Broken Souls (Peregrine x Levy)

Unlike Hana, Karl did not wolf his food, instead eating at a slow and methodical pace. However, he still managed to clear his first plate at about the same time that Hana finished her first bowl, and he slid the plate slightly to the side. The house immediately scooped up the dirty dish, whisking it away through the door to the scullery, where it would subsequently be washed, dried, and returned to its shelf.

Karl settled back into his seat, the glass of wine carefully cradled in one hand. Hana had gone mercifully quiet, and he was just starting to fully relax when her timid voice once more interrupted his reverie. Karl glanced up, a small frown immediately forming on his face as he studied the black rectangle in her hand. It certainly didn't look anything like the phones Karl knew, but that didn't mean he thought she was lying. Karl had never bothered to keep up with the changes in technology, especially not after the start of the 1900's, when it had begun to change so quickly. He had no doubt that the things people considered common these days were things he would never have even seen.

No, Karl had never bothered with technology, and he hadn't built in anything to accommodate it in his house, either. Even things as seemingly simple as the lamps and internal heating were handled by various magical artifacts. He was certain, as far as technology may have advanced in the outside world, he would still be able to accomplish more with the things buried in his house than any piece of machinery ever could, no matter how advanced.

"There are no outlets in this house," Karl replied flatly. However, aware that the house would provide something for her shortly if he didn't deal with it, Karl didn't completely ignore her request. Instead, he extended his hand to the side, snapped twice, and then spread his hand flat, palm up. For half a second the kitchen was silent, before a small hole spread open on the wall of the kitchen. A brilliant, cerulean light began to spill from within it, before a blue stone appeared in the gap. A second later, it whizzed across the room, and into Karl's hand, the hole closing behind it.

"Here," he continued with a sigh, lightly chucking the stone in the direction of her phone. Despite being thrown, the glowing orb didn't clatter to the table, insead seeming to hone in on Hana's phone. A second later and it began to hover around the piece of technology, emitting gentle pulses of light. Immediately, a familiar ding filled the kitchen, as the phone indicated it had received power. "You can borrow that."
 
No... outlets? Hana knew the man might've been a recluse, but to be so disconnected from the outside world as to have no... outlets? Those things were invented, what, centuries ago! Hana wasn't sure of the exact date, but she was certain that it was far too long for a person, immortal or not, to declare himself estranged from the rest of the planet. What about the lamps and refrigerators and- and dry cleaning? Though, clearly, if the house could make such a mouthwatering dish without the use of an electrically powered
refrigerator, he was getting by just fine.

Her attention quickly shifted back to the slowly dying phone in her hand, and then up to the unfamiliar blue orb that Karl conjured from the depths of his house. As she followed it, her gaze grew more fascinated by the odd little thing, and her eyes almost popped out of her skull when her phone lit up with the charging symbol.

"Oh my gosh, it's charging!" Hana burst out, looking up at Karl with glazed eyes and an excited expression. "How does that even work? What's it made out of? Can you power, like, a blow dryer with this?" She reached out her hands before drawing back sharply, looking back from Karl to the orb to Karl again. "Can I touch it??"

She noticed the care he excerised handling both her cube and that blue orb, and she had a feeling he wouldn't take very kindly to her getting grabby with his things. She wasn't even certain if it could be grabbed, or if it was just a ball of light or a hologram or something her mind couldn't comprehend. Even so, everything in the House was pure mind bogglingly amazing, she had half a mind to get out of her seat and run off to find the next mind blowing magical thing.

In a brilliant moment of thought association, she drew out the broken cube from her bag and let it lay flat on top of both her palms. "Can my cube do the same thing?"
 
Karl knew he shouldn't have been surprised that Hana immediately started babbling again as soon as he gave her the stone, but a part of him had hoped she'd simply take the thing and wander away. No such luck. Frankly, Karl was more than tempted to do the same himself. Now that he was done eating, there was absolutely no reason for him to remain in the kitchen any longer. He didn't like hanging out in the kitchen, and he could hope that Hana wouldn't follow him if he simply got up and left. The house would take care of her, and Karl could find some peace and quiet.

He was just about to stand up when he saw her begin to reach out towards the glowing blue stone. Words of warning almost automatically sprung to his lips, before he swallowed them down with a small huff of air and an eyeroll. He'd met a lot of people, and introduced many of them to magic for the first time. It always took them far too long to realize that magic wasn't a plaything, and you were far more likely to hurt yourself with it than accomplish something fun, especially if you didn't know what you were doing.

Luckily, the little stone he'd handed over wasn't particularly dangerous, or he wouldn't have given it to her in the first place. It'd give her a mild shock if she touched it the wrong way, but nothing dangerous. It'd feel more like she'd just licked a 9 volt battery than anything.

However, he lifted one eyebrow in surprise as he saw her abruptly hesitate before her fingers actually reached the stone. With a trace of seriousness he studied her face, before realizing that there was a trace of caution in her gaze. Her eyes flicked between him and the stone a couple of times, before she ultimately withdrew her hand.

"Merde..." Karl muttered under his breath, before slumping back into his seat and swallowing a large mouthful of the wine. After that little show, he couldn't just leave her to shock herself. Only once he'd taken another breath did he start speaking in proper.

"It's an artifact. Specifically a Kʼicheʼ thunderstone from Guatemala, made from flint and lightning. It will power anything that runs off of electricity. If you touch it wrong it will shock you, but it won't do any damage. And unless your phone runs off of raw, dark magic, that tawagoto cube isn't going to do anything for you."

Karl rolled off the series of sentences in a droll tone that made it sound like he was reciting lines he'd long had memorized. However, despite the fact that Hana had fired off her questions rapid fire, Karl had managed to keep track of all of them, and answered them quickly in succession. The conclusion of his words was followed by another sigh, as he was almost certain she'd take this bit of leniency he'd offered her to push for answers to even more of her questions. He was already starting to regret it.

"Merde" - "Shit" (French)
"tawagoto" - "nonsense; bullshit; a joke" (romanized Japanese)
 
Hana listened to the man answer all of her questions, first, a little surprised that he managed to remember all of them (as most people either wrote her off or answered merely one or two), and then fascinated, holding on to each word as he continued. "A thunderstone." She enunciated the word like it was foreign on her tongue, and in a sense, it was. Regardless of how mystical, she'd been thrust into the world of magic so suddenly with little to no regard for how overwhelming it was. What concerned her, however, was that he had referred to her cube in terms of dark magic, and she was no expert on magic, but that didn't exactly sound good. She already didn't have very enthusiastic perceptions of the cube, given that it was going to kill her, so it did make sense. But Bangkok and the Oldpikes never mentioned anything about dark magic. Perhaps they didn't know. Or perhaps he was lying.

