Non Omnes Moriemur, Chapter One

            The days at Xsainu castle passed by like the shadows of swaying trees. Routines were just as routine as they had always been, and all of the residents still had yet to kill or otherwise maim each other in any seriousness. Chisoku reigned over his kingdom with a drunken fist, Dreymeil seduced all of the women, Cisaya made sure the boys didn’t fight too much and that the castle was basically tended to, and Eclipse and Lilith went about their lessons, learning, and shenanigans. These shenanigans were composed mostly of Lilith having a mental breakdown over something silly and Eclipse making sure she didn’t blow anything up in the meanwhile. Everything was business as usual at Xsainu castle.

            But if that were always the case, then this little piece of writing would be no fun to read, now wouldn’t it?

~~~

            Lilith woke much earlier than usual one morning; the sun had barely begun rising in the sky as she blinked, eyes adjusting to the lighting of her room. The instincts she’d developed over her stay at Xsainu seldom seemed to fail her, at least when it came to knowing when to prepare her teacher’s morning coffee, so she began her daily routine as usual, despite the early hour of the day.

            Sure enough, by the time she knocked on Eclipse’s room to hand him his personalized coffee mug Eclipse was groggy but out of bed, preparing himself for the day ahead. He took the mug, patted her softly on the head while taking the first sip, and told her to go ahead to his study and read the book he had set out for her the night before.

            As per usual, Lilith complied, though not without wondering why the day had started so early. Typically she would find out such reasons after Eclipse had consumed his coffee and joined her in the study, so as she waited she read, trying not to think too much about it and instead concentrate on the material.

            Today the lesson was on the magic of intelligent manipulation. The book was a massive tome, bound in a greying, somewhat tattered leather. The first few chapters delved into the history of magic and the manipulation of the invisible elements, such as wind and luck, and how it branched out to seek mastery over the intelligent mind. Animals were the first to be successfully manipulated by a spellcaster, but to succeed with another human being seemed nigh impossible.

            Until a few hundred years ago, toying with another beings memories and thoughts was a thing of fantasy. Vague circumstances eventually led to an understanding of the human mind, and so an entirely new branch of magic was formed.

            A door creaking open and the slow ‘thunk’ of Eclipse’s shoes interrupted Lilith’s quiet reading. She put the book down gingerly and looked tentatively up at her teacher. “Master Eclipse, what are we going to do today?” Usually the readings pertained somehow to his lessons, but she couldn’t be sure how she was supposed to apply anything she had read so far to any useful magic.

            He set his coffee mug down and cleared his throat, leaning against the table lazily. “You remember those daydreams you’ve been having every once in a while?”

            Lilith nodded curiously. “The ones about all of the dead angels and reapers? Huu..yes, Master Eclipse, I do. But what do they have to do with this?”

            Eclipse paused to examine her a moment, as though considering her, determining whether or not this was premature. “It has everything to do with it. What have you learned about magical memory manipulation so far?”

            “It’s very, very hard, but sometimes a skilled enough spellcaster can partially erase a person’s memories. No magic except for His so far could permanently erase a person’s memories, so normal methods are basically like putting them in a locked box and throwing away the key.” She said, matter-of-factly.

            Eclipse nodded. “Exactly. What’s the only problem with those methods?” He prodded.

            It took a moment for Lilith to consider the question. She hadn’t quite gotten to whatever section containing the cons to it. “Hu…well you can break a box, can’t you? Just smash it and it’s open, you don’t need a key.”

            This statement reassured Eclipse that his student had come a very long way since she’d first begged him to teach her in the court yard, in the shadow of a hole in the castle wall. “You are correct.”

            “Master Eclipse, I don’t understand what this has to do with my dreams.”

            The lich took a deep, slow breath. “Lilith…I think those ‘dreams’ of yours are actually memories. Memories that have been locked away in a box in the corner of your mind. But something has weakened it, and there are cracks, allowing memories to seep through.”

            She stared up at him, eyes wide with confused understanding. “…Huu…if those are..memories…then does that mean that I…?” She sniffled, and Eclipse knew what was coming. Thus, he immediately reacted.

