Chapter III.II (3.2) - Geas

Inari’s two lackeys that Kizu and the others had managed to take out had their memories wiped by Roba. In his years living in the Hon Basin, Kizu had heard the crone mention memory altering hexes and even knew of a couple recipes for brews that could erase or muddle memories, but he’d never seen the results before.

Taroe, now in charge of the academy’s medical wing, watched over them all. He remained silent for the most part, not bothering to speak save for when he needed to perform check-ups on them. If anything, he acted more like a prison warden looming over them than a doctor.

The two lackeys knelt before Aoi’s bed, vehemently apologizing for their betrayal of the Royal Family and their apparent part in the assassination attempt. They wore the antimagic bracelet and collar that once adorned Kizu’s wrist and Basil’s neck.

The sight of them chilled Kizu. This was far from a complete mind control or complete memory alterations, rather just a tweaking of their motivations, a blotting out of events onboard Owl’s Respite, and slight change in the words they were told by Inari. And he knew messing with the memory of people suppressed by antimagic was a far simpler task than altering a normal mage’s mind, but it still terrified him to know that Roba could twist memories so viciously.

Aoi, on the other hand, was undisturbed by the mutilation of their minds. She spared them no pity as they babbled apologies at her. After the faculty discovered her laboratory aboard Owl’s Respite, they had commandeered the ship and banned her from accessing it until they could contact her family. While it wasn’t the worst possible result, it left Aoi in a horribly foul mood. One that she was completely willing to unleash on the two people in front of her.

“You should be hanged,” she said. “I’d then bring back your zombified corpses and remove your head with an ax. And repeat the process until completing all the possible official execution processes. Which number 391 in Hon. Then I should bottle up your souls in a jar and feed them to a more powerful spirit. Or perhaps drop the bottle in the bottom of the deepest sea where the darkness and pressure can inflict pain on you for eternity.”

“But…you’re not going to do that?” one of them pressed. She was the one who had used explosions in their fight. She was tall and built with muscle. Her crooked nose implied more than one scuffle in her past. But despite her appearance, the woman looked utterly cowed by Aoi.

“No,” Aoi said, looking distastefully at the woman. “You’re going into the custody of the Elites and spending some time in Keimusho Prison. And by some, I mean an indefinite amount.”

The woman glanced at her companion, who continued to stare at the antimagic bracelet locked around his wrists with a look of utter defeat on his face. Neither of them looked excited about the trajectory of the rest of their lives.

“Surely there’s some other option? Some sort of favor we can do for you in recompense?”

“A favor?” Aoi scoffed. “You tried to kill me. Not interested.”

“What…what about a geas?” she suggested, panic in her voice. “You’re a necromancer. You can do that…right?”

“You’d be willing to go through with a geas?” Aoi said, she leaned forward, suddenly keenly interested.

“No!” the man said at the same time the woman said, “Yes!”

“What’s a geas?” Kizu asked Aoi.

“Soul magic. Basically branding a soul permanently. It’s used by some necromancers on their underlings or apprentices. Not incredibly common because as a side-effect it can cause long-term harm on their future growth as soul mages. And for it to work properly, it needs to be voluntary. Otherwise the process is too flawed.”

Across the room, Taroe raised an eyebrow at the description. This was obviously not something commonly known among most mages. But he didn’t interrupt their conversation.

“But what does it actually do?” Kizu asked. “Is it just a brand?”

“Of course not. It gives the mage control over the thrall. You can manipulate everything from actions to emotions.”

“That sounds horrible.”

Aoi shrugged. “If it’s not formed completely voluntarily, then a strong enough will can break free.”

“This isn’t exactly voluntary,” Kizu pointed out. “It’s either this or prison.”

That gave Aoi pause. “You’re right. But I think it’s close enough. She’s the one that suggested it after all. But I’ll go through my notes and see what I can find about it.” She sighed. “I wish I had access to the Grim Library.”

“Then that option is available?” the woman asked.

“It’s not off the table,” Aoi confirmed. “But first I need more information about yourself. Who exactly are you?”

She licked her lips and again looked to her companion before starting.

“My name is Ueno Tiya. I’m 29 years old and was born in a decent sized town east of the Hon Basin, down by the coast. After my ninth birthday my father, the mayor of our town, sent me to the capital to study numerology, language, and politics. Originally, I intended to succeed him as mayor, but we also studied the basics of spellcraft. After studying for a year, the military took notice of my affinity with elemental spells and drafted me.”

“Wait,” Basil cut in. Kizu had nearly forgotten about the shapechanger’s existence in the room. He’d been quietly relaxing on a bed nearby. “You got drafted at the age of ten? That seems a bit farfetched.”