"I wonder if.." Hana was, unfortunately, feeling a little curious. She put down the cube and carefully, scooped her hand under the orb, holding it lightly. She closed her eyes, waiting for a shock, but when one never came, she beamed and looked up at her company, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Ow!" Hana drew her hand back sharply, shaking it back and forth. It didn't hurt too much, but it was certainly startling. The thunderstone probably didn't appreciate her bouncing. She took a deep breathe and set her phone to the side of the table, eyeing the stone as it followed suit. She was aware that she should probably take her leave soon if she wanted to avoid the grumpy man exploding at her again. She certainly appreciated him taking the time to explain to her the nature of the stone, even though he looked quite exasperated with the events of the day, but she figured she could push the envelope of luck just a little further.

"Okay, just one more question, and then I'll leave, promise." She wringed out her hands, before interlocking them over the table. "If you were to help me find all the missing pieces of the cube, assemble it, and unbind it, and I'm not saying you are, how long do you think it would take?" She wanted to know if she at least had a chance. Best case scenario.
 
Karl wasn't a fool. He knew full well that when Hana said 'leave' she meant 'leave him alone' and not 'leave the house'. Even if the house would allow her to leave, it was obvious that she'd stubbornly gotten it into her head that he had to help her, and she wasn't simply going to change her mind. If she was so easily swayed, she wouldn't have been able to track him down. Karl had already put together the fact that the call from Duck's grandson this morning, and the unexpected arrival of this new visitor, had been anything but a coincidence

However, despite how much he just wanted her gone, Karl was forced to admit he had to give her some measure of credit. She had, at the very least, a rudimentary level of common sense, better than many of the people he'd met in her past. She'd figured out not to touch the stone without first learning whether or not it was safe, not that that had stopped her from proceeding to shock herself anyways, and she'd also realized that continuing to pester him with questions would not do anything to get him on her good side. If all it would take to get rid of her for a while was answering one more question, that was better than having to force the house to lock her in a room for a few hours if she continued to follow him, and then dealing with whatever tantrum she would throw after the fact.

Karl rubbed the side of his face, suppressing another sigh. He'd been doing far too much sighing since Hana had shown up. Of course, the question she'd picked had to be one he didn't have a good answer to.

"I don't know," he replied, his gaze locking onto the broken cube again. "I don't know how many pieces there are, or where they're located. Assuming I could even find them all, whatever vlákas put that cube together did it incorrectly, so I'd need to fix that, too, without setting off or releasing whatever shit has been contained within the fragments." This time, Karl couldn't repress the sigh, and his gaze turned back to lock on Hana. "Somewhere in that process, I'd have to figure out how that derʹmó is bound to you, so that I can find a way to counteract it, and that assumes that the binding won't get stronger as the artifact is assembled, since fragmented artifacts are always weaker than assembled ones."

Karl abruptly came to a halt in the middle of his explanations, despite the fact that he still hadn't gotten to the most important part of Hana's question, the time limit. Something he hadn't considered up until this point had suddenly occurred to him, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he studied her. "What exactly is making you so certain you have to complete the thing before you can unbind it from yourself? You are obviously completely ignorant and uneducated when it comes to magical artifacts, or you never would have even touched that thing."

"vlákas" - "idiot; moron; imbecile" (romanized Greek)
"derʹmó" - "shit" (romanized Russian)
 
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Hana's demeanor dropped, along with her stomach. As she continued to listen to him, it became clear that every single part of the process of keeping her alive was complex, and, essentially, a gamble. She was usually quite good at the game of life, but it looked like the odds were stacked against her favor. Even if she did manage to persuade him to help her, (and that was a large if) she wasn't even certain everything would fall into place in time. There was the issue of whether or not the binding would get stronger as it was assembled and figuring out how to unbind it and she didn't need even know where the broken pieces were; if she was being honest, she sort of thought that he would have more answers. At least something more than 'I don't know'. She realized just how many things she'd looked over.

She had been so naïve.

Hana combed a frustrated hand through her hair and slumped down in her seat. Then, she remembered what she promised to Karl. Still sulking, she stood up, her bag flopping by her side. She'd have to go entertain herself with the house until probably the next morning. Perhaps she'd find a bathroom to shower in. Yes, that seemed like a good idea.

She was halfway out the kitchen when she halted in her tracks to his questioning, his tone almost accusatory. "Ignorant and uneducated? Well, that's a little harsh." True, of course, but still harsh. That shower sounded pretty good right about now, as she could feel her hands clamming up. "Well, it just showed up at my house one day. I live alone, so there was no possible way it could've gotten in without my knowledge. I'm not sure where it came from, but I figured out that if I got too far away from it, it started to hurt." She turned around to look him in the eye. She could not, under any circumstances, tell him about the Oldpikes, and she was suddenly violently aware that he was, indeed, untrustworthy. However, she did not have much experience blatantly lying to people, so she'd have to settle with twisting the truth. She hoped he couldn't tell.

"I tried to look it up on my phone, but obviously I got nothing. The library proved to be unhelpful as well. I tried going to naturalists and shamans and they told me something vague about it being a bad omen." All of a sudden, her babbling tendencies proved to be quite useful. "And so I kept getting redirected to all these different people, and you see one of them, a really nice old lady who lived in the mountains, told me that I needed to go see you, because you were the only person who could unbind it from me, but that it needed to be fixed first. And I met this, erm, Mike? Michael? And he told me where I could find you." She sighed deeply, as she had said all of that in one very long breath. At least something had to be consistent, and she was certainly aware that Michael had called Karl earlier that day. The stories lined up.

"And so here I am, trapped in your house." Hana abruptly waved goodbye, before making a beeline to wherever it was that wasn't in his presence. Her knees felt like salad jelly. She couldn't believe she had stood there and lied to him for three minutes straight. Though, she would have to get used to it, as she figured she'd be spending the next six months in that magical house.

She made her way past the living room and bar and library and seemingly infinite hallways and another library before she stopped, doubled over and panting. Although she didn't realize it, she'd been power walking the entire way. "Is there... a bathroom somewhere in this house? I would really like to take a shower. And pee. I have to pee."

As she stood up, she watched her surroundings shift and twist and rearrange, hallways magically disappearing and reappearing until a door stood before her. Hana stumbled back, eyebrows furrowed.

"Woah." The young girl reached out a tentative hand towards the doorknob, and found a well kept, almost beautiful bathroom. "That's so freaking cool." She said, stepping in.
 
A wrinkle formed between Karl's brows as he listened to the words spill out of Hana's mouth. He had been tempted to interrupt her the moment she began speaking, but had held off. The cube had simply showed up in her house? She wasn't sure where it came from? Already her reply was causing a seed of suspicion to plant in Karl's chest, but her following words only caused it to bloom faster. However, before she'd even fully finished speaking, before Karl could have a chance to halt her with either words or action, Hana had turned around and all but bolted out of the kitchen.

For a moment Karl sat there in stunned silence, mostly empty glass of wine forgotten, before a string of swear words began to spill out of his mouth.

"Gay kocken offen yom! Ağzına sıçarım! Come mierda y muere! What the fuck kind of story was that? What heißluftgebläse old lady told you to come find me?"