            “Lilith, this is only a theory. We can’t know for sure unless we poke around, do some mental digging.” His words didn’t appear to help much though, since tears continued to well up in her eyes like oversized raindrops. Maybe he really had jumped into this prematurely, especially since it was impossible to be sure of her situation. She didn’t appear to have memories save those just prior to her arrival at Xsainu, but that didn’t mean that they had necessarily been magically boxed up. Accidents resulting in memory loss were possible, why couldn’t it be that? Still, Eclipse couldn’t help but want to sate his curiosity about the girl’s strange circumstances.

            Add the unnerving occurrence in the courtyard while Lilith was practicing for the Xsainu Sports Festival not too long ago to the memories and it seemed stupid not to at least look into it. He still hadn’t forgotten the cold and lifeless look in her usually warm and friendly eyes, nor the feeling of betrayal and hopelessness that had emanated from her atop that rose.

            Few things could disconcert Eclipse as that did, though the reason was likely how used he was to the bright, chipper Lilith that he saw and interacted with every day. Even still, the simple memory could give him a chill.

            “I thought you wanted to find out who you really are, Lilith. This may lead you to that information.” It was true, she had on a few occasions mentioned the idea.

            She nodded shakily and sniffed a few times. “Huu…I..yeah. You’re right, Master Eclipse…so what do we do now?”

            Maybe they would make progress yet. “Finish reading these chapters…” He ruffled through the pages and pointed out several, making sure to bookmark them for her to find as she progressed. Once she had settled down to read the book again, Eclipse busied himself with other things, most notably the pile of reports from upset or concerned citizens that had amassed in the box by the study door.

            He had been putting those off, but Cisaya was getting more and more fussy over neglecting his duties as one of what was as close to a ruling class as Xsainu was getting. The only other thing he had on his mind for that day could not be continued until Lilith had completed the literature, so he picked through the papers to find anything that seemed actually important.

            Among the stack were human residents complaining about the creatures next door, people seeing strange things in their rooms and trying to blame it on Dark Magic instead of their cat and the candle, and reports of creatures prowling the city at night. Most of these he discounted, throwing them unceremoniously into the waste basket, balled up loosely; he didn’t feel like wasting more energy on them than he had to.

            Just when he thought he was going to pass out from the sheer stupidity of some of the people in the vicinity, Lilith appeared by his side holding the book out.

            “All done, Master Ecilpse!” She smiled. Reading always did seem to put her in a better mood, no matter what the subject matter happened to be. He could hardly tell she’d even been remotely upset just a little while before.

            “Good, good…then we can get started.” Eclipse stood up, glad to leave the complaints box behind him as he crossed the room to put the book back on its shelf. “Lilith, now that you’ve read that, do you understand a little better about what we’re going to do?”

            “I…huu…think?”

            Eclipse sighed and glanced into the mug in his hand. Empty. “Well, neither of us has the key to the box, so in order to get to those memories we’re going to have to break it.” He explained, unable to keep his eyes from wandering to the empty coffee mug. “So you need to be-what are you doing.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement. Lilith had grasped the mug and was proceeding to gently tug on it, Eclipse still holding the handle tight.

            “You need more coffee, Master Eclipse.” She blinked at him, her eyes showing that she was wondering what she was doing wrong. He let go, and she hugged the mug to her chest, still looking up at him unblinkingly.

            “…Fine, come back quickly. We may have a long day ahead of us.” He waved her away and watched as she rushed out of the room. Lilith returned soon enough, and Eclipse gratefully took the cup from her and drank, this time sparingly. If he emptied the mug too quickly it was likely she would try to do the same thing a second time. Usually she was so wrapped up in his explanations though, that is seemed strange she would interrupt him like that…unless…was she stalling?

            Eclipse pushed her into a chair and stood in front of her, looking as serious as he could manage with he looks she was giving him. “Listen well and carefully, Lilith. If we break this box, we won’t have anything to put its contents back into. You have to be willing and ready to do it, or I won’t go through with the spell. So tell, me, and you must be absolutely sure…do you want to get your memories back?”

            Lilith’s expression went blank, and the room was entirely silent for a length of time that felt immeasurable for either of them. Finally, she nodded. Eclipse’s expression hardened a little, but he backed away from her and took a vial filled with silvery liquid from a nearby cabinet.

