"I don't think this is working," Tyler said, stepping away from the tree behind him in anticipation for the blow.
"Nonsense," Isla said, turning her attention to Morrigan. "Kick his ass again."
Tyler braced himself as Moirrigan cast a tiny sphere of force across the courtyard. It landed, hitting Tyler's chest, and he flew back into a patch of grass fifteen feet behind him.
"What did we learn, Mr. Hale?" Isla asked, towering over him with hope in her eyes.
"I don't even know what you're trying to teach me."
"We started a fight without him knowing how to fight," Morrigan said as she approached, "Having me beat him senseless is not going to work."
"Hush," Isla replied.
Morrigan clenched her jaw and crossed her arms, "Excuse me?"
"You didn't even bother to tell him what he is?" Isla asked. She snapped her finger to draw Tyler's attention, "Come with me. Morrigan, you stay put. You're only going to mess him up." They entered a common room, and Isla gestured for him to sit on one side of a chess board while she took a seat on the other.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I hurt like hell."
Isla nodded, "Damn right. Getting tossed around sucks, don't it?"
"Yes. What's with the board?"
Isla scoffed, "Chess is an encouraged activity for those who are learning the prestige. The consideration variables, careful planning, the understanding of when to strike, and when to defend and other aspects of the game are all essential skills for practicing the prestige. Practitioners often equate a fight with another practitioner to a chess game where both sides have different pieces and neither knows what pieces the other has."
"Okay?" Tyler said.
Isla leaned in and her eyes opened wide with a raised brow, "Do you open with your strongest move draining yourself more? Do you carefully reserve your strength, hoping your endurance will be the key?"
Tyler shrugged, rubbing at his chest, "I still have no idea what any of this has to do with actually casting a spell."
Isla continued, "The point is this: you may not know how to handle what your opponent throws at you, and the same could be said for them." She hovered her hand over the pieces as she talked, "You don't need to do all this crap."
"Why?"
"Arcana Discordia. It's the easy road, but it's a school of hard knocks. You're not like Morrigan. It's the only genre you can learn." Morrigan walked in, defiantly sitting in a nearby chair. Isla slowly shifted her weight, "Really, I told you to-"
"I don't trust you."
"I don't trust you, either. I can teach him though, You can't."
Morrigan laughed, "Teach him what? What is it that you do?"
Isla rubbed her hands together, turning her attention to Tyler, "Ignore her."
"The prestige must be a nightmare to learn." he replied.
Isla blinked, chuckled, then nodded, "Yes, it is. Here's the thing though: we aren't using the prestige, not like Morrigan at least."
Morrigan chimed in, "Can you even use the prestige in the first place, Isla?"
Isla opened her mouth, then nodded, "Discordians are lucky to have any pieces at all," she paused, picked up both kings, and smiled as she cleared the board with her arm, sending the other pieces to the floor. Morrigan jolted up, but Isla spoke before she could get a word in, "Before you can learn what you can do, you need the mindset." She placed the kings on opposite sides of the board, each staring each other down on the E file. She stood up, "You know what it's like to lose Mr. Hale. Now let's see you win. You are allowed one move, and that move must win the game."
Tyler rubbed his head, "I've never played chess."
"Even better," Isla said.
"May I?" Morrigan asked.
Isla shook her head violently, "I wouldn't. It has to be him that figures it out. More importantly, I think it'll just set you off."
"I won't give him the answer."
Isla put her hands on her hips, took a deep breath, and looked to tyler, "White king on E1 and black king on E8, two pieces total."
"I'm sorry?" Morrigan said.
Isla nodded at Tyler, "I Don't like repeating myself. You heard right."
Morrigan stammered, her voice raised. The grip on her cane clenched tighter, "That's a draw. Neither side can win. There isn't enough material on the board. A king can never move into check. It's impossible to win a king with a king,"
"Told you it would set you off. I know of three ways, myself. It's up to Tyler now. Brownie points if he can find more than one."
Tyler looked at the pieces, "The king moves one square at a time?" He asked.
"Yes," Morrigan and Isla said together.
"Then how is it possible?" He sighed.
"Call me when you think you have the answer. I'm open 24/7, you can take as many guesses as you like." Isla pointed to Morrigan, then quickly dropped her hand as she spoke, "Morrigan, don't help. It'll only mess him up. I'm gonna head back to my storage room and" she paused as she walked out, giving a shrug, "bounce a tennis ball off the wall. I estimate Damon will give me a new office after fifty throws."
Morrigan sat across from him, and stared vacantly in his direction. She tightened her lips, opened as if to speak, then closed her mouth.
"What?" Tyler asked as he eyed the pieces.
"There are a lot of arcane genres." she paused, sighed, and continued, "Discordians have a bit of a reputation."
"A reputation?"
"Discordians are very rare. Isla doesn't even live here. Even if she did, many of us wonder if Arcana Discordia is even real. It makes no sense and those who claim to know it never seem to be able to provide proof." she gestured to the board, "this makes no sense. We don't have time for this."
"It's a puzzle," Tyler said as he rubbed his temples.
"With no solution," Morrigan replied.
"Then why would she bother? Why the story? Why the demonstration?" Tyler fiddled with the pieces, taking out his phone to research.
