Chapter Text
In a world where so called ‘soulmarks’ determined the one person that somehow would meld perfectly into your life, fate seemed to hold a strength over countless individuals, each one swearing indisputable faith in small inked drawings that nobody truly knew the validity of. Sure, nobody had ever heard of a soulmate pairing failing, but then again, that didn’t mean it was impossible.
Fate was a fickle thing–at least, that’s what Viren thought whenever he so much as glanced back over his life. One could never be completely sure whether making a certain choice would lead to success or disaster, but of course, that was the way of life. It somehow always managed to hurl curveballs around every unsuspecting corner, even in the most mundane of moments. As such, while others marveled at the wonders of soulmarks, at the promise of a perfect partner, someone who knew your every thought and desire–Viren settled for practicality, for realism.
It wasn’t difficult to keep his soulmark hidden by any means. The irony of the mark being on his bad knee was enough to make him scoff at the system altogether, because of course a mark meant to determine his ‘perfect’ future would be placed on the part of his body causing him the most pain. At least it could be easily covered by his usual clothing; he almost pitied the people who were walking around with marks on their faces or hands.
Almost.
Despite it all, however much he tried to push it down, he always felt a nagging in the back of his brain telling him that life could be… better. It didn’t help that Harrow, his oldest friend, was constantly pushing him to live life to its fullest, insisting that Viren stop wasting his life away doing busywork. He’d only managed to find one distraction that actually interested him enough to distract him from his mundane reality for a while: Dark magic. He’d read about it in history books prior to his initial experiments with it, but luckily it was much more readily available and slightly less frowned upon than it had been centuries beforehand when humans were first attempting to mimic primal magic.
Dark magic was his escape for years and years, but he knew it couldn’t last forever. Societal pressures bore down on him, and eventually he settled down with a woman he, still to this day, didn’t fully know and had two children, convincing himself that becoming a husband and father would fill him with a strong enough feeling of purpose that the itch persisting in his head would finally quell.
Even before the fighting with his wife began, his plan hadn’t been working.
Soren and Claudia were everything, his life force, the reason he kept pushing forward. Even if they both had their oddities, they were his children, and when Lissa, his wife, began pushing for a divorce, Viren fought for countless nights to retain full custody over them.
The day those papers were signed and he got to tell his children that they were staying with him was the happiest day of his life. Being free from the confines his marriage with Lissa had forced him into felt like a weight being lifted from his chest, even if that itch in his brain stayed around. He’d resigned himself to the fact that the life he would have wanted to live was only a distant dream now, but swore that his children would have every opportunity he’d denied himself–even if it meant that his blasted soulmark would go ignored.
It was worth it. For them.
So when Claudia, newly 16, god time passed quickly, came home one day rambling about how she’d witnessed an incredible magic display some of the elves at her school had made, begging Viren to help her learn magic, he dusted off the books he’d kept stored away, and fell right back into the study of dark magic. Claudia was a quick learner, quicker than he’d been, and the books he owned on the subject only really covered basic spells and safety. After only a few months, Claudia had blown through the books he had, which left them in the position they were in now.
“I promise I’ve done the research, Dad.” Claudia was sitting across from him at the dinner table, Soren, who had quickly zoned out of the conversation, to her left. “I’ll even pay for all the components! I just need this really specific book on advanced illusion magic.”
“I’ve told you already, Claudia, this book isn’t reasonably sold anywhere.” Viren sighed as Claudia shoved her phone at him for the hundredth time that night, displaying the book in question. He wasn’t even sure where she’d found the title; Advanced Illusions for Dark Mages didn’t seem overly popular in the magic community. He’d scoured the internet for a while on his own after Claudia had brought it up a few days before, and while he had found copies listed, they were all overpriced or… sketchy. Even if the $20 listings were tempting, he wasn’t too keen on paying for what was likely a knockoff of the real thing.
Even so, Claudia was still stubbornly shaking her head, gesturing to the phone screen.
“No, look! It’s shown right here, it’s at the library!” Viren opened his mouth to protest, having already checked the main libraries in the area, but Claudia continued to shove the phone in his face. Annoyed, he snatched it out of her hand.
“Claudia, I know you’re frustrated, but…” His voice cut off as he looked down at the screen now in his hand. Sure enough, it displayed an image of the book on a website with the word AVAILABLE in bright green text.
“See?” His daughter sat back, crossing her arms and smirking. “Told you.”
“What library is this?” Viren asked, handing the phone back to Claudia, who quickly navigated to the website’s homepage.
“It’s called The Mirrored Pages. It has a crazy amount of magic books! I’m pretty sure it literally specializes in them if the catalog is anything to go by.”
“Great, an even nerdier bookstore than regular ones.” Soren chipped in, earning a sharp elbow to the shoulder from Claudia. “Ow! Hey, I’m not wrong. Besides, you think ‘nerd’ is a compliment anyways.”
“Because it is!” Claudia shot back, wrinkling her nose when Soren stuck his tongue out in reply. As the two began bickering back and forth, Viren pulled up the library’s site on his own phone, ignoring their antics.
There didn’t seem to be much information on the library on the website apart from an address and catalog, which made him skeptical, but he knew how much getting the book meant to Claudia. She had such a knack for dark magic, and god forbid if he was the one who got between her and her interests.
“The library isn’t far from here, I’ll check it out tomorrow while you’re at school.” The way Claudia’s face lit up at his words was enough for his skepticism to be put aside.
“Yes! Thank you dad! You won’t regret it, I promise!” She leapt up and ran around the table, throwing her arms around him despite the awkward angle. He only stiffened for a moment before awkwardly patting her arm before she backed up.
“Alright, now that you two have that settled- Claudia, you owe me a game of Mario Kart.” Soren said, eyes narrowing challengingly as he got up and raced towards the game console. Claudia gasped, running after him.
“You won’t win this time, Sor-bear, I swear!”
Viren chuckled, watching his children run off before picking up the empty dinner plates they’d left on the table, shaking his head. They really were idiots sometimes. As he finished up the dishes and grabbed his phone again, he took one more glance at the library’s name.
