Reflections of Light

Scraps

Maddie was cleaning ash off the paper scrap with a cotton bud when Jace walked in.

"You alright?"

"Yep." Maddie said, not looking up to acknowledge him.

"You're doing... What, emergency paper conservation?"

"Yep."

"... On a scrap of paper the half the size of a credit card?"

"Yep."

"... Words other than 'Yep' still exist, right?"

Maddie's mouth twitched a laugh. "Yep."

She glanced up and saw his expectant face.
"Oh, right. It's to help a friend. Some weird stuffs been happening and we're trying to figure out what and why. This was possibly a clue, but it got burnt.
Except for this bit!

So I figure once I get all the dirt off, it might say something useful. It might not. It might all be a waste of time. But hey, one can hope."

Jace clapped his hand on her shoulder. "Alright then. We're going out, want me to bring you back anything?"

"Something deep-fried and smothered in chocolate." She muttered irritably as another piece of the blackened edge crumbled and flaked off.
"Oh, and a coffee."

"Got it." As he walked out, Maddie drew the magnifying glass down closer to the scrap of paper, to eye the streaks of brown that she knew no matter how hard she worked would not be coming out.

Drawing the magnifier closer still, she squinted at the black ink she could see etched across the page beneath the muck.

Thick lines spanned the page, forming an alphabet Maddie didn't know. However, it seemed she were not the first to puzzle over these words, as beneath, penned in a thin scrawl, someone had later added a translation.

Reading around the burn marks, she managed to make out "... Desire has a price..." and on the line below, a burn-smudged "... To know oneself..."

Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. That was no damn help at all.

Frustratedly, she slammed her hands down on the table, letting out a strained scream of frustration, before collapsing her head into her hands.

Back to the drawing board.

Updating today because I don't think I'll get the time to tomorrow like usual and I woke up early XD