The Shadow Court
Sirene and Julia kept falling. After several seconds, Julia began to panic, and Sirene took notice.
"You think you're about to die, don't you?" Sirene asked, a large smirk on your face.
"I know a lethal fall when I see one!" Julia shouted over the rushing air.
"We're not actually falling. It's an illusion to protect where the Curia is actually located, to make visitors think it's deeper underground than it actually is." Sirene answered idly. "Observe."
Sirene grabbed hold of Julia's wrist, and with her other hand, pressed against the shaft wall. Immediately, the sensation of falling stopped, and the walls vanished, revealing that they were in fact in a large chamber the entire time, and their feet slowly and softly hit the floor. With a wink, Sirene took Julia by the hand, and they exited the raised pillar they were standing on.
"What kind of magic was that?" Julia asked, looking around. While the ceiling was not very high, the walls were covered in ornate carvings, chiefly gargoyles. Magical sources of light lined the walls, as did inscriptions.
"The Umbra Curia, in Old Rozen." Sirene said, walking toward a door. "Better known in the modern tongue as The Shadow Court. It's not just a place, it's a combination of every school of magic." As she approached the door, her form shimmered slightly, and her cloak turned pure black.
Julia nervously followed Sirene through the door, and found it opened into a gigantic library. Walking past dozens of stacks of books stretching far above and, once she realised they weren't on the ground floor and looked over a railing, down far below, they came to a spiral staircase. Julia stopped for a minute to look around, awestruck by the sheer number of books surrounding them. Sirene patiently waited, aware of how disorienting the library was, before they descended the staircase for 4 levels. Now that they were seemingly on the lowest level of the library, Julia looked back up at the dizzying array of books stretching far above them.
"Quite the collection, isn't it?" Sirene asked. "Unfortunately, I'm in charge of it all."
"What do you mean?" Julia asked, as they walked toward a large door at the far end of the library.
"I'm the Lead Conservator of the Curia's Library. In lieu of paying dues or performing work for the Curia, I bring back knowledge, either first hand from my memories, or written in the form of lost books. In return I get the Curia's vast resources when I need it. We're here."
Sirene knocked twice on the large door before opening it just enough for the two of them to walk inside. It clicked shut very softly behind them, and for a moment Julia was confused, as they were in a dark room. With a loud bang, all the lights came on at once, revealing a decent sized round table with 10 chairs, 3 of them empty. In the other 7 chairs sat hooded figures, their faces obscured. Sirene approached and sat in an ornate chair marked with her name, after gesturing for Julia to sit in the plain one next to hers.
"Conservator, who have you brought to us?" A man seated directly across from Sirene asked.
"Well, that's just the question isn't it? She wears the shape of an elf right now, but when I met her this morning she was a human." Sirene answered, folding her hands and placing them on the table. "She has no memory of who she is, but possesses two quite unusual spells."
"What do you mean wears? That's an elf, she even smells like an elf." A woman next to the first man who spoke replied. "That's not an illusion spell."
"Because it's not." Julia replied. "I can show you, if you'd like?"
"Please do, Miss?" The man asked.
"Just call me Julia." Julia said, climbing onto the table. "Watch carefully, as I can't do it again today."
Julia thought about what form to take. She'd already done human and elf today. Tabaxi, perhaps? Then she thought of the perfect one. She looked over at Sirene and winked before snapping her fingers and shrinking by nearly two feet, while growing an impressive beard. In mere seconds, the elven woman in front of them had turned into a dwarven man, who smiled at them.
"Get a good look?" He asked.
Two of the hooded figures jumped to their feet and started shouting, before an unseen force pushed them back down, but Julia knew well at this point to have been Sirene.
"See what I mean?" Sirene asked, gesturing. "Juli-" Sirene paused. She certainly couldn't call a man Julia. "-o here isn't using normal magic to do that. That's not even ancient elven emotion magic."
"Julio, huh?" Julio asked, laughing. Well, Sirene was certainly right, you can't call a man Julia.
"Ahem." A hooded tabaxi seated to Sirene's right said. "I recognised that magic."
"Magus, of course you'd know." The man across from Sirene said. "Go on, what is it?"