The Mirrored Pages.
His right knee twinged, right where his soulmark was, and he sucked in a breath, leaning on the counter to support his weight momentarily. For a moment he dared to believe it was possible–his soulmark was an image of a quite intricate mirror, one that, despite years of self-indulgent research, he’d never once seen anywhere except for his own skin. It could be connected, perhaps fate would be in his favor this once, and this obscure library’s name really was linked to-
No, he was just being ridiculous.
The twinging in his knee subsided, and he only spared one more fleeting thought to the library, long enough to note down the address, before Claudia called out for him.
“Daaad! Soren’s cheating!”
“Am not! You just suck at this- hey, hey wait- CLAUDIA GET OFF ME-” With a huff of a sigh, he started making his way into the living room to de-escalate the situation, questioning why exactly he ever decided buying any sort game console for the two children would ever be a good idea.
~~~
The next morning, after Soren and Claudia had left for school, Viren found himself strangely anxious as he readied himself to head to The Mirrored Pages. According to the website, the place was only about a ten minute drive from their house, which was convenient, but still raised the question as to why he’d never heard of it before. With all of the community outreach work Harrow had him do for his various ‘passion projects,’ it was certainly odd that the library had gone completely under his radar.
Even so, he made it to the address with relative ease, and was now sitting in the parking lot wondering why he felt such apprehension about simply heading inside and finding the book.
The building itself was rather inconspicuous, looking more like a private-owned bookstore than a library if the size was anything to go by. Glass windows allowed full view into the place, and despite the sign reading ‘open,’ Viren couldn’t see anyone inside. The only indicator that he was in the right place was the sign above the store which read The Mirrored Pages in bubbled-calligraphy giving off a bluish glow, and the seemingly untethered lights running down the columns on either side of the doors. The entire place held a magical aura, fitting for a store of its kind, but even so Viren sat staring at it, hesitant in approaching.
Shaking his head, Viren glanced once more down at the screenshot Claudia had sent him of the book’s cover before she’d left that morning. Taking a breath, he opened the car door, stepping out and locking it behind him before putting on a face of faux confidence, approaching the building like it was somewhere he frequented daily. Even up close, there didn’t seem to be anyone inside, but as he stepped forward to try the door it opened, so he quietly entered.
From the inside, the store was dimly lit; Not enough to hinder sight, but just so that one’s eyes weren’t straining against it like the overbearing light of the sun. It was strange, seeing as the sunlight should have been better lighting the place, but even with the large windows the library seemed to be cast in shadow. Small yellow and purple orbs floated around, giving off a small glow that seemed to light the place instead of traditional lamps or ceiling lights. Two displays sat a few steps from the entrance highlighting the ‘recommended books’ of the day, which at the moment seemed to include books on modern day uses for primal magic.
Yeah, he wouldn’t be needing those.
A desk sat in the middle of the store, looking like an area used for checking out, but again, there were no employees in sight. Viren sighed, glancing around at the rest of the store. The walls were lined with bookcases with small signs hanging from the ceiling labeling each section. Each primal source had one or two full bookcases, then others for history, Xadian creatures, runes… there.
Right in the back corner was the sign reading Dark Magic. Viren relaxed slightly upon seeing it, and despite still being wary, made his way over to the shelves. As he approached, a few of the glowing orbs seemed to follow, illuminating the titles which were organized by type and then alphabetically by author. Truly, the time that must have been put into organization was commendable. It only took a few seconds of skimming titles to find the book Claudia had been raving about, Viren crouching down to grab it from one of the lower shelves.
“Ah, Advanced Illusions for Dark Mages. Not a common one, these days.” A deep voice reverberated through the store, making Viren’s heart jump as he all too quickly leapt back to his feet, knee aching in protest. Whipping around, he came face-to-face with an elf, who had absolutely not been there 5 seconds ago, who was now chuckling. “Apologies, I hadn’t meant to startle you. I’ve been told I have a tendency to be unnaturally quiet.”
Even as he apologized, Viren could tell by the smirk on his face that it had been all too intentional. Despite that fact… he couldn’t quite bring himself to shoot back a retort.
Now that he’d taken a moment to study the elf in front of him, his brain was short-circuiting. His skin was a soft blue, speckled with stars and fading into black as it went down his chest–his very exposed chest–before forming a larger star in the center. He wore a black, or perhaps a very deep purple, vest with a very deep V-neck cut, the gold detailing forming what looked akin to constellation patterns with two sun-like buttons on either side of the collar. His pants were a pale blue, his boots matching his vest, and overall he fit the aura the store was giving off perfectly. As Viren quite blatantly stared, the elf shifted slightly, drawing him back to the present, but also drawing his eyes up to see the long white hair framing the elf’s face swaying with the movement.
It only took a moment as Viren’s brain rebooted to identify him as a startouch elf.
“I- who- where-” He stammered, overly aware that he was staring but also reluctant to take his eyes off of the elf in front of him. Luckily for him, the elf seemed amused at his staring rather than angered.
“Well, the ‘where’ is quite obvious, this is a library. As for the who,” he stepped forward with confidence, almost gliding over the ground to stand in front of Viren. “I happen to be this place’s owner.” And fuck, if he’d been a sight from afar, from this close… Viren could only stand there baffled at his own thoughts and cursing his beating heart. Attempting to regain his already shredded composure, Viren coughed into his fist, averting his eyes.
“Right, yes. Well, I’d like to borrow a book.” A pause, he felt he was being too vague all of a sudden. “This book.” He held the book up slightly, and quickly looked between it and the store’s owner, stepping back a little to try and regain some space that had been lost in the elf’s approach.
“Yes, that is what a library is for.” Came the smooth-sounding snide reply as the elf chuckled again, the sound of his laugh echoing in Viren’s brain. The sound of it was addicting, ending far too soon. The elf gracefully moved once again to now stand behind the desk in the middle of the store, gesturing for Viren to join him. Steeling himself, Viren straightened himself before walking over, placing the book down on the wooden counter.
