Alice the witch no longer apprentice, space pirate empress presumptive, has come to visit the old man. Her investigation into the simultaneous attack on earth and the destruction of lunar pirate base by parties unknown has yielded no results so far.A

lthough she has aged none , her magical powers have become out-of-this-world, quite literally. The space pirate empress, second sister of her witchcraft teacher, the old lady, has taught her much about doing magic in space. Since the inertia references and spacial conditions are all different, the physics and chemistry are all different, and therefore relevant magic about those are also very very different.

But Alice has learnt them well. She can drill a hole through the core of a planet, for purpose of loot and plunder, with a mere affectation of a spell. She could put a habitable bubble around ten thousand people. Of course, most important of all, her broom now flies in space. That was one of the first things she learned from the empress. It felt like the most liberating skill she has ever learned.

“I can offer you one of two aids,” said the old man, who is known to be the oldest and most powerful wizard on earth. “I have the capsule of knowledge, and I have the eel of action.”

The attack on earth was brutal. It was focused on the old witch mountain where the witch academy and many wizards live. It was all but impossible for the old lady and old man to organize a defense in the matter of a minute’s time, and a defense they did put up, consuming much of the old wizard mountain’s magical supplies.

The attach on the moon base was even worse. Because the empress was very happy that day, she had taken Alice to the far side of the moon’s dark side to practice her drilling magic. The empress is not the same emotionlessly controlled teacher that the old lady is, she can sense Alices excitement for new knowledge and new powers. She baths in Alices joy and excitement. When Alice succeeded in descending into the moon, the old lady’s sister bursted out in laughter of maniacal joy. But then, she sensed the attack and that it was too late to rescue any one from her beloved crew. The two of them hurried back to find the devastation caused by energy weapons I know to them.

“The capsule of knowledge grants you knowledge about everything you consider, you will know all that has past, all that is present and all that will be in the future.” Old man states, staring at Alice with muted but bemused eyes, as if watching the same flashback as Alice. “The eel of action grants you the right actions, your body will move and perform magic as it is right to do in a timely manner.”

Alices mind gradually pulls back to the present… as she slowly realizes that the old man’s explanation required more of her mind than she could easily give it in one breath, she breathed.

“So, I would choose the eel of action, for action is what matters.” Alice felt confident that this was wha the old lady emphasized in her training.

“Admittedly most alluring,” says the old man, “but you may discover that lack of understanding for your own actions can be restrictive, frustrating and ultimately painful.” Warns the old man as he reaches for the eel, “and often it is laughable,” he looks away front the eel, “the right action often is absolutely silly.”

Alice suddenly felt the urgency in the old man’s warning. He is practically in tears. “Okay, then I will take the capsule of knowledge.”

“But be warned, that knowledge cannot help you to act. I believe you understand the importance of action, but from knowledge to action is a wild chasm that can never be filled.” The old man relaxed, but seemingly in hopeless despair, “knowledge is maddening when there is no right action.”

Alices pulled back her hand from the capsule realizing the help from old man is a challenge that she is not prepared to take. She bids the old man farewell and continues her effort to discover the attacker of her worlds.

… the pirate armada that the empress revealed to her, could it have attacked the earth? Was it the earth witches that attacked the lunar base? These possibilities race in Alice’s mind towards a singular conclusion,… the ever peaceful witches are actually engaged in multigenerational warfare with space pirates and possibly other alien events…