"It's simple, Pugnator." Magus replied, pulling down his hood and revealing his face. It was covered in grey fur, and his left fang was missing. "In front of us is a natural shapeshifter, the ultimate assassin."
"A natural shapeshifter? What in the name of Vordea is that?" Sirene asked.
"I must echo Conservator's question." The woman seated next to Pugnator stated. "Just what is a natural shapeshifter?"
"It's similar though different from wildshape." Magus answered. "I suspect our friend knows wildshape as well?" Seeing Julio nod, Magus continued. "The reason none of you recognised it is because the school of magic it falls under is not thought to have spells."
"There is no such thing as divine magic!" Sirene shouted, leaping to her feet.
The table erupted into an explosion of shouting. Pugnator and Magus were both outright screaming at Sirene, while Julio quickly retreated off the table to Sirene's side as the others tried to grab him. The room started to shake as the arguments intensified, and Julio wondered if coming here was even a good idea. Then, he heard Sirene shout something.
"Tik!" Sirene yelled, and the next thing Julio knew, they were in an alcove inside the library. Before he could say anything, Sirene put a finger to her lips, and Julio nodded.
They sat quietly, covered by Sirene's black cloak for several minutes as they heard shouting throughout the library. Eventually, it became quiet again, and a lone pair of footsteps could be heard approaching them.
"I thought I might find you here." Magus said, gently pulling down Sirene's cloak and smiling warmly. "Now that the theatrics are out of the way, why don't retire inside to my library?"
Sirene nudged Julio, and they both stood up. Magus tapped twice on the alcove they were sitting inside, and it morphed into a staircase leading down. Following Magus, Sirene and Julio descended for nearly 2 minutes before arriving in a tiny room, barely big enough for the 3 chairs and bookshelf in it. Once they were seated, Magus spoke.
"Sirene, that was very rash of you to bring a rarity like this straight to the Curia." Magus said, shaking his head. "You're just as reckless now as you were eighty years ago."
"Imperator would have known and been very cross with me if I just showed up to your study and didn't present Julio." Sirene replied, crossing her arms. "However, we're getting sidetracked. Julio, this is Archmage Natsuki, one of the wisest mortal mages I have ever met."
"Julio, since you arrived with her, I imagine she's told you a bit about herself. Sirene Ignitis, the last citizen of the Rozen Republica, the Hero of Karand, she's a troublemaker of the worst sort. But also one of my closest and dearest friends." Natsuki said, winking.
"As long as I live, the spirit of the Republic is not yet dead." Sirene said, nodding. "Natsuki, shall we tell him about what the Shadow Court is?"
"Of course, of course!" Natsuki said, laughing. "To put it simply Julio, the Shadow Court is all that remains of the Republic. A thousand year old criminal organisation, one that inherited the responsibilities of keeping the last known traditions of the Rozen Republica alive. Anything that we find that is an old tradition of the Republic? We add it to the mess."
"So the titles?" Julio asked, to which both Sirene and Natsuki chuckled.
"A suggestion of mine, some 800 years ago." Sirene said, smiling mischievously. "Since I tend to disappear for decades at a time, some positions would go through six or seven people and I wouldn't recognise anybody when I returned."
"Did they recognise you?" Julio asked, to which Sirene laughed.
"No, and that was the problem. The Umbra Curia itself recognised me though, so it always let me in, much to their surprise. After the fourth time it happened, I suggested the robes with a symbol for each position. You know, I'm only the third Conservator the Court has ever had?"
"Of course, when I was a young lad and first became Magus, Sirene here had already become legendary. Everybody knew of the mysterious Conservator, and you were considered fortunate if you met her even once. I got quite the fright the first time I met Sirene."
"How so?" Julio asked.
"You see, the Curia reacts to my presence." Sirene said, grinning widely. "It knows who I am. The magic of this place doesn't truly come alive unless I'm here. Entire vaults hidden far beneath Valenca energise with power in recognition of me. I had been gone for nearly a century the first time Natsuki met me, and I was basically a myth at that point. Some were starting to doubt the Conservator even existed."
"We got a few hours Sirene, why don't you show him the whole story?" Natsuki suggested.
"Could be fun, how about it Julio?" Sirene asked.
"Show me? Now this I'm interested in." Julio said, leaning forward.