Kyron pushed the spell rod and the accompanying booklet into Zorian’s hands.
«You are right that you won’t learn much in class in the next month or so. The smasher may be simple, but more than half of your classmates are having trouble with it as it is, and you’re the only one that truly has a good grasp on it. So read the booklet, find some targets to practice on, and make sure there is a friend nearby while you practice to get help if you screw up big. Oh, and don’t hurt anyone with the rod I’m loaning you or I’ll be mad. Come back to me in two weeks so I can see how you’re progressing.»
«Right,» agreed Zorian enthusiastically. This went a lot better than he thought it would.
«Now get lost,» Kyron gestured towards the door. «You’ve wasted my entire coffee break already.»
Zorian dropped the stack of books on a nearby table and surveyed the shelves. He had decided to try his luck as a library employee again, hoping he would find a way to get around spell restrictions as an employee. Zach had been absent from class for a couple of days at this point, probably still suffering from the aftereffects of the soul spell, so he couldn’t simply trick the answer out of his fellow time traveler. And besides, he wanted to learn those book divinations he was promised before being brutally murdered, and all.
He wasn’t in a hurry to get Kirithishli to teach him those divination spells, though — the magic missile variations Kyron gave him to practice were giving him enough problems as it was. Like Kyron had said at the beginning of the lecture, the problem was that shaping had to be done in an instant and involved shoving a great deal of his mana reserves into a hastily constructed spell boundary. That was easy enough when you just wanted a bolt that traveled in a straight line and smashed things, but trying to weave, say, a homing function into the spell was a chore to do in a fraction of a second. To say nothing of trying to eliminate all the little imperfections and make the bolt transparent.
Which is not to say he made no progress! He could make the bolt curve towards a target even if his aim was a little off, and he managed to make a flawless piercer yesterday. Progress!
«You’re pretty good at this stuff,» Ibery remarked beside him, putting a book on the shelf. «I’m surprised. Usually it takes a while for people to really understand the system we use here. I guess you worked in a library before, huh?»
«Uh, yeah,» agreed Zorian. It was technically true. «It was… surprisingly similar to this one in organization.»
«It’s not really surprising,» Kirithishli said behind him, causing him to jump in surprise. «All state libraries use the same organizing system. It’s a standard enforced by the Society of Librarians. Hell, even the systems of other Splinter Nations are pretty similar.»
«Because they all used to be part the same country?» guessed Zorian.
«It is debatable whether or not the Old Alliance could be considered a unified state,» Kirithishli said. «The name says it all, really — it was an alliance more than anything. Arguably it was the attempt to turn it into a state that led to the Splinter Wars. But yes, being once part of the Old Alliance, the Splinter Nations inherited much of its administrative legacy, including library organization.»
Zorian was starting to understand why Kirithishli had such strained relations with the current headmaster. He knew very little about the man, but what he did suggested he was very politically involved and… well, patriotic. And the country they were living in made its official position clear — there was no ‘Old Alliance’, because the Alliance of Eldemar never ended. It simply shrank. That this was a completely ridiculous claim was self-evident to citizens domestic and foreigner alike, but most found it easier to humor the politicians. Kirithishli apparently went a step further and denied there was a predecessor state to be an inheritor of in the first place. A fiery, opinionated woman that she was, she probably said something of the sort within the headmaster’s earshot. That must have been a fun conversation.
«Hey!» called a familiar voice. «Is Zorian here? I heard—»
«Don’t shout in the library, Zach,» Zorian sighed. «Since you’re back to your usual exuberance, I’m guessing you’re alright now?»
«Yup!» Zach said happily, thumping his chest a few times. «Healthy like an oak. Got an hour to grab something to eat?»
«In case you haven’t noticed, I’m working at the moment,» Zorian protested.
«It’s not an issue, Zorian, we’re mostly done for the day,» Kirithishli pointed out. Then she leaned towards him and whispered into his ear. «Unless you wanted to get rid of him and I’m interfering?»
Zorian waved her concerns away and followed Zach outside. As amusing as it would be to see what Kirithishli would say to Zach to get rid of him, he actually wanted to talk to the boy.
«So how come you sought me out?» Zorian asked. He thought he’d have to hound the boy to get more information, but it seemed Zach had taken a liking to him. He didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed by that. It was convenient, but it increased the chances that he’d realize something was off with Zorian.
«You’re the most interesting person I know of at the moment, and the only other person who believes me about time travel except Neolu,» Zach said.
«Neolu?» asked Zorian incredulously.
«She’s an avid reader of speculative fiction and mysteries and is very imaginative and open-minded,» said Zach. «A naïve dreamer, her father would say. It was surprisingly easy to convince her I’m really a time traveler. I guess she wants to believe it’s true.»
«Ah,» said Zorian. He supposed that he knew now why Zach involved Neolu so much the first time he went through this month. He still didn’t know who the other girl was, though, and didn’t know how he might work her into the conversation. «How many people did you try to convince, anyway?» asked Zorian.
«All of our classmates and teachers, the headmaster, and the heads of every police department in the city. A couple of nobles and other influential people.»
How… persistent.
«Not very successful, I imagine,» Zorian guessed.
«That’s putting it mildly,» Zach sighed.
Zorian frowned, suddenly realized something. Why did Zach try to convince all those people he was a time traveler? That didn’t sound like something a time traveler that came specifically to stop the invasion would do. It sounded more like something Zorian briefly considered when he realized how utterly over the head he was, but ultimately decided to scrap the idea because he expected the results to be more or less identical to what Zach got.
«Zach,» began Zorian carefully, «what about those gaps in your memory? Are they…»
«They’re still there,» Zach scowled. «I’m pretty sure they’re not increasing anymore though, thank the gods.»
«Hmm,» agreed Zorian. «So you don’t know how you achieved this time travel magic, then? I looked it up, and it’s supposed to be impossible, you know? As impossible as drawing a square triangle, in fact.»
«Well it’s clearly not that impossible, is it?» Zach countered. «But no, I have no idea how I did that. If I did that.»
«If you did that,» agreed Zorian. «From your comments I’m getting a feeling you started these reverts as a common academy student. And I mean no offense, but the Zach I remember wasn’t really the kind of person capable of inventing any spell, much less something as concept-breaking as time travel.»
«Eh heh…» Zach chuckled nervously. «You’re probably right. I used to be really bad at this whole mage business, didn’t I? But enough of such depressing topics, because I’ve got good news for you!»
«Oh?» Zorian asked curiously.