3.3 - To Know Thy Enemy

If I could describe how Shadow Travel worked, I'd say it would be like standing inside an indoor skydiving tunnel—only the wind blowing against your face was at least three times as much, and you can't control how gravity pulls on your body as you twist and turn. That, and the fact that you'll feel thick threads of black vapor (or was it smoke?) constantly washing across your face. According to Elaina, though, it's something you'd get used to after trying it more than once.

"It's only your first time," Elaina said as she sat across from me on a second sofa. She held a large flask filled with a pink liquid that glowed as she stirred it with a tablespoon.

I took a deep breath as I leaned over a bucket and vomited for the seventh time.

She tried to sound positive. "At least, ah...y-you got to...um, experience it firsthand, right...?"

I knew she meant well, but that's not what I needed to hear at the moment.

I just shot her a look, annoyed.

"G-Gweh?" she perked up, and she tried to focus on her stirring.

I exhaled. "Is that...N-Ngh!...gonna take a while...Uugh...to prep...?"

"No, it's ready. This potion should help alleviate the vertigo you're feeling. You should stop vomi—ah, throwing up within the next half hour."

Elaina walked over and sat next to me, handing me the glowing, pink potion.

I held out my hand and she rested the flask in my palm. "Any...s-side effects?"

Elaina frowned. "None. What, you don’t trust my potion work? It'll do what it needs to, Jace."

I stirred the potion myself with the tablespoon. "Said every pharmacist ever."

"Oi, I'm not a pharmacist! I'm a Mage!"

"Pretty much the same thing," I smiled as I slowly drank the potion.

"H-Hmph!" Elaina folded her arms. "I should've just let you spend the next two hours like that! The vertigo would’ve gone away on its own, anyway, but...Guess I'm just too nice."

I took three more sips from the potion, which somehow possessed a flavorful strawberry taste that I appreciated.

"Or maybe you simply just care," I grinned. “I appreciate it, fellow weirdo.”

Elaina blinked and smiled. "Yeah, whatever."

I took another deep breath and spat into the bucket. Slowly but surely, my nerves calmed. The churning in my stomach slowly died off, but only some pain remained. A thousand questions suddenly flooded my mind.

Is this really a non-registered medicine? What were the ingredients used to make this "potion?" Actually, how long did this thing even take to brew?

I let my curiosity overtake me. "Hey, so, just curious, um...how does...your Magic work exactly? Like, are your powers confined to your book? They're obviously not constrained by any laws of physics, so...?"

Her face brightened. "Ah, well, my case is kinda simple, really."

"Simple, as in?"

Elaina glanced at her Spellbook sitting on the oval coffee table. She got up and returned to her sofa, hugging a pillow before meeting my eyes. "Ever heard of Lord Isah and Lady Anya?"

My spark of intellectual inquisitiveness faded as soon as I heard those names. “I have. I only know them by their names. Aren’t they the two gods who supposedly saved the world like…a gajillion years ago?”

“Yep,” she nodded proudly. “To keep things simple, my powers come from them. Pretty much it.”

Hold up! Wait a minute!

I couldn’t stop chuckling. “Ela, you’re…not insinuating that…these, uh, ‘divine’ deities actually…”

She raised her eyebrows, waiting for me to finish.

“…exist?” I finished.

“They do.” She gave me a small smile and spoke with a certainty I’ve never heard before for something so ludicrous. “My Magic stems from their power. I am their devoted servant—at least, I try to be—and I owe it to them for allowing me to use Magic as I do now.”

I massaged my temples, placing my bucket on the mahogany floor by my sofa. “So, you mean to tell me…these so-called ‘gods’, these ‘Supreme Ones’ as people call them, actually exist and are actually, currently, empowering your Magic right now?”

Again, she nodded once. “Yeah, that’s right. And they aren’t ‘so-called,’ as you said. They are the Supreme Ones. That’s it. See? Told ya it was that simple.”

“No," I shook my head, still in disbelief. "No, it's not that simple. I don’t believe you. I just…don’t.”

Elaina shrugged. “Believe it or not. The fact remains that my Magic, the Magic that I authorized to use because of their graces, is what you have witnessed from me. Ah, including my knowledge on how to make that potion!”

“Graces? Wha—?” I shook my head twice. “Why do you even need their permission to use Magic, anyway?”

She sighed, shaking her head once with every utterance of my name. “Jace, Jace, Jace. Why do people need a license to drive a hover car? Why would you need credentials to work at the Engineering & Tech Campus? Or why would you need a medical degree to work at Marley Thomas?”

“Well, for those, you need the credentials to prove you’re capable and allowed to operate a vehicle, or work at the Campus, or work at the hospital.”

“So, then, why would it be any different for Magic?”

“You tell me, wizard.”

“Look, Jace. There are barely any Mages left in Ave Strata, so, as probably the only Mage in this city that you’ll ever meet, I can tell you for a fact: I know what I’m talking about.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sure.”

