Eldritch Guidance

It didn’t make sense.

Scarlett had been living on Eld street for months and has been up and down the street, consistently making trips to the Arcanum Archive, but not once did she ever notice a store like this. It looked old and was very well maintained and clean, even for a store on Eld street

Its name was strange too.

“Was it a magic store? Why would it be here on Eld street?” Scarlett asked herself.

Finding a store that sold arcane supplies in Graheel was not strange. There were probably hundreds of them in the south west near Market road, but for one to be on Eld street was very strange for Scarlett. She couldn’t imagine such a store getting much business being on the east side.

She wanted to push the curiosity to the side and leave. It wasn't safe for her to be anywhere near Eld street right now, but something about the store called her. Inviting her inside. It was a similar feeling she got when she dug up an artifact of civilizations past. The possibilities raced in her mind.

She gave another quick look around, to see if there was anybody else around. When she saw nobody, she decided to quickly check the store out.

She entered inside and was greeted by the sound of a store bell.

Looking around, there were random knick knacks and objects laying around all on shelves. The store was very clean and much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. There was even a second floor to the building and exposed skylight in the middle of the room, which was surprising. The exterior architecture of the building on the outside didn’t suggest the building had anything like a skylight on it.

There was currently no one around.

“The sign on the front said it was open. Could I be mistaken, no, the door was open.” She thought to herself.

Scarlett was looking down, pondering if she should leave, when from the corner of her eye, she thought she saw an indescribable creature emerge from the shadows with blue glowing dots for eyes looking at her. It was formless with limbs that would form then deform coming out of its “body”.

She gasped and looked up directly at the creature, but was met with just a white dog with blue eyes looking back at her.

Footsteps could then be head from the side room and a man with red eyes and elegant suit came out

John: “Oh, hello, um I'm sorry that I wasn't here to greet you. Um, are you OK? You look like you saw a ghost.”

Scarlett quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead and rapidly managed to regain her composure.

Scarlett: “Yeah, everything is fine. I was just surprised by your…dog.” She said as the white malamute continued to stare intensely at her with its piercing blue eyes.

John: “Oh you mean Lunar. Don’t worry he doesn't bite. Is there anything that I can get you?”

Scarlett: “No… I'm just going to look around.”

John: “OK well I'll just be over there if you need anything.” He said as he pointed to a desk at the back of the store.

Scarlett nodded and the man took a seat and began reading a book.

Scarlett took a deep breath and started to look around the store. She was still a little startled from before. Ever since what happened in the Wildlands, she would get nightmares often. She would even see the faces of her dead disciples in random objects every once in a while. She chalked it up to the stress and guilt of what happened to her in the Wildlands, that she would just randomly see things.

Now that she knew she was being hunted down, Scarlett was suspecting that maybe the added stress was causing her to see monsters in random things. If that was the cause, she was not looking forward to the nightmares she was going to have tonight. Except, something about that monster she saw was particularly terrifying.

The various objects she looked at were mundane and of little interest to Scarlett, so she shifted her attention to the books on the shelves. The books were also varied and random. There were a few books that had some basic aether theory in them, but nothing of notable interest to Scarlett.

Scarlett: “Um, Sir. Do you have any old magical tomes or equipment?” She said, calling out to John.

John: “Um, maybe. I have a little of everything in this store. If you look around a little I'm sure you’ll find it.”

Scarlett let out a sigh. She wasn't entirely surprised by the limited supply of the store. This was still the east side. Mages almost never came to this side, so it was unlikely that a magical store here would be that well supplied.

Scarlett was rapidly losing interest in this place. She decided to do a quick scan with her eyes of truth ability to find anything of interest. With her ability to see aether she would be able to tell from glance if something was enchanted or used aether in some way.

She activated her ability and gave another disappointed sigh. There was nothing in her view that was enchanted with any aether. Everything in front of her were just common objects.

She was ready to leave when she turned her head and was met with a bright light. Its brightness was equivalent to looking at the sun, and it was blasted right into her face. She quickly closed her eyes and looked away, all while deactivating her eye ability.

It took her a few seconds to recover. She was quick enough to look away so that it didn’t leave her blind. She didn’t know exactly what she saw, but she recalled only one time when she was left nearly blind by using her eye ability. It was the ziggurat. When she tried to look at the ziggurat a bright light overwhelmed her eyes, exactly like what just happened.

