I massaged my hand, pain flowing up from my knuckles across my arm. A good kind of pain.

Next to me, Ildat ruefully rubbed the cheek I’d punched, feeling out the sore flesh.

“I suppose I owe you that,” He said, breaking the silence.

“You think?” I shot back. I was still angry over him knocking me out. “Next time, fucking warn me before you nearly kill me.”

“Would both of you be quiet?” Sofi asked just as irritably. She was currently by Ildat. I was sitting on the other side of the table. She’d insisted on it. After she had gotten between the two of us following me punching Ildat.

Currently, she was busy looking at Ildat’s cheek, after finishing with my head, which was still throbbing. Apparently, it had been worse. They hadn’t told me how bad the damage was before the plan had healed it. Probably because they were afraid I’d try punching Ildat again.

“What kind of augments did they put in you?” She asked me as she prodded Ildat’s cheek. “You broke his cheekbone. With a punch.”

“Have no idea what augments are,” I said. “For what it’s worth, I did not mean to break his cheek. I just wanted to make it clear, maybe ask before either of you…give me a concussion?”

“Let us go with that, yes,” Sofi stated quickly. Too quickly. How close to death had I been from that punch? “Ildat, I have a preparation in storage, go use that. I’ve used up too much already today. Too many resources that would be useful for later.”

There was a particular weight on that last sentence, impossible not to pick up on. Directed at me.

“I’m done fighting, as long as nobody tries to fight with me,” I stated. “What are augmeunts?”

Ildat was up and out of the room, leaving just the two of us in here now. Sofi took her seat from before, where a still nearly full bowl of stew lay. “Technological devices inserted in the body to give various advantages or abilities. Ildat has quite a few that make it harder to injure him. Some specifically in his head, hence why you breaking that cheekbone was a surprise. Are you alright?”

As soon as the first sentence left Sofi’s lips I’d been bombarded with imagery, literature, and pretty much every scrap of media that had ever been related to Cyberpunk before. It was a half-picture, only the aspects related to the ‘cyberware’ that was crucial for the genre. But it was enough that my head had been filled with nothing but that till Sofi’s question jolted me out.

“Sorry. Those bursts of specific memories I was telling you about earlier? You defining augments knocked a bunch of them loose.”

She frowned. “At least it wasn’t a seizure. You seized up for the knowledge of augments on earth?”

“Their portrayal in fiction,” I clarified. “I don’t remember Earth having augments. Or, uh ‘cyberware’ is what it’s called there.”

“Interesting but not very useful,” Sofi shook her head. “This could be a problem. If you start doing this in tense situations….”

The implication was pretty clear. “It wasn’t this bad or obtrusive earlier. I’m not sure why it’s like this now.”

“Was it like this before Ildat knocked you out?” The polite way of putting what he did. I’d call it something else.

“Sort of. It was beginning to get egregious before the,.” I answered

“Well, it will need to be addressed before we start the plan. What else did you find in there?”

“Okay, so…” I trailed off, not entirely sure what to do. I was stuck with two relatively friendly people but I wouldn’t say I trusted either of them. Should I tell them about meeting the Suitcase Killer in my head and what she had told me? On the one hand they knew much more about this world than me, and would hopefully figure out why she wanted me to die, what me being a layered soul meant, and just about everything else.

On the other hand, did I trust these people? They had tried to threaten me into joining their group. Then Ildat has nearly killed me. No matter what his intentions with that, not letting me know first pissed me the hell off. As for Sofi…she seemed nicer, but why did she want the Night Manager gone? Would I make myself a pawn by letting them know?

Too many questions for now. This I would play closer to my chest.

“You alright? You’ve gone cross-eyed. Another memory burst?” Sofi remarked in a worried tone.

You have got to be joking, I thought as I stared at her. That lunatic in my head had been right?!

“Why are you glaring at me?” She seemed a bit on edge as she asked that.

“Nothing,” I muttered. “Sorry, apparently I just have one of those faces.”

Who goes cross-eyed when they are thinking? Me apparently. Had the Suitcase Killer planned this? Others had said she’d had her former body ‘sculpted’ into this. Which, okay where did the extra mass come from for one thing, but for another had she done that on purpose?

I was thinking about someone who’d arranged it so I had woken up in ice-filled water. So probably on purpose.

“Just..just forget it. I didn’t mean to stare or look hostile or anything like that. Let’s just move on. The Insurance Information in my head stated I had a Following of Choice and Specialties. What are those?”

“Magic,” Ildat grunted, having finally come in from the other room. “Rain’s stopped outside for now. Expect some of the employees will start coming in soon enough.”

“Magic?” He had said it so matter of factly but….and like that a small nuclear device went off in the middle of my forehead.

I exaggerated, but that’s what it felt like as I involuntarily froze up. If the info dump inside my own brain from having everything cyberpunk shoved had made Sofi think I was having a seizure, I could only imagine how this one looked.

