79. The House of Pain and Pleasure I (Patreon)

“Mistress, this isn’t the way to Chameos…” Tercius said as the two-person platform started heading north.

"I'm taking you to the House on the Pyramid." Mistress Porfira said as she pulled an amulet out of her pocket. "We did plan to have you open your Well in the House of Chameos, initially, but then this arrived yesterday— bind it with mana, just like your first one. You have Mistress Lovela to thank for that consideration. Apparently, she insisted vehemently that one be made available to you as soon as possible and the enchanters of the Repository caved in and sent one ahead."

Tercius took the offered piece of metal, and the metal in turn took some mana from him. It was a strange feeling, having the familiar weight of the amulet around his neck. When he looked down, the amulet was placed in the exact center of where his pain originated from.

"I had to wake up Moth—Mistress Helfira to get the amulet from her, and then assure her that I would escort you," Mistress Porfira said as she made the platform accelerate forward.

"Thank you, Mistress."

The woman nodded and they continued the rest of the journey in silence. The platform hovered forwards, with a small tilt that sometimes worried Tercius. Just by seeing the tilt he always thought that he would slide off to the edge of the platform, yet it never happened. Whoever made these things gave a lot of consideration to details…

The giant circular station was much the same as when Tercius last saw it. Well lit and seemingly connected to every tunnel that existed under the mountains, the platform station of the Pyramid seemed home of some industrious earthworm of gigantic proportions. "Where do all of these tunnels lead, Mistress?"

"... hmm? Oh. Private homes, laboratories, a few communities of mages that like to keep to themselves, some tunnels go to nurseries of fungi, some to underground springs… too many to name them all. Once you — oh! Well now, this is interesting…” The young woman lapsed into silence as they went through empty underground corridors.

“Mistress?” Tercius inquired, as a sharp pain made his lips twitch.

"I was just thinking… legally speaking…" Mistress Porfira mused quietly, a small smile on her lips. "Once you start opening your Well, you will be an adult—as far as the law is concerned…"

“And you were thinking about that because…"

“For a child of eleven to be considered an adult…” Mistress Porfira said as they boarded the elevator platform that would take them to the surface. “It’s difficult to put it into words…”

Unknown change that would follow aside, Tercius felt thrilled by the news of his impending adulthood. Even his pain had seemingly eased as if to let him celebrate the joyous news. Still, I better learn the fine print. “Mistress, what does that entail for me, legally?”

"Oh, nothing much. As long as you are a student, the immunity your position provides renders most, if not all, of the changes moot. Becoming an adult means that you could ask for a permit for housing in the city— of course, you would have to pay Repository points for such a privilege. Your student status, however, will not allow this until the sixth year. You could marry, but once more your special status will not allow it. It goes on and on, as I told you," the woman informed him as she adjusted her long red gloves while the elevator climbed towards the surface.

“When do people become adults without a Well?”

"Depends on who you ask… most count fourteen cycles as a start of sorts, where new rights are added incrementally and twenty cycles of age are counted as full adulthood nowadays. I said 'depends' because there are some barristers who claim that everyone without a Well is technically not an adult no matter the age. An old— founding of the Pyramid OLD— law is cited often because it has never been revoked, even though new ones have been institutionalized around it," Mistress Porfira said. "I just found it amusing that by this law you, a boy of eleven, are now considered an adult, and someone of sixty or seventy cycles of age is not. It just goes to show that things need to change around here. We are growing stale, and the Repository has barely changed a thing to the system from the time of my grandmother to today,"

“Oh?” Tercius said, smiling. The convoluted situation was, like Mistress Porfira said, highly amusing. It might be amusing to me… What about those seventy-year-old children? Tercius laughed just thinking about it. "Is there a cited reason for this … rigidity, Mistress?"

The woman waved her elegant hand. "So that those in power stay in power, what else? If they change one law they will have to change others, and let me tell you; the physical copies of the laws that should be changed could fill one of the great amphitheaters from floor to ceiling."

Tercius nodded slowly as he patted his chest. The young woman gave Tercius something to take his mind off the pain, and he was grateful for that. The occasional surprise stab notwithstanding, the pain and pressure in him were quite manageable.

"This might be a weird question, Mistress, but why is the Repository the enforcer of law?" Tercius asked. "Isn't it better to have another, separate authority for that? Something like the Order of the Scribes? Order of the Law, err… or something similar?"