Before he could ask how exactly checking a book out from here worked, the elf had picked up the book and was flipping it open to the back displaying a slip of paper listing the checkout history. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much written there, but while Viren expected the elf to get out a pen to write something down, he watched as those blue fingers drew a rune midair with ease. It wasn’t a rune he recognized, but then again he only got a glimpse of it, because after a moment the elf whispered something under his breath and the rune moved towards the book before vanishing, a small line of writing appearing on the paper marking the current date. The elf smiled, closing the book and pushing it back towards Viren.
“Do enjoy, it is quite a fascinating read.” Barely processing what had just happened, Viren simply nodded, hesitating only slightly before reaching out to pick up the book. As he picked it up, he risked one more glance at the elf in front of him, trying desperately to ignore his beating heart when he made eye-contact. “I don’t tend to get many newcomers in here, it’s great to see new faces still interested in the titles I provide.” The elf paused, tilting his head slightly. “Tell me, what is your name?”
“Viren.” Why exactly he responded so quickly was lost to him.
“Viren.” The elf repeated, and the sound of his name on the elf’s tongue did nothing to aid the pounding in his chest. “Well, Viren, I do look forward to your next visit.” And before he could respond, the elf turned away, heading towards a door near the back of the library that Viren could have sworn wasn’t there when he’d entered.
“Wait,” The elf stopped, and before Viren could question why exactly it mattered, he asked, “What’s your name?”
A moment of silence passed, hanging between them, both suffocating and comforting at the same time. The elf turned ever so slightly to look over his shoulder, their eyes connecting once again, before he spoke.
“Aaravos.”
And not a second later, the elf, Aaravos, disappeared through the door, leaving Viren alone in the library, staring after him for only a moment before turning and walking back out to his car. Only once he’d sat down behind the wheel did he let his head fall forward, resting on the wheel as he took a few breaths to calm his racing heart.
He was so fucked.
~~~
At the very least, his morning of suffering was rewarded when Claudia burst through the door to their house after school, running into the kitchen where Viren had his laptop set up and was having a virtual meeting with Harrow, excitement drawn all over her face.
“Dad! Dad please tell me you got it, you got it right? You went? Did they have it? Did they?” Viren gave an exasperated sigh as Harrow’s laughter came through the screen, Claudia’s eyes immediately darting towards the screen, looking like a deer in headlights. “Oh shoot, are you working? Welp, I already interrupted so did you-”
“Yes, Claudia, the book is in your room.” His statement was met with a string of ‘thank yous’ and ‘your the bests’ as his daughter all but sprinted towards her room to dive into her studies. Soren, who’d entered the room behind her, just rolled his eyes with a smile, nodding to Viren before heading off to his own room. With the room once again quiet, Viren turned back to the laptop.
“Apologies, Harrow, you know how… easily excitable Claudia can get.”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing, Viren.” Harrow replied, shaking his head. “Really, you could learn a thing or two from her about enjoying yourself. What was she so excited about anyway?” Resigning himself to the fact that any chance of productivity was now out the window, Viren sighed, closing the notebook he’d been writing notes in and putting it aside.
“She’s been asking for a specific book on illusion magic for weeks, and finally managed to find a library that had it in stock. I went to grab it for her while she was in school.” A picture of Aaravos flashed through his mind, and he reached for the glass of water he’d set on the table to cover his face, willing his expression to stay neutral so as to not let anything on to Harrow. However, with the decades of experience of ‘Viren-reading’ that Harrow claimed to have, even through his laptop’s crappy webcam, his friend smirked.
“Right… and did anyone help you find the book?” Viren choked on the water, sputtering as Harrow’s booming laugh carried through the speaker. He truly had no idea what part of his expression had led to Harrow’s deadly accurate conclusion, but it made him want to slam his head into the table.
“A-absolutely not.” With a hard-pointed glare Viren put the glass back down on the table a little too roughly, only adding to Harrow’s amusement at his expense. He muttered a few choice words at his friend under his breath, which came off more as petty grumbling than anything else.
“Viren, it’s alright.” Harrow huffed, his laughter finally dying down. “Y’know, you are allowed to… indulge yourself every once and a while.” The wink that accompanied those words crossed several lines. “So who was it? A sexy librarian? Or perhaps a friendly fellow customer?”
“I still haven’t confirmed what happened. Stop jumping to assumptions.”
“So something did happen.” Oh, that was it . Harrow sounded far too smug.
“We seem to have wrapped up the work-related portion of this meeting, so I’ll be signing off now.” Viren resorted to the one thing he knew how to do best: Avoiding the problem. Harrow’s grin grew more forced.
“Oh come on, Viren, learn to lighten up! This is a good thing.” Harrow spoke quickly, now obviously trying to keep Viren’s attention before he ended the call.
“Goodbye, Harrow. Have a good night.”
“...goodbye, Vi-” Viren ended the call before Harrow could finish speaking, closing the laptop with a bit of excessive force and squeezing his eyes shut, trying to get his brain back on track. If he could just shut out these intrusive thoughts, he would be fine.
Well, Viren, I do look forward to your next visit.
Viren stood sharply, letting out a huff and moving towards the kitchen. Might as well start on dinner early.
~~~
He wasn’t sure whether it was a blessing or a curse that Claudia finished taking notes on the book as quickly as she did. Within the week she came to him with a notebook and a half filled with what she’d learned, all neatly written down and color coded according to some system that was too ‘Claudia’ for him to wrap his head around–to be fair, he still wasn’t completely sure she hadn’t simply copied down the book word for word. The notetaking was the one downside to getting a book from the library, but she hadn’t complained once, taking it in stride.
Viren couldn’t even be mad when he came home one day to find a giant illusion of a snake in the middle of their living room. He had made sure to get her to promise to warn him next time, though, because he was honestly shocked that the undignified noise he’d made upon finding it hadn’t alarmed their neighbors, not that he’d ever admit it. He did not, however, give her the same talking to when Soren found a smoke snake in the fridge. Best not to get between sibling rivalries.
