Lustfall Ch. 01

"Welcome to the Red Quill's archives, the real deal." invited Shannon.

"Wow...!!" Fay had her eyes wide opened while she looked with awe to the scene that unfolded in front of her.

A huge circular room presented itself before the women. A chamber that went deeper and deeper across many floors, all interconnected through a series of labyrinthine halls and stairs that were constantly moving and changing positions. Walls and bookshelves spun around their axis to orient themselves as the librarians that worked in there demanded. Desks and chairs were flying around to take people from one place to another. The whole room looked like an orchestra of movement where the instruments were furniture and the symphony an amalgam of motion.

"This is just... amazing!!" Fay shouted.

"Come on, the Archiver is waiting for us" Shannon mentioned as she pointed towards the center of the room.

In the middle of the abyss that opened before them was a floating isle with a circular desk in which a young man was sitting, engaged in what it looked like a lot of paperwork with the help of his quill. Next to him, there was a tall woman with blue hair and thick curves. Both were wearing what it looked like the typical sorcerer's attire.

Shannon and Deborah began walking directly to the center of the room and didn't mind the abyss that was before them as when they were just about to fell into it, a set of stairs placed themselves gently to aid them in reaching their destination. Fay followed the two woman with caution, watching where she was placing her feet every time till they reached the central desk.

"Took you long enough..." said the man without lifting his eyes from the documents he was working on.

"Don't be rude, Nathan" reprimanded the woman.

"Oh, for you is easy to say as you don't have to fill all these papers while work keeps accumulating non-stop." grumbled the young man.

"Please forgive our dear Nathan. You already know how he keeps forgetting the fact that he owes us his life." Said the blue-haired woman to with a menacing tone destined for the man.

Fay focused on the woman's dressing. She was wearing a light tailcoat of brown sateen that divided into three pieces at waist height to fell around her legs. In her hands, she had long silk gloves and her legs were covered in flexible trousers that were barely visible under her thigh-high leather boots. All the clothing fabrics were made to adjust to her feminine figure and emphasize her curves.

"Oh, this would be the new novice, Fay, right?" the blue-haired woman was looking at her. She was just so elegant and pretty, and that outfit added to her haughty attitude made her look like an experienced woman in her field. She seemed like the mother Fay never had.

"Indeed," answered Shannon, then she reached for Fay to present her before the middle-aged woman. "Fay, this is Gwenvyr Oxorn, the Archiver, and administrator of the Red Quill's Library."

Fay felt like she just met someone too much important to kept her nervous impulses in check.

"A-Aye, ma'am! F-Fayress S-Sadford, reporting for duty!" she blurted out and made a rigid reverence before the Archiver.

"Nice to meet you, Fay" Gwenvyr smiled. The way her cheeks got full when the muscles of her face contracted to show her perfect white teeth was too much for Fay. She was absolutely beautiful. For a woman that was supposed to be in the middle of her life, she showed not a single sign of wrinkles or skin deterioration.

The Archiver examined her from head to bottom with her orange eyes behind a pair of rectangular black glasses.

"Hm... you have a lot to put in shape but I'm confident that you'll become a great addition to our ranks."

"I can assure that she will be." Deborah defended her before Fay couldn't say anything. "I'll make sure personally that she turns into a mighty sorceress like me."

Gwenvyr squinted at Deborah as she spoke her words.

"You still have much to learn, Miss Naver."

"Sure I do..."

The Archiver sighed and returned her gaze at Fay's.

"We cannot begin your training today as we have a lot of work in here as you can see, so we will start tomorrow with your first lessons if that suits you."

"Of course, I can't wait to start exploding things!" said laughingly without thinking. "I'm sorry... when I'm nervous I say some stuff..."

The Archiver smiled as she would have heard a polite joke.

"We can nevertheless go in a quick run to the Forge and let you choose your own quill."

"That would be awesome," Fay said with excitement.

"Wow! In the first day?" Deborah asked surprised. "I had to wait till I learned the basic spells to get mine!"

"She'll catch up quickly, you'll see" Gwenvyr winked to Fay as she reached her with her hand, placing it on her back, inviting Fay to step forward and walk by her side.