The woman looked at him. "It would, wouldn't it? Well, the legend goes that the Repository did not start out as the collector of knowledge, but rather a—"

Visibly struggling to find the right word, Mistress Porfira opted out for a longer explanation, much to Tercius's pleasure. "The tales speak of times before the Repository, as we know it, was built, where spells washed over the lands leaving devastation everywhere. To stop the wanton destruction of the environment, a group of mages got together to build a place where everyone could settle differences, and exchange knowledge in a nondestructive, almost peaceful manner— through a neutral intermediary. The laws of conduct were written, banning large-scale destructive spells, and then enforced by all parties that wanted an exchange of that kind. The name 'Repository' only came much, much later."

"So the true, or better yet the original purpose of what is called the 'Repository' isn't to keep knowledge but maintain that law… or better yet, maintain a peace," Tercius as much for himself as for Mistress Porfira benefit. Teachers often liked to hear a summation from their students, he learned from his experience by being both a student and a teacher, it gave them the satisfaction of being heard— at least that seemed to be the case with him. I wonder if other people react similarly…

"Well yes, if the legends are true, but that purpose was completely eclipsed as time went by. Now its primary purpose is keeping safe all of the knowledge of our ancestors, and that's what it does too damn well— just keep it there!" Mistress Porfira spat the words distastefully. “So close to us, yet so distant…”

Tercius nodded slowly. The talk with Mistress Porfira was illuminating in many ways, and Tercius realized that he had allowed his preferences to color him against such a delightful font of information.

Suddenly, the young woman, with whom Tercius stood shoulder to shoulder, waved a hand and a vial appeared in it. She chugged it back in one shot, hissing as she blinked her tearing eyes open. "Why does it need to be so bitter…" Mistress Porfira hissed. The young woman shook her head after a moment. "Oh, I needed that. I haven't slept well even before your early wake-up," Mistress Porfira said with teary eyes. She shook the small empty vial in her hand and it disappeared. "It will keep me awake for a day or two,"

An energy drink on steroids? Is that… safe? Note to self, ask Seliana about energy drinks, Tercius nodded.

The building that awaited them on the surface had seen some change since Tercius last saw it. It used to be just an empty room, of considerable proportions, but now aside from the enlarged space Tercius noted chairs for seating and some potted plants around the elevator's exit. The ceiling of the space was pushed up and the windows much wider and taller than he remembered, making Tercius doubt that they arrived at the right place even though the Glyphed walls suggested that the place was the same.

"What happened here?" Tercius asked in barely concealed wonder as his eyes took in the change. "It's all so … different,"

"The Festival— oh. Well, the whole complex is highly adjustable," Mistress Porfira waved a finger around. "At the end of this month is the Festival of Spring, meaning that a lot of traffic will come through here. A platform elevator or two will be added, and this whole space expanded to accommodate the seasonal demand."

"So the building is shrunk and enlarged at need? Isn't that … wasteful? Why not just make it as large as possible?"

"The style of the buildings is always changed; from season to season. It's not that big a deal with magic, someone is always willing to settle the final bill," Mistress Porfira said as they were let through the door by a guard in a gray leather suit and headpiece. The previously heavy metal door was now seemingly made of thick glass, and instead of opening out, this one slid into the ceiling like a scared turtle.

"The buildings around the Academy are also prone to occasional change … new building techniques and variations of old ones are constantly being developed. New materials are tried and the old materials recycled. If you compare the Academy grounds of when you arrived and the one now, I'm sure at least one building would be completely new. While the law is most certainly stale; in a dire need of change and refurbishment, the same can’t be said for our homes and workplaces."

The outside of the building was completely different as well. For one, there was no more snow anywhere. The whole area was padded with stone tastefully arranged into shapes that Tercius noted immediately were Runes. Finely sculpted shrubs, some Runic others resembling animals or even people, and geometric shapes, the scene seemed so surreal under the starlit sky. The white light of the light-orbs gave a soft, almost ethereal, note to the whole vision, briefly making Tercius doubt he actually saw it. "Wow…"

"Move along," Mistress Porfira commanded. "You should have seen how we did it last year… I helped make a fountain just there—" the woman pointed at one giant shrub that Tercius couldn't make heads or tails of. Mistress Porfira told him of the ideas she had while she was on the Committee for Festival Preparations. Similar to the young woman, all of the ideas she told him about were bright and colorful, if a little too over the edge.

At the end of the new park stood the Doorway, solitary and solemn, its black, stone carved with considerable precision and artistry. Mistress Porfira opened the way and Tercius used his amulet to enter the hexagonal 'area of temporary spatial connection', as most teachers called the effect; though some preferred 'bridge', leaving Amber behind with Mistress Porfira. The cold sensation of passage was brief, robbing and restoring the heat of his body only for so long that it left a lingering trace over him. Mistress Porfira came after him and returned Amber to her spot. Tercius felt Amber's satisfaction at that and he smiled at the little creature.