“Magic can be classified in two ways—uh, that I know of, at least. I'm just repeating what my Obaa-chan taught me. First, there’s good Magic that can be used if you are deemed worthy by Lord Isah and Lady Anya. Then, there’s bad Magic where a human chooses to use it without any care of getting the Lord and Lady’s permission.”

“So what? Shouldn’t humans be allowed to do whatever they want?”

“I’m not getting into the ‘freedom of choice’ debate here. Yes, of course, humans can decide what to do for themselves however they want. There's only an issue when a human chooses to follow a path in their Magical practice contrary to the guidelines established by the Supreme Ones.”

“And why should humans abide by those ‘guidelines,’ anyway?”

“Let’s say I wanna join a server to play a game online. Before I can actually join, I have to accept the rules of the server first. If I accept, I’d be bound to follow those rules whenever I’m in that server. But if I reject those rules, or knowingly act against them, then I’d never be allowed to access that server. Follow me?”

“I think I understand. So, these, uh, Supreme Ones, or whatever…they created a set of rules for all Mages to follow? Hence, here you are.”

Elaina nodded twice. “Yep, yep! Here I am!”

This girl...

I had to admit. Magic was never something I genuinely believed in before I met Elaina. But, speaking to her now, I had a hard time convincing myself that everything she said was all a lie. 

Besides, what could she even gain by lying to me about all that? 

What could she gain by lying to me about these so-called “gods” and these “rules” they established, supposedly, many thousands of years ago? 

It all sounded ridiculous. It was ridiculous. 

But then again, Elaina herself wasn’t even classified as an Abnormal, but she already proved to me that her Magic was authentic.

My curiosity with this girl only grew, along with how we could work alongside each other.

But, for now, we had to stay on task.

"All right, all right," I cleared my throat. "Let's table this for another day. The bomb fragment..."

"Right, leave it to me..."

Elaina held out one hand, levitating the bomb fragment, sitting on a sofa, cushion to her palm. Her Spellbook floated up and rested to her left. It flipped open and Elaina breathed.

She held up the bomb fragment in her open palm as she spoke.

"Oh, Lady Sovereign of the invisible dimensions, let my words reach you..."

I felt another cough coming, but I tried to hold it back to not interrupt Elaina's spell. Call it a weird sense of common courtesy.

"As time is ever-flowing, so shall my eyes observe what was,

Grant unto me passage to see beyond the here and now,

Reveal to me…the past I seek in my hands…

Reverse…Divination!"

Elaina's eyes suddenly glowed pink—a bit darker than the hue of the potion medicine—and she sat still, staring into space.

I let myself cough into my elbow, and I cleared my throat several times. When I calmed down, I slowly drank the potion once more, finishing it.

Elaina kept still, and I had to indulge my curiosity again.

"E...Ela? Hey? Um…heeeey."

She didn't answer. Expected, though still fascinating to witness.

I waved at her a couple times, trying to get her attention. But still, she did not answer. I thought about throwing a pillow at her, but I resisted my urge to interrupt her Spell.

Though, I did wonder: Who in the world was this “Lady Sovereign” she mentioned just now? Was that a different unseen entity who has authority over her Magic? Could that be another name for that "Lady Anya" deity she mentioned? And wait, why did Elaina sound like she asking for permission this time instead of making it sound like a direct command?

I took the time to think about what she told me regarding her powers.

I allowed myself to ask those key mental questions: Were Lord Isah and Lady Anya actually real? Could all-powerful entities like those two actually be out there somewhere? If they had so many followers around the world, why wouldn't they come back to show everyone else up?

I went to use the restroom.

When I got back, Elaina suddenly blinked several times and dropped the bomb fragment on the hardwood floor.

She rubbed her eyes. "Ah...A-Aargh...!"

I slid my foot gently on the floor and brought the bomb fragment to me with a straight trajectory.

"Are you all right?" I asked her as I picked it up. "You were out for a while."

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm fine…" Elaina raised her head to look at me. "Um...Would you mind...getting me a glass of water?"

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

I fetched it and found her sitting with her arms folded, deep in thought, when I returned from the kitchen.

"Thanks, Jace."

"Sure."

She chugged it all down, handed the glass back to me, and I placed it on the coffee table.

"So...?"

"It was dark for most of the vision," Elaina began. "The bomb was probably kept in its packaging for a while. But then, I…uh..."

"You...?"

"I saw some sort of...laboratory...?"

"A laboratory. Okay?

"Yeah, and...there were three people."

"All right...?"

"Two guys, one girl—I think? Her face was covered, same with the tall guy standing...by the bomb. I think he was…wearing a mask. Yeah, he was, for sure.”

"Hmm. And the second guy?"

"Shorter than the masked dude. Fair skin, I think. Messy, curly-hair-fade sort of haircut. Um...he was wearing a green and black hoodie. Dark jeans."

