Chapter 6 Look Into

Isaac and Lenna sat side by side at the dining table. The first pair of chairs just inside from the head of the table were empty with the following two on either side filled with Margaret and Lenny on one side and Martha and Madeline on the other. The only person with an empty plate was Lenny. Margaret had just finished explaining to Martha that there was plenty of food for ‘Mister Phantom’ and that the Lord and Lady of the house were only making him wait until everyone else was finished before he could get his own food. That was why Martha was now shoveling food into her mouth, with as close an approximation to proper table manners as a seven year old who was trying to eat as fast as possible could muster. In her little mind; the sooner she finished, the sooner Mister Phantom could start.

“There is another reason I came today.” Lenny told Isaac and Lenna. His eyes flicked to the plate still piled high with a hot and hearty breakfast on it.

“Oh?” Isaac asked. “Something important?”

“I have no idea.” Lenny replied honestly. “Remember how you told me to keep an eye out for magic items that let a person cast spells without being able to control mana themselves?”

“Yes.” Isaac said to keep him going.

“The final item at the auction was one such item. I didn’t find out about it until a while later and decided to do some digging.” Lenny began. “There is a wealthy merchant named Eugene Even Pierce.” Lenny then visibly cringed. “Or Mister Eep as people started calling him.”

“That is an awful name.” Isaac agreed. “Go on.”

“Well, Eep,” Lenny then chuckled to himself at the horrendous nickname. “ended up spending six platinum bars on the item. It was an elaborate brooch in the shape of a shield that cast and maintained a Reality Shield bubble around him for ten minutes, less if the bubble was directly attacked by something like a building or something else equally as ridiculous. It is a pretty good item but I don’t think it’s worth six platinum bars. What’s going on with the item type you asked me to keep an eye out for?”

Isaac shook his head. “I have no idea. Alexander said that he would reimburse us for any we found and picked up. He said that they were causing a huge mess in the capital but that’s all I know. There has to be something we don’t know. A reality bubble brooch is not something that should be causing problems for the court wizards of Alita.” He replied.

“I believe it has something to do with the fact that it is a spell. I do wonder why though.” Lenna chimed in.

“It has to be related to whoever is making them.” Isaac surmised.

“Should I keep looking into it?” Lenny asked. “Though, if I am limited to only what I can learn while in Safeharbor it might be kind of difficult to get anything concrete.”

“Do you think you can get through the dwarven checkpoint without being remembered?” Isaac queried him in return.

“You mean by not being noticed or by being forgettable?” Lenny wondered.

“Either.” Isaac clarified.

“I think I can be forgotten under the right circumstances. Sneaking through there is a no go though. No one sneaks through the dwarven checkpoint. There are hundreds more runes packed between every brick and block of stone than it looks like there is.” Lenny declared. “Why?”

“You can expand your area of influence to Sapphirestone as needed but you’ll need to find a way to keep Lenny and Phantom from being connected.” Isaac told him. “Actually, I have a question. If no one can sneak through a dwarven checkpoint then how do slaves and contraband get through?”

“Bottomless Boxes and Bags.” Lenny replied. “You can stuff a person inside a Bottomless anything as long as they fit and it’s been aired out ahead of time.”

“Do you think that Phantom could smuggle himself out?” Isaac wondered.

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“Not a chance.” Lenny stated. “Everyone in the underground of our underground city hates me. Little old Lenny will have to just tag along with some caravans from time to time.”

“If you are confident in your ability to do it, without blowing you or your brother’s cover, do it.” Isaac told him. “Otherwise, stay in Safeharbor and keep up with your training. While we are gone, Izen and Edward are going to need someone shady that they can rely on.”

“I’ll wait for your return, as long as it isn’t for more than a year.” Lenny told him. “I don’t want to let G.M. or Teach down by bailing on them as soon as you leave.”

Isaac nodded and Lenna smiled at him. “You are growing into quite the man.” Lenna complimented him. “I know it hasn’t been very long, but the you from before seemed like a large child chasing thrills.”

“Oh I am still chasing thrills, lady boss, but I am also aware of those that have helped me.” Lenny clarified. “That’s why I won’t be sticking around for more than a year waiting for you.”

Lenna chuckled. “Fair enough. Now, I believe it is your time to eat.” She told him. Lenny looked around the table and noticed that everyone was finished. With one quick glance towards Isaac, to which he got a nod in reply, Lenny dove into the breakfast as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

“The breakfast was very well made.” Isaac complimented Madeline as he rose to his feet.

Madeline hurried to rise before he did and curtsied in reply to his compliment. “It was my pleasure, my Lord.” She replied.