The area from the Doorway all the way to the Tunnel had seen a change of scenery, with the small difference that the work was still ongoing on this side. The bushes were grown, but still waiting to be sculpted. Finely cut stone, processed timber, glass, and more were all lying around in piles, waiting to be given a shape by a creator. The construction site started conjuring memories of simpler times, days where he did what he wanted, days where he did as was ordered, both executed without any kind of pressure. His time at the Academy was helpful, of that, he had no doubt, the knowledge given during basic education was a great bait to him. To say nothing of the available books, lessons, and private sessions with the teachers. One word summed it up.

Priceless.

Yet now, as he looked over the area where plants were grown and stone was shaped, while growing pressure and fire grew in his chest and knives of pain assaulted him, a desire to return to those simple times bloomed strong. In moments of clear thoughts, he could imagine himself leaving in a heartbeat. While his stay at the Academy was priceless, too many strings came attached to it; strings that dragged baggage of proportions and weight that he only knew the tail of. And it was not the unknown itself that bothered him, no, his mind only had one worry, call it a fear even. That someone else would pay the price of his deeds.

You have to stay, Tercius firmly reassured himself. At least until such a time as when you are sure that no one else would sink with you. You have to.

Guided by Mistress Porfira, their path lit by glowing light-orbs, they made their way to the giant Tunnel, then took a platform through the tunneled underbelly of the Pyramid. The platform speedily deposited them in front of a large metal gate, that was as much an ornament as it was a very clear barrier and message.

"House of Pain and Pleasure," Tercius read the Runed gate. Tall brick walls went straight to the left and right of the gate, as shrubs and trees poked over the walls at approaching visitors. Seeing it all at night, under white light, gave Tercius the creeps. It was as if he was walking on a set of a horror movie set in some abandoned Sanatorium, where violent ghosts liked to get together and let off some ectoplasmic steam.

Mistress Porfira approached the gate, resting a gloved hand on the metal rods that made up the Rune for 'house'. It took but a moment for the gate to open, the double doors swinging inwardly with barely a sound made.

"Come along," Mistress Porfira said as her shoes gave a tempo on the flat stone, a tempo that matched Tercius' heartbeat. He adjusted Amber in her spot and followed after the departing figure of the Mistress. Minutes went by on their walk over a twisting stone path, as evergreen and seasonal trees obscured the way forward and back. Sounds of the night followed Tercius to the front door of the three-story mansion at the end of the path.

There, standing near the entrance, was a solitary figure. A woman of average height, clad in a black, clean-cut dress; the lady had a black or perhaps dark blue, mask covering her face; only a small part of the forehead was visible, near the hairline, while the mask went all the way down to her upper lip. With a small enigmatic smile, the woman looked at Tercius from behind that mask as he approached. One hand was placed where her dress tightly hugged her hip, while the other held in its possession a stick; a pointer, like the one's teachers used in classrooms.

"My, my, a new guest at this hour…" the woman said slowly, enunciating each word with tender deliberation of her sandy voice. "Look," the woman extended a naked arm towards them showing her gooseflesh. "I got so curious when my … bell was … rung. I just had to see who it was,"

"Mistress," Mistress Porfira placed a hand on her heart and bowed her head slightly and Tercius followed suit. "This is Tercius, Mistress, a first-year student. I was informed that arrangements have been made for him." Mistress Porfira said, her gaze not daring to look up.

"Is that so? So young… Hmm… yes! That’s… too bad…" the woman said slowly, slapping the pointer on her empty palm with a sharp crack of flesh. Tercius and Mistress Porfira just stood there, one hand over the heart, head bowed slightly as the woman stalked around them as she withheld her part of the greeting.

As juniors you need to wait at least twenty seconds if the greeting is not given back, Mistress Dea had taught the new students when they arrived. Only then can you move.

This was the first time someone deliberately did the withholding, so his hand had almost slipped down when he noticed Mistress Porfira still in her pose and the rule came rushing back. He counted to nineteen when the woman interrupted his count, "Porfira, Tercius. Be welcome,"

With a flourish, the woman turned on her heels, the lower part of dark dress flowing everywhere around her as masks similar to her own appeared in each hand. Extending one to Mistress Porfira, the other to Tercius, the woman looked at Tercius with unblinking brown eyes and said, "Three rules of my House. No one goes in there without a mask, no real names are used from now on— not while you stay with us, understood? Name yourself however you want. And finally the most important one: I am the only Mistress in these walls? Yes?"

Tercius nodded, meekly. The woman's gaze was intense. "Yes, Mistress."

“Then let me extend a formal welcome to the House of Pain and Pleasure. May your stay here be filled with both, in equal measure. See what I did there?" the woman smiled, her bright white teeth dazzling and lips red as blood.