In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Post by Henry Copperfield on Apr 22, 2020 2:25:59 GMT -5
“Waaaaaaaah~!” Harry yawned loudly as he climbed out off the bed. His morning hair was sprouting in all directions at once, even more messier than usual. There’s a bright smile on his face, even though no one is there to see it, when he blasts the window open and leans out of it. He takes a deep breath of the fresh air of the Common Region, and laughs out loud.
“What a beautiful morning! Birds are singing and the sun is shining! This is surely going to be a great day for adventure! Royal Capital! Here I come!” The people down on the street give confused stares at each other and the unclothed boy up on the second floor of the local inn, shouting from the top of his lungs at eight in the morning. But Harry barely notices anyone, too excited to continue his journey towards the Capital and the Magic Knight Exams.
He’s already getting clothed and packing his bag up. His belongings are all across the room, which is strange, given that he only slept there for a night. Harry headed downstairs, humming and jumping around in a jolly fashion. He’d return the key to the desk along with the payment for the night, when a voice thundered through the inn’s lounge, where customers were enjoying breakfast and mead.
“That’s him! The ginger brat, who done destroyed my stall yestereve! Get him!” A bearded man, who the boy faintly recalled seeing the other day. He pointed at himself, smiling. There must be some sort of misunderstanding. Sure, things had maybe gotten a little out of hand after a disagreement about the pricing of the stall’s wares, but surely he hadn’t destroyed... all of it.
As a few men appeared from behind the bearded merchant, Harry made a run for it. He leapt out of an open window to the street, rolling into the ground before getting up and sprinting away as fast as he could. His creative escape had left the men dumbfounded, but they followed him out the door, alright. “Sorryyyyyyyyy~ I am so sorry I didn’t mean to, there must be some sort of misunderstanding, I’ll pay you back later, I really need to go now, old man!!!”
Post by Henry Copperfield on Apr 22, 2020 2:31:40 GMT -5
Harry had to catch his breath for a bit. He was quite a distance away from the men, who weren’t so easily persuaded by his half-hearted apology. “Phew! I managed to get away! Lucky me! Now… what direction is the Royal Capital in, I wonder~?” He starts walking down the road, but is interrupted by a giggle from the trees by the side of the road. “Wh- who was that?!?!”
A small figure emerges from the tree. It’s a girl in a white dress, green eyes, brunette hair braided on the back. It seems she’s floating down through the air - perhaps a wind magician, then? Harry’s eyes light up. “Wow, how did you do that?!?!” He almosts spits in her face. She looks flattered and confused at the same time. “It’s a simple levitation spell. Nothing extraordinary.” Although the way she says it sounds like she’s full of herself and just wants more praise for her parlor trick.
Harry can’t fly. His magic is copper, the most common element in his hometown, much to his disappointment. He looks like he’s pouting for a bit over it, but doesn’t hesitate much before asking an introduction. “Wow, that’s really cool! Are you heading to the Royal Capital as well?! What’s your name?! Where are you from?! Can everyone in your family fly as well?!”
She’s a little taken aback by the boy’s verbal assault, but flips her braid to her side. “Miranda. And, why yes, I am heading to the Capital. I am going to take part in the exams and becomes a Magic Kn-” Miranda’s introduction is cut short by Harry’s enthusiasm for making a new friend. “GREAT!!! ME TOO!!! DO YOU WANT TO WALK THERE TOGETHER?!?!?! OR COULD YOU TEACH ME HOW TO FLY?!?! I AM REALLY GETTING TIRED OF ALL THIS WALKING!!!” His voice reaches a painful volume, and Miranda has to cover her ears to protect her hearing. The boy starts laughing. “Sorry, I got a little excited there!” He’s already turned away and dashing towards the road, even though he doesn’t know if its even the right direction.
The girl coughs a bit to get his attention, still floating a few inches off the ground. “Uh, sorry to break it you, but this road will take you only further north.” She points towards the town he just came from. “There’s a town nearby. From there, you’ll need to take the road east to get to the Capital.” Harry looks puzzled. He ran all the way here in the wrong direction?!
