We were in a room. Cluttered desks sat against the walls, piled high with various books and scattered notes. Large, loose sheets of paper hung from the walls on the right half of the room with torn cloth circling and pinpointing some of the diagrams. Some of the sheets were rent apart with ragged strips drooping from the walls. A bed sat to my right near the door we’d entered. It was just as cluttered as the desks. “Your research always seems so grueling,” I told Skaarin.

     “As it should,” he replied. “You’re always so quick to organize. But you’ll wind up wasting time being so tidy. You have to sift through that shit pile until you find everything you had out before you’d left. Then you just put it all back again. It must be a pain in the ass for you to learn anything. No wonder you haven’t taught me something new - you take months to learn it yourself. When I can always come back and pick up right where I’d left off.”

     “Keep complaining about how long I take. I’m about to wreck you in your favorite study, Skaarin.” I walked to a desk on the left side of the room and grabbed a ring. It had a small lever on its surface. “You haven’t learned all there is to know on the magnius arts that fuck with memories.”

     “Look at you talking all big. Saying fuck’s cool now that you can mess with memories like Skaarin, is that it?” Skaarin teased. He laughed at me for a moment. “What are the Arts that work with memories called then, Latrus?”

     “Shut up,” I replied. “Without that Library, I don’t know as much as you. But lemme show you what I do know.” I walked back over to Skaarin. “I’ve only done this once,” I warned. “I’m sure you’ll make it better after we research it more. But I learned it all on my own like I promised. Put this ring on.”

     I helped Skaarin slip the ring onto one of his fingers. “Now think of a memory of yours. Something you don’t mind doing without, though. I think you’ll lose it for a while. But think of something and tell me when you’ve got it.”

     “Yeah, yeah,” he said. He thought for a moment, then looked at me. “Alright, I’ve got something to go on."

     “Okay. Now, think about it. Let yourself get totally absorbed within the memory. Try to remember everything you can. Sight, smell, touch, taste - everything.”

     Skaarin stood with his eyes closed. After a short while, his breathing looked easier and he seemed more relaxed. I flicked the switch on the ring. The small blades embedded into his skin, piercing deep into his veins. He winced slightly, but ignored the pain and kept focus. I took a deep breath and began controlling his magnius in the same way he’d had me practice on animals. “Keep calm and keep that memory,” I said lightly, trying to reassure him.

     I could feel the magnius within his veins. They connected far better than my own. I ran it through the active part of his mind and pulled it back down through the magnius veins he had running inside his arms. The magnius that held the memories traveled slowly as it got further down his arm. After a moment it rushed fluidly to his finger, only to be drunk by the ring I had created. I pulled the lever to its closed state and cut off the flow.

     Skaarin looked at me quizzically. “Ready,” I asked. He nodded in reply, his eyes burning with curiosity.

     I pulled the ring from his finger slowly. His eyes lost a bit of their luster as the metal disconnected from his flesh. “It’s there, then?” he asked after he sat quiet, presumably scouring his mind.

     I nodded slowly. “It should be,” I said.

     Skaarin clapped his hands together and smiled wide. “Well, give it here!” He took the ring from my fingers and slipped it on. He found its small button and pressed it, allowing the ring to jut a small pin into his flesh. He chuckled for a brief moment and clapped me on the shoulder. He pulled off the ring and his finger healed. “I’d say you’ve outdone yourself, kid!”

     “Does it work?”

     “How’d you test it?”

     “On myself and on an animal,” I replied.

     “I thought you said you’d only tested it once.”

     “Only once on a human memory.” I smiled.

     “Well,” Skaarin pulled his hair from its ponytail, letting it drape around him in the rare sight only I was allowed to see. “Seems like you’ve granted yourself access to that library, little king. I think you’re knowledge speaks well for your age.”

     I was beaming. But I knew how Skaarin was. It would be at least a day until I could research what I wanted. I wandered over to the bed and lay down. I shut my eyes and chuckled. “I’m glad I finally entertained you,” I mumbled.

     Skaarin crawled into the bed beside me. “You entertained me like hell, my king. I never would’ve guessed you were learning something like that. To think you actually came up with not only an idea, but an entire magnius art I didn’t know how to do. And on top of that you even performed it successfully on a human!” He laughed. “Shoving memories into inanimate objects? I’ve never even dabbled with that myself. I guess that’s why I’m the scientist, though. Or, alchemist, to be precise.”

     His warm skin pressed against my own. With him behind me like that, I couldn’t shake the longing I had. “I love you Skaarin.” It came out as a whimper. For a moment I was angry. I wished I hadn’t said it aloud. Skaarin would take it the wrong way.

     “I’m not your damn father,” Skaarin said. His fist cracked into my skull as he turned around. “And you’re damn lucky I’m not, too. Fucker would’ve had you killed by now, you little bastard.” He pressed his back against mine once more. “But I could dye my hair another color and say I’m your guardian. Just like Rastona did for Yin, right? Well, we aren’t lovers.”

     “Brothers, dammit.” I rubbed my head. “We can just call it at brothers.”

     “Brother sounds better than father,” Skaarin chuckled. “Goodnight, young king.”

                                                                 ◊ ◊ ◊

     Lucrys shifted his eyes around the room. He watched as Skaarin pulled the crystal from his arm.

     “Does it have to pierce flesh?” Lucrys asked.

