“Take heed. For those who turn from the compassion of the Light shall instead be embraced by the nameless ones. Those who do not know love and shall guide you with their lies toward a nameless abyss of fire to suffer, until the end of eternity.”

—Eldivi 6:11

At Benny's Diner, Alan and Sere sat with Jafar, who had all decided to come here for lunch. Each of the students had a plate filled with meat, fried starchy veggies, toast, and jam. Sere had a few slices of tomato on one corner of her plate, in a sad attempt to make it look a bit more healthy. There was a lot of food on each student's plate.

image [https://i.imgur.com/PmiulY6.jpeg]

Alan and Jafar were excitedly eating their food, while Sere looked at her plate with a slight disappointment.

Sere: “Did we have to come here for lunch?”

Alan: “If you know another place that sells this amount of food for five Glint, sure. But, I doubt you do. You can’t beat the price here.”

Jafar: “Besides, what is the problem? The food is really good here.”

Sere: “It is not that the food is not good. But, it's greasy. I don’t want to get fat.”

Jafar: “You got tomatoes on your plate. That’s healthy.”

Sere: “I had to ask for that to be added. And, that hardly makes up for the rest of the food.”

Alan: “Can’t you just use healing magic to prevent yourself from gaining weight? “

Sere: “I wish. Healing magic doesn't work that way,” she said as she took a bite of toast. “I swear to the Light, if you guys make a fat joke,” she said while glaring at her friends.

Sere was, in fact, very self-conscious about her weight. She was preemptively warning her friends not to joke about it. Jafar and Alan, on the other hand, were well aware of Sere’s sensitivity and would never make fun of their friend's weight.

Alan: “Whao, I wasn't going to do that. I’m not suicidal.”

Sere: “Was that an angry woman joke?”

Alan: “N-nope,” he said, immediately shutting his mouth.

Alan remembered the pain he got when Sere threw something at him, and that was a book. Sere was holding a fork and a sharp knife. Alan really did not want her to throw pointy objects at him. So, he was trying to avoid her ire.

She glared at Alan for a few seconds before turning back to Jafar.

Sere: “So, how’d your day go?”

Jafar: “Ugh, it was so awkward. Maybe accepting the Arcane Eye admission was a mistake.”

Alan: “You too? I literally said the same thing earlier.”

Sere: “You two are such babies. So what if people are staring at you.”

Jafar: “Ha. I wish people would stare at me. Everyone at Ember Gear College treats me like I have the plague. They go out of their way to avoid me and won’t even make eye contact.”

Alan: “What's up with that? Are they miffed at you for joining the Arcane Eye?”

Sere: “Of all the colleges, the one with the most socially awkward students is Ember Gear College. I think it's more likely that they're afraid of Jafar.”

Jafar: “Dead on.”

Alan: “Why would they be scared of you?”

Sere: “It's like when meeting an important person for the first time. You get nervous. They see Jafar as some sort of big shot because he’s in the Arcane Eye now.”

Jafar nodded along with Sere's explanation, confirming it was correct.

Alan: “But, you were literally part of the Ember Gear College last week. They shouldn't see you like that.”

Jafar: “That’s what I thought. But, I guess not.”

Sere: “So, does that mean you two are going to quit the Arcane Eye college?

Alan: “No way.”

Jafar: “That’s not happening.”

Sere: “Then you two should stop whining about being in the Arcane Eye.”

Jafar: “You’re the one who asked how it was going for me.”

Sere: “Oh, whatever. So, how did Mitra’s training go? Are you two still doing that?” she said as she bit into toast with some jam on it.

Sere regretted asking that question. It was like the question sucked the energy out of her friends and they looked like they were reminiscing about something horrible.

Jafar: “Yeah… still doing that. And… it is going... well?” he said with a dead look in his eyes.

Alan: “Under normal circumstances, Jafar would be doing really well. He can already use basic enhancement magic regularly now. And, to a similar level as most first-year Lionheart students.”

Sere: “That's... by the light. How did that insane training actually work? I’ve never heard of someone learning enhancement magic that fast.”

Alan: “I don’t know what to tell you. It works. Jafar learned enhancement magic and now Mitra is teaching him how to make wards around himself,” he said while taking a bite of bacon.

Jafar immediately buried his face in his hands on hearing that.

Jafar: “Ugh, I liked it better when she was teaching me how to use enhancement magic.”

Sere: “That bad? What’s she making you do?”

Alan: “Mitra makes him construct a ward around himself while she flings spells at him.”

Sere looked at Alan with disbelief at what she just heard.

She was familiar with the normal process of learning ward magic, as she had learned it herself at a young age.

Typically, when you first learn ward magic, you practice by trying to create a ward that pushes away a stationary object near you. Then, you increase the difficulties of the practice by increasing the mass of the object you’re trying to push away. You do this until you're at a competent level. Then the very last step in learning ward magic is to try to push spells away from you.

Based on what Sere knew of Mitra. It sounded to her that Mitra skipped the traditional method and just started throwing spells at Jafar. Expecting him to figure it out on the fly.

