Augusta's eyes snap toward the empty air like she can actually see the two invisible voices.
"SHUT UP!" she screams, her voice cracking through the obsidian office like a whip. "I can
hear you two rambling!"
The Male Narrator freezes mid-sentence. "Wait — she can hear us?!"
The Female Narrator squeaks. "I didn't know someone could hear us!"
"Well I can," Augusta warns, leaving Vesper and Viera confused, looking up and trying to find
whoever Augusta is talking to.
Jocelyn teleports back to the chandelier, treating it like the cockpit of a ship. "Oh I think she's
talking to the narrators. Many people in Wonderland can hear heck we even have legends
about them, untraceable voices that just keep on talking. My sisters can hear them. Me?
Well I'm not that crazy yet," Jocelyn explains as she swings the chandelier
omni-directionally..
"Oh I thought she heard someone whisper outside her office. You know she does have that
Ikos that lets her hear any conversation that brings up her name," Viera whispers to Vesper
who chuckles.
"So you realize that I can hear your whispers right," Augusta warns, the chilling in the air
returning as Vesper's group stands stock-still. Even Viera 's flames stop flickering. She
finally looks at Vesper. "You will receive your sanctions later, as you have been appointed as
the head of a group that will tour an anonymous guest around Hearthstone."
"I? LEAD? YOU MUST BE MISTAKEN!!" Vesper moves forward towards the table, Viera
trying to stop her. "I'm just a first year high school student and I have a very notorious record,
this can't be your idea of a punishment right, Secretary Augusta I really can't manage a
group of 30 people that I also confided in you on how I don't like taking lead positions and
how they remind me of some of my relatives ." Vesper argues intensely, hands planted on
Augusta's desk threatening to blow away the paperwork all over it.
"Calm down, I know you don't like being a group leader but don't worry it's just a small group
of first year high school students that I'm sure you'll be familiar with," Augusta clarifies,
signaling Vesper to move back by gently moving her arms off the desk. "Plus it's also a joint
operation, and I didn't come up with this either. For further information go meet Head of
Communications Adejare Fashola she has the details of the tour and everything," Augusta
sighs in relief as she returns to her writing.
Vesper and Viera look at each other in shock at Augusta's consideration of Vesper's fears.
"Oh, thank you for considering me, weeeee shall be on our way then," Vesper waves
awkwardly as she and the rest are about to leave Augusta's office.
"Wait, Jocelyn should stay behind and before you meet Fashola you should assemble your
group. Here are the names of the members," she hands them the paper she's been writing
on. "Assemble a small welcome crew Consisting of Viera Little Match Girl, Liesl Brigitta the
Lazy Tailor, Jocelyn Valjubi the Jester of Hearts, and Emmerich Orion Wilhelm to provide a
protective tour for the child an anonymous member of the CZP, report to the Head of
Communications for full tour details. Due to… unexplained circumstances." Augusta orders.
Jocelyn pouts dramatically. "But I wanted to cause chaos—"
"Stay."
The rest of them file out; Vesper and Viera. Jocelyn stays, waving like she is being The building rises like a living cathedral of books — shelves that move on their own, pages
that whisper when no one is looking, books flying with wings of all kinds, shelves, desks and
chairs floating, giant globes on the ceiling, floors with no stairs leading to them and librarians
at every corner. At the main entrance desk stands Elara "Skinless" Duvalier, the Soucouyant
Librarian. Albino Trinidadian skin glowing faintly, fiery red-and-yellow hair frozen mid-flare,
pure white eyes with no pupils. She is calmly operating the computer at the desk in a simple
earth-toned dress.
Vesper steps forward. "Madam Elara, we need to find Mord, Emmerich Orion Wilhelm, the
Astronomer brother. He's… somewhere in here."
Elara smiles politely — the kind of smile that makes you check if your soul is still attached.
"Mord? The Astronomer boy? He's in the rafters again. Third level, smut section." One of her
eyes flashes white and she points upward towards one of the globes that has a section in it
without looking. Vesper and Viera thank her, and begin making their way towards the globe
by going to the nearest teleporter and inputting Erotica's Globe, as the machine activates.
