I decided to wait until everyone was home before sharing what had happened, though I went to Mibata first to get his take on the situation. Something about how he could tell we were being followed and who that person was just at a glance told me he knew more than we thought and was holding out on telling us. I approached him as he was counting his paycheck with a detailed explanation of what happened on a page, and at the bottom the question of if he knew who these people were. He read the sheet and scowled slightly as he normally did, then motioned for me to sit next to him on the bed. He clasped his hands together and leaned forward a bit, almost like one of those informants in cop movies always do when they’re about to tell you something important, then looked at me with a grim face.
“Servants of the elders, much the same as me. The Seekers are the general information gatherers for the elders tasked with maintaining peace and catching criminals. We serve all of the elders as a whole, as if they together were one master giving orders. The servants are Seekers who have proven to be special or skilled and taken as private operatives of individual elders. Every one of them has a collection of servants that go under a different name, but it is impossible to know which one a servant swears loyalty to unless they tell you themselves.”
Great, so not only are they the secret police, but unless they tell you who they work for you might be talking to someone working for the evil duo. Does that mean I can even trust what they told me if they might have been working for the bad guys? No, that’s stupid, crazy witch priestess knows that I was the one who screwed up her ritual, so if anything she’d send someone to steer me away from there. Unless this is all some big game of reverse psychology, and by telling me to go there they’re thinking I won’t because it might be a trap. Fantastic, now I’m psyching myself out and I haven’t even told the rest of the family about this. Mibata reached over and gave me a reassuring pat on the back as he made a rather warm smile appear on his face.
“I can see you are overthinking this. Just do what you believe is the right thing, and no matter what I will be there to support you, as will Tokols and Humey.”
I know that and I appreciate the support, but I can’t shake the feeling that something about this is off. The only one of the elders who know about my little chat with the resident dead god was Faerkurch and I have a feeling he doesn’t get out much or go running his mouth about what he knows. That means that it has to either be someone he confided in or someone who’s closely tied with the dragon, or in other words the bad bitch herself. I put my head in my hands and let out a rough huff of air, forcing these thoughts out of mind for now. Regardless of if it's a trap or not, I have to see for myself if this mysterious tip has any credibility.
I picked up my chalk to write to my brother, but he cut me off as I started writing.
“I shall inform the others of your meeting with one of the servants of the elders if you wish, and I can do so without rousing their latent fury towards any who would dare mislead you. Would that help you in the current moment so you might put your thoughts together?”
That would be unfathomably great of you to do and would save me the time of having to write out replies to all of their questions. I nodded in agreement before he got up to go and talk to the other brothers. I know they’ll listen to him, and if not he’s got a much more level head to find some way to direct their attention elsewhere. The reassurance I felt from that idea caused me to yawn, and before I knew it my legs carried me to my own bed and dropped me into the bedding of their own volition. Tomorrow problems can be tomorrow Kayrux’s problems, today Kayrux wants to relax.
…
Someone was shaking me awake, and I only realized as I tried to get up that I was half off the bed with my bag tangled around my waist. I looked up to see that it was Mibata again shaking me awake with Tokols at his side. The two looked somewhat red in the eyes as though they’d just gotten up and were still getting up to speed. Tokols nudged my tail and muttered something about food before stumbling off to the other room while Mibata lent me a hand untying my bag. Other than my awkward sleeping posture everything this morning was pretty normal for a weekend, that is until I put my plate in the kitchen and walked towards the door only to find Mom standing there with her arms crossed. Oh crap, what did I do this time?
“Well, let’s get going.”
Huh? What do you mean by that? I looked back to see that Humey was waving to me as Tokols and Mibata took position beside me, and in a sudden march we were all going out the door. Bro, I thought you said you were going to talk them down, this seems like the exact opposite of that! I shot him a questioning look only to have him shrug at me. I put so much faith in him I must have forgotten that he too must be seething with rage underneath that cold outer shell.
The ride down to the bottom floor was tense, and every time we passed a floor with someone looking to get on the lift they’d take one look at Juaki and turn around. Eventually we were passing the floor where Raevu was waiting to meet me, and before she could respond to any of this she was pulled onto the lift and shoved beside me. I thought Dad could make things awkward, but a super protective mom was a hundred times worse. I wrote a quick explanation that we were heading to the bottom floor to check on something to Raevu, though judging by her smile and nodding must mean that she’s alright with this strange hostage scenario.
