Chapter 17: Processing Part 2

Pellet hooted in agreement from the dwarf’s shoulder.

Beckle was observing the capturing of the blob inside the chest from a closer range with a thoughtful look. Clarence had waddled over with the man and gave a reproachful glance at the dwarf’s words. Beckle turned to look at the dwarf,

“Let us finish tending to your apprentice and get this thing secured where it needs to be, and we will debrief you, Master Nixen. Gentle mages, if you would please, it appears the cleansing was incomplete. As this appears primarily from nature domain contamination, follow your procedures.”

The mage with the wheelbarrow nodded, picked up its handles, and started towards the still-floating tall woman. The water can mage followed. As the mage with the wheelbarrow dumped and then spread the dirt under Winnie’s floating body, Nixen studied her closely for damage.

Her clothes were in tatters and shredded from the claws that had gripped her, but her flesh was unmarked by wounds. In place of the expected cuts were delicate tracings of bark and mossy brown skin. The leaves growing from her head had been transformed into several sheets of ivy flowing like a waterfall of greenery from her scalp. The thickness of the vines caused her hair to poof out near the top of her head before draping downward. A single blue-white flower grew from the side of her head.

Nixen couldn’t be sure since she was being floated above the dirt on the floor in a prone position, but she seemed shorter.

The wheelbarrow mage had gone to the edge of the room a few times and fetched more dirt with a shovel from an ornamented wardrobe mounted on the wall.

Nixen blinked at the mage shoveling dirt out of a wardrobe and returned to studying his apprentice. Beckle, Clarence, and Ragweed were also studying the woman’s appearance, murmuring to each other with soft squawks from Clarence. The changes to her appearance did not stop at her hair or skin.

Winnie’s legs below the thigh had been transformed. From the thigh down, deep, dark brown bark had replaced the skin of her legs. The knee had been shifted to bend backward, resembling a sharply curved branch tapering down towards what had been her shins and feet.

Her lower legs now ended with a spread of roots that grasped slowly at the dirt being spread below her. A carpet of various flower blooms had spread up and down her body at various points, with clusters covering the more intimate places not concealed by the tattered remains of her clothing. The bark from her thighs twined up her body in a spiraling pattern that left tinted green flesh in the spaces between that were not covered by the flower blooms.

The wheelbarrow mage had spread the dirt below her evenly and thickly. His accomplice in this task had just finished emptying his can. The water can mage made another trip to the sink in the corner and refilled their can.

As they returned to the circle’s center, Ragweed waved tired gestures at the floating woman. She was brought to an upright by the magic still trickling from the circle’s edge and lowered closer to the dirt. Her grasping feet buried themselves in the soil and supported her weight.

Nixen was concerned that her eyes had still not opened when the water can mage poured the water over her head. Winnie didn’t open her eyes, but her head snapped back, and her mouth opened to catch the water falling on her. The short but sharp-looking thorns that had replaced her teeth did not comfort anyone observing them.

As the water poured over her face, what wasn’t greedily swallowed by the still-unconscious woman was absorbed directly into her skin as it flowed down her body. She let a gasp of satisfaction as the can was emptied over her, and her head slowly lowered, her mouth closing as her chin sank toward her chest. The rest of the assistant mages had filed out of the room, and the last two exited with the water can and wheelbarrow in tow. Winnie stood, head bowed and statue still, in the center of a dampened patch of earth in an arcane circle.

Nixen looked at his transformed apprentice with sorrow, and Pellet flapped to her shoulder, nestling into her ivy hair and hooting at her for attention. She did not stir at the noise or rustling.

Nixen said quietly,

“Both of you will explain what has happened here and how we fix it right now.”

Ragweed’s tired voice broke out,

“There isn’t any fixing it. We’ve done what we can for the poor girl and are lucky to have done that much. She’s better off than Ian was after his…accident.”

Nixen watched as Winnie didn’t respond to Pellet fluttering about her shoulders, trying to get a response. Then replied,

“Why? What in the underworld happened to her?”

Beckle muttered something to Clarence, who waddled to the door, exited the room, and then shut the door behind itself. Once the door was shut, Beckle gestured to the tired elven mage, and Ragweed nodded. With a stuttering chant and slow gestures, the elf cast another spell. Runes on the room’s walls lit, and the air grew heavy.

Beckle nodded grimly to the elf in thanks and spoke,

“You will not repeat this or ask questions to anyone outside of myself, Master Ragweed, or Master Brisco while in a secured location like this. All those afflicted with this malady are obviously under the protection and security of the guild. We’re not monsters, but This entire debacle falls under the Oberon’s folly protocol.”

