The Tutelage of a Brother - SCP Foundation

Martch 20, 709. The first day.

The witch is eager to learn, I shall give her that, and is patient with the complicated spells that I am teaching her. While we were training, she asked me what my name was. I answered her curtly with my holy name, the one Doctor Ristrumm gave me when I was but a child: Jaelen. She seemed satisfied by the answer, and we continued training until the sun went down. After we adjourned the training, I devoutly prayed to Lord Jack and asked him for forgiveness hours into the night. The witch watched me intently from her bed. She will not break me.

Martch 20, 709. The second day.

It is truly peculiar how neither the patrons in this inn nor the owner downstairs notice the fact that there is no one else coming through the door. They seem content to stay within the inn. Even the owner himself seems to have not noticed that his supplies are steadily dwindling, yet constantly being replenished. The witch showed me that trick this morning, as the barmaid served us the morning’s breakfast.

The witch told me that the Doctors had taught her that spell before she lost her memory, which I assume is years before the Great Breach. According to her, they told her to only use it if her life was in peril from “the bad things” and needed a place to stay. It seems like the Ancient Doctors taught her how to keep herself safe in the event of a siege, teaching her how to sustain herself with a never-ending supply of food and to delude those who were trapped with her to maintain the spell. The abomination of her magic knows no bounds.

Breaking from the strangeness of her fell magic, I taught her something more complicated today: the Deludah Liviin, meant to break the minds of anything that comes her way- barring humans of course, for that would be a catastrophe for all when she faces the Holy Foundation.

Interestingly, she seems to be unused to the casting of spells in the New Tongue, as she cast her other spells in the Old. From this, I decide thence: on the morrow and on the succeeding days, I shall also teach her the New Tongue. It would be a disaster if she communicates this simply with the Doctor Cardinals in her containment.

Martch 20, 709. The seventeenth day.

Much to my relief, the witch has now mastered the vernacular of the New Tongue. She is a fast learner, and her liberal use of the Mamorre spell to aid her mind has made her learn even more quickly. She can now write simple poetry and prose using the ink and paper that I have made her summon with the Sign of Learning. She can be an asset to the Foundation yet.

Martch 20, 709. The nineteenth day.

Today, my normal conversation with the witch diverted to the topic of the man Seth, who rescued her from her pitiful state and made her remember a portion of the memories she had lost. She confessed to me that she remembers Seth and their involvement, but she knows not of what caused them to split ways, or why they came together in the first place. She told me that Seth seethed with anger when she told him that she remembered not of their time together, which was the reason for him to propose their diverging and performing different tasks for the same goal of destroying the Foundation. Seth tasked himself with contacting his friends among the animals and leading them to the Holy City, while the Witch chose instead to head to the nearby monastery immediately in search of ways to enrich her powers.

At this, the witch broke into tears, expressing guilt for the lives she had taken in her pursuit of strength. When she did, I found no anger in my heart- only pity for the girl who had committed terrible crimes for a misguided cause. I comforted the child crying in front of me, reassuring her that all would be forgiven in the eyes of Bright if she made amends for her sins.

Tonight, she seemed to sleep a little easier- and I was glad.

Martch 20, 709. The twenty-eighth day.

My student seems to have taken an interest in my prayers tonight. While I was reciting the Procedures that the Ancient Doctors used to contain the Great Dragon, she asked me what the Great Dragon was. In response, I told her of Saint Alto and his Holy Quest, undertaken during the time of the Great Breach. I told her of his twenty divine items, and how he used them to break the back of the Great Dragon during the Attack on Monastery Nineteen. She listened to me intently as I told the story, her eyes bright and inquisitive, and I could not help but wonder just how much of a childhood she has had.

I have only been on this world for twenty-three years, yet even my days in the scholarly monastery were bright and full of laughter. My brothers and sisters there were welcoming and gruff both, and I made friends with all of them as I grew into a young man. Though the witch is hundreds of years my senior, she seems to have the mind of a blooming girl, one that would only be six or seven years my junior. Though it is heresy to think of such things, I wonder what would happen if I lecture her on the theology of the Church, the origins of the Foundation, and the content of the Holy Texts. Her powers come from Lord Bright after all, just as all Expunged derive their powers from Him.

I will think on it on the morrow.

Martch 20, 709. The fiftieth day.

My student seems to be plying both her mind and her body well. During the past three days, I have taken the focus off her spellwork and instructed her more on the theology of the Church, the nature of her divine magic as an Expunged, and her form in meditation. She seems to be receiving it with beautiful grace, engaging me in wondrously theological and philosophical debates on a wide range of topics. She has memorized the first thousand Procedures now, including her own. Though her work on her enlightened calligraphy may need improvement, I am sure that it is nothing that she cannot improve with more study, meditation, and lecturing.

As I write this, she peacefully slumbers in her bed. I am sure she dreams now of the Saints and Lord Bright, just as any budding member of the Church should. She bade me good night again, like yesterday, and it makes my heart full with just how far she has gone since I began teaching her.

I am already planning on engaging her on the divine nature of Bright in as soon a time as ten days from now. She has quickly grasped everything that I have taught her from the scriptures, Procedures, and theology, and she can soon go even farther than that. She is not just an Expunged now- she is a student of the Church, and is already shaping up to be a gifted member of the Foundation in both her divine powers and her grasp on the divine natures. Though it had been hard for me before to admit it, I am proud of her progress and her whole-hearted devotion to the Creed.

Martch 20, 709. The hundred-and-fiftieth day.

Sigurrós celebrates her seventeenth nameday today, by her own want to be a member of the Foundation. Though time outside is as still as it has been since we started, she has already come so far in her studies in her divine spellwork, the mundane studies, and the higher fields. She no longer harnesses her mind for her own gain, but also for the sake of the Lord Bright and the Holy Foundation. She no longer harnesses her powers to kill or to destroy, but also to create and to learn. I am proud to call her my student, and on the morrow I shall anoint her with beer and water as a fully-fledged member of the Foundation.

Martch 20, 709. The hundred-and-fifty-first day.

Today, I anointed Sigurrós as a scion of the Foundation, with the patrons and owner of the inn standing as witnesses. I met her eyes as I poured the ceremonial beer and water on her head, and I can say that I have seen nothing else more devout or beautiful than her in that sacred moment. After that, the entire inn danced and celebrated with unconsecrated beer and delicious food, feasting in honor of the girl-who-was-redeemed. Tomorrow, Sigurrós shall break us free of her time knot spell and banish the invading animals from the Holy City of Arnven, reclaiming it for the glory of the Church and the Lord Bright.

This is truly a glorious day.