Chapter Text
“Must be nice… Being born a noble,” Coco sighed while looking through the pages of her favorite book, which were filled with stories and illustrations about magic. The pages contained tales and imagery about the gods, kings and mystical creatures.
She closed the book and gazed out the window of her room. It was then that her eye caught a glimpse of something unusual. It was nearing dusk and some stars were already visible above the orange horizon, but Coco could swear she saw something moving in the sky. When she noticed what it was, the girl gasped and started running. “It’s a highbeast!” She flung open the trapdoor and climbed into the roof. The wind was strong and chilly, but Coco barely noticed.
The girl managed to catch a glimpse of the ivory beast just as it flew above her house. Highbeasts were flying magic tools that nobles used as transportation. They usually took the shape of an animal or feybeast. This highbeast held resemblance to a deer, and the rider was a silver haired man.
“Amazing”! It’s so fast!” Coco said, before realizing the rider was turning back. Shocked, the girl noticed the highbeast slowing down and preparing to land near the beach in front of her house.
The creature disappeared just before touching the ground and the rider landed gracefully. It seemed like the highbeast had turned into some sort of gem, which now rested in his hand. The man started walking towards her house. Coco noticed he was wearing the typical blue robes of a noble priest.
Coco and her mother lived in a small fishing settlement just outside the walls of the city of Alexandria, the capital of their duchy. They owned a small, but successful tailor shop. They knew how to work with many kinds of fabric and sometimes even wealthy merchants would come from the capital to visit their shop. However, they never had a nobleman visit before.
“MOM! There is a noble coming!” Coco said while running down the stairs. Her mother was still on the first floor, finishing up the work for the day.
“What are you talking about, girl?”
“A blue priest! A highbeast! It’s so amazing!”
“Slow down, girl. I don’t under-” The sound of the chime by the door interrupted them, as a blue robed man entered the store. His silver hair covered his right eye, and he was wearing a set of golden spectacles with one of the lenses blacked out.
As soon as the man entered, Coco’s mother froze in place, as if even breathing could be seen as in insult. Coco had a different feeling. For a second, the priest felt familiar to her.
Coco’s mother subtly hid her daughter behind one of cabinets in the room, then she kneeled in front of the priest, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this meeting, ordained by the fruitful days of Schutzaria, the Goddess of Wind” she said with as clear intonation as she could muster. Her nervousness was noticeable, but it was impressive she could remember the appropriate greeting considering how little they interacted with nobles.
“May Schutzaria, the Goddess of Wind, bless this meeting,” the priest responded. He then smiled softly and continued “Forgive me for intruding in such late hour. Are you still taking orders?”
“Of course, milord! Whatever you need.”
Coco watched carefully while her mother attended to the man. She knew it was better not to interact with nobles unless absolutely necessary, but she was having a hard time containing her curiosity. Even letting aside that initial feeling she had, the mere opportunity to be close to a noble was extremely rare.
I wonder if he has any magic tools with him… pondered the girl while trying to crawl a little closer to get a better view. The man had his back turned to her, so she figured it would be safe, but she did not account for her own clumsiness. In the next step, she hit her head on a table in the center of the store. She let out a loud “Ouch!” and a candle tumbled from the table and fell on her head.
“Coco?” her mother yelped.
Coco quickly grabbed the candle and sighed with relief when she noticed that the fire had fizzled out. “I am fine, mom,” said Coco while showing herself. Her face was red from embarrassment.
“Coco! Your hair is on fire!”
“Huh!? Ahhh!” Coco started running around looking for a source of water, but before she could do anything, she heard the blue priest utter a single word “waschen”.
Coco felt like she was drowning under a river. A stream of water engulfed her entire body for a mere moment. Coco blinked, somehow the water was gone, the fire was out and she was completely dry.
“Are you okay, child?” The priest asked. He was holding a silver wand. However, after a simple wave, the wand vanished in the air.
“Amazing! What spell was that milord? Did you go to the Royal Academy? But priests don’t usually study magic, right?” Coco delivered one question after another without even taking a breath.
