{"sf1_id":649150,"sf2_id":null,"title":"White City Chronicles, Pt. 1","author":"VoidedCold","words":4518,"posted_at":"2014-01-15T06:34:00.000Z","tags":["City","Magic","Otter","Raccoon","Story Series","White City","Wolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/649150-white-city-chronicles-pt-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/649150","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=649150\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Part One: The apprentice                Beads\nof precipitation collected on a metal rail stretching along the bridge Wulfgang\nwalked upon. The otter drew his finger against the wet metal, then brought his\npaw to his mouth and licked the cool dew off his smooth padded finger. He\nrested his paws on the rail, stared forward and took a deep breath. A smile\nspread across his face and he licked some moisture off his muzzle. The otter wore loose fitting jeans, as well as a deep blue sweater and black t-shirt. His hair was a dirty blond, not quite short, but not quite long, it rested just at the level of his muzzle.                 His\nmuddy-cream coloured fur stood on end as the smell of static filled the air.\nThe water under the bridge pulled inward on itself and then shot upward,\nsurrounding the Bright Corps building with a wall of water. Masked furs\nsprinted toward the skyscraper, throwing glyphs into the water-wall, pushing\nsections of the construct inward to freeze into bridges. A few of the attackers\nshouted incantations, tossing glyph-slips to pull the water where they wanted\nit to go. One looked towards the watcher and seemed ready to attack him, but\nthey just kept running.                Wulf\nmemorized the mask's etched symbols, he had what he came for and turned away.\nIt was difficult to push out of the monsoon even with the purple swirling\nsphere the otter had created around himself. Water warped around the arcane\nshield as he stepped out of area and he let the spell fade.                 \"Fuck,\"\nWulfgang muttered and bit onto his smoking thumb. Black charred rose petals\ntwisted in the water behind him, as well as scattered on the ground. The otter\nshook his hand as he stormed away from the Bright Corps headquarters. He had\nbeen looking forward to making an eyewitness account and cursed; he made a\nmental note to bring more rose petals the next time. The otter himself had been gifted with a slightly higher reservoir of life energy, but even he had to substitute rose petals as the sacrifice for almost all spells.                 The\npath off the Bright Corps campus was marked with smooth stone arranged in\ngolden geometric patterns and did not bleed seamlessly into the sidewalk it\nlead to. The location was by far the most extravagant in the city- Bright Corps\nwas the largest company in White -and the shadow of the skyscraper fell heavy\non the surrounding neighborhoods. The area had originally been the oldest\ncommunity in White, but had been bought out and destroyed by the corporation.\nThere was heavy speculation on how Bright managed to keep its clientele in the\nmidst of demolishing important culture in the city. Wulfgang himself despised\nthe company and whispered with his neighbors about supposed conspiracy and\ntrouble brewing in the organization.                The\notter had now seen first-hand the violent opposition toward Bright and\nheaded to his place of work to inform his master of what he had witnessed. Wulfgang\napprenticed at a local shop which was only a few blocks south of Bright Corps.\nThe store offered many charms, scrolls, entire tomes, as well as direct magical\nservices. He and his master were the only arcana practitioners active and\nworking in the south east of White City, so business was consistent. Although modern magic had overcome the strict rules and limits of traditional written magics, most people viewed the old ways as higher quality, or at the very least an art to be admired.                 An old\nwolf's ear perked and twitched just before the shop bell rang for Wulfgang's\nentrance. The master and apprentice exchanged smiles and a brief hug. Wulf\nstepped around the counter, heading into the back of the store. The master\nlocked up shop and followed after his apprentice. The otter had already poured\ntea for the both of them, but only sat down when the older wolf did.                 