Altair Empyrean

## **Basic Information**

**Full Name:** Altair Empyrean

**Nickname:** Altair

**Birthday:** June 19th 827

**Species:** Sinvian

**Purity:** 36%

**Gender:** Male he/him

**Height:** 5 foot 4

**Sexuality:** Heterosexual

**Languages Spoken:** Standard, Chitt, Arkan, Sish, Bellows

## **Personality**

**Likes:** Reading, history, magic, linguistics

**Dislikes:** Kodin, dogs, being outdoors

**Fears/Phobias:** General existentialism

Altair is a very intelligent but closed off individual. Many would say his knowledge is a means of overcompensating his less than ideal upbringing, and they wouldn't be too far off. Given Altair got a late start to life and a late start to his education as a result he’s always been someone to push himself too hard just to keep up. Even now that his knowledge has well surpassed his peers he pushes himself to make up for his various other shortcomings, those being his missing arm and poor eyesight. He may not be able to cast magic himself, but you’ll be damned to find anyone who knows more about it than Altair does.

Seeing as he’s always been an outcast Altair is very reserved and often aloof. He’s not close with many people. His feral childhood has left him with a few quirks that most people lack and all of them cause him to be extremely self conscious. His Sinvian obsession and his tendency to chirp or squawk are among these quirks. While he does his best to hide them, in times of stress or fear they might exhibit themselves. It’s easy to tell when Altair is reaching a breaking point as he’ll be babbling like a bird and flipping through pages of books without even reading them.

## **Abilities**

**Strengths:** intelligence

**Weaknesses:** eyesight, amputee

**Weapons/Tools:** Scratch

While Altair has a very limited ability to cast magic, he is fully capable of making potions or using Artifacts. Give him any random magic item and chances are he’ll have figured out how to use it before you finish explaining what it even is. He’s quick to adapt his knowledge to the real world and apply it accordingly.

   In addition to his knowledge on magic, he’s also been gifted a creature that functions as a prosthetic arm. An Empyreal creature known by the name “Scratch”. Altair has roughly 60% control over Scratch. He can puppet him to write, grab things, and do anything else an arm should be able to do, but Scratch also has a mind of his own and he’s not afraid to let his personality show when he wants to. Scratch is a very mischievous entity who enjoys biting things he probably shouldn’t and re-arranging things to make people’s lives difficult.

## **Health**

**Addictions:** None

**Mental Illnesses:** None

**Physical Illnesses:** None

**Disabilities:** Amputee

**Allergies:** None

## **Backstory**

It's not clear where Altair was first born. Sinvian, after all, start their lives as eggs. All that's known about his origin is the fact he was born in or around the country of Fairn and promptly lost or abandoned. Again, his origins are a bit murky, as a child left to their own devices for so long doesn't have the best recollection of their past.

For the first few years of his life Altair was left on his own to wander around the outskirts of Fairn and the swampy region surrounding it. Luckily for him Sinvian often retained their "impure" instincts, and those instincts allowed him to survive on his own where most normal children wouldn't. His life was far from good, however. Young children don't know anything about germs or bacteria. He was very sickly and extremely malnourished.

Around the time he was five Altair was on the brink of death. He'd managed to cut his right arm while wandering the vast expanse of Martara Swamp and it'd become horribly infected. All the dirt, grime, and various nasty microbes living in the muddy terrain of the swamp had gotten into his open wound which had caused it to almost immediately become septic. This infection caused him to become tired and lethargic, and as a result he didn't have the strength to forage for food or run away from predators. He was alone, scared, and confused by the world around him as his condition rapidly declined.

Luckily for Altair, this was not the end of the road for him.

Around this time a Wizard by the name of Brett Empyrean had made his way to Fairn in search of an area known as the Cavern of Twelve Deaths.  Brett's studies were mostly related to interplanar travel. Rumor had it this cavern was home to a rift between planes, and  Brett was hellbent on uncovering it for himself. He'd never make it there, however.

Not only did no one have a single clue where this caverns might be, but even if they did he'd have no way to actually get inside upon reaching it. A bit of an oversight on  Brett's part, but for someone with the magical know-how and capabilities to teleport themself vast distances with ease this was no problem in his eyes. He just wanted to find it's exact location before continuing forwards.

