Chapter 307

  The GlitterBright Chronicles (Part II)

  “But wait, it gets better,” Gwen begins, her words ringing with a hollow truth that strikes a chord deep within me.

  It’s odd, seeing your child grow up and mirror you down to your own sick sense of humor, reflecting back on you as you must seem to others. Yet despite this, I can’t help but be proud.

  Gweny was always the serious one of the group, well of my children. It made sense, after Rob left, Junior became disgruntled and acted like he was owed something. Whereas Gwen just became the rock for the others to turn to.

  I always thought it was too much. That she seemed to miss something major by that change. Almost as if she abandoned her entire childhood, just to be a better role model for her siblings.

  Now though, now I could see her truly coming to terms with herself. Or at least the parts of herself that she had hidden away so long ago.

  “Oh?” I press, seeing where this will go.

  “You should read it, I’d dare say it is up there with Whittle’s premier Grimlight series. You know, the series that made her a member of the SLWC,” Gwen states.

  From this conversation, I can all but guarantee two things are true. First, Gwen honestly and truly does like this first book. Second, she knows I will likely hate it, and somehow that only makes her like this book more.

  Still, it’s a book, how bad can it truly be, right? Though I do have some reservations given the author, I need to check.

  “No sparkling werewolves?” I question.

  “What, no. Absolutely no werewolves, sparkling or otherwise in this book,” Gwen states.

  Yet even now as she speaks, I can see a smile cresting at the corner of her lips.

  Seeing her devilish smile, I can’t help but feel that it is my smile being presented right back at me, which again fills me with equal parts dread and pride. Dread in the fact that this seems to be a well-played trap. A trap where I must force my way first through a book that it is clear I will not like, only to then be forced to do a task, one that judging by her look, I know I definitely will not like.

  With a devilish smile, Gwen reaches into a satchel she is carrying and pulls out a book that could have only existed in a tiny pocket realm.

  There on the cover, is the name of this book.

  In a densely beveled lettering on a clearly leatherbound casing is one word, GlitterBright.

  The book itself looks amazing.

  Clearly high-quality leather and craftsmanship went into producing the work.

  No magic on the piece at all, implying that it was made through nonmagical means, but still very pretty.

  Sigh.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I state while holding out my hand.

  I am kind of curious, because judging by Gwen’s reaction, she knows I will hate this.

  With a devil who knows the future smile, she extends the book to me.

  Just touching the cover, I let my fingers roam over the piece, again I can’t help but feel that the cover is fantastic. Somehow, I think the cover is going to be the only part of this book I like.

  “Well, the cover’s nice,” I quip, all but dreading what will happen next.

  With a coy smile Gwen just nods.

  By now everyone is just staring at the two of us.

  “Do you just want me to go and do whatever task you had in mind?” I press, wondering if I can forgo this part of the pact.

  “Oh no, a deal is a deal, mother.”

  Hearing her, I can’t help but smile inwardly. While my body is hiding my true emotions, I still can’t help but feel that Gwen is finally coming into her own.

  Taking a deep breath, I open the cover and begin trying to get through as much of the book as possible. My maxed out Blind Eidetic Speed Reading skill coming into place almost immediately.

  This is how I am able to get through the first few chapters, before the true content of what I am reading fills my mind and creates an instantly soggy picture of details and scenes.

  “This, this is about sparkling fairies,” I protest.

  Hearing that, Gwen just smiles brightly, “I know, much better than sparkling werewolves, and far more believable, if you ask me.”

  I wanted to protest, thinking that she said no sparkling, but that was just in relation to the possibility of werewolves, not sparkles in general.

  Well played.

  Taking another breath, I continue.

  Flip, flip, flip.

  “Oh, come on, this is basically plagiarism of my life. The Fairie is a teacher at a magical school for gifted children. Even the principle seems to be something,” I press trying to put to words why the description of the older male principle seems so off to me.

  “Is it the name?” Gwen presses.

  “What, Malcolm Roy?” I press, then only after saying the name out loud do I realize it is something, but I can’t quite understand why it sounds so familiar.

  “Keep going, just wait until the real love interest shows up,” Gwen presses.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I want to protest about spoilers, but honestly with a work this obnoxious and seemingly a slightly modified version of my own existence, there can’t be much to be spoiled or surprised by.

  “Fine,” I press.

  Then continue reading.

  Flip, flip, flip.

  Then I feel a slight twinge of revulsion fill me, as I read the true love interest’s name and occupation.

  Raul, the painter, and temporary Art Teacher.

  There are even depictions of this Raul’s paintings and they are very clearly minor charms of attraction.

  “He’s seducing the teacher by forcing magical charms on her?” I protest, reading further.

  Flip, flip.

  “Mal, finds the paintings, and warns the heroine Sas, that Raul is no good and dangerous. You can’t trust painters, oh my gosh, does it ever actually get better?” I press, flipping through the pages as quickly as possible, trying to read through this mindless drivel as quickly as possible.

  I must be near the end, it can’t keep going, can it?