But magic snakes or not, the finished book left him with a dilemma: At some point, he needed to return it. The issue? Aaravos, the bastard, had somehow failed to remember to put a return deadline on the book, which in itself wasn’t prohibiting Viren from returning the book, but it did mean that his stalling wasn’t interrupted by any sort of urgency. No deadline meant no concrete date he had to get the book back by, which meant every time he thought about returning it he just…
Well, his thoughts didn’t quite stay on returning the book.
Honestly though, what kind of librarian forgets to tell a customer when to return a book by? Surely he wasn’t the only one who’d recognized the lack of deadline, it couldn’t be good for business. In the end, it was his criticisms of Aaravos’s forgetfulness that brought him marching back into The Mirrored Pages two weeks after his initial visit, the book tucked under his arm.
The elf in question was actually standing in the store when he entered this time, back to him, dusting off the shelves with a feather duster–well, at least that’s what he seemed to be trying to do, but as Viren looked over it seemed more like he was aimlessly whacking the books with it instead. Setting the book down gently on the counter, Viren raised an eyebrow.
“I take it that feather dusters aren’t commonly used in Xadia?” His comment was met by gentle laughter, Aaravos turning around and waving the item in question around in the air.
“It may come as a shock, but magic tends to be more efficient in cleaning than your human trinkets.” Aaravos quipped, a snarky smile forming on his lips. “However, in an attempt to become accustomed to human traditions, I do make a conscious effort to practice adhering to your cultures. Consequently, feather dusters.” He twirled the duster between his fingers, handling it with much more grace than he’d been before.
“I wouldn’t consider feather dusters an essential part of human culture, but suit yourself.” Viren said, feigning indifference, but a small smirk pulled at his lips. He quickly tried to cover it with a cough, trying to focus on why he was here. “A-Anyway, I’m here to return the book.”
“Really? What a pity, I assumed you brought it back here so we could read it together.” Aaravos was provoking him, Viren knew he was teasing, and yet the thought of sitting down on a couch, curling up next to him, listening to his voice read out the pages–fuck, his face was going red.
“You, hm, don’t seem to have any seating in here anyway, so that was never on the table to begin with.” It was true; the only furniture in the place was the desk and the shelves, and whatever was in the back room that Aaravos had disappeared into last time, but seeing as that was likely an employee area it didn’t count. Nevertheless, Aaravos, who had made his way behind the desk, glanced around as if he’d never truly taken in the library before.
“Ah, if that’s the only thing keeping you, that can certainly be arranged.” The elf chuckled, leaning forward, all too close into Viren’s space, elbows bracing himself against the desk. The proximity drew a shiver down his spine, goosebumps sprouting as his heart fluttered, and yet his feet seemed glued in place. After a moment, Aaravos’s smile softened, and he backed up, picking up the book from where it had been momentarily forgotten in the space between them. He thumbed open the back cover, glancing at the slip of paper there before, raising an eyebrow. “Waiting until the last day to return a book? Careful, I might just have to fine you next time. I’m not lenient with the deadlines.”
Well, he had been pushing back coming in. He hadn’t realized he’d been cutting it so–wait a minute.
“Hold on.” Viren somehow found his voice, eyebrows furrowing as he processed Aaravos’s words. “No, no, there wasn’t a return date listed. Both me and Claudia checked several times.” In response, Aaravos simply laid the book back out on the table, displaying the log card which, indeed, did list the current date under the return deadline. Viren stared at it, dumbfounded.
He’d been sure he double checked in the car, triple checked even! The possibility that Aaravos was messing with him arose, but he’d been staring down the elf since arriving; there had been no moment when Aaravos made any move towards the book, or even had the chance to subtly draw a rune. And yet, there was the proof right in front of him, a deadline that he had been certain never existed before this moment.
“It’s quite alright, just make sure you look closer next time.” Viren looked up to find a carefully neutral look on the elf’s face, betraying no signs of mischief, and yet he got the undeniable feeling that he was being played. Relenting, Viren simply sighed–he’d done what he’d needed to do, and now he needed to get out of here before Aaravos could make him feel like any more of a fool.
“I’ll be seeing myself out, then.” He said abruptly, failing to miss the look of concealed shock that flashed across the elf’s face. He spun on his heel, hoping to make the few steps required to get to the door before Aaravos could say anything else.
“You’re not looking for another book, then? Was this one not to your satisfaction?” Viren paused right in front of the door, knowing the questions were a trick. He was being baited, clear as day–the fishing line in plain sight and the hook had a bright red arrow pointing at it–and yet he took it: hook, line, and sinker.
“It was for my daughter, and she didn’t request another.”
“Ah, I see.” Viren could hear the smirk on Aaravos’s lips. “However, I didn’t ask if your daughter was looking for a book.” The unanswered question lingered in the air, one of the little light orbs floating past Viren’s face as he tried to form a response. Of course, the truth was that he wasn’t looking for anything for himself, he personally hadn’t started experimenting with dark magic recently outside of teaching Claudia. Even so, the ever growing itch in his brain nagged at him to say that he was, in fact, searching for a book, for a reason he wasn’t quite ready to admit.
“If I’m to be frank, I haven’t had much time to dabble in the dark arts myself recently.” It was his thirst for knowledge that was making him turn around, nothing else. “So while I’m always invested in learning more, I can’t say that I have a specific book in mind.”
“Well, there is a reason I maintain the recommended section.” Aaravos replied smugly, gesturing to the rack of books to Viren’s left. He glanced at the titles, realizing they had changed since he’d last come by. In the place of the books he’d shrugged off the first time, now sat spellbooks specializing in a type of dark magic Viren hadn’t quite had the nerve to mess with yet.
Blood Magic and Rituals - A Comprehensive Guide. The book’s cover displayed a knife being taken to the palm of a hand, a drop of blood falling from it into what appeared to be a small pot filled with a glowing, swirling substance. But what intrigued him the most was the fact that a glassy texture was laid over it, a silver rim lining the image, as if the hand was being reflected by a mirror.