Chatter from the road reaches his ears. Miranda finds herself yanked away by the boy’s hand and into the bushes, behind the treeline. Harry covers her mouth as she panics. “OH NO THEY ARE HERE!” He yelps out himself, before covering his mouth as well to prevent himself from betraying his hiding spot. Three men appear on the road, holding pitchforks in their hands.
“Awww, it looks like the little bastard got away. Better head back.” They glare in their direction, but the ginger-haired boy ducks down low to hide his head from their line of sight. The men decide to turn back to the village and eventually disappear back to where they came from.
“Phew, dodged a bullet ther-” Harry sighs out loud, but a strong smack to his face sends him rolling away from Miranda. She’s standing up, furious, her dress covered in dirt. There’s a palm-sized mark on the left side of the boy’s face, as he looks up. “Don’t scare me like that, you moron!” Miranda yells. Harry covers his head to protect himself from an array of slaps that follow.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to ruin your dress, I’ll pay you back, okay?! Just please stop hitting me! Let me explain myself!” There’s a silence and the boy peeks out to see if she has calmed down. Finally! He managed to successfully use his superb charm to disarm his foe! Miranda looks like she’s expecting him to deliver on his promise, her arms crossed.
“Uh, so I may have, err… Pissed someone off in that town?! I didn’t do anything on purpose, I swear, it was all a terrible misunderstanding, but eh, I don’t think I can go back there without having those guys chase after me again! Is there another way to get to the Royal Capital?! Please, you have to help me?!” The boy is bowing before the girl repeatedly, his hands praying for her forgiveness. It looks like a vein popped around her temples, but Miranda gives in.
“I guess we could go through the forest.” She sighs. “We’ll end up on the right road if we walk that way. But don’t think I’ve forgiven you! Once we get to the next town, I expect you to compensate for ruining my dress with interest!” Harry’s eyes are filled with tears of gratitude. “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! YOU COULD HAVE LEFT ME OUT HERE LOST OR GIVEN ME AWAY TO THOSE SCARY PEOPLE, BUT YOU SAVED ME INSTEAD!!! YOU’RE A TRUE FRIEND, MIRANDA!!!”
She bites her lip, trying to decide what to make of this ginger-haired boy. “True friend? Seriously? We just met a moment ago, you moron! I’m only travelling with you, because it’s convenient…” But Harry’s having none of it. He jumps at her and hugs her tightly, so tightly it starts hurting, and gives her the widest grin she has ever seen in her life. She’s not sure why she’s helping. It’s not convenient at all. Maybe she feels a bit of pity for this moron.
“Hmph,” She responds with. “Let’s get going then?”
Post by Henry Copperfield on Apr 22, 2020 2:38:40 GMT -5
“Ah, I never asked for your name…” Miranda suddenly realizes, as the two walk through the trees. Harry has a grin glued to his face, and she wonders if it hurts to keep it up for so long. “Henry Copperfield, at your service m’lady! But everyone just calls me Harry, really!” The boy proudly exclaims, as if announcing his prestigious noble titles. She scoffs at that.
“A commoner, then?” Miranda smirks. “You can tell? Is it my clothes? Or are you reading my mind?” Harry looks puzzled. Why’d she bring that up, though? “Your accent, mostly. And the way you carry yourself. You’re not afraid to get dirty either, unlike most spoiled nobles.” Oh… wait, he’s blanking. He’s totally missing the hint. “Aren’t you a commoner too?”
Miranda stops on her tracks. “Isn’t it obvious? Of course not.” She gives the ginger-haired boy a condescending look. His grin widens even more, to a point she’s thinking is humanly impossible, until he bursts into laughter and starts rolling on the ground, holding his stomach. “What’s so funny?” She asks, frustrated at his response. Harry eventually stops to explain himself.
