Chapter 78: Casting a Shadow

Subject: Inis Location: Arlcada Territories - Count Kylant's Settlement

Inis could remember the events of the previous day, but seeing the aftermath of the battle was another matter entirely. She exited the barricaded building and into the sunlit settlement.

The knights had been hard at work piling spinner corpses into isolated mounds. Dead or not, these menacing creatures gave her chills. Just because they were less dangerous than some of the blightbeasts she'd faced in her life, that did not change things.

The gravity of last night's battle was only grasped in full. There were hundreds of corpses... Perhaps even a denomination higher than that. The number of knights? Six. Truly, a Hexaline Knight's squad was like a full company of soldiers. There weren't many people in Shroud who could match this destructive power.

And then there were the human corpses. Inis went looking for them, and found a pile closer to the count's mansion. Most were armored guards, but some were civilians who believed they could survive within the protection of the count's guards.

"We did try to convince them to see reason," Fragma explained.

Two bodies looked different from the others. Their armor had been removed, for one, but there was more to it than just that. A discoloration of the skin, too regular and intentional to be attributed to venom from a spinner's fangs. It was a partial husk.

She was looking down at what she'd done to the corpses offered up by Fragma, when she was near-lethally virastarved. They'd been dead, but it was pretty clearly desecration of a corpse, corpse pillaging, if a person's post-life vira could be labeled a possession, or maybe even something worse... like cannibalism.

"I told you this before and I'll say it again. Those guards were horrible people. They were monsters, and we gave even them a chance to take our protection. They would have had to publicly admit their actions in this remote corner of civilizations, but a small price to pay for redemption... yes?"

"What will you do with the corpses?"

"They'll be stripped of belongings, dragged beyond the walls, and burned out in the wilderness."

There were more questions, but Inis dare not ask them.

"Good girl," Fragma teased. "I trust you will keep this to yourself. In exchange, I won't cause you any problems. That said, I do hope we meet again."

She had learned that honesty was the best approach with this one.

"No offense, but I hope we don't. Citizens don't often survive a second encounter with a Hexaline Knight, or even one with a member of their squad."

"At least you're willing to say that to my face. And I can't deny the truth in your words. Though I hadn't fully committed myself to the fight, even I was concerned for the lives of these citizens here. As for the Count... I met him exactly thrice."

There was a look on Fragma's face like she was mentally scanning her memories to confirm that this was indeed fact.

As Inis was leaving, the frail knight she remembered first grabbing the night prior. He stopped her at the gate with a nod and a beckoning wave. The knight looked a lot more imposing now in the unforgiving sun. He was frail for a knight, but no less the impressive physical specimen.

"Greetings and farewell, Inistra. My name is Lucrue. I don't know where you're going from here, but I see you've got my lord's blessing. I hope these will hasten your journey and keep you out of danger."

The knight pressed a pouch to her chest. She caught the pouch as it fell, opening it to find an assortment of differently-colored vials.

"I wouldn't do this for just anyone. Most we meet are meek citizens and prideful officials. None deserving of any special attention. I'll explain what these are for, but only in exchange for final confirmation. Are you really untouched? Do you bear a Mark?"

She was not a Bearer of Red, nor was she a Bearer of Blue, so Inis nodded calmly.

"It was a sight to behold... the way you fought," he complimented. "Is self control the price of your powerful magic? There were only a small number of spells I was familiar with... The most basic tools of a mage. I can't say I've heard of magic like that, barring that of the Bearers."

"No, that was new... I think. I'll admit I was overenthusiastic, until I felt the coma approaching. Something inside wouldn't let me die, and it was like my body moved on its own. There is no power but my own effort and the accumulation of blightseed energy. I don't expect you to believe me..."

"I do have a hard time believing you, but I will try. I thought for sure you'd met one of them."

In an instant, Inis felt eyes upon her. She spun around, but no one was there. The feeling spurred on her curiosity even more. But when she turned back around, Hexknight Fragmata was leaning against the battle-scarred settlement wall.

Her powerful gaze bored into Inis, like they could see Inis's thoughts. And then, in another moment, she'd relaxed her expression and began to apologize.

"I didn't mean to scare you. I only heard something interesting, and wanted to see your reaction for myself."

Lucrue kneeled before Fragma, head bowed in shame.

"I swear, my lord. I had no intention of- I would never share-"

"I know you wouldn't, but merely alluding to them in the presence of a civilian or sub-Paragon official is dangerous."

Inis desperately wanted to know what they were talking about, but if the secret was this important, she could not ask.

"This one knows her place," Fragma observed, "but others may not. However, this moment is fortuitous. Inis, you're interested in hearing more?"

"No, I... Yes. I mean... I can't afford to."

"Interesting. You have a secret I want, and I have one you want. I will be open and tell you it has no direct connection to the Blight that I'm aware of. Do you still want to know? In exchange, I would have you tell me a little about your secret."

And so, Inis was worn down and pried open. It was unfair, coming at her in this way, so soon after she'd nearly died. Willpower was, in her experience, difficult to maintain in this state.

"Some time ago, I took a great risk in my research. I have no memory of the event myself, but my records detail injecting myself with blightseed concentrate."

