Taking a moment to center himself Jack planned out his next few steps. Checking the time, he had a few hours before the optimal time for his night work. As it had been a few days by this point he needed to contact the Fawlers and let them know how the investigation was proceeding. In addition he also needed to make some preparations that required peace and quiet so he would need to find a good location.
He nodded to himself and set off to the nearest public crystal that he could see. It was currently in use so Jack pulled out his notebook and checked the sigils for the Fawler’s private communication crystal along with his notes on what he had learned so far. He wasn’t happy having so little to show for the last few days of work, but then that was why he had decided to take the more drastic actions he would do that night.
After a short wait the person in the chamber finished their call and stepped out nodding politely to Jack on their way. Jack stepped in and closed the door behind him, taking a moment to look at the room. As always with the public crystals there were solicitations etched into the walls for a number of illicit services as well as a bevy of other graffiti. The crystal itself spun slowly in a beautiful swirl of colors, hovering over a pool of crystalline water. Stepping up Jack began to trace the sigils into the air in front of the crystal, becoming darker and its speed increasing with each sigil completed. When the last one was traced it spun so quickly it appeared to become a dark hole in reality. Jack stood waiting for a response from the Fawlers, if they took too long then hopefully, they had a recording crystal that he could leave a message on.
After a short wait the crystal shimmered and Jack could see a small room with Vinistey Fawler standing in the middle of it. “Good evening Mrs. Fawler. I was calling to update you and your husband on how the investigation has been going so far.”
“Oh! Mr. Bertrand! Thank you. We appreciate it thank you for spending your time to help us with this.” Vinistey replied, trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.
“Of course, so first thing that I will mention is the fact that I have not yet located your daughter or found out what exactly happened to her yet. I have managed to find and speak to the adventuring groups that she had been working with right before her disappearance. Neither group had known about her vanishing. One of the groups had been waiting for her to return from spending time with you and your husband to join them on a more permanent basis. The other group was not as close to her, though they did mention something that I will be investigating going forward. From what they mentioned other people have gone missing in the past after having taken on jobs in the same place that Dilacy had last done a mission. I don’t know all the details but from the looks of things, Telipar Industries may have some information on the area or what may be responsible for some of the disappearances that happened there. Now I will add, that her disappearance and those from that area may not be related, it is simply another potential lead. Tomorrow I will be going to the restaurant where Dilacy had last been seen and see if I can find any evidence there. I was hoping that I could either have you drop off some of her effects, hair, or other personal items so that I can attempt to scry for information at that location.” Jack explained in a calm voice, hoping to at least somewhat soothe Mrs. Fawler.
Vinistey’s expression tightened a bit at the mention of the possibility of an agier lead corporation being involved. Looking slightly pensive she responded “Certainly, I can drop some off tomorrow morning at your office. Is there anything more you can tell me or anything else we can do?”
Jack grimaced at the question, normally he hated to ask clients to pay any amount partway trough the investigation as it seemed unprofessional to him. However, considering his current financial situation, and lack of time to chase down his last clients for their debts while pursuing this case, needs must. “I hate to ask but would you mind including the pay at my standard rates for the sixteen hours I have spent investigating so far. I’m afraid my budget is a little tight at the moment, and if you could possibly manage that I would appreciate it.” While he would normally consider recuperation time as part of the job that he charged for, in between it being his own fault for not keeping his mouth shut as well as asking for money he cut out an entire days’ time that had been spent on the case so far.
“Of course, we can do that. It’s not a problem at all. I’ll drop that off along side the materials for scrying that you asked for.” She waved it off, allaying any fears Jack had of this client being discontent with his work so far.
“All right, well, that is everything that I have so far that I can tell you about. Thank you for your understanding, and please have a good night. I will be getting back to work here and I should hopefully have more for you and your husband in a few days here.” Jack told Vinistey as he prepared to close the connection.