Suddenly he was all too aware of the mark on his knee, shifting his weight as subtly as possible.
“I’m… not quite sure blood magic is for me. My body doesn’t quite heal wounds like it used to.” Viren tried to play it off, chuckling awkwardly.
“It’s entirely safe.” Came the smooth reply, Viren shifting his gaze to study Aaravos’s expression as the elf shrugged. “Though, isn’t it knowledge that you seek? Performing rituals isn’t the same as simply gaining a better understanding of them.” Viren’s eyes narrowed, looking between the book and Aaravos momentarily before he felt himself relenting, grabbing the book off of the rack and walking forward to put it down on the desk.
“I don’t know why, but I’m trusting you on this.” His words drew a brisk laugh out of the elf as he pulled the book towards him, casting the same rune he had before to update the checkout log. It happened just as quickly as the first time, and Viren picked it up off of the table as soon as Aaravos had shut it.
“Between you and me,” Aaravos leaned in once again, Viren feeling hot breath hit his face, then his ear. The sensation made him flush involuntarily, something which seemed to amuse the elf as he whispered. “Many sources will tell you that trusting me is a mistake.”
“I’ll make that decision for myself.” The words left his mouth before he processed them, voice barely audible. He wouldn’t have even been sure Aaravos had heard him were it not for the fact that he swore he saw, or perhaps felt with how close their faces were , the elf stiffening for a moment before slowly backing away, expression revealing nothing. But Viren had seen enough–a crack in the suave demeanor, however minute, and that allowed him to better humanize Aaravos in his mind.
Still not completely, obviously, this was a startouch elf after all. There was only so much human to be found, but this proved something. What exactly it proved was still up in the air, though. That Aaravos was capable of feeling emotions? That Viren could decide things?
Whatever it was, he was bound to overthink it until he returned, and likely even after.
“I’ll… be on my way, then.” Viren more mumbled than spoke, sparing another glance towards Aaravos before once again turning on his heel.
This time, no words called out after him.
He wasn’t sure if that pleased him or not.
~~~
In hindsight, Viren should have taken more caution when bringing a book on blood magic into his home. He also should have taken it into his room, out of sight of his children, especially Claudia, but his brain had been too insistent on recalling every detail of Aaravos’s appearance that he’d acted without thinking and put it down on the kitchen table before settling in to get some work done. He’d promised Harrow he’d get some paperwork filled out that night, which meant the thought that he should have moved the book didn’t come until his children were already stumbling into the house.
“Hey dad! You won’t believe what happened in history today-” The fact that Claudia actually stopped talking was enough of a shock for Viren to realize his grave mistake, pushing himself up off of the couch and making a beeline towards the forgotten book…
Which Claudia had already spotted. And was looking at it quite eagerly.
“Clau-”
“BLOOD MAGIC?!” He resisted the urge to cover his ears at her shrieking, though couldn’t quite suppress a flinch at her volume. Soren immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling a string of words that came out as excited squeaks instead. Claudia glared at her brother, and a moment later, Soren made a disgusted face, pulling his hand away and shaking it.
“Ew! You didn’t have to lick me!”
“You didn’t have to cover my mouth!”
“I did, actually. You’re an ear hazard. You could make dad go deaf, he’s already old Claudia. Do you want an old, deaf father? I bet you don’t know hand-speak.”
“...you mean sign language?” Viren let out a sigh, stepping forward and picking the book up from the table before it could cause any more trouble. The action immediately earned him a look from Claudia, who opened her mouth to say something else, but he cut her off.
“Before you get any bright ideas , know that I will be going through the book in its entirety myself before even considering letting you mess with it. Blood magic isn’t to be taken lightly.” Claudia pouted, crossing her arms.
“I just want to read it. Come on, dad, I don’t have to do anything with it!” She pleaded, looking to Soren with a silent plea for him to back her up, but her brother just rolled his eyes.
“Nah, sis, you’re on your own. I want nothing to do with your freaky demon chanting.”
“It’s magic, Soren! Magic! Like fairytales! You like fairytales!”
“Yeah, no. Fairytale magic doesn’t create ghost snakes that try to eat me when I’m getting milk out of the fridge.” Viren suppressed a chuckle at that, but his poorly hidden smile earned a glare from Soren. “Don’t act like she didn’t get you too, dad. We both heard you screaming.”
And that was enough of that conversation, Viren decided. His smile quickly flipped into a scowl as he took a step back with the book.
“Regardless of… past incidents, I will be reading through this book before you’re allowed to look over it.” Claudia let out a huff, but didn’t protest further. Good enough. He quickly moved to put the book down next to where he’d left his computer on the couch before turning back to his children, motioning to Claudia. “Now, what was this thing that I ‘wouldn’t believe happened in history?’” The question had the intended effect; Claudia immediately perking back up and starting on another spiel, book forgotten.
“Oh, right! Ok, so it all started when this guy in my class, I think his name was Terry, was talking about this weird substance he’d found in the courtyard…”
~~~
A few days later, Viren found that he’d already blown right through the borrowed book. It hadn’t taken much to draw his brain right back into dark magic studies, and he even found himself taking a few notes on the less… demanding spells for later experimentation. In the end, he did grant Claudia permission to look it over under the explicit demands that she wasn’t to attempt anything from it without his supervision, and certain spells were off the table, but she was too excited about what she could do to complain about that.
It only took her a week of afterschool reading to catch up, taking much more extensive notes than Viren had on his readthrough. Truly, Viren wasn’t sure why he’d bothered to make notes of his own when he’d known he’d be handing the book off to Claudia anyway. Either way, a week and a half had flown by, and he was once again left with a book to be returned.
He shouldn’t have been surprised when he checked the back cover and found the return date field empty again. This time, though, he took a photo of it. Just to confirm he wasn’t going crazy.