The last sentence seemed to stun Karl for several long sentences, the furrow in his brow replaced by a wide-eyed, spread-lipped look of confusion and pain. With Duck gone, everyone he'd ever known, everyone he'd ever traveled with, worked with, shared time with, was dead. He'd seen the world build itself up into the massive civilizations that covered the world today, seen the world create technology to match the powers of magic, seen it sit on the brink of disaster, and he'd given up on it. Karl had left the world for over 50 years now, wearied of trying to protect a humanity that was hell-bent on destroying itself, and he'd left all that far behind.

Karl had never hid himself from the people who knew about the supernatural side of reality, but there had always been few who knew how to find him. Who was this lady, and if she had known about him, knew he could help, then why had he sent her to Michael, someone only tangentially related to him, instead of sending her straight to him?

All of this was assuming that any of Hana's words had been true, that she wasn't simply spinning some tale that would strike a chord with his loss and nostalgia. Keep him from asking too many questions, digging too deep into her story.

"Fuck that!"

Karl stood up sharply, a sweep of his hand sending the glass tumbling towards the edge of the table. The wine spilled out of the cup, but an invisible hand caught the delicate crystal before it could shatter on the floor, gently carrying it away.

For several, fiery seconds, Karl was tempted to head out after Hana, and pin her in place until she answered all of his questions, or he was forced to pry them from her brain. However, as the sound of his sharp, ragged breaths filled the empty kitchen, Karl reminded himself that he didn't care. He'd left all that far behind, and he wasn't about to start dealing with it again because some black-haired limpet had come to interrupt him.

With a harsh exhalation, Karl strode out of the kitchen. "Garden," he stated to the empty hallway, striding forward purposefully. "I don't care which one."

Gradually, the corridors shifted around him, until he eventually came to a halt in front of a delicately carved arch, separated from the hallway by a gossamer veil of night-blue light, sprinkled with stars. Karl pushed his way through the intangible barrier without hesitation, before finding himself at the edge of a moonlit garden. White pillars covered in wild vines were scattered through the space, seemingly at random, while colorfully glowing birds of paradise twirled through the air, letting out gentle trilling that sounded like the notes of a panpipe.

This was the Garden of Adarna, home of the Ibong Adarna, a golden artifact in the shape of a bird, which would release glowing, ethereal birds at night. At dawn and dusk, the song of the birds will send whoever listens to it into a sleep that lasts for seven days and seven nights. However, in the eternal midnight of the garden, the birds were rendered harmless, little more than beautiful decorations.

Karl moved slowly through the space, ignoring the birds which came to dart around him as though he was another pillar in their garden. Eventually, he seated himself on one of the collapsed pillars, which tumbled through the center of the garden, and stared up at the unfamiliar starry galaxy that covered the garden's ceiling.

He wondered if Hana had lied to him. He wondered if anyone still remembered he'd helped the world. He'd saved the world. But, more than that, Karl wondered if he really cared.

The fifty years since he'd last left the house said he didn't.

"Gay kocken offen yom" - "Go shit in the ocean" (Yiddish)
"Ağzına sıçarım " - "I'll shit in your mouth" (Turkish)
"Come mierda y muere| - "Eat shit and die" (Spanish)
"Heißluftgebläse " - "Hot air gun" i.e. someone who talks too much and can't shut up (German)
 
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Hana had just finished taking a remarkably cold shower when she emerged, shivering, to find a clean set of towels and neatly folded night clothes to change into, to her pleasant surprise. It's no wonder Karl hadn't been outside in so long—the house kept practically everything anyone would ever need at an arm's length. Moving quickly, she stepped out onto the bath mat and grabbed two towels for her hair and body. Once dry, she took the garment into her hands for inspection. It was, to her even greater surprise, a blue silk night gown with decorative frills on the collar and hem, with multiple sheets of opaque and sheer fabric around the skirt. She held it in front of her in bewilderment. It looked straight out of a '50s soap opera.

"I mean... it'll work. Thanks, house." It's not like she had any other clothes. She wasn't exactly planning on spending the night there, or she would've packed more than a tote bag. Hana put on the gown, and stuffed her own clothes in her bag, before emerging from the bathroom with a towel still draped over her head.

"Now, to find a place to sleep. Maybe a couch? Are there any guest rooms in this maze of a house? Does he even have guests?" Hana speculated out loud. A path cleared before her in a similar way that it had with the bathroom, though she was still a little taken aback. Hana entered to find a bedroom fitted with a polished mahogany dresser, an old style canopy bed with white drapes and a nightstand. The only thing bringing light into the room were two lamps on either side of the bed, filling the room with a soft golden glow. She swore, everything in this house felt far too high end and extravagant for her. She wasn't quite sure if she was ever going to get used to the house being at her beck and call, always listening. It wasn't alive, but still, it was a bit discomforting.

Hana set down her bag on top of the dresser. She took out her phone and sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the faintly blue screen. Sighing, she put the phone beside her ear, hearing the familiar ringing, and then a click.

"Hey, mom."

The girl went on, talking to her mom like she did every other day and her mom went on, talking to her daughter like she did any other day. Hana had a very good relationship with her mother, and it only got better once she left the house. Though, currently, the young girl was pinching the bridge of her nose in mild annoyance. "No, mom, I didn't quit my job. I'm fine, I just thought I would take a break. Yeah, I'll visit soon. Okay, mom. I love you too. Bye." Hana let out a painfully long sigh and tossed the phone across the bed, burying her face in her hands. "I just lied to my mom, too." She let out a muffled, vexed groan, sinking into the bed.

Hana let the quiet lull of the house and the archaic beauty of the room mollify her. It had been a very, very long day, but boy, she had really fallen ass backwards into this one, hadn't she? She waltzed down those fifty flights of stairs into the doors of her own personal prison, equipped with the devil himself. However gorgeous and convenient of a prison it was, she was still trapped, and her only hope of escape wanted nothing to do with her.

Bangkok and his companions were very clear when they said that Karl was her only shot at getting that thing bound off of her. She couldn't ask them to help her more than they already have. They even said they'd cover the paychecks she would lose away from the studio. Even if she did go to them, they probably couldn't do anything for her. She had always been so lucky, and of course, she had worked hard to make a living and be independent, but things always seemed to work out in her favor. At the end of each day, however terrible, she could confidently tell herself that'd she'd be okay. But nothing seemed to go right for her today and her death warrant was sitting complacentely in a tote bag atop the dresser. She couldn't even spend the next six months the way she wanted to because she was stuck in that stupid house with that stupid hobgoblin of a man.

The young woman's eyes welled with tears.

"Stupid cube. Stupid Karl. Stupid-" Hana would've continued, had she not noticed the box of tissues sympathetically drifting towards her. She sighed. "Thank you, House. At least I know you care." Setting the box down in her lap, she blew her nose and wiped her tears.

