Chapter 124.

PART 1.

Josh and James meet in the underground lab of Samay the sorcerer. At one point, this was a permanent place for Hatori and James, ever since Hatori discovered it. however, things have changed since. They have been separated, and now have responsibilities, which do take a lot of their time. which is somewhat ironic, given the room located behind the door, which could let them have almost unlimited time, given how slowly it passes inside if they can tolerate the maddening effects of long isolation.

But the reality is, they can’t. not even Hatori and James, who are the most introverted in their group can stay there for too long.

Josh drinks the tea that James managed to bring here. Hatori introduced them to the Dwarves working in the kitchen, and the staff agreed to supply them with food and drinks as they needed it outside of the school-related facilities, for a price of course. Josh and James often have to help them out by collecting gossip, the Dwarves love that for some reason.

“You look like a president sitting like that with the cup in your hand.” Said James.

“I am the president.” Said Josh, putting the cup down. “Tell me, we used to have so much time, what happened?”

“Responsibilities.” Said James. “That, and we’re growing up.”

“But I don’t wanna.” Whined Josh. “Also, what is this thing responsibility thing which you speak of? It sounds horrifying!”

While Josh is unable to hide his revulsion for becoming a responsible and productive member of society, James hides the same fear behind an impassive expression. “Truly, growing up is one of the injustices of the world,” he said solemnly, and Josh nodded in agreement.

PART 2.

Munshi and Hatori arrive in Madras. Hatori has never been here before, and everyone seems to speak a different language locally. But they do seem to talk in the standard language, which Hatori didn’t know was a standard language, given how he basically has the same language being used in his house back in his own dimension. He assumes his role of observer, as Munshi talks with the police officers.

“So, what have you gathered so far?” asked Munshi, getting straight to the point after accepting a glass of water.

“Well, it seems that the killer is targeting the police force itself.” Said the inspector. “Either former officers who are now retired, or the families of the officers.”

Munshi thinks about what he has just heard. Judging from this information, he can eliminate ghosts entirely. Ghosts cannot perform this bit of complex operation, given how they lack the necessary mental capacity to create plans. However, a soul is an entirely different matter. ‘Or, it could be a human.’ He thought, deciding not to jump to conclusions just yet.

“Do you have a blood sample of the victim?” asked Munshi. “The fresher, the better.”

“We do have a sample of the victim who died two days ago.” Said the inspector.

While Munshi gets the sample of blood, Hatori thinks that the inspector could use some sleep. He sounds tired. “Now, pay attention.” Said Munshi to Hatori.

“Resurrecting the soul is not possible always, due to the reasons I’ve explained to you already. But watching the last memories is very easy with blood. It can be done with old blood as well, but that takes more energy, and the details can be blurry.” Said Munshi.

Munshi draws some runes, which judging from Hatori’s quick skimming, seems to be about retrieval of information. He put the blood at the center of the array he had drawn on the ground and then channeled some magic to activate the runes. Hatori senses the officers watching them from some distance. They have to do this task outside of the station, which makes sense. No one likes their floor being drawn upon, not to mention the potential of blowing up the station if anything goes wrong. Though Hatori does not think Munshi would make such a mistake. He has managed to live this long in this profession. It has to count for something.

The memories start to play right in front of them as if they have an invisible TV screen right in front of them. Hatori does not understand what is going on though, aside from hearing the screams of the man, who sounds positively terrified. He did get some impressions, however, both the magic of the dead man and the attacker.

“Did you manage to sense the magic?” asked Munshi after they were done watching the grisly scene.

“Yes. But I don’t have anything good for the other presence.” Said Hatori. “It is hard to put down.”

‘He can already sense so deeply.’ Thinks Munshi. “That can happen. Now, it could be a human, using some sort of unknown magical device or a spell, or a soul, maybe a spirit. I’ve got nothing concrete.” Explained Munshi to the officers.

“You will stay here for now, right sir?” asked the inspector.

“Don’t worry. I do not run in the middle of a case.” Said Munshi with a chuckle.

As Hatori leaves with Munshi, he shares what he felt. “I don’t think that the other magic I felt was human.” He said to the necromancer walking next to him. “It didn’t have the right feel.”

“You might be right. But we can’t prove it yet, and to solve a case, that is very important.” Said Munshi. “Still, what you do feel has some importance. Do wear all the protections I have given you.”

“Of course.” Said Hatori, fiddling with the locket under his shirt, which is just one protection Munshi has given him to keep him safe from spirits and souls.

PART 3.

After they return to Munshi’s car (no need to get a room when you have a home on wheels), Hatori thinks no more about the memories he watched with Munshi, nor the screams of a tortured man. he instead tested his runes and continued the process of carving them in the eyeball-shaped orbs he had conjured, and during this repetitive process, he remembers how Munshi didn’t use to like it when he worked on his own projects in his free time.

