Two days and 15 hours to go.
Kaelith's story was ending soon and Corvus felt like a knife was twisting in his stomach. As quickly as Valerica had passed on the message, she left him.
Anyone who receives the news that their cousin and friend was dying, would go spend time with them. But Kaelith didn't show up for sword practice. He perhaps wanted to be alone.
So Corvus had to make other plans. He talked to Ilyana, asking about Valerica's whereabouts. If the future matriarch was at the palace then his plan would fail without a doubt. Fortunately she was away in the city.
Standing in front of his sister's door, he opened it and closed it behind him. There were all kinds of underwear and clothes on her bed. She clearly did not expect guests.
"Ignore it," he said to himself.
Every member of the royal family was well educated and they each had bookshelves in their room. Corvus' was filled with history books. Valerica's was filled with all kinds of magical knowledge that he craved. From sigils, to magic theory and a whole lot more. It was a goldmine.
Ignoring ones with any mention of poison or web magic, he grabbed two books.
"The basics of sigils and advanced magical theory."
Those two would suffice.
Footsteps were echoing down the hall, stopping in front of the room he was in. Before he could hide under the bed, the stranger opened the door.
His teacher who was also the head maid walked in. Floating letters were orbiting around her left hand; her only means of communication.
"Sneaking into Lady Valerica's chambers," Ilyana crossed her arms, "It seems your adventure yesterday made you bold and foolish."
The letters rearranged into new words.
"Why are you here?"
Corvus held the two books behind him. But he shook his head.
"I'm not telling you," he said.
Ilyana raised her eyebrow.
"If that is what you wish, however, I will tell Lady Valerica about your trespassing."
Corvus nodded.
"You do that."
He left the room with two books in his shirt behind his back. Wasting time wasn't on his agenda. There was one place he was absolutely sure he wouldn't be bothered. The sacred pond Memoria.
There were ponds all over the world tree, Lessaril. Memoria was situated above the palace and was a 30 minute walk for Corvus. A few guards patrolled the web road to the pond. Around the pond however, it was empty.
Dipping his feet into the cold clear water, he picked up a book.
"The basics of sigils," Corvus read out loud.
The wind was blowing against him, a chill running down his spine as he took another bite out of an apple. According to the book each magic type had a different corpus. Ice magic had a snowflake, web magic had a spiral and so on.
"Magic is casted by drawing the corpus in various ways."
His visage was peaking from his shoulder.
Mind magic's corpus was an eyeball. Wanting to try it out, he realized he was missing a key detail.
He flipped through the pages, searching for it.
"How do I draw it?" he said in confusion.
None of the methods he came up on his own worked. Tracing an eyeball with his vision or using his finger didn't work.
He sighed.
The only solution was to visit Priscilla again but that was unlikely to happen under Lyssandra's watchful eyes.
Someone was humming a song. It was a sad yet beautiful melody.
Corvus could feel goosebumps as the tune reached his ears.
The singer reached the end of the road and stopped.
"Hello Corvus."
A woman wearing a black kimono was walking towards him. Her visage was a black widow. She was royalty. She was his cousin, the one who will eat Kaelith.
"Elana?"
She nodded. Putting her belongings on the ground, she sat down next to him. She slipped off her slipper and dipped her pale feet in the water. She played with the water for a second.
"You've heard about the news," she said softly.
"What are you doing here?" he said.
Elana used to play with him when he was younger but once he became friends with Kaelith, she stopped. Now that she was killing his best friend she wasn't his favorite person in the world.
"I came to continue a tradition that has been in our family for generations."
She stared off at nothing in particular. Corvus followed suit.
"Traditions are important, don't you agree?" She broke the silence.
Corvus didn't want to answer but Elana wasn't looking for an answer.
She took out a scroll and some ink.
"Traditions are guidance from our ancestors. A way to learn from them," she dipped the brush into the ink, "Traditions are often written in blood."
Elana opened the scroll and began writing on it. Corvus stared at the scribbling.
After a few sentences, the meaning became clear to him. It was a letter. The letter spoke about Kaelith and how much he meant to Elana. How sad she was. How she felt like a monster for having to eat him.
Corvus scowled. It was hypocritical of her to feel sad.
"You look mad," Elana said as she continued to write.
"Why don't you make a new tradition? One where you don't have to eat your own sibling."
"If only it was that easy," Elana's voice quivered slightly, "What if the price of that is the fall of our kingdom?"
"Is that really what this is about?" he scoffed.
Elana slumped her shoulders.
"I have no idea. Maybe it's about nothing," she let out a sad chuckle.
Corvus stared at his cousin. She looked tired, not only physically but also mentally.
"I'm sorry Corvus."
She got up and closed the scroll, tying it with a piece of silk thread. Removing her clothes, leaving herself in just underwear, she jumped in the pond holding the scroll.
The pond was deep. Her figure kept growing smaller and smaller as she descended into darkness.
Elana was gone for a few minutes and then she rose to the surface, taking a deep breath.
"What was that for?" Corvus asked.
Memoria was said to be connected to another world but Corvus didn't believe that.
She put her clothes on and stood up, "Tradition."
Her gaze lingered on the books next to him.
"Sigil books I see?"
Corvus nodded.
"This book irks me," she said.
She picked up the basics of sigils.
"It doesn't say how you're actually supposed to cast magic. Sure we all are born knowing it but this book should explain it for the sake of clarity."
Her words surprised him. He had never seen her annoyed before.
"Just write a single sentence that says you draw the sigil with all three eyes in unison."
Corvus' eyes sparkled with delight. three eyes in unison. He never considered trying that. His visage was a black widow so he had 10 eyes in total.
Standing up, he hugged Elana. It took her by surprise as she tensed up but eventually she wrapped her arms around him.
"I'll see you at Kaelith's ceremony," she said as she walked down the road to the palace.
He didn't respond. Instead he focused on casting the corpus of mind magic. Drawing the corpus made him feel mana for the first time. One of the eight eyes on his spider glowed with pink mana.
A small white mist materialized in front of him.
"What does it do?"
He touched it and it dissipated into nothingness.
Corvus groaned. He needed to know the exact way to alter the corpus to actually cast a spell. Throwing the book on the ground, he stared at the pond.
"I didn't see her come back up with her scroll."
Curiosity got the best of him. Could there be more scrolls down there? He took off his clothes.
"Fuck it," Corvus jumped into the water.
He was a mediocre swimmer but he managed to get to the bottom of the pond.
There were hundreds of scrolls lying on the floor. Corvus grabbed a handful and swam back up to the surface.
The first one had weird writing that seemed familiar. The writing was similar to this world's language but different in some parts.
"The year is 1237 and I ate my brother," Corvus read out loud.
He tossed it back in.
"What did I expect?"
Picking up the last one he gasped. It wasn't written in Lessaril's language.
"This is English."