Jafar: “Aah, it's so bad. Every time I generate a ward that can block one of her spells, she ups the power of the next spell she flings at me and breaks through my ward, hitting me. I have so many bruises from the earth-aether bolts she’s thrown at me.”

Sere was once again surprised to hear that Jafar was successfully blocking spells with wards. Even if the spells thrown were weak, it was still incredibly impressive; he was already at the stage where he could block some spells.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“I guess there is some sort of method to that woman's madness. But, I don’t think that is going to make Jafar feel better about what Mitra is putting him through.” Sere silently thought to herself.

Sere: “What about you, Alan?”

Alan: “Well, I can successfully use fusion magic to make lightning now.”

Sere’s mouth was left agape.

“It took me a little under a year to successfully learn fusion magic, and I was praised as a genius for that! Yet, Alan learned it in two weeks!?! What in the burning abyss kind of training are these two doing?” Sere thought to herself

Alan wasn't wallowing in the thoughts of Mitra’s training as much as Jafar, and was able to pick up on Sere’s surprise.

Alan: “I can create lightning, but can’t consistently do it and I don't have control over it. I'm as likely to end up hitting myself as I am the thing I'm trying to aim at.”

Sere: “That...doesn't sound good. Actually, that sounds really dangerous. With how powerful fusion magic is, you could accidentally kill yourself if you are not able to properly control it.”

Alan: “Yeah, you don’t need to tell me that. My first successful attempt at lightning magic was nothing like those failed attempts. Once I successfully fused the elements together, I tried to form it into an aether bolt, but accidentally called a lightning bolt down on myself instead. Mitra had to step in and save me, otherwise, I’m not entirely sure I would have survived that.”

Sere: “Yikes.”

Alan: “Yup. Mitra said to never use it outside of training until I can control it. To which I wholeheartedly agree. That was the most powerful spell I’ve cast in my life, and it almost hit me.”

Sere: “I see. So, Mitra is still training you? Even now, after forming the Sleuth-Hawks?”

Alan: “Yeah… got to work as an enforcer, attend training sessions with MItra, and still go to classes. Got a lot going on.”

Sere: “How is that thing going with the enforcers? Are you allowed to say?”

Alan: “Um, I don’t know. Are we allowed to talk about it, Jafar?”

Jafar: “I think so. Um, we got paired off with a police unit led by someone named Joe Striker.”

Sere: “You… got paired off with Joe... Striker,” she said, with a tone that indicated she was familiar with the name.

Alan: “Wait, do you know that guy?”

Sere: “Not personally. But, I hear Uncle Murdock complaining about him constantly at family gatherings.”

Jafar: “Oh, yeah. Your uncle is the head of police here. Can you tell us what your uncle says about him? We haven’t met Joe yet.”

Sere: “That he’s bullheaded and always causing trouble for the police force. Stuff like that. A real troublemaker, I guess.”

Alan: “We really did get the worst position,” he said, followed by taking a bite of a sausage.

Sere: “What do you mean by that?

Jafar: “They paired me and Alan with the worst group and were given the worst job as part of the whole operation. I think that's what he’s talking about.”

Alan: “I wanted to properly prove myself, but I’m not being given any opportunity.”

Jafar: “Mitra probably did that purposely to keep us out of danger, you know.”

Alan: “I’m not looking for danger. I just want to make a big contribution to this whole thing. But instead, they have us looking into some guys that Sorin basically bought his groceries from.”

Sere: “Groceries? Ok, I gotta know. What’s that about?”

Jafar: “It is not exactly groceries. Sorin was buying materials from people without the university knowing. Our group is supposed to look into those people. I think that Rell, our enforcer leader, said we would be looking into some guy who sold Sorin mortwood tomorrow.”

Sere: “Hmm, mortwood is a pretty common ingredient for a lot of stuff. Why look into that?”

Jafar: “It's not just that. Everyone we were being asked to look into seems like unaware innocent bystanders to the whole thing. They don’t expect us to find anything related to Jixi.”

Alan: “Yeah, they're just making us look into it on the off chance there is something.”

Sere: “Oh, I see.”

Alan sighed.

Alan: “Things just haven't been going as I hoped they would when I joined the Arcane Eye.” he said, followed by him taking a sip of tea.

Alan and his friends continued eating their food, then headed back to campus for the rest of their classes.

The next day, Alan and Jafar would join up with Joe and finally start the Jixi investigation.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Mid-afternoon the next day.

In a police car designed to look like a regular vehicle sat Alan, Jafar, Dan, Rell in the front seat, and Joe at the wheel. They were driving down the road, past countless buildings, in complete silence.

Alan and Jafar were wearing their white enforcer uniforms today.

Nothing was said to anyone from the enforcer side. Joe and Dan just showed up at the university and told everyone to get in the car. Then they drove off to some destination that the enforcers weren't told about.

The big elephant in the room was the giant black eye that Joe had. Everyone from the enforcer side wanted to know what that was about, but Joe gave off an air of irritability. The investigator clearly wasn't happy, the cause likely stemming from the source of the black eye. Thus, no one felt like talking.