“Not at all,” Aoi answered. “It’s normal in Hon if someone young is spotted with an unusual amount of talent. It’s best to cultivate it from an early age. But finding someone like that is in itself uncommon.”

“It’s normal with the witch covens as well,” Kizu pointed out. “Most apprentices start younger than ten.”

“Anyway,” Aoi said, redirecting them. “Continue, Ueno.”

“Yes, well…” she hesitated and looked at Kizu, eyes lingering on his hair. Clearly thrown by his comment on witch covens. But then she continued on. “My father wasn’t very happy about the change, but the Hon government gave him funds and sent a new young mayoral candidate to substitute my loss. After that, I spent several years with the military until the slime invasion.”

Basil shifted uncomfortably. The captives had their memories altered to not fully remember the encounter, but they had discovered Basil’s role as the Ooze Harbinger on the ship. Something he obviously wasn’t keen on them recalling.

“It was horrible. Almost eleven years ago now, but I still see my friends when I close my eyes. The flesh melted off their bones, clinging to life while I was useless to stop the ever progressing line of death. Nothing else comes close to that horror. I only survived because Inari and Kateshi found me.” She paused. “What exactly happened to Kateshi? Inari roped her into his plan, but I don’t remember where she went.”

“She died trying to kill me,” Aoi said dryly.

“That doesn’t seem like…actually, yes. I vaguely recall that. I think I wasn’t fully conscious.”

“Basically, if I understand correctly. You were rescued by Inari and went into his service immediately after. Ever since then, you’ve been his dog, doing his bidding?”

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“Yes.”

“Is this all accurate?” Aoi asked, turning to Taroe, who stood stoically off to the side.

“As far as I am aware.”

“Good. Now tell me what you're capable of magically.”

“I am a fire elementalist,” Ueno said. “Explosions and lava are what I’m known for.”

“Makes sense if you caught the eye of the military,” Aoi commented. “How are you at the other branches of spellcraft?”

“Not great,” Ueno admitted. “Most people don’t receive as well rounded of an education as the students here at Shinzou Academy. I know quite a few earth elemental spells. I acted as a scout in our group, detecting landbound threats. And I can manipulate and mold earth extremely well, as I almost always use preexisting earth in my lava spells, but, unlike fire, I don’t usually create it.”

“Back up,” Kiz interjected. “Lava spells? Like, as in, molten rock? You can fling that stuff around?” Kizu recalled seeing the molten rivers in the World Dungeon beneath the academy. It was volatile and dangerous. The thought of someone using something like that in an attack was terrifying. He was glad she’d only used explosions while they fought on Owl’s Respite.

“Yes. I can perform minor spells in other branches of magic, but nothing remarkable.”

“Can you jump?” Aoi asked.

“No. I relied on my companions for that. However, I have the tattoo wards to keep myself safe from enemy spatial mages.”

Aoi grumbled, obviously wanting a personal transportation method.

“What did Inari specialize in?” Kizu asked.

That gave Ueno pause. She looked over to Aoi for permission.

“He’s a dead traitor,” Aoi said flippantly. “And I request the information on my authority as Princess of the Hon Empire.”

“He was an alumnus of Shinzou Academy. You could look up his records to know what he was capable of on graduation. But, while working with him these last ten years, he specialized in wind elemental spells, illusions, and hexes. But he was fully capable of a wide range of spells from all the branches.”

That matched up with what Kizu had seen of him.

“Do you know any hexes? Did he teach you anything.”

“I would advise against that,” Taroe cut-in. “Hexes are a dangerous spellcraft closely related to soul magic. Two sides of the same coin. They attack the body, while necromancy attacks the soul. If you value your reputation, I would stay away.”

“Inari used them though,” Aoi countered. “He was a prince.”

“He was a warlord. He used fear to consolidate his power.”

“I don’t know any hexes,” Ueno said, making the discussion moot.

“Fine,” Aoi said. “Taroe, you can take these two back to wherever you’re holding them. I’ll make my decision on Ueno later after I do some more research. The other one can be sent to Keimusho.”

After Taroe escorted them away, Basil stretched and stood up.

“Well, I need to go pack. Taroe cleared me with a clean bill of health. I’m heading off to the dorm. Feel free to shout if you need anything.”

That left Kizu with Anata and Aoi. Anata had been hiding under her blanket the entire interrogation, not wanting to be seen by the prisoners. An altogether good idea with such a fresh memory altering spell on them. Aoi began shuffling through her grimoire, obviously looking for information on the geas spell.

