the Twilight Crystal

Two: ◇Reluctant Wizard and Crazy Magician◇

"Your time in my abode has ended," Silus said over the perfectly incomprehensive blabbering of Friday's speech. "Good day to you, Ms. Linchen." The magician rose slowly, still stuttering like an ignorant fool. Silus did as well, closing Friday's book and gave it to her without a change of expression. With a few shoves, Friday was out of Silus' house, and her life.

BAM!

The door was slammed shut, so it was official. "How foolish can you get," she said to herself. "I mean, you walk in on a hermit that's been living in the mountains for a little under a decade, and expect her to join you on an 'adventure'. Ridiculous." Silus returned to her desk that brimmed with papers scribbled in advanced magician. "Back to work," Silus mumbled short nothings, plopping down in the seat.

"I'm not leaving this front door until you let me in again!" Friday bellowed from the outside. And she wasn't kidding, either.

Since it was early in the evening when she visited, and Silus would often stay up late into the night, she would glance outside the window from time to time and see the magician there. Her arms were folded, shoulders hunched, and was scowling towards the old, wooden door. The sour expression looked a bit foreign to her face, or so Silus observed. Even then, there was absolutely no chance of allowing that crazy stranger into the house. My house, Silus corrected herself. My hermit hut that belongs to me.

∅

When it was dinnertime of the next day, Silus descended down her steps to make soup for her hunger. It started to rain a while ago, but the exact time failed to be remembered, for Silus was too busy in her studies to really care. Hopefully, Ms. Friday the XIII was gone. It has been a few days since Silus eaten (because she often fasted as a wizard tends to do), and it has been a few years since she's really cleaned, but Silus was ready to make a healthy dinner. The wizard scrounged in the cabinet for a pot and placed it on the rusty worn stove. Now to get some wood, she thought. Hastily, Silus cast a rain shield spell on herself. Outside, the pattering of rain prancing against the wooden home was clear that the long awaited storm had finally arrived. Thunder growled loudly, unleashing its lightning wrath out on the world, and the pelting water fell from a heavy dark mass of a night sky. There were no stars out tonight, which concerned the astrologer side of Silus.

"My, it's raining hard tonight," Silus murmured to herself as she unlocked her front door. What she saw then horrified her.

It was the lovely Friday Linchen, sitting on a large rock, book in hand. Her position was still the same as it was before, only more sagged and tired. A transparent pink-tinted bubble surrounded her, acting as a shield against the harsh rain, but it was clear that the spell was quite weak. Friday was shivering, staring at the wizard with cold eyes. Silus gulped, then looked away as if nothing was happening. She pretended not to notice, looking under a purple tarp besides the door for her firewood. Retrieving two blocks, she was ready to return back inside.

Don't look back Silus, the wizard mentally coached herself. Please, do not look back. You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you do, you know. Oh, God…

Throwing the wood inside, Silus overruled Friday's protection spell and led her inside. Only getting merely wet, the magician still shivered. "A-and I suppose you s-should be apologizing?" she stuttered.

"Me? Me?" Silus was baffled, begging herself internally not to toss the girl out the nearest window. "Are you being serious?" No matter how angry she really is, the only voice elevation she made was loud enough to scare birds.

"Yes, I'm being serious." Friday sat on the same armchair she sat in before, her shivering decreasing. "But I guess I should thank you."

"Me, too."

"But I won't do that."

Ignoring her, Silus picked up the firewood and tossed it under the stove. Lighting it with a snap of her fingers, a fire soon crackled and began to warm the large home.

"I'm making soup," Silus offered. "If, you know, you're interested." Her gaze met the pile of papers and books that were shoved to one side of her wide dining table. Then she returned her attention to the soup she had prepared.

"Thank you for the kind request," Friday said. As if on cue, her stomach rumbled but she pretended not to hear it. "Anyway, I'm still waiting for you to agree on taking me to find the Twilight Crystal."

Silus was already stirring the seasonings into the pot of water and noodles. "I already told you no. Go find the second, or even third best wizard in the land. I'm…retired."

"Retired?!" Friday wrinkled her nose at this. "The best of the best never retire, although they've been living like a hobbit ten years of their lives."

"Actually, seven," Silus grumbled, only slightly offended. "And I'm not a hobbit." She sprinkled paprika in the soup and began stirring the ladle a bit faster now.

The magician said, "The point is, you're the Wizard Keetone. Most powerful, female wizard. Besides, I promise you a nice reward."

Silus quit stirring. That definitely got her attention. "R-reward?" She didn't turn to look at Friday. Maybe it was to be a journey of self discovery. That's something of real value.

"Yes indeed." Friday grinned, knowing she had Silus on a hook and string. "You see, you could earn riches beyond belief if you help me. No more will you be a hermit."

The wizard almost tossed the pot away to start the journey. But didn't. Instead, she said, "What's the catch?"

"The catch?" Friday looked as if she knew Silus was going to ask. "Well, as cliché as this is, there will be a dragon—"

"Of course," Silus sighed.

"—and a mountain—"

"Thought so."

"—and, you'd have to travel with me—"

"You know, I kind of have the jist of it, thanks." Silus rolled her eyes, leaving the soup to boil. "So, if I help you surpass all this…dung, I'll get a nice reward?"

"Yes." Friday rubbed her chin. "It could be money, it could be fame, it could be an autobiography…"

"Never mind," Silus gagged. "That has no value to me." She sighed, looking at the mock sadness that pooled in Friday's puppy eyes. After all, the magician did wait outside for at least a day. "But you're desperate enough." It will only take a few weeks anyways. Besides, a great adventure was worth the walk if she were to learn more about the world. "I agree to join you on this ridiculous quest."

"You do?" Friday lit up, jumping in her seat. "Oh, this changes everything! Thank you so much, Keetone!"

Silus smiled calmly, but mentally, she was both hanging herself and smashing her head with a mace.

Oy vey…What have I done?