Between\nthem was a table embossed with a complex series of symbols and circles,\ninterlocking in scattered patterns. The teapot rested on a metal plate\nconnected directly to the tea-table. The master Arcana user had hand-crafted\nthe table, like most of the objects in the shop. The magical circles initiated a chain reaction, where one monitored touch and then sent signals to others to instantly boil water in any teapot placed on the metal plate. Many who had seen it offered much for such craftmanship, but the master could never let a masterpiece go.                \"So,\nyou've seen the protestors first hand?\" The old master said and took a sip of\nrosebud tea. Wulf pulled a slip of paper from under the table and began to draw\nout the symbol he memorized, being careful to be as accurate as possible. \"Yeah,\nbut they're not just protesting anymore. They've erected a monsoon wall around\nthe Bright building. They could be storming the place right now.\" Wulf said, to\nwhich the wolf chuckled in a soft way and shook his head. \"That\nasinine skunk would never let them into his headquarters.\" The master said and\ntook the symbol his apprentice drew out. He turned the paper around once, or\ntwice, put it down on the table and scratched at his chin. It was a simple\nsymbol, three circles arranged in such a way you could draw an equilateral\ntriangle between them, with a line between each circle outstretching. \"A\ntrinity? This is the symbol that those triplets adopted, isn't it? I don't\nsuppose that they're affiliated.\" Wulf remarked as he gulped down tea. The wolf\nshook his head again and tapped at the paper.                \"I\ndon't think so, the Grey have always been the lone vigilante type. The\nactivists might have chosen it as a symbol against tyranny, since the triplets\nare romanticized as having these ideals.\" He spread his paw out on the page and\ncrumpled the paper. \"Oh well, we'll just have to keep an eye on them.\" The\nmaster shrugged and took his tea back up, sipping ever so slightly. The old wolf, however, harbored concern in his eyes. The Grey had gallivanted across the city for almost ten years, reeking havoc among those who might cause havoc. Many lauded them as heroes, but they caused a lot of damage while they 'rescued' the city. Most people thought of the group as siblings, perhaps triplets (though they do not appear the same age) who have access to overwhelming magical artifacts that grant them great power. The young male of the group, Richter, possessed an unknown spacial magic that the group used to evade police custody. \"Ah,\nmaster,\" Wulf said, scratching behind his neck. \"I don't understand, why are we\ninvolving ourselves in this?\" The master said that Wulf would learn a lot from observation, but he saw nothing that he didn't already know. The old wolf rubbed his paws together, his long\nwhiskers wriggled along his greying muzzle and he started to sniff at the air. His eyes fixated on Wulf's fidgeting thumb and forefinger, he could weakly smell burnt fur.                \"Why\nare you rubbing your thumb like that?\" The master asked and reached over the\ntable to grab Wulf's hand. The otter recoiled a bit and stopped subconsciously\ntrying to sooth his stinging digit. The wolf furrowed his fluffy brow, \"I told\nyou to bring more rose petals, it smells like it's burnt!\" The otter rolled his\neyes and said he was fine.                \"It was\njust a shield, it wasn't even a strong one.\" Wulf said and flicked his wrist in\nno particular direction. The old master shook his head, crossed his arms and\nturned away. \"Wulf,\nit's dangerous to rely on your reserve. I understand you seem secure having\nmore to expend than others, but it's not that much of a difference.\" The wolf\nturned to the otter and squinted, an eyebrow perked. \"Besides, that spell is\nmade specifically only to draw energy from rose petals.\" Wulfgang smirked, arms\ncrossed as he stared down to the side. \"I told\nyou I was getting better at reading the arcana.\" The master grunted at Wulf's\nwords, though his eyes opened wide. He started on, about to reem his student on\npossible mistakes, but the sound of a bell rang clear through the shop. Both\nmaster and apprentice cursed under their breath and stood, saying the shop was\nclosed.                 \"Didn't\nyou lock the door?\" Wulf asked and nudged the master, who shrugged and shook\nhis head. The pair of arcanists shuffled to behind the counter, where a young\nraccoon girl stood waiting for them. She stood a few inches taller than Wulfgang, about 5'11'' and wore her dark hair down to billow across her shoulders. Her fur was predominantly dark, a deep chestnut, her 'mask' and rings were\nvery light, almost white. She typically wore a thick sweater, the kind with a\npuffy collar.                \"Oh, Clara,\"\nWulf said. \"We're closed, didn't you see the sign?\" He said, annoyed, but\ndissonant with relief; the master looked between the two before he rested his\npaws on the old wooden counter. \"It's\nalright, we are the only practitioners of our kind in this area. What do you\nneed, young lady?\" The wolf said with a smile and turned both his paws up.                 \"I've\ngotten into a little mess and I'm gonna need your help,\" The raccoon said. Wulfgang knew her as a model student, as well as the type to be\nquiet in public, but extremely vocal when she got to know you. The wolf and\notter, together, knew she also had a penchant for getting into magical trouble. The\narcanists exchanged a knowing glance, the wolf's excited and the otter's\nalready worn. \"You know we're always interested in your little cases,\" said the\nwolf. Clara nodded and dropped a tome on the counter. Wulfgang recognized it\nimmediately, a unique item that was quite famous among the city.                \"That's\nKa-!\" Wulf began, but the wolf quickly struck the side of the otter's muzzle\nwith his back-paw. The master shushed Wulf who rubbed at his sore muzzle. \"Yeah,\nyou're not gonna believe where I found it, so I'm leaving that out. In any\ncase, I knew you'd be very interested in this, Belenus.\" She said with a smirk\nand drew her fingertips across the leather binding. The tome was of an ancient\ndesign, the base symbol of arcana was etched into a metal circle attached to\nthe center of the volume. A circle of glyphs surrounded the small plate, many\nsimilar to theorized 'ancient symbols' for magic. The book was also perfectly\npreserved. \"Which\nfigures for a magic tome of this caliber,\" The wolf said. The otter picked up\nthe powerful tome and turned it, interested in the design. The arcanists and\nthe enthusiast migrated into the back room to discuss the nature of what they\nwere doing. The wolf poured a cup of tea for each person.                \"I'm\nsure that the owner of this book is going to come looking for it,\" Clara said.\n\"What I want is for you two to figure out as much as you can from it before we\nhave to return it.\" The wolf could hardly conceal his grin, he tapped his\nfingertips together in sequence as he stared at the tome. \"Clara,\nfor all the trouble this might get us into...\" Belenus was at a loss for words. A\nsmile crept along his worn face, wider than any live soul had ever seen. The\nraccoon gave up a smirk and sat back against the chair. Wulf sat next to her,\nin a slight hunch over the book.                 \"Where\nwill we even start? I barely recognize half of these glyphs.\"  The otter said as he rubbed at his chin, he\ntilted his head a slight. The master arcanist chuckled and picked up the\nancient volume. \"That\nis why you are the student and I am the master. I recognize... Well, maybe a good\ntwo thirds of these glyphs.\"The tome certainly confirmed speculation, the oldest\nGrey sibling had in her possession an ancient tome of untold power, or\nat least a powerful artifact. Katelyn was characterized by her use of\narcana that seemed impossible, people often pointed out that her symbols\nwould fly off pages, were much darker than normal and that she would\nuse her powers without the use of sacrificial flowers. He set the book back down and nodded to Clara. \"Thank\nyou very much, Clara, I'll have Wulf start copying pages immediately.\"                 \"Oh\ncome on!\" The otter groaned and hung his head, Clara giggled and stood up. She\nhanded Wulf a large book bound in black leather, presumably with blank pages.\nHe begrudgingly took the blank tome, set it on the more ancient tome and picked\nthem both up. \"I'll\nbe in the drawing room, I guess,\" he muttered as he headed into the hallway\nleading into the rest of the building. He heard his master thank Clara for\nproviding a blank book, but their chatter became faint as he entered the most\nimportant room in the shop.                 