Eventually, after ten more minutes of driving in silence, someone spoke up. Rell, the enforcer leader, finally decided to try and start talking to Joe.

Rell: “So, what are we doing? I thought we would have a proper meeting today. Since we didn’t do it three days ago.”

Joe: “We’re going to Larry’s home. The one mentioned in your reports,” he said while concentrating on the road in front of him.

Rell: “Just like that? We're not going to discuss it as a group?”

Joe: “Aren't we talking about it now,” he said facetiously.

Rell groaned in annoyance.

Rell: “We’re supposed to be working as a team.”

Joe: “And, we are.”

Rell: “Sure doesn't feel like it. A team should be communicating. We have to be open and honest with each other.”

Joe: “And, we're doing that. I’m answering all of your questions.”

Rell: “Then are you going to tell us about what the deal is with that black eye?”

Joe: “Nope.”

Rell groaned again, even more annoyed now.

“I think I’m starting to get an idea of why Sere’s uncle complains about this guy.” Alan silently thought to himself

Dan, who was sitting beside Jafar and Alan in the back seat, spoke up.

Dan: “Um, Joe. Why don't you give everyone a proper rundown?”

Joe took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh.

Joe: “We're going to go talk to Larry about what he knows about Jixi. He was the one who did the most trade with Sorin for supplies out of all the people we were tasked to look into. And that's it. Honestly, I could do this by myself. But, like you said, we’re supposed to be working together. So, that’s why you three are coming along.”

Rell: “Are we not going to do a background check on this guy first? I know I suggested to everyone in the report that we look into Larry first, but I didn’t think we were going to go talk to him today.”

Joe: “We’re already way behind on this whole manhunt. Since your university has held onto this info for weeks now. Otherwise, yes. A background check might be appropriate. But, we have to choose where we spend our time wisely now. Every second we waste looking for Jixi just increases the chance of losing him.”

Rell looked surprised. The Grayscale enforcer got the impression of Joe as some dumb-muscled head officer. But, Joe gave a sensible and reasonable explanation for their current course of action.

Rell: “OK. I see your point. But, we could split our group up to do both. Unless, your third member in your unit is already doing that.”

Joe: “No, he’s not doing that. Mike is... at the dentist.”

Rell: “What?”

Joe: “He got a tooth knocked out and is getting the dentist to look at it.”

Rell was about to ask a follow-up question, but Joe suddenly slammed on the brakes. Everyone felt the momentum try to fling them forward, but were held in place by their seatbelts. Someone had cut Joe off on the road. The irritated officer started honking his horn and screaming expletives.

Joe: “Fucking asshole! Keep your eyes on the road!” he screamed at the one who cut him off.

At some point, the car that had cut Joe off drove into a different street, and when he was no longer in front of Joe, he put his foot on the gas and accelerated forward.

After that little burst of road rage, Jafar spoke up.

Jafar: “Um, won’t talking to Larry tip him off that we're looking for Jixi? He might be helping Jixi hide,” he said, trying to continue the conversation from before.

Joe: “If he was working with Sorin or Jixi, he'd probably already skipped town. And, there is no tipping this guy off. Sorin was in the news for weeks when it was discovered he was a necromancer. I assume Larry knows that and expects some sort of law enforcement to come talk to him.”

Alan: “So, he’s expecting us?”

Joe: “Yeah. Well, not specifically us. But, someone to talk to him about Sorin.”

Rell: “And, what if you're right? What if he skipped town and is not in his home.”

Joe: “Then that’s good for us. It would indicate this guy likely knows something and is trying to hide it. Meaning, there is a good chance he knew about Sorin’s experiments. Our team is not likely to find Jixi, but we can still catch some of the others involved. We need to focus on the people we can catch.”

Upon hearing that, Alan started to feel hopeful. He was so disappointed at the idea of not being able to contribute to finding Jixi that he forgot about the others. Mitra said they think there were possibly multiple people involved.

Alan started to realize that there was still a chance to prove himself by catching the other people who willingly helped Sorin turn his friend into an undead.

Alan: “Then that means if he’s not in town, then he helped Sorin!” he excitedly stated.

Joe: “Whoa there. You’re getting ahead of yourself. We don’t even know if this guy left town, or even intends to. He could just have been giving Sorin suppliers without any knowledge of what he was doing. He was just selling him mortwood. Nothing illegal in that.”

Rell: “The officer is right. Also, if he did skip town, it would still be difficult to find him then.”

Joe: “Man, you’re such a downer.”

Rell: “I-I’m the downer?! I’m just being realistic,” he said while looking indignant.

Joe: “Not that realistic. It’s not that easy to pick up your life and go somewhere else so suddenly. If he did leave town, he left a trail that probably won’t be too difficult to follow.”

Alan couldn’t help but smile at Joe, rebuking Rell. He was starting to like this police officer.

Joe: “But, we’re still getting ahead of ourselves. Like I said, Larry could just be a normal guy who doesn't have any involvement with what Sorin was doing. So, let’s not get our expectations too high yet.”