  “The school dance? Where the teacher is supposed to be a chaperone, that is where both the principal and art teacher make their move for the love interest.” I continue speaking about the plot of this terrible story, wondering if speaking it out loud will somehow make it seem better, but nothing can fix this work.

  Worse, the more painful an experience this is for me, the more Gwen seems to enjoy my misery.

  “Then, just when I think it can’t get any worse, the story ends on a faux cliffhanger of the school getting burned down by the overpowered runes not being properly grounded and getting set off by one of the teacher’s kids. That’s when Raul proves himself by jumping in to save the teacher and the student, that she went in to protect?” I state, feeling truly revolted.

  “Yes, now we are waiting to see what her choice will be. Also, the artwork clearly didn’t catch fire until the principle tried to tamper with them, and thereby ruin the grounding elements.” Gwen pointed out.

  “No, those runes were trash and a clear fire hazard on those walls. Also, I hate stories where the main heroine needs to be saved by anyone, romantic lead or otherwise.” I state, feeling truly revolted by the entire experience.

  The main character was weak, and fell into almost every trope imaginable to be forced to fall for possibly the worst ever written male love interest imaginable.

  “Don’t tell me she goes for the Art Teacher?” I pose, wondering how bad this could get.

  I don’t want to know.

  Honestly, I’m just hoping to forget this story exists at all, but I can’t help but want to find something redeeming about this book. It can’t be as bad as I am thinking it is, can it?

  Gwen for her part just smiles coyly, “we don’t know. We can only hope that her real-life love interest continues to be her muse, so this story can continue.”

  “Wait, this was inspired?” I press, then suddenly realized that the names were all oddly familiar. For a moment, I wonder who they could be based off of, but then dawning reality hits me. I missed the obvious closeness of names, assuming that there was no way the names could be that poorly masked to conceal the real person noted.

  “Oh yes, near autobiographical, really.” Gwen stated.

  Then suddenly the names all began to ring out in my mind. The main character Cathrine Sastine, AKA Sas. The “Art Teacher” who happened to draw runes, one Raul.

  “Okay, so what? I was the teacher, Rahul the Lich was supposed to be the art teacher, Raul.” I state going over the names, hoping that it sounded stupid and would instantly dissolve once spoken, but only after saying the noted ties did it even begin to register fully. “Okay, so who is the Principle?”

  I ask, my mind so many other places right now, as I think my mind was squished to jello and forced to now try to take on a shape of consistency.

  “Hmm, who could Malcom, or Mal, Roy be?” Gwen asked, pressing a finger to her lips as if she was deep in contemplation.

  Hearing her speak the name out loud, I let out another sigh, as it is clearly Mallory, the Guild Master.

  “I deserve royalties for this. No wait, I want my royalties to be that this book will never be published,” I state.

  “Too late, as the first book completed in World’s End, it is being noted as a founding piece of our culture. And provided a few of the benchmarks needed for our civilization here to be considered thriving,” Gwen added.

  Hearing her words, I couldn’t help but realize she was correct. In order for cities and empires alike to be considered thriving and robust, a few benchmarks or achievements could be noted. Anything from housing creators of famous works of art, to writers, to hosting a college that specializes in magical teachings.

  Yes, this was important and would no doubt be needed to showcase that the Midnight Hunters were continuing to evolve as a cultural powerhouse.

  “The first?” I ask.

  “The very first, by nearly a week, was even registered by the system and everything,” Gwen noted.

  Hearing her speak, I realized that from now until the end of time, the Midnight Hunters would always be noted as the resting spot for the SLWC during the Legrand wars, and the place that cradled the birth of GlitterBright.

  I really hope that we don’t end up regretting this achievement in the future.

  Then more of the words that Gwen spoke about during this rewards portion of my binding oath come to mind.

  “Wait, you said Susan Whittle had a muse?” I press, realizing that many of the runes would work, if only barely. Meaning, they would cause emotions to flood within a target who is around them constantly, only to then be released once someone with either an activation source was nearby, or something else happened.

  Suddenly the fire makes sense.

  “Yes, Susan is currently enjoying a relationship with a fellow colleague of yours,” Gwen pressed.

  “Colleague?” I parrot, only to realize that I should only have one true colleague currently, that being the very same Rahul De’Gravitas, annoying Lich and seducer of females, allegedly.

  “Yes, he provided the initial artwork that served as inspiration for Susan’s masterpiece,” Gwen responded, then gestured to the leather-bound tome still within my hands in case I had any questions about what work she was referring to.

  “Wait, was there actually a fire?” I question.

  “Yes, actually there was, and Rahul was the first one to jump in and save Susan from the fire, along with her manuscript, which seemed to spark their true relationship.” Gwen noted, then a question filled her gaze, “wait, how did you know there was an actual fire?”

  Apparently during that month that I was gone, Rahul had provided a copy of these infatuation runes around the school, and they were so poorly made that they caught fire. Once again, I was reminded of his mana trap that lay under his floors, cycling off any ambient life energy from his laboratory.