The\nwalls were a deep red and lined with various symbols and inscriptions. In the\ncenter was a table, painted the same red colour. Lines from the ceiling to the\nfloor wrapped around and onto the table, completing a loop. It was all part of\na special system of protection designed to contain anything in case something\nwent wrong. Wulf\nplaced both tomes onto the table, opened each and took hold of a fountain pen\non one side of the table. The otter took a deep breath, rolled up his sleeves\nand got to work. Wulf took great care in transcribing the text, the first page\nof which he guessed as some kind of instruction. This was the bulk of his work,\nalong with simple incantations and the creation of lesser spells. His\npenmanship always resembled a neat style, since he had to copy glyphs in exact\nform.                 \"Huh...\"\nWulf perked a brow when he lifted the pen from the last symbol. The page took\non the same beige hue of the older tome, the text seemed to smoke and burn into\na deep purple. \"This is way beyond me,\" he said and scratched his head. The\nmere student decided he should show the master, but he had a burning curiosity.\nSurely his teacher would take the tome and he would never see it again, so he\nresolved to take a flip through the pages.                Many of\nthe pages contained styled illustrations of magic casters, glyphs flying off\npages and around the user. Other pages contained complex circles and diagrams,\nwhich Wulf had actually seen before. The student was a big fan of the Gray\ntriplets, particularly Katelyn who was the owner of this tome. He speculated that she used the mythical 'true arcana,' the hypothesized version of arcana script used by ancient populations. The otter looked up to Katelyn and even drew his initial interest in arcana from her.                \"This\nis amazing,\" he muttered, staring at one circle. He recognized the mechanic in\nthis series of glyphs, it was a commonly theorized formation that no one had ever\nbeen able to pull off. When an arcanist creates a spell it must be specialized,\nincluding one circle with instructions around the circumference along with some\nmodifiers in the center. Some talented users had managed to create spells which\ninclude two circles that intertwine, creating a multifaceted spell with\nmultiple functions. No one had gotten any farther than this, except maybe the\ncreator of this tome. \"Four\nsets of glyphs intertwined with a larger circle, modifiers in each set with the\nfour smaller sets acting as modifiers themselves...\" The student had an\nunconscious grin as his eyes glazed over the masterwork. His fingertips brushed\nbriefly against his lip and he reached out toward the page. The student made a\nbeginner's mistake and touched the page.                The\ninstant his pawpad made contact with one glyph, his whole hand was pulled onto\nthe page. The otter screamed expletives and grabbed his wrist with the other\npaw, pulling on it in vain as the tome was cemented to the table and his hand.\nLight poured from each character forming holographic versions of themselves\nwhich wrapped around his arm. He could feel energy being pulled from his soul,\ntugging at his very being. As the dark purple characters took hold of his arm,\nhis whole world started to become dark.                 Throughout\nthe pain, he could hear an ethereal whisper in his ear of some kind of ancient\nincantation. As the spell came to its height, the room's defenses activated. A\npowerful shield surrounded the room to contain Wulf's mistake. He could barely\nperceive the sound of alarms and wondered if this would be the end. His\nmouth dropped slack, dark violet light poured from it, his eyes glowed bright\nas well and his fur started to burn. Much like the text burnt into the pages, a\npurple smoke billowed out of his shirt collar, a seering pain drew down his back. The sheer pain would have made\nanyone pass out, scream and thrash, but Wulf could do nothing and stood\nstiff, hand stuck to the circle as light poured out his mouth and eyes, a\npurple line being singed into his tail. As the line drew close to the tip of\nthe rudder it tapered out into a circle. The smoking colour slowly filled in\nthe rest of his tail until it reached the tip and stopped. The light dimmed and\nceased, his hand let up from the page.                