Once the blurriness cleared, she looked at the source of overwhelming aether. It was a box that was laced with red silk.

She approached the box while looking over at the store owner to see if he noticed her at all. He was too busy reading his book to pay attention to her.

Scarlett slowly opened it.

Scarlett expected to find some sort of amazing artifact in the box, something like a strange gem or mysterious tome, but it was just a plain white tea set. There were no interesting designs on the set at all, it was just a plain white teapot with half a dozen cups neatly packaged in some soft fabric.

She might have been a bit more disappointed, but the bright light she saw was clearly a sign of lost ancient magic.

There was little known about the magic people used in the past, only that it operated fundamentally differently from modern magic and the limits of what it could do were unknown. The few recorded instances of people coming into contact with artifacts of ancient magic had re-defined what people understood of magic and even reality itself. How it worked was one of the many great mysteries of the world.

The Eye of Argon, The Sky Heart, and the Gray Amber Stones were some of the most famous objects that Scarlett knew about. All those famous objects were said to have been crafted by lost and mysterious civilizations. There was a time she wanted to work directly with those objects, in hope she would learn more about ancient magic and undo what was done to her. However, all of them were well guarded and beyond Scarlett's reach. But, now there was a real opportunity for her to potentially study one.

Although, she was starting to doubt if this unassuming tea pot was such an artifact. What were the chances that she would find something like that here? There was no way it would be one.

“But, what if it was. Holding this box I can't feel any aether. Ancient artifacts don’t use aether like modern tools. It’s said you can’t even feel any aether even when touching an artifact. It was the same with the ziggurat, I couldn't feel any aether, but I could see a blinding amount of aether with my eyes ability. Although, I read that these don’t have any aether infused in them, so maybe my eyes of truth are detecting something else other than aether.” She began to ponder the validity of this strange teapot being an ancient item, and was slowly starting to convince herself.

“Actually, it could be possible. How would anyone be able to tell this was an artifact of ancient magic. You can’t feel any aether in those objects, and if it just looks benign and is not actually producing some noticeable effect, it could easily be overlooked by people. The only reason I know that there is something strange about this tea pot is due to my eyes.”

The moment of doubt she had passed, and now she was determined to acquire this tea set.

Scarlett: “Excuse me sir. How much for this tea set.” She said as she called out to the store owner

John looked up from his book to see Scarlett holding the red box with the tea set in her hands.

John: “Um, could you bring it over?”

She brought over the box and set it in front of John. She then grabbed a nearby chair and had a seat across from the store owner.

John took the box and examined the contents for a few seconds before looking back at Scarlett perplexed.

John: “Are you sure you want this? It’s quite plain. I'm sure I could get you a teapot that would be a lot nicer.”

Scarlett: “No, I'm sure. I would also like to know where you got that tea set.”

Scarlett wanted to know where this owner found this artifact. She assumed it was second hand, and if she could follow up to the original owner, she might be able to learn something else about ancient magic.

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John: “Um, I'm not sure.”

Scarlett: “Please, if you can remember anything about it would greatly be appreciated.”

John: “I really can’t say where I got this. Are you some sort of collector?”

Scarlett: “Something like that. I just wanna find out the origins of this teapot.”

John: “That might be hard…” He said as he paused mid sentence.

John was trying to rapidly think up an excuse for Scarlett. Everything in this store had appeared out of nowhere. So, it was impossible for him to know where anything on display came from. And, he was not about to explain his situation with Onyx to anyone.

John: “I've been here for a while now and I don't keep records of where I got everything, so it's hard to recall where all these objects came from.” He said while lying to her.

Scarlett: “I see… How long have you been here exactly?”

Scarlett could sense something was off about John's response, and she was now probing him for information.

John: “Um, about three years now I'd say.”

Scarlett: “Really? That’s surprising. I’ve been living down the street for a while, and I have never noticed your store before.”

John: “Oh, yeah. I guess my store doesn't really stand out. Ha ha ha,” he said while nervously laughing, not knowing what to say to that.

“He’s lying.'' Scarlett thought to herself.