"Ah this Scenery so Scholarly, The Grand Chronicle Library lives up to its reputation,
established a few hundred years after this institution was created to serve as a permanent
store of knowledge of all kinds of information, look at the sheer beauty of its interior design,
muuah, muaah, I wish I could witness physically for myself, look at that dragon carving at the
edge of that floating shelf," the Male Narrator explains as he gushes over the Magnificence
of the Library.
"Yeah that most be a section on Asian stories of some sort, the teleporters machine are
really handy, and they seem simple to operate like an elevator of some sorts, and they quite
a lot of them around, I'm guessing because there may be a lot of sections someone can't
access normally and this place is also huge with the many kinds of pillars and multi-cultural
architecture and designs," the Female Narrator says as she examines the layout of the
library.
Sure enough, Emmerich (Mord) floats upside-down between two shelves, nose buried in a
book.
Viera floats closer. "What are you reading there Mord it's not like you to waste magic floating
like this?"
"Oh it's you Little Matchstick, and Vesper too well this book is kind of a romantic on body
horror, you girls should give it a read it's not far off from the murder stories you both love
reading," Mord recommends as he floats down landing perfectly on his feet and picking his
glasses floating in the air.
"From the erotica section hard pass I'm sure those kinds of stories are nothing but materials
for corrupting easy minds," Vesper shrugs in disgust.
"Well I'll have it, my mental psyche was already broken when I died a few years ago. What
harm could this do," Viera says as she reaches for the book floating towards Mord.
"Then I will check it out at the main desk," Mord says as he keeps the book out of Viera 's
reach causing her to fly circles around him a couple times.
"Oh You found him." "You know I see everything in this library," Elara says softly. "Including
the parts hidden in the shadows by the light, the magnificence of the Library oozes." She
collects the book from Mord to check it out as borrowed.
Mord adjusts his glasses and glances at Elara's arms. "Are those scars on your arms Lady
Elara they're quite clear? Aren't you going to hide them? Many who know what you are
would think you had quite the struggle on your night escapades." "Hmm I'm not too bothered, people think a lot of things about me, my albinism, eyes and my
unknown origin, my scars as you know are from squeezing through small spaces. They help
me chase the right people away and bring in people like you all every once in a while."
"Yeah right, the right people, " Vesper says, confronting Elara. " Villains like us don't usually
attract the right people, you know?"
"Not all villains are bad people, Miss Valory. Some are simply the ones the tale needed to
lose. Rebellion is only evil if the story says so," Elara rebuts as she clicks on the computer
one final time.
" Alas Lady Valory, you have people like Viera around you from the crowing of the morning
cock to the first hoot of the Night owl, aren't they the right people for you?" Elara adds as
Vesper folds her arm in frustration as she looks away from Elara.
Vesper's fingers form a fist as she gets embarrassed after pondering the words of Elara for a
few seconds and looks at Valory.
"Don't worry Vesper, I understand you, knowing the right people is pretty hard. I for one
never found them before I bit the cold, freezing dust," Viera assures as she pats Vesper's
shoulder.
"Miss Elara that's beside the point, you should be healing those wounds with the sorcery,
spells, techniques and Magic inscriptions today you should be able to heal those wounds
instantly," Mord declares as he moves towards the table pulling out his wand to try and cast
a spell on the scars.
"I'm sorry Mord but I have to wear my wounds," Elara says as she signals to Viera and
Vesper to take Mord away as she hands them the book. They drag Mord away who keeps
on inquiring why she has to wear her wounds as they leave the main entrance of the library.
"Oh look like they are finally leaving the library, the librarian is a soucouyant right, they are
vampire like creatures that take human skin in the day and shed them in night, and that
ghastly boy Mord, not only does he have the galls to check out such a book but also press a
woman on her scars, with his looks you would think he his a gentleman but he is anything
but that and that Viera girl my image of her has really crashed a girl liking erotica, eugh eugh
ugh," the Female Narrator lamented, clearly irritated at the scene that had just unfolded.
