When the man closed the door Tercius dropped on a chair like a rock. The memory repeated itself a few times in his mind and he observed it with a forced dullness.
The moments where that mind mage prodded his mind to answer the questions that officer asked— literary giving him a mental push. The prods felt like small shocks of electricity— they froze his mind for just a moment, followed closely by… something. A command, if he was to make a guess.
‘I am the best,’ the woman had said. Tercius almost laughed as those words replayed themselves in his ears. How sure the owner of that voice had been of herself when she said that.
His mind turned placid and cold, his emotions morphing from a fearful egg into an anger-filled caterpillar.
Memories of his childhood and teenage years, those of a life behind him, flashed in front of his eyes; the anger of a frustrated young man had made him do rash, surprisingly stupid, things.
Tercius was barely a teen when he realized that the angry and frustrated part of him was something he did not want. It was a weight pulling him down and he had wanted to be free of it.
That led to one of the first conscious decisions he had made, if not the first.
Tercius had done his research and found the source of his anger and frustrations, and then he dived deeper and found its sources.
Conflict.
Mostly based in interactions with other people, followed by expectations from others— books cited parents and peers as the culprits— expectations from himself... The list was long.
The question he had asked himself after he found the sources, came so easily to his angry mind.
'What do you do when something is bad for you?'
Tercius found only two answers he found acceptable.
To change himself to better fit into the environment or to ignore the environment to any point he felt comfortable with.
To a teen know-it-all, who thought himself perfect the way he was, the choice was obvious.
Tercius did not want to drown with weights so he chose to be free alone.
It wasn't a very difficult decision, looking back at it. Tercius was the only introvert in a household full of extroverts-- in what seemed like a world full of only extroverts-- and the decision he took then- only made his life easier. His conviction that he was doing the right thing had grown from there and started to curb itself in his late twenties- just before he reincarnated.
His anger, frustration, fear were practically gone from that point on. The few times they reappeared, self-training and meditation had helped him to use those destructive feelings as fuel.
This was exactly what he did now. He took the fear and anger and made them into fuel. Now, with the help of Meditation and its properties, this step was as easy as breathing.
From an fear soaked, anger-filled caterpillar, a calculating chrysalis was made; possessing the drive of the hot anger, now tempered with a cold mind.
Once his cold mind saw what was the main desire he had deep down--revenge, but not limited to just it-- Tercius searched for satisfactory ways to do it.
The calculating chrysalis gave birth to a planned butterfly, at last.
This planning process was what he always strove for. To think things through-- especially when strong emotions arose. To take a moment to see the risks and make calculated moves; to not be carried by emotions.
He had seen the results when people were driven with emotion, and most ended with an undesirable outcome.
It was a gamble, Tercius had realized decades ago, to rush into things any other way than with a neutral head. He was a gambler only if a plan demanded it.
The emotions Tercius had were always too volatile for his liking so he had tried to make a sort of detachment from them. To distance himself from them and see the sky without clouds. Sometimes it worked, at others it didn’t.
When the butterfly left the chrysalis--Tercius' desires and intentions were clear. It was time to see if the butterfly was destined to fly now or leave its flight for more favorable weather.
"Mistress, may I have a word in private?" Tercius said calmly as he stood up.
"Oh," the old woman raised her head and looked his way. "Something important?"
"Very," Tercius said. Glancing at J'ro and Master Lazarus as they observed the interaction with interest, Tercius leaned to the Mistress and whispered, "Your eyes and ears only, Mistress."
The old woman looked at Tercius and he used a trick he learned early in his past life. He let his eyes convey his conviction and need. Never blinking, he looked calmly into the eyes of the woman those dogs feared.
The elder must have seen as Tercius felt Mana leave the woman, slowly swirling in the surroundings. A few moments later the room blurred and the sounds seized. A blurry sphere surrounded them like an omnidirectional shield.
The Mistress leaned in. "Tell me. No one will hear or see a thing."
So Tercius told her.
