Anima, Ch.8: In Theory

[Anima, Ch.8: In Theory]
----------------------------
--01-- [Scene: none] <BGM: Scene 05>
I had to rest for several days after that giant bear attacked me.
I don't clearly remember everything that happened afterwards...
I'd lost a lot of blood and was barely conscious.


--02-- <Scene 05>
I only made it a few feet past the Moongate near Alby dungeon before I collapsed again.
The rest was hazy from there.



--03-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
(Trefor)
Hey, are you all right? What the...? What happened to you? Oh, dear. I'd better get you to Dilys.




--04-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
I think that guard picked me up and carried me to the healer's house.
I never would have made it on my own.
I need to thank him later.


--05-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
(Dilys)
Trefor, this really isn't a good.... Huh? Who's that? Meara? Goodness, what happened?!




--06-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
(Trefor)
Don't know. She stumbled out of the Alby Moongate, all slashed up like this, and collapsed.




--07-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
(Dilys)
Get her in here, quick!




--08-- <BGM: Whisper of Wind>
(Trefor)
I'll leave it to you.




--09--
(Dilys)
Good lord, girl, what did you get yourself into? Hold on, I'll get these wounds taken care of...




--10-- [Scene: Tir Chonaill] <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun>
I must have blacked out again after that. I woke up the next morning at the inn, somehow;
bandaged, bruised, and...in need of a new set of clothes.
Bloodstains and gashes are never in fashion.


--11-- <BGM: Wake Up in the Morning Sun>
With a few days of rest, a new outfit, and renewed determination,
I resolved to try and walk to Dunbarton again.
First, though I had a question that needed answering. I went to the school.


--12-- <BGM: Kind Lesson>
(Lassar)
Oh, Meara. How're you doing today? I heard you got into a bit of a scrape. Are you all right now?




--13-- <BGM: Kind Lesson>
"Better, thanks. I've been wondering. Why don't Moongates work in the day?"




--14-- <BGM: Kind Lesson>
(Lassar)
It's...a long story. Here, I'll lend you this book that'll explain it better than I could.




--15-- <BGM: Kind Lesson>
Lassar took a book from the bookcase on the back wall of the classroom, and handed it to me.
It was called 'The Origin of Moon Gates.' The title sure gets to the point.



--16-- <BGM: Kind Lesson>
(Lassar)
Bring it back when you're done reading that, okay?




--17-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
"Sure. Shouldn't take me long."
I went outside, sat on one of the benches, and read the book in one sitting.
I can't help but feel books should be longer.
It lived up to its name, surely enough.

--18-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
Years ago, a wizard had summoned meteors from Ladeca to rain destruction on Erinn.
After that tragedy it was found that those moon rocks could warp space itself.
The gates were built from them.


--19-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
I went back in, and handed the book back to Lassar. I had an idea.

"So, the Gates only work at night because there's not enough Mana around to power
them without the extra Mana from Eweca?"

--20-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
(Lassar)
Essentially, yes. The ambient Mana left over during the daytime isn't quite enough to activate them.
It doesn't take much more, so they reactivate as soon as Eweca rises.



--21-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
"So, if it were possible to, say...collect extra Mana during the night somehow, and feed it
back into the Gates during the day, couldn't they be kept working all the time?"



--22-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
(Lassar)
Well, you see... Hmm....




--23-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor> {SFX: huge failure}
(Lassar)
Actually...I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work!
The question is, how can it be done? I'm...not sure.
You know what? I'm going to send this idea to a few Druids and see what they think of it.


--24-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
"Certainly, I can't be the first person who's suggested this."




--25-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
(Lassar)
Well, no. It's been many years since the idea last came up.
Maybe now someone will have some idea how to do it.
You know, this kind of creativity really shows promise. Let me give you something.


--26-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
Lassar took a quill pen and a sheet of paper out of a drawer, took a few minutes to write something down
on the paper, put it into an envelope, then handed it to me.



--27-- <BGM: She's a Kind Mentor>
(Lassar)
You're going to Dunbarton, right? Go by the school down there and give this letter to Stewart.
He's the magic instructor there. Let's just call that a...letter of recommendation.



--28--
"Um...thank you." I put the letter away.

It's not quite midday yet. If I start now, I can at least get to Dunbarton and have a bit of time
to look around town before I need to come back.

--29-- [Scene: Dugald Aisle] <BGM: The Lumberjack's Skies>
I set out once again down the long narrow valley to Dunbarton.
It was a long and tedious three hour walk, but at least I wasn't accosted by a giant bear this time.
That's always a good thing, right?


--30--
Eventually I left the valley and came to a wide open plain. It's quite a bit warmer here.
On the horizon I saw a walled city. Looks like I'm almost there. The tree-lined road led me right to it.



--31-- [Scene: Dunbarton] <BGM: New Street>
At long last I walked through the gates of Dunbarton.
It's already late afternoon, so I'm not going to have much time to look around before nightfall.



--32-- <BGM: New Street>
There are dozens of Milletians in town. I got a lot of strange looks, of course.
I've come to expect it by now; it's hard to avoid undue attention when you're not even human.



--33-- <BGM: New Street>
A bookstore in a back alley caught my attention the most.
The girl who runs it seemed elated to have a customer at all.
I bought a few of her cheaper books, for reading back at the inn later.


--34-- <BGM: New Street>
The large building on the east end of town caught my attention. I went inside to look around.
On one side, I found the library I'd been told about.
I can see myself spending a lot of time in here.


--35-- <BGM: New Street>
On the other side, I found a lecture hall.
Within it, a man in a red and black robe was reading through an old tome. Is this...?

"Um, excuse me? Are you Stewart?"

--36-- <BGM: The Dream's Reward>
(Stewart)
Yes, that would be me. May I help you?




--37-- <BGM: The Dream's Reward>
"Hello. I'm Meara. Lassar asked me to give you this."
He took the letter, adjusted his glasses, and slowly read it.
As he finished, a smile crossed his face, and he laughed a bit as he set it aside.


--38-- <BGM: The Dream's Reward>
(Stewart)
It seems Lassar thinks rather highly of you...
Well, she's an old friend of mine, and I trust her judgement.
Meara, was it? Why don't you have a seat? Let's discuss your situation.


--39-- <BGM: The Dream's Reward>
We spoke for the remainder of the day. I explained all I'd been through; that I had no memory,
that magic was the one thing I seemed to be any good at, and that I felt it was the key to my past.



--40--
It occurred to me though, if I start taking classes here, I'll...
Either I'm going to have to start waking up earlier to use the Moongate before dawn,
or this commute is going to kill me!


[chapter end]