Johns’ store did stand out. It was in a much better state than any of the surrounding stores, and it was incredibly well stocked and laid out nicely on the inside. Most of the stores Scarlett had visited around here didn’t have anywhere near as much products laid out as this store did. It was like someone had taken one of the nicer stores on market street and transplanted it here.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She didn’t know why he was lying, or what to make of this person in front of her.

Scarlett: “I see… Anyways, is there really nothing of note you can tell me about this tea set?”

John: “Um, not really. But, why are they so interested in this? Is it special?”

Scarlett: “Something like that…” she said again.

John: “If you're worried that I'll up-charge you, don’t be. I’ll sell it right now for one glint. I’m just curious why you want this tea set.”

“One glint? That’s like nothing. Why would he sell something so cheap when he knows I want this.” She pondered to herself

Scarlett: “You better not go back on that.”

John: “I'm serious.”

Before John could say anymore, Scarlett took out a silver coin and handed it to John.

Scarlett: “Consider it sold then.”

John: “OK. Now you wanna tell me why you're so obsessed with this tea set?” he said as he took the coin.

Scarlett didn’t want to tell this person what he had given her, especially because he was hiding something, but at the same time she didn't want to feel like she was robbing this man. So, she decided to entertain this person a little, while leaving out a few key details.

Scarlett: “I believe that this is an artifact from an ancient civilization.”

John: “Oooh. How can you tell?”

Scarlett: “Well, I can't say for sure. It’s just a gut feeling, so I'm going to run some tests on it.”

John: “Interesting, so that must mean you're a researcher. Do you work at a museum or something?”

Scarlett: “I'm an archaeologist… former archaeologist.”

John: “Wow. Except, you said ‘former’. Does that mean you're retired?”

Scarlett: “Something like that.” She said while trying to dodge the question and looking away from John.

John took this brief moment to examine Scarlett. She looked like an average middle aged blond lady, except, he thought she had way too much makeup on.

The glamor on Scarlett made anyone that looked at her face and hair to see a middle aged green eyed blond woman, but glamors were not designed to change a person's appearance as much as Scarlett’s. They were only meant to cover up unwanted blemishes. By applying so much glamor it could warp her appearance, causing different people to see different variations of Scarlett's fake appearance. Sometimes the over application could even make someone look inhuman.

In John's case, he wasn't just seeing a middle aged green eyed blond woman, but a woman with an unnatural and unhealthy amount of makeup caked on her face from the warped glamor.

He shifted his attention to the rest of her attire and then noted her hands. Scarlett did not apply any glamor to her hands, she didn’t have enough to do so. Therefore, her hands were unhidden by illusions, and didn’t look particularly good. They looked wrinkly with sickly black spots on her skin that almost looked like bad bruises.

John couldn’t tell, but the black spots were actually just soot. She had accidentally smeared her hands with it from the explosion trap she set off from the altercation with the people that invaded her apartment.

“Is she not well, and is trying to hide it with makeup?” John pondered to himself as he looked back up at Scarlett's face.

Scarlett turned back to John and was preparing to try and take her leave.

Scarlett: “Anyways…” Was all she could speak out before John interrupted her.

John: “Are you OK?” He said concernedly.

Upon hearing that, Scarlett stopped. She directed her gaze toward John and looked at him with suspicion. It was a strange question to ask around here. People on the east end of Graheel didn’t get involved in other people's affairs.

Scarlett: “No…Why are you asking?”

John: “I was just worried. I thought you might be sick or something.”

“Sick? Why would he think I'm sick? Wait, can he see through my glamor?”

Scarlett looked at John's face and was reminded about his red eyes.

“Red eyes… it's possible…” She silently thought to herself.

Scarlett began to recall what her teacher had taught her about her eyes of truth ability. That it was a power that only manifested in beings that had red eyes. She thought that if the person in front of her had the same ability as her, seeing through her glamor would be nothing to him.

“I need to confirm it. If he uses the eyes of truth, then I should be able to see him gather aether into his eyes with my own ability.” She thought as she gathered aether into her eyes.

She activated her eye ability, while ensuring that she didn’t look directly at the tea set in front of her, and was left shocked and confused. She didn’t see any aether gathering into the store owner's eye. There was no aether, anywhere. There wasn't a single bit of aether in his entire body. Which defied logic for Scarlett.

