Chapter Text
The city was abuzz with gossip. Every layer of society from the gutter trash to the oldest money was spreading the word. The Geist Foundation had finally unveiled its latest event: a fabulous fine arts presentation celebrating the cultural legacies of a dozen different civilizations. The magnum opus was being kept secret until the opening night, but Lady Geist had teased that it was the archeological find of the decade. Dozens of the city’s social elite had already announced their anticipation for the event, and the common masses were lining up around city blocks to get tickets. So much excitement, so much attention, so much opportunity. How could Paradox resist?
And so, there she was on opening night. Just one more idle socialite among many. She wore an outfit that was just fashionable enough to dissuade any questions about her status, but not so trendy as to draw attention. She exchanged meaningless pleasantries with the other guests, then began perusing the exhibits. Roman mosaics, Ixian tapestries, French paintings; the pieces on display were certainly impressive. Most weren’t to Paradox’s taste, however. Art was all well and good, but it didn’t excite her the way it did some of the other members of Paradox. Indeed, she recognized another member of Paradox eyeing the Ixian exhibit. She raised a glass of champagne to him in acknowledgement as she passed, and he gave her a knowing smile in return.
Her wandering had a more important purpose. As she browsed the exhibits, Paradox scanned her surroundings. There was far more security present than the average guest would ever realize. The telltale boxy shape of Fairfax Industries’ latest security cameras lurked in every corner. Many of the lavish carpets had intricate warding symbols woven into them, their presence hidden by the more apparent decorative patterns. Every doorway was lined with dormant sigils that would flare to life if triggered. It was an impressive set of security measures that would have thwarted any thief. But Paradox wasn’t any thief.
A low, long note held by a dozen instruments echoed throughout the exhibits. It was time for the main event. Excited whispering filled the air as all the guests made their way to the main hall. Paradox moved with the crowd, it was time to see if she’d be going home with a new trophy or just a belly full of rather excellent champagne.
The walls of the main hall were lined with depictions of legends from across the world. Odysseus, Momotaro, Anansi, and dozens more surrounded the audience. In the center of the room was a raised dais with an enormous veil concealing the final attraction. A band struck up a regal tune, and the lights dimmed until the room was wreathed in shadow.
A spotlight flicked on, directing the crowd’s attention to Lady Geist’s grand entrance. She wore an elegant emerald dress with matching elbow length gloves and a supremely satisfied expression. A round of applause went up from the crowd, and Paradox joined in despite finding the woman to be rather insufferable. “Please let this be something worth taking,” she thought to herself. It had been too long since Geist had been humbled.
Lady Geist reached the dais and held her hand up for silence. The applause died down, and the band let their instruments rest. “I thank you all for coming to my little art show, I hope you have enjoyed the pieces on display. Each one was carefully selected to represent the history, culture, and people of the greatest civilizations of this world and beyond. In each of them, you could see the legends that those civilizations created, passed down, and changed from generation to generation. From simple fairy tales to foundational mythologies, the stories that we create inspire some of the greatest works of art. And it is through these-”
Paradox’s mind and eyes started to wander as Geist droned on about art. The hidden security measures in the main hall put what she’d seen throughout the rest of the venue to shame. Whatever Geist had under that veil, she had spared no expense in protecting it. Paradox returned her attention to Geist’s speech.
“And so, it is my great pleasure to reveal this most stunning of discoveries made by a team funded by the Geist Foundation: the Liber Legendarium!” Lady Geist flourished an arm, and the veil was whisked away into a gap in the ceiling. Sitting on a podium was an immense leatherbound tome that practically hummed with magic. Shifting colors danced along the page edges, forming half imagined shapes before dissipating into swirls. The very air around the cover seemed to vibrate, like the heat waves above a car on a blazing summer afternoon.
“A team of the finest historians and arcanists have determined that this magnificent tome carries an incredibly powerful enchantment. Within its pages lies the sum total of the world’s stories. And as new stories are told and resonate with the world’s collective conscious, the Liber Legendarium records them under its own power. It even details the variations of a given story as it changes from teller to teller. A flawless chronicle of our stories, our cultures, our legacies. It is a truly exceptional work of magical craftsmanship, but the most exciting part is yet to come. Not only is this among the greatest enchantments ever produced, but our team has determined that this book predates the maelstrom by centuries! It offers a window into the past’s experience and understanding of the arcane arts, and the legends within its pages could provide leads for further archaeological expeditions. I, and all those who work with the Geist Foundation hope that such a wondrous relic will inspire further interest in our world’s history, and the mysteries of pre-maelstrom magic. Now, I’d like to introduce some of the intrepid explorers who discovered this-”
Paradox had stopped listening again, her attention transfixed on the Liber Legendarium. Geist was right, it was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen. A truly unique wonder of the pre-maelstrom world. She’d have it in one of Paradox’s safehouses by midnight.