Wulf\nwas dizzy, his whole body shook and he backed away from the tome. His teeth\ngrit and his back stung like a sunburn against his clothes, he pulled his shirt\noff and looked back at his now-purple tail. His thighs stung as well and he was\nready to pull his pants off, but he heard banging on the door.                \"Wulf!\nWulfgang! We can't break the shield!\" He heard Clara and Belenus yelling. He\nput his paw to the weak spot, still shaking, and whispered the incantation to lower\nthe shield. He fell back and twisted around to land on his stomach, the otter\nwrithed on the floor. Belanus and Clara pushed into the room and stared down at\nWulfgang. The master and customer whispered to each other, examining the mark\nburnt into Wulf's skin and fur. Two\ncrescents swung down from the back of his neck to form an opening. Below were\ntwo perforated crescent lines which surrounded a vertical 'eye' symbol. The eye\nwas simplistic, two long crescents formed an open shape, one circle surrounded\nanother which had a 'pupil' hole in it. The iris had a thin line trailing off\nit, which grew wide when it hit the small of the otter's back and trailed down\nhis tail. The entire group of symbols flickered in a faint way for only a few\nmoments. The\notter groaned out, sprawled across the floor, a pool of drool collected at his\nhead. Clara helped Belanus carry him into the upstairs bedroom.                 \"He\nlooks like he's had his soul drained out from under him,\" Clara remarked.\nBelanus nodded in a grim way and sighed. \"He's\nlucky to be alive, lucky that he was born with his gift.\" The old wolf said and\nClara asked what he meant. \"If he's this drained, that was a hell of a spell.\nAnyone else would be dead, but he's got a little extra reserve. It's obvious it\nwas meant to impart him with those symbols, so it makes sense that it would\ndrain him, but you know the legends. The people of the past were supposed to be\nmuch more powerful.\" Clara and Belenus let Wulf down gently on the bed.                 \"So\nthat's his trick,\" Clara said and smirked. \"He'd used to light matches on fire\nwithout touching them, or without using rose petals and say he was a\npyrokinetic.\" Belenus chuckled softly and sat on the chair at the end of the\nbed. \"I\nsuppose that I ought to check out the tome and the page that did this to him.\" The\nwolf said and stood back up, staring over his unconscious student. \"Would you\nkeep an eye on him, Clara?\" The raccoon nodded and sat down at the edge of the\nbed.                 Wulf\nstirred and groaned, Clara watched closely as the symbols on his back pulsed\nwith faint purple light. She stood and backed away, though leaned in to observe\nthe magical phenomenon. Like a series of waves, the light pulsed brighter,\nwashing the room in its arcane brilliance. Each pass grew longer until the\nlight would not fade. Clara nearly fell back against the wall as Wulf convulsed\nand spread out, he pushed up from the bed, he hacked and wheezed.                \"F-Fuck!\"\nThe otter cursed and wiped his mouth, turned around on the bed and sat cross\nlegged. He stared vacantly at Clara, who squinted at his eyes, awash in bright\npurple light. \"Your\neyes, they're... The same colour as the symbols,\" she muttered, perhaps to\nherself. Wulf blinked and rubbed his eyes, his tail curled around his side. The\nglow of purple light slowly faded from the room.                 \"The\nsymbols? What do you mean?\" He stared down at his tail and grabbed it. \"What in\nthe hell?! Did you dye me purple?!\" He yelled and Clara slapped his arm.                \"No,\nyou idiot, you stupidly activated a spell in that ancient tome!\" She retorted\nand crossed her arms. He let his tail go and rubbed his arm, the otter shook\nhis head and stared to the floor. \"How are you feeling? You were soul drained a\nmoment ago, I can't believe you're awake.\" Clara chewed at her index claw, her\neyes stayed stuck to Wulfgang's.                \"I...\nSort of remember, I was writing out the pages... It hurt a lot, but now I\nactually feel pretty good.\" The otter clenched a fist and opened it, he\npictured a series of glyphs and his hand lit up, bathing the room in heat.                \"Wulf!\nPut that out!\" Clara screamed and backed away. Wulfgang ended his concentration\nand let the fire die, a grin spread across his face.                \"That\nwas a pretty intense spell, Clara!\" He said and Clara shook her head in\ndisbelief.                 \"Your\neyes were lit up brighter than the flame! Even your tail!