Every living creature in this world had aether in their bodies, some more than others. It was always a misconception to call certain people aetherless. Their aether may have been too weak for spellcasting, but was still there. Trees, animals, people, all had aether. It was a sign of life. So, for someone to have no aether was impossible. As far as Scarlett's eye ability was concerned, the person in front of her was no different than an inanimate object like a chair or table.

“How is this possible? Can a person like this exist? No, he must be obscuring my ability, but how? I didn’t think there was anything that could block my eyes of truth except ancient magic.” She thought to herself.

She had countless hypotheses for why she couldn't see his aether, but nothing definitive. She was sure of one thing. If this man could block her from seeing his aether, he was powerful.

Blocking the eyes of truth would be no simple task. Only someone exceptionally knowledgeable and powerful like her teacher, Cinder, might be able to do something like that. And, if he was powerful enough to do that, then no doubt he could, and was currently, using his own eyes of truth ability on her right now. A power that capable of revealing fundamental truths of things and people. Her eyes could see glimpses of the past and her teacher saw glimpses of the future.

She wondered what truth this person's eyes revealed about her to him.

The reality was that John did not have aether in his body, because he was not from this world. And, his red eyes were just something that he woke up with. He didn’t know if these red eyes gave him any special power.

John: “Um, hello? You're just staring at me. Did I say something wrong?”

His word dripped venom for Scarlett. It was like he was mocking her. She felt so naked in front of him and just wanted to leave, but couldn't. She believed she had fallen into a trap. A store she didn’t notice till now, an artifact of ancient magic, a man her eye ability didn’t work on were all a series of unlikely coincidences that were happening all at once. A statistical impossibility, unless someone set it all up. Therefore, in her mind it was unlikely the person in front of her would just let her leave.

Scarlett: “No, it's OK,” she said while trying to hide her feelings and intentions from the store owner.

John: “No, it’s not OK. It’s clearly bothering you. I’m sorry for even asking. I understand. No one would want to talk about their medical problems with a stranger.”

Scarlett: “So you could tell.”

John just nodded his head.

John: “Oh, by the way. My name is John, John Li.”

Scarlett:“I'm Alexandria Scarlett…!” she said and then was immediately surprised.

“Why did I give him my real name!?!” Scarlett rapidly thought to herself.

John: “Nice to meet you Alexandria. Can I call you Alex for short?”

Scarlett didn’t have time to process her confusion before she got swept up back into the conversation.

Scarlett: “Sure…but I usually go by just Scarlett,” she said, partly giving up on hiding her identity at this point, since she already revealed her name. “Um, can I ask you what you exactly saw of my…sickness?'' she asked, partly curious if this person's eye ability had revealed something about the ancient magic used on her.

John: “Very well, Miss Scarlett. Um, how do I put this?” he said while looking up at the roof, thinking carefully about what he was about to say. “ I’d say it just looked like you were covering up something with all the stuff on your face. I just took a guess. I'm sorry if I'm intruding.”

“So, he can see the glamor I applied.” Scarlett thought to herself, not realizing that she applied too much glamor and it was slightly warping her appearance.

Scarlett: “I see… Well it's true, I'm not well… for a lot of reasons.”

John: “So, it’s more than a decline in health.”

Scarlett: “There’s a lot going wrong in my life right now.”

John: “Well, if you want, you can talk to me about it. I might be able to help, and I won't judge.”

Scarlett: “Honestly, I don't think you could help.”

John: “You don’t know that for sure. So, why don’t you tell me what's bothering you. What do you have to lose?”

“He’s right. I don’t have anything left at this point to lose.” She solemnly thought.

In her mind. If this person was even a competent mage, which she believed he was more than that, she was screwed. She didn't have the power to fight off a mage without her traps, and there's no way this person would just give her twenty minutes to set one up. Scarlett resigned herself to whatever would happen next and went with the flow.

Scarlett: “Sigh, how do I even put it. Tell me, how would you deal with being sold out by every person you ever trusted.”

John: “Is it that bad?”

Scarlett: “Calling it bad doesn't do it justice. I was betrayed by my students and framed for something I didn't do, and when I needed help from my friends the most, they pretended to not even know me. I lost everything. It is horrendous, Mr Li. There's no way to properly describe it.