It was early in the morning.  Brett had been searching for this cavern for about a week now when he happened to stumble upon the small lifeless body of Altair. Most would assume he was a rather large wild bird, but seeing as  Brett grew up in Barrowford where Sinvian were common and he was in Fairn where they were native he was almost certain this was a young Sinvian child. The boy was alive, but he wouldn't be for long unless someone did something promptly. His arm was well into the stage of necrosis and he was extremely underweight. Not wanting to leave him there to die,  Brett scooped him up and rushed him back to Fairn for immediate medical attention.

magic can do a lot for someone, but Altair had even more going against him. For one thing, Sinvian weren't known for their abilities in spell casting. Most folk around didn't know much aside from the very basics. Not only that, but blue magic was sparse. Fairn's ambiance was almost entirely green. Lastly, to top it all off,  Brett didn't have a damn clue how to heal someone. Yes, he was a highly skilled Mage, but his expertise was in the field of planar travel, not healing. He couldn't heal a paper cut let alone full blown sepsis. Needless to say, by the time Altair got his much needed care it was too late for him to fully recover.

His arm was long gone by this point. The only way to save him was to remove the source of infection and hope the little magic Fairn did have would be enough to clear the rest of it from his body. Altair's right arm was fully amputated at the shoulder and he spent the next several days in and out of consciousness as the medicine he was given ran its course. It was a botched mash of magic and medicine, but it was enough to keep him alive. All the while  Brett was out searching for the child's parents.

While he had saved his life,  Brett couldn't bring himself to abandon this poor kid. He didn't want to leave him until he was sure he was in good hands. It wouldn't be too hard to find his parents. Altair's colouration and markings were very distinct, and word of a lost child certainly would have gotten around by now. If he was lost long enough to get in a state like that there was no doubt in  Brett's mind his parents had already made a report.

Of course, there were no reports. None of the local guards or guilds had heard anything about a lost child who matched Altair's description. Not only that, but there were no Sinvian in the area who looked even remotely like him. He had a bright yellow head with a crest of long feathers and a deep purple body. There were all sorts of yellow Sinvian around, but none of them resembled Altair in any meaningful way. He was unique.

About a week after  Brett first found Altair it was time for him to return to Barrowford. The country had twelve head Mages, each responsible for one of the twelve separate provinces in its borders.  Brett was among them, and his leave of absence could only go on for so long. He couldn't just abandon his duties like this, but at the same time he felt horrible for the poor Sinvian. At this point in Altair's life he didn't have a name. He couldn't read, write, or even talk. He was nothing more than a confused feral child who'd been dealt a horrible hand in life and  Brett couldn't stand for it. So, on a whim, he decided to take Altair with him.

It wasn't hard getting him out of the country. Fairn was lax with its borders and no one really cared about what happened to this lone child. Getting him into Barrowford was a different story, but with  Brett's status there it was only a minor bump in the road. Soon enough the two were back in the city of Nautta where  Brett was able to get back to his usual duties.

At first the arrangement was temporary. Many of Altair's earliest memories are of  Brett taking him to different places and introducing him to various strangers in an attempt to find him a guardian. Altair had never seen a Kodin up until then. It took months for him to stop viewing  Brett as a predator, and he very clearly remembers clinging to any and all of the Sinvian he was brought to in this search. Of course, he never stayed with anyone else longer than a day or so.

The Sinvian of Barrowford were vastly different from the ones in Fairn. Most here had very high intelligence and acted far more pure and human-like than their instinctual counterparts. Altair running around acting like a feral bird boy was too much for them, and soon enough he'd be sent right back to  Brett. So, in order to make him more "adoptable",  Brett began teaching Altair the basics of life.

While it took him longer than most kids his age, Altair eventually learned to talk, read, and write. The second he picked up on reading he became a voracious reader. Day after day he'd spend his time in  Brett's library reading anything and everything he could get his hand on. Whenever he encountered a book too difficult for him he'd bring it to  Brett who'd then go on to explain it in terms he could understand. Where most children his age we're learning about basic math and simple magic tricks Altair was deep into the technicalities of the application of teleportation and the finer details of how to twerk magic circles to get just about anywhere. He had a slow start to his education, but one he got the hang of things he rapidly shot past his peers.

