It was my second time inside the Chatheza and I only mildly appreciated the difference in circumstances. Charles led the way down hallways and stairs, going ever further into the depths of the place.

Finally we reached an oblong room at the foot of the last set of stairs where a chill clung to the air. Within the room stood several tables along the walls. Some covered by cloth and some not. Those that were covered, generally hid shapes beneath the white fabric. I soon came to realize they were bodies, and I took in the room once more. A lot of bodies. Just how many dead people were there in here? How long were they kept and why?

Charles kept walking through the room, up to a table at about half way through. Next to the table stood a heavyset, balding man, who had a bushy beard, and small beady eyes. The man flinched slightly as he noticed Charles. His eyes were drawn to me, almost as if he rather look anywhere else than at his fellow Guard. Presuming he was a Guard. What did you call someone who poked around with dead bodies, other than creepy? I mused as I observed the man's hand resting against the chest of the corpse.

"I knew you swung in strange directions, Charles, but perhaps you should not bring your fun down here?" The man's eyes roamed up and down me as he spoke with a sneer. The whole thing seemed odd coming from a man who by all appearances was feeling up a corpse. Perhaps he had even less interaction with other people than even I and so he thought himself funny.

Charles did not react in any noticeable fashion. Instead he walked closer to the table with the already uncovered body and waved me on.

The deceased man looked pale and frail, but somehow did not actually look like a corpse. Granted, the number of times I had seen dead people up close were very few. But this man hardly seemed dead, though I would hesitate to describe him as alive. Which was a curious observation, I thought.

"Don't touch him, wench. I am using delicate magic you could not possibly understand to determine the cause of death." The creepy man spoke with exaggerated condescension as I frowned.

"What magic? There is no magic on the body." I turned to him in confusion.

"My magic is so far beyond your understanding that you could not possibly understand it!" The man replied, as drops of perspiration started dotting his forehead even in the chill down here.

If I thought the lie obvious, then it should be even more so to Charles with his Ability. I would use it constantly were I him, but as was apparent from earlier; he did not though. I glanced at him and spotted an absolutely thunderous face. He had clearly heard the lie. The now creepy and nervous man turned fully to Charles.

"You don't want to get involved in this, Charles. It is bigger than you can imagine, I can let you in on it. But you can't mess this up. Just... just go away and leave the girl here. I will take care of everything... you can meet them! They will explain everything! Soon. Just... let this go, be smart for once!" The whole thing came out in a ramble, with words tumbling over each other.

Apparently the flustered man failed to get the reaction he hoped for. He had barely finished speaking before running for the stairs.

This seemed to surprise Charles enough that he just stood there for a moment, watching the creepy man go. But he eventually sprung into action, running after the fleeing man.

I mused on what had just happened. It appeared that not everyone was involved with whatever this was. If the majority of the Guard had been, the man should have felt no need to run. It was not like Charles would cut him down on the spot. I presumed.

I turned back to the deceased. Did one die from losing all Constitution or from reaching a negative value? Could you have negative Constitution? I would think reaching zero would mean you had no Health and thus died, but those workings were strange to begin with; How the body actively reconstituted itself to keep from dying before all Health was spent.

With a last look I turned to leave, just as an older man stepped into the room. He wore what I could only assume to be very expensive clothing, and must have spent a truly impressive amount of his Attributes on Perfection. But the ice blue, intelligent eyes that pinned me into immobility told clearly that this was not some dandy.

"Interesting." As he spoke, I felt myself drawn to him, waiting expectantly for whatever he would say next. I shook my head, as if I could rid myself of the feeling. Was this the result of a lot of Charisma? It was as if the man covered the room with just his presence.

This was one very dangerous man. He could possibly kill someone as they just stood there and let him. I hoped that was an exaggeration on my part.

He strode up to the uncovered body and looked at it for several heartbeats before turning back to me.

"Who brought you here?"

"Charles." My reply was immediate.

"Where is Charles then?"

"Chasing after the creep." The man smiled slightly at that and continued.

"Why?"

Finally my automatic answers stopped coming, as I fumbled over what to say. I did not actually know why Charles would chase the man. I suspected he was connected to the murder, but I did not know that. The man took pity on my tumbling thoughts.

"Badly formulated that, tell me what happened here, in this room."

And I did. I told him everything, in detail.

"One of mine seems to be involved in the murder of a head of a House and his heirs. That is very unfortunate. And you can sense Mana then? A very useful and rare thing to be able to do, in such a fashion."

Cold sweat was running down my back as I understood that I was under the effect of an Ability. It had to be of a kind with the one Charles had failed to use on me earlier. This one though, was at least of the third Sphere. It could apparently not only tell truth from lies, it forced out the truth. My eyes were wide with fright as I dreaded whatever the man would ask next.

"Do not worry, I will not ask more of you than I have." The slight smile on his face made me relax not at all, and he waved a hand at the stairs. I bolted without hesitation.

It was not until I was well down the street away from the Chatheza, that I realized I could not for the life of me describe the man. He had blue eyes and was older. That was all I had. Cold sweat made my shirt stick uncomfortably to my back.

**

I had never been to the Mage guild, as it was in the wealthier part of the Merchants' Quarter. But I could navigate my way there just by sight, as the towers of the Mage Guild rose far above the surrounding buildings. Even compared to the mansions that occasionally littered this part of Logate, the Mage Guild was enormous.

Here I came to notice the first truly pronounced signs of the folly of wealth. