Casper and Aster were waiting for them at the entrance of the academy. In excitement, he stepped up to Casper, hand raised for a high five. The brown haired man flinched back. “Sorry, this is a greeting in my homeland. We call it a high five.” He proceeded to show him how to do it.

Virtus stepped up from behind Jack and held out his forearm. “In the Empire, we grasp forearms between friends.” They shook, the movement awkward due to inexperience.

Casper cleared his throat. “Shall we get going?

…

An hour later, they were at the southern gate. They had passed through several smaller streets, so as to avoid notice, on their exodus from the center of Eternity. During this trip, Jack had learned a lot.

The city was relatively new. It was built by the current Eternal Emperor when he came into power a little more than a century ago. No, Jack didn’t know how he was still alive. When he asked all he received was political propaganda about the Emperor’s divine right to rule from God upon his brow. Why are they so obsessed about his eyebrows? Are they holy here?

When his reign started, he demolished the old palace and built Eternity right next to it. That is where the orphan ward is located now. South of the palace/academy/church district, or colloquially known as the center, was the commoner district. Imagine suburbia inside ancient rome. Instead of roads they had paved walkways that went from plaza to plaza. Houses circled the plaza and relied upon the plaza as a source of water, news, and other things. Jack liked the sense of inclusion that the design implied. An hour later they wound around the edge of the southern districts to the southern gate

In order to get to the orphan ward one first had to exit the city walls. Due to his unconsciousness the first time, this trip was all new to him. No wonder they use secret tunnels to get everywhere. These tunnels were not an option on this trip due to Virtus being present. No smuggler ever succeeded by telling the authorities where they got their goods.

The outside of the city was a vast, verdant grassland for several miles. He could only vaguely see trees in the distance. Small animals moved about all around them. More animals than Jack believed to be altogether natural. “Why are there so many animals over there?” He asked the others.

Casper spoke up first, casually switching to a lecturer's pose. “The ambient mana in the air and earth augments the animals to grow. Also, almost every city in the empire is built on top of a Ley Line. This further increases the growth rate.”

Virtus stepped in next. “The guard goes out and regularly culls the local wildlife. The mana cores and various crafting materials gathered are then sold to the artificers in a monthly auction hosted by the Throne.”

Just then, Jack spotted a wolf with sparking blue fur sneak up on a horned rabbit. An arc of electricity came from the wolf and struck the rabbit. It convulsed before the wolf tore its throat out.

“I see.” was all Jack was able to say. They continued on the road until it curved back into the city. There was no gate this time, just a ramshackle security checkpoint that wasn’t even manned.

As they entered the ward, a thousand eyes seemed to peer at them from the darkness. Casper stepped up and bellowed into the darkness. “It is I. Have no fear this night, brothers and sisters.” He made several large gestures with his hands during his little William Wallace speech. at least he didn’t demand their freedom!

Shuffling sounds came from all around them and most of the watching eyes disappeared. Most of them anyways. As they walked forward, a pair of people slowly came into sight. One was Arthur, still as bedraggled as ever. He was sporting a splint on one arm, made of dirty wood splinters and twine. The other person was at once familiar and alien to Jack.

“Lillian, is that you?” He called out in bewilderment. She didn’t respond to the question and merely waved them over. When they were close it was obviously her, except her whole demeanor was different. Gone were the trappings and softness she wore like a second skin. In their place was a hard-bitten woman in a gi. Her eyes flashed like obsidian and sh erested on the balls of her feet.

“The master wishes to speak with the Adjudicator.” She intoned to the crowd formally. As if this were a ritual oft-repeated.

“I vouch for the character of the Adjudicator and his guard,” Casper responded before giving Virtus a dirty look. It seemed that they still weren’t friends.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Come with me.” she waved them forward once more before smoothly rotating and loved off like a gazelle. Her movement was both strong and graceful. It dazzled him. He had such a hard time looking away from her that he quickly got lost.

Eyes once more peered at them from the darkness. He could see most of them due to his improved vision but chose to not look at anyone directly. Especially not Arthur, who was busy trying to glare Jack to death.

A few minutes later they arrived at a ramshackle warehouse that butted up against the city wall. Inside were stacks of crates and goods. Each crate was branded and had a paper attached. They reminded Jack of shipping manifests. How did they get these into the deepest part of the orphan ward? The guard must have noticed something. That was when he remembered that Casper mentioned that most of the underground here were a series of connected passages. With that query out of the way he looked up to take in the panorama of the warehouse.

A Giant man stood alone in the center of the room. His profile reached roughly six and a half feet and he must have weighed at least two hundred pounds of pure muscle. A large salt and pepper beard went down to his chest and his piercing eyes radiated all the colors of the earth. This was a man that earned respect from the sheer gravity of his presense.