***
The courtroom was surprisingly normal-- a rather large amphitheater-shaped room with a lot of seats. The room reminded Tercius of the classroom where Master Lazarus held his lessons while they were still at the Academy.
In the lowest spot of the room, just where the giant teacher had paced that first day, a large table--monstrously so-- was placed and three throne-like chairs stood empty behind it.
Tercius, J'ro, Mistress Helfira, Master Lazarus, and another small, elderly, woman sat in the front row.
Seated a few meters ahead was the sealed Keeper Eiler, all prim and proper, his focus on the empty thrones.
Surrounding the man were guards, two from each direction. These pairs of guards were also all around the courtroom, placed at exact intervals of distance.
There was a glowing metal chain that tied the portly Keeper by his arms to the floor-- a chain that provoked a lot of outrage from the gallery visitors that sat in the rows behind Tercius. The row where the witnesses sat was removed from the crowd by a gap filled with guards, so the hotheads --that vocally supported Eiler-- only resorted to some carefully selected words.
While Mistress Helfira and Master Lazarus weathered the catcalls as water broke on solid rock, J'ro was sweating and throwing hesitant glances behind his back.
Tercius, on the other hand, had utterly convinced himself that the crowd behind him was a bunch of buzzing insects.
"Think of crowds as swarms of flies. They aren't talking, they are buzzing. They aren't walking, they are crawling or flying from… pile to pile." Tercius said to his anxious roommate with a small smile. "It's what I do."
"Yea? You think this often?" J'ro asked nervously.
"Well, I avoid crowds. I always try, at least." Tercius answered honestly. He might as well practice ahead, he figured. "But sometimes a situation like this is unavoidable. So to… silence them, I guess, I make sure that they are as small and as annoying as they can be. So they become flies."
"An interesting approach," Mistress Helfira joined in. "I never heard of that one. I heard of a few that help someone to address a crowd easier…"
"I wouldn't use this to address a crowd, Mistress. I don't think I would address a crowd at all… No this… call it a technique, is made to ignore the crowds. To put them in the background, make them as non-existent as possible. With it, there is no crowd."
"But now you will be addressing a crowd," Master Lazarus added and waved his hands to encapsulate the room that waited for the Magistrate and his Hands. "I'm curious, what will you use now?"
"The crowd behind us isn't there, Master, that's the trick. I will address the Magistrate and his Left and Right Hand. We, the witnesses and I might even keep Keeper Eiler as well, will be the only non-insects in the room." Tercius explained.
Mistress Helfira and Master Lazarus shared a concerned look.
Tentatively, the woman asked, "Tercius, do you use this trick often?"
"From time to time. Depends on the circumstances."
"On your fellow students, during class for example?"
Tercius had to think for a while. "During class no. There's enough… focus for me not to think about the surroundings. The lessons and topics are captivating enough to hold my complete attention."
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"What about during meals or while you are at the study rooms?"
"Depends. If someone is looking at me constantly and I don't know the person, I would do it."
"And someone you know? Like J'ro, for example?"
"Oh no. J'ro, even at his worst behavior, is far preferable to a stranger at his best. For J'ro… I would even nod when I don't listen to a word he said." Tercius said with a grin. "For a stranger… I think not."
"What?!" J'ro exclaimed, his eyes glued to Tercius. "But you almost always answer with nods…"
"...well…"
"You… so… " J'ro was completely stumped, but then his eyes narrowed. "Does Penelope know this?"
"...umm…"
"Well, she will learn now." the boy said with a huff, crossing his arms across his chest.
Tercius frowned. Stupid tongue.
A clamor rose to the side as a group of guards made way to the room. Three red-robed figures followed after them, each completely obscured under the flowing material.
Each of them cast a spell over the whole room, anchored on themselves. The truth-spell.