While the rest of the guests marveled over the Liber Legendarium and Geist worked the crowd to secure extravagant donations, Paradox made her way out of the venue. The sun was just dipping below the city’s skyline as she crossed the street and entered the hotel on the opposite side from the art show. She’d booked a penthouse suite for the entire week leading up to the show, and had all of her equipment stashed inside. After gearing up, she opened the window and climbed up the side of the hotel to reach the roof.
The venue hosting the art show was hardly a fortress. There were multiple entry points she could have chosen, but the simplest for this job would be coming in through the attic. Paradox took a pair of charms etched with runes from a pouch on her belt, then ran towards the roof’s edge and activated both together. One sent her hurtling into the air across the street, while the other cloaked her in shadows. On the off chance that anyone on street level was looking up, all they would have seen was a slight blur in the sky that could easily be dismissed as an errant magical current.
Paradox landed on the art show’s roof and rolled to her feet. There didn’t appear to be any security personnel on the roof, so she jimmied an access hatch and slipped into the attic. The attic was full of furniture covered in sheets, and several detection wards. Slipping past them was a simple matter, the real security effort had been spent on the exhibits themselves. And that effort clearly hadn’t been enough. Paradox rounded a corner and found herself face to face with another masked member of Paradox, several plastic tubes under his arm.
Both thieves flinched, then relaxed as they realized who they’d run into. The man chuckled, then said, “Evening. I take it you’re after the main event? You never did have an appreciation for art.”
Paradox gave him an exaggerated sigh. “What can I say? I’ve got particular tastes. What caught your fancy tonight?”
He patted the tubes affectionately. “You’ll see at the next meeting. Geist’s blathering made for a perfect diversion. The whole building was practically empty aside from the main hall. Best of luck on your own efforts.”
They parted ways, and Paradox made her way to the attic space above the main hall. She already had an idea of how she’d make her move. But first, she had to make sure the security measures wouldn’t trigger. Disabling the cameras would be the simplest, she just had to snip a few wires while making sure she didn’t cut power to the lights and raise suspicion. The arcane defenses would be trickier. Paradox wasn’t the most magically studied of her guild, she preferred the time manipulation techniques they jealously guarded, but she knew some basics. Placing a few counter wards, draining sigils, and some simple runestones at strategic points around the attic space would hopefully create enough of a disturbance in the ambient magic of the building that would cause the security wards to fizzle out if triggered, or at the very least delay their activation enough to give Paradox a time window for her escape.
Her preparations took the better part of two hours, but she couldn’t afford to be careless. Once she was satisfied that she wouldn’t spontaneously combust upon entering the room invisible, she triggered her shadow weave again and eased her way out onto a catwalk overlooking the main hall. Most of the crowd had filtered out, either going home for the night or indulging in the buffet. Geist was still putting on a show, moving among the remaining guests, laughing at bad jokes, and answering questions about her foundation’s next endeavor.
One by one, the rest of the guests made their way out of the main hall. Paradox smiled under her mask. It wouldn’t be long now until things began to wrap up and she’d have her opening. Before long, only a handful of people were left in the room. Geist herself was engaged in conversation with none other than Maximillian Fairfax. The occult magnate nodded along as Geist spoke, but his intense gaze hardly left the Liber Legendarium. Aside from the two of them, there was an older man in a flowing cape with red eyes that clearly marked him as a vampire, and an Ixian woman with cobalt skin that was more interested in the wall art.
The Ixian left first, apparently satisfied with what she’d seen of Earth’s legends. The vampire followed soon after, then Geist and Fairfax left together to continue discussing some business. Paradox had to move fast, the event was almost over, and there was no way she’d get a better window than this. She unhooked the veil that had covered the Liber Legendarium from its wires, set a time warping device onto the winch that raised it, then activated the winch. Hooking the wire to her belt, Paradox slowly descended towards the magic tome. It would be simplicity itself to lower herself down, grab the book, then reverse time for the winch to zip back to the catwalk. Or it would have been, if there hadn’t been one more guest still in the room.
As Paradox descended, her heart leapt into her throat as she realized she hadn’t noticed a short young woman standing so close to the podium that she’d been obscured from view. She wasn’t much to look at, just a girl with bright ginger hair, glasses like saucers, a thick book of her own under one arm, and a dress that was clearly a hand-me-down. Not one of the elites who’d received an invitation, just a normal woman who’d managed to get a ticket. The girl stared at the Liber Legendarium with an awestruck expression, and seemed oblivious to the fact that she was the only guest in the room.
The wire kept lowering Paradox towards the Liber Legendarium, and her mind raced for a solution. “Stasis field to freeze the winch? No, too obvious, she’d notice. Climb back up the wire? Too thin, nothing to grip. Oh! I could-” she reached for her coat pocket, but just a bit too quickly. Her weight shifted and sent her spinning as her center of gravity changed. The wire was not made for that kind of strain, and snapped. Paradox fell the remaining distance and landed next to the ginger girl with a thud. The girl yelped in shock and leapt away, holding her book up like a shield.
Paradox jumped to her feet. “Alright, smash and grab it is.” The glass case that held the Liber Legendarium was packed with its own layer of enchantments that she’d been planning on quietly bypassing. But there was no time for that now, so she just pulled an enormous blue diamond from a nullifying pouch on her belt and thrust it towards the case. The jewel was loaded with curses, which lashed out at the protective charms on the case and tore them apart like wet paper. Slipping the cursed jewel back into its pouch, Paradox smashed the glass and grabbed the Liber Legendarium.
Before she could lift it from the podium, a glowing green tentacle wrapped around her wrist and yanked her away. Paradox staggered, but just managed to keep her footing and look at her attacker. The ginger girl was holding her book out, the tentacle sprouting from its pages. She seemed as surprised at her intervention as Paradox. Her eyes were wide with panic, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
“I-I-uh, sorry?”
Paradox didn’t wait for the girl to make the next move. She snapped her fingers and summoned a time wall, then lunged for the Liber Legendarium.
“Hey stop!” The girl pointed with her free hand, and the tentacle lashed out again, then froze as it hit the time wall. The girl started flipping through the pages in her book and ran around the side of the wall. Paradox grabbed the Liber Legendarium and heaved it out of its case. It was even heavier than it looked, and she almost fumbled it as she reached for her leap charm. Just as she was about to activate the charm and leap back up to the catwalk, green light flared to life in the corner of her eye. She turned just in time to see a wave of ethereal green water surging towards her before it swept her off her feet.
Paradox clutched the Liber Legendarium to her chest as the wave carried her across the room and crashed into a wall. As she got to her feet, several green harpoons stuck into the ground in front of her, creating makeshift prison bars. The girl ran closer, green light swirling around the book she held. Paradox caught a glimpse of the cover: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Not a spellbook then. That meant the girl was a bibliomancer, and that meant she’d be powerless without her book.
The girl was a few feet away now, and Paradox got ready to make her move. “Now you… you just put the Liber Legendarium down. It’s too important to sit in some trophy room collecting dust.”
“Oh alright, you’ve convinced me,” Paradox replied. “In fact, here. Catch!” She tossed the immense tome high into the air towards the girl, who dropped her own book and yelled in panic as she raised her arms and eyes to catch the priceless artifact. Paradox overcharged her chronological manipulator and thrust her hand towards the girl. The two women’s positions in space and time were thrown into flux as reality itself wavered, then broke. For an instant that lasted an eternity, each woman occupied both spaces. Then reality reasserted itself and Paradox was standing directly where the girl had been a split second before. The Liber Legendarium fell into her waiting hands, and she kicked the copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea across the floor.
The girl, now behind her own wall of harpoons, looked around in shock “W-what, where, how?” Her gaze snapped to Paradox and her eyes widened in horror. “Stop! You can’t!”
Paradox just chuckled. “Not a bad attempt, kiddo. But you really shouldn’t get in Paradox’s way. Next time you might get hurt. Come by the next pop-up though, I’ll make sure-”
The girl lunged forward, stretching her hand through the bars. Her hand flared with green light, which exploded into a blinding flare as her fingers brushed against the Liber Legendarium. Paradox felt herself falling, then everything went black.
Once upon a time, a skilled and notorious thief found herself in a land far far away. As she got to her feet, she looked out upon a beautiful valley surrounded by grand mountains. Crystal clear rivers ran between verdant hills dotted with cottages. Two great forests sat on either side of the valley, one bright and picturesque, the other dark and foreboding. A great castle hung in the sky, resting on a foundation of clouds. It was a land of magic, of stories, of wonder. And as the thief looked upon it, one thought ran clear through her mind.
“What the fu-”