We reached the bottom and all poured out of the rickety cage of a lift when something vile registered in my senses. I could see it, smell it, taste it, and hear it in the air like some kind of repulsive fog. The acrid burning sensation I felt told me that this stuff was some kind of magic, but it was the realization that I had felt this before shook me. I tracked the dark smog back to its source, which was the dark altar itself, and what I saw made my eyes widen in shock. On top of the altar were two of the praetorians tipping over a bucket of that same black sludge that had seeped out of the altar when the ritual backfired, and at the bottom were more guards waiting with empty vessels lying at their feet.
Our arrival must have coincided with their exit time, as only a minute after we got off the lift did the two at the top yell something down to the others and come hustling with an empty bucket. They collected all of the containers and piled them high into a cart, then in a quick flurry of movement pushed it beyond the waiting entrance of a large set of double doors on the far side of the area before the heavy doors came slamming shut. We all got closer to the altar, and even though I was aware that the others couldn’t sense the same things that I did I could see their scales begin to prickle as their own senses detected something of what was there. A droplet of that tar-like substance dribbled down the face of the shrine towards us, and everyone but Mibata and myself shied away from it in terror. Oh yeah, this is some bad juju right here.
Something strange fell over me as I looked at that glob of terrible ooze, a deep feeling of hatred and rage that I had no real reason to feel. It was as though the blood in my body was screaming at me that this stuff was evil in its purest form and my objective now was to eradicate it. Mibata looked as though he had the same feeling, and I could see in perfect detail as his pupils constricted until they were as thin as paper while looking at it. The droplet didn’t stick around to be an object of our scrutiny for long however, and dribbled onto the ground where it seeped into the very stone beneath our feet. Disturbing is a word for that, but my imagination can run wild with the implications until after we reconvene.
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I reached for my slate when I felt something like a voice coming from beneath me, a deep growling voice I remembered well from the last time I was here. Then in response there came that haunting chorus of other voices that was present the day I accepted this shrines blessing, the voice of the supposed ‘other’ that dwells in the shrine. A roar, a cry, a horrendous screech, then it all fell silent again. Something told me that one of those great beings had just fought and defeated the other, but in the moment I had no way of knowing who had won. Slowly I knelt down and put my hand on the ground feeling the magic deep underground as I had during the ritual, then with a jolt I recoiled as I felt something reaching up to me.
I stumbled back, surprised and scared by what had just happened, but as my adrenaline wore off and I was helped to my feet by my worried family I realized that this sensation wasn’t the sinister force from the dark shrine. Jukai placed a hand on my shoulder, her eyes dark with worry and fear.
“Kayrux, what happened? You didn’t get that evil on you, did you?”
I shook my head and patted her hand to let her know I was fine, then returning to the ground I listened closely to the silence below. Breathing, slow and ragged, was echoing up from the darkness beyond where my senses could reach, and I could tell from the force of it that the real dragon was the one victorious. I placed my hand on the ground once more and felt the strange grasping magic reaching up for me again, but much slower this time, more cautious than before. I closed my eyes in anticipation of its touch, and the moment it made contact it felt as though everything went still and cold.
Unlike with the night of the ritual I was not transported to the darkened mirror world of the dragons, but more as though I were pulled into that dark void I’d been lost in during my dreams. I could feel that the dragon was there in the darkness with me but I just couldn’t see it. Its voice rumbled through me as its ragged voice called my name, forcing me to grit my teeth and bear it. I tried to speak as I was able to before, but this void seemed to be incapable of carrying my voice like the mirrored world. I instead reached out with my thoughts as I had when speaking to Charles and called out for the dragon.
Hello, I can hear you. Can you hear me?
“Kayrux!”
Damn it, there’s no need to shout at me! I can hear you just fine. What’s going on?
“I need… I need mana.”
You sound like shit, are you alright?
“No! That witch is forcing her dark magic into my realm once more, but I will not be beaten so easily. I have slain her latest abomination, but this cannot continue. Why have you not yet killed her?”
What the Hell am I supposed to do, just walk up to her on the street and blast her in broad daylight? In case you’re not aware she’s an elder here, which means that she’s one of the people in charge. I don’t know what the punishment for killing her is, but I doubt I’m going to keep my head after that. Also, why do you assume I’m okay with just-
“We made a deal! I do not care if you are averse to violence, she must die. They will not execute you if they know that you are my chosen, so just be done with it and proclaim your sacred oath after.”
Wow. Genius plan, but did you take a moment to consider that I’m mute, and as far as people are concerned this whole business with being chosen sounds like a delusion of greatness? Right now there’s only one of the elders I know who knows about my deal with you, a possible second who says they’re on my side, and two elders who for sure would see me dead if they knew that I was going to kill one of them.
