It was an average day in transmutation class for Riuco; they sat at their desk, staring at a textbook while the teacher kept talking about some boring garbage that made them wish they were a blissfully brainless jellyfish. They reluctantly followed along, reviewing the functions of each the runes for transmutation magic. But then…

“And now, let’s continue going over Dr Alexandra Donnovan’s Method for efficient transmutation. As you know, Donnovan’s Method involves using the runes ‘an’, 'fo’, and 'un’ in combination with-”

Riuco resisted the urge to groan as they recalled the utter boredom of Donnovan’s Method. All those diagrams, all that memorization, and if they have to hear the phrase 'and phone’ as a mnemonic device one more time they are going to burn down the school.

Riuco pushed aside the textbook and started drawing on some scratch paper. They drew various circles and runes, starting over a few times to fix errors before managing to get it right. Soon, they heard a familiar voice.

<Well would you look at that, you already memorized the spell I taught you!> Fimi said in their mind.

<Not really,> Ricuo replied with their thoughts. <I forgot some parts, but I remembered the concept, so I kinda relearned it just now.>

<Wow. You’ve picked up dark magic fast, kid. Of course, you did have a masterful teacher~>

<You almost teleported us inside of a wall.>

<Bah, details. Anyway, you skipping class?>

Riuco rolled their eyes. <No, I just felt like doodling an illusory teleport spell for fun.> They finish the spell circle and check their work. <Help me cast this?>

<With pleasure. That lecture got me so bored I almost fell asleep for 30 years again.>

Riuco summoned their magic into their fingertip and tapped the spell circle. After the circle started softly glowing, Fimi took over, manipulating the magic in the air and weaving it into place. Fimi released the spell, and Riuco suddenly appeared in the (thankfully empty) hallway! Peeking back inside the classroom, they spot an illusion of themself staring down at their desk, as still as a statue. With how bored everyone is, teacher included, no one will suspect a thing.

Fimi flew out from Riuco’s body, stretching as they floated in the air. “So,” Fimi said, “what next, my fellow delinquent? We could set up a jumpscare with more illusions!”

“Again? Do you have, like, a weekly quota of pranks you’re required to do?”

“Quota? I’m not the student here bud. I do what I want, when I want.”

Riuco started walking. “Well I’m the driver of this body, so I say we’re gonna do some snooping in the library.”

“Ooo, in the forbidden section~?”

“We’ll see. I was actually interested in-”

A glow of bright light interrupted Riuco’s thoughts, coming from a corridor down some stairs. Fimi immediately hid in Riuco’s body, while Riuco just stared. Riuco walked down the stairs, toward the source of the mysterious light.

<Uh, kid? Where are you going?>

Riuco smiled. <I have no idea.>

As Riuco walked through the corridor, the light gradually faded, until they entered a room with a student about their age, kneeling over a magic circle and cursing when it refuses to work.

“Uh, hi,” Riuco said.

The student turned to see them. “Oh, hey there. Were you looking for a quiet spot to experiment too?”

“No, I just saw some bright light and got curious. What are you doing down here?”

“Was it really that bright? And here I thought I was out-of-the-way enough… Oh, right, I’m experimenting with transmutation magic. I’m Alex, by the way.” Alex extended her hand.

Riuco shook it. “Riuco. So, what are you trying to do?” Riuco looked at the ring made of lead in the circle. Beside the circle were a series of lead rings in various stages of misshapen transformation.

“Trying to turn lead into gold. Old fashioned, I know, but it’s so annoying how much energy you need for transmutation, so I’m trying to do it more efficiently. If it works right, I could even transmute a small ring like this using just the magic in the air!”

“Whoa, seriously? That sounds amazing! I was just learning about improving transmutation efficiency in class, maybe I can help?”

“That’d be great! I’ve been hitting a dead end lately, so some fresh eyes and new ideas could be a big help.”

And so the pair worked. Between Alex’s creativity and talent and Ricuo’s half-remembered formulas, they had lots of ideas to try. Ring after ring was halfway transformed, and one of them even exploded, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. Ricuo and Fimi could have easily handled it with dark magic, but when Fimi pointed that out, Ricuo declined. <I want to see where this goes.>

“Aha! This one’s close!” Alex looked at the ring in the circle, gold with spots of lead and glowing with energy. “There’s enough energy to do it, I’m sure now! But the spell just can’t harness it. The key has to be in the 'fo’ rune, but- Wait, Ricuo, what did you say that sequence was?”

“Huh? Um, 'an’, 'fo’, 'un’, but didn’t that fail before?”

“Right, but that’s 'cause we just shoved it into the normal formula. But look: If we put it here instead, and rearrange these, change this 'ni’ into a 'ka’, maybe…”

“Hey, yeah, I see it! But wait, we’d have to add another 'ni’ here for the…”

“Of course, of course! Alright, getting low on test rings here. Let’s hope this works…” Alex reached down, touched the circle, and…

It fizzled.

Ricuo stared at the circle. “… Oh, we forgot to-”

“Semicolon, right, woops.”

Alex patched the circle, activated it, and it worked! The magic in the air swirled around the ring, spiraling around and changing the lead to a shining gold! “Haha, yes, we did it! History will forever remember the names of Alexandra Donnovan and Ricuo… What’s you last name?”

“Oh, it’s- Wait, did you say Donnovan?”

“Huh? Yeah, why? Are you in my cousin’s class or something?”

“Wha… But, that sequence… It’s called Donnovan’s Method. It was invented in 1894…”

“… What? But it’s 1877-” Alex suddenly froze as cracks formed along her body. A moment later, the room shattered.

After recovering from the shock, Ricuo looked around. Alex was gone, and the room was empty. And dusty. The rings and magic circle were gone too. “… Fimishec? What… was that?”

Fimi left Ricuo’s body. “Magic ain’t all runes and formulas, kid. Weird shit happens. I’m as lost as you.”

“Huh… Think the forbidden section has books on time magic?”

“I’ll prep an invisibility spell!”




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