            “This is what will be done.” He held up the vial for her to examine, which she did with childish curiosity. “This is one of the most powerful sleeping potions one can concoct. A little goes a very long way, and because of your…uh…figure, we’ll only use two drops. Any more and you would sleep way longer than intended. Either way I have the antidote, but both are quite valuable so I would rather keep them on hand for as long as possible.” He set the glass on a table and picked up a book, turning it to a page he had bookmarked with a feather. “In this book is a collection of spells, one of which allows the caster to go within another’s mind. I will cast this, find your “box”, and break it. I know this doesn’t sound particularly educational, magic-wise, but there’s really no other humane way to go about it, if you really want to bring your memories back.”

            He put the book down and allowed a moment for his explanation to sink in. Lilith’s face seemed as blank as he’d ever seen it; not even confused, just nothing. This was to be somewhat expected, however. The girl had never been faced with such a daunting decision before, that he knew of, and if she went through with it she risked finding out more about herself than she wanted to know, especially considering the “daydreams” she had been having as of late. All in all, the reaction came as little surprise to Eclipse, but the day was growing short and they couldn’t move on without her consent.

            “Lilith. I need your final answer, please.” He passed his staff in front of her face to get her attention. He head jerked up and she opened her mouth, leaving it hanging for a few moments before finally…

            “Let’s do it, Master Eclipse.” She nodded, pursed lips showing her determination more than ever. Eclipse nodded solemnly, though not much more so than usual, and backed away to clear off one of the longer work tables that as littered with books, papers, half empty ink bottles, and broken quills. Once the floor contained the aforementioned materials instead, he fumbled around the room looking for something, eventually pulling a white, fluffy, dusty pillow from an obscure corner. He looked at Lilith for a moment before fluffing it, sending the dust back into the air from whence it had come, also causing both of the room’s residents to break into coughing fits.

            Once he deemed the pillow de-dusted enough he placed it on the table, motioning afterwards for Lilith to come over to the table as well. She obliged, albeit without her usual chipper energy, and climbed onto it, with Eclipse’s help, to lie down. As Eclipse yet again retrieved the vial of sleeping potion she could only manage to look at him half-nervously.

            “Will it hurt?”

            The question took him by surprise, and he nearly knocked a few items over before grabbing the glass tube of liquid. “Uh…I don’t think so.” He did wish that he could have given her a better answer, but there were no accounts detailing such a thing as whether or not the process of having someone invade your mind and memories actually hurt, and he had not exactly had it used on him before either.

            “…Huu.” The sound faded away and left a chilled silence in the study before Eclipse broke the silence but moving back towards the table with the tube and a small dropper to measure out the dosage.

            He pulled a chair up to the table and sat down, pulling the open book up in front of him and setting down the potion and dropper. Double-checking the book, he made sure he had the right dosage in the dropper. “Alright Lilith, are you ready?” He asked, holding up the dosage for her to see it.

            She nodded.

            “There may be a metallic taste to it, but it isn’t bad. Open your mouth; it should only take a moment or two to take effect. After it has you should stay asleep for about twenty-four hours, which gives me plenty of time to find that box, and you plenty of rest. I imagine you will need it.” Eclipse’s face was stoic as ever as she allowed him to let the drops fall past her waiting lips.

            As he had predicted, her eyes closed almost instantaneously, and she was lost in a dreamless sleep. He couldn’t help but notice how peaceful she looked now that the magical sleep had forced her to relax. All of the tension and apprehension was gone, replaced by an expression easily mistaken for true contentment. Did she always look that was when she slept?

            Brushing the thought aside, Eclipse readied himself for the spell. Twenty-four hours was plenty of time, but he ought to begin either way. Book on his lap, he began the incantation.

            Once he had started, the words felt like they rolled from his lips without any encouragement from him to do so. It was lucky they did, or else the spell may have cut off as he felt his mind separated from his body like misty tendrils, reaching out to the sleeping girl before him. She didn’t stir at his ghostly touch as his incorporeal form was drawn inexplicably to her. In what appeared to be a flash of light from his perspective, Eclipse felt himself vanish.