John: “I-im so sorry,” there was a pause as John cleared his throat. “Based on what you're saying, about how you lost everything, I take it you didn’t exactly retire then.”

Scarlett: “Nope. I am disgraced in the academic community now, because of my failed archaeological expedition that left me sickened and two people dead. Of course no one wants anything to do with me.”

John: “What happened?”

Scarlett looked at John with a pained expression.

Scarlett: “It's hard for me to talk about, but… “ There was a pause as Scarlett choked back her sadness.

She didn’t want to tell this person exactly what happened, mostly because she didn’t want to dig up those painful memories.

John: “Take your time,” he said softly.

Scarlett: “One of my disciples lied to me… That lie caused me to be stricken with this sickness and two of my disciples to die. I was then blamed for their deaths by my former disciples, with my former friends siding with them, I guess,” she said, choking back tears.

John could tell talking about this was very painful for her. He wasn't entirely sure what happened, but he could surmise based on what she told him. He believed that one of her students lied to her and that somehow caused an accident that killed two people. Then somewhere during that accident she picked up some sort of disease, or was exposed to some sort of toxin. Which was followed by a bunch of betrayal.

John: “I can tell this is painful for you to talk about. You don’t have to say anymore.”

Scarlett was looking off to the side with watery eyes before she turned her head back to face John.

Scarlett: “I think… I'm done.”

John: “Miss Scarlett, what do you mean?” He said concernedly.

Scarlett: “Talking to you has made me realize that there is no point to keep going. I don’t even know why I try. Everyone I loved is either dead or has betrayed me. I don’t have anything left to live for.”

Once she said that, tears started to flow, but not from Scarlett. Across from her, tears ran down John's face while he looked solemnly at her.

Scarlett: ”Why are you crying?”

John: “Because it’s like looking at a mirror of myself from the past. I've been there before, in that dark place asking the same question. So, I know what you're feeling.”

Scarlett: “How could you possibly know what I'm feeling?” she said, a little annoyed by what John was saying.

John: “You're lost. You know you need to do something, but you don’t know what to do. It wouldn't be the first time you thought of just ending it all either. The only reason you don’t is because you're afraid, but in time the pain will outweigh the fear, and you know that. At least, that’s what it was like for me.”

Her annoyance broke and it was now Scarlett's turn to cry. John had encapsulated her feelings perfectly, and something about someone who really did understand left her emotional.

Scarlett: “H-how do you know?” she said with tears running down her face.

John: “Like I said, I've been there.” John stopped speaking to clear his throat. “Miss Scarlett, if I may. Years have gone by since I experienced a similar situation, and I have always thought of what I needed to hear in that dark moment. If you’ll allow me, I would like to impart those words that I never got to hear, if that’s OK with you?”

Scarlett nodded her head.

John began to recite a poem.

“The road can be long and difficult to walk

At times you may even have to walk alone

But at journey's end, those who went ahead

Will be there to help welcome you home”

The poem was simple, but the meaning wasn't lost on Scarlett.

John: “It hurts now, but one day it will pass. Then you’ll continue on your journey home, so don’t give up. Keep going for the people that remain.”

Scarlett: “But, there is no one.”

John: “You do have someone, I care, and then there are those you just haven’t met yet. You won’t be able to find them if you give up here.”

Scarlett didn’t think there was any hope to be had. She didn’t know if she entirely believed what John was saying, but if she was to meet Jare and Chelsie again, she would want to tell them that she did her best to live. If there was even the smallest chance of meeting her beloved disciples again, Scarlett would grab that thin string of hope and keep going for a little longer, and maybe even find those people she hasn't met yet, like John was saying.

Scarlett: “T-thank y-you," she said while weeping.

John nodded and solemnly smiled.

While Scarlett was busy crying, John looked back at the sickly looking skin on her hands.

“Whatever sickness she has must also be very painful for her too. I wonder if there is something I can do to help her with that.” John thought to himself.

John then just got an idea. He briefly closed his eyes and imagined finding medicine that would help cure Scarlett's condition in the drawer at the table he was sitting at. He then reached down and opened the drawer.

“Huh? How’s that supposed to help?” He confusedly thought to himself.