Discreetly Learning About Myself

After the party that night, Vivian shared her conversation with the Astral Viscountess with Stefan and Vladimir. Unsurprisingly, a flurry of concerns immediately arose.

“You’re not thinking of going, are you?” Stefan asked, “It’s bad enough that a member of the Enchanters Guild is interested in the bracelet. Magical artifacts are their professions.”

“And she’s not just a member, she’s the member,” Vladimir warned.

“Guys, it’s just Diane, we’ve all known her since the academy,” Vivian said.

“Viv, you can’t be this naive,” Stefan shook her head, “Look, in my line of work, she’s not just Diane anymore, she has a responsibility as the Astral Viscountess and an even greater responsibility as the Grand Enchantress of the guild. Overlooking an artifact like yours would be tantamount to betraying the oaths she swore to her fellow mages.”

“I get that, but I just get the feeling that I can still trust Diane.”

“I don’t want to be the person who says it, Viv, but things didn’t work out very well the last time you put your faith in someone.”

“How bad can one little tea party be?”

“Who knows, maybe she spikes your drink with a sleeping draught and holds you for ransom,” Stefan shrugged and made for the door, “Do whatever you want, sis.”

“Since when did Stefan get such a colorful imagination?”

“Information brokers always have colorful imaginations, and he’s just trying to look after you, Vivian,” Vladimir said after Stefan forcefully shut the door, “We all are. Just be careful of Diane. She’s always had an angle, even in the academy.”

I, myself, didn’t know who to trust either, but my concerns with the Astral Viscountess were existential, not political. A powerful enchantress with a specialty in magical artifacts? That spelled trouble for me.

My imagination raced with speculative questions. Could she destroy me if she didn’t like me? Could she dissect me and wiggle around my insides? Most importantly, could she discern that a sentient soul lived within the bracelet, and what would she do about it?

I grappled with these questions all night, even as Vivian slept, unable to deactivate, unable to even work on my next idea to steer Vivian's abysmal attribute distribution in the right direction. This final plan was what I should have done from the very beginning, but my ill placed faith in Vivian's good conscience blinded me from implementing this simple method.

I remained paralyzed until the early hours the next day, playing out in my head all the scenarios of my impending doom. The morning came and went. Emily dressed Vivian in a pale green one piece and tied her hair with red ribbons.

"These take me way back," Vivian said, pointing to the ribbons, "I haven't worn these in years."

“It’s a day of reunions, my lady,” Emily said.

Lady and maid skipped breakfast (and therefore the brooding mood of Vivian's brother) and jumped on the carriage at the head of the estate for the hour-long trip to the Astral Viscount's estate. I felt tense during the entirety of the carriage ride but there was a jubilance in Vivian's disposition, a whimsical nostalgia for better days glittering in her eyes, that ever so slightly alleviated some of my worries.

To everyone’s surprise, Diane waited for her guests at the gates of the Astral estate. Unlike her illustrious dress from the previous night, Diane that morning wore a loose violet nightgown. Her braids had come undone and her hair with fluffy patches appeared uncombed. Her thin hands jittered over a cup of tea and the rings of weariness around her eyes reminded me of myself on particular bad nights at the office.

“I thought you wanted us to ask for you when we arrived,” Vivian said when dismounting the carriage, “By the way, you look terrible.”

“You think so? I actually think I look quite charming,” Diane smiled, “This way. My husband is entertaining guests in the mansion, which means we have the rest of the grounds to ourselves.”

Diane motioned her guests through the gates and led them through winding trails surrounded by mossy archways. Marble sculptures dotted the trail. Above us, the Astral estate loomed over us with its baroque belltower and ornamental stained glass windows. A gardener waved at us as we passed, his focus returning to rows and rows of thick hedges, grapevines, and dusting off fine celadon pottery. The wealth of the Astral estate, as their family name suggested, felt cosmic compared to the dwindling gardens and humble meadows of the Greymoor family.

“Do you know anything about the guests your husband is entertaining?” Vivian asked.

