//------------------------------// // All Knowing and Completely Unaware // Story: The Sun and the Clover // by BG9 //------------------------------// "Are you ok?" Sunset asked as they exited "I am. Just a bit shaken up is all." "That's natural. To be honest I'm a bit rattled myself. Just go back and get some rest ok?" "I will. Thank you Sunset." Sunny heads back in the direction of Kindness house while he and his new best buds for life followed him to Generosity House. "So what were your names again?" he asked "Lyra Heartstrings." the green haired woman said "Bonbon." said the other "It's a pleasure to meet you." "What kind of magic do you both specialize in?" he asked "You both look like you're armed for magic armageddon." We're both very versatile, drawing on a verity of different magic schools," Lyra said "But if I had to choose my strongest suit, it'd be a type of illusionary music magic called Breath of the World." "I am best at a school of magic called cataclysm magic." said Bonbon "I also specialize in spacial magic." "Spacial magic?" "Yes. Basically I can create another space with my magic alone. It's why I need staffs. It requires quite a lot of mana. Care for a demonstration?" "Absolutely." Bonbon pulls one of the staffs out of the bag wrapped around her shoulder. It appeared to be made of a grey wood and had a tall jagged pink gem. She set the base on the ground and a large, intricate circle of light formed beneath them. He blinked and was in a log cabin, complete with a roaring fireplace, a kitchen, and a bed. "That is incredible." Anon said in awe "Not only is this 100% real, we're also in another plain of reality known as Closed Space. Meaning that if you're ever in danger I can whisk you away to this place and your would-be assassin would have to travel the multi-verse in order to find us." Bonnie said with a smug smile "That's absolutely amazing." Bonbon was clearly appreciative of the attention "I'm glad you think so. I guess you could say that Lyra is brawn and I'm the brain. There's no fight Lyra can't win and there's no situation I can't escape from. Together we're a perfect team." "I feel a lot safer about my chances of getting through this now. This magic really is impressive." Bonbon tapped the ground with her staff and the scene around them melted away, as if pouring water onto fresh paint. Lyra looked around. "So which house did you end up in?" she asked "Generosity." "Not bad, not bad. Bonbon and I are both in Magic House." They began to head back towards Generosity House "So what's Magic House like?" Bonbon's eyes got a glint in them and she got a spring to her step "It's absolutely amazing. Only the best of the best students get selected for Magic House, hence the name. All of the students there and talented beyond words." she gushed "And some of the magic I've seen is beyond interesting." "I love the Headmistress too." Lyra said "She's very nice. A bit of a perfectionist. But really laid back all things considered." In a few minutes they reach Anon's house and he heads up to the room. Lyra leaned next to the door. "I'm going to watch right here. Bonbon will keep guard inside." "Sounds good." Bonbon said "We'll switch in two hours." Once inside, Bonbon takes out a short wand and starts writing runes in light around the perimeter of the the room. "What are you doing?" "This is what's called a barrier. It's an offshoot of basic rune magic. Right now I'm writing terms on conditions. Essentially whatever I specify in this writing will determine who can and can't cross the barrier. Of course one can always use a counter spell, which would take a considerable amount of time, or just brute force their way in. But that would take a considerable amount of magic power to do. So you can rest assure that next to no one will be able to enter without my say so." Wallflower, Trixie, and Coloratura are all sitting on their beds with strange looks on their faces. "Who are your new friends?" Trixie asked Anon explains the situation to them, leaving them only more confused than before. "That can't be possible though." Coloratura said, shaking her head in disbelief "No one can survive sealed away that long. The Greater Magic surely would have siphoned away all their mana by that point!" "I don't know the entire story. But I'm planning to delve in the crest memories again and hopefully find out." Coloratura got a bit giddy at the idea "This is so exciting. A first hand account from Clover's perspective! A lot isn't known about her due to poor record keeping back then. Make sure to tell me so I can write it all down." "I promise I will." Bonbon finally finishes the barrier. "There we go. I've taken pretty much everything I can into account. However do be on your guard. I can't think of literally everything in existence. So always keep an eye out for trouble." They all nod. Bonbon removes the satchels full of staffs and sits against the door. "So this is Generosity house huh? First time I've ever been here. It's quite nice." "Are students not allowed to visit other houses?" "They can only visit by way of invitation. By that I mean an actual written or spoken invite. It's a code of honor that predates our recorded history. Some ancient custom among early mages." "Mages really do have quite a rich history." "That we do." Anon turns too his bunkmates "Do any of you know how to activate crest memories?" Wallflower nods "Yes, but you shouldn't attempt it on your own, not yet anyway." Wallflower explained "First you need to learn how to exchange mana" "Activating crest memories uses mana?" "No. But it does use information, something