“It was a simple waschen spell, meant to clear impurities,” the priest responded smiling. “I did go to the Royal Academy, yes. Also, you are correct that not all priests studied magic, but it is not so uncommon nowadays.”
The nobleman scratched his chin with a pensive expression, then he knelt beside Coco to take a better look at her. “Curious, you seem to know a surprising amount about nobles.”
“Coco, what are you doing?” Coco’s mother stepped in covering her mouth. “Forgive me, milord. The girl is young and still learning manners.”
“That is fine. I am not offended”.
Now that the man was so close, Coco understood why he felt so familiar. She met him before.
“Milord, were you the priest that held my baptism ceremony last summer?” She asked after pushing her mother’s hand away from her mouth.
“I see, you were one of the baptized children, then? Now that you mentioned, I do remember you. You are the child that bought one our picture books with stories from the bible, correct?”
“You remember that!? I was just so impressed with all the magic in temple. I really wanted to learn more.”
Coco expression shone with delight just remembering the ceremony. They had traveled all the way to the temple in the capital, since the monastery near their house only had gray priests. Other three children from their village were also being baptized that way, so many people traveled together towards the city. They had to leave very early, because the walk would take hours.
The temple itself was a magnificent building completely made of white ivory. Once inside, Coco listened to the silver haired blue priest telling stories about the gods and the creation of their world. In the end, the priest prayed and gave them a blessing. Shiny red light flew from his ring and showered the awestruck children.
It was the first time Coco had seen a real-life blessing. After they returned home, the girl cried with the realization that she would never experience another baptism.
“What was your name again, child?” The priest asked
“Coco, milord.”
“I see. It is great to meet you again, Coco. My name is Qifrey.”
Coco felt her mother’s grip soften on her shoulder. This nobleman was surprisingly kind, which seemed to have eased her concerns.
“Since you two are already acquainted, how about you take Lord Qifrey’s order, Coco?” said her mother.
“Oh, can she?”
“Yes, Coco may be young, but she is quite the skilled craftswoman already.”
Coco was embarrassed by the sudden praise, but she did not want to waste the opportunity to spend more time talking with the priest, so she summoned her courage and approached him. “What do you desire, milord?”
“I wish to adjust these ceremonial robes to fit one of the apprentice blue shrine maidens on the temple,” said Qifrey as he handed over the robes to Coco.
As much as she wanted to bombard him with questions about magic, the girl knew she should take the order from a noble very seriously, so she contained herself.
She started tailoring the blue robes to the measurements he desired. Initially, she was nervous, since the cloth was made of expensive material and had an intricate design, however, as soon as she took a deep breath and concentrated on the work ahead, her hands started moving with freedom and intent.
“Oh? Impressive concentration,” remarked Qifrey while watching her work.
Coco finished adjusting the robes just as the 7th bell rang. Qifrey took them and appraised the results with a smile on his face. “Such precise handiwork and quickly done too. As far as I am concerned, this is real magic.”
“But milord, real magic is much more important, much shinier and more precious than this,” said Coco squealing with embarrassment.
“You really love magic, don’t you?” laughed Qifrey. “Very well then, I shall give you this as payment,” he said while taking a small rainbow-colored gem from his pocket and carefully enclosing Coco’s hands around it. “This is a feystone. You can easily sell it in the capital. Don’t accept less than five large silvers for it.”
“Milord, this is way too much!” interjected Coco’s mother
“I disagree. I believe it is an appropriate reward for a nice job done at such short notice.”
Coco could only gaze at the mana crystal in her hands with a dumb smile, and her mother said nothing more, as she knew better than to argue with a noble.
The priest turned around at the door and gave them a smile before leaving. “I pray that you live well with the divine protection of the gods until Dregarnuhr, the Goddess of Time, weaves the threads of our fates together once again.”
As soon as he left, Coco cradled the feystone around her chest and started running toward her room.
“Hey Coco, give me that thing! I will sell it next time I go into town.”
“Wait, mom. Let me have it just a while longer. Please?” Coco asked with a pleading expression.
“Ugh, fine. But you need to eat dinner now.”
