บท 46: The Prodigious Nim, Part Fifteen

{Isabella} 

Isabella hunched over her workbench in the Alchemist's Tower, her brow furrowed in concentration, her whiskers twitching every now and then, as she poured over her latest attempt at creating the perfect, unspendable rune.

[Come on, come on!]

She closed her eyes to pour in her Essence.

[This has to be it. It's got to work this time!]

For a moment, she felt a flicker of hope, a surge of power that made her heart skip a beat.

But just as quickly as it had come, the sensation faded. 

This was, in fact, not it. It did not work this time. 

Isabella stared at the inert rune, her excitement crumbling into bitter disappointment.

[Another failure,] she thought, her shoulders slumping. [Years of work, and I'm still no closer to cracking this puzzle... If it can even be cracked.] 

She set the rune down with a heavy sigh, leaning back in her chair and running a hand through her fluffy pink hair.