There were many struggles growing up. The main one being his clear disability with his single arm. Altair always needed help with the simplest of things, and oftentimes the adults around him would get annoyed by this. They were understanding, sure, but the constant stream of requests to help him carry backpacks, open heavy doors, or help him up after a fall wore down on them over time. As he grew older he became more accustomed to his single limb, but as a young child who wanted nothing more than to play and explore it was difficult keeping up with everyone else. Needless to say, Altair was never athletically inclined.

In addition to his arm Altair faced another problem. After the 10th or so time of hurting himself badly after an easily avoidable fall  Brett took Altair into the local apothecary to check him over. He was afraid the many illnesses of his youth had done more permanent daMage than he first thought. Indeed they had. Altair's sickly upbringing and malnourishment had wreaked havoc on his eyesight. He was damn near blind. Legally, he was, although he still had some vision. Glasses helped a fair bit after they figured out the issue, but even then his vision was still vaguely blurry. At least the falls stopped after that.

As the years went on and Altair became more and more accustomed to his new way of life  Brett eventually stopped trying to find a family for Altair and decided to keep him as one of his own. He’d become far too attached, especially after all the schoolwork he’d helped with and all the medical mishaps they’d gone through together. Altair never called  Brett his father directly, but he definitely held him in that position. He liked  Brett, and of all the places he could have ended up Altair was glad he got a second chance at life the way he had.

The older Altair got the more interested he became in the realm of magic. It fascinated him that so much of the world could be altered and changed with the aid of a simple spell. All it took was a couple squished fireflies and someone could enchant an item that lit up an entire building! Infusing a pinch of dust with raw magic allowed for a very simple yet effective means of tracking something. With all the amazing things magic could do and how involved  Brett was as the city’s head Mage it was only natural Altair would pick up on a few things.

There was just one problem. Many spells require different kinds of gestures or movements in order to properly channel ones Mana. Without his right arm Altair was pretty much barred from a massive chunk of spells. Many of these spells were foundational spells which were a requirement needed in order to cast anything of a higher power. Physically Altair was incapable of most spellcasting, but that didn’t stop him from trying. Much of Altairs time was spent studying alternate ways to use magic and after months and months of searching he finally found a way to get himself started in the realm of magic.

Despite his inability to cast,  Brett still entertained Altair’s interest in magic. In his words, arcane knowledge is still a valuable skill in and of itself. Even if he couldn’t cast he could make himself useful in the field of magic on knowledge alone. Altair was sent to the best school of magic in Nautta where he thrived on the subject of arcane history and artifact engineering. The magic of the past was especially fascinating, as many people in modern day were still stumped by a lot of it. As his schooling continued on, Altair became more and more set on his path in life. He wanted to focus on discovering the inner workings of old Artifacts and relics. A magic archeologist, so to speak.

Eventually Altair turned 15. He was just getting into high school by this point and, naturally, he was pretty excited about it. This school was fairly far away from home, but given  Brett’s abilities, distance wasn’t an issue. Hell, he could have been going to school halfway around the world and he’d still be able to make it home for dinner with  Brett’s help. The only problem was, being so far away from home meant no one knew who Altair was. All of his classmates were going to the standard higher schooling, if they were even going at all. Not a specialty school like he was.

Being trapped around all these new people really put Altair on edge. His upbringing as a feral child still had lingering effects despite  Brett’s best attempts to curb the behaviour. Oftentimes he’d get startled or spooked and squawk loudly, only to draw unwanted attention and laughter to himself. Given he was already nervous to begin with it really didn’t take much to set him off. A difficult beginning, but soon enough Altair got the hang of the new routine. Once he had his studies improved drastically.

Seeing as Altair was planning to get into an archeological field it was in his best interest to start learning the various common languages of Barrowford. He already had a very basic understanding of Chitt, seeing as his adoptive father was a Feline, so Altair opted to further his skills in that to start. It’d be hard to understand the magic of the past without being able to read any past documentation. The more languages Altair knew, the more opportunities he’d have to study. That being said, language was difficult.

Altair had already gotten a late start when it came to learning to speak. He had managed to learn Standard, but the concept of language had always been difficult for him. Overall Altair was a straight A student, but when it came to learning Chitt he struggled. He wasn’t so easily deterred, though. Determined not to fail, Altair decided to find himself a tutor. It was just a matter of finding someone willing to help.

