Hey, Hey!
Welcome back, one and all, to the gates of the ever-expanding world of Enverdolmal!
I hope that you all have been healthy and well.
I haven't had much time to write anything outside of the main story, so to speak, for a while, you know?
I figured it was just about time, and I have a lot of avenues I really want to explore in Volume Two!
Thank you all kindly for reading along and being so damned loyal.
You all are amazing, and I couldn't ask for a better Readership.
I will let you all get to what you came for, and I'll see you back here soon enough, yeah?
Enjoy!
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Two nights before the Mixed Magic & Melee Gala.
-
Professor Bicklebee was dead.
No fret, though.
He'd passed away quite some time ago, in fact.
50ish years, give or take.
His spirit floated through the silent, empty halls of Garth Verlore as all of the staff and students rested.
Every night without fail.
He covered nearly every inch of every ground.
This night was not unlike any other.
He would float about, whispering to himself as he "walked."
It was the same path over again that he had walked thousands of times during his lifetime.
The same path that he would walk thousands of times again in his death.
The students called him "The Creepy Old Man" or "Mr. C.O.M", simply because none of them knew his true name.
The staff referred to him as "The Word Wizard" and urged anyone who wasn't too freaked out by his presence to actually hear the wandering spirit out.
He was a pit of a poet in life, and thus carried over in his passing.
If one were to lend him an ear, one would most likely hear at least once his poetic waxing of himself before anything else.
The listen would be well worth the time traded.
His waxing would go a little something like this:
-
"I am a wizard.
A wizard of words...
And my magic is forged of my imagination's lexicon.
My dreams.
My journeys that I've been on.
-
My tongue is my wand, and with every word, a spell is cast.
A tale is told of moments past.
-
This heart of mine, so scarred from time
I've filled until there was no room
With spells and songs and many poems.
It's Kasi's lair.
My magic tome.
-
These words I use to light my way.
To heat a heart.
To start a war.
To mend a wound.
To move a soul.
Whatever I may need them for.
-
And years and years of magic use
Has strengthened my mind beyond its walls.
These little works, so easily wrought, can answer nearly every call.
-
With a flick of my tongue
And a wink of an eye
I can forge you a promise or list you a lie.
-
But I'd rather not cast what I know to be false
Because even we wizards are subject to cost.
-
I have spoken with spirits
My heart is their home.
And my guardian is a Faery
She guides my every turn.
-
I'm blessed by my God
To see good where it's hidden.
Compassion does rule me
Yet I'm not overridden.
-
My life has been long in its short 80 and 4
And many a test is there for me to explore.
-
But no matter the rain
The sleet
Storm or blizzard.
I'll carry on steadfast
For I am a wizard..."
-
And what could be made of those words?
Who can tell?
Those were scribed by a student who came and went some time ago, and that student's name has been lost to any known records that exist in the archives of Enverdolmal...
Why does the professor repeat these words?
What more did that student gleam from Professor Bicklebee that night?
Mayhap they went on to ask the Word Wizard for a shard of knowledge, as the legend goes.
Mayhap they were gifted some rare and amazing gift?
Again, who can tell?
No one else has ventured close enough to hear these words spoken on their own, or to earn his blessing in the form of whatever you would ask, since those words were recorded, or whatever he would pull from within the folds of his ethereal robes.
No one, that is, until just recently...
-
Tilda Thryn was an overly curious young Elven girl.
The first of those two facts had gotten her into a handful of problematic situations in her 12 years of living, and the second had gotten her discriminated against for the better part and blamed for the discrepancies anyway.
Either way, she had learned to lean into it.
She had heard plenty of stories about the ghostly old man who roamed the halls at night, and she wanted to see him for herself, regardless of the myriad warnings she had been given by her less-brave peers.
She wanted to hear his words spoken with her own little pointed ears.
She wanted to prove to not only herself, but her whole class that she was no coward.
She pressed her sweat-moistened forehead against the inside of her door, closing her eyes and counting in reverse from 20 to hold off her building nausea.
"Oi...why am I doing this? This is stupid! I am stupid! No, I am not... I am a coward, and that is even worse!"
Tilda thought to herself as she readied herself for what was to come.
The two girls behind her watched in horror as she slowly reached for the door.
"She is really going to do it!"
One said in hushed tones to the other.
The two girls clutched each other in a tight hug.
Tilda glanced over her shoulder and looked the pair up and down.
They shivered where they stood, fear and their own imaginations freezing them in place.
"Mayhap I am not so cowardly."
She thought to herself.
Just then, she thought she heard a faint voice approaching their door from down the hall.
"This heart of mine, so scarred from time
I've filled until there was no room..."
It said.
A part of his legendary poem, no doubt.
The Elven girl suddenly found that her body felt quite...strange.
Quite cold.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Her hands went clammy and damp.
He legs almost melted beneath the weight of her fear.
Tilda knew the two girls behind her were looking on, so she did her best to hide the abject terror she was experiencing, or at least to maintain a poker face.
She needed to force herself to do this before her body chose to run back to her bed for her.
She swallowed once, twice, then reached for the doorknob.
-----
Hey!
Welcome back to the gates to Enverdolmal!
Tilda Thryn was introduced in Volume One in a Special Presentation called
"Impromptu Lessons. Part 01."
If you all are interested in going back to check that one out!
I hope that this one was enjoyable, and that it holds you all over till the next Chapter Part drops soon!
Oi!
I forgot that I owe you all a couple of batches of Character Dives, and I will get those to you just soon as humanly -and inhumanly- possible.
You have my word.
I will see you all soon, yeah?
I hope so!
I love and appreciate you.
Safe travels as you move about this world, Folks.
And as always:
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
-Bluu.