Chapter Text
The Antiquarian Bookstore is an interesting place.
No, not because it's popular or is shrouded in secrets from the dark times; those titles go elsewhere.
If anything, the place is the exact opposite.
The average traffic of the Antiquarian Bookstore typically ranges from 0 to 1, or maybe 2 on (un)fortunate days.
And the owner would usually be less than happy to lend those dusty paper bricks with an odd scent on them.
Usually. And if that's not the case, feel free to hit up the Library Committee as a pseudo customer service.
The Magician of the Antiquarian Bookstore isn't exactly kind to outsiders after all.
She spends practically all of her time with the aforementioned paper bricks, or remnants of them, trying to bring them back to... paper bricks.
A savant dedicated to her craft, some comments.
A weirdo and a shut-in, some else comments. Before getting... firmly and quietly corrected by the Library Committee.
It is, from others' perspective, an arduous and thankless task. But Ui can't give any less care about what they say.
Okay, maybe a little. Otherwise, she wouldn't try her very best to avert the world's prying eyes (in her view).
There are only two people she can tolerate in her vicinity - vicinity, as in just outside her 5-meter diameter bubble.
Endō Shimiko, and Auburn Nóttson.
However, the former would usually just drop by and leave in around 30 minutes.
Perhaps an hour max, if she deems the Magician can use a bit more sunlight and human interactions.
The latter...
Honestly, Ui hasn't decided what category to put the adult in.
He visits her whenever he can, yes. He would also leave in an hour or so, that's true.
He seems to have a good understanding of... how did he put it? Thaumatology?
Ui has next to zero idea of what that is, what it does, or how he does it.
It sounds like, to put it bluntly, bullshits from people who try to swindle gullible passersby into a Ponzi scheme or something.
And to that, his response was the reason why there are such bullshits is because a real thing existed at some point, no?
"......" Ui responded no.
And yet here she is, hovering her fingers on the virtual board of keys on the Momotalk chat with him.
Because she is that desperate.
Be it as it may, of all the subjects in Trinity's curriculum, literature and history are absolutely her jam, and she takes some pride in that.
She has always excelled in those fields and, with her corresponding skill sets, did what countless others deemed implausible or impossible.
So when the Tea Party came calling, claiming that they excavated some old inscription, she took the matter into her hands. Willingly.
As long as it's something found in Trinity and of Trinity origin, she has the confidence to crack it.
Would be a shame if those uncivilized outsiders tainted or even destroyed the ancient knowledge or information lost in time.
However, what she then received can only be described as, again, bullshits.
First of all, the inscriptions were carved on beryllium copper panels. That alone sets off some red flags in her mind.
Based on what little she knows about the geography and geology of Trinity, that material should be exceedingly rare.
Which means, this is almost certainly from students of another academy.
Students of another academy that somehow made their way to the outskirts of Trinity.
With zero signs of residence, developments, or even just... traces of someone was here in the vicinity of the excavation site.
It's like something above decided to just sprinkle some panels made of this very specific alloy down from the sky.
And all they thought was just to fuck with scholars like her for fun.
Glancing towards the photocopied excerpts on papers all over her work table, Ui can feel one of her eyelids jump.
These are some kind of runes alright, runes that are of Trinity origin. At least there's that.
Slight caveat, however.
The writing format, grammar, etymology, vocabulary, and punctuation are completely foreign, or perhaps alien.
She checked with pretty much all the old texts of Trinity she could get her hands on.
Even going as far as asking the current Arius leader for some of the lost texts in the library of Porta Pacis, given the recent incidents.
Bibles, commentaries, letters, theses, translations, all forms and lengths of novels, and even fictional literature that features made-up languages.
Nope. Nothing matches what is written on those slates.
Ui even had the idea of confronting whoever "found" these in person to see if this was some kind of low blow to her expertise.
But that requires walking out the door. And conversations. So maybe not.
Not until she can find some confidence in the adult's presence.
"......" So with a deep breath, tappity-tap she goes.
Sensei.
Do you have a moment?
I need
anti_bs_off_ deleted a message.
anti_bs_off_ deleted a message.
How do I put this...
I need your expertise in certain fields.
wdym
anyway omw
will bring coffee
20m
"heeeeeeeeeergh..." Ui frowns upon his pile of words that consists of slangy acronyms and horrifically punctuated sentences.
Is it that difficult to spend an extra millisecond to reach his thumb over the period and comma key while he's typing?
Maybe it's her problem. Her sample size is easily in the low single digits. Who knows how people type nowadays?
Whatever. With or without typing etiquette, she still received his message anyway, both literally and methodically.
Dropping her phone back in her cardigan's pocket, Ui collects herself and begins to tidy up her work table.