Luckily for him, his Chitt language class had a teacher assistant who was willing to do just about anything for anyone. Altair had seen this Kodin around the school before. His name was  Lumi, and from what Altair had heard it sounded like he was an extremely powerful sorcerer of some sort. Altair had always had a bit of resentment towards Sorcerers, given they were granted magic for seemingly no reason where he could hardly use it at all, but he could look past that.  Lumi’s native language was Chitt. It’s not like he was asking for help with anything arcane. He just wanted a bit of extra help with the language.

At first Altair didn’t know how to feel about this weird Kodin.  Lumi was overly peppy, always smiling, and seemingly friends with everyone. He was good at just about everything he tried with very little effort put in. That alone ticked Altair off. The more they worked together the more annoyed Altair became.  Lumi often got off topic or tried to initiate small talk, and the more Altair listened the more he loathed this Kodin. His whole life was handed to him on a silver platter! Not only that, but he was completely oblivious to it.

 Lumi would often question why Altair wasn’t in any caster centric magic courses and no matter how many times he explained he physically couldn’t cast spells  Lumi’s only response was to “think outside the box” or “keep trying” or other shallow remarks. He was so fake, at least in Altair’s perspective, and if it weren’t for his struggles with Chitt Altair wouldn’t have given  Lumi the time of day.

One day, about a year into his highschool career,  Lumi didn’t show up for their tutoring session. As oblivious and annoying as he was, Altair knew he kept to his word.  Lumi was always there before he was. Every Tuesday and Thursday after school they met in the library to study, but he wasn’t there. Altair was annoyed at first. He expected  Lumi to have flaked due to spreading himself too thin. He was always helping anyone with anything. It wouldn’t be out of character for him to have been caught up in another promise to help that overlapped with their session. He could have chosen to study on his own, but something told Altair to go and see what was up. If not just out of curiosity.

After a bit of searching around he eventually found  Lumi. In the janitors closet. At first he thought he was helping clean up a mess or a spill and he was just about ready to berate him for losing track of time when Altair noticed tears streaming down his face. He’d never been the best with emotional talk, but Altair couldn’t just leave him alone. It was extremely awkward and forced but he managed to ask  Lumi what was wrong.

Apparently his home life was less than stellar, and it’d just taken a turn for the worst. His parents had separated and  Lumi was torn over who he was going to stay with. It’s not like picking one meant he’d never see the other again, but  Lumi didn’t see it that way. He didn’t want to pick a favourite or hurt anyone's feelings. Both his parents loved him dearly. He didn’t want to lose either of them. He just wanted them to be happy.

The whole talk was uncomfortable, but eventually Altair managed to get him to calm down. They didn’t end up doing any tutoring that day. Instead, Altair spent the rest of the day helping  Lumi come to a decision and making him see that no matter what he ended up doing his parents' opinion of him wouldn't just change on a dime. After that day Altair began seeing  Lumi differently. He wasn’t just some oblivious goody two shoes to know it all. He was just a kid trying to spread the happiness he didn’t often have to others all the while making his parents proud. The two would only become closer from that point on.

Highschool eventually came to a close, and with a newfound friend by his side Altair and  Lumi began searching for the next step in their education. Altair had wanted to get into archeology, and because  Lumi had yet to make a decision on his own path in life he more or less took all the same classes Altair had. On his own Altair was at a heavy disadvantage due to his magical shortcomings, but now that he had a skilled Mage by his side he was excelling in ways neither thought possible. Both quickly became the top of their class in Astral Plane University, and seeing how much progress they'd made in their studies the school decided to put their true abilities to the test.

His second year at Astral Plane would be full of surprises, the first being an offer to take four months off of school to go on an archeological dig in the depths of a place called Wolvern Valley. Apparently a new discovery had been made in relation to the settlement's god and they'd been requesting help for months, but because of the heavy demon influence on the matter no one had dared step foot anywhere near it. Altair was on the fence hearing that last part, but  Lumi managed to convince him that this was a one time thing. Besides, a few members of the local demon hunting guild were coming along as well. They'd be fine!

This was the first time in a very long time Altair had ever left Barrowford. For all intents and purposes he had never left to begin with. His childhood trauma wasn't something he was old enough or aware enough to remember. As far as Altair was concerned he was born and raised in Barrowford, despite knowing full well otherwise. It was a nerve wracking experience, but the thought of being on a real archeological dig was too alluring to pass up. Plus, the school was offering quite a few grants and scholarships for students who tagged along. It'd all look good on his record if nothing else.

