Chapter 19 - Discovery

Learning how to create Ficium tools had been going well up until today. He had learnt quite a bit about how it worked. He understood that effects usually happened at thin points and edges of the metal and could replicate some of the symbols from the sheet fairly effectively. About twenty percent of his attempts would succeed, which was noticeably higher from a month ago. While he didn’t know how fast he should have been learning, it seemed like a pretty good pace. His plan was to start getting more specific with his learning within a few weeks and start looking for hints to try to find a way back to Earth.

The door to the classroom creeped open, forcing Tetsuo to quickly slide the Ficium sheet into the pockets of his pants. Eleanor had returned, seeming drained as usual.

“Sorry… for the wait… You didn’t test anything right..?” Eleanor struggled to speak as she tried to catch her breath.

Tetsuo could feel the corner of the Ficium sheet poking him in the leg. He forced a smile and replied. “Nope, just practicing my sigils.”

Eleanor would routinely leave their sessions to handle something, before returning worn and exhausted. When he asked what it was he received the usual “private,” response. Normally, he’d practice while she was gone anyways and she wouldn’t notice on account of it not working, but this time Tetsuo knew what he did was far worse than just practicing on his own. He stared at Eleanor eyeing her for any discrepancies in her behavior towards him.

“Um… Why are you staring so hard?” Eleanor seemed a bit uncomfortable being watched so intently.

“Oh… I was, um, trying to figure out what exactly you're up to when you leave.”

“Private.”

“Right…” It seemed like she hadn’t noticed what he had done.

“So you wanted to show me something?”

“Oh that’s right!” Tetsuo quickly reached into his bag and intentionally ruffled around within it as he steadied his composure. He pulled out the sheet of paper he needed and laid it out onto the table. “How hard would it be to make something like this?”

Eleanor paused and examined the diagram. It was for a gauntlet Tetsuo had designed for himself. The design was made for his left hand and reached down his forearm. The notable part about the design was the finger tips. The notable part of the design was the finger tips. Each finger tip was a small Ficium cap connected by a thin wire, such that when the user twisted the cap, it would spin while still remaining firmly attached to the gauntlet. Each finger, including the thumb, were built like this. Eleanor seemed confused about the purpose of the device, and how it was related to Ficium sigil writing.

“It’s a glove..?”

“Well, yes, but that’s not all. It’s a multitool. Each finger tip could swivel to break or complete a sigil combination. Since one tool can only handle one active combination, I thought this would be a pretty good way to create a tool that can use more than one Ars ability.”

“Won’t work. Because of the points of contact… it would…” Eleanor trailed off as she furrowed her brow. She handed the sheet back to herself as her eyes darted like she was reading instructions in the air. “Class ends early today. Come back in a few days. Go. Now.” She quickly rushed out of the room, as Tetsuo heard the sounds of her footsteps climbing to her office.

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The Ficium sheet in his pocket felt hot. He knew he was imagining it, but he was terrified that something might give away that he had taken it. He had been walking back towards Alon’s home until he saw a familiar face towards the side of the street.

Roscoe waved him down and gestured for Tetsuo to come to him. He took out a sheet of paper and handed it to Tetsuo. On it was a report about missing funds from a shop.

Tetsuo looked back to Roscoe who seemed to be waiting for a response. “I… don’t know anything about that. Is it recent?”

Roscoe shook his head. He pointed at Tetsuo and then to the workshop.

“Oh, I was seeing if Eleanor could look into making me something.”

Roscoe paused and stared at Tetsuo. He never talked, which made it hard to tell what he was thinking. Especially now, with the Ficium in his pocket, he prayed that this was one of those times he was just acting odd.

Despite Tetsuo’s worrying, Roscoe simply nodded and walked away. Tetsuo found it a bit odd but was glad the interaction was over and continued on his way. He had become accustomed enough to the path to Alon’s home, that he knew which alleys he could take as a short cut.

Just like home.

The thought of it made him smile a bit. It was odd of him to think of the city as a home, but every small reminder of home felt like a small victory against settling in Alvania. He moved to duck between the usual narrow alleyway between a bakery and cobbler, but was surprised by the presence of others there. A group of three shady men stood deeper within, grouped up with makeshift wooden clubs. One of them formed ice cubes from the tips of his fingers and flicked them against the wall, while the other two talked quietly. Groups like this weren’t uncommon in the kingdom, it was especially rare so close to the center, given the large presence of high ranking knights. Since one of them was using Ars, it was safe to say these weren’t out of touch Earthens either.

One of them looked towards the entrance at Tetsuo, pointing at him. They got up and began walking towards him. Tetsuo quickly abandoned the alley and returned back to the main street. They followed him out scanning the area for him. Tetsuo quickly ducked into a different alley further down the street. He peered around the corner, watching them head in the opposite direction, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief. It had been odd, he had taken that route plenty of times now and yet this was the first time he had seen anyone else using it. Targeting him on sight no less.

Something wooden fell over behind him from within the alley. He turned to look for the source of the noise and could see a pallet that had fallen down, and behind it an obscured figure. They were wearing dark clothing that blended in well with the tan colors of the building. Seeing Tetsuo had spotted them, a stone pillar rose from the ground, boosting them onto the roof. The figure turned to look at Tetsuo one last time before bounding across rooftops.

Maybe I’ll just avoid shortcuts today.

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Tetsuo locked the door to the room Alon had lent him. He shut the window and pulled the blinds shut. From his pocket, he pulled out the sheet of Ficium he had kept and sat on the edge of the bed examining it.

Did they know I had this?

Tetsuo looked over the sheet. He had written all twenty eight symbols perfectly. Save for one glaring mistake, he’d have considered it his best work yet. He began mulling it over.

There was no way for them to have known. No one was around. It’s just a coincidence.

And yet after everything that had happened, what he had discovered, it was hard to dismiss it as such. Tetsuo traced his thumb over the empty area in the center. He had meant to draw the base sigil but had been absorbed in drawing the other more complicated ones, that he had forgotten. Tetsuo closed his eyes and concentrated, imagining the tiniest sliver of Ars travelling out of his hands and into the sheet. Hesitantly he opened his eyes, to the same result he had created back at the lab. A sheet of Ficium, shining more brightly than any of the ones he had made before.