“Inori. What would you do if you were told you only have a year left to live?”
This was meant to be a light question—some food for thought—but Inori’s expression took on a serious look.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you going to die?”
“I’m being hypothetical.”
“No need to play games. I can tell what’s happening.”
With the glint of sadness in her eyes, she looked away.
“Do you think a girl your age can pull one over on the Wise Witch? I knew you were acting less animated whenever we talked about the future before.”
“Heh-heh… You Seven Sages and your intuitions…”
Chuckling did nothing to lighten the mood.
“So why are you going to die?”
“I’m cursed.”
“You’re cursed?”
“It’s called Death’s Decree, and my teacher said that it will kill me. That once I turn eighteen, my biological clock will go berserk, and I’ll start aging rapidly.”
“Death’s Decree…”
“Do you know about it?”
In utter silence, Inori shook her head.
“I didn’t even realize you were cursed. There really is no telling when it comes to the higher-level curses, though.”
“So it’s safe to assume you don’t know a way to dispel it?”
“This is the first time I’ve heard of such a curse. Curses are an ancient magic; I’m sure the only reason it was detectable was because of Grandma Faust… So what’s her diagnosis?”
“She says there’s less than a one percent chance I’ll live. That I need to collect tears of joy from one thousand people.”
“I see, you’re going to make a seed of life. That would certainly put a stop to any curse that affects you through aging. But wow, talk about a tall order. How many tears have you collected so far?”
I removed the bottle attached to my belt and showed her.
“I have three tear shards. Only one of those is from joy, though.”
“Well, that won’t cut it.”
“Yeah, I’m up shit creek without a paddle.”
“Come on, now…”
“My teacher says the seed of life is made with tears of joy, which is why I’m collecting shards of emotion. Are these tiny rocks really that powerful?”
“Hard to say. I don’t know too much about it.”
“I thought you were supposed to be wise?!”
I was genuinely surprised.
“I am, but that doesn’t mean I know everything. Especially something as niche as that.”
“Niche…”
“Maybe ancient would be a better word for it. The magic of today doesn’t work the same as it used to.”
It wasn’t just magic; the position of witches in society also varied greatly throughout the generations. The witches and wizards of the past used to perform miraculous acts of magic to protect the people and the land. Now, however, our magic was used more to promote and spread prosperity by supplementing research. Though it didn’t mean all mages were researchers.
“Emotions aren’t an element used in most modern spells. They are uncertain and difficult to re-create on demand. There isn’t much use for a mage who can’t cast spells when they are depressed, now, is there?”
“That’s true.”
Hearing Inori speak about this made it clear that even among witches, there were outlooks on magic that differed from my teacher’s. My teacher focused more on ancient teachings, which placed more emphasis on human emotion, but Inori’s style of magic was founded more in logic and science, an outlook closer to that of a scholar.
The way of magic did change throughout the generations. It felt like this difference between my teacher’s and Inori’s ways of thinking was a map of how magic had changed. There was a generational gap, or so it felt.
As this train of thought went chugging through my mind, it came to a sudden stop when Inori continued with “But…it has been maintained for a long time that tears have a strange power to them.”
“Is that right?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard the old fairy tale about the mermaid who saved the prince with her tears, right? Tears of joy very well may have a sort of mysterious power to them that none of us know about, or an unknown power might exist within shards of emotion. It may sound like something out of a dream, but I enjoy those sorts of things.”
“The older you get, the less room you have to dream, eh?”
“Don’t make me hurt you.”
As she said this, Inori must’ve realized something, because she averted her gaze from mine and stared right at the bottle in my hand.
“Do you mind if I take a look at your bottle?”
“Huh? Sure. I’ll accept everything you own as collateral if you end up breaking it.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Inori held up the bottle and squinted as she looked inside it.
“This might be my first time ever seeing a shard of emotion. I can sense a mysterious power to them.”
“These are something a Sage hasn’t seen before?”
“Of course. I’ve never tried to collect them.”
That made sense. Most people would never have a reason to, and they weren’t easy to come by even if you did—I could say that from experience.
“If you had to collect one thousand tears of joy, what would you do?”
“Hmm. Well, first I would test what qualifies as a tear of joy. I would need to run tests and collect data. Then I would produce a medicine or spell that could create the desired effect, find volunteers to test it on, and test it from there.”
“Sounds mechanical.”
“Such is the nature of an academic. However, I know it would be difficult. One year for one thousand tears… That’s far tougher a trial than what I had to go through before finishing my apprenticeship.”
“I can only imagine.”
I stood up, and White-Owl hopped from my shoulder to my head. He flapped his wings and let out a soft hoot. His feathers shone in the moonlight, as if it was drawn to him.
“If I’m being honest with you, my heart danced when you invited me to work as your assistant. I’ve only ever lived in Lapis, so your offer felt like… How should I put this? A ticket to see the world. It excited me.”
“Meg…”
“A few weeks have passed since my teacher had me start collecting tears. I need to collect three a day, but here I am with a grand total of three. Positivity is my main personality trait, but it’s not enough to keep me from acknowledging that one thousand tears in one year is pretty much impossible.”
“While that may be true…isn’t it a bit early for you to give up?”
“Give up…?”
She was right. I was trying to give up. What should’ve been obvious hit me all at once. I had stopped thinking about a year from now—stopped questioning my daily routine—and kept my mind occupied with other mundane thoughts. At some point, I settled with the fact that I was going to die instead of fighting to survive.
This realization shocked me, but a hearty chuckle from Inori snapped me out of my stupor.
“What’s so funny? The weight of life and death on my shoulders?”
“Sorry, but I couldn’t help but find it somewhat silly. How simple in the head must one be to fail to realize they’ve given up on life?”
“Those are fightin’ words…”
“I’m sorry.” Inori must’ve felt the prickle of my intense rage that I was sending her way. “Seeing as you no longer have the will to live, I’ll show you something nice.” Inori whipped her hair back with a single motion. “I’ll show you why I’m a Sage.”
“Did you know a meteor shower is supposed to pass by tonight?” Inori said while staring at the night sky.
“Is that so? Funny, there isn’t a star in the sky tonight.”
“That’s because of the full moon. The meteors are passing over right now, but it is too bright to see them or any other stars. It isn’t a good night for stargazing.”
“That’s a shame. I’d make a wish on one of them if I could see them.”
“And what would someone who’s forfeited life wish for?”
“Lots of money.”
“You should really learn about at little thing called tact.”
Inori couldn’t hide her surprise as she let out a small sigh before extending her open hand toward the sky.
“Behold, the power of a Sage.”
She then tightly clenched her fist.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Every star in the night sky could be seen clearly. The scale of a spell such as this would normally require multiple mages to chant a twelve-verse incantation around a giant magic circle, each channeling thorough knowledge of the physical world to cast their spell, but Inori managed to do all of this complicated groundwork with just the clench of her fist.
Hundreds of thousands, millions of stars burned brightly, lighting up the night sky that moments ago was lit only by the full moon. The Milky Way appeared across the heavens, sparkling against a backdrop of interstellar clouds in a dazzling array of colors.
“A sight like this is probably only visible from the edge of the earth.”
“Whoa…”
“I’m not finished yet, though.”
Inori etched out a character in the air.
“Come to me.”
With this utterance, streaks of light began flying through the sky. It was the meteor shower. An impossible number of falling stars were raining down across the sky. As soon as one disappeared, another soon followed it, only to vanish once more. It was the visualization of a dream, or that’s what it felt like. The way the lights fell continuously really gave a new meaning to the word meteor shower.