Wolvern Valley was a strange place. Almost immediately upon getting there Altair was instructed to never go out alone. The people here didn't view Sinvian as pure beings. At best they'd shoo him away like a pest, and at worst… Well, he didn't want to think about it. Altair took these warnings to heart and clung to  Lumi's side the entire trip. No matter what time of day or where their destination was  Lumi was always at the ready.

For the first few weeks all went well, more or less. Altair did face many instances of people treating him as “less than”. Whenever he and  Lumi headed into town the locals only spoke to  Lumi. On more than one occasion he wasn’t allowed inside buildings without some convincing. Once some random Kodin decided to pet him like he was some sort of pet! It was a bit humiliating, but the things they found on their expedition made all of it worth it.

The archeological dig ended up revealing what was assumed to be an old and abandoned temple to a god known as Dirus, or “Mother Wolf”. This temple would later be known as the “Mouth of the Beast”. Inside this temple the group found many different relics and Artifacts. It was a pretty groundbreaking discovery, just as they’d been told.

While the group had dug up several different items on this trip there was one item in particular that was very clearly out of place. Dirus, and by extension her temple, were all very heavily drawn towards green magic. This meant most of her relics were constructed out of things like jade, copper, emeralds, and other green aligned materials. Gold was also a common item, often being used in holy symbols or things of the like.

The item in question which stuck out from the rest was a book. A very pristine and well kept book; one you’d expect to see in a high end library. It was lined with silver and had a greyish purple leather exterior. It didn’t even look like it belonged in this temple to begin with, and its magic only confirmed that notion. While most of the locals believed it to be green just like everything else, Altair and  Lumi both knew for a fact this book had heavy purple ties.

This book largely drew their attention away from the rest of the dig, and in the end that turned out to be for the best. As time went on the local demons really began getting rowdy and violent. It seemed them cracking open this temple was the beginning of the end for the expedition. These demons were all from a faction simply known as the “Shadow Band”. Demons of this group were all known for their interest in Mother Wolf, and once the temple was cracked open they saw it as an invitation to storm in and take it for themselves.

It was late in the evening a few months in when things reached their breaking point. By this time both Altair and  Lumi’s attention was almost fully on this mysterious book. It had a lot of odd quirks to it. Only opening to certain pages, its text scrambling to the point of being unreadable, and the book itself disappearing and reappearing at random. It was a mystery, and Altair wanted to know who it belonged to and how it ended up inside the temple. As the two were hard at work there was a crash outside coming from a nearby tent. Then another, and then screaming. Altair locked up in fear, but when  Lumi ran outside to check things out he couldn’t help but follow along. That’s when the two came face to face with the Shadow Band.

There were at least twenty of them. A massive group of demons all being led by a hulking quadrupedal wolf-like being. These demons were tearing through their campsite and stealing anything and everything they could get their hands on. It seemed they were hellbent on reclaiming all the stolen items taken from the temple. The archeological staff were in a frenzy as the demons chased after them, and the chase would only lead everyone closer to the nearby town in the hopes of escaping.

The initial attack only lasted a few hours, but the lingering demon threat remained for the next few weeks as this faction stalked both the dig site and the nearby town. People were killed, injured, and lost in the chaos and the expedition as a whole came to an abrupt end. Instead of continuing on with their research the group instead opted to assist the locals until the guild could exterminate the lingering demons. This is where Altair and  Lumi would meet the third member of their team:  Akos.

The town was a wreck, and given how kind and empathetic  Lumi was Altair was dragged along as he lent his aid to anyone he could. Even though they were a team of two Altair felt like a third wheel being dragged along as  Lumi used his magic to heal the townsfolk or locate missing individuals. It wasn’t that Altair didn’t want to help, but he had been quite put off by his prior treatment.

Eventually the two were approached by  Akos. She’d heard  Lumi’s magic could help locate missing people and she was desperately looking for her Uncle. Altair really wasn’t paying much attention, as her plea was just the same as everyone else's, but from what he did happen to hear it seemed this uncle was all she had left and she seemed rather distraught by the fact he’d gone missing.