“Thank you for what you are doing. Have a good night yourself” Vinistey bade Jack in response. As soon as she did, Jack broke the connection between the crystals. He took a deep breath and headed out of the chamber to get on with the rest of the preparations he needed to do.
As the darkness of night slowly started to fall over the city Jack went and looked to find himself a quite place that he could meditate and not be disturbed. The last few days had pushed him in ways that he hadn’t been since he was a young teen living on the streets. It seemed with the fact that at least one major company being involved the danger of this case would be a lot higher then he had originally thought. If he was going to make it through this he would have to play to his strengths, no matter how much he might loathe some of them.
Jack never was a powerful spellcaster. From the time that he was young it was well known to all around him that his absorption, purification and utilization skills were all low tiered. That would never change. He had heard rumors of magical treasures that could change one’s aptitudes but with his lot in life he had a higher chance of being thrown into a black hole then ever seeing one.
While others had simply dismissed or belittled him for what he could not change, Jack had worked hard to improve and expand on what he could. There was one thing involved in spellcasting that was not one of the physical aptitudes that had a huge effect. Conceptualization. Most people dismissed it as unimportant, as for most, casting spells was simple rote and replication. As if someone could see others pull in mana and use it to create a ball of fire and throw it, then they could do the same thing. Things such as the how and why were often left to the wayside in favor of just pulling in and using more mana to compensate.
Jack with his poor aptitudes did not have this option. Where someone else could simply envision ice appearing above their hand and make it happen Jack would need to concentrate on how and why the ice could appear, the gathering of moisture from the surrounding atmosphere, the pulling of heat from the moisture, the buoyancy of a dense cloud of air to support it so that it didn’t fall. Each and every step had to be envisioned perfectly if he wanted a result at the level of someone with just barely average aptitudes.
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In his constant pushing and exploration of conceptualization when he was younger Jack had found that there were two main components, at least as far as he could tell. He thought of them as learned and instinctual concepts.
The learned concepts worked with the more someone knows of how and why something can happen in nature the better one can create it through magic. So, if someone knows how fire burns, with it needing a reaction, fuel and oxygen, they can envision all the steps and requirements thus having a much better conceptualization to create the effect with mana.
On the other hand, the instinctual concepts have to do with how someone feels about something, an idea, concept, an element, etc. Someone who views and feels fire as a kind and healing force can use that ideal to cast fire spells that disinfect or help someone recover. Another who feels fire is a vicious and devouring force however would struggle to cast a fire spell in that manner, they may however have fire spells that are much more destructive then others can make. The stronger one’s feelings towards the concepts the stronger the result of that concept in spellcasting. Both positive and negative emotions could be used in this manner to increase the power of a spell. The most important things with emotions in spellcasting was the strength of the emotion, and if you could deal with the emotion itself.
Jack had also discovered that just like there were dangers in the other aspects of mana usage, there was a hidden danger in conceptualization as well. It was similar to the danger of rampant absorption, where it affected someone’s mind. The more that one solidified a concept for use in spellcasting the more that the concept influenced their outlook on the world. Part of this had to do with the way that people learn and apply new knowledge and experience, but there was a darker part as well. Where a feedback loop of sorts between the mana of a person and the concept that they used, the loop making their mana more and more attuned to the concept, strengthening it and lessening everything else, including their emotions and desires.
Jack knew this because he had barely escaped destroying his own mind due to feedback loops when he was a teenager. He had devised a way to seal concepts within that partitioned the emotions and knowledge about their inner workings off from the majority of his mind. He didn’t forget what he felt or what he knew but it was dampened. This drastically reduced the strain of keeping himself from being overly influenced. For what Jack hoped to accomplish tonight, he was going to have to loosen at least one of his seals.
After a short while of searching Jack found a quiet back alleyway that looked like it could suit his purpose. There was an emergency escape ladder on the backside of a smallish building that he could climb to the roof and be out of the way. As he made his way up to the roof Jack tried to keep his doubts and fears of what he was about to do at bay. He had struggled for years with the repercussions of his concepts in the past, and here he was about to unleash them again? And for what, a missing girl of all things.