Casper and Aster ran up to the man and gave him a huge hug. He responded by laughing and scooping them up enthusiastically. He whispered something to them and they responded by shaking, then nodding their heads. As this was an obvious family moment, Jack and Virtus stepped back and pretended to be flies on the wall.

When they stepped back and the big man straightened, everyone froze in deference to his intensity. He stepped towards Jack and held out his arm in greeting. He just barely remembered to grasp his forearm instead of his hand, old habits die hard.

“My name is Felix, my children have told me much about you.” he gave Jack a reassuring smile as they shook.

“My name is Jack, Jack Hearth.”

“Well met Jack, can I call you that? The Adjudicator is such a long title and you do not seem to have picked up any others yet.” Jack nodded

Felix’s gaze traveled over his shoulder to Virtus, Lillian, and Arthur. His eyes hardened a bit when he saw the sling and Virtus’ Lorica armor. “Arthur, come here.”

As the boy approached, Felix put his arm protectively over him. His hand glowed for a moment before he stripped the cast off. “What did I tell you about getting hurt?” he asked the boy. His voice was firm and unveiling.

Arthur’s eyes were lowered ever since his father had noticed him. “Come directly to you for healing. Do not try to treat myself unless it is a life or death situation.” He mumbled in a monotone.

He laid a leathery hand on the boy's arm. The makeshift splint crumbled and fell to the ground in a pile. Sallow skin and a bend in the forearm were visible to all and it was clear that Arthur hated revealing his pain in a public setting. The arm snapped into place with a crunch and the skin began to darken back to his usual dusky pigment.

Felix lifted his arm off the boy and pointed off to the west. “All better now. You need to stay inside tomorrow and rest up in bed. I know that you will not but it needs to be said. Take Aster with you. She has had a long day and needs to talk to someone about it.” Arthur cheered up at that and headed to the little girl. They began whispering to each other as they walked away. He only gave them a few murder glares while leaving.

Felix turned back to them as the children left the room. He pointed to Virtus. “I am going to have to ask you to leave Ferrum. This business does not concern you. I wish to speak to the Adjudicator alone.”

The young guardian was now showing signs of irritation. He straightened to his full height and hunkered his shoulders. “When we made this plan. We were going to your ongoing riot you call a tavern. I agreed to stay in the lobby and watch the door. He didn’t say anything about leaving the city and coming to this forsaken corner of the ward. At this point, Praetor.” He spit the title out with disgust. “I am about to carve a path out of this place and take Jack with me.”

The big man seemed surprised by Virtus’ sudden show of emotion, they all were. Felix seemed to recover first and replied. “I am sorry for the change in plan. It was decided that this would be a better location at the last minute. There were too many eyes on my home and business. Your frustration is noted and understood. That does not change the fact that I still can’t have a noble like yourself knowing our business. So we are going to go upstairs and you can wait here. Is that acceptable?” Virtus nodded in agreement, reluctantly. His body didn’t lose any of it’s stiffness.

Felix directed Jack to a staircase In the back. at the top was a small study with maps covering each wall and several comfy armchairs in front of a fireplace. It had an old-world Britain feel to it. He half expected the other man to pull out a pipe and light it.

“Feel free to light up the fireplace. Since a guardsman knows about this place now, a smokestack overhead won’t make much difference.” He sat down in one of the chairs.

Jack set up the logs before lighting them with a quick Spark cantrip. He turned back and sat facing Felix. The other man was eyeing him very differently now. “That was quite the little spell you just cast. It was very loud magically but what I didn’t feel was the taint.”

“The taint?” Jack asked.

“Yes, the disgusting miasma that comes off of a Magi when they use magic. Surely, you must have encountered it?”

“Oh that, my body naturally purifies it on contact. It feels like I am actively drenched in a sewer with all of my senses but it is worth it for the gains.” He replied.

“Gains?”

“Ah, yes, sorry about that. Everyone else watches me like a hawk. It has gotten to the point where I expect people to just know everything about me.” He scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Ahh! Understandable, the nobility is threatened with the monster that they spent their infancy fearing. Information gathering would have been their very first priority.” He paused with an intent look for a second before responding. “I suppose that I am not much different. The ability to influence the Adjudicator was an opportunity that I simply could not pass up. But that is enough about that. You said that coming in contact with the taint is somehow beneficial to you. Would you mind explaining?”

A Forthright admission of manipulation was something that Jack did not expect from such a gruff person. His first instinctive impression was that Felix was a straight shooter. Guess not. The complete transparency did, however, win him points.

“My body processes the taint and separates it into pure mana. Compatible mana is absorbed, making me stronger and smarter. Where as incompatible mana just gets vented into the atmosphere.” He lifted his arm to show his new toned muscle. “I was a twig three days ago and now I’m like this.”

The large man’s eye dilated in surprise and perhaps a bit of joy.. That passed as he resolved himself. “I have a very personal request. I know we have only met but this is important.” He closed his eyes and seemed to force the next few words. “May I enter your Soulscape?”

“What?”