River Runs Away

Moonlight poured into the Sunroom. At this hour, there wasn’t a soul in the room.

A young girl with pale blue antlers and flowing hair sat under the purple flowers of the giant wistral tree. She held a book in her hands, but it was closed—she had read it countless times already.

River Runs Away. That was the book’s title.

A pale blue river smiled up at the little girl as it ran past houses and mountains. She traced the river with her finger. It was the main character of the story. Tired of staying in the same place, the river had run away to explore the world.

Slowly, the little girl copied the river's smile. It was hard to keep the corners of her mouth from dropping back down; she hadn’t smiled in over three hundred years, after all.

Mage Leuke opened the door of the Water Study Room and walked down the hallway, arms wrapped tightly around The Great Ocean. He could barely see straight—his late-night study sessions were taking their toll. He couldn't wait for exam season to be over.

He made his way down the hall, thinking of his soft bed in Lower III. Suddenly he blinked, sure he was hallucinating. There was a small figure walking down the hallway towards him, backlit by the flickering lamplight. He thought he recognized that long, pale-blue hair—

His blood went cold. It was the monster. But that was impossible. The first-class mage, Feldspar, had cast multiple Wolf at the Door spells to keep it inside the Sunroom. In all the times that Leuke had gone to the Sunroom, it had just sat on the grass or perched in a tree, almost like a part of the scenery. He'd never seen it eat anything, even.

In that split second, the monster had calmly moved even closer to him. Its childlike face wore a small smile, an expression that Leuke had never seen it wear before, yet its eyes were as lifeless as ever.

He should run. He should run as fast as he could, and find Marianne and Feldspar, and pray to the stars that it didn't kill him.

The monster slowed to a stop right in front of Leuke, looking up into his eyes. It didn't seem to have any intention of hurting him.

"Hello," it said. Something about it was familiar.

Leuke looked into its dead pink eyes, and his horror was replaced by recognition. Like a ray of golden sun, he recalled a memory of him pushing his younger sister on a swingset when they were children. His younger sister's face... he remembered that it looked just like the monster's.

“Little sis?” Leuke whispered, stepping towards the monster.

For the first time in her long existence, Esther's pink eyes widened with joy. Her smile spread across her face. She reached out towards the mage, pulling him tightly into a hug—and snapped his neck.

He didn't even have time to scream.

Airi woke to a slam. Mildred emerged from the closet, pulling her white robes over her head. Her seafoam hair was a tangle, but she grabbed The Magical Map and ran out the door.

Airi followed. The mage was running, actually running. She knocked down a stack of books and didn’t even pause to pick them up.

“What’s going on?”

Mildred passed a crumpled paper crane to Airi. Airi read the message inked onto its wing: ‘Emergency!! Come to Marianne’s office immediately!’

Airi sprinted faster and said, “Why don’t you use that wayfinding spell, if it’s so urgent?”

“Indoors? Are you crazy?” Mildred panted. “The last thing we need is more casualties.”

More casualties?

Lower II rang with confusion. Students and teachers swarmed the hallways, most of them dressed in nightclothes. Mildred inched carefully through the crowd. “Excuse me. Sorry. Thank you. Excuse me.”

Airi groaned. “Move.” She ran past Mildred, grabbing her hand, and started shoving people aside.

They reached Marianne’s office. The door was locked, but Mildred cast Wolf At the Door, and the lock clicked open, revealing that the room was already full.

Airi recognized the elderly, white-bearded mage who had gone to Star’s End with Mildred. He occupied the seat across from Marianne. Henry was also there, and so was Feldspar, who held the porcelain doll of Esther. All three of them were talking at once.

Amidst all the chaos, Marianne sat at her desk, surrounded by flowers. She was as impeccably dressed as ever, hair bound with red Xs, and smiling cheerfully. “Okay, enough! One at a time,” she commanded. “Prometheus, you first.”

“We can no longer detect its mana in the Lower Palace,” Prometheus said. Marianne’s face seemed to turn a shade paler.

“Then it’s in the Upper Palace. Or worse, the city,” she breathed. “Henry?”

“I visited the infirmary like you asked,” Henry said. "The healing mages said that all ten mages died of blunt force trauma. Broken necks, or something like that."

“Feldspar, the results of your analysis?”

Feldspar wouldn’t meet Marianne’s eyes. “The mana traces are hers,” he muttered, squeezing the porcelain doll of Esther so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Harmless, Airi remembered him saying about Esther.

Finally, Marianne turned to Mildred. “Mildred. I assume you know what’s going on?”

“I think so. The monster’s escaped,” Mildred said.

Marianne nodded. “About an hour ago, Eleanor went to the Sunroom to check on the sunflowers. She came across several bodies in the North Hallway. The door to the Sunroom was shattered, and the spell over the door was broken.”

Everyone looked at Feldspar.

“There’s no use in pointing fingers,” Marianne said. “We need to minimize casualties, first and foremost. I'll warn the king about the monster’s escape.”

Prometheus sucked in a breath. “The king cannot find out.” He glanced around the room. “I didn’t want to cause panic, but I suppose it’s too late. Simply put, the manasphere is severely damaged. It weakens every moment. His Majesty has already been notified about it.”