Coco accepted and giddily came back down the stairs. She kept the crystal in her pocket all the time during dinner. While eating, Coco noticed her mother was staring at her. “Is something the matter, mom?”
“No, I am just grateful, you know.”
“What for?”
“You were always so obsessed with magic. I was somewhat afraid that, after your baptism, you would ask to join the temple as an apprentice shrine maiden. So, I suppose I am grateful that you are still here with me.”
“But of course, mom! I would never leave you like that.”
“You really are a kind girl, Coco,” Coco’s mother smiled and stroked her hair. After they finished their meals, they hugged and started heading upstarts to sleep.
As Coco was opening the door to her room, her mother called out to her. Coco thought she had a strange expression, as if deciding whether she should say something, but all she ended up saying was “good night, dear.”
As soon as Coco closed the door, she took the feystone out of her pocket and giggled while gazing at it. Then, she grabbed her magical book from its hiding spot under her bed. There was something she immediately thought of testing out as soon as Qifrey gave her the feystone.
Coco owned five books, which was an incredible amount for a commoner. However, four of these were simple printed books, without proper cover or binding, that she bought for relatively cheap. The picture book that she bought from Qifrey after her baptism was one of these.
Her first book was different. This one was a handwritten and illustrated book with an intricate hard cover that she acquired from a mysterious person at a harvest festival many years back. More importantly, she was confident that it was a magic tool.
The book no longer produced the shiny flying images she saw at that harvest festival, but there was still some magic on that object. Although a commoner like her could never fully understand or control such magic, the contents of the pages still changed depending on Coco’s mood. The book seemed to show her what she desired to see.
It was extremely lucky she even managed to have such a magic tool. It was her most prized possession.
The greatest evidence of the book’s value was the large gem at the center of the hard cover. The gem had a faded rainbow hue, which seemed to echo the glow of the feystone she just received.
She took a deep breath and started moving the feystone on her hand closer to the gem in the book, but a sudden anxiety took over her. By all rights, the unknown nature of the magic within the book should be the reason for concern, but, truthfully, she was terrified of the possibility that nothing would happen.
Coco wanted to keep dreaming. She wanted to believe that the miracles of magic were within reach of her hands. She wanted to believe that, even a commoner like her, could eventually come to understand the gifts left by the gods upon this world.
A part of Coco wished to stop, put away that magic stone and, thus, maintain the possibility that some day she could activate the book again. If she tried using the feystone now and nothing happened, all hope within her would be buried by the weight of reality. The unescapable reality that magic was not for people like her.
And yet, she could not bring herself to pull her hand away. As if answering the calls from the book itself, the girl closed her eyes, held her breath, and pushed the feystone against the gem.
For a while, she did not feel anything happening. With melancholy already seeping into her heart, she slowly opened her eyes. And then, she noticed. The color of the feystone was fading, while the glow of the gem on the book was getting brighter.
Coco could barely contain her excitement. Something was happening.
The feystone on her hand cracked and broke. The gem shone so bright that illuminated the entire room, and then the book forced itself open. The girl did not have time to process what was happening, all that occupied her mind was the bliss of seeing the magic blossom in front of her.
Magic! MAGIC! Magic! I am doing magic!
The pages of book were flipping by themselves, but it suddenly stopped on a page with a drawing of intricate circle. Inside the circle, there were many symbols that Coco did not understand, as well as the image of a large tree.
The circle filled with strange symbols leapt out of the page, shining and floating in the air. Coco gasped and then… nothing.
The circle was just floating there, emanating a faint rainbow glow.
Coco slumped in her chair. Seeing a magical circle floating in the air was exciting by itself, but the girl was sure that the true spell had not been activated yet.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. She went farther than expected, but, in the end, there were some barriers that commoners just could not cross. She suspected something would happen if she were to supply mana to that magic circle, but that was obviously impossible.
But then, a dangerous idea grew within her mind. She remembered that, during her baptism, the priests stamped the children citizenship medals with a drop of their blood to officially register them as citizens of the duchy. Coco knew there was some magic involved, so she later asked a gray priest in her village about it.