Quiet down, the reader doesn't want to hear your whining, they want to know things like why
does Viera keep on mentioning her death, how is she dead? Scars, why does Elara have
scars and why does she refuse help on healing them? Could you try to explain these to the
reader, my lovely partner?" the Male Narrator notes.
"Hmm, well firstly Viera is the Little Match Girl so dying early is entirely plausible for her, and
Elara is a soucouyant so she would definitely have scars, I think they both victims of Narrator
inertia, you know an unknown force that pushes people to fulfill their story roles and follow
their stories lore, I this case it must have made Viera fulfill her role at a young age and forces
Elara to keep her scars by stopping her from healing it, but still I feel like this story will better
if Rosalind was the main character, and Villains like Elara and Vesper don't deserve the
hmmm, hmmmgh the right c-o-m-p-a-n-y," the Female Narrator explains while giving her
opinion.
"Ughh we'll see," the Male Narrator shrugs. "Well looks like the gang has made it to the
Quiet Quarter, and seem to be having a discussion."
"I just don't understand there are many methods for which she could heal her scars and not
need to be in pain all the time," Mord says as he collects the paper given to them by Augusta
from Viera, his blank expression never changing as he reads the details of the tour. "Well she didn't look like she was in pain, Mord and maybe just maybe something happened
to her as she tried like what happened to you as you tried to artificially increase your vim but
end up losing parts of your brain as well as your emotional intelligence," Viera argues.
Mord still wearing his blank expression prays "Hmm that makes sense but I hope as I can't
feel shame or love so can she feel the pain of those scars,"
They walk past a bunch of empty lecture halls, "the quiet quarter lives up to its name
especially around this time when everyone is just resuming and classes haven't begun."
Vesper says pointing at some of the empty lecture halls.
"Yeah, mostly if the halls in it weren't so loud and crowded, like Liesl hall, that place is an
absolute mess most of the time." Viera adds as they approach a large residential building
filled with students.
"The Quiet Quarter a part of Glen Hearthstone Atheneum filled to the brim with faculties and
classes, they seem to be approaching a hall, quite a huge one at that," the Male Narrator
chimes in.
"A hall in the Quiet Quarter, a part of Glen Hearthstone Atheneum filled with classes and
lectures, would in retrospect be expected to be a calm residential hall. It was anything but.
The massive building seemingly filled with both male and females roars with noise — jungle
rooms, floating clothes, shoes, underwear and the occasional rubbers, music blasting from
somewhere. A real public domain hall if you ask me," the Female Narrator says as she
describes the hall half in disgust and half in surprise.
"But I'm sure you'll love a place like this. It matches your chaotic spirit nicely" Mord says,
seemingly mocking her.
Viera knows Mord is incapable of mocking her due to his condition, so he is genuinely
offering advice " nah I'll pass, this kind of chaos is not my brand."
At the front entrance are a few grosses of clothing line and in the middle of them is Chancey
Claire "Chicken Little", the Rooster, blazing red-gold feathers puffed, comb high, tail fanned
like she owns the yard.
She spots them instantly and clucks loud enough to echo. "Hey what brings you to our Hall,
are you looking for someone I hope it's not me, I don't think I could match you all's fiery!
Energy this afternoon"
Viera laughs. "No, we're here for Bridge, you know the girl with long hair that moves. She's
in the rich kids wing."
Chancey's beak clicks. "Oh, the introvert bridge ,it would be quite the struggle to get her out
of her room, I wish I could help you but I'm out here scouting a thief, they've been real active
lately swiping clothes nilly willy off them lines, I'm gonna catch wrung them up and give them
a what-for."
"Good luck then" Vesper waves as they enter the luxurious single-room section for legacy
students.
"This place looks so different from the rest of the hall are we sure they haven't teleported
somewhere else," the Female Narrator says.
"Ah,let's just move on, they seem to be entering one of the rooms, Liesl Brigitta's room. I'm
not sure it will be a fun sight," the Male narrator sighs.
The room is filled with loose hair, disposable plates, drinks and clothes all scattered around
it, Liesl is cocooned in her living green-gray hair, PS5 humming, completely ignoring the
world.