When they sat, the central figure spoke in a distorted voice, "The hearing in regards to one Eiler Seriul, Keeper of Academy atop the Pyramid is now in session. The accusations are as stated:
"Possession of a strictly controlled creature. Use of a strictly controlled creature on an underage mage in training which resulted in physical harm of an underage mage in training…"
The crowd behind Tercius roared with outrage. Shouts of denial rained as the Magistrate's voice boomed, "Silence!"
As if a switch had been flipped, the crowd went mute. Tercius turned around and saw that a barrier had been erected right behind them, the witnesses. The people still opened and closed their mouths, but nothing came to where Tercius sat.
"They can hear everything, but they will not disturb us. Now then, let's continue. We don't have all day.
"Witnesses for each of these accusations are present. So let us begin with establishing what this strictly controlled creature is."
The robe on the left moved and two arms left the anonymity of the shrouding material. With a finger snap a box appeared and fell on the table with a clang. The robed figure opened the box and brought out the exact humanoid figure that Mistress Helfira trapped.
The robed figure cast a spell and the humanoid life leech levitated a bit to the front. "I was made aware that the person who made the capture is present. I ask that you lift the seal on this creature."
Mistress Helfira's Mana left her in a thin red tendril that undid the seal on the creature. "Done."
The leech started squirming and screeching in high-pitched noise. Its tiny hands and legs waved about while its torso was completely enveloped by telekinetic mana, as Tercius dubbed it.
"Let me ask you now, Eiler Seriul, do you deny that you had any involvement with this creature?"
The Keeper threw hesitant glances about the room for a few moments before he gave the answer, "Your Honor, my reputation--"
"Your reputation is of no interest to me, I only need a clear answer. You either deny it or you don’t."
The former Keeper stayed silent.
"You wish to defend yourself with silence?"
The Keeper gave a sweaty nod.
"While that does not place an immediate sentence on you, it does not alleviate you of it either. Are you under an oath or some other method of enforced silence?"
The Keeper stayed still as a statue.
"We'll proceed. First, let us hear from the one who called for this hearing. Esteemed Helfira Kaliamar, this Tribunal calls for you to address us."
The elder Mistress stood up, adjusted her gray robes a bit, and made her way down to where Eiler was kept. A spot for witnesses was made there, a chair much like the one the Magistrate sat in.
"Helfira Kaliamar, tell us why you called for this hearing."
"On the night of…"
For ten minutes the elder recounted her vision of the tale.
That night, Mistress Helfira was about to go to sleep when a spell she placed on the bed where Tercius slept alerted her that he got up. She decided to check on him and made her way to the room where she saw Eiler on one side and Tercius and Master Lazarus on the other.
What had captured her attention was a creature she knew extensively from her research.
"A life leech shouldn't have been there, your Honors. I have checked with the laboratory that does experiments on them and none are missing. That means that the former Keeper Eiler managed to gain access to a life leech through rituals of summoning and fishing, both of which while technically available for purchase, were not purchased by the man. I checked. While he might have… invented the rituals himself— it is possible, no doubt— the possibility of that is highly unlikely. The man's records show no prior involvement in any kind of study on such topics.
"The only resort left is that someone gave him this creature or gave him the knowledge of how and where to fish it from."
Tercius had glanced at the gallery behind him and a few mages were appalled by the words the Mistress had said. To just give knowledge in such a way was a big no-no.
Well, it used to be. Now half of the gallery was futilely shouting 'So what?', 'That's not a crime!', 'You can't punish him for that!'.
The few lips Tercius read, told much worse things. It was true that the receiver of knowledge was never punished, but the giver still had to be found and his Repository currency--the points-- deleted.
"The pet this man kept, a common house cat, was used as a vessel to prolong the longevity of the life leech, as you will learn later in testimony. The remains of the cat have residue of the creature commonly known as 'life leech' present on its remains."
"The words spoken by one Helfira Kaliamar, this Magistrate finds true." Said the central figure.
"Seconded." Said the one to the left.
"And thirded." Finished the one to the right.