"Were they talking about anything?"

"Only the two guys spoke. The masked guy standing by the bomb—I think that was Doctor Molecruel. The green-hoodie guy called him that, at least. Um...Molecruel said something about 'this being the start of destiny's wrath.' Not much else, really."

"Destiny...huh? What could that mean?"

"I'm...not too sure on that. Sounds pretty weird."

I glanced at her and gave her a look.

She got my message. "What? I know I'm weird! And look who's starin' at me!"

I nodded. "Ela, do you have a computer I can use? Would you mind if I looked something up?"

Elaina frowned at me. "I do, but it's a pretty old one. It was my grandmother's, but I use it sparingly nowadays. Not really that helpful, if I'm to be honest."

"Not helpful? Why's that?"

"I prefer going out to find information myself, rather than looking something up online. Can't trust everything people post these days, unfortunately. At least, that's what Obaa-chan told me. So, I'd rather find out the truth about things on my own and see things for myself."

How insane, I thought. Her mindset must be stuck who knows how many years back, probably.

Still, I pressed her on it. “Even talking with friends or family? Not even that? How do you talk to people?”

“Obaa-chan taught me that knowledge and wisdom are best communicated in face-to-face interactions, in-person conversations. Like what we’re doing now. It’s the tried and true way of making friends! And, in my opinion, that’s how you know you'll get the highest chance of encountering someone’s authentic self.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a very…interesting take on things. What makes you so sure you can be friends with someone by just meeting them face-to-face these days? People, especially Normals, aren't so friendly."

She smiled. "Well, I'm sure there are some cool people that can pop up here or there. You're just one example."

"Huh—?"

"Anyway, let me grab the laptop from upstairs..."

"Ah, sure..." I squinted at her as she walked away.

This girl. I’m glad we’re cooperating together, but...she really is a weirdo...

Just then, I realized I was smiling, too.

Ah, wait, could this mean we—…we’re actually becoming friends…?

Dammit! No way she’s actually right!

For a grandmother's laptop, the specs were actually quite modern, which led me to believe Elaina's Obaa-chan was herself quite familiar with the latest technologies of her time.

That, or she happened to luck out on a random purchase.

I tapped away on the keyboard, while Elaina filled two glasses of water for us.

"Here you are," she said as she sat at the kitchen table next to me.

"Thanks." I didn't look at her. I was too absorbed—almost obsessed with my search queries. "So, what if I typed...Doctor...Molecruel...Let's see..."

Her Spellbook floated down and rested on the kitchen table. Elaina began to read the incantations within, turning a page about every four minutes, or so.

I spoke to myself as I perused the search results. "No...Nope, not that one...Nah...No...Ugh, why's this guy so hard to...find. Nope...Oh, wait...! No, it's just some other doctor guy...Ugh...!"

Elaina leaned to her right, peeking at the laptop screen.

I wondered if she had little experience or exposure to this kind of hardware before, but I thought that would be a fun activity for us to do another day—tech shopping with Elaina.

"What're you searching up?" she asked.

"Anything and everything on 'Doctor Molecruel,' like a real name, for starters."

"Hmm," she leaned back. "A name..."

I scrolled through two different search engines, but to my surprise, none of the results showed anything even remotely close to the name "Doctor Molecruel." I even tried four different AI search models and came out with zero matches. I scrolled and browsed through another ten pages of search results, but still nothing of any value appeared.

I exhaled, glanced at my glass of water, then took a sip.

"Anything?" Elaina asked again.

"Nothing," I confessed, and I leaned back on my wooden chair. "It doesn't make any sense. If this Molecruel guy is the one who sent me the bomb and is trying to frame you...Then, why...?"

"Why was he never talked or written about, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..." Elaina took a sip from her own glass. "Well, maybe...Hmm...Maybe he...scrubbed all the info off the net?"

I shook my head. "Not really possible nowadays. If something, or someone, is as much of a bigshot as this Molecruel is supposed to be, there's no doubt someone should have talked about him. Even just once. But...there's nothing. Just...nothing..."

Elaina rested her arms on the kitchen table. "Man, if only this guy was as easy to find as finding a book in the library."

I snorted. "Yeah, wouldn't that be easy—...Wait a second..."

Elaina was about to take another sip of water. "Huh?"

"Say that again?"

"That again."

"No, what you said before about...the library."

"What do you mean? I used to go there all the time. It's where I went to find actual information. In books. Ya know—fully updated, peer-reviewed, and polished for publication. Can't say it's a hot and trendy place to be at, but it can be peaceful."

"That's it!"

"What...is?"

If there was one place that had info on anything and anyone in the city of Ave Strata, there was no doubt where we needed to go next.

"The Repository," I said.

Elaina raised an eyebrow. "The wha...?"

I met my friend's eyes. "The Ave Strata Data Repository. In the Eastern District. If we can't learn about Molecruel from anything online, then the Repository is our next best bet."