The World Unknown

I'd woken up a handful of times since the first. Every time was the same. An empty white room, with no one else around, and that constant, incessant noise. This time, however.. something was different. I was cold, like I had woken up in my own bed again, back in the estate.. I dared to hope for a moment that I had somehow been brought home while I slept. Were I only so lucky.

When I opened my eyes, I was struck by an odd sense of deja-vu. Ice crystals suspended in the air refracted the harsh lights above, and the room itself was covered in a thin layer of ice. There was no sound, and no one present. Or, so I thought.. There was an odd shimmer in the corner of the room. I debated for a moment whether I should acknowledge it..

My voice came out harsh and cracked, the pain in my throat making it difficult to speak. "I see you, in the corner."

I looked directly at the shimmer, the silence engulfing me for a moment, before it began to move. It drew closer and closer to the bed, and when it was right next to me, the shimmer began to fade, and a person I didn't recognize appeared seemingly from thin air.

They had short white hair, piercing yellow eyes that shone unnaturally in the light, and a terrible scar across their face. They smiled at me as I looked them up and down.

"You're not as surprised as I thought you'd be." They spoke gently, with a voice I could almost recognize as male or female, but not definitively. 

"I've.. never considered that. Using ice to refract and bend light around you." I said. I felt I should have been concerned for my safety, or excited for the fact that magic was still possible here. I couldn't be bothered to feel any particular way. I was tired.

They placed their hand on top of mine, and I felt the familiar chill of icy mana run through my arm. They smiled again, "My name is Calliope. And you, are Mari. Current apprentice of The Eternal Phoenix Anare."

They spoke with an unsettling sense of calm, and I felt just the slightest warmth at the mention of Miss Anare. I forced myself to sit up in my bed, the pain in my body still immense. I winced as a bolt of pain shot through my spine. Calliope hummed softly, and after a moment I felt a soothing flow of water through my body, the mana gently touching each of my protesting joints. In a matter of moments the pain was disappearing.

I looked at Calliope, who reminded me of a curious predator the way they stared back. "You know who I am, and it's clear you're not here to kill me.. so, who exactly are you?" I asked, as I rolled my shoulders to work away the stiffness.

"Hmmm.. I guess she didn't tell you of me. I thought Faye might have though.." They trailed off for a moment, then shook their head slightly. "Who I am clearly doesn't matter, just know that I wish to help you. You're alone in this world, no?"

Their question carried a sting to it. I didn't want to accept that I was alone. I'd been trying everything I could to get my mana to flow properly, every time I woke up. Anything to feel like I was normal again. "I.. suppose I am. I've nowhere to go, I don't understand what the people of this world have been trying to say to me. I will gladly accept your help."

They smiled again. Something about their smile felt unnatural, like it was just a bit too wide for their face. Of course, everything about this felt unnatural. A complete stranger with knowledge of my world, magic of my world, appearing in this tiny room I had been locked in, in a world I'd never known beyond fragments of Marin's memories. But, it wasn't as though I had many choices in front of me.

"Mmm.. good. Then come, I'll take you home and get you some proper clothes, and perhaps a shower too?" They asked as they opened their arm. I walked towards them, giving a nod, as their arm wrapped around me. I hardly even had time to blink, before we stood in an altogether different place.

It reminded me very much of home. The smell of wood surrounded me, and the gentle glow of candlelight lit the room. In the hearth, a large fire crackled, each pop from the wood serving to soothe my nerves. My shoulders fell slightly. I hadn't realized how tense I was, until it all disappeared.

"Much of this was inspired by Anare's home.. do you like it?" Calliope asked from behind me.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. I could have convinced myself I was home, let myself indulge in complacency, but this wasn't home. This wasn't even my body. I turned to Calliope.

"Can you help me get back home?"

They looked up at the ceiling and tapped a finger to their chin. "Mmmm.. probably! But you'll first need to regain control of your mana. You've been in a state of constant flux since you arrived in this world, your mana isn't flowing as it should."

They shuffled into another room, beckoning me to follow. I hesitated slightly, then followed behind. I came into a dimly lit kitchen, with a large iron stove in the centre, surrounded by drying herbs and meats hanging from the ceiling. Calliope set a kettle onto the stove, and with a flick of her wrist a fire was lit inside of it.

I stared, only now realizing something I hadn't noticed earlier. "You're.. not using sigils."

They laughed softly, "I suppose it must look that way to you! But no, I am using sigils." They turned to me, and swept their arm in a large arc. A sigil formed in the air, thrumming with a power that I could only compare to Anare. I stepped back. There was already something unsettling about Calliope, like a child pulling the legs off an insect and watching it squirm. To add power like this on top of it.. My eyes flicked to the doorway.

"Oh no need to run!" The sigil vanished in an instant, and though I wasn't fully aware of mana right now, I knew I should have been feeling remnants of that spell. "After all, you said it yourself right? I'm clearly not here to kill you."

My shoulders were tense again, every thought of relaxation long gone, but Calliope simply continued preparing a tea tray. I wracked my brain, trying to understand how someone this capable was in Marin's world.. then it clicked.

"You.. you're the first, aren't you?" I asked quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Mmm.. figured it out at last, have you? Yes, I was the first apprentice." Came their steady response.

I knew very little of the first apprentice, records were few and far between. I had tried on many occasions to get Gloaming to divulge something of her time with them, to no avail. All that was known was their affinity; ice. Like mine. But standing before them, seeing what they were capable of not just in ice but in all magic.. I felt insignificant.

I only now noticed I was shaking slightly. I took another, much shorter breath in. "How.. how long  have you been here?"

Calliope paused, their finger returning to their chin once more. "Mmmm.. I'm not really sure. Long enough to watch the humans of this world crawl out of caves, I know that much at least."

I frowned a bit. That meant essentially nothing to me. That could've been only a few hundred years ago, or thousands of years ago.

They took the kettle off the stove and snuffed the fire, before placing it onto the tray. They smiled at me, "You're blocking the doorway, Mari."

I shifted to the side as they walked by, and cautiously followed after them.

"I understand your confusion. I understand you're trying to get as much information as you can from me, without setting me off. You're a very smart woman, as I would expect of Anare's latest apprentice." They set down the tray and began to pour two cups of tea, before continuing. "You're exercising caution, as well you should. After all, you know nothing of me. There have already been a thousand times I could have killed you, but you still stand."

They sat, and beckoned me  to sit on the chair beside them. "You can ask as many questions as you like, but be sure to drink this tea. It will help to realign the flow of your mana."

I sat and took the cup offered to me, then took a careful smell. I recognized it immediately. "Manabloom?" I asked.

Calliope smiled and nodded, "I've been cultivating them myself for as long as I can remember."

I looked at my reflection in the rippling water, then began to drink. There were many questions I could ask, and many more I could think to ask in the coming days, but as I sat and sipped quietly at the tea, only one came to mind.

I placed the cup onto the tray, half empty, and I could already feel the smallest whisper of my mana. "If you're as capable as Miss Anare is.. why are you still in this world?"

They chuckled, and I felt a chill spread over me. "Mmm.. Let's just say, The Hungering Flame doesn't like to be challenged by someone she doesn't control."