He had explained that they used blood to register the citizens because, even among commoners, blood contained small traces of mana. Every living creature in the country had some amount of mana, even commoners. It just was not enough to use magic, supposedly.
Coco quickly grabbed a needle that was in one of her shelves. The anxiety and eagerness were ravaging inside her. She pinched her index finger and slowly approached it to the floating magic circle.
Surely, nothing is going to happen. The amount of mana that I have in my blood should never be enough, but just maybe…
The words of the person that sold her the book echoed in her mind. They were the first to tell Coco that the wonder and beauty of magic were within reach. They told me I was allowed to dream.
The moment her hand touched the circle, her blood was drained and absorbed by the magical runes. The magic circle began to spin and grow, shining with incandescent rainbow lights. At this point, Coco could not pull her hand away even if she wished to. She felt as if her entire arm was being sucked by the spell.
The magic circle was growing and spinning at incredible speed. It shone even brighter and pillars of light began to shoot from different positions on the circumference of the circle, each with a different color.
Strands of magic arose from the center of the circle. They grabbed Coco’s arm and started enveloping her. The girl wanted to scream but her body did not obey. The magic that surrounded her felt cold, intrusive and numbed her senses.
Just as Coco began to feel her consciousness slip away, something grabbed her and removed the girl from the cold cocoon that was consuming her. A man in blue robes held her tightly and rushed out of the room. He jumped through the window, landed onto the rooftop and jumped again into the air. Coco was sure they were going to hit the ground, but a silvery deer appeared beneath them and broke their fall.
The man skillfully adjusted himself in the creature and grabbed the reins, while still holding Coco with the other hand, then they accelerated into the skies before she could process what was happening.
“L-Lord Qifrey?” Coco stammered, still shuddering from the cold.
“What magic circle did you activate?” Qifrey screamed while shaking her by the shoulders “Tell me, Coco! What spell did you cast?”
“I d-don’t know. I just used your feystone on the magic book I had and…”
The dreadful expression on Qifrey’s face interrupted Coco, but he was no longer facing her. When Coco turned to see what he was looking, she felt her heart sinking in her chest.
The magic circle was now bigger than her entire house. The pillars of light had disappeared, but now rainbow-colored lights were raining down. The magic circle flashed one last time and then vanished. For a second, everything was silent and still.
When Coco was about to sigh in relief, she noticed icy crystals growing on the rooftop of the house. They began spreading through the building at incredible speed. Amidst the chaos, Coco saw her mother opening the window on the second floor.
“MOM! RUN!”
“Coco? Where are you?
They managed to catch sight of each other for an instant. Coco watched the moment that the concerned and fearful expression on her mother face was eternalized on ice. Her entire body was crystallized and, soon after, the entire house became an icy monolith.
“No… This can’t be,” Coco’s entire world was spinning. She felt like her body was on fire, but the cold wind still cut like knife. Her head was being split into two and every muscle in her body twisted. She puked and cried, but the pain did not go away.
“What is happening?” Qifrey said as he grabbed the girl and put a hand on her forehead “You are burning up. Is this a side effect of that spell?”
Coco could not see anything through the tears in her eyes. Even the sound of Qifrey’s voice was distant. Mom… Dad… If I truly am dying, I wonder if the three of us will finally be able to be together.
“NO!” Coco screamed and grabbed Qifrey clothes, pushing him closer. “Mom isn’t dead yet! I have to save her! You need to help me!”
Qifrey stared at ear with wide eyes, his face twisting into a strange expression, before regaining the usual composure. Without saying a word, the man pressed a feystone against Coco’s forehead. The crystal shined for a few moments and then dissolved into golden dust.
“How?” Qifrey could only stare at the gold dust slipping through his fingers.
“HELP ME SAVE MY MOM!” Coco screamed through the pain.
“I understand your concern, Coco,” responded Qifrey with a grimace. “However, right now, you are still in danger. Close your eyes and draw slow, steady breaths.” He grabbed another feystone and pressed against Coco’s forehead. This time, the feystone lasted longer. Coco felt as if heat itself was being sucked from her body. Her breathing became more stable and her thoughts less chaotic, but the tears did not stop.