Mind you, inside my own head, wasn’t feeling that much better than I probably looked. One simple word had thrown everything into disarray.

A thousand different magic systems were swirling about my head, fighting over which one would inform me next of how they functioned down to the minute detail. If I could even manage to describe my state of mind at the time, it would be ‘flooded’. I was aware that Ildat and Sofi were out there, talking, one of them came over and poked me even. I couldn’t respond, too busy having my head filled with every variation of magic that was somewhat popular on earth.

If this turned out to be the Suitcase Killer’s doing as well, I would figure out how to strange a soul just for her.

“-need to handle the changeover before we go. I will appoint Carspens in charge until we return.”

“Carspens? Do you trust her?”

“Not enough to take her with us, but she can manage the operations until our return. Or success.”

“Magic. Of course, there’s magic,” I was laughing, maybe a bit too much from the looks Ildat and Sofi were giving me. They had been discussing something else. For how long I couldn’t guess.

“Welcome back to the land of the living. And of course there’s magic. Is it a surprise to you?” Ildat asked cautiously.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Where I come from there’s no magic, there are no augments, there’s none of this.” I gestured all around. “You should know Ildat, you said you worked with someone from Earth.”

“I did. And…they weren’t shocked at the mention of either of those concepts and mentioned using them back home.” Ildat answered.

What? Every time I thought I was close to getting a grip on anything here, the rug gets pulled out from underneath me.

“That doesn’t agree with my memories at all,” I said, sitting back down in the chair. My head felt like someone had been pounding on it.

“Your memories are possibly not even actual memories. You have already said yourself that they more resemble general knowledge than actual memories,” Sofi said.

“More mysteries. Amazing. How do you think we fixed you up from your injuries?” Ildat sounded irritated, even more so than when I had punched him. It wasn’t a tone I appreciated.

“I was going to ask. When she mentioned you had augments I assumed…nanites or something like that. Not magic!” I answered back testily.

Sofi frowned. “Calm down. I am not sure why you are vehemently against its existence. But it is magic and it took more of it to heal your head as well. Calm down. And Ildat, give our newest subordinate some courtesy.”

Ildat raised an eyelid, then said “Apologies. For all of that.”

“Accepted,” I replied, although I was more focused on digesting the first thing Sofi had said. Why was I so vehemently opposed to the idea that magic could exist? I’d accepted technology beyond what I thought was possible with no real issue, outside the knowledge drop hitting the inside of my head. But something inside me was vehemently disgusted at the idea of magic. Was it just the reflexive reaction to when I had my head blasted with an entire genre?

No. For one thing, while that had been annoying it hadn’t been like the Ant-man one almost getting me killed. But even when I had that knowledge entering my head, there had been contempt. Almost like I was prejudiced from the start. But why?

“My following was listed as The Primal Fear. Is that a powerful one?” I asked.

Sofi cocked her head to the side. “For what you do? Yes. Remarkably powerful. If I had been asked to guess based on y- The Suitcase Killer’s actions and methods of operation, that would be my first guess.”

Ildat nodded. “Old-time patron. It’s not considered a deity because it doesn’t think, it doesn’t feel, it just acts as an expression of unconscious emotion. Think of it as a pool of everyone’s fear. You chip into the pool, you get more out of it. If you are the Suitcase Killer you are probably owed a good deal.”

I had a theory. One that I wouldn’t share with them for the same reason I wouldn’t share encountering the Suitcase Killer. She wanted me to die. I was to serve some kind of purpose, but she didn’t want me in control of this body forever. Had they programmed my mind to be hostile to the idea of magic when it came up?

I didn’t like this theory. It was a stretch, why only change that aspect, and why do it when there was little chance of me figuring it out on my own? But were that my thoughts on the subject or what the Suitcase Killer wanted them to be?

There was a long existential chain extending from that logic, so for right now I’d ignore it. Magic was real. I had it. I would be using it. I straight up shivered at the thought of that. Just a visceral reaction of dislike at the idea.

“I might have a theory for why I reacted so poorly to the idea of magic. But first, why would I be owed? What was the Suitcase Killer doing that would have her owed by the primal expression of fear?” I had a few thoughts on the subject but they seemed to have all the answers.

“Well, people put out bounties on others just to repay their debts. You get people who put bounties out for people they personally dislike. Sometimes it’s just killing them for the inconvenience, sometimes it’s capture, some like getting really hands-on,” Ildat explained.

“You are the first for the Night Manager, the second for quite a host of others,” Sofi added.

“Lots of people want my head, got that. Where does this lead?” I could do with less talking around the point. There was a lot to discuss and this was just making these conversations feel longer and longer.

Ildat rolled his eyes. “Give us a second. People already pay a lot for what isn’t a permanent death. Permanent death isn’t a possibility. But what if you could buy the next best thing? Death of personality.”

“Making sure someone comes back as not themselves?” I queried. Sounded like the closest thing to true death mentioned so far.