“Inconceivable. Does the local magistrate not conduct investigations? Can the court mages not reveal the truth with scrying glass? How have these elders gotten this far in corrupting my realm without alerting the high mages?”
Um… I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’ve never heard of any of that stuff before. As far as I know the elders are running the show and are all in their own little bubble when it comes to running the show around the city.
“You lie, there cannot be a functioning society without these figures. How have things not devolved into chaos if there is no laws or enforcers?”
Oh there are enforcers all right. It recently came to my attention that there’s enforcers for each of these elders, and apart from them there’s also a large force of guards and peacekeepers in the city as well as these creepy eye things that watch everyone while being functionally invisible. If I had to guess they just got rid of all of these other guys and just kept adding more police until they had this whole place on lock down.
“Madness. Madness!”
Ow! Seriously, there’s no one else here so stop doing that! Listen, I don’t know how long they’ve had you out of the picture of when it was last you saw how things are going up here, but everything you’re talking about is ancient history. I can’t just kill the witch in cold blood or I’ll be joining her in a shallow grave, so the best I can do is bide my time until the one guy in my corner can tell me how I can win this fight. I know that sounds pretty pathetic, but what can you really expect from one person facing down an entire army of armed lizards? Let’s start with what we can do in the meantime while I plan things up here, starting with the mana you need. How much will it take for you to last another week?
There came a strange huffing noise as the dragon shifted in the dark, perhaps as they turned their back on me like some sullen child. I waited for a response, which during that time I began to feel as though a hand were pressing into my shoulder. That must be my body being touched right now, and since things in this weird void are slowed down that must mean time is running out. I was about to reach out with my thoughts again when the voice came back to me with a feeling of weariness.
“I need more than was given before, but I cannot offer anything in exchange this time. I am ashamed that this is the case, but I must beg you to-”
Don’t worry about it. However much mana you need, take it. I don’t need any more deals or promises, but I can’t have that bitch have her way putting you in chains.
“I…accept. I will take all that is needed, but it will only be enough to last for so long. This battle will only grow more challenging as her servants defile this place further, and eventually your magic alone will no longer be enough.”
I said I was working on something, so just hold out until then, alright? I swear that I’m going to give her what’s coming and put her little cult out of business, but for now all I have is a hammer and a pile of schematics. She won’t be doing another ritual here ever again.
With that I felt something of an affirmative puff of air push through me, as well as something pull at my source with a force I’d yet to experience before. Charles began to make my ears ring as mana was pulled out from me in a flowing river through my arms and legs, but instead of an aching soreness I felt something like a cool breeze on my scales at the passing of this sensation. The darkness of the void slowly faded away until I felt as though I was back in my own head again, which came with the abrupt sensation of my energy being sapped and a hand holding me steady.
I jerked my head up to look at who was holding me, only to see Mibata kneeling on my right and Tokols on my left, each putting an arm around me as I swayed unsteadily. The dizziness passed as I was helped to my feet, and to my surprise I had this incredible lightness in my chest. I probed with my scanner to see what was off, and my scanners told me that my mana had been halved and was flowing much smoother than usual. So this was what being unburdened by too much mana feels like, eh? I stretched my arms and popped my neck, and to make the worried looks on the faces of my family members and best friend I gave them a thumbs up and a bright smile. They returned the smile, but as they all huddled around me and began asking questions I couldn’t help but sink back into having a worried look of my own as they read my answers.
Time wasn’t on my side and there weren’t a lot of people who had my back, and the dragon seemed completely out of touch with what's changed in its absence. Not only that, but the idea that the elders have changed things so much to the point that we were all in a police state had me worried about other things, like what they did with those who broke the unspoken rules. Until Faerkurch gives me some kind of go-ahead or this mystery benefactor gives me more clues I’m just going to have to play by ear, which to me means building something. I passed along the idea that we should all go and visit Rakyat in his shop so I could get my parts from him, so we all huddled up at the elevator platform and waited for the lift.
I was writing an explanation to what it was I’d heard from the dragon when there came a loud gasp and a series of squeaks from above me, but at the moment I foolishly ignored it and continued writing. That was until I heard Tokols say something.
“Kay, watch out!”
I looked up just in time to see a pack of red scaled kobolds on the lift in front of me, the foremost one crouched down in a predatory stance. I raised my hands to stop her, a look of surprise and fear on my face, but nothing would stop the ballistic missile that was Vimna. I wasn’t prepared for her, so we both crashed to the ground with her constricting arms clenching down on my sides. Then, for the second time that day, I felt everything go dark as she nearly squeezed the life out of me.