Pens were necessary for a new school year. So was fresh bound parchment paper. And 5 silken bags for supplies, 3 empty silver bottles for potions, and some new spirits. Sion’s old spirit was much too old to be functional so it was high time to purchase another.

Spirit purchasing was a tedious affair.

The 1st step was always the easiest. Inspect the spirit. 

Most spirits were categorised by their role in society. Caregivers were the most popular spirits, just below them were the new “everything” spirits. These were note-takers, book-holders, organisers, etc. all in one. Sion was just biding her time until the public found some fault or another with them. No spirit could do so many tasks without proper and steady energy consumption.  Anyone with proper sense would know this. Though it was true that the people had been losing their proper sense of mind for a lengthy amount of time now.

Sion shook her head, she had not come to brood over such thoughts. She would have to focus, buy the necessary items, and briskly return home before the sun rose.

Sion inspected a soft-violet-coloured spirit with closed eyes. The description above read: student assistant, faulty 50% discount.

Sion snatched the spirit and plopped it in her silk bag, erasing her usual process which included a step 2 & 3. Moving on, she hustled onto the scripture section. 

Finding spirits was heinous, to say the least ( though the purchase of this one was relatively simple) but the process of scripture seeking was a tremendous experience. 

Scriptural tools were fine things. Precise, fine, gorgeous things. But, in the end, they were tools. No matter how astounding they were.

The array of scriptures here was small. A short selection of old-fashioned quills, fountain, and dip pens, and some erasing vials.

There was, however, a unique fountain pen nestled in between the erasing vials and dip pens. It had a glossy sheen and a metallic tip. The shell had a minimalist design, an ivory hue that faded into a light shade of purple hyacinth that complimented the silver tip.

Sion let the pen fall into her bag along with her spirit.

The rest of the trip went rather smoothly. Textbooks would be provided by Alantin themselves and the parchment paper had a relatively good texture paired with a fair price.

Bags were not sold in the quaint shop, much to Sion’s disappointment. Another trip to the square would be required tomorrow to find proper silken bags that could hold maximum capacity.

The reaper managing the counter was gaunt and had soulless, doll eyes. A reaper’s eyes were almost always empty, dead pits of emptiness. Sion had dealt with several reapers to know that. But it didn’t stop her from feeling a familiar wave of discomfort.

The reaper’s personality was quite the opposite of his appearance. All crescent moon smiles, one-sided jokes, and polite manners. Pleasant beings were a rare find, especially in reapers.

Dawn had crawled its way into the sky, nudging the stars beside it to make room for itself. The sky had painted itself a pleasant rainbow of violet, rose, and marigold while the silver stars were gradually fading out of sight. An ethereal scene. Shame she would not have the time to properly enjoy such a thing.

When the day would finally storm itself here, mobs of people would crowd the stores and the angry buzzing of chatter would overtake her senses. She would rather avoid that experience altogether. There were already early birds beginning to trickle their way into the shops and it had only been seconds since a small string of sun glow had made its way with the clouds.

Sion adjusted her velvet cloak and darted into the streets. It would almost be an eerie scene for anyone watching. A shapeless vermillion figure trekking their way through the barren streets while dawn had just inched forward. Strange indeed. But if that same viewer had looked closely, they would have noticed a strange little detail in this peculiar scene.

An almost minuscule spark of silverness seemed to be following the mysterious figure, its body buzzing and vibrating against the air as if it had… wings.