“No, I steer clear of his affairs with the ruffians. I’m sorry I can’t help you with your investigation,” Diane laughed, “Oh come on, everyone knows John Greymoor is investigating the Viscount. Don’t worry, I couldn’t care less if he was sent to jail. More of the estate for me.”

The archways led to a garden arbor on the south side of the mansion. It was fenced off by sturdy sepia pickets dressed with sweet violets and ivy. Diane led us through the uneven stone tiles to a clearing in the garden, where three fanciful wooden chairs awaited us. A butler stood at the table with a cup of tea and a cup of coffee.

“Emily, please sit with us,” Diane gestured to one of the chairs, “Please don’t make things difficult for me and just sit. And you can leave us Matthew. Fetch me another pot of tea or something.”

The butler departed and Vivian and Emily spent their first minute settling in and awkwardly taking unnaturally loud sips of their drinks.

“Well, I’m glad you took me up on my offer. I know Stefan likely gave you a hard time about coming here.”

“Him and Vladimir,” Vivian replied.

“They’re smart to be careful,” Diane nodded, “Does anyone else know about your bracelet?”

Straight to the point. Though, the continued caution with which Diane or Stefan treated me, a magical artifact of unknown origin, gave me queasy feelings, and I began drawing parallels with fantastical stories from my old world. What, was I some evil demonic object? Did I originally belong to some amorphous body of evil? Could I only be destroyed if I was tossed into a volcano?

“No one,” Vivian shook her head, “Well, just my immediate family. I doubt even my father really knows about it.”

“Keep it that way,” Diane said, “It was a mistake for you to show me, too, for the record. You need to be more careful.”

“I don’t even know what this does,” Vivian chuckled nervously, “Sometimes I think it’s broken.”

No, you’re one that’s broken. More importantly, as I discreetly learned more about myself I wondered, what was all the need for this subterfuge?

“If Vladimir knows about your bracelet, then I’m sure he’s told you about the Ministry’s taxonomic architecture for artifacts,” Diane leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, "The energy readings I received just from when I touched the artifact last night would have been enough to grant it special classifications, but that really only tells half the story."

"And the other half?"

"I won't bore you with the details," Diane shook her head, "But I will ask you to trust me and give me a moment to inspect the artifact a little closer."

"By handing it over to the guild?" Vivian asked, cautiously, "And if I refused?

Diane shook her head again.

"Regrettably Vivian, what I asked was a mere formality," she said, "You've already agreed to my request the moment you stepped into this garden."

Everything within the garden arbor stopped. The coffee in Vivian's cup froze mid ripple. A falling leaf from a nearby cedar stood fixed before Emily's narrowed eyes. Around the garden now stood a translucent cube, its surface brimming with neon lights and static energy.

Diane was the only one untouched in this suspended spacetime. She rose from her chair and strode towards Vivian. My worst fears seemed to have been realized. Was I about to be destroyed, I thought. The Astral Viscountess set a hand upon Vivian's bracelet.

I felt a shudder. No, not the metaphorical cringe that I experienced and described as a brief reminder to myself that I was once truly human. This was a real physical shudder, a jolt that crawled through my limbs and down my spine and pulled my consciousness back into my digital cavern.

Until now, I had avoided describing my lair. I figured the probability of anyone entering was little to none, except maybe for an intrusive entrance from the goddess, and so I defended the details of my home as a man would with his magazine or video tape stash.

The layouts of my techno room mirrored the design of my old home office. Posters, many of them replaced by pictures of Vivian, were plastered on the walls. An L-shaped desk pressed against one corner of the room, along with the three monitor desktop sitting upon it. Opposite the desk lay my old bed, with all its cartoonish sheets and blankets. While I possessed no physical body, my bed remained a point of comfort for me, and I often discovered that I thought about the bed every time I watched Vivian distribute her stats incorrectly.

To my great bewilderment, Diane stood in the center of this room. She took in its features with minimal interest, and then shifted to stare in my direction, having clearly sensed my presence. Her lips upturned into a grin and a fire flared in her eyes.

"There you are."