Chapter 8: The Temple of Magic

 

 

 

Chapter 8: The Temple of Magic

 

AT long last, Iris had arrived at the Temple of Magic. Today, she wore a thin, long-sleeved blouse with a flared skirt—a plain, no-frills outfit. As for her hair, she had tied it in a simple over-the-shoulder ponytail with a single silver band; her ringlets bounced at her waist as she walked. Since she had come here to study, she figured she should dress down for the occasion. Fortunately, Cytisus seemed to approve of her modest attire.

The Temple of Magic was an old, weathered, yet dignified brick building located on the palace grounds—a pentagonal building filled with science and magic and all kinds of knowledge. The mere thought made Iris’s heart race. But because the Temple had no doors or windows, entry was strictly limited to only a chosen few.

Iris looked at Cytisus. He smirked at her from behind his monocle. Then he pulled a wand from his pocket and drew a magic circle on the temple wall. Once he was finished, the wall began to glow.

“Allow me to borrow your hand.”

At his request, Iris offered her hand to him. He took it, then pressed his other hand to the magic circle. Instantly, the world around Iris began to warp and twist.

“Gyaaah!”

Iris let out an ungainly yelp, and her choker bell jangled. It felt like she was falling—like the magic circle was sucking her in! OH GOD, I HATE THIS! MAKE IT STOOOOP!!! She squeezed her eyes shut.

“You can open your eyes now, Lady Iris. It appears you have passed the test.”

“What test?”

“Those who are deemed unworthy are repelled by the magic barrier.”

Timidly, Iris opened her eyes…and found herself standing in a grassy field beneath a clear blue sky. There were little white tables, white chairs, white benches, and even a pleasant breeze, almost as if she’d dropped in on someone’s garden party—except, of course, for the doors floating unassisted in midair.

This…is…AWESOME!!!

Iris shot an excited look at Cytisus, who chuckled.

“It’s easy to get lost here, so keep your wits about you,” he warned. “As long as we stick together, you’ll be fine. But if you should ever lose sight of me, just look for a blue door and you’ll find me again.”

“Look for a blue door. Got it.”

“The white doors will only open to certified mages. They lead to the common areas, like the library, or this courtyard here.”

“Understood.”

“Now then, allow me to escort you to the library.”

Together, they passed through a white door into a dimly lit hallway full of even more floating color-coded doors. It was eerily quiet; reflexively, Iris grabbed her bell to stop it from jingling. For some reason, she instinctively wanted to avoid making any noise.

All around her, she could see little winged humanoid creatures flitting to and fro. Their wings were iridescent and shiny, like those of a dragonfly. She recognized them as the fairies from HanaKoro, usually seen hovering around Camille.

“Isn’t it peculiar?” they whispered to each other. “Isn’t it strange?”

What are they talking about? Iris wondered. Frankly, she was tempted to ask them outright but wasn’t sure if such a thing was permitted. But since Cytisus seemed to be ignoring them, she decided to follow his lead.

“What should we do?”

“It’s not right.”

“What’s going on?”

“She doesn’t have any mana!”

“Doesn’t she?”

“It’s strange…”

“So strange!”

As Iris and Cytisus walked, the fairies flew up to her face and peered at her curiously. Then a fairy with translucent purple wings tugged on Iris’s ribbon, yanking out a single strand of her mint-green hair and causing her silver hairband to come undone. Naturally, her ringlets went everywhere.

“Ow!”

At this, Cytisus looked over his shoulder at Iris. He noticed the fairy holding her hairband and blinked in surprise. “What mischief is this, little fairy?”

In response, the fairies all started tugging on her hair.

“Well, it’s just so strange. Why have you brought this one here?” one of them asked, louder than a whisper this time.

“What’s strange about it?”

“Well, she’s the daughter of a knight.”

“Yeah! She’s the daughter of a knight!”

“And she has a sword.”

“Yeah! She has a sword!”

Cytisus shot Iris a look. “You have a sword?”

She nodded. Her father had instructed her to carry her dagger on her person any time she left the house, and today was no exception.

“And yet she passed through the barrier.”

“She passed through the barrier!”

“And she can see us.”

“And she can hear us.”

Iris blinked. “What, so most people can’t?”

“Most people can’t see us.”

“Most people can’t hear us.”

Holding his monocle, Cytisus scrutinized Iris carefully. “Lady Iris, the existence of these fairies is a well-kept secret. Most are kept within the Temple of Magic for protective purposes. But even when it comes to those living outside the Temple, humans cannot see them unless their mana is on par with the average royal mage.”

This made sense to Iris since she’d never glimpsed one until today. Furthermore, no one ever spoke of them; her only knowledge of the fairies came from HanaKoro itself.

“I hadn’t pegged you for the mana-bearing sort.”

“And you would be correct, sir. Loath as I am to admit it, very little mana runs in our family.”

“Then how…?” He paused to contemplate this. “Would it be all right with you if I examined your blade?”

At his request, Iris promptly handed him her dagger. The hilt and scabbard were all papered over.

“What is the meaning of this binding?”

“To make sure I can only use it when absolutely necessary. That way, I’ll remind myself that it’s just for self-defense.”

“Ah, that explains it.” He nodded in understanding. “That must be how you passed through the barrier—because your blade was perceived to be a form of defense rather than a weapon. You see, we of the Temple dislike conflict, and because of that, we generally cannot permit knights to enter. Granted, today I expressly invited you, but obviously, I wasn’t expecting you to come armed… This is quite the surprise.”

Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting YOU to set the whole city on fire at the end of your route, so I guess we’re BOTH full of surprises! Or do you mean to tell me you “dislike conflict” so much that you had to kill everyone to make sure there wouldn’t be any??? Iris stared at him dubiously.

“It’s strange to me that you can see the fairies, but I suppose there are exceptions to every rule.”

If Iris had to guess, it was probably a matter of mindset. After all, she already knew there would be fairies here, thanks to her memories of HanaKoro. But she couldn’t tell him that, of course. Instead, she laughed vaguely.

“I…I can’t say I was expecting this, either… Oh ho ho ho…”

“Iris! Iris! Can we have this?” asked the fairy who was holding her silver hairband.

“Consider it yours. But what in the world will you use it for?”

“It’s cute, so we’ll make it into ribbons!”

“It’s pretty, so we’ll make it into ribbons!”

“Why, thank you. I’m glad you like it. Be sure to share it with the others.”

“Thank you, Iris!”

“You’re very kind, Iris!”

“Who wants a ribbon?”

“Me!” the other fairies chorused in unison, raising their hands.

“Well, Iris said to share!”

The purple-winged fairy gave the hairband a tug, and it started glowing. Then, with a POP, it magically split into a handful of perfectly even pieces. One by one, the fairies took a piece, then flew up and kissed Iris’s head as thanks. It was all very ticklish.

“Lady Iris?”

At Cytisus’s voice, she snapped back to attention.

“I think perhaps you should do some research on the fairies.”

“Can I? Isn’t it all a big secret?!”

“It is. But given the sheer number of fairies who have seen fit to give you their blessings, you may as well educate yourself.”

“Blessings, you say?” Iris cocked her head in puzzlement. Then the last fairy came up to plant a kiss on her head.

“Blessings!”

And with that, it flew away.

“Wait, what?! That’s a blessing?!”

“Blessings! Blessings!”

“I gave Iris my blessing!”

“I gave it, too!”

Cytisus shook his head and laughed. “Even I’ve never received that many.”

“Really?”

“It’s quite uncommon.”

“Goodness, I don’t know what to say… Well, thank you all very much! I’m flattered!” Iris said to the fairies, who beamed in response.

“Now then, let us be on our way to the library.”

❀❀❀

IRIS looked up at the library’s vaulted ceiling and quietly wondered how in the world they could have possibly constructed such a large space within the Temple. The power of magic, I suppose. It was a mezzanine-style library, with shelves of books covering every inch of the balcony-style walkways, which were connected by stairs. Ladders were provided to enable access to the highest shelves. Meanwhile, dozens of fairies flitted from book to book.

“Oh, it’s so wonderful!” Iris swooned. Her bell tinkled with the motion, but she quickly reached up to silence it.

“What do you want to learn about, Iris?” one of the fairies asked.

Lately, Iris had been thinking a lot about Cytisus’s lover and Reseda’s older brother, both of whom were slated to die at some point over the next two years. Surely, it couldn’t be a coincidence, right? Sure, maybe these things were only ever a plot convenience for the story of HanaKoro, but nevertheless, the power of the Holy Maiden was waning. Something must have caused those deaths—like a war or natural disaster—but then, why did the city appear untouched during the game?

That left one last possibility: a plague. And the first highly fatal virus Iris could think of was the very same one that had left these scars on her arm: soilpox. But their kingdom hadn’t seen a soilpox epidemic in over a hundred years, so naturally, they had no established cure or preventative measures…

“I’d like to learn about the history of soilpox.”

“Okay!”

The fairies flew off in all different directions. Meanwhile, Cytisus looked at Iris in surprise. “I thought you wanted to learn how to heal your scars.”

“W-Well, obviously I’d like to look into that, too!” she blurted out. “I just thought…perhaps if I could learn what causes it, or discover a way to prevent it, I could spare the other high-born girls from suffering the same fate as me.”

At this, Cytisus smirked. The rest of the world had given up on ever curing soilpox, choosing instead to simply quarantine the infected. This was how he had been separated from his mother at a young age—one day, he woke up and wasn’t allowed to see her anymore. Then she passed away, and he wasn’t even permitted to see her face during the funeral. Everyone told him it was just the way things were done.

No one in this kingdom had ever given any thought to preventing the deaths. They all shrugged it off as divine punishment from God…all except for Iris, that was. And although it was by no means an easy problem to solve, Cytisus encouraged her efforts. “That sounds like a fantastic idea,” he told her. “Allow me to offer my assistance.”

This delighted Iris very much.

In a blink, the fairies returned, each of them carrying a book by the spine. Just like that, Iris was presented with a veritable avalanche of books in all sorts of subjects: national history, legends, homeopathic medicine, curses, and more, all stacked up for her on a nearby table.

“Th-That’s quite enough now, thank you!” Iris told them. “I won’t be able to read all this in a single day!”

“She can’t?”

“What do we do?”

“But there’s so many more!”

They all frowned at her.

“Not to worry—I’ll just have to come back again. Can you hold onto them for me until then?”

“You’ll come back?”

“You have to come back!”

“She said she’s coming back!”

Satisfied, the fairies disappeared off to the bookshelves. Meanwhile, Cytisus looked at her stack of books and laughed.

From there, he taught Iris the rules of the library, as well as how to find any additional books she might be looking for. Then she checked out a few of the books—the ones that weren’t restricted to the premises, anyway—and left the Temple.