As dark thoughts of just abandoning this case and not having to deal with his inner demons sprung up Jack slapped himself across the face. Hard. He was not a worthless piece of shit, and he would never let himself become one no matter what hardships came his way. He had endured before and he would not only endure again but come out stronger on the other side.
Reaching the rooftop Jack paused for a moment and took a good look around. There was a small entryway into the building sticking up but other then that and the crenelations around the edge of the roof there was nothing else on the top of the building. It was essentially perfect for the space that he needed. Taking out a few basic tools Jack began to trace a runic circle in the corner of the roof furthest from the street and alleyway. He needed to set up several isolation spells to prevent mana leakage as well as to protect him from sight and the elements while he was indisposed. He didn’t like doing this in a public place as he would be completely vulnerable during the procedure, not even the slightest bit aware of what would be happening in the world around him.
After taking half an hour setting up the protection circles and another fifteen to double and triple check his work to make sure there were no mistakes (and settle his nerves), Jack was ready to proceed. Moving to the center of the circles he sat down and closed his eyes.
Sinking deeper and deeper into a meditative trance Jack opened his eyes in his mental world. Looking out into the vast void of white that Jack associated with his purified mana he started to nod his head that everything was how it should be before freezing. Everything looked correct but something niggled in the back of his mind. Something was off here, but it wasn’t visible as things were. Settling himself Jack raised his hand and all around him the white began to shimmer and refract becoming a riot of colors and movement. This was his truth of how he saw his mana. Pure white, not showing the absence of everything, but rather like white light having everything contained within.
The colors moved and danced in a way that at first seemed chaotic, but if one looked for long enough, they could see that there was the same amount of every color and everything moved in synchronicity. It was a constant delicate balance where even one thing could lead to the whole thing toppling and being ruined. Jack sometimes wondered if his views were flawed, changed by the way that he caged aspects of his previous worldview. He knew logically that what he had done had been necessary to prevent him from going mad, but still he felt that there was some better solution that evaded his grasp. Surely there had to be some method to having ones concepts and worldviews be what they truly are without it sending his mana into wild loops that made his mind unstable.
Shaking off the feeling of self-doubt and frustration Jack concentrated on the world around him. This was a matter he had stewed upon before to no success and while there may be some solution in the future right now was not the time to ponder it. Instead, it was time to purposely upset the balance.
Concentrating for a moment several spheres covered in runes and swirling crystalline colors appeared before Jack as the world faded back into white. These were how he envisioned his concepts, trapped as they were. For Jack to break into several high security locations with his power level and not be caught, he could not afford any chances. He needed to not only be someone else, which the artifacts he would be using would cover, but he needed his presence itself to be overlooked and forgotten even by the world itself. While he had no concept of that, as all his life he had always been noticed, he did have at least one concept that was adjacent to being invisible that he could use. One of his oldest concepts, one he hated and loved, feared and adored in almost equal measure.
It was time to release his Silence.
As Jack made his way across the city to his first destination. He noted the difference in the world from having released part of what he kept bound. He could far more clearly hear the sounds of the city around him for he himself no longer made any noise at all. His footsteps fell upon the ground crushing through ice, his clothes flapped in the breeze blowing down the street, his breath fogged in the cold air, and yet none of this produced a single sound. Unbound Silence brought forth memories that Jack wished could remain buried. He was no longer the broken child that he had once been, unable to cope, but that in no way made it pleasant. But no matter how unpleasant and distasteful, he Endured.
He had released concepts and he would deal with the consequences once they came. As things stood, he felt that he had probably about 12 hours with no effect on his psyche, 24 hours following that of minimal effects, and maybe 72 hours of moderate enough effects that he would be able to manage and function socially if pushed. Anything past that well… he would have to work hard to wrap up as much as he could before reaching that point.
Flipping open his notebook Jack looked at the list of the various temp agencies he had looked up previously. Checking the name on the building in front of him against the list he made a small check mark and got to work.