Certain that sleep was all but out of the question, Hana decided maybe a walk would do her some good. Rubbing her face one final time, she strode out of the room and into the endless hallways. The bar had crossed her path multiple times that day, but this was perhaps the first time she had a second thought about pouring herself a glass. No, it wouldn't do her any good. She might end up shit faced and tell Karl the truth about everything she knew, and that would certainly be a catastrophe. No alcohol for Hana.

She continued her walk, until the hallway revealed an elegant arch into what seemed like an entrance outside, specifically, into some sort of garden. The faint sound of chirping birds was heard. A subdued blue light shone on her skin, and without thinking, she stepped out into what she discovered was a moonlit garden, endowed with tall pillars of white stone and, indeed, singing birds. Taking another look around, she also found a broad set of shoulders and a head of tussled hair.

"Oh, geez. I didn't know you were here." Hana very suddenly felt like one of those birds, laid bare. Not only was she wearing only a night gown, which felt ridiculous on its own, but she had just been crying, so her face was blotchy and she was just a little snotty. She was just about ready to book it back to her room, when she noticed that he had a vaguely... sad air about him. "Hey, uh, are you okay?"
 
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The time passed untraceably as Karl stared up at the twinkling stars of the artificial sky, glowing birds occasionally darting across his vision. Under the gentle influence of the birds' music, he allowed his thoughts to drift back through the years. If he thought long enough, he could remember anything of the life he'd lived, the libraries worth of information he gathered. Back when he'd been younger, much younger, he'd considered his limited memory a flaw, something to fix, and he'd invested a great deal of effort to find artifacts that would allow his mind to overcome the limits of humanity in the same way his body had. And then he'd crammed himself full of knowledge, on languages, on artifacts, on cultures, and time had filled him up with memories as well.

It made it easy to get lost in his thoughts, if he allowed himself to wander too far down the dusty corridors of his memory. Back when he'd still had reason to care about what day it was, what month, what year, it had been a problem. Now, it had been many years since it had last mattered, and he'd let the quiet music of the birds accompany his slowly drifting thoughts until something finally drove him from his seat.

Unfortunately, an interruption came a lot sooner than Karl had been expecting, in the form of a dark-haired young woman, clothed in a blue silk nightgown. An almost instinctual frown crossed his face, as he leveled a glare in the direction of the wall opposite him.

He knew her arrival wasn't a coincidence. Whether she'd noticed it or not, the house had guided her here, to him. He didn't like it, but he couldn't blame the house. After all, he'd been the one to set it up that way. Back when it had mattered, when there was reason for him to not loose track of the time, the easiest way to pull him back into focus was to get someone to talk to him. Without any other occupants in the house, it had often used food or artifacts as a temptation, but Karl had always found those much easier to ignore than a living, breathing person trying to get his attention.

He hoped that ignoring her would still work. She didn't seem particularly interested in seeing him again, not so soon after all the abuse he'd hurled at her since her arrival only a few hours ago. He couldn't think of any reason she'd want to subject herself to more of that.

And yet, despite that, she stayed, taking a step towards him and gently probing with a question. Karl let out a long, slow breath, before finally glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. Who knew whether or not the house would lock her in here with him if he didn't at least make a perfunctory effort?

"What do you want, puella?" Karl asked, voice tired.

"puella" - "girl" (Latin)
 
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"Nothing, it's just been a long day and you look... well, never mind." It likely wasn't Hana's place to question her uncouth host of his displeasures, and she was almost certain it would end in more of his outbursts. She could most certainly go back to her room, get a good night's rest and deal with how in the world she'd get out of the hole she'd dug herself in the morning. Or she could spend a couple more minutes in the pretty room with the pretty birds.

Hana could tell it was a room, stepping further in, as she could make out the corners and the walls, but it looked quite real. She stole a glance upwards, and saw a sight that almost made her knees weak. Galaxies stretched across the ceiling, and more stars than she'd ever seen in her lifetime dotted the landscape. "Woah..." Hana took a deep breath, and without thinking, turned to the man who sat on the stump of a pillar. "Why do you have this room? I mean, it's super cool, don't get me wrong, but it just seems a little out of place." Hana knew he probably asked that question out of annoyance, but she genuinely wanted to know about the room. These days, couldn't really see anything but a few stars, if you were lucky, if you looked up at the night sky. The fascination was unmistakable in her eyes and on her features.

Still, as she looked long and hard at Karl, Hana had to laugh a little at the situation. Right in front of her was an immortal. A man who had probably lived long enough to witness both the Crusades and World War II, a man who had the rest of eternity to spend alive and well and breathing, and there she was, six months left to live if she didn't figure out this impossible puzzle. The irony was palpable.

"Do you ever, you know, get lonely? I mean, how long has it been since you've left your house? I don't blame you for not wanting to leave, after all, this is a dream house, but I'd imagine it gets a bit lonely." At this point, she wasn't expecting much of an answer. This was all more for her. She laid down with her back on the grass, aware that it wasn't real but still appreciative of how it tickled the back of her neck and arms. She would probably learn to appreciate a lot more things over the course of these next few months.

She felt the urge to weep again, but suppressed it in favor of something else. She wasn't sure if Bangkok would approve of her allowing herself to be so inquisitive and vunerable with Karl the bad man, but surely he would understand that she'd had a very long day. She was craving just a little bit of genuine interaction with another human being. Just a little bit. Maybe she could swindle it out of him with some hearty old persistence. He had been awful towards her in the beginning of the day, but perhaps she would be too if a stranger walked into her house and asked for her help with a personal issue that didn't seem to carry much significance. Still, he was the only breathing creature around, besides the birds, so he'd have to do.
 
Under Hana's scritinizing gaze, Karl gestured towards the center of the room, where a golden statue of a bird of paradise, a couple of feet tall, rested on the top of a half-height white pillar. Every few minutes, one of the glowing birds that circled the room would vanish, and a new one would spring out from within the statue, twirling and pipping before racing off to join its fellows.

"Artifacts aren't like rocks, puella. Especially not ones with a reasonable amount of strength." He let out a faint whistle, and the birds that were darting around the room came to swirl around his body for a minute, before they returned to their random, darting path through the underground garden. As the birds swirled away from him and Hana, Karl started speaking again. "They have... consciousnesses, of sort. The more powerful the artifact, the more profound. And while some may be content to sit on a dusty shelf in the middle of a dark room, others most certainly won't be."

Hana had a perfect example in the thunderstone she'd held earlier. When she had simply touched the stone, it hadn't reacted to her presence. It was only when she'd stopped holding it respectfully and jostled the thing that it had given her a shock.

"As much as this house takes care of you, that will only ever be its secondary task. Its first duty is, and always will be, to care for, protect, and contain the artifacts locked away in here. And if a small room with some decorations is all it takes to make something that will actively seek to escape stay put, that's a hell of a lot easier than forcibly containing a resisting source of powerful magic."

As he finished speaking, Karl realized that, almost in spite of himself, he'd started behaving like he would in the past. Like he would when one of his welcome visitors would find him in a strange room and start up mild conversation. He'd answer questions, reminisce about the past, casually speaking about whatever topics happened to come up. And when the conversation came to an end, he'd be pulled back out of the mire of his thoughts, ready to continue with whatever needed doing.

