Act 1 𖦹₊˚

 

Prologue

"I hated him most, for I could never be rid of him and for you have slain him I shall be yours, in heart and body." Ettarie read her Gloratorius report to the classroom of sparkle-skirted, golden arm-banded students as she read from Gardener of Eros. Gloratorius lessons in

Chrysanthemum's Beauvoir de Croix Academy for Debutante Maguses. Maguses were Orchid's equivalent of Meisters, although from what she'd been told they were a 'little more magical and fairylike', Thatti always rolled her eyes ever kind of way at that elaboration. Gloratorium classes were meant to teach the values of abundance and prosperity, but she mostly found them a dullard exercise for spoilt Magentas from the uplofty cities of Lune Sol and Clover Magnolia to flaunt their erudite vocabularies.

"To whom must one ought to be ashamed for to murder such person's soul like this, she's plight to be dealt with. For I shall deal with her later, for now-" Ettarie stopped, observing Thatti laying her head on the desk ahead. Professor Magus August Priem cleared her throat, going to shake her up. Thatti's face was flushed and her eyes were closed, opening slowly to everyone giggling

in her direction. The sky had a silvery hue to it, the moon not too far from full and casting pale light on the lawns of Beauvoir de Croix peering through the window.

"I think we shall close class for today." August Priem said, dismissing her lovely socialites. She stood up and surveyed the class. Thatti was still lying down. She'd been sleeping, that was why her face was flushed.

August got up and walked to the door. Then her head turned and she caught the girl behind her. Thatti looked up at her. She had a look of utter distaste in her face, which was unusual for the blue-eyed professor. August had quite an intimidating figure and most girls would shy away

from her.

Thatti bumped past her professor in a sluggish haze and started to make her way back towards her dorm. The noise and chaos of the school were replaced by a low, pulsing hum. When she reached the exterior hall where gardens grew lilys and golden stalks of flowers along the arched path, seeing the red headed Cadia watering flowers across the path. She hid behind a fountain and watched. Three students approached Thatti. "Look at that, looks like we have a lovebird and the bird has just given the bird its blessing." One of the girls said, before her two friends laughed and started following Thatti. She was so caught off guard that she didn't protest when the girls put their hands on her shoulders and pushed her into the grass. One of the girls, her pigtails dyed of pink and yellow intermixed with numerous blue blows, quickly yanked Thatti's bag and tossed it into the Academy fountain, then her phone. They watched her dive in to recieve both.

She closed her eyes, not in a pleasurable way, but in a desperate way, trying to wipe the water out of her eyes. She heard the girls laugh hysterically and a few seconds later, a bright light surrounded her.

"Please, no, just leave me alone, please," she begged.

 

"What's a matter, mommy not here to help you?" The girl exclaimed and started giggling. Thatti looked down, her clothes soaked.

Cadia having noticed the commotion, gave her a thumbs up and pulled her phone out of the water. "Don't you three have anything better to do?" She asked them, sighing with sympathy. Thatti felt a stinging pain on her left cheek and her vision blurred. Before Cadia could hand Thatti back her phone, the message she'd texted earlier popped up, unsent. One specifically for her. "Cadia don't-!"

 

 

 

Cadia read it, the little innuendos and question at the end making her stomach churn. Her fingers poked into the camera cache, and saw countless images of herself taken. "Why do you

have all these pics of me.." Thatti took back the phone from her, her heart rate accelerating, then she saw the photo that Cadia had just seen at the end. It was her, holding a red ribbon, in the shape of a heart. The message was a series of hearts, each with Thatti's name in it.

"You're disgusting!" Cadia said, holding nothing but contempt in her words. "Just go!" Thatti pleaded.

"Ugh, no wonder crap like this happens to you, fatty Thatti." The pigtailed girl said, laughing as Cadia ran away in disgust.

Thatti's heart beat. She fell into an uncontrollable, boiling rage in her stomach that made her feel dizzy. All of the hate, disappointment and love she had for Cadia came to the surface. The girl turned to the pigtailed student and raised her voice.

"You ruined my life! I was going to ask her out.." She yelled at her, her voice trembling. She charged forward, swinging her fist at the girl.

The girl laughed again, "Awww, is that all you got? Come on, Thatti. I was just doing my job, keeping losers like you from getting handed everything." The other two ran around Thatti to hold her from the back, while their leader took a can of magenta spraypaint and shook it, spraying her eyes and cheeks. When she tried to resist, she was kicked in the stomach and

slapped.

 

"Girls like you with a silverspoon in their mouth think you're so precious. Well, we wouldn't want you to choke on the silverwear now would we?"

Thatti didn't move, she was trying not to cry. She dropped down to her knees. Her fists knitted, her body shaking. She started to shake, then the shaking turned into a full out crying fit. Tears fell from her face, and her face covered in streaks that mixed with the spraypaint, like purple

running mascara. She tried to pull away from the three, who held her arms down and pushed her onto the grass, their leader putting their boot on her cheek and pressing down.

"That's enough." A voice said, heels approaching. "M-miss Clementine." Maguses Clementine marched forward breaking up the scene.

When she saw that the girl hadn't seen her, she gave her a look of pure scorn. "Let her go," she demanded, her eyes like twin flames. The girl's face became flushed, her lips pouting. "Now," August went on, her expression growing even more menacing, "I suggest you three get out of the garden. Or I'll be inside waiting for you in the Head Mistresses office. Especially you, Claire." She told the pigtailed girl.

"Alright alright. Take it easy teach." Claire shrugged. "So we do a little pranking." They quickly fled.

Miss Clementine helped Thatti up. "You alright?" She guided her to a nearby bench, the long wavy golden locks like tidal waves of the sun. "Y-yeah, they just threw my stuff in the fountain. Among, other things." Thatti hid her phone.