And so Inis told the two knights about the ARC experiment, her "shot in the dark". Literally. Because she was missing memories of the experiment, she could only tell what she knew from the memgel recording.

When it was all over, Fragma looked oddly satisfied.

"You did something dangerous, Inis. I have heard stories of the Hexknights of Progress attempting such experiments, and the innumerable deaths that resulted. From what I'm aware, the act afflicts the subject with a powerful virasol deficit. Because subjects do not have your talent with siphoning these resources from living things, they die before any such results can be noted."

What have I done... I've given Shroud information on how to torture more people! And the survivors will make it even easier for the government to dominate the wilds. My curiosity got the best of me...

"I can see your mind racing," Lucrue chuckled. "But don't worry... we're not exactly in with that crowd."

"My knight is correct. I have no desire to share this knowledge with any but my own knights, and they will not let the secret slip."

I wish I could believe her.

"And now, I'll tell you a little about some other curiosities some in Shroud are looking out for. What do you know about the Orchestrators?"

"The who?"

"Imagine if someone told you they met a god, but that god was an asshole. You'd think they were lying or crazy, right? Now, what if that certain someone claims to have gotten power from that god, and they were able to prove it. What would you think?"

Inis's mind was open, but gods? She'd exhaust all simpler explanations before she resorted to that.

"Which of the gods?"

The knight squinted and shook her head.

"No, Inistra. We're on the same page here. I'm not talking about The Hexaline or The Strangers. Something else. Something real."

Here was a Hexaline Knight admitting she didn't believe in the gods. If someone told Inis she'd have an experience like this, she'd laugh in their face.

"First of all, I'm a devout Shaden like any other citizen, but were I forced to entertain the hypothetical... I would think this individual already had power and made up a story to get attention. Maybe the journey to get that power knocked something loose in their head, or the reason they were able to reach such heights was because they were already a 'special' personality."

Inis stepped back as Fragma stepped forward. Lucrue was shaking in his boots, unwilling to speak or move. The information was that important. Or maybe this was the start of a torture tactic. Either way, Inis didn't know how to react.

"And what if this power was unlike any magic imaginable? Not only a novel spell, but a novel branch of magic that turned existing principles on its head. You and I are both students of the arcane, Inistra. We both know it has fundamental rules Now, what if there were others with the same bizarre story? People who couldn't possibly have met or passed on their story?"

That didn't mean much. There were too many answers for something like this.

"A shared delusion. Genius is correlated with madness."

Two steps forward, Fragma had maneuvered Inis around and the trapped mage's back was now pressed against the wall. Lucrue was still kneeling, but his expression now radiated calculated determination. He was prepared to defend his master if the need arose.

"Maybe, but I believe. And I consider myself a skeptic," Fragma stated emphatically. "I can't tell you everything, but these are not rumours and these are not isolated claims. Nothing is verifiable, but I want to learn more."

Inis looked to Lucrue, who'd recently stood back up and brushed his uniform off, none the least embarrassed nor apologetic. The shaken knight nodded in agreement, lending credence to his lord's claim.

"I hope you'll understand that, without whatever hard proof you've no doubt encountered, I can only see this as a superstition. It doesn't feel like the trade was worth it."

She'd traded a hint at accelerated Blight accumulation for rumors. It didn't matter that Fragma had faith. Inis didn't. To her, it was just a distraction from her personal misprision.

"It was a fair trade, whether you believe that or not."

Inis nodded respectfully and made to leave. It did little good to argue with a Hexaline Knight. Besides, Fragma really seemed to believe the trade was fair.

"Hold up there!" Lucrue called out. "At least let me explain what those mixtures do. Otherwise, if you take them haphazardly, they'll do more harm than good."

She waited while he listed off in detail what each color did. That was how they were differentiated: color. His sales pitch was pretty hard to believe. If they did half what he claimed they did, that made him a better chemist than she was. And she used magic.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Oh, one last thing for you two, I guess," she called out.

The knights waited, expectantly.

"Those two knights over there. I'm sure there's a reason they've been concealed by powerful magic, but it isn't going to fool anyone's virasenses."

Fragma stroked her chin seriously. She looked back in the direction of the knights Inis had seen the night before, and then back at Inis.

"You're the first to notice, but this is a serious claim you're making. They're private people, you see. What tipped them off?"

Honesty is the best policy. She won't kill me if I'm honest, and I do owe those two for trying to hurt them. Honesty. Honesty. Honesty...

"People, yes, but their virasignatures are not human. I often use cartemi and faron trading partners, but it's really only recently that I started to notice these differences. I can't describe the specifics very well, but maybe it has something to do with their organs? I can't exactly distinguish the organs themselves beneath living tissue, but the vira around a body distorts in predictable ways. If you go to a trustworthy Lifemage, they might be able to help you fake the signature more believably. I only noticed something was off, not anything in particular. I thought I'd mention it because I'm a good citizen. Okay, I mentioned it because I'm still feeling a little guilty."

Hexknight Fragma shook her head disapprovingly at Lucrue, who'd subtly repositioned himself on Inis's other side.

Inis said her final farewell and walked past the knight, only noticing the blade in his hand when it would have been too late to defend against it. But he obeyed his leader and did nothing.