The Magistrate said, "Esteemed Helfira Kaliamar, you are free to return to your seat. Following Mistress Helfira' was Master Lazarus’ testimony. The man gave concise details explaining what he saw and heard. Finally, the time for him to take a stand arrived.
"This Tribunal calls for one Tercius of no last name, a first-year student of the Academy atop the Pyramid, to address us in his capacity as a witness to the mentioned events."
Tercius got up and made his way to the same chair where the Mistress sat.
Previously he was able to watch the proceedings from a higher vantage point but now he stood on the same level as the glaring ex-Keeper, the three robed figures, and twelve guards.
The last group made him especially uncomfortable. He took a deep breath and pretended they weren't there.
"Tercius of no last name, tell us what you saw, heard, or observed with any other sense that night that Helfira Kaliamar specified."
"I woke up on an unfamiliar bed--"
The figure to the right interrupted. "Where was this room that you woke up?"
"On the second floor of the mansion where Eiler… Seriul was the former Keeper. I don't know the precise room if that is what you are asking. There are over a hundred rooms in the mansion, counting the sleeping ones." Tercius said slowly, tasting each word.
"Why were you on this bed? You said unfamiliar. Where is the one that was familiar to you?" The Magistrate asked.
Why is the freaking bed important? Tercius thought. "I was injured and brought to the mansion unconscious and placed to recuperate on this bed. As I was saying, I woke up on an unfamiliar bed, one I hope is now more familiar. While I was waking up I made a lot of noise which was why the former Keeper initially made his way to my room. His exact words were 'Who is it? Who is making this noise?'
"Following closely after the Keeper was a cat. Its eyes were completely black, just like the skin of that creature there.
"The black eyes were strange to me because of something else I saw some twelve hours preceding the events of that night. We, the students and teachers, had just arrived at the mansion, where that man there–” Tercius pointed the finger at the former Keeper and the man bristled like a red lobster. “–was a Keeper at the time. My pet— a river lion cub— started growling, so I started to observe what was the cause of this."
“Take a moment there to elaborate what exactly you saw.” said the cloaked form on the right side of the Magistrate.
Tercius described in great detail the grotesque 'birth', its form immediately after the birth, and the form of the black cat.
"My Mana sensing skill is quite high, I'm told, and I was able to see the process of detachment in detail. I do not know if this is important but no one else paid any attention to it after the detachment. It was visible, but not one of the almost two hundred students reacted to a creature of nightmares that walked. It was as if they did not see it."
“And why didn’t you react and mention this to some of your teachers?”
"I'm new to the Academy, your Honors. What is an everyday occurrence to people here is not in the world outside."
“You are saying that you thought this a normal occurrence?”
“No, Your Honor. I thought it was suspicious, but suspicious could mean many things. I tried to learn more by asking my roommate about it.”
“And this led to the events your teacher, Master Lazarus, described?”
“That is correct, Your Honor.”
“Proceed.”
He then returned to the events of the night and retold the events from his perspective. During his speech, he occasionally glanced at the guards, but he never saw the officer who helped the mind mage.
"The words spoken by one Tercius of no last name, this Magistrate finds true." The central figure said and the two figures seated around him agreed. "Tercius of no last name, you are free to return to your seat."
Tercius obeyed. Following Tercius’ was J'ro's. The boy went down with the elderly lady, the healer who examined his leg. They skipped over J'ro and moved to Mistress Lovela.
“Esteemed Lovela Jara, you were asked by this Tribunal to make examinations on the student J’ro of no last name who, according to the testimonies, has been the unknowing carrier of the creature commonly known as a ‘life leech’. What are your conclusions?”
“The student J’ro has indeed been the carrier. I and two of my colleagues have found a residue on his left leg— one belonging to a life leech. It was in extremely trace amounts, however. This, along with little damage found on the leg, indicates that the leech did not ’feed’ on J’ro, or if it did it did so in vastly reduced capacities than what the creature is capable of, as evidenced by Helfira Kaliamar.