Sensei arrives exactly 20 minutes later, holding a cup of icy coffee.
He knocks on the front door of the Antiquarian Bookstore twice, first with his knuckle, then with the heel of his fist.
After identifying himself, he pulls out the copy of the key for the door.
Ui initially gave him the real one, but he ended up returning it because giving away the sole defense to this place sounded sketchy.
Regardless, with a gritty turn and a hefty click! The door gives way to the adult and lets him enter the lair of his student.
"Sensei," who is surprisingly not buried behind her work table. "W- Welcome..."
Still has her golden-rimmed glasses on, though. Looks like she has been reading.
Sensei hands over the coffee in place of a greeting. "So what about that snowman?"
"...I'm sorry?"
"You said you need me for something I'm good at."
"......" Ui gives him a 눈_눈 look.
"No?" Sensei grabs a chair that she prepared in advance across the work table. "What about a therapy?"
"...It's this." The Magician of the Antiquarian Bookstore trades a file for the coffee, ignoring his ice-breaking joke.
Not that she doesn't like it - quite the opposite, actually -, but she doesn't need it nor the time for it.
"Just so you know," Sensei gives her a heads-up as he takes the file and flips it open.
"Just because I speak a language you don't know doesn't mean I'm an expert in..."
But his sentence slowly cuts off and fades into silence as he turns to the first two pages.
And there, Ui can see it. His change in expression and atmosphere in real time.
A slight widening of his astonished gaze, a shallow frown emerging on his forehead.
And the absence of the usual swagger and frivolousness he always carries.
His jaw is clamped shut, his fingers are bending the file visibly, and his eyes are examining every single pixel of the photos.
"Hvað í helvítinu?" And that line clearly indicates I know what I'm looking at and I refuse to believe it.
Meanwhile, Ui is trying to work up some courage to open her mouth to the now dead serious adult.
Yes, she's a bit intimidated by his sudden change of manner, but her curiosity prevails.
Curiosity towards what he knows about this mystery that she doesn't.
"Th- The base material is-"
"-Beryllium copper?"
"-Yes. Do you know who's behind this, S- Sensei?"
"......" Auburn lifts his silver eyes to look at the source of the question, who immediately shrinks herself in defense.
"...Know them." He repeats in ponder as he shifts his attention back to the photos.
The look in his gaze is distant. Far, far into the photos, and seemingly the vast, boundless sea of history hidden within.
Ui can see every subtle motion in those otherworldly irises as they bore into the papers.
How the bottomless and infinitely dark pupil constrict and dilate, how the rings of silver emerge and give way to them by the fibers, and how...
He knows them, she is certain. "Maybe you can say that." And his muttering validates her assumption immediately.
Ui flattens her lungs, feeling the crushing weight on her shoulder suddenly disappear.
Not just because her investigation may have found a new lead, but also because those not-smiley eyes are away from her.
"Where are you with the translation?" She celebrated too soon.
"Uhm... N- Nowhere...?" Ui's toes are digging into her slippers, averting his eyes. "That's why I- I asked..."
"......" Sensei replies nothing. Instead, he starts going through all the photos.
It's too fast to be a thorough read, but too slow to be a dismissive one, either.
Still, Ui can tell from the micro-movements of his gaze: he is reading. Reading.
He is reading this seemingly alien text at a moderate pace, as if it's some kind of regular office document. Fluently.
Another thing she gleaned from him is that the text is apparently written from top to bottom, right to left.
So she's at least half correct on that one. Great.
"Hvað mikið kjaftæði." He stays on the last photo, frown deepening. "They retreated? Retreated? "
"Uh- Uhm..." Ui raises a finger meekly.
"Oh, right." Sensei snaps back from his contemplation the moment she makes a noise.
Turning back to the firstpage, he then begins his explanation. "What you're looking at is a dead language called Old Daevite."
"See how the strokes of the letters look like elongated spindles, and the depths of the strokes are varied?"
"This indicates that instead of a chisel and a hammer, the letters are carved with a blade. Short strokes shallow, long strokes deep."
"Blade? Onto metal?" Ui frowns in confusion and lightly shakes her head. "H- How?"
"It gets better." Sensei smirks, scratching his messy head. "Where the fuck do I even begin..."
"Old Daevite...?" Asks Ui, hearing another completely alien word. "Who used this language?"
"Daevites. Or Daevas, so to speak. Duh."
"A- And... Daevas?"
"Daevas are uh," Auburn pauses, processing the information in his head.
"Veeeeery simply put, a super-uber ancient civilization. They are primitive, aggressive, and most importantly, paranormal."