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“The other masters have been read in on the details and know how to conduct themselves, but any journeyman or lower who stumbles across this will be brought to Purpolis for debriefing and oaths of secrecy. Refusal is grounds for expulsion from the guild and summary execution to be carried out on the spot.”

“Consider this your debriefing for you and any that refuse you in the future. Civilians will be brought in and interviewed before being evaluated and terminated if needed. This is not negotiable. You will accept these terms or Ragweed, and I will ensure you do not leave this room alive. Do you agree?”

Nixen thought on these words. Nixen was unsure they could take both men in a fight at this moment, even if Ragweed looked dead on his feet. The head of the mages guild and the grandmaster of the knowets were not foes to overcome with ease. Magic made him nervous in a fight.

No idea what’s going to happen when spells start getting thrown around. It doesn’t help that they are always so strict with the rules newbie mages have to follow.

The man had been severe in delivering this statement of capital punishment. Unlike his usual flippant throwing out of threats in his regular speech patterns. Beckle’s expression of grim, serious, I’m not fucking around here convinced Nixen to reply seriously.

“Grim, dark, ominous, and unnecessarily ruthless without context. It explains nothing. I agree, for now. What’s going on, Beckle?”

Beckle suddenly looked tired and held up a hand while he fetched a bench for Ragweed, who sank onto it gratefully.

That’s out of the norm. Is he going to pull the stick out and explain his actions next?

Beckle offered Nixen a seat next to the elf, who had sunk his head into his hands on the bench in exhaustion. Nixen clanked to the bench and sat noisily in their armor.

Beckle went on,

“Allow me to cut through the tape and explain our actions. You know we forbid magic that tampers with the minds of sapient creatures unwillingly, anything involving the soul, and the rewinding of time. Do you have any idea why?”

Nixen parroted the response they had been taught and drilled into all of his mage novices through the years,

“Morals for the mental manipulation, difficulty, and unpredictable results for the soul magic, the last leads to catastrophic consequences for temporal tampering.”

Ragweed muttered into his hands just loud enough to be heard,

“The last is just because if you try to go backward, you explode, end of story. It can’t be done. The magic sphere doesn’t allow it.”

Nixen raised their hands in protest,

“Wait. What do you mean by saying the Magicosphere doesn’t allow it? That’s just the ambient mana of the world. It doesn’t allow or disallow anything.”

Beckle looked at the dwarf with some of his usual disdain and said,

“Yes…Well…Besides that being a lie that isn’t revealed to the general public or guild members until they reach master, how else would you like to state you don’t know what is going on and should shut the fuck up until I’m finished?”

Nixen was shocked at the harsh words,

He’s never that loose with his language. Is he serious? Does the magic sphere decide things? How?

Beckle waited until he was sure there would be no response from the dwarf, then continued in halting tones,

“The magic sphere is…conscious would be a bad word…aware, may fit. It doesn’t like backward time travel. Even sending temporal messages causes an explosion, and we don’t think they make it anyway, as no attempt seems to change anything. As for the soul magic and mental manipulation…We don’t want it learning any more of it.”

Nixen shot to their feet in alarm,

“Learning?! More?! Does the King know all this? Is he safe?”

Beckle rolled his eyes in exasperation,

“Oh, calm down, you cranky, bearded baby. It doesn’t have a good grasp on targeting individuals beyond those directly involved in maintaining control over it, yet.”

“Yet? How long has this been going on? Who does it target for this manipulation? How do we stop it? This is a disaster!”

Ragweed sat up and let his hands fall into his lap as he said with a haunted look,

“You’re right to be worried about the king if a bit premature for a few more years. Anyone else involved in creating this situation is more at risk.”

The statement did little to calm the paladin. Nixen was starting to get angry at the series of metaphorical slaps that affected their understanding of how things worked in the world. Nixen was supposed to be a well-traveled and trained Paladin. They made a mental note to have a severe prayer session to discuss their concerns with Jeph later.

Damn, mages and their secrets. Will this put the populous in danger? Has it already?

Before the Dwarf could let loose a diatribe of more questions, Beckle took up the explanation again,

“It’s not the king who is entirely responsible for the Magicosphere gaining awareness, anyway. It was his Grandfather, the Adventurers guild, and the Mage guild all together who took a series of steps to consolidate our kingdom’s greatest resource into strengthening our military might. Do you remember the war we were entangled in with Kiermont during that king’s reign? These steps stopped that war.”

Nixen made a get-on-with-it gesture, and Beckle frowned but spoke more,

“There were unforeseen consequences to those actions, and the magic sphere became aware over the past few decades and grew…more irritated with us over time.”

“What actions, Beckle? Quit tap dancing around the treant and take your swing. The squirrels are growing impatient for the blood.”

Nixen interrupted.

Ragweed blinked at this idiom as it was elven in origin and took up the explanation.