Sometimes, when there was nothing urgent going on, Karl would speak for hours with his friends. Being alive as long as he had, Karl was an almost endless font of stories and legends, and even after spending years with him, the people he traveled or worked with would find he still didn't need to repeat a story for them.

Hana's second question pulled him out of this thoughts again, and a frown immediately crossed his face.

"No, I don't get lonely. I've been alone far longer than you've been alive. I'm used to it."

It was a lie. Karl knew it. Frankly, Hana might know it too, but the shift in his tone made it clear that he hadn't answered her question with the same casual ease he'd discussed the nature of artifacts. Instead, his words had been clipped and sharp, the kind that defied further questions.

It was certainly true that he'd been alone longer than she'd been alive now. Karl hadn't bothered to keep track of the passing years, but the very fact that Duck had a grandson gave a hint to exactly how long had passed. But before he'd closed himself away, Karl had roamed the world almost ceaselessly, chasing down rumors of dangerous artifacts. Before he'd had the house, he'd destroyed them, or sealed them away around the world if he couldn't cause them harm. But through all of that, he'd interacted with people. Sometimes they'd been friends, sometimes traveling companions, sometimes allies or assistants, sometimes nothing more than passing acquaintances. But there had always been people around.

It was likely that the only reason he hadn't gone more insane at this point was a combination of the artifacts he'd repeatedly used to strengthen his mind, the careful psychological ministrations of the house, and his own seemingly endless reserves of memories and knowledge.
 
His abrupt, curt answer to her caused the young woman to prop herself up on her elbows. They were now both frowning. "Okay, dude. Whatever you say." Hana didn't believe in signs much, but this was probably a sign that Karl didn't appreciate her company. That was enough 'genuine human interaction' for one night. Although, she appreciated his explanations of the nature of the artifacts, and learned that perhaps she should be more careful and courteous with the objects she touched in that house—she couldn't be sure what was artifact and what was household item. Though, she supposed the artifacts were household items here.

She promptly crawled up to her feet, dusted off her nightgown and gave a fleeting glance to the man stood in the center of the garden, before wending her way to the room she could temporarily call hers. The girl approached the dresser, removing the cube from its dwellings in her tote bag. She held it with newfound care and respect.

"I thought about crushing you with my bare hands earlier today. Sorry about that. But I'm going to be honest with you: I don't like you very much. You're going to kill me before I even get a chance to have a midlife crisis and travel to Rome and invest in a Vespa, or paint something that goes to the MoMA. That's a little rude. But I get it. Uh, goodnight." Hana felt little silly, like she was talking to herself, and in a way she was, but it definitely helped her to wrap her head around all of this new information. The nightstand might make a better place for it, she decided, and set the artifact beside one of the lamps, before plopping into bed herself.

Hana's thoughts wandered to her immortal housemate. I don't get lonely. Hana almost laughed. If he was serious, and it was very plausible that he was, then she just didn't know how stupid she was to ever step foot into the house. But if he wasn't, she was possibly even more at a loss for words. Why would he lie about that? People definitely don't just not get lonely, unless there was an artifact for that that she didn't know about. Of course, she herself lied to him as well, so she supposed he could have a good reason.

It would be a while until Hana descended to sleep, and it would be a while until she woke up to the sharp ringing of her alarm. She stirred, slapping aimlessly around the bed for her phone until she found the source of the obnoxious noise.

"Shhhhh..." Hana muttered, turning off the alarm. In her groggy state, she very much forgot that she was not sleeping in her own apartment but instead in the house of Karl Filius, or as she liked to call him, the grumpy-goblin-man. Once she caught a glance of the canopy of the bed, the drapes, the dresser, and the unfamiliar fabric, all the memories of the previous day assaulted her brain.

The young girl did not appreciate this, so in response, she grabbed the sides of her pillow, covered her ears, rolled on her stomach and began kicking. Hana whined, making muffled sounds of distress at this realization. When her legs became tired, she stopped her childish kicking and sunk into the bed. "Are you sure can't let me leave, house?"

The door swung open, fluttering back and forth lightly, as if to say "No, you can't, but you can explore the rest of the house." Hana sighed, erecting herself before making way towards the door. Her hair also stood in an erect, frizzy mess, and her once smooth nightgown revealed itself as she stood up, now wrinkled and ruffled up. It went unnoticed by her, however, as she lazily yawned and headed out into the hallway. "Could you help me with the bathroom?" Hana said aloud. The path to her destination cleared for her as the words left her mouth.

She emerged in another 20 minutes, freshened up with her hair flattened and her clothes changed into something that suited her taste a little better: a short yellow shirt and good old comfy sweatpants, courtesy of the house. Delighted to be wearing something more familiar, she strode into the kitchen for breakfast. The young girl instinctually took out a pan, but realized that the house could probably make it for her instead, and do a better job. Perhaps another day.

"C-could you make eggs and bacon? And French toast, if that's alright?" She stared at the pan, almost expecting a verbal response. Instead, a linen tablecloth unfurled on one of the countertops, and two raw eggs accompanied by uncooked strips of bacon and a loaf of white bread emerged from seemingly thin air. Butter, salt, pepper and sugar also made an appearance from the cabinets, setting themselves down onto the counter next to the stove. Mouth agape, both from the sight of the magic and the sight of the food, she realized that the ingredients materialized from the cloth itself.

"Isn't that something?" Hana smiled, pleased by the culinary nature of the artifact. She strode over to the seat she sat in the night before, looking around to see if Karl was anywhere nearby. Determining that the coast was clear, she sat down on the table itself, propping her weight onto the palms of her hand and swinging her legs as she watched the house cook her breakfast. Once it was prepared and transported via air to her general vicinity, she gulped it down just as quickly as it was made. She would find it quite strange to watch a house keeper or maid do their job, tidying up and preparing food, but watching the house levitate items and precisely perform menial tasks was more entertaining than she would've thought. The unfamiliarity of it, the mystic was what drew her to it, like a child discovering a new and fascinating toy or a cat being presented with a laser pointer for the first time.

Once her tummy was satiated, the young lady wandered away. "Hm... maybe I could read something. I passed probably twenty different libraries yesterday." She had to fill her time somehow, and it had been a while since her last finished book. The house, as predicted, cleared a path for a library with swirly glass doors and an oak finish, and she obliged gratefully. Stepping in, she found three of four walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves, and on the fourth wall, a welcoming red couch seating Karl was situated in the middle, overlooked by an arched window which shone warm daylight into the room.

She felt like she was in a fever dream. Every room and piece of furniture in the house felt like it was pulled right out of a fairy tale. She stared at the window in particular, frowning. "I thought... I thought the house was all underground. I remember that endless flight of stairs very well." Hana pointed out, stepping further into the room to take a closer look.
 