He’d blocked off a chunk of time that Tuesday morning to bring the book back to avoid the stalling which happened last time, but when he awoke that day, he quickly realized the day wasn’t going to go the way he’d intended. For one, he’d managed to sleep through his alarm, only waking up when Claudia knocked on his door to tell him that her and Soren were heading off to school. While that wasn’t a disaster in itself, the main issue presented itself when he slid out of bed and made to stand…
Only for his bad knee to seize up under him, causing him to fall forwards onto the ground. The pain in his knee tended to wax and wane depending on the day, and unfortunately for him, today was definitely a bad knee day. One of the worse ones he’d had recently, if his leg literally giving out was anything to go by.
Begrudgingly accepting that the world was out to get him today, Viren managed to get dressed before shuffling across his room to grab his staff, letting it bear his weight as he made his way out into the rest of the house. On the kitchen table sat the blood magic book, the sight of it immediately making him remember what he’d planned on doing today.
He knew it was a terrible idea to leave the house in this state, stubborn as he was. The logical thing to do was to just grab his laptop, stretch out his leg, and work from his bed–something he’d almost talked himself into doing before he spotted a small sticky-note stuck to the book’s cover.
Remember, Dad, the return date on the book is on Tuesday! Seems shorter than last time, maybe talk to the librarian about consistency :( – Claudia
No, no that couldn’t be right. Viren took out his phone, flipping through his photos until he found the one he’d taken of the back page. As he remembered, the photo showed the clear lack of a return date. With proof he wasn’t crazy, he opened the book…
Only to find the return date clearly listed for that very day. He resisted the urge to slam the book shut and hurl it against a wall. There was some magic bullshit going on, surely. He had photographic proof after all! He should just ignore it–a date that decided to appear on the day it stated the book should be returned couldn’t be expected to be followed.
And yet staring down the newly appeared date, Viren knew he couldn’t ignore it.
Damn that fucking library.
~~~
Simply driving to The Mirrored Pages was a challenge enough, but now that he sat outside of it, Viren wasn’t sure he could actually get inside without risking a collapse. He’d brought his staff to support him, but was all too aware that it could only do so much if his knee decided to seize up again. Viren had been through his fair share of accidents when it came to losing his footing in public, but usually it was with his children nearby, ready to catch him if need be. Claudia would kill him if she knew he was leaving the house alone in such a state.
She probably would, later. For now, there was no way of her possibly knowing.
Gritting his teeth, Viren pushed himself up and out of the car, telling himself it would be a quick exchange; all he had to do was go in, return the book, pick out another one to avoid unnecessary prodding from Aaravos, and leave. Any reasonable person could get that done in 5 minutes, tops.
Too bad any semblance of ‘reasonable’ seemed to leave his brain the second he stepped into the library and spotted the elf.
It only took a second for Viren to realize things had changed. For one, there were now two chairs and a small couch positioned in the back left corner of the shop, right between the bookshelves containing the wind and earth primal source information. Each piece of furniture was a deep purple with gold cushions and detailing, matching quite nicely with Aaravos himself. Speaking of the elf, Aaravos seemed to be adjusting the positioning of the chairs when Viren entered, making sure it was properly placed before looking up to greet him.
“Welcome back, Viren.”
“You… got furniture?” His question was met with an all too innocent expression crossing Aaravos’s face, making him regret questioning it at all.
“You made a comment previously implying that the reason you did not wish to stay and read was the lack of seating.” Viren blinked, the memory coming back to him in a rush. “I have amended that.”
“I- I didn’t actually-” Viren stammered, but he couldn’t seem to find the words to protest once Aaravos met his eyes, that innocent expression slowly giving way to a much more knowing one. The bastard, he was expecting this reaction, wasn’t he. Viren steeled his gaze, not willing to play into Aaravos’s hands, especially as another twinge in his knee reminded him of the time constraint he was on. “I simply wish to return this book and check out another.”
“Ah, yes. Was this one up to your impeccable standards?” Aaravos all but purred, though Viren saw his eyes drift slightly towards the staff at his side. Trying to ignore it, Viren moved forward to place the book onto the desk, waiting as Aaravos slid around it to retrieve it, opening it to the back cover and smirking.
“Again, Viren, with the last day returning. Do you deliberately put off coming here until the last moment? Or is it a memory thing?”
“What- oh. Oh no you don’t!” Viren, fueled by the desire to be right, whipped his phone out of his pocket and quickly navigated through the photos, finding the one he had taken and shoving it towards the elf’s face. “I don’t know what spell you’re using, or if the books are just enchanted with something, but that date wasn’t there until this morning.” Aaravos stared at the image for a second before letting out a chuckle, pushing the phone back towards him.
“Ah, humans and your instinctual need to prove yourselves.” Viren felt a light flush come over him at those words, but merely glared, bringing a deeper smile to Aaravos’s face. “Alright, I’ll relent. The return dates aren’t a typical ‘due date’ as you call them, but rather mark the day it will be returned. It’s not all that complex.” The revelation both made sense and brought up even more questions. How did the book know when it would be returned? What if Viren had decided to wait even after seeing the date? Or if he’d had the intention of returning it, but then was unable to for some reason?
He intended to ask each of those questions, intended to get answers from Aaravos, who was acting like future-seeing books were a thing of normality. In fact, he took another step towards the desk to better examine the page, trying to see if there was any obvious marking or rune on the back page that he’d somehow missed, and upon seeing nothing, was ready to interrogate Aaravos on the inner workings of the log until there were no questions left to be answered.
Unfortunately for him, in his blind curiosity and frustration, he stepped a little too far forward, something he barely had time to process before his bad knee hit the desk, white-hot pain flaring through his entire leg. He sucked in a sharp breath, stumbling back and just about catching the look of concern on Aaravos’s face before his eyes squeezed shut, balance thrown off. He felt himself starting to fall backwards, tightening his grip on his staff as if it could help him now, and he halfheartedly cursed himself as he steeled himself for the impact of the ground.
Except it never came.