He told him not to do that on the way here. however, Hatori could not stay put and went stir-crazy. During one such bout of craziness, he nearly blew up the car. After that, Munshi allowed him to do whatever he wanted during his free time, as long as it did not interfere with his studies under him. he may or may not have cursed Zeko’s name for creating such a monster. Hatori couldn’t remember that clearly, he had sunk way too deep in the sleep to remember the exact words of Munshi.

he ends up in a strange world, where his own body is feeling strange to him. he realizes that it is a dream. He recognizes the voice of his father talking with an old man, and just like every other dream, Hatori seems to have eyes in this one as well.

“You should really leave that boy.” the old man was saying. “There’s no point in raising him.”

‘Why this dream?’ he thought in disappointment.

His father never hid the reality of what their relatives thought of him, how they wanted him to disown Hatori after he was diagnosed with cancer. His grandfather was the most vocal about it, and when his father refused, he basically kicked out his parents with just the clothes on their backs. Hatori has never met his paternal grandfather, and for whatever reason, this conversation is taking place in the hall of his house back in the dimension where magic is considered a myth, instead of the house of his grandfather, which he also has not seen. The voice of his grandfather is the mixture of all the voices of old men Hatori has heard in his life, because again, he has never met his grandfather, nor heard his voice because he does not keep contact with their family.

“How can you say that?” Karan clenched his fists. “You’ve just read the report, and you’re already talking like this?”

“Come now.” said the old man. “You should know that children come and go. Abandon him anywhere, the boy is young. He won’t be able to speak anything.”

Watching the furious expression of Karan, the old man suggests another idea. “Okay, if you are bothered by it, then just leave him an orphanage. He’ll leave a comfortable life there until the cancer claims him.”

“Shut up!” roared Karan. “I’m not abandoning him, and that is final!”

“You’re a fool if you don’t do that!” roared the old man with equal ferocity. “That boy will ruin you, socially, mentally, and financially. Why can’t you see that?”

“Well, you are also a drain on my finances as well,” said Karan with a nasty tone. “Maybe I should kick you out while I’m at it.”

“You!” rage twisted the expression of the old man, but he continued. “Don’t you understand? You can just leave him, and try for another child in five years. no one will remember this.”

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“I will.” Said Karan.

“Then get lost! I’ve got no place for a crippled child in my home.” said the old man.

“Fine.” Holding on to the unshed tears, Karan left with Rita.

It is a testament to the wounds of this confrontation that Hatori still does not know the name of his paternal grandfather. As Hatori watches his mother and father leaving the house, Hatori feels something observing him at the edge of his awareness. the dream ends, and he wakes up. but he does not find anything near him, despite trying to sense the whole car, aside from Munshi who is still snoring, there is nothing here with them.

PART 4.

Sitting in his office, watching his Yantra signing or discarding the paperwork, Corvus performs a mental exercise. He thinks of who can replace him if he were to retire tomorrow out of nowhere. This is something he has been considering more and more, as each year passes. After all, with every new year, the time of his impending retirement is getting closer. One day, it won’t be just a thought or a fun exercise. Instead, it will be a reality.

Of course, he has no plans to retire this year, or even next five years. But after that? well, plans have to be made. A successor has to be chosen, and it is very important to train them to resist people trying to take advantage of the power vacuum. The saddest part is, among the current crop of staff, no one comes to mind to take over his position.

‘Sometimes, I really fear for the future.’ He thinks to himself. He gets up from his chair and goes to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of tea.

PART 5.

Raven is going through some negotiations with General Sundar. Bajrang, the older brother of Nandan is also with them. the general is going over the points of military negotiations with Raven. “Normally, the military does not do negotiations. This is the responsibility of political people and with good reason. they are willing to compromise, while we are not. aggression is what we show, and demand the total submission from the other party. An attitude like that is not appreciated in a negotiation. However, surrender is an entirely different matter.”

“Of course, if the politicians manage to fuck things up, then the military has to clean up their mess.” Said general. “And no, I’m not apologizing for cursing in front of a miner.” Said Sundar to Bajrang.

“I didn’t say anything.” Said Bajrang with a smirk.

“But you were thinking it.” said the general.

PART 6.

Hatori has been kicked out of the car. Apparently, Munshi subscribes to the philosophy of Zeko that boys should not stay indoors for too long. So, since Hatori wasn’t contributing to the case (things are beyond him), Munshi told him to go out and talk with the locals. It should be noted that Hatori has no interest in talking with locals, or even nonlocals. He prefers to sleep rather than socialize with people.

‘Better stop thinking about that. Kangana might come here and decide to torment me.’ thinks Hatori.