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Karl didn't stay in the Garden of Adarna for much longer after Hana left. The house had succeeded in its goal of disrupting him from his memories, and he was unwilling to sink back into his thoughts, only to end up disrupted again. As he stood up the glowing birds came to twirl around him again, but he batted a hand through their ethereal figures, causing them to pipe in mild indignation and rapidly fly away.

"Fine," he told the empty room, striding to the doorway, but pausing just shy of the shimmering vale. "You aren't happy with my choices? You pick what I should be doing, then."

The words spoken, Karl passed through the shimmering barrier in front of him, and found himself in a small room. The walls were lined with dark, wood panels, completely bare. As a matter of fact, the only thing in the room other than Karl himself was a big table, surrounded by a golden glow. As soon as Karl appeared in the room, the glow around the table grew more intense, before a golden sphere appeared above the table, emblazoned with an exaggerated relief map of the world.

Karl's face immediately soured. "Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai. Here? You brought me here?"

Spread across the map were faint pinpricks of brilliantly glowing light, each one corresponding to a source of magical energy currently in use. They were scattered all across the world, twinkling brilliantly bright in the shadowy darkness of the room. He didn't want to think about how many more points of light there were now than there had been the last time he'd been tricked into this room.

There were always new artifacts. It was a losing battle to try and contain them. Natural energies formed new ones, and while they were never as powerful as the ancient monstrosities that had existed for thousands of years, even those had the irritating tendency of resurfacing on a semi-regular basis. And that didn't include all the artifacts falling through from other dimensions, or being summoned by people with more courage than sense. It was a miracle the world hadn't self-imploded yet.

Almost in spite of himself, Karl walked up to the edge of the table, leaning forward to study the glowing lights that covered the map. It was like looking at a starry sky, the larger the star, the more powerful the artifact, or the more of them in one location. Karl had no doubt, if his house wasn't carefully shielded from maps like these, this inconspicuous spot in the woods of Maine would be shining like a sun.

"This isn't my job anymore," Karl stated, flatly, grabbing the base of his elbow before jerking his arm upwards towards the glowing globe. "I'm not dealing with it. Fuck off."

With that, he whirled around, walking out through the doorway and pacing off down the hallway. He didn't exactly know where he was going right now, but he didn't feel like trying to sleep with his thoughts in so much chaos, and he certainly had no intention of letting the house jerk him off any further.

He walked down the hallways at random, passing through doors and archways. Whether it sensed his temper, or was somehow conceding it had made a mistake in interpreting his previous "request", the house didn't impede his progress. Instead, it passed him through several storage areas, the living room, a long garden made entirely out of stone, a room with several benches and a large, red tree, and into a high-ceiling library lined with shelves.

Instead of continuing his roaming, Karl came to a stop, sitting down on a large red couch that rested in front of a glassy window. As Karl seated himself, he raised a finger and lightly tapped one of the panes of glass, causing the scenery outside to transform into a pine forest. Right now, the sky "outside" was still dark, studded with stars, but as the morning progressed it would lighten, until tree-filtered sunlight would cascade in through the window.

Karl had read a lot of books, but even with nothing disrupting his attention in the last 50 years, he still hadn't made it through all the tomes in his collection. Especially not if you considered the fact that many of them were prone to changing their contents once they'd been read. His mind gradually rolled in Hana's direction. He might as well take a bit of time to see if he could identify exactly what brand of dark magic had attached itself to her, if simply to make sure that it wouldn't interfere with him or the house in any way.

A book lifted itself off the shelf, floating towards him. Its cover released a void-like black light, the antithesis of the golden glow that had surrounded the table earlier. With careful consideration, Karl began turning his way through the pages.

Gradually, the view outside the window lightened as time passed. Karl finished with the glowing black book, replacing it with a far more standard looking book, bound in dark leather. Runes covered its spine, in the characters of Ancient Greece. Loosely translated, they titled the book "Uncommon Manifestations of Abyssal Magic".

He'd almost finished with the book when he heard the sound of the door opening. Karl didn't even bother to look up. There was no one it could be other than Hana, although, for once, her arrival proved to be good timing.

"We are underground," Karl replied flatly, turning the page, before lifting his hand to tap against a pane at random. The warm, forested light was immediately replaced by brighter sunshine, and he could almost make out the faint sounds of the tide through the glass. He'd likely just selected a beach scene, but he couldn't be bothered to check.

Only a couple minutes later, and Karl finally closed the book. "Let me see that cube again," he stated. Even after a night's research, he still hadn't managed to narrow down the source of the magic completely. All he could say for sure was that it wasn't human in origin.

"Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai." - "Fuck 18 generations of your ancestors" (Mandarin)
 
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Hana looked at the window with a puzzled expression, but before she could retort back at him, she found the scenery outside had changed from forest vegetation to, well, not forest vegetation. It was a beach. But they were in backwoods Maine.

"Oh. An illusion." Hana concluded. That was certainly interesting. There were a lot of things she didn't know about this house. Karl seemed to be very deep in thought, or at least concentrating very greatly on whatever it was he was reading. Just as she was getting ready to leave him alone, he posed a question to her, or rather, a command.

"My cube? Oh, yeah. Hold on just a sec," Hana felt around the large pockets of her sweatpants, before deciding it wasn't there. She turned to leave and find her room, but when she opened the doors of the library, the familiar bedroom scene with drapes and a dresser with a tote bag hanging from it filled her vision. "Wha-" Hana looked flabbergasted, but grabbed the cube from the nightstand and jogged back to Karl, holding it out for him.

For a few moments, Hana stood blankly, baffled by the fact that her bedroom was suddenly connected to the library. She was almost certain it was further away, and she hadn't said anything out loud to make the house move it that way, unless- oh no, unless the house could read her mind. She didn't like that thought all too much, so she decided to just stop thinking about it. But still, she was confused. Instead, she looked to the man engrossed in studying the cube across from her.

"So, whatcha doing?" Inquisitively, she sat on the red couch across from him, leaning in to look at the cube, then up to Karl, and back down to the cube, wondering why he had asked for it. Secretly, she was almost wishing he might change his mind about helping her, but she knew the thought was childish, so she settled with imagining that perhaps he was curious about it. She was too, when she first noticed the cube around her house, but when the pretty woman with the honey voice and the charming man with the bushy eyebrows came and told her what it was, she became very unnerved by it. It wasn't that she hated it, but it had the potential to kill her, so she didn't exactly love it.

"So, what do you, uh... do, here, alone? Like, on normal days. I'm assuming you don't have a job, so how do you fill your time?" Hana inquired, leaning back into the cushions. Even if he was a sadistic lout of a man, he still had to bide his time alone somehow. Books were great and all, but she imagined that they could hardly keep one sane for half a century. Hana wondered if she should really be thinking so hard about this almost-stranger's personal life, but she basically had another six months of life ahead of her so she might as well. For the first time since she had arrived, she scanned the man's form—robust, and vaguely European.
 