\" The raccoon chewed\nat her claw with a smile.                 \"I\ngotta say, I feel like a new otter,\" Wulf said. He stood from the bed and stretched\nout. \"Where's the master, anyway?\" Clara told him how they brought him to the\nroom and that the master wanted to check out the tome. They both headed back\ninto the hall and down the stairs where they ran into a frantic Belenus. He\nbumped into Wulf and gasped, the otter put his paws on his teacher's shoulders\nand tried to calm him down.                \"Master,\nare you okay? What's wrong?\" Wulf said, but Belenus just shook his head and\nstepped away. He leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths.                 \"When\nI... Entered the room, there was a women waiting there. She had the tome in her\nhands and demanded to know... Where was the body? I said there was none... She was\nKatelyn Grey, she took the book and just... phased through the wall!\" His speech\nshook as his jaw did and he wrapped his arms around his student.                 \"You\nnearly died, Wulf, you nearly died...\" Belenus whimpered. Wulf hugged his teacher\ntight and frowned, Clara didn't know what to with her hands as she stood and\nwatched. \"She knew what spell you used...\"                 \"It'll\nall be okay, Belenus, I feel great now. I don't think they'll bother me,\" he\ngave an empty promise. The old wolf broke away from their hug and looked his\nstudent in the eye. Dark purple had replaced Wulf's old blue eyes and it left a\nbad taste in Belenus' mouth. \"Whatever this is, it's a gift. My gift let me\nsurvive this and it's made me more powerful.\"                Clara\nsighed and shook her head, Belenus backed away a pace or two. \"What do you\nmean? More powerful?\" Wulfgang smiled and beckoned Belenus to follow him out of\nthe hall and into the back alleyway. He stood away from the others and rubbed\nhis paws together. Belenus stood in skepticism, wary of whatever this was. Wulf\ntook a deep breath and concentrated, his eyes began to glow and a dark shell\nflickered into existence around him. It was a thick shield, The kind that took\nfifteen petals a second.                \"Wulf!\"\nBelenus ran into the shop and came back with a vial of red fluid. He whispered\nan incantation, summoning a fireball to him, which he threw at the shield. The\nmolten charge glanced off of his shield, not causing as much as a flicker. Wulf\nlet the shield go and panted, he shook his head and ran his paw through his\nhair.                \"I feel\nlike I just ran for miles!\" The otter laughed and smiled at his master. \"And I could run miles more! It's\njust like I'd imagine, remember? I have so much energy!\" Belenus still shook\nhis head and approached Wulf.                 \"Wulfgang,\nI never taught you that shield. That's a very high tiered spell.\" The master\nsaid and put his paws on Wulf's arms. The otter looked confused and visualized\nthe circle again, trying to remember where he learned it.                \"I... I\nmust have read it somewhere, I don't understand what you're implying.\" Wulf\nsaid and rubbed his eyes, at a loss for words. \"Are you saying it's not just an\namplifier? What else could this be than the mythical amplifier?\" Belenus\nshushed his student and ran his fingers along the symbol, the dark purple fur\nwould light up wherever he touched.                \"A mana\nfont, a knowledge font? Whatever it is, the Gray know. Perhaps you should seek\nthem out, Wulfgang. We don't know whether or not they'll come back looking for\nyou, but they've definitely got answers. Katelyn warned of consequences.\" Belenus said and Wulfgang's smile\nfaded. They both headed back into the shop to discuss their next course of action and Clara told them she would keep in touch.                 The raccoon left before her friends could protest and headed down the street. She\nstepped into the shadow of a building, took a slip of paper from her pocket and the paper to the wall. Clara slipped\ninto the darkness, as if seamless with the shade. This was not what Erika had expected, but it certainly was exciting. It was a nasty trick of Erika to play on her sister Katelyn,\nbut she knew it was time to stir up some kind of trouble in this city. Now a being existed that could rival her group, whether he knew it or not.  Besides, Erika thought, it's her fault for leaving that thing on the\ntable in the morning. "}