“Lenny, save some of it for your brother, and I trust that the two of you will leave without anyone seeing you.” Isaac told the sword dancer.

Lenny nodded. “Yep.” He agreed through a mouthful of food.

“Margaret, we will be home for dinner.” Lenna told their stewardess.

Margaret had risen from her seat at a much more measured pace than her eldest daughter, or her youngest daughter who had hurried to mimic her, and was ready to reply with grace. “Will the seventeenth hour be appropriate, my Lady?” Margaret requested clarification.

“Yes.” Lenna replied. “If for some reason we are later than that, you may eat without us.”

“As you say.” Margaret said with a graceful bow.

With James and Lenny taken care of, their household in order, and the chiming of the eleventh bell on the wall clock, it was finally time for Isaac and Lenna to get their futures read by their friend, the ‘crazy cleric of knowledge’.

—

Aria opened the door for Isaac and Lenna. Unlike the last time the pair had shown up at Aria and Claus’s hotel room, the cleric and warrior did not look like they had just scrambled out of bed to meet them. Aria swung the door open wide to let them in with a smile. “Good morning newlyweds.” She greeted them. “Get any sleep?”

“I slept like the dead.” Isaac told her honestly. The wedding had been beautiful and a wonderful experience but even he had been drained by the end of it. Lenna only made it home at all because Sera had a carriage take them home. She had fallen asleep during the three minute bumpy carriage ride home.

“Likewise.” Lenna added.

“Wow.” Aria said flatly. “You’re no fun. Anyway, sit down in the middle of the ritual.” She told them and gestured to the massive magical ritual circle that had been drawn out in chalk across the floor.

“Does the innkeeper know you are using their floor for a ritual?” Isaac wondered.

“Nope.” Aria replied casually. Claus, who was sitting on the bed because the table and chairs had been piled up in the corner, just shook his head. The look in the massive man’s eyes spoke of a futile attempt to get Aria to choose a better location for the ritual. The ritual in question was a nine pointed star drawn with one continuous line that was surrounded by a circle with another circle that fit perfectly inside it. Seemingly plastered on top of the rest of the ritual was a compass rose. There was a space just barely large enough for both Isaac and Lenna to sit back to back in the middle of the compass rose. All around the ritual there were different small runic letters. At each of the nine points on the star there was an hourglass. Each of the candles, placed on the tips of each of the four cardinal directions of the compass rose, were being lit by Aria as soon as she no longer needed to hold the door open for Isaac and Lenna.

“You aren’t going to sacrifice us to El’No in some ritual that turns our beings into nothing but compressed information are you?” Isaac wondered as he stepped into the ritual circle.

“That’s been the plan all along.” Aria said dryly. “No but seriously, this ritual is way harder than I thought it would be. This is literally a ninth, a fourth, and a third level ritual stitched together like a chimera.”

“That isn’t filling me with great confidence.” Isaac told her.

“Don’t worry, it is just Farseeing, Foresight, and Scrying sewn together with chalk.” Aria replied. “This is going to hurt, me not you, and I’ll be basically blind for the rest of the day so I hope you appreciate this.”

“What? Why do it then?” Isaac asked her.

“Because this is the greatest, biggest, most spectacular gift you will ever get from me. Also, like you said, I’m your first friend. It’s about time I act like it.” She told him. “Now, close your eyes, sit perfectly still, don’t stir even the smallest mote of mana, and absolutely, whatever you do, do not talk or get out of the circle.”

“Yes ma’am.” Isaac replied.

“Understood.” Lenna said at the same time.

“Claus, if I pass out, it’s fine. I was already warned about the possibility of it happening and once the vision is finished I will wake back up. That means don’t touch me unless I’m still unconscious after the ritual circle finishes burning up.” She told her guardian.

Claus took a deep breath and let it out slowly in sigh. “Fine.” He grumbled. “Sit down first.”

Aria nodded. “Right. Don’t want to fall and smack my head on the burning ritual.” She said more to herself than to the other three present. She sat down cross legged at the edge of the ritual circle where both Isaac and Lenna could see her clearly with a simple turn of their heads. “Okay you two, ready?”

“What about the divination protection on the rings?” Isaac wondered.

Aria hitched. “If you don’t put those in your Inventory right now, I am going to have a stroke.” She told him.

Isaac took Lenna’s ring and put both his and hers inside his Inventory as instructed. “Will it still work if we are going to put the rings back on as soon as this is over?” Isaac asked her.

“Yes.” Aria replied. “I only need them off now so the spell can get a lock on you. Now, final check, ready?”

“Ready.” Isaac and Lenna said at the same time.

“Good.” Aria stated. “Then let us begin our look into the future.”