"Hey Bridge We've been appointed to be the tour guide of someone today," Vesper explains
as she tries to approach her avoiding the dirt on the floor. "Yeah Bridge no need to get aggressive it's just a quick outing," Viera says, floating slowly
towards Bridges as her hair quietly observes their movements positioning itself to intercept
them.
"Not now, not now, not now…" Bridge mutters as her hair starts forming snake shapes and
surrounding Vesper and Viera as they close in the distance.
"Hisssss,hisss,hisss." The hair screams as trying to intimidate them, preparing to lash out at
any moment.
"Fairy Imprisonment Chained Rings" Mord screams as he waves his wand casting a spell
that creates Smoky chains that hold Bridges hair in place as Vesper and Viera pounce on
Bridge.
"No,No,No I'm not done yet you'll ruin my streak,I can send a clone,wait calm down, please
please." Bridge screams begging them to let her go, seeing she is losing the struggle she
plants her parts of hair into the ground.
"We do this all the time, Bridge like come on, ughhh." Vesper says as she dodges bridge hair
which is lashing out by flaring and destroying the room hissing irritatingly as it does it "Nice
spell Mord this one should get the job done" Vesper praises as the spell seems to be
expanding holding down more of bridge's hair as it grows.
Jocelyn suddenly teleports in grabbing the PS5 and its controller then teleports towards the
window.
Liesl screams in horror, "Wait, don't be rash El-Cinco doesn't have anything to do with this."
Jocelyn waves the controller, loosening her grip on it slowly, "Okay I'll follow you just drop
El-Cinco" Bridge cries, hair hissing furiously, but at least she agrees to follow.
Jocelyn dusts her hands as she teleports the PS5 back to its original place " okay so now I'm
going to be teleporting all of us back to the Tour Guide Club, I hope everyone's prepared for
fast travel."
(one quick group teleport later), they stand before Adejare Fashola, Head of
Communications. She sits on her desk staring at the computer right in front of her, the room
dim as the lights seem to be off.
Jocelyn switches on the light with a loud whoops, " oh you guys are here sorry for the dark
room I'm quite in a pickle you see" Adejare Fashola says.
"We are here on this mission" Vesper says, handing Adejare the paper Augusta gave them.
"Oh this I've forgotten" Adejare says as she begins going through her computer.
"I doubt it, you an Inheritor of a god of wisdom, Orunmila specifically, someone like you
forgetting is impossible, plus just like me you could decide to see through the heavens and
earth with an Ikos though yours would be far better than mine" Mord says Interrogating
Adejare.
"I have also heard you are known for wasting people's time, which is strange as a god of
wisdom. Why do you do this?" He quickly adds to keep up the pressure.
Adejare gets up and then the crocodile tears start. "Ves! Mord is bullying me. Can't a god
wisdom not choose to be a normal girl" she sobs.
"Okay,Mord don't question Adejare on her antiques, ugh I don't know why you act like this
but we can just get the details of the mission?" Vesper asks as she pushes Adejare who has
begun clinging on her leg away.
Adejare's eyes well up beautifully. "I'm so sorry… I was on the phone with a member of the
CZP yesterday, she was inquiring about our tour guide protection capabilities. So I began
boasting about how the Tour Guide Club always handles important guests and how we have
capable students from all classes.Next thing I know, she starts asking for specific tour guides
like they must be in year 1 of high school not too tall. Before I knew it the entire schedule got… adjusted. And now you're the only crew that fits all the requirements she laid out so
please help me consider all your debts paid off if you do this." She dabs at her eyes. "Hell. I'll
even owe you all a favour. A big one."
Vesper crosses her arms. "What's the actual mission?"
Adejare smiles, her tears disappearing magically as she begins grinning from ear to ear. Her
Orunmila Ikos creates a soft veil — the group hears the route in fragments: basin… library…
Quiet Quarter… avoid the Dark Forest edge… special instructions for the princess…
The details stay hidden. Exactly as she wants.
The Male Narrator's voice cuts in abruptly.
"Alright. That's enough flashbacks. Let's go back to the present."
The scene snaps back to the courtyard gate. Rosalind still stands there, fan open, staring at
Vesper. The intensity still present.