Instead, the feeling of two arms wrapping around him, catching him at the waist, broke through the pained haze he was in. Managing to crack an eye open, Viren was met with the sight of Aaravos, who seemed to have hopped the desk, looking down at him–a worried expression on his face that didn’t seem to fit with the mental images Viren’s mind had constructed of the elf thus far. Their eyes met for a moment, and then without warning, Viren felt his legs being swept up from under him, and realized seconds later that Aaravos was now carrying him, bridal style, towards the newly added furniture.
If he hadn’t been in excruciating pain, Viren would have had the right of mind to be embarrassed. In fact, he had half a mind to demand that he be put down this instant–to limp his way out of the library and never return.
And yet, he didn’t. Because Aaravos was warm- no, no it was simply because the very idea of walking at the moment made him cringe. Being manhandled by this very attractive startouch elf was just a completely unwanted side effect. Nothing more. Caught up in his, admittedly, fruitless denial of the entire situation, and brain clouded by continuous waves of pain, Viren must have spaced out, because the next time he became aware of his surroundings, he realized he was draped across the elf’s lap, head resting on the arm of the surprisingly comfortable sofa.
And Aaravos’s hand was hovering right above his bad knee. Looking like it was about to touch down.
And panic seized him.
Viren all but yanked his leg away, trying to pull both of them towards himself to pull into a sitting position. As he did so, he briefly realized that his boots had been removed. How long was I spacing out for? Momentary interlude aside, he noticed his mistake of pulling his knees towards himself a moment too late, sucking another sharp breath through his teeth as bending it sent another tremor through his bones.
“I was simply trying to-”
“I do not care what you were trying to do.” Viren cut him off, voice coming off harsher than he’d intended due to the fact that he was still gritting his teeth. “Do not fucking touch me without asking.” Seeing as he’d let Aaravos sweep him up into his arms mere moments ago, there wasn’t much ground for the words to stand on, and the look Aaravos was giving him told him the elf knew that. However, praise be, no snarky comments were made.
“Apologies. I will respect that boundary in our future interactions.” Despite his words, Aaravos made no moves to shift away, leaving Viren still half-draped over his legs. “Allow me to clarify my earlier actions, then. I was simply trying to ease your pain with a heat spell.” To illustrate his words, Aaravos held out his hand, leaving it hovering not far from Viren’s chest, a gentle nod towards it gesturing for Viren to take it. After a moment's hesitation, he shifted to place his own hand into Aaravos’s. Immediately, he took note of the soothing warmth emanating off of it.
“Fascinating.” Viren mumbled, his current situation temporarily forgotten, though his voice still held a strained lilt. “A spell, then? Or are you just naturally this…”
“A heat spell, indeed.” Aaravos chuckled. “Only sunfire elves consistently give off warmer heat. Though I can maintain this spell for quite a while, it proves quite useful in the winter.”
“I can imagine.” As he spoke, Viren had to suppress a flinch at the next wave of pain shooting out from his leg. Instinctually, he unfurled it from its bent position, stretching it as far as it could go with a grunt as if that could help him.
“I could still make an attempt.” Viren glanced at Aaravos, slightly glossy-eyed, unsure of what the elf was referring to until he made a gesture towards Viren’s knee with his hand. Logically, Viren knew that very little could be done to aid him in this situation. He’d tried so many things to limit the amount of strain put on his knee over the years, even tried some of Claudia’s more… creative solutions, yet every time the best solution was always to ride out the pain and wait until it naturally faded enough for him to walk again.
And yet, he’d technically never tried getting a startouch elf to fix it for him.
“Screw it.” He mumbled, head falling back onto the armrest. “You can’t make it any worse.”
“...is that a yes, then?” Even through his discomfort, Viren managed a bark of a laugh.
“Yes.” Nothing happened for a moment after his reply apart from his eyes squeezing shut, bracing himself for what was likely to be another wave of pain caused by Aaravos’s hands coming into contact with his knee. However, all that he felt was a light pressure touch down, and then a pleasant warmth spreading through his leg.
Huh.
It wasn’t an immediate fix, of course. They sat there for a while, Aaravos’s hand slowly rubbing circles against his leg as the twinges grew less intense. At some point, Aaravos must have reached behind himself to snag a book off of one of the shelves, because the gentle hum of his voice started reading aloud in the background. It was… calming. Comforting, somehow, in a way that nothing seemed to be in Viren’s life anymore.
It all just felt right in a way he couldn’t rationally explain, which should have bothered him, but it didn’t. For this small moment in time, he could just exist–no expectations, no shame, no fumbling around to try and keep up his social image–just… existing.
And then his phone rang.
The sudden sound made him jump, and he found himself immediately mourning the loss of Aaravos’s narrations as the elf cut off, glancing at Viren’s pocket. Begrudgingly, Viren pulled the phone out to check the caller ID.
Claudia.
“Shit, I have to take this.” Viren sighed, forcing himself to pull his legs out of Aaravos’s lap so he could stand, reaching for his staff and taking a few steps away before answering the call. Distantly, he realized his knee gave no protest despite it typically taking days to recover from a state as terrible as the one he’d been in not so long ago.
“Claudia?”
“Dad? Where are you?” Viren raised an eyebrow despite knowing Claudia couldn’t see him. Why would she be asking where he was? She was meant to be in school.
“Returning that book on blood magic to the library. Why?”
“Oh, ok! Sorry, I thought you were doing that this morning.” Her words set in a moment later, and he froze. Slowly, he pulled the phone away to check the time–sure enough, it was mid-afternoon. A few minutes after Soren and Claudia typically got home from school. How had he lost track of that much time? He risked a glance over at Aaravos, who cocked his head to the side questioningly.
“Ah, yes. I did intend to return it this morning, but something came up.” Aaravos’s eyebrows raised, mouth quirking into a knowing grin. Viren rolled his eyes, turning his back to the elf to hide the blush now rising onto his cheeks. Only a tad desperately, he scrambled to change the subject. “While I’m here, do you have any requests for the next book I bring back?”
