INSUBORDINATE! A WEEK!? A MEASLY WEEK? THAT"S ALL YOU"RE GIVING ME FOR THIS? WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM? A DRAGON? h.o.a.rDING ALL YOUR MONEY IN THE NAME OF FUNDING?
And writing in large letters tires me out somehow. Guess I should calm down.
But I"m also a professor d.a.m.nit. A week is too little. h.e.l.l, a couple years would be too little. A century maybe. A royalty sponsored trip to the dungeons is not enough to speed it up!
Calm thoughts. Calm thoughts. Don"t want to snap this quill.
... I hope yesterday"s idea works. It"s stupid, I know. Enchanting the different steels in a Damascus thing. Dagger. Enchanting different parts of a weapon has never worked before but... Enchanting different materials in the same blade? Just might be stupid enough to work.
Alright. On to work.
===
"Your name, Sir?", a young uniformed man typed away at his computer, sparing a rare look at the man standing a bit dazed in front of his desk.
A moment of awkward silence pa.s.sed between the two.
"Sir...?", the typing noises stoped briefly. The clerk furrowed his brow and waved a hand in front of the dazed man.
Another silent moment.
"Don"t hold us up, man.", a slightly annoyed voice chimed in from behind the guy.
No response.
"Did he fall asleep? Try shaking him a bit.", the clerk"s brow furrowed further.
"Percussive maintainence!", the clerk"s neighbouring deskmate chuckled perhaps a bit too merrily for the time of the day. The furrowed brows changed targets to the colleague.
"It"s a person, not a broken printer, man.", said the person waiting in line. Nevertheless he reached out and tapped the dazed guy"s shoulder.
"GAH!", was the long awaited response. The guy almost jumped, then decided he would rather freeze. A mid jump freeze sent him in a shakey fall forwards.
His face wasn"t too keen on hitting the gla.s.s seperating him and the clerks desk though, so it called in a favour from the hands.
But the message got to them a bit too late, and his nose got squished on the gla.s.s anyway. The hands, outstretched, finally reached the gla.s.s before more damage could be done, but they didn"t stop pushing.
The back of his head, scared that it might get hurt if the body fell, called out to the hands to stop pushing. But that message got to them a bit too late too.
And so the body careened backwards.
The legs never got a memo about all this, so did little to balance them. And the careen turned into a stumble, which gave way to a fall.
Only then did the body"s mind clear. But it was too late to stop. And the fall continued.
Fortunately the arms of the person next-in-line to him opened up for a catch.
A silent moment of confusion, panic, and possibly a bit of hillarity pa.s.sed over the room.
"...You really fell for him, huh?", said the colleague with a grin a bit too cheeky for the clerk. The man in line wasn"t ammused either.
"Not the time-!", The clerk retorted, turning briefly to his collegue before turning back to the man. "You okay? What happened there?"
"...Kyvas", he mumbled. He rubbed his eyes.
"What?"
"Y-you asked for my name right? Kyvas Troy.", he repeated, quiet but clear. "K-Y-V-S. Let... Let"s just get this over with. Everything feels sluggish..."
===
It exploded in my d.a.m.n face! I think it can work!
The dagger"s alright. The enchantment didn"t hold. But they exploded! The metal was a bit resistant, but not nearly enough! It must"ve been something about the enchantment combination. Or maybe the carbon content changed the affinity. I"ll need to look things up.
Weak telekineses, Phantom blade, Self-Repair, Personal barrier, and Summon focus.
Phantom blade and Self-Repair. I think I need to look into those two.
But Choir"s blade had sections didn"t it? Single blade contolling multiple others, all of which could project a phantom blade. All at the same time only, I think. This shouldn"t be too different from that.
Should check Self-Repair then.
...
Someone knocked on my door.
I was in the middle of something. You made me loose my train of thought, door-knocker!
Let them wait while I write this. They deserve the wait.
...Alright, Alright I"ll check it out.
...
Just Seph. Ignoring my teachings again.
Summoning a flower. A flower my grey head! I think it"ll be grey by the week"s end at least.
"You can"t summon something living. It"s impossible!"
How many more times will I have to hammer it into her head!
"Oh but it was already plucked!"
That. DOES NOT. Make it not a "living". Maybe dead, if you let it dry, but NOT not living. We spent a whole lecture on this for the Queen"s stubborn head"s sake. A week more and you can try it with my b.l.o.o.d.y head!
... I"ll stop while I"m Ahead.
head.
A head.
Hah. It"s gotten to my head.
Anyway. She changed the the runes. Said she felt something. Lucky she didn"t feel an explosion rattling her I"d say, but this is interesting. A failed summoning has no response whatsoever. The caster shouldn"t feel anything, and they would especialy not feel tired after it. She was that. Dead tired. Had to get her to the infirmary, poor thing. But this...
The runes she used, they"re mostly your standard afair but the ones that were changed? Never seen anything like those. She might"ve stumbled onto something there.
I"ll have to pull Jach into this.
In fact I"ll go pull him into this right now. I"ve had enough enchanting for the day.
Krys Jafferi. Scared, excited, and can"t wait to leave. (Well, maybe just enough to write this down. I love this new quill, hah!)
===
Kyvas Troy woke up. Turned off an alarm. Stood up. Walked over to his bathroom sink.
And fell asleep again.
Just like he did in that queue a week ago.
Just like he will, abruptly, for the next 3 months of his life.
Until he won"t be there to fall asleep again.