After sitting around in the park, working on his runes, Hatori goes out for lunch. He found some street food, and he also met two girls named Saroja and Niti, who are a year older than him and are out here with their professor of healing, completing their apprenticeship under her.

“My friend James is really lucky.” Said Hatori, eating his curry. “He gets to do his internship in Academy.”

“Yeah, I like traveling, but moving so much can be exhausting.” Said Saroja.

“Though we also get to see so many sights.” Said Niti. “I doubt we’ll get that chance once we’re adults.”

“I could do without the sight-seeing.” Said Hatori.

“Oh, come on, don’t be so glum.” They said together, trying to cheer him up.

Hatori smiled in response. He pays for his food, and Hatori comes back to these two girls. They’ve got some really interesting stories to tell, and Hatori is very much interested in these stories. Mostly because how many times can you meet a traveling group of healers who are going across the country?

The nice day is interrupted, when an older boy, who looks like he has recently graduated from the Academy blocks Hatori’s path, as he is leaving. The sun will start to set soon, and Hatori has no interest in remaining outside during the evening, especially with the savage attacks going on right now. he is confident in his fighting skills, but Hatori is not interested in picking up trouble.

“Go back.” Said the boy.

“What?” asked Hatori. He may not like picking up trouble, but the trouble seems to have decided to pick him up.

“Go back.” Said the boy with an insistent tone. “Necromancers are not needed here. Do you think you’re so great? Better than the police officers we’ve got?”

“Last I checked, the officers themselves called my master.” Said Hatori.

“That doesn’t matter! We don’t need you. if you won’t leave, then I’ll make you leave, by force!” the boy rushed at Hatori, but the younger boy easily moved out of his way.

“You shouldn’t pick fights, especially with him,” said Niti with worry in her voice. “He’s a son of a police officer, known for his cruelty.”

“Whatever.” Said Hatori, easily dodging the older boy once again.

“You!” he then brings out his foci, and tries to cast a spell, but Hatori’s magical pressure freezes him on the spot.

Hatori walks close to him, and the older teen notices how this younger boy is taller and looks to be heavier than him. With a small push, Hatori makes him fall on his back, pinning him to the ground with his magical pressure. “Are you done fighting?” he asked.

The older boy gritted his teeth, but couldn’t reply due to the pressure of Hatori’s magic. the girls nearby watch this happening, unable to look away. Hatori has just subdued a graduate of the Academy right in front of them despite being three years younger than him. The magical pressure suddenly disappears from the older teen, as Hatori senses something coming at them quite fast.

A raging cloud comes at them, and attacks the grounded teen. Hatori uses some spells to make the cloudy form back off, so the thing turns its attention to him. Hatori keeps attacking the cloud, but it always tries to get at the older boy. Hatori realizes that he must be the target, so he tries to hold the ground as much as he can.

“You guys should run.” He suggests to the girls and the boy.

However, the cloud uses Hatori’s favorite element against him, the lightning shocked him badly, easily overwhelming his defenses and his resistance, leaving his body with jitters. The cloud tries to get at the older boy, who is trying to back away, scared out of his mind, but Hatori puts an earth wall in front of him.

“You won’t get at him so easily!” He declared.

A face appears on the cloud, glaring at Hatori in fury. The girls are terrified to see this happening. But before it could do anything further, Munshi arrives, and the cloud disappears as quickly as it came. “What happened here?” asked Munshi.

Hatori tries to answer, but the jitters are making it hard to speak. the adrenalin of the fight is wearing off, and his body is now telling him about the damage. “Let me help you,” said Niti, supporting Hatori.

“Please stay still.” Said Saroja, casting a spell to provide Hatori some relief from the effects of the electricity.

“Is he okay?” asked Munshi.

“He suffered a shock, but his lightning resistance seems to be good. he’ll recover, he just needs some rest.” Explained Niti.

“Very well,” said Munshi. “I think you should let me take care of him; I’ll drop you to wherever your master is staying once he is safe at my car. Is that fine with you?”

“Sure.” Said the girls. They do not want to be alone as the sun has started to set, especially after witnessing what just happened.

PART 7.

The Subcontinent is no stranger to the female rule. much of this can be attributed to mages not exactly being able to discriminate against women because magic is a great equalizer. Another reason is that once this dimension was created, the history of mages and non-mages split effectively, and mages developed their own society through their own struggles.

One such struggle was what do you call the female ruler? This challenge appeared when Indrani, the first-ever female ascended to the throne after defeating and killing the previous king. At first, people thought of calling her a queen, but others were not in support of this idea.

After many debates, during which many rooms were burned to the ground, it was decided that the ruler would be called a king, no matter their gender, and whatever gender-related pronouns they had would still apply. Therefore, the king was addressed as “Her Majesty” in the court.