Marianne laughed shakily. “I should've known when you sent Lucy and told me to change the curriculum to hands-on spellcasting. How did His Majesty take the news?”

“He threatens to evict the mages from the Lower Palace.”

“He says that every other day,” Henry grumbled.

“Even now, only diplomatic concerns are stopping his hand. He fears us.”

“He should,” Henry said.

“Henry,” Marianne said, smiling, “your favorite food is scrambled eggs, isn’t it? You always get a huge pile at breakfast.”

Henry frowned. “Well, yes.”

“Where do the eggs come from?”

“I don’t know, from a farm,” Henry said. “What does this have to do with anything?”

“The eggs come from a farm in Harveston,” Marianne said. “It's owned by a family that has raised chickens for decades. What do you think would happen if they suddenly stopped supplying us with eggs? Say, if the king forbade them from doing so?”

“We could create a spell that produces eggs. Give me a few years, and I’ll do it,” Henry replied defiantly.

“I see! I’m sure you could. You’re our most innovative spell-writer, after all. What about the carpenters who make our furniture and the bookmakers who make our spellbooks? Would you create new spells to replace them, too? How heroic of you, to spend your whole life writing such spells!”

Henry fell silent. “I get it.”

“We are powerful, yes,” Marianne continued lightly. “But we are in the Lower Palace. Underground. In some ways, we are no different from the prisoners in the dungeons. If the king chose, he could send his army downstairs with spears and swords, and we would suffer terrible losses. Or, he could set fire to the Lower Palace and get rid of our spellbooks. Remember, Wendolyn isn’t here to put out the fire.”

She smiled brightly. “Besides, I’d rather not have to sit through another dull teatime with that man! So, we are going to handle this diplomatically.”

The room fell silent.

“Let’s see...” Marianne sounded as if she were deciding where to room Airi again. “First things first, we have to keep the students and teachers from losing their minds. I’ll make an announcement in the Argument Room.”

“What will you tell them?” Prometheus asked.

“The truth, or at least a part of it,” Marianne replied. “If we don’t take our students seriously enough to tell them the truth, we can’t expect to be taken seriously ourselves. Next, Prometheus. I don’t know the extent of the damage to the manasphere. Is there anything we can do?”

“Based on the rate of its decay, not much.”

“Then it’s not important,” Marianne decided. “We’ll focus on the areas that we can change. Does anyone have any more bad news?” She scanned the room.

Feldspar said uncomfortably, “Monster activity has increased lately. I’m... referring to the monsters outside Magisbury. I thought it was a natural fluctuation, but... now that we know the manasphere is damaged, I think it could be a side effect.”

“Perfect,” Marianne said. “Side effect or not, monster hunting is a surefire way to inject more mana into the manasphere. Starting from now, we kill as many monsters as possible. I’ll send all our qualified mages, with exceptions. Teachers should stay here. Obviously, Prometheus, you can stay here, and keep Wick and Tallow. But I insist on drafting the rest of your mages. Their stargazing eyes will be good for spotting monsters, if nothing else!”

“Wait.” Henry raised his hand. “You mean—”

“Yes. Effective now, all research is suspended. That includes writing new spells. You’ll have to wait to duplicate any chairs, I’m afraid.” Marianne giggled.

Henry groaned. “What are you gonna tell the students? You can’t tell them that the manasphere is collapsing, too. They’ll freak out.”

“Oh, I’ll think of something,” Marianne said. She sucked thoughtfully on a sugarplum. “Expect a message from me by this afternoon. I should have your assignments ready for you by then.”

Everyone seemed to take this as their cue to leave.

“Wait!” Marianne called. “Take a sugarplum before you go!”

Only Airi and Mildred took sugarplums. Marianne grinned at Mildred. “You were so quiet, Mildred!"

Mildred said, “Nothing I said would have made a difference. You’ll send me to the front lines anyways.”

“Aw, don’t be like that. Can’t you tell I’m doing this because I care? Sunlight is good for you, you know!” Marianne turned to Airi. “Now, Airi. I bet you’re wondering why I let you hear all that, since you're not a mage. Well, I have an itty-bitty favor to ask! Do you know Wendolyn the water mage?”

“The first-class mage?”

“Yes, that’s her! She’s in Swamp Glade right now, but I need you to bring her back. We'll need her help to beat a certain monster...”

Airi looked at the pile of blank parchment on Marianne’s desk. "Couldn't you just..."

Marianne followed her gaze. “Oh, silly! Even if Mildred cast the spell, a parchment pigeon wouldn’t make it all the way to Swamp Glade, and it certainly wouldn’t convince Wendolyn of all people!” She rested her chin on her hands, smiling up through her eyelashes. “So you see, I really need your help. What do you say?”

Airi hesitated. Her instincts told her that deals were dangerous, that she should be the one proposing a deal instead of accepting one blindly.

“You wanted to fight monsters, didn’t you?” Marianne asked.

This got Airi’s attention.

Marianne said coyly, “You know, non-mages are forbidden from fighting monsters. But... hypothetically, if you were to encounter a monster on your way to Swamp Glade... it would count as self-defense.”

This time, Airi smiled back. "Okay. I'll find Wendolyn."

“Perfect!” Marianne said, jumping up in joy. “Then I’ll assign a mage to travel with you. I have an idea of how to plan things now, so shoo, both of you!"