“Oh, yes!” He heard papers shuffling on the other end, then pages turning. Did she have a notebook filled with book titles? He’d have to ask her when he got home. “Do they have any books on shapeshifting spells?”
“Shapeshifting?” Viren questioned, a tad shocked at the request.
“Yeah! Remember the guy I was telling you about? Terry?” Sure, vaguely, but in true Claudia fashion, she didn’t wait for a response. “Well… he was interested in it for, er- reasons. But like, a more permanent type of it- like body tweaking stuff? I just told him I’d look into it.” Something told Viren that she wasn’t telling him the whole truth, seeing as she was nervously stumbling over every other word, but he didn’t press her on it. Besides, he hadn’t had much justification for bringing a book on blood magic into the house.
“Let me ask, Claudia.” He then turned back around, facing Aaravos, who had now stood as well. “You don’t happen to have shapeshifting books lying around, do you?”
“Your daughter’s request, I presume?” Aaravos chuckled, walking past Viren to get to the dark magic shelves and retrieving a book, not even needing to glance at the title. Holding it up, he started walking towards the checkout counter. “This one should do the trick. Give her my regards, will you?”
“Woah, dad, who was that? His voice sounds like butter-”
“I will see you at home, Claudia.” Only feeling slightly guilty, Viren hit the end call button before his daughter could reply. She’d forgive him when he returned with the book. Probably.
“You really must bring her with you one of these times.” Aaravos, having already finished the rune-checkout routine, was now leaning back on the desk, looking about a second from saying something smug. Viren, trying to avoid embarrassing himself even more than he already had, simply shrugged, moving around to grab the book off of the desk.
“I should get going.” He said, barely putting thought into his words. Slowly but surely, the reality of what had happened that day was catching up to him, and he desperately needed to get out of there before the rest sunk in. His hands felt clammy, shocking him when he just barely managed not to fumble the book in his hands. Hurriedly, he turned on his heel, making for the door.
“Viren.” At the sound of his name, he froze–some foreign instinct telling him to listen. “Viren, look at me.”
Well, shit.
Against his better judgment, Viren found himself turning around, almost getting deja-vu at the similar feeling situation to the last time he’d tried to rush out of the place. It was almost like Aaravos knew when he was forcing himself to leave all too quickly– knew he didn’t truly want to leave that quickly. He met the elf’s eyes, and, for the first time since they’d met, saw a hint of uncertainty in them.
“Nothing happened here today that should haunt you.” Aaravos paused, eyes boring into his soul as if he was trying to gauge Viren’s reaction. Viren found himself struggling to keep his expression neutral. “But next time, there is no need to force yourself to come here should you be in pain.”
“Says the one who enforces magical due dates that don’t appear until they’re relevant. Makes it a bit difficult to get around.” Viren scoffed, intending for his words to lighten the situation, but instead Aaravos furrowed his brow, thinking. After a moment, the elf’s expression evened out, and he smiled.
“Ah, if that is the issue, then there is a quite obvious solution.”
“Putting actual due dates in the books?”
“Exchanging phone numbers.” Viren felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. “That way, should something come up, you can simply keep me informed. And I won’t have to fine you for an overdue book. You keep cutting it quite close, after all.” Aaravos winked, a smirk playing across his lips, and Viren forced himself to let out a breathless chuckle at the jab. God, he was hopeless.
“Of course. For book related communications. Right.” He rambled slightly. Aaravos seemed pleased at the answer, reaching into his front pocket and pulling out a much more modernized phone than Viren had been expecting. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected a flip-phone or something along those lines, but seeing as Aaravos’s phone looked newer than his own, he’d likely just been too quick to judge his technological capabilities. The elf tapped the screen a few times before handing it to Viren, the contacts page already open.
With only a moment’s hesitation, he put his number and name into the phone, checking it over before handing it back. Aaravos looked at it, smiled, then tapped at the phone for a few seconds before Viren felt his own ding in his pocket. He raised an eyebrow, pulling it out to reveal a simple ‘hello’ from an unknown number.
“Just checking.” Aaravos chuckled, putting his phone back into his pocket. “It seems like quite the cliche for human actors in movies or shows to deliberately give incorrect numbers out when asked for their own.”
“That’s only if they aren’t interested in-” Viren cut himself off before he finished his sentence, realizing what he was saying a little too late. Aaravos, however, tilted his head to the side, eyes widening in what was surely mock innocence.
“Interested in what exactly? I’m not exactly a connoisseur in human culture.” Viren looked at him incredulously, mouth opening and closing as he tried to form an answer that wouldn’t incriminate himself, before remembering not answering was absolutely a viable option.
“If you’re such a genius, I’m sure you can figure it out yourself.” Viren said instead, not waiting for a reply before turning and, admittedly, booking it out of the library before he could be stopped. By the time he reached the car, throwing his staff into the passenger side, everything he’d said and done that day collided in his brain, and he sank into the seat, a flush coming over his face as he buried his head in his hands. What. The fuck. Just happened.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, causing him to glance back towards the library doors. Aaravos was nowhere to be seen inside. After a moment of debating, he took out his phone to read the text.
And promptly dropped it in shock.
‘ The answer is interested in a relationship, yes? I seem to recall most of those scenes taking place in human taverns.’
He could never go back in. Ever. He’d have Claudia return her shapeshifting book and never step foot inside the Mirrored Pages again. It would be easy–another ding. He lifted the phone back up.
‘Return Thursday. I have coffee in the backroom, I can finish reading the book you were definitely listening to.’
Viren felt like his heart was going to burst through his ribcage, split his skin, and fly out of the car at the speed of a rocket launching itself into the atmosphere. His hands were shaking, his thoughts coming to a jaggering halt–was Aaravos implying what he thought Aaravos was implying? Was he reading too much into it? Perhaps relationships meant a different thing in Xadia, after all, why would someone like Aaravos want a relationship with Viren of all people, when he could likely have any man or woman he wanted just by smiling at them?
Even so, Viren found his fingers were moving across the keyboard before he really had a chance to think.
‘
My schedule is free.’