Altair and  Akos really didn’t interact all that much as he and  Lumi went off in search of this missing uncle. She didn’t even acknowledge his existence half the time, although Altair mostly wrote it off as her having far more important things to worry about. After all, Altair knew he’d be quite distraught if he lost his father. He couldn’t blame the Kodin for being worried. Of course, all of this only got worse when they did end up finding him.

He hadn’t been killed by the demons directly, but  Akos’ uncle had succumb to the aftermath of the attack. The larger ones of the group had gone out of their way to collapse buildings and overall cause as much destruction to the city as possible.  Akos’ uncle had been trapped in the rubble of one of these buildings and by the time they’d found him it was too late. It wasn’t the first time he and  Lumi hadn’t been able to help, but this instance really hit home for everyone. It was the first and only time they’d found a body. The whole situation was pretty scarring.

 Akos was inconsolable. Crying, cursing, and overall acting irrational. It was clear Altair’s presence there wasn’t going to help, as  Akos viewed him as an annoying pet holding  Lumi back from doing his job, so he opted to return to their  Airship and get back to work decoding this strange book while  Lumi took care of her. He wasn’t supposed to go off on his own, but so long as he was on the  Airship there wouldn’t be any issues.

The next few days went on without much issue. During this time Altair began noticing patterns in the book’s text even with the magic scrambling it and began writing down a bit of an index to help decode it. It’s not like he had much else to do. This book was one of the only Artifacts the group still had, and because it clearly wasn’t related to the rest of the dig sight no one else really gave a damn about it. Sure, they found its presence there intriguing, but all of them wrote it off as a lost journal from a past adventurer. A temple this old had surely been discovered before, it just hadn’t been documented.

The more time Altair spent looking over this book the more invested he became in translating it. The magic inside of it was well outside the realms of normal, even for Purple magic. Its constant disappearing and reappearing was perplexing, as it seemed to happen at random, and the fact the pages were “locked” only compounded its mystery. The whole thing was one big puzzle and Altair was determined to be the one to crack the code.

Eventually the demons were dealt with and it was time for everyone to return home, but as everyone was getting ready to leave Altair was met with a surprise.  Lumi, for the most part, had been absent over the past several days. No doubt wandering the settlement and helping the locals recover as best he could. When he finally returned, however, he wasn’t alone. Closely behind him was  Akos, who seemed to have all of her things packed up as well. Altair was confused by this development, but as she got her things packed away on the  Airship  Lumi explained everything.

As it turned out,  Akos didn’t have many ties to Wolvern Valley. For the longest time it’d been her and her uncle against the world, but now that he was gone she wanted nothing to do with the place. She didn’t want to continue living here now that he was gone. It’d be a constant reminder, and she couldn’t deal with it. So, in typical  Lumi fashion, he’d offered  Akos a way out. After talking to some of the university staff that’d come on the expedition with them they’d worked out an arrangement that’d allow  Akos to move to Astra. Altair didn’t really care about the finer details of the arrangement. He was more concerned about the brashness of  Lumi’s decision.

It was one thing for  Akos to come live in Astra, but it was another for her to essentially be adopted into Altair and  Lumi’s study group. The only way she’d be allowed in Barrowford was via Student Visa, so  Lumi pulled a few strings to get her enrolled into Astral Plane University. This irritated Altair for several reasons. She hadn’t earned a spot at the school, she had no place in an institution of magic like that, and to top it all of he didn’t want to be forced to be responsible for some random stranger who didn’t even view him as a person!  Lumi was just trying to help, yes, but it came at Altairs detriment. This definitely put a strain on their relationship, and during the trip back home Altair spent all his time locked in his room with his new project.

Upon getting back to Astra City Altair and  Lumi more or less went their separate ways until  Akos was fully settled in. Now left to his own devices Altair decided to use the remainder of his time off school to return home and show this new book to his father. Since the expedition had been cut short they still had about a month before school started again. If anyone had any idea what this book was all about it’d be his father.

As it turned out, this book Altair had found was far more interesting that he ever could have imagined. Seeing as his father was one of the countries top Mages he was correct in assuming he’d have more information available, but  Brett’s investigation into the book only lead to more questions. Questions that seemingly stumped everyone.