"They are known for massive thaumatic performances that are capable of, say, delaying their society's decline and fall."
"They are also an extremely matriarchal society, females dominate all the important roles, politically and culturally."
"The leader of their tribe is called the Matriarch. She usually hosts all the important matters in the tribe."
"Such as going to war and hosting blood sacrifices. To them, those are as important as afternoon teas in Trinity."
"Blood sacrifice..." Ui gulps. That word does not pair well with what he has said. Primitive, aggressive...
"For paranormal practices, right...?" She reaches for her coffee to swish down whatever is welling up in her throat.
"And ritual-slash-superstitious purposes." He answers with a lifted finger. "Capable of defying narratives and historical sequences, mind you."
Ui says nothing, but her expression does the speaking for her. What?
"Say I spent 800 Yen on a cup of coffee."
"I then give it to you, you drink it, and toss the cup into the trash can. That's a narratively and consequencially correct event."
"What Daevas can do is that, you find an empty coffee cup - that you have no memories of, mind you - in the trash can."
"Then suddenly, I lose 800 Yen in my wallet, and the coffee shop's sales count goes up by one."
"S- So these inscriptions... are they..." Ui winces. Maybe she should think more than twice when she takes gigs from higher-up next time.
"Th- They're not cursed or something, are they...?"
"Well, I just read them. Do I look cursed to you?" He does a look at my face gesture.
"Historical records are one of the few things Daevas wouldn't mess with too much."
"Fair enough... So what are the inscriptions about?"
"You sure you want spoilers?"
"...Okay, maybe just the first paragraph. Or verse."
Sensei grabs a pen and paper. "Old Daevites are written top to bottom, right to left."
"I'll just write them the way we're used to instead: horizontally, left to right."
"And, as a bonus, I'll convert the letters to Kivotos Standard Language for reference."
𐰔𐰀𐰣𐰖 𐰽𐰇 𐰽𐰀𐰴𐰀𐱃𐰀
𐰀𐰆𐰚 𐰚𐰀𐰞𐰇𐱃 𐰆𐰢𐰁𐰀
𐱅𐰀𐰋𐰺𐰀𐰴 𐰆𐰀𐱃𐰀𐰃𐰀𐱁 𐰴𐰀𐰃𐰀
Suraune šue saxáṭe
aok kalúth-umbrae zhirál
Ṭaevraḳ Ueṭaeiáš-Ḥzafya kae-zae.
Ui has a strong urge to dive into her library to dig up all the linguistics-related books now.
Where does she even begin when there's a language so alien that she can't even distinguish any part of speech?
"Aaaaaaand..." He reaches for another piece of paper. "Here's the actual translation."
The answer unfolds before her eyes, stroke by stroke, letter by letter.
This altar is raised
at the edge of shadow and heaven
by Ṭaevraḳ Ueṭaeiáš-Ḥzafya.
"That good enough for you?" Sensei prods. "Or do you need another?"
Just looking at that word salad of a name dressed with diacritical marks makes her dizzy.
How do you spell S that looks like it's throwing a tantrum!?
The adult seems to have taken notice of his student's reaction, so he continues.
𐰽𐰀 𐰉𐰀𐰺𐰀 𐰉𐰀𐰞𐰆𐰺
𐰆𐰞 𐰉𐰀𐱃𐰀
𐰓𐰀 𐰞𐰀𐰏𐰃𐰆𐰤𐰀
𐰽𐰀 𐰉𐰀𐰞𐰀 𐰢𐰆𐰤𐰓𐰀𐰺
𐰆𐰞 𐰔𐰆𐰞 𐰚𐰀𐱃
𐰚𐰀𐱃 𐰗𐰀𐱃𐰆𐰢
Sha vekhrá-ith belór
ul-fráta-zae,
dae legiónae
sha veláe-mundár
kae-tharál.
Ul zúl-kath.
Kath-fátum sha-véla.
When the road of war
was broken
the legions
were cast through the veil of worlds
Blood was not at fault
Fate itself turned aside
At least now there are some vocabularies that she can see the resemblance to Old Trinity texts?
It's still quite a rabbit hole to dive into. A dark, exotic one, on top of that.
However, Ui definitely feels better now than she did hours ago when she was completely stumped.
The inscriptions are legit, albeit from an obviously foreign (and super-uber ancient) culture.
And there is a walking, talking translator sitting right across from her work table.
She has something to fall back on, and that's a huge morale boost for her.
"I guess I'll start trying from here..." Ui massages her temple with a vacant hand.
"If the Tea Party finds more in the meantime, I'll let you know. Thanks, Sen-"
"-Wait," Sensei perks up, feeling the questions that should've been asked ages ago pop up in his mind.