Clementine gave a knowing nod, her expression softening. She took a deep breath, straightening her glasses. "Thatti," she began in a gentle, yet firm voice. "I can't pretend to know what you're feeling. But I want you to understand something very important. Your worth isn't determined by these girls' actions or words. It's not even determined by Cadia's response."

Thatti blinked at Clementine, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "But Miss Clementine, I just can't stand it. I hate the humiliation, the laughter, the ridicule. They make me feel so worthless.. and now, Cadia too." Her voice trembled as she mentioned the redhead.

"I know, dearest," Clementine said, placing a comforting hand on Thatti's shoulder. "I've seen many young women walk through these halls, facing similar trials. It's hard, I understand. But

you must remember, we all have the power to write our own stories, regardless of the world around us." She stroked Thatti comfortingly, pulling her close for a warm huh. Such affection wasn't uncommon in Orchid, but the way she squeezed her tight and tried to secure her made Thatti feel she had someone really looking out for her. The warmth of her smile, the kindness dripping from her voice, Thatti's own eyes almost watered.

Maybe that was from the fountain still.

 

"I don't." She replied. "I didn't even want to go to this school. My mom sent me expecting me to be some glitterbrat. But, this skirt isn't me. My mom's so selfish sometimes."

"What your mother did wasn't selfish. It was, in fact, the very definition of good. She was willing to put her daughter through the hardships of learning," "And it doesn't have to be you, Thatti," Clementine replied, as if the words were a secret code. Thatti saw a cryptic smirk on the professor's face. "Your mother was right. She sent you to be a Magus. She hoped that when the

time came for you to shine, that you'd use your gifts to shine. And she was right. You have already shone. Once you pick out a Perceptcival, you'll prove it."

They fell into silence for a minute.

 

"I, couldn't unlock mine last year. They had to give me a training wand."

 

"Some are late bloomers." Clementine said cheery. "I'm sure yours will be wonderful. Every Perceptcival is able to take the form of a weapon that best suits its owner, like a companion. But you should know afterall.." she chuckled. "Your mother didn't become Flora Pope for nothing."

"I know. She's going to be so proud of me when I get my wand. She always says I'm 'her little

 

girl.' You know, if I just had someone to help me," She sniffled, the emotion coming back to her.

 

"Well, don't worry. I'm here for you." She said, her silky velvet blue glown rubbing against Thatti's cheek and side, smooth gloves folded around the girl in a careful embrace.

"You really are.. Thank you so much," Thatti said, a glimmer of light coming in her eyes.

 

Clementine held her face close to Thatti's, caressing her cheek. "I know your mother wouldn't

want you to be like her. She knew, you could be better. And I know it too." Clementine squeezed Thatti's palms then lifted them up, as if praying with her. "You know, when I was your age I heard a rumor underneath the school that there was an especially rare Perceptcival within the Prism labrinth. They call it the Rose of Spirit Joining. I bet if someone found it, they could become a Magus overnight. You wouldn't even need to take classes in that case." She chuckled, as though throwing out a stray joke. "I tried to find it when I was a kid. But the labyrinth is quite dangerous, and I just decided it wasn't for me."

Something stirred in her. There was something in the way she said it, something that made Thatti feel like she did. She rubbed the golden tint out of her eye and tried to focus, but Clementine was already getting up and patting her head. "I need to get ready for my next class, please do try to stay out of trouble. Be a good girl Thatti."

The last sentence sent an ocean of calm washing over the Magus-in-training, the Glitterkiss student felt her earlier stress and trauma wash away. Maybe Clementine was right, she thought, she was meant for this school. And she was going to prove it.

By stealing that legendary weapon. The Perceptcival, Rose of Spirit Joining. Head hunter.

 

The thought echoed in her head over and over with more enthusiasm every time, as if wrapping deep into her brain. Soon Thatti was sneaking past the old library and heading down a flight of stairs where the forbidden achieve was, the desire to take hold of the object consuming all else. The steep marble spires held up the roof around her as she descended through old cobwebs and musky hallways, she didn't notice that she was being pursued. The girl climbed up shelves and hopped through the top if aisles, her sneakers thudding against the dry dirt. When she reached a large underground tree with a hollowed out staircase, Thatti turned and stopped. "Hello?" She

had excellent hearing if nothing else, she could feel the weight of pursuit, though she couldn't see them. Turning back around, she started to descend the staircase inside the tree, carefully following the amber light that lead her treacherous decent. At the very bottom, was a chamber with a single pedestal and something floating atop of it, a blue shielding around it.

Thatti tiptoed carefully towards it, throwing a rock at the barrier. It zapped it in a powerdive of thunder and sent it ricocheting across the room. She ducked, narrowly avoiding its electrified path overhead and tiptoed ahead. Floating atop the pedestal, was a wand with multiple layers of oak bark wrapped around silvery feldspar, and a pearlescent crystal-pink series of petals that formed the multiple crystalline layers at the very end. "Rose of Spirit Joining." Thatti said,

looking around the room. There were two statues of tall figures, Gems perhaps? From their foreheads a light was cast. She paced back and forth, then got an idea. Ripping a hung, dusty curtain from the side of the room, she threw it over a statue blocking the light. The blue

shielding dissipated, and the room began to shake. "Gotcha!" Thatti leapt ahead, dodging arrows descending from the top with a clumsy pivot. She grabbed the Rose and started to run out of the room as the walls closed in.

 

Arriving atop the tree stairs, Thatti took a moment to admire and appreciate the delicate artifact. Her hand cupped its handle. All at once, the wand began to consume her body with sparks and glow, and then her world was never the same again.