“You’re joking, right? Why would a noble girl be all by herself in the middle of nowhere heading towards the Royal Capital without any escorts?!” He starts laughing again, really obnoxiously. Miranda looks serious. “I have my reasons…” She says, not wanting to elaborate on it any further. This only provokes Harry’s curiosity.
“No, really? What are you doing here all alone? Please tell me, I promise I won’t tell anyone else, even if it’s really embarrassing. I won’t tell a soul, so please, please, please…”
“Ugh, stop being a moron!” She turns her back to him and starts walking again, prompting Harry to follow her around and repeat his inquiries over and over again, until she gives in. “I- I ran away from home. I’m supposed to get married to a stranger, but I don’t want to. So I decided I would become a Magic Knight instead! That way, my parents can’t force me to go through with it!”
Harry thinks about it a bit. She tries to break the silence and divert his attention by asking something in return. “What about you? You said you were also heading there to take part in the exams? What’s your reason to become a Magic Knight?” And she’s right, Harry forgets all about her confession, and answers without a pause for thinking.
“I want to be a king, of course!!!” He responds with confidence, as if it’s the most natural thing to say in response to the question. Miranda looks dumbfounded for a second, before she too, bursts up into laughter. “What’s so funny?!?!?! I’m being totally serious!!!” Harry insists.
“A king? I’m not sure it works that way. A commoner can’t be a king.” She brushes him off. To her surprise, Harry looks more serious than he has in the short time she’s known him. “Yes, I can! I am going to join the Magic Knights to earn enough money to buy myself a title and as much land as I can and then become so powerful and famous, that nobody dares to challenge me! With enough money, I can buy myself an army to secure my crown! It’s totally doable!!!”
She thinks about it for a bit. He looks serious and his plan isn’t… that bad? She had expected something completely ridiculous and out of touch with reality. But, even then, Miranda didn’t believe for a second he’d be actually able to do it. Becoming a king? This boy was kidding himself.
“Let’s get married!” Harry decides out of the blue, bumping his fist into a nearby tree. “You don’t want to get married to a stranger, right? Well, we just met, so we’re not strangers anymore. If we got married, I would become a noble and could use your family’s money and connections to make myself a king! We should totally do it! Let’s make our way to the next town quickly and find a priest so we can seal the deal!” He joyfully proclaims, as if he’s just had the best idea in the world.
Miranda can’t hold herself back. Now she’s on the ground, laughing so much it hurts.
“You’re funny, I’ll give you that.” She smirks at the confused boy. “But my father and mother would never let that happen. They’d get the marriage annulled in no time. Not to mention I don’t want to get married to a moron like you.” She adds. Harry gets back on his knees and pleads for her to change her mind, but she won’t budge, not this time. She’s already picked up on his pattern. “I told you, it’s not dumb at all! I can totally do it! You’re laughing now, but one day, when I have my own kingdom, you’ll ask me for marriage and I’ll tell you: I told you so!!!”
Miranda doesn’t remember when she had this much fun. But they need to get going. It’s already past noon and she doesn’t want to get lost in the forest after dark.
Post by Henry Copperfield on Apr 22, 2020 2:46:17 GMT -5
“Whoa, look!!! Forest pigs!!!” Harry exclaims, as they close in on a clearing in the woods. Miranda scoffs at him and responds: “They are called boars, moron. Better keep your distance. They can get aggressive if they feel threatened by you.” The ginger-haired boy is marveling at how knowledgeable the noble lass is, all the while ignoring the content of her warning and marching towards them. She shakes her head and follows, in case he needs help.
The boars sprint away as soon as they see Harry and Miranda approaching. He makes an attempt at oinking at them to call them back and tell them they’re safe, but he’s not sure if they understood him at all. “So… what kind of magic do you have, then? Your confidence tells me you were born with an above average type of magic, if compared to other commoners. Though your mana doesn’t feel that strong…” The brown-haired girl tries her best to make an assessment out of him.