  The issues were simple, as the runes would likely be fine in the Spirit Realm, which is where Rahul normally resides. However, a problem arises when you take those same runes and place them willy-nilly in the mortal realm, which has other elements that he clearly isn’t used to.

  Realizing the true threat posed, I am about to press on, when suddenly Gwen stops me.

  “Are you ready to hear the condition you must complete, now that my side of the bargain has been struck?” Gwen presses, all but twisting the knife of misery deeper into me.

  Again, I can’t help but be both proud and aggrieved by her actions equally.

  Never before have I been so proud to call her my daughter.

  The only problem is that there are likely fire hazards currently around World’s End. Fire hazards that pose as nothing more than love charms.

  Holding up my finger, I pause Gwen.

  “I do want to hear it, but first I need to ask, are there any more of these runes about?” I ask, flipping open the book and showing the main rune that caused the final fire in the last scene.

  Pausing, Gwen looks at the rune, but then just shakes her head.

  “No, I think Mallory forbade them from going up after that,” Jhonny added, finally coming over and providing an alternate voice to this conversation.

  “Good,” I respond, nodding my head in acceptance.

  “That said, many people are passing them out as World’s End valentines markings,” Penelope added.

  Hearing that, I realize we might have an issue.

  “We need to stop the runes, or at least get out the message of how to stabilize them,” I press, realizing that kids reading this book could all but be spelling their own dooms, literally. Mentally, I imagined a love promissory rune being presented to a loved one, who then stashes the secret note in a pile of papers. A pile of highly flammable papers that could all catch fire based on the spark of unfiltered magic that makes contact with the poorly designed rune.

  There is a silence as everyone seems to pause and stare at me.

  “Well what should we do?” Penelope finally asks.

  “Can I see this Susan? I need to explain how to correct this design, so we can get the proper one out to everyone. Well everyone that is living or in the mortal realm, that rune is still viable for the spirit realm.” I press.

  As I speak, dawning realization hits Jhonny.

  “Wait, you mean that rune really was the cause of the fire?” Jhonny pressed.

  “Yeah, why?” I ask.

  At that, the four just stare at each other for a moment.

  Finally, it is my Apprentice who speaks and sheds light on a few more events that might have happened, while I was gone.

  “Well, you see,” Apprentice begins, “while you were gone, it was clear who the main characters of the story were meant to be. And with Mallory being the apparent instigator, stating that the runes were dangerous, everyone thought that it was just her getting jealous of Raul, or Rahul.”

  “They thought she was getting jealous of a fictional character made after the unlikeness of an undead lich?” I ask.

  Silence.

  Apparently, there was more going on here than anyone wanted to confess to, particularly Gwen.

  I turned to Gwen, “I take it things aren’t going well for you?”

  Hearing my comment, Gwen just looked down at the ground.

  “I can’t help it, I get so jealous. Then when you were gone, I thought this would be it, my chance to really shine. But then she just spent most of her time helping to coach her Granddaughter how to experience the world as a Spiritlight, one who also has a Valhalla bloodline active in her.”

  “So you felt slighted?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” Gwen responded meekly.

  Seeing her, I flew forward and hugged her.

  “It’s okay, we will get through this, together.” I respond.

  Tears, glowing mana infused tears flow from her eyes. Seeing the gesture, I can’t help but see even more similarities into how I used to be, back when I was still an elf.

  Sob.

  I just stay there, letting her work it all out.

  The more she cries, the more I see the frail little girl that I love so much. The very same little girl who tried to be stoic when her father left, so that her brothers and sisters wouldn’t be as frightened.

  “It’s okay,” I respond, patting her on the back and letting her relax likely for the first time since she was a teenager.

  “No it’s not,” Gwen begins, “I’m a jerk, a jealous and insecure jerk who is afraid that those that I love will always leave me.”

  I just hug her, and give a gesture with my hand for the others behind her to leave.

  At the gesture, the remaining trio leaves, leaving just behind Gwen and me.

  “Again, just talk to her,” I press.

  “I messed it up, bad this time, even Redding won’t talk to me,” Gwen states.

  It takes me a minute to remember who Redding is, only to realize that this is the name that Mallory’s granddaughter chose.

  “So she got the children in the break up?” I press, trying to make light of the situation.

  “Yes, making me even more like him.” Gwen presses.

  Hearing her say Him, I know exactly who she is referring to. The initial source of all this trauma, and why my beautiful daughter had to grow up so quickly.

  “It’s okay, he’s gone, and you are not like him. You are so strong and proud, taking on every challenge head long and not bowing down to anyone.” I reply, clearly stating my daughter’s strengths that I have come to know and love over the years.

  “Actually, about that. You see, I wasn’t entirely honest with the task I wanted you to perform.” Gwen responds, a serious note in her voice as I realize this is about to be a very serious task.

  “No, don’t,” I begin, but am instantly cut off by a very determined Gwen.

  “Mother, my request for you is to go out and…”