"I need to confirm what exactly the magic in this cube is," Karl replied idly, his eyes focused on the cube as he turned it slowly and gently within his fingers. It was clear that he was speaking without fully paying attention to what he was saying, or perhaps even paying attention to the fact that he was speaking at all. It was an instinct honed from hundreds of years ago, when he'd needed to answer questions, provide information, and give instructions to his friend and helpers, even when he was fully focused on a magical task. "This house is capable of dealing with all artifacts, but it can only show its best effect when I fully understand the nature and behaviors of the artifact. To make sure that nothing unexpected happens, I need to know a bit more about it. Only then can I ensure it will be properly contained."

To his side, the book he'd been reading before Hana entered levitated up to chest height, slightly to the right and in front of Karl. The cover flipped open, before the pages began to turn. When it came to a halt on a specific page, Karl's eyes flicked to the side. He read a few lines, before turning back to the cube again. Under the flick of his fingers, a small wave of energy emerged from the cube for a split second, before it was rapidly drawn back inside.

Karl frowned, and the pages of the book turned again. Eyes still focused on the task in front of him, he didn't even glance in Hana's direction when she spoke again. However, he began to answer her question all the same, still replying on autopilot. "I read, or study. If the house or artifacts need any maintenance or upkeep that the house can't handle on its own, I address that. I may not be collecting artifacts anymore, but I still have a responsibility to make sure the ones gathered here don't rampage. Other than that, I pass the time, or I think. Although the house generally tries to keep me from doing that for too long. That's why it keeps shoving you in my direction. You're a nice new tool for it to use in that effort."
 
Hana studied the man as the man studied the cube, deep concentration evident on all his features. She was very used to people writing her off if they were this focused, but instead, he answered her questions with almost mechanical swiftness. Yesterday, he seemed so... explosive, wary, alert, but now, apart from distracted, he was something akin to vunerable. As he tinkered with the cube, she watched it pop with energy, before fizzling out, and her eyes grew only more curious. "Woah. What did you do?"

The young woman glanced around the room, wondering if he would mind if she grabbed one of the many, many books shelved neatly on the walls. She was brimming with questions, and maybe some of those books would answer them.

"Wait. Hold on, the house shoves me towards you to, what, keep you from getting too distracted?" Hana had contain her laughter. "A tool. Wow, okay. Glad to know." She chuckled, not sure if she should feel offended or amused.

Hana drew her attention back to the cube, and then to Karl. He didn't seem to be erratically speaking different tongues at her, so perhaps he wouldn't be hostile if she asked a few more questions in rapid fire. "Hm. Okay. Say I were to throw that cube against a wall, or go absolutely bonkers and pound at it with a hammer. What would theoretically happen? And, um, have you managed to figure out where the cube came from? Also, well, I have to ask, do you know how these things bind to people? Is it completely random, or does it pop into existence already bound to someone?" The young woman played with her thumbs, knowing this next question might anger her host. "And, well, do you know if there's any way I could leave the house without having it unbound from me? Or if there's any way to unbind it without finding all the pieces? Like a shortcut, or a loophole?" Hana took a deep breath. She anticipated the answer, but she had to ask. Just to make sure.
 
As Karl continued to study the cube, he rolled out the answers to Hana's questions like clockwork. Each response was clipped, tailored, and efficient.
"Like static discharge. Except, instead of electricity, it's magic. I can't figure out what's in this if it's hidden."

Unfortunately for Karl, hidden seemed to be the word of the moment. He'd managed to eke out that first bit, but his actions seemed to have taken the artifact by surprise. The cube had immediately absorbed the magic back, and none of his further probes were getting the desired reaction. With just that faint glimpse, there was no way he'd be able to properly identify the thing, and he didn't dare do any of the more invasive or forceful procedures when he didn't fully understand what the cube was. Especially not in the library.

"Something like that. Years ago, getting lost in my thoughts for days at a time would have been a problem. Now, not so much, but the house still hasn't fully figured that out."

It was an annoyance, and one he'd considered tampering with several times over the last fifty-odd years. However, such fundamental changes would have required him to go out and get new artifacts, and there was no way he was doing that. The one time he'd tried installing a stop-gap measure in a fit of pique, he'd ended up 'waking up' so dehydrated his body would have completely shut down if he wasn't immortal. After that, he hadn't dared try any other interference, worried what other systems it might accidentally sabotage.

"Don't damage the cube. I have no idea what would happen, but seeing as this cube definitely contains otherworldly dark magic, I doubt it would be anything good. And I don't know where it came from. That's why I'm studying it. It would also give me a better hint on how it's bound to you. Not all artifacts bind. In fact, a large majority don't. The ones that do, almost all do it in different ways, and it certainly doesn't just happen. If I can't figure out what magic is in this thing, I'd have to make a guess based on its behavior. As for how to unbind it, that's even more of a mystery, since..."

With a sigh, the book in front of Karl snapped closed. It was clear that the man had, at least temporarily, halted his analysis, which had also stopped the smooth flow of words he'd been providing until that point. His eyes almost immediately turned towards Hana, gaze narrow and sharp.

"Remind me again," he said, slowly, words as cold as his gaze. "How you found out this was bound to you? Some glupan old lady, was it?"

"glupan" - "stupid" (Romanized Bulgarian) appears to have a mild connotation, closer to "dunderhead" than "moron"
 
There it was again. Otherworldly dark magic didn't exactly sound congruent with what Bangkok had told her about the cube, which wasn't much to begin with, but it still made her feel much more wary of the thing. The flow of explanations coming from his mouth was halted by a stern gaze, and suddenly, she felt much more wary of him as well. The change in his demeanor was almost startling.

"Yes, uh, an old lady. Who lives on a mountain top. But she was very, very old, so she might be dead now. Who knows? But, yes, she explained almost everything to me, except for the dark magic part." Hana laughed, nervousness cleanly evident in her high pitched tone. Jesus, she didn't think he would ask her questions back, and she definitely didn't think she'd have to lie again so soon, especially because she had almost forgotten about the story fibbed about.

"Anyway! You sure do have a lot of books, and libraries, for that matter. Would you mind if I picked one up?" She inquired, clumsily changing the subject as she stood. "Do you happen to have an intro to the magical world? Like, magic for dummies?" She surveyed the three walls lined with books. Certainly, it had been a hurried attempt at distraction, but the young woman was never strapped for a desire to learn. And sure, she wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day buried in magical artifacts 101, that is, if he permitted. Listening to him talk about the cube and other magical things was fascinating.
 
"Hmph."

Karl only snorted slightly at her explanation. Might be dead now, was it? Karl was no fool. He knew she was hiding something from him. He didn't care enough to dig any deeper. Frankly, it didn't matter to him who the old lady was, or if she even existed, since she wasn't here to bother him. And he didn't care what Hana thought about the artifact. It certainly wasn't the right kind of magic for her beliefs to influence its behavior, so what she thought of it wouldn't change its behavior. As long as he made sure it wasn't about to explode or fuck with the house, he wasn't going to worry about it.