“Correct. This goes beyond forcing them to be reborn until their personality is changed. This is to eliminate all prior memories,” Sofi added looking uncomfortable. Seemed it was a touchy subject. Or at least awkward.

“Not to bring this up again, but are we sure that’s not what happened to me?” Didn’t explain the Suitcase Killer in my head but it sounded close enough.

“The Hotel wouldn’t have allowed it. People don’t just pay high rent to enjoy our amenities. Violence between guests is forbidden except when a Manager allows it. And all of the methods that could be used are very loud, either in noise or thaumic readings,” Sofi shrugged. “Not that there are not those who wanted the Suitcase Killer dead, but to risk being tossed out on the street where they could be subjected to something similar? Unlikely.”

Another dead end then. “Okay. So the death of personality. How did I do this?”

“It’s in the name,” Ildat commented. “Title I guess.”

It wasn’t hard to guess what they meant. “The Suitcase. But there was someone inside when-“

Ildat interrupted me. “Probably some poor schmuck from before you entered the hotel. Suitcase Killer only started staying here last three, four months.”

“196 days, give or take a day,” Sofi added.

I’d ask how the creature, the former person has stayed alive without food or water. But I imagined the answer would be something just as disgusting. “Okay, but how does the Suitcase relate to fear?”

“People who go inside it get twisted by their worse fears,” Sofi shivered as she talked. “It takes ahold of you, goes through your mind, grinds it down until it finds what you fear most and uses it to warp you.”

More evidence for the Suitcase Killer being a delightful person. “How do you know that?”

“The Suitcase Killer has been many things in her time in the public eye. Humble has never been one of them.”

I almost said “Yep, don’t I know that,” in response but caught myself in time. I shouldn’t know. So instead I kept quiet and Ildat and Sofi filled the void between them.

“You know, it is entirely possible she decided to subject herself to the suitcase?”

“Are you suggesting that the Suitcase Killer worse fear is her?”

“Warped by, not become. But point stands. Perhaps soul-weaving?”

“If that was the case, she’d have started dissolving into pieces by now.

“Okay, magic exists, cyberpunk technology exists, and this is a city that shouldn’t exist, not only are my memories fake but they might not even be accurate. Let’s try focusing on something else. What’s your plan for taking down the Night Manager?”

Sofi seemed taken aback by my outburst but quickly recovered. “Firstly, we organize our departure. I do not want to state our plan anywhere where it could be casually overheard. We have other members of our group to meet with, and I have to finish arrangements here.”

I took a breath, trying not to get impatient. I was already pushing this as far as I probably could. The last thing I wanted to do is alienate these two. “Okay. So what’s our first step to handling that?”

***

The first step turned out to be heading outside. Of course.

The rain had stopped outside, but the mud hadn’t gone away. The hill looked larger than when I had reached the top, and the only answer I could get out of Ildat for why was ‘Earth spirits’.

Him and I were the only ones who had left. Sofi had stayed behind, to address the group of people gathered at her front door. There had been ten, maybe twenty there when we had left. I hadn’t taken a close look, they hadn’t paid me any mind and I returned the favor.

“Most of the immediate subordinates that help run this place,” Ildat said once we were out of earshot. “Not hooked into the plan. Most of them don’t need to be and Sofi wants her legacy intact in case this doesn’t work out.”

“Her legacy being this entire area I guess?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t here when it started. Used to be owned by a different company, mining group, can down here and cleared pretty much all the useful metals out. Found the lake, and named it after the president of the company’s daughter. I have no idea who in their right mind would call their child ‘Slit-face’ but that’s the lake’s official name.”

“So everything useful got mined out then?”

“Pretty much. Some more esoteric entities moved in and called it home before the Night Manager decided to purchase the land and use it for the Hotel’s laundry system.”

“Yeah, I forgot to ask with everyone else going on. Your laundry system is a lake. Why?”

“Owner’s insistence. They recently made the purchase of a…creature that facilitates most of it. When you landed in the water, did you see the ground below?”

“Yes, it was like the skin of a…” I paused, remembering the pockmarked skin that it had resembled.“The lake is alive?”

“Not quite sure what it is but touching the waters above it cleans clothes instantly. They decided it would save on cleaning costs.”

“But…how does it get sorted, how do you send it back up, there just seems to be a dozen things made more difficult just to do this?”

“Can’t argue with nepotism. Owner wants their friend to get a job, their friend gets a job. Figuring out all those other details was Sofi’s job. She’s been trying to turn this operation profitable ever since. Finding salt deposits, fishing, what agriculture can grow here. Still a long ways off, which is a bit of an issue.”

“Why?”

“She doesn’t turn a profit soon, she gets replaced. We’ve been close enough for long enough that they’ve been willing to keep her in. Also because they’ve yet to find anyone good enough to replace her.”

We’d reached the edge of the hill by now. “Where to next?”

“Wharf number 2. It’s time to meet the rest of the crew.”