     “No,” Skaarin replied. “Only the ring does. I just wanted to mess with you when I used that crystal with Latrus’s memory.”

     Skaarin pulled the ring from the memory off of his finger. “One more, Lucrys. You’ll be getting the concept. This one’s my memory.”

                                                                 ◊ ◊ ◊

     "Dad says I can't practice magic," Latrus said. He was younger than he had been in the last memory. He had barely entered his teens.

     "Yeah?" I replied. I was unenthused. I worked my way up for this? Just to babysit some child?

     "I've been learning about binding elemental magic to items lately. And I've wanted to test it out."

     "Then go ahead," I said. I rested my forehead on my hands.

     "Really?" the young king exclaimed excitedly. "You'll actually let me try it out?"

     "Enchanting items with an element is easy. I'll let you practice on my weapon. But if you can improve on that skill and teach me something I don't already know about magnius arts, then I'll get you access to the library you wanted to see. I fucked my weapon and it needs a revamp, anyway. Get yourself skilled enough with the cold and ice. I’ll help you along."

                                                                 ◊ ◊ ◊

     “You get the point of it, right, Lucrys?” Skaarin pulled the ring from Lucrys’ finger.

     “I guess,” Lucrys said. “I don’t see where you’re going with all this.”

     “Memories are like data, Lucrys. You don’t know what data is. Never mind.” Skaarin patted Lucrys on the shoulder. “I’m going to forge a ring with your memories of Amillara. Here’s how this is gonna work…” Skaarin sat up on the table beside Lucrys and pulled off one of his many rings. “You’re going to kill Latrus for me. After you get him, you grab the necklace from his throat. Break that however you can and the souls will come spewing right out, looking for a new place to go. I’m sure you’d be able to meet your beloved Amillara. And if you find that she doesn’t remember you, you can give her a ring with all your memories of her. Surely that would show how much you miss her. What do you say, Lucrys?”

     “I can have Amillara back?” Lucrys asked. Finally… He could finally see her again! He’d be able to apologize for watching in horror.

     “Now, Lucrys,” Skaarin said. “I need you to think of your memories with Amillara. No matter how much your mind assails you and tries to make you fail at this task, you can’t give in. You need to remember everything about her. Recount every memory. Every emotion that had your enduring love for her within its core.” Skaarin slipped the catalyst onto Lucrys’ finger. “This ring will be the focus point. Recall everything you can and give it to this vessel, Lucrys. We’re going to show Amillara just what she means to you.”

     Lucrys focused down on his memories. He remembered everything. When and where they’d met. How she looked, how her lips tasted after a long day of traveling beside her. He reviewed her scent and the sound of her heart beating. The way her hair fell when she lay on her back beneath the moon, sinking into the dark locks as the moon glistened across her eyes.

     Then came the events. He remembered how she’d died. Watched all over again as Alucin consumed her. “Skaarin,” he whimpered. His mind was absent. He was off doing as Skaarin had said. Remembering what Skaarin had told him to remember.

     “Just keep focused, Lucrys,” Skaarin whispered. “Keep your head straight and on the past.”

     He remembered when he and Amillara had spoken about having a child. Remembered how he was waiting for the news of their kid. But he couldn’t split his memories apart. Had she left him? Or did Alucin kill her? Why wouldn’t she come back as he waited? Wasn’t there any way to bring her back to life?

     Lucrys’ mind jumbled. He remembered scenes with Amillara and scenes with the ghost his memory had created. Which memories were real?

     Lucrys jolted and tried to grab his head. Skaarin slammed his arms back down into the table as he yelled. “Keep it coming, Lucrys,” he shouted. “Don’t stop now, dammit!” Lucrys' nails clicked frantically.

     Lucrys remembered everything. The nights in the cell with Amillara’s ghost. The sluice way beneath the dungeons. The times she’d tried to comfort him when he was off in his head, stuck and tormented by his own mind.

     Skaarin took in everything he could. The memories piled on into the ring. Every last thought that went through Lucrys head until Skaarin could tell he’d had enough. He convulsed for a moment before Skaarin stopped the transfer and loosened his grip on Lucrys’ arms.

     Lucrys fell from the table, twisting and writhing upon the floor. Skaarin knelt down quickly and grabbed onto him, hushing him. “It’s okay, Lucrys. You’re damn fine. You’ll be damn fine,” he said. “We’ve got it, Lucrys. All we need. It’s all right here in this ring.”

     Skaarin pressed his forehead against Lucrys’. He pulled away and smiled at him. “We can finally do it, Lucrys. I can finally kill Latrus. I can get what I’ve wanted for all these years.” He chuckled hysterically for a moment. “But I’m afraid I’ll need you sane for this last chapter, my dear friend.” Skaarin took a sword from the table and sliced Lucrys’ head apart in a clean swing. He took a vial from his coat and froze his skull over. “Sorry,” he said. “As a last resort. I thought it might let you come back as sane as possible without waiting so long for one of your freak-outs to end.”

     Skaarin stood up and carried Lucrys onto his stone-slab bed. He made sure to lock his door tight behind him, then used magnius to cover it with a short-term spell. “There,” he sighed. “The king will be here soon enough. Just keep that ring on you.” Skaarin’s heart was beating quickly. He’d forgotten the rush of tension. “Latrus will be here for you soon. You should’ve healed over by then. Just make sure you don’t go off and forget the plan. I’ll see you at the execution, killer.”