"Upon further examination and deliberation, my colleagues and I have concluded that the leech only used the students as a vehicle. This kind of behavior in parasitic life-forms is only seen when they bond with a sentient, a mage, who then gives the creature explicit controls and overrules its instincts. Just a few hours earlier I would have recommended terminating the leech.
“Depending on the type of the bond, the results would go from a light backlash that could be cured with eight hours of sleep to something far worse. But I learned something new, Your Honors, which prompted me to make a tiny adjustment to my recommendation.
"In a talk I had with my friend Helfira— just before Your Honors came here— where she and I exchanged opinions, I learned from her and one of her students that there is a way that can temporarily strengthen the bond between the leech and its bonded mage.
“Your Honors, if we terminate the leech after the bond was made more powerful, it would effectively cripple the mage and make sure that the mage in question has to seek immediate medical attention— medical attention that can only be provided at the Pyramid.
“The bonded mage would have a few hours at best before the rampant mana makes irreversible damage to the organs which will finally result in slow and agonizingly painful death. This would, without a doubt, give the Tribunal the one behind this affair. Be it this man—” the elderly lady glared at the former Keeper as the word man rolled off her tongue with disgust. “— or someone else.”
Even the crowd in the gallery settled down and kept their mouth shut.
"The words spoken by one Lovela Jara, this Magistrate finds true." The central figure said with audible hesitation but the two figures seated around him agreed quickly.
"As the Tribunal can see, this is a unique opportunity. As the one who reported this and made the capture, I demand the life leech to cast a spell on the bond it carries." Mistress Helfira's voice broke the silence and the old woman grinned like a vengeful spirit. "Let us find the culprit with no doubts and then make sure the culprit lives as long as possible. After all, the crimes demand repentance and I can find no better way to repent than agonizing pain. White Heavens, I would pay Repository points to keep this culprit for months and years in this pain— one that can't be dulled by any way known so far, short of death.
“Give me the leech, let me cast a spell and kill it,” Mistress Helfira grinned. "Your Honors."
Tercius shared the elder’s feral grin.
Tercius and Mistress Helfira were just discussing their strategy of attack, when the elderly healer arrived and informed Mistress Helfira of the bond and her recommended treatment for the creature. A light bulb had gone off in Tercius's head.
Truth spells were not absolute. They were only able to help the caster determine if someone was telling a lie or a truth— a powerful tool, but flawed in one way. They worked based on what people knew and that knowledge was not necessarily true, was it?
If Tercius were to say, "I know a spell that can strengthen a bond.", it would register a lie. If he said, "I learned that there exists a way for bonds to be strengthened." it would also be a lie because he did not learn that.
But if the elderly healer said, “I learned that there exists a way for bonds to be strengthened.”, ring ding ding, it would ring true because she did learn that.
Mistress Helfira liked Tercius’s idea and went along with it. The memory spell cast on J’ro turned out to be too subtle for the elderly Mistress to find, but she mentioned someone who would be able to. The problem was that this person was often away...
Mistress Lovela’s information, spun in Tercius’s idea gave them another route of attack.
Tercius observed the false bait being cast, and now they only needed to reel in the first fish that bit into it. Mistress Helfira was sure that the individual behind the events was present, at least by proxy. The involvement of the guards confirmed it. It even cast a doubt on the Tribunal...
There was a chance of backfire on Tercius and Mistress Helfira, but the price to pay was something neither of them held in high regard. Who cares what crowd thinks of you? So what if they call him a liar?
The only opinions he ever took into account were his own and those he of the people he trusted; he wasn’t a crowd-pleaser.
Mistress Helfira had tried to make herself the only scapegoat, but Tercius wouldn’t have any of it.
It was his idea.
He was the ultimate judge of his actions and to leave the elderly woman to make make the fall alone, was not right by him. If the elder was willing to bet her friendship with Mistress Lovela, then how could he back down when he only had to pay a price as small as his reputation.
To him, it wasn’t even a proper price.