First of all, the spell scrambling the book’s text was just about impossible to decipher. No one had ever seen a spell even remotely related to it. Yes, there were several known spells which could encrypt someone’s writing, but none of them were like this. It’s tendency to disappear was bizarre as well. The book left no trace of remnant despite very obviously teleporting. There was one thing they could figure out, though, and that was the locked pages.

The pages of this book seemed to be locked with a fairly standard spell. Most commonly a spell like this would be used on a door or in a safe. Anywhere you didn’t want people to freely enter and exit. The only thing keeping them locked out of the rest of the book was the sheer amount of power behind this spell. It easily surpassed that of a relic, leading everyone to believe it was one itself. Altair figured whatever they had access to was left unlocked for a reason, and he was desperate to figure out what that reason was.

Given how fascinating this book was and the fact Altair was in university to become an archeologist Altair decided to make translating this book part of his thesis. It’d surely be a massive feat, and a book with magic as powerful as this encrypting it there'd undoubtedly be several breakthroughs in the field of magic as a result. Altair had stumbled upon a goldmine of information and he’d gladly devote the rest of his time in university to uncovering its secrets. There was one problem with this plan, however.

Once back in school Altair and  Lumi reunited, doing their best to mend their relationship. They were close friends after all. They weren’t going to let one fight tear their friendship apart. But with  Akos now a part of their group the entire dynamic of their friendship had changed. Altair and  Akos did not get along in the slightest, but both of them were close to  Lumi. When all three were together one of them would more often than not be distanced while the other worked with  Lumi on whatever it was they were working on at the moment.

 Akos found this book to be a massive waste of time. She couldn’t wrap her head around anything Altair had been working towards most of his life. As far as she was concerned  Lumi was the superior Mage, as his magic could actively help those around him. Altair didn’t ever do anything in her eyes, which caused him to resent her. None of his academic achievements mattered. His knowledge didn’t matter. His opinions didn’t matter. To her Altair was all talk and no action. This book was useless unless they actually did anything productive with it. Reading a book was not productive.

Arguments quickly sprung up between the two over this project. They were all working as a group, and as such they all had the same thesis project, but  Akos had no intentions of helping. It stressed Altair out immensely. If he didn’t finish his thesis he wouldn’t graduate, and if he didn’t all his hard work over the years would amount to nothing. Tensions were running high, but eventually  Lumi came to the rescue.

By this point Altair had gotten a pretty good translation system in place, and as he was transcribing the book into his own journal he’d come across what appeared to be a section on potion making. It detailed a potion known as “Celestial Substitute” which had no indication as to what it did and no explanation behind any of the ingredients involved.  Akos wanted to do something “productive” in her eyes, and Altair wanted to transcribe this book for their thesis. So  Lumi came up with a middle ground that’d get the two working together.

Instead of translating the book their project shifted into uncovering the secrets of this potion. Doing so would satisfy both of their interests and get them working together.  Akos viewed “making” anything as productive, as there were tangible results she could see and feel. Altair viewed cracking the code on this potion as productive as it’d reveal one of this book's many secrets and quite possibly result in a breakthrough in the realm of magic. It was the perfect compromise!

That’s more or less where Altair finds himself today. His time is largely spent at the university looking into the inner workings of this odd book while also trying to remain sane with  Akos constantly berating him. It’s a big change to get used to, but so long as  Lumi is there to act as a mediator all should be well. Let’s just hope he can crack the code in time to graduate without too many complications...

## **Relationships**

 **Lumi Twinkleton:** Originally Altair viewed  Lumi as some overly perfect goody two shoes who flaunted his perfection for all to see, but over the years they’ve become nearly inseparable friends. They might as well be brothers at this point.  Lumi helps make up for the magical capabilities Altair lacks, and Altair has helped  Lumi learn and grow in ways he never could have imagined. Their interests and values are very heavily aligned and that’s only made their bond stronger. Like everyone, they have their disagreements from time to time, but it’d take something massive to ever cause these two to drift apart.

**Akos Eider:** To put it bluntly, Altair hates  Akos. Can’t stand to be around her for any prolonged period of time. If it weren’t for the fact she’s close friends with  Lumi Altair would probably never speak to her again. He has no trust in her judgement and she’s proven time and time again to be a detriment to both their lives. His primarily, as her drunken rants and aggressive behaviour have put Altair at risk on more than one occasion.