"Your guess is as good as mine. I wager she's just happy to be of use."
Tyler stepped up, walked into the foyer, and reached into his bag. He pulled out The Simpelx Arcana, and opened it, walking back to the common room and sitting in front of the board.
"Arcana Discordia," he said, but the book didn't move.
Morrigan stood and spoke as she left the room, "It doesn't even exist in The Arcana."
Tyler sighed, and stared at the blank pages, then at the chessboard. He muttered under his breath, "Then why does everyone have so much to say about it?" The book shuddered, a movement he wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't in his hand. "What?" he asked. "Show me something."
The book obeyed, displaying countless mathematical formulas, diagrams and geometric figures. Large words formed as a header displaying the words Arcana Discordia above the image of a golden apple.
Tyler smiled, "It's a secret. I can live with that. Tell me more."
The page turned and displayed several blocks of text. Before he could read it, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned, noticed Isla and Morrigan walking toward him, and when he looked back to the book, the text was gone.
"Mr. Hale?" Isla said with a knowing smile. "Find something interesting?"
Tyler nodded, "Not at all. I'm struggling here."
"Don't worry," Isla said. Just focus on the board.
After an hour, Tyler felt the urge to quit. He analyzed every word Isla said, even before presenting the puzzle. He studied the game's rules, even stumbling on the rules of some chess varients. Isla waltzed into the room routinely to check on his progress, "Still no winner?"
"It's all wrong," Tyler said.
"Well, yes. This isn't how chess works." Morrigan replied.
"Exactly," he laughed, "but who said we were playing chess? There are hundreds of chess variants online. Maybe I'm-" he stopped, smiled, and jumped up, "you never know what piece the opponent has," He turned to Isla, and she nodded, "It's my turn, and if the black king is doubling as a queen," he said, picking up the black king and moving it forward until it knocked the white king over. Isla clapped her hands together.
"That's it?" Morrigan asked, but Tyler ignored her.
"If that works," he began, standing the white king back up, "then I can think of another move that wins without moving at all." Tyler picked up the white king and tucked it away in the box meant for storing the pieces. Isla's smile grew wider.
Morrigan sat in the chair, listening to tyler with a blank look, "A riddle is the secret to learning the genre? Really?”
"No," Isla replied, "but it is the key to understanding it. I suppose Tyler has been around you too long. It usually comes naturally." Isla replied. She turned to tyler, "Let's try again, but with a little prep this time." She flexed a finger, commanding Tyler to follow. Morrigan stood, Isla spoke again, “Oh, no. This is a private affair. Please.”
Yay! A new chapter. I'm super excited to keep reading, I've been hoping for more all day(honestly, loving your story). No, let's get into the actually useful comments: Firstly, the opening of the chapter feels super abrupt. I'm pretty sure you could easily have a smoother transition between the previous scene and this scene. However, there's also the benefit of not having to worry about skipping over small, repetitive moments of time. I'd say you might need to touch it up a bit and maybe mention a bit more about why Tyler's being attacked? But, it also was mostly a problem for me because I felt like I'd skipped a whole scene or something since you're still editing. You do explain some of the reasoning behind it later, but it also feels like there should be some kind of introduction scene with Isla and the others before jumping into the chapter. Just my thoughts, but it could work as-is. Holy cow. I love Discordians. I may have spoiled something by reading about "The Drunkard's Walz," which sounds hilarious and amazing. I also appreciate how this ties into Tyler's experience and it'll be awesome to see him experience the Prestige in such an odd fashion. Additionally, this result is perfect after the semi-suspense built up in regards to whether or not Tyler would even have the ability to harness his Prestige. (I, personally, originally thought that the casino was some sort of representation of an in-between world where Tyler was forced to trade his ability to use the Prestige for his life. This result is very welcome). Morrigan's seeming distate for the genre and the fact it's so unheard of the all-knowing book that I literally just forgot the name of doesn't know it establishes a good sense of mystery surrounding the whole events. Thi also plays well with Isla's mystery and... unique... character. I love the little snippet where she says something along the lines of "I'm going to go throw a tennis ball at a wall until Damon gives me a new office" Some more specific passages as I reread to find something I think I remember: "It landed, hitting Tyler's chest, and he flew back into a patch of grass fifteen feet away."
This highlights the greatest problem I've found with your style of writing. You mix and match sentences and tenses in such a way that it doesn't really feel natural. I'd suggest something more to the effect of "It grazed Tyler's chest, sending him flying backward into a patch of soft grass over fifteen feet away." While that's not the best as my writing ability is questionable, it flows a bit smoother and should help out. Well. I couldn't find the passage that stood out to me again. I did notice another pattern in your writing style, however: you like to split lines up with dialogue tags. It's not a problem, but it is a noticeable stylistic choice. Other than that, I love the chapter! So glad to have something to read tonight and I honestly can't wait to see where this story takes us. Great work!
This one gave me some trouble. I had to remove that chapter and it messed up how this one started. I thought I figured it out but I agree it probably needs a little more editing. I'll fix the issues you brought up and yesssss I'm so excited. Next one will hopefully be up soon. It's been slow moving today. I'm glad it's anticipated though. Wooot thanks