“Copper!” Harry declares cheerfully. She looks at him funny, but doesn’t laugh this time. The boy had a copper element grimoire and wanted to be a king? She didn’t know if she should feel bad for him. Any chance he had at fulfilling his plans went down the drain the moment he received his grimoire. Maybe, if he had been born with exceptional magic, he could accomplish something.
“I know what you’re thinking! But it isn’t that bad! Copper’s strong, conductive and really useful for building things! And despite being a very common element, people who are born with the element almost never become Magic Knights! So if I become one, I’ll be the special one!!!” He boasted. Miranda wasn’t sure if she was following his logic. Didn’t that just mean his chances of becoming a Magic Knight were lesser than that of someone with a superior element?
“Do you have a signature spell or something, then?” The girl inquired. Harry blanked for a bit before responding. “Well, yeah, I can create items out of copper like farming tools and stuff! Want me to show you?!?!” He held his hand out enthusiastically and closed his eyes to concentrate. “RAKE!” He commanded and let the mana flow into his hand. A copper rake appeared out of thin air. Harry held it up high with a smug smile on his face. “See?!” He spun it around, until the rake hit a tree and cracked in half, before disappearing. It didn’t look very durable.
Miranda covered her face with her hand. “That’s… not a spell, moron. That’s just what you can do with your magic by default. A spell is a concentrated mass of your magic, willing something powerful into existence, not just creating everyday tools for agriculture! Here, let me show you how it’s done...” She held out her hand in a similar fashion and muttered an incantation. The wind started blowing across the clearing, focusing its flow into the center, spinning around until a small tornado was visible. It kept growing in size until the trees around them started leaning back and forth at the force of the twister. Miranda turned to Harry, who seemed to be too impressed to take notes.
“A spell is engraved into your grimoire and allows you to make more advanced demonstrations of your natural affinity.” She lectured him. Harry noticed her grimoire floating by her side. It had a three-leaf clover on its front, unlike his, which only had a single-leaf clover. “You’ll need an incantation and specific mental imagery to make something you want become real by letting your mana flow through your grimoire.” The boy kept nodding, still looking at the tornado.
Miranda sighed and closed her hand. The wind stopped blowing. The twister grew smaller and smaller until it was gone. “You’ll need to know some spells if you even dream of being a Magic Knight. No one has ever been recruited to the Order without having a few spells in their arsenal.” Harry bit his lip. “What?! No one told me I would need to study for the exams! What should I do!?”
The girl shook her head. “Studying and practicing is one option, albeit a more arduous one… but for most mages, the spells come with time and experience. Sometimes they sort of just appear in your grimoire when you are in a pinch.” Miranda shrugged her shoulders. Did this moron really know nothing about magic…? Though to be honest, he was probably raised in a remote village, where no one had ever became a Magic Knight or something.
“I’ve seen Magic Knights do that kind of thing before. But I didn’t know it was a requirement!!! What’s wrong with my rakes?!?!” Harry whined loudly. “Well, for starters, I’m pretty sure a rake won’t be useful in battle. Magic Knights fight for the kingdom, remember? It’s not like they spend their days idle just waiting for their salaries…” Miranda responded.
A rustling from beyond the treeline interrupted the two. The family of boars was back. They were pretty small, huh? Probably still little babies. But behind them, emerged a large shadow. Both Harry and Miranda gulped out loud. It seems the little ones had gone for back-up. The mother boar walked out of the forest and she did not look pleased at two human kids infringing on her clearing and scaring away her own children. Harry looked at the huge boar and then the girl next to him.
“QUICK!!! CAST THAT SPELL AGAIN!!! SHE’S GONNA KILL US FOR SURE!!!” He pleaded. But Miranda had other ideas. She muttered something and the air around her began to move, softly. She started floating up and laid herself to a comfortable position atop a tall tree. “Remember what I said! Spells usually manifest themselves when you’re in a pinch!” She shouts down to Harry, who looks at the mother boar, swinging its tusks in an attempt to intimidate the boy.