"Magic for dummies?" Karl repeated, before snorting in genuine amusement. "I'm glad you're so self-aware. But surely even you can guess that fools shouldn't be trying to learn magic in the first place."

For all his jokes, Karl had an impression that he knew what Hana was asking for. A book that served as an introduction, something that could introduce the important major concepts of magic to someone who had no familiarity with its rules. Unfortunately, Karl was genuinely uncertain if he had anything like that. He'd collected enough dangerous magic texts that it would be impossible to even read all their titles in a week. He had plenty of scrolls and papers that read like a research thesis paper, positing abstract concepts and theories that were often more dangerous than useful. He had more than a few specialized informative books, like the two he had been reading earlier today to try and identify the cube's dark magic. But Karl had never really had reason to collect books that oversimplified magic to the extent Hana was asking for. Even if he did have something, he was almost certain it wouldn't be in modern English.

Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't simply ignore her request. While the house would keep her away from anything truly dangerous, making sure she had some knowledge of the fundamentals would ensure she didn't do something stupid.

Karl rubbed his face, while gesturing towards a blank wall near him. He'd be able to recall if there was anything if he thought for long enough, but the house was far better suited to tasks like this. "You're definitely in the wrong library for something like that," he replied, but only a moment later a slot in the wall opened up and a book floated out, before drifting towards Hana. Karl stared at it, before groaning slightly.

"Ditt jävla ålahuvud," Karl mumbled under his breath, before gesturing for Hana to take the book. It was an old thing, the pages thick and yellowed, the cover made of wood and leather. "That's not exactly what you were asking for, but it's the closest you're getting, since I'm certainly not teaching you."

Rather than being a textbook, the old pages made up the first volume of a journal from 1804. They were written by a man from the United Kingdoms named Hartley Becker, who was sent to fight in the earliest battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Unfortunately for the young man, he'd been captured by the French, and was chosen to be one of the first test subjects of magical brainwashing. The only thing that saved him from becoming a mindless puppet of the French Empire was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Karl.

Rather than returning back to England like Karl advised, Hartley decided he wanted to help protect people from suffering the same fate as him, and stuck with Karl until they traced the experiments back to a Siren Stone in Napoleon's possession. Over the course of their journey, Hartley had recorded almost all the knowledge Karl had taught him about magic and mythology.

The reason Karl wasn't thrilled about handing it over was because, in addition to the lessons on magic it recorded, it was also a commentary on their journey, which meant at least half of the writing focused on him and his actions. He really didn't want that journal giving Hana any strange ideas, but he didn't doubt that it really was the best they had.

"Now take it, and that pendejo cube, and get out of here."

"Ditt jävla ålahuvud" - "You damn eel head" (Swedish)
"Pendejo" - "Pubic hair" (Spanish)
 
"Wait, I didn't mean— Well, I suppose that's... true, in a way," Hana shook her head, suddenly aware that the man hadn't seen the outside of his house since the mid twentieth century again. She could certainly be classified as a magical dummy, but that wasn't entirely what she was hinting at—she'd take it if it meant it distracted him from having to ask her any more inconvenient questions. Besides, she didn't want to learn magic, she wanted to learn about magic, at the very least, familiarize herself with the serpentine world she'd be living in for the next six months.

She watched the man conjure from the walls what looked to be an ancient hardback, considering the frayed paper. Excitement bubbled in her stomach. The very sight of it was enchanting. But, she had to question if it was even in an English she could understand. Before she could ask, however, he handed her the book and promptly directed her to the door. Apart from mildly offended by his forthright tone, Hana was delighted that he would let her borrow the book, and quickly scurried away with it and the cube in tow, deciding that he wouldn't have let her read it if it wasn't readable for her.

"Thank you, Karl!" She shouted, giddy. It didn't occur to her that it was perhaps the first time she spoke his name. The young lady practically pranced down the hall, looking for the most comfortable spot to settle down with the thing. She happened upon a living room with smooth walnut flooring and an enticingly comfortable looking loveseat; there was a bookcase on one wall, and a balcony that adorned the other. She seated herself in the loveseat with her knees tucked up.

Upon opening the book, she discovered two details about it: first, that it was in fact written in English, but a very old, almost academic prose, and the second being that it was also hand written and dated by logs, which indicated that it was a journal rather than a textbook guide. The entries were sporadic, some swift and some more lengthy and expansive, and each entry concluded with a signature, H. Becker. She wondered if maybe Karl decided upon the journal because people who knew about the magic and artifacts weren't exactly privy to circulating that knowledge with the rest of the world, hence the lack of any real guide. Or maybe they were there, but written in a script she wouldn't understand.

As she continued to read, she quickly learned that the reason he possessed the journal was because he was Becker's companion. If she remembered her history correctly, he was writing around the time of the French Revolution, when Napoleon began sticking his head into every other European country. The Karl that Becker described, however, was leagues away from the Karl that just kicked her out of his library. Well, not exactly. Some of the things alluded to and some of the phrases he used were things that Hana needed to google to understand, as it was from two centuries ago, but Karl still sounded like a very sour man. But, from what she could tell, Becker admired the hell out of Karl—he was a mentor of sorts, a teacher, someone Becker trusted and relied on, partially because he had saved his life, as she found out.

Now if he would just buck up and save hers.

Hana flipped through the journal for the rest of the day, shifting around in the seat as the day wore on and stopping only when her stomach audiably grumbled, or when her bladder reminded her that bathroom breaks were a thing. She was enthralled, absolutely riveted by the Karl that Becker described, and by the wealth of fantastical knowledge contained in the journal. The man was very good at note taking; he sketched out diagrams sometimes of magical concepts and pictures of specific artifacts—but he really didn't need to. His descriptions were so vivid, they were almost tangible. She knew Karl was immortal, but the manner of 19th century prose in which Becker described their descent into battles was horrifying enough for Hana to have to physically shield her eyes from the words on the page.

When she reared the end of the entries, Hana put the book down, giving her eyes (and her head) a rest. It was a lot of information to take in. She placed the journal on the coffee table and took the cube in her hands, staring probingly at it. From what she learned so far, artifacts shouldn't be able to able to bind themselves to people whimsically. Something had to have happened to it, or she should've done something for it to have attached itself to her. And, well, she didn't have any enemies—no one who would go through so much trouble just to try to kill her, and that too in six months time.

"How in the world did you end up bound to me, hm?" She turned the cube in her hands, pursing her lips to one side. With a huff, Hana gathered her things and hurried out the door. "Karl!" She shouted, knowing he probably couldn't hear her anyway. "Karl!" She slowed as she approached another garden room, with her person of interest planted beside a pond.

"Hey. I finished the book. Er, journal. I- well, first, if there are any more, I would really love to read them. Also, I had a question about how the cube is bound to me." Hana approached him, handing him both the journal and the cube. "Would you happen to have any idea as to how it could've bound to me in the first place? And, well, I asked this earlier, but is there any way it could be unbound from me without first completing it? Because that would be great." Hana looked expectantly at him.
 
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