“Where is this enormous amount of mana coming from?” Qifrey muttered to himself, while the second feystone turned to golden dust in his hand. “Did that spell made her develop the devouring? But that… cannot be.”
“What? Mana? But I am just commoner,” Coco managed to say with a course voice, while wiping the tears from her face. She did not understand what he was talking about. However, the memories of the magic circle that she activated flashed in her mind. Just a few hours ago, Coco would be overjoyed to hear that she had gained mana, but now, she felt only confusion and regret.
The priest stared at her with a distant expression “I am sorry, Coco. Given the significance of the events that transpired here, I will need to report them to the Knight’s Order. If you escape punishment, the best you can hope for is being allowed to join the temple as a gray shrine maiden.”
“Join the temple? No, I c-can’t. I promised my mother I wouldn’t leave her”
“You have no other choice. As you just tasted firsthand, magic is a curse just as much as it is a blessing. That agony that you felt just now, it was mana sickness,” Qifrey said as he pressed a third feystone against Coco’s forehead.
As the feystone absorbed more of the mana inside Coco, she felt the pain in her head and body subside to a bearable amount. This time, the stone did not turn into dust “Good, it seems your mana has stabilized.”
Qifrey grabbed Coco by the shoulders and gently positioned her sitted in front of him atop the highbeast. Her trembling hands finally released his robes.
“In order to survive, you will need to frequently offer you mana to the divine instruments in the temple,” Qifrey said, his blue eye staring straight at Coco. “Mana in excess is poisonous to people. Noble children manage to survive only because they are given expensive magic tools that absorb their excess mana.”
“Do you understand it now? That is the only difference between nobles and commoners. All throughout the land, countless commoners are born with mana every year, but since they don’t possess the resources and knowledge that nobles have, they just perish without even understanding why. That is the dark reality of this country.”
Coco did not know what to make of all this information. There was only one thing on her mind that she knew she had to do “Lord Qifrey, I will go to the temple if I must, but please… is there anything I can do to save my mom?”
“I am truly sorry, Coco. I am sure that the Knight’s Order will handle the investigation as best as they can, and if you are sent to the temple, I will do everything I can to ensure that you are well-treated. I can promise no more than that.”
Coco felt her breath catch in her throat. Qifrey had the expression and tone of voice of someone consoling a grieving child. It was almost as if he believed that her mother was already dead.
“Wait! But there must be a way to undo that spell!” Coco cried “I still remember what the magic circle looked like. I used to read that book every day. There was a drawing of a tree in the middle, and I probably can draw from memory some of the other symbols.”
When Coco looked up at Qifrey, she could swear she saw a contorted smile flash through his face.
“Coco, where did you get that magic tool?”
“A strange person wearing a veil sold it to me at a harvest festival, a few years back. They were completely cloaked, and the veil had the drawing of a big eye. I couldn’t see much else.”
“Perhaps there still is… a chance.”
“A chance to save my mother!?” jolted Coco, feeling some of weight being lifted from her chest.
“Coco, do you still remember the contents of the book, right?”
“I do. Although the book seemed to change often and-”
“Are you willing to do anything to save your mother?”
“Of course!”
“Are you willing to learn?”
“L-learn? What do I need to learn?”
“Are willing to be reborn?”
Coco did not respond immediately to the bizarre question posed to her, because part of her had already understood what Qifrey meant. The young child could only muster a nod, accepting the fact that her life would be forever changed.
“If you truly wish to undo the foul magic that ensnared your mother, then your only choice is to follow the path of knowledge toward the holy land of magecraft. A land where only the highest of the nobility is allowed to enter.”
The highbeast flew upwards, escaping sight of the tragedy below and piercing the clouds. The cold wind whipped Coco’s hair and, for the first time in her life, the vastitude of the skies seemed closer than the certainty of the ground.
Just as the light of the moon illuminated Qifrey’s severe expression, a shooting star flew by behind him.
“Coco, from now on, you will be a noble of Yurgenschmidt.”