He swallows all the words he’s thinking right now. He is in a pinch.
Post by Henry Copperfield on Apr 25, 2020 3:22:57 GMT -5
“Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!” Harry screams out as the mother pig roars and dashes forward, attempting to impale the young mage on her sharp tusks. The boy leaps out of the way just in time, but it’s too close. “Aaaaah! You gotta help me here, Miranda!” He yells out as he keeps running away from the huge monster protecting its little piglets and dodging its assaults by the skin of his teeth.
All he gets in response is rhythmic clapping and a “You can do it! Just believe in yourself and your magic!”. Easier said than done. But he’ll give it a go, all right. Harry stops running and holds his ground. He concentrates his magical energy into a familiar form. “SUPER SHOVEL!!!” He screams out as another copper tool appears in his hands. He spins it around, trying to scare the beast.
The mother boar ruthlessly bashes through the shovel, which is shattered in pieces as like a twig stampeded by a horde of elephants. She swings her tusks and sends Harry flying in the air, crashing on a tree trunk couple of meters away. “Boo!” Miranda yells out. An angry vein pops on the boy’s temples. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN BOO!? I DID EVERYTHING EXACTLY AS YOU TOLD ME TO!? THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!”
Miranda looks annoyed. “Moron! Is a rake and a shovel the only things you can conjure? You’ll never be accepted into the Magic Knights like this!” She shouts down, distracting the mother boar, that has now set its eyes on the tree, where the girl is sitting. It begins to bang the tree’s trunk with its head, trying to bring her down, while Harry regains his composure across the clearing.
The boy was pissed off, but couldn’t help but feel like there was some truth to what the noble lass was saying. Knights didn’t fight their battles with rakes or shovel. They fought with real weapons, like swords and spears. But… he wasn’t the son of a blacksmith. He had no idea how to create real weapons, having never even held one. Well, maybe a wooden sword when he was a kid. And a shield. But that was when they were playing a game and fighting against the invisible bad guys.
“Aaaah! Help me!” Miranda screamed out as she lost her footing. She was now hanging from the branch midair. Maybe she had used too much mana doing her tornado to fly?
He had to try it. Harry took a deep breath and visualized the sword and the shield he used to play with, but instead of wood, he gave them a base of copper in his mind. He gathered his mana to give them more durability than the tools he had created, more mana than he had ever used to create anything. Everything else seemed to be fading to the background, as he concentrated.
The sound of his grimoire flipping open in the air and furiously writing the formulae of his new spells made Harry almost jump out of joy. He held his right arm up to the sky, victorious. “Sword!!!” He screamed out from the top of his lungs. And against all odds, a copper blade appeared in his hand, pointing upwards. He extended his left arm to the side. “Shield!!!” He repeated the process, and a copper shield formed, connected to his arm. They were both crude in design, not really having any distinguishing features or even the typical features of swords and shields, representing his own image of what they would look like more than the real thing.
But he could feel it. They could take the mother pig’s tusks head on, he just knew.
“OINK! OINK!” Harry yelled out loudly, causing birds to take flight from the nearby trees in surprise. He banged his sword into his shield, a war cry of sorts. The boar looked even more furious at the sound than she had before. It turned its attention back to Harry and left Miranda alone. The piglets were wobbling around the clearing, cheering for their mother.
As the boar darted forward, so did Harry. He held his shield up and crashed straight into the beast’s face, managing to stop it in its tracks. He swing his sword up, and then down, at the baffled boar. Crunch. The tip of her right tusk fell to the ground. She oinked in distress and took a few steps back. Harry roared from the top of his lungs at the creature. And with that, the mother pig and her family ran back into the woods, never to cross paths with a human again.
“Haha, that’s what you get for messing with-” Harry laughed out loud, but didn’t finish that sentence. He felt tired, suddenly. He had hit his head on the tree trunk before and had shrugged it off initially, but obviously he had been more hurt than he let on, falling into the ground unconscious.