"Where did you find these anyway? And when? How?"
"Eh!?" Ui shares the same sentiment, to no one's surprise. "I, uh, took this case... from the Tea Party."
"You took the case? You sure it's not the other way around?"
"No, no. T- They found the panels during an excavation recently."
"RECENTLY!?" Sensei launches himself from his chair in utter astonishment.
This may be the most reaction Ui has ever, ever seen the adult have against anything.
If only she's in the mood for celebration instead of practically curling up into a ball in her seat with an eek!?
"So the excavation is still ongoing like, now? As we speak?"
Sensei ignores the girl trying to use the coffee cup as a face shield and presses on.
Who replies nothing but a meek, robotic nod. "......"
The instant he receives the message that closely resembles a confirmation, the adult pulls out his phone.
And with a hold on finger, he marches towards the far corner of the floor.
Probably a call. With the brass. Kirifuji Nagisa, perhaps?
The Antiquarian Bookstore has thick walls, and its sole resident exercises maximum noise discipline. Like a librarian should.
The downside is that Ui has to keep herself occupied constantly. Nobody likes to hear their own thoughts when everything is dead quiet.
The upside is that whoever makes a noise, it never escapes her. Walking, taking something, and of course, talking.
Like what Sensei is doing right now on his phone.
Of course, anyone with a working moral compass would at least try not listen to others' phone calls.
But this is too difficult for Ui to give up, considering his reaction.
Unfortunately for her, all she can hear from this distance is an unintelligible mumbling, distorted by echo.
She can only tell fragmentary phrases like does anyone, I'm going to, and hold on.
Oh, the most repeated words are stop and don't. How reassuring.
Just what kind of insanity did she just get her hands on? Willingly?
"Ui," Before she can trail off to any of her paranoid conclusions, Sensei comes back storming. "I gotta go."
He reaches into his collar, pulls out a pendant by its flat, thin fabric band, and takes it off.
It's a beveled, transparent coin, presumably acrylic or crystal, with an odd silver symbol engulfed inside.
"This is a just-in-case," He explains, handing it to his student. "Put it on before you go to sleep tonight."
"What for?" Ui rests her coffee and lets the pandent falls into her palms. "In case this... Daevas haunt my dream?"
"That," Sensei picks up his belongings. "And I'll have another reason to come back for you."
"......"
"What?"
"You do that to everyone, Sensei?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny."
"Hah..." Ui takes off her golden-rimmed glasses and rubs her eyes with one hand.
The pendant in her other hand still feels lukewarm to her touch, having stayed between his layers and upper sternum.
The closest place to his heart. With a thumb nursing its glossy and perfectly smooth surface, she muses.
"Be seeing you, then." The next time his voice echoes across the room, it's from the entrance. "Have fun with the rest of the text."
Before Ui can utter even the G in goodbye, Sensei's towering figure has disappeared behind the door of her domain.
"......" And now, it's just her.
Her, a cup of semi-icy, half-empty coffee, a series of mysterious, seemingly dangerous inscriptions from ancient magical barbarians.
For the first time in a while, she feels the space of the Antiquarian Bookstore... too spacious.
Empty is too strong of a word here. Her babied collections decorated all the shelves and walls, so it's far from that.
It's just... Would be great if there's someone she can share them with.
"......" Ui sighs. Even she knows who that specific someone is.
Instead, she puts on her glasses, straightens her cardigan, and brings the photos back in front of her.
At least now, she's not diving down this rabbit hole blindly; available reference material has just gone from 0 to 2.
Granted, it's far from plenty. But if she can resurrect a bible from the crumbles, she can do this.
"!..." It is only now that she realizes that the pendant is still in one of her palms, and somehow managed to slip through her mind.
Still lukewarm to her touch. And no, it does not get any warmer even though she has been holding it all this time.
Odd... But if this is for shielding her against the nightmares from inscriptions, chances are it's paranormal, too?
Ui is rather skeptical about putting it on, but between Daevas and her tutor, the choice is clear as day.
She slips the band over her, pulls her (extremely long and a bit messy) hair through.
And tucks it into the space between her uniform and baselayer; it's too much for her to handle to go one layer deeper.
Not to mention she, well, isn't the proudest of her bodily scent.
The pendant sits just under her diaphragm in terms of height, and thankfully, Ui doesn't feel cursed or enchanted immediately.
A small surge of relief rises within her. Nothing ever happens. She tidies her collar as she thinks.
Ui casts her eyes back onto the root of all her recent turmoil that she believes will soon be dispelled.
With steady hands, a calm mind, and an unwavering heart seeking for the truth, she begins.
Time to unveil the secret of Daevas.
Or rather, a small portion of it.