the Greater Magic also has it's all seeing eye on. If you're not careful it can steal the crest memories as well." Anon pulls up a chair and sits down "Can you explain that to me? What exactly is the Greater Magic?" She shrugs "It's a very complicated concept, something that takes years of study." she said "Even then we still don't entirely understand it. It exists outside of space and time. It knows all, yet is unaware. It's from where all life begins, and all life ends and where mana originates. We're not even sure how humans were able to access the Greater Magic to begin with but we know that magic originated from it. They would've done it during the time humans were still drawing pictures on cave walls. And yet in the modern era we can't access it for more than a few seconds." "It almost sounds like a God." "That's one way of looking at it. But it seems less like a God and more akin to a force of nature, like a black hole or a hurricane. It doesn't think about it what it's doing, it just does it." "How do you know so much about it?" "My father. He actually created Memory Magic by mistake. His real goal was, and still is, to access the information contained within the Greater Magic." "That sounds dangerous." "Beyond so, especially when it comes to information. My dad had five people on his team. Three of them had their brains fried to the point where they became vegetables, unable to do anything other than eat through a tube. The rest went into a state of madness, babbling incoherently." she said "My dad was the only person lucky enough to escape with his mind in tact. This is why it's important you either have someone to anchor your information or are able to do it on your own. The most pressing fear is that the crest will overtake you. You will lose all your memories and have them replaced with Clover's. Sort of a psudo reincarnation. The other outcome is that the Greater Magic will steal the memories and magic of the crest, removing the very concept of Clove the Clever from the memories of not only you, but everyone." "That's absolutely nuts." "It is, which is why you need to wait before accessing them. If you're not careful, the results will be catastrophic." "You mean you can't do it?" "I can but I've only been trained to anchor myself. I wouldn't even know how to anchor someone else." "Do you know anyone who would know?" "I bet Miss Glimmer would. She is the head Illusion teacher. But she won't get here till school proper starts." Anon sighed. He was getting impatient. He wanted to know the secrets of Clover. To find out why he of all people was granted such an important power. And what her goal was. "Might I offer a suggestion?" Bonbon asked "What's suggestion?" "I know someone who specializes in Magic Crests. She's a bit... how should I put it... off the books." she said "She will be able access all of the crest memories. She'll demand a price, but the opportunity to see Clover the Clever's past will be more than sufficient." "Really? When can we see her?" "Her shop is closed for today, but I'd be happy to take you tomorrow." "Excellent. Thank you Bonbon." "Happy to help." That night Anon had the strangest dream. He was standing in a forest with trees so tall he couldn't see the tips of them. Directly in front of him was a small circular stone house with a metal gate. The gate depicted the sun and the moon joining together at the top. In the center was a lion with it's jaws around the joined sun and moon. The gate opened into a pitch black room with a single sound emanating from it. Hundreds of rattlesnakes, shaking their rattles angrily. With an unusual sense of relaxation, he stepped inside and the door shut behind him. It was so dark he couldn't even see his own hand, the only thing he could hear was the rattles, drilling into his head like jack hammers. Even through the darkness he could just barely make out the silhouette of a figure in the center of the room. The figure uttered four words. He strained to make them out over the rattling, but to no avail. Then, like lightning, the snakes attacked him in unison. He jolted awake, covered in a cold sweat. What in the world was that? He turned his head too the window to see the sun just barely peaking over the clouds. Wallflower had fallen asleep on the desk, a book her pillow while the others were softly snoring in their beds. Anon tip toed to the door and opened it, finding Bonbon just outside. The way she sat was eary. She sat crisscross, her glossy, empty eyes staring at the wall without so much as blinking. Her body was perfectly still except for her chest rising and falling. It was like she was a doll. Anon reaches his hand to her shoulder. Before it made contact he had a staff to his throat. "Easy, easy! It's me!" Bonbon breaks out of her trance "I apologize, I didn't mention this." she said, cracking her neck "Don't touch me when I'm in this mode. I give my loosely conscious body rules that if anything disturbs it, it is to attack the target. Luckily I managed to get a hold of myself just in time. Otherwise you'd be missing your head right now." Anon's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Oh shit." "Oh shit is right. In the future, communicate with my conscious through this." Bonbon handed him a circular gem that was blue in color. It was rather warm to the touch, as if it had been left on a heater for a while. "What's this?" "It's an stone I enchanted that allows people to communicate with my my consciousness in Closed Space." "Thank you." Bonbon gives a big huge stretch. "You go ahead and get ready. Then we'll go see the Lady of Dreams."