“Is Keimusho really that bad?” Kizu asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty horrid,” Aoi said, not looking up from her book. “Lots of suffering due to information extraction. I’ve only been once though. You should ask Ione about it.”

“Ione? Why? Has she been there?”

He pictured Ione as a hardened criminal, and grinned at the thought. He could at least imagine her enjoying solitary confinement. But only if they supplied her with a pillow.

“Her parents own the prison,” Aoi said. “Did you not know? The Kajima family is a long line of prison wardens. They’re quite famous for working with some of the worst Hon has to offer.”

“Really?” Ione had never mentioned it before. Somehow, Kizu struggled even more with the idea of Ione being a prison warden than he had with her being a prisoner. Though…he could fit the image of Sene into place pretty easily. “I thought Hon executed anyone with a sufficiently horrible crime.”

Aoi’s face darkened, obviously recalling her mentor.

“No. They only execute people deemed useless or with dangerous information, like secrets of necromancy. If they have information the Empire believes is valuable, they’ll keep a prisoner alive for decades. Though, most of the people who enter Keimusho never see sunlight again.

“Anyway,” Aoi said, snapping her grimoire shut. “Enough about that. I need to get out of here. It’s stuffy and I can’t think properly. You care to join me on a walk?”

Kizu looked over at Anata.

“Will you be okay here with Mort watching over you?”

Anata shook her head vigorously. Then she slipped out of her bed and slid on a pair of slippers.

Kizu acknowledged to himself that this was better. A sleeping Mort wouldn’t be much protection if something snuck in.

“Alright, then it’s the three of us.”

Aoi talked as they walked, going over geas spell details before eventually devolving into rambling about other necromantic theory. Kizu didn’t understand over half of what she said, but didn’t question her. She clearly just needed to sort through her thoughts out loud.

She led them to an unfamiliar wing of the academy. More traditional landscape paintings hung on the corridor’s walls, unenchanted but gorgeous. Kizu wanted to stop and appreciate them, but Aoi continued moving on, muttering about something called a fext and trapping them inside stained glass.

Anata stuck her head in a room with a door slightly ajar and gasped. Kizu quickly looked inside and was grateful to find it vacant. Though he also sucked in a breath at the sight. The room was filled with color. Everything from the tiled floors, to the support pillars, to the couches was covered in coats of multicolored paint. Blues, greens, pinks, oranges. It looked like an explosion of color had detonated inside. The only clean surfaces in the room were perfectly blank canvases set up on stands throughout the room. The white of the canvases practically glowed next to the overwhelmingly vibrant furniture.

But they didn’t have much time to stare. He and Anata had to jog to catch back up with Aoi, who was now debating about different types of decomposers that grew on fresh undead.

Finally, a pair of heavy double doors sprang open as they approached, revealing a courtyard with a pond. A small gazebo was erected in the center of the pond, its base a few centimeters submerged with deeper water surrounding it. Aoi stepped out onto the pond, but before her foot dipped into the water, steppingstones pierced the water, catching her foot and sending ripples across the placid surface.

“What’s your plan for spring break?” Aoi asked, walking forward with complete faith the next step would appear underfoot.

“I don’t have one,” Kizu admitted. “My parents don’t want Anata on their property. We’ll probably just stay here.”

He watched as Anata followed after Aoi, lunging between each step to match Aoi’s stride and use her steppingstones before they submerged again.

“An entire month alone?” Aoi turned and faced him, now standing on the gazebo floor. “Shinzou Academy will be dead. A complete ghost town.”

“I’ve got a lot to study. Not to mention the repairs on Owl’s Respite.”

“How about you come with me and Basil? There’s an actual ghost town I want to explore not far from my home.”

“No thanks.”

Anata, who had just taken a leap from the final steppingstone to the gazebo, splashed water on her impact. Then she triumphantly grinned back at Kizu.

Aoi frowned then changed tactics. Her eyes flicked from Kizu, to his niece.

“Hey Anata, you remember that festival a few months back? The one with the lanterns and games. You went to it, right?”

Anata nodded her head, looking up at Aoi.

“What if I told you there’s going to be an even bigger festival? A thousand times bigger. And this one with pink trees, magic floats, beautiful dresses, and a million different carnival games. Would you be interested?”

This time Anata nodded more vigorously.

Aoi’s face twisted into a sinister smile.

“How’s that, Kizu? Are you going to shatter the heart of your poor niece or will you come join us? My family will host you. I just need a minor favor in return.”

Kizu glared over the pond back at her.

Aoi’s smile widened and she clapped her hands together. “Alright then, it’s settled! I’ll contact my family and let them know you’ll be staying.”