A platform appeared before them as the Archiver made an arc motion with her arm. Over the platform, there was a lectern which displayed a panel made of light.

Gwenvyr and Fay stepped over the platform followed by Deborah.

"Lady Oxorn..." Shannon called for her superior as a folder filled with papers popped up in mid air next to her. "Your signature is required to commit the inscription."

"Of course, paperwork," the Archiver said as she lifted up her red quill from a holster she had on the left side of her hip. With harmonic movements of her fingers, she guided the quill to the document which opened itself to receive the scribbled signature of the woman. "That should do."

"Thank you, ma'am" Shannon grabbed the folder in her hands and began walking back to her office upstairs.

Gwenvyr typed some of the hieroglyphs that shined with a yellow light over the panel. That caused the platform to descend into the abyss three floors till it reached its destination in front of a metallic door with engravings of dragons on its surface.

"Let's go. This is the Forge. Here you will meet the aurylsmith."

"Auryl... smith?"

"Indeed, auryl is the substance that makes magic possible. It is said that it's originated from the Golden Well, a place of legend nobody knows where it is located. Auryl spreads throughout the land from it and we use it to empower our spells."

"I've heard that word before..." Fay tried to remember. "Aw, that's right! Like the aurylogos tech from Vailtra, is that related anyhow?"

"Kind of..." the Archiver adopted a serious expression. "There are some particular techniques recorded in our registries but many are forbidden due to their nature. The problem with that city-state technology is that we don't really know their methods on how exactly they exploit the auryl."

"And what about the smith?"

"Well... let us show you" added Deborah as she opened the metallic door.

The women stepped into a wide room filled with mechanisms made of gears and levers. On the sides of the room, there were several shelves, all of them divided into sections that contained quills in different stages of production. Some were already painted with the distinctive red hue, others still had their original metallic color and many of them were still in process of being polished or crafted.

The sound of metal colliding against metal, pressure valves liberating steam and water boiling up came from the other side of the room. The smith seemed to be working without rest.

A corpulent and muscular adult man appeared from the fog the steam created. He greeted the trio with a wave of his hand. He wasn't wearing anything above his hip, leaving nothing to the imagination and letting everyone to contemplate his sweat abs, the result of years of dedicated work.

Fay was losing herself admiring the body of the smith that looked like being sculpted by the divine.

'Gosh, what's wrong with me these days? I can't keep it in check, huh?'

"Fay," said Gwenvyr.

"Aye-aye!" Fay startled.

"Let me present to you Gordon Famrir, our aurylsmith. He is the man in charge with the Forge and the one who crafts each and every one of the quills you can see here."

"N-Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." the man replied with a deep and husky voice. "So you're here to take one of my most beloved creations away from me, I suppose."

"Hah-hah, don't listen to him, Fay." Gwenvyr excused. "His mind is made of steam and metal. Now, my dear, take us to your most refined pieces." The Archiver ordered as she gently put her hand on the man's chest.

"As you wish."

The three woman followed Gordon to the back of the Forge where the storage of finished quills was placed. The man pulled a pair of levers on the wall and the shelves rotated around the horizontal axis to make easier the observation and delivering of the quills that were in the upper sections.

Fay could see quills of many shapes. Each of them had peculiar details which make them unique and distinct from the others. These details went from simple color variations to totally different shapes passing by specific notches and engravings.

She kept looking at every quill that descended before her searching for the one who would suit her.

"That one!" finally said, pointing to a quill that looked to be of an elegant and soft design.

Gordon stopped the machine and let the novice take her new tool in her hands. Fay hold it and flipped it around to admire all the details. Made of red and black pieces of an unknown metal, it was curved from the beginning to the end. The tip was made of three intertwined metallic strings which melted in a sharp end. The body of the plume seemed to be made of five different sections with little notches that marked the ending and beginning of each fragment. Fay loved the touch and softness with a bit of flexibility of the whole piece, she was happy with her choice.

"Good choice. That's a nice piece of metal. I made it with all the rage accumulated from many bad experiences. It was a good day."

"Wow! Hah-hah!" Fay checked the quill searching for something she might have ignored before. "It doesn't look aggressive at all..."

"Try by pulling the switch on the side."

Fay did as he said and that made the quill transformed itself by opening the sections and sliding them with one another, turning the whole quill into a completely different one filled with spikes and sharp angles.

"C-Cool! This is... I'll just gonna keep it!"

Gordon made what it looked like an attempt of smiling. The muscles on his face twisted in a grotesque manner that could undoubtedly terrify children.

"I'm glad to hear you like it. Now is your duty to prove that you are worthy of all the skill and dedication put into making that piece of art."

Fay pulled back the switch, the quill returned to her original form.

"I will treat it with the respect it deserves and make a proper use of its capabilities."

"That's everything I need to hear," Gordon ended. "Misses."

After saying his words the man went back to his affairs on the Forge.

"Shannon might have told you already," said the Archiver as the three women were going through the threshold of the Forge door. "But now that you are one of us you will have to take on some responsibilities as you progress further into our ranks. Deborah will fill you in that as your mentor through the first stages."

"Not to worry. You're in good hands, Fay."

"Can't complain." Fay grinned.

"Now if you excuse me, there is a lot of work that requires the attention of this humble Archiver," Gwenvyr grabbed Fay's hand for a moment. The gentle and soft touch made her blush. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, we all hope you to become a great sorceress and fulfill your duties with our society. Till our next meeting..." finished with a smiling wink.

The blue-haired woman took the nearest mobile platform and disappeared into one of the lower levels.

Deborah slapped Fay's back.

"Well, now you are one of us, Fay, how do you feel?"

That was a good question.

"I don't know... I mean... I'm thrilled! But also terrified... I have so many questions! I want to start right away but I'm not sure I'm prepared to handle this..."

"Oh, my... Just keep it cool... Everything's gonna be ok. Look, I have an idea, why don't we go you and me to the pub across the street when we finish here and celebrate your promotion?"

"That sounds great, yeah... let's do that."

With their decision made the two women returned to their respective tasks on the upper floors of the library till their workday reached its end.

#

Just as she finished ordering the last bookshelves assigned for her turn, Fay dispatched the documents recording her daily routine and proceeded to leave the library. She grabbed her shoulder bag and headed for the exit.

She stopped by the reception where Deborah usually was at the end of her workday but she wasn't attending that time, instead, there was an old man who looked gentle.

"Hey, Oskar, where is Debbie?" Fay asked to him.

"Oh, Fay, she already left some time ago. She told me to tell you to meet her directly at the pub. She will be waiting for you."

"Well, thank you" Fay handed over the documents she was working on the day and her work record card, which the man signed before handing it over to her.

"I've heard that you've been promoted."

"Word gets around quickly, huh?"

Oskar grinned with complicity.

"Deborah told me."

"I'm curious, do everyone here in the library is a... you know...?" Fay asked pointing to the floor with her finger.

"Yeah, kinda. Like you, most of us began as simple librarians and then got word to become fully invested with what's under the surface."

"I see... And what about the people who don't pass the 'test'?"

"Well, you've seen for yourself, that test looks more like a formality so I think that everyone who has worked for the library eventually becomes a sorcerer." Oskar leaned towards Fay and lowered her tone to a simple whisper. "They won't tell you this but they need more members. It's hard to find people sensible to the auryl."

"So you're telling me that I've been targeted since before I began working here?"

Oskar nodded.

"Like every one of us."

"Huh, that explains the weird way I met Debbie."

"Yeah, she has her own odd manners to approach candidates," Oskar laughed. "But you already know her."

"Yeah... I'm done here for today. Bye, Oskar."

"Have a nice day."

Fay got out of the library and stepped into the street. Everything was getting darker as the dusk fell over Lumnex. Both the streetlights and home lights began to light up the night, not letting the city fall into slumber.

Fay crossed the street to the other side and headed to the pub Deborah mentioned. It was just a couple dozens of meters down the street. She finally stopped by the entrance that lied before the huge graphic sign that read: Imp's Fortune. Through the street windows, she could see that the place was half full, it always has been a calmed and peaceful establishment.

She opened the door and stepped inside. After a quick check on the locals, she found her friend over the bar accompanied by two young men, one dressed in an immaculate white long coat and the other was a brown skinned corpulent man who had his head shaved. Deborah looked to be having fun with those two.

"Hey, Fay!" Deborah waved at her. "Come here!"

She met with the group and instantly felt the pressure of their eyes on her.

"Look, Fay, these are Joyd and Shakron." Deborah turned a thumb on the man with the white coat, who was smiling constantly. "Joyd is an old friend of mine and Shakron happens to hang around here."

Something felt awfully familiar about the man called Joyd...

"I own this damn place. Why do people keep forgetting that simple fact?"

"Aww... grumpy Shakron is grumpy." Deborah joked.

"Classic Shakron!" Joyd kept on. "Perhaps your attitude is what makes you look scary to customers and the reason why you never get the pub full of people..."

"That's not my... Wait! I'm the owner, not the waitress!"

"Don't you mean waiter?"

"Whatever!"

Joyd and Deborah couldn't stop laughing. Fay noticed the empty bottles beside them. They had already begun the party before her arrival. Should have imagined it, Deborah was always a party-goer and couldn't wait for anyone.

Shakron turned to Fay and began talking to her.

"You look like a more refined woman than these two."

"W-Well I won't say that much..."

"It's not that hard, believe me."

"Don't be mad Shakron!" Deborah said with her cheeks burning red, the drinks already went to her head. "It's a special occasion for Fay today, she got a promotion! Why don't you treat us with some fine wine?"

"Hmph..."

"T-That's not a bad idea..." said a blushed Fay clapping softly with her fingers.

Shakron dedicated a quick gaze to her cute expression, then a smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, let's be gentlemen here. I'm gonna look in the larder for a good bottle. Do you mind accompanying me and help me make a good choice?"

Fay looked to Joyd and Deborah but they were busy toying with one another.

"Oh, do you mean me?" asked Fay.

Shakron nodded with his shaved head.

"Sure, why not, don't wanna disturb those two..."

The owner of the pub guided her to the back of the establishment, going through a door which led them into the pantry. They stopped in front of a shelf that had many bottles of wine carefully placed over brackets shaped as the cylindric vessels.

Fay read so many good flavors in the etiquettes of the bottles: Luverian White, Scarlet Dalure, Anerve Crimson... Shakron really seemed to have an exquisite taste.

"I have one particular bottle that I keep for special occasions," started to say Shakron. "It should be around here somewhere..."

Fay noticed a weird looking bottle that stood out from the rest, its content had an odd blue color and something that looked like yellow sparkles were glowing on the surface. If that was wine, it definitely was the weirdest looking one that she had ever seen.

"Is this it?" asked pointing at it.

"Yes! Indeed, this is the one."

Shakron took it with caress between his hands.

"I'll tell you one thing," Shakron took a glass from a drawer next to the shelf and opened the bottle with a popping sound. "To compensate those two's advantage, I'll let you take the first glass of this magnificent liquid."

"That would be great." Fay grinned.

Shakron filled only a few centimeters of the glass, took a moment to appreciate the scent and then offer it to Fay. She grabbed it with her hand and imitated Shakron, smelling the scent in the first place and then taking a slight sip of the blue drink. It tasted surprisingly sweet with a bit of sour, but it was delicious. As Fay swallowed the liquid, she felt a warm sensation going down her body.

"Wow, this is kinda strong, hah, hah!"

"It gets better with each sip."

Fay took a brief moment before taking the next. It was a bit addictive and made her want more. On the third time, she swallowed the whole content that what's left.

"Easy, easy! This can go quickly over your head." Shakron grinned.

What Fay felt before like a warm sensation caused by the strong drink was expanding to her entire body, making her experiment an increasing heat under her skin. Her heartbeat took a faster pace and her breathing sped up to adjust to it.

"W-What's that wine made of...?"

"You feeling alright? Fay?"

She was getting dizzy and her head spun. A small sensation of pain appeared down her abdomen, trying to reach deeper.

"I-I need to t-take some water..."

"Of course, come with me," said Shakron as he offered his arm as support to Fay. He guided the girl back to the bar where she sat on a stool while Shakron filled a glass with water from the tap.

Fay drank it all from a single sip. It didn't soothe the hot feeling as her pain was spreading rapidly. If it didn't stop she would end getting all wet like with her dreams. Luckily the water seemed to have a late effect, the heat receded but the pain was still there, calling for her to ease the need.