But how could Diana and Rose have any idea what Professor Medea intended?
The two of them shook their heads, and Diana mumbled, "I just hope Professor Medea's end-of-term project isn't too hard."
Rose said quietly, "It shouldn't be that bad. Astronomy class is only an elective, after all…"
"Don't you two get too comfortable," Dark said, shaking his head. "Professor Medea isn't the type to go easy on anyone, and I'm fairly sure she mentioned that this Astronomy assessment will be counted toward the final overall grade."
Diana yelped, "Huh? She said that?"
Rose's face fell a little too. "I do have a vague memory of something like that…" she said uncertainly.
While the students were still arguing the point, the hands of the clock swept to half past seven and the bell rang out.
This time Professor Medea arrived precisely on the stroke of the hour.
As always she came flying in through the open ceiling aboard her Pumpkin Carriage, though the Blood Princess who usually snuck along behind her to class was still under confinement.
Medea Bartholomew stepped up into the chapel alone, raised her wand and gave a light flick toward the carriage, and crystal balls the size of a person's head came drifting out of the cabin from nowhere.
Another wave of her hand, and all twelve of them arranged themselves in a neat row before her.
With the students staring in bewilderment, Professor Medea narrowed her eyes and smiled. "The end of term crept up on us. My time here at St. Marian's Academy has been a pleasure, and I've enjoyed every moment with all of you.
"But counting tonight, there are only four Astronomy classes left this term. I know plenty of you would rather not face it, but what's coming comes. Tonight I'll be setting the final project of the term, and I expect you to complete it and submit it to me within one month."
Since she had let this slip well in advance, none of the students looked particularly surprised.
Professor Medea turned and wrote two words on the blackboard: "Constellations". "Tonight's project is constellations. I touched on them briefly in earlier lessons, but never in any depth.
"The movements of the sun, moon and stars govern the rise and fall of all things in this universe — even the fates of men. Constellations and Astrology have always been bound tightly together."
"We all know that every person is born under a corresponding constellation. Commonly, we call these the Twelve Houses of the Zodiac."
"Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces."
"The constellation we usually assign to a person is chosen from these twelve houses according to the moment of their birth."
"These twelve are the principal constellations, and the best known. But in truth, there are eighty-eight constellations in the heavens."
"In recent years, more and more Astrologers have found that the constellations of the Zodiac describe only the surface of a person's destiny. To truly read a person's fate, one must cast a wider net — one must study all eighty-eight."
"Astrologers designate the twelve constellations tied to a person's birth as the Outer Constellations, and the broader eighty-eight as the Inner Constellations."
"And our final project this term is those eighty-eight Inner Constellations!"
"You are to identify your own Inner Constellation, and use it to compose a prophecy covering the holiday period."
Professor Medea lifted her wand and tapped the row of twelve crystal balls before her. All at once, they began to divide.
When the division ended, a full eighty-eight crystal balls hung in the air.
She raised a hand, and the eighty-eight rose, then scattered, gathering like stars into an enormous star chart.
Emma, seated in the very front row, raised her hand.
Professor Medea said, "Metis. You have a question?"
Emma stood, as diligently as ever. "Professor, how exactly do we find our own Inner Constellation?"
Pleased by her cooperation, Professor Medea smiled. "There are many methods for determining an Inner Constellation. Every Astrologer has their own, and the results they arrive at differ accordingly.
"I generally prefer to create a Star Palace Labyrinth, and let people search out the constellation that belongs to them through their own hearts. That's precisely what we'll be working with tonight."
"A Star Palace Labyrinth," Emma said, curious. "Is it a kind of illusion?"
Professor Medea gestured for her to sit, then went on, "A good guess, though it's closer to a dream. When a person enters a dream, the inner and outer personalities separate, and one follows the true heart more readily. The dream will guide you to the constellation that suits you best."
"Tonight we have ninety minutes. I'll spend thirty explaining some fundamentals, then leave you the remaining sixty to go into the Star Palace Labyrinth and find your own Inner Constellation."
"I hope this journey through the Star Palace will let you glimpse your fate over the coming months, along with your constellation."
…
Professor Medea's voice never rose, yet her plain explanations drew the students in until they were leaning forward without noticing.
The secret of the "Inner Constellations", the mystery of the "Star Palace Labyrinth" — they savored every word.
Dark was every bit as curious.
He had known from the start that eighty-eight constellations existed, but "Outer Constellations" and "Inner Constellations" were clearly definitions unique to this world.
"By Professor Medea's account, the Outer Constellation is only the mask. The Inner Constellation is where a person's true fate lies."
"Let's see. I was born on the sixth of June, so on the surface I'm a Gemini of the Zodiac. But as for my Inner Constellation… Pegasus Meteor Fist? As long as it isn't Cancer, I'll take anything!"
Dark poked Eevee's little nose and said lightly, "Wonder what your Inner Constellation will turn out to be?"
Eevee-chan twisted her head away, making it clear she intended to pay attention in class.
…
Half an hour later, Professor Medea brought the introductory lecture to a close. She pointed, and the eighty-eight crystal balls shot out to ring the classroom, each spinning briskly under her control, giving off a nebulous starlight that linked into an intricate array.
Professor Medea glanced at the rows of expectant faces below, the corner of her mouth curving. "Relax your minds. Don't resist. I'm about to take you into the Star Palace Labyrinth, and set you on the journey through the Star Palace."
Her voice grew light and airy, and a strange chanting rose from her lips, spreading through the whole classroom on a swell of magic power.
At the heart of each of the eighty-eight crystal balls, the pattern of a constellation slowly kindled.
From the center of the array, a nebula-like radiance streamed outward.
The entire star chart began to turn, and became a deep, fathomless night sky.
Beneath that sky the little Magic Guide Masters emptied their minds, eyes drifting slowly shut.
Eevee-chan glanced back at her master, whose eyes were already closed, then copied him, flattening herself on the desk and shutting her own.
The starlight raining down from above wrapped her up along with the rest.
A wave of mysterious power spread outward.
Every consciousness in the room save Professor Medea's was drawn away into a world like a dream.
…
Dark felt his mind rinsed clean, his whole body gone weightless. When he opened his eyes again, he was somewhere else entirely.
"So this is the Star Palace Labyrinth?"
Coming back to himself, he saw that he stood in a world crowded with mirrored surfaces.
The whole place seemed split into countless shards, and the fractured mirrors threw back light in every color.
Red, green, yellow…
Colors beyond counting tangled together and struck straight into his brain.
It took Dark a good half minute for his eyes to adjust to the shattered world and its endless hues.
Then he looked down at himself, and discovered that in this world he had become something small and thoroughly furry.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The shock of it didn't frighten him in the least. He only felt a twitch at his temple as he peered down at his own limbs.
He was still standing upright, but his arms and legs had gone absurdly short, and when he lifted a paw there were soft pink beans tucked into the pad — the sort of thing that begs to be pressed against someone's cheek.
"What am I, a cat? A dog?"
Dark tried a couple of steps and found his four limbs badly out of sync; he lurched from side to side, unable to control it no matter what he did.
He accepted the arrangement quickly enough, then hunted through the surrounding mirrors until he found one that gave a clean reflection, and finally got a look at himself.
The boy in the mirror had become a short-legged cat with golden fur.
It blinked at the glass, and a pair of emerald Cat Eyes shone back.
…
"He turned into a cat, of all things?"
Seated behind the lectern, Professor Medea looked at the adorable feline displayed on her desktop and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
A proper Star Palace Labyrinth had no clause about turning everyone who entered into a small animal — but where would be the fun in an ordinary one?
Watching these little Magic Guide Masters, who spent their days playing at being grown-ups, go tottering about the labyrinth as cuddly little creatures was endlessly entertaining.
Her gaze shifted, and the projection on the desk cut to the others.
Diana had become a white-furred [Little Bear], Rose a pink rabbit, Emma an otter with prominent front teeth, Robert a shaggy puppy, Virt a round-headed fawn…
Every little Magic Guide Master who had entered the Star Palace Labyrinth was working their stubby legs for all they were worth, wobbling along in a way that was both ridiculous and precious.
"Wait a moment!"
Her brow twitched. She had spotted an anomaly.
A brown-haired little darling, perhaps two or three years old, was toddling forward through the labyrinth.
…
Little Eevee stared at her reflection, lifting her chubby little hands in front of her face and turning them over and over, and only after a long while did she accept that she had taken human form.
While every human had turned into a small animal, the one small animal to enter the Star Palace Labyrinth had turned into a human.
She blinked, working hard to get used to walking upright, then set off through the dreamlike world with a blank look, searching for a path.
This journey through the Star Palace lasted only sixty minutes.
Anyone who failed to find their own Inner Constellation within that hour would have nothing but their imagination to fall back on for the great end-of-term project.
Which, naturally, would never earn a high mark.
Still, Astronomy was fundamentally an elective, and there was no such thing as "failing" it. No one had to worry about mandatory make-up lessons next year — at worst the score would be low, and the transcript would look a little unsightly.
For an Eevee, there was even less to worry about.
And yet her Covet for a high mark ran no weaker than any student's.
As the only Magic Guide Spirit under Dark's command permitted to attend classes, she never said so aloud, but she had always carried a quiet pride about it.
Wednesday evening's Astronomy class was the hour she looked forward to most all week.
The studying was terribly hard, but she applied herself with complete seriousness.
And anyone who pours in more effort than the rest naturally wants a harvest to match — and praise from the person they care about.
That was exactly how Eevee-chan felt.
On top of that, she hoped that by showing results she might convince Dark to keep taking Astronomy in his second year as well.
After five or six minutes of hard searching in the Star Palace Labyrinth, Eevee stopped abruptly before one mirror. Some feeling she couldn't name drew her to it; she reached out to touch the surface, and the mirror swallowed her whole.
…
The world shifted.
After a long stretch of observation, Dark Demon reached into one of the mirrors as well.
His palm passed through without the slightest resistance, and he understood at once: every mirror here was a door leading somewhere else.
He didn't hesitate long. Swaying on his furry little body, he stepped into the surface before him.
Once through, the scenery in his field of vision changed completely.
A world appeared before him with far fewer broken mirrors and far fewer colors than the one he had first entered.
Dark turned to look back and found that the mirror he had just come through had vanished without a trace.
That didn't rattle him. He circled the area twice, picked another mirror, and stepped through.
After several such crossings, he noticed the fractures around him growing fewer and fewer, the screens of rainbow color fading away. The world grew plainer for it, and the paths forward dwindled, until at last only one remained, running straight to the end.
Without hesitation he walked into that branchless passage and followed its winding course.
He had no idea how long he walked.
Walls rose quietly on either side of the corridor, then turned transparent, and at some point became smooth mirrors.
He turned his head, and the glass threw back countless copies of himself.
A thread of dread stirred somewhere inside him.
Dark snapped his head forward, keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
He couldn't be certain whether his classmates' journeys resembled his own. But in that instant when he had looked aside—
That one direct glance into the mirror had shown him a horror stretching out without end, as though countless versions of himself, on countless world lines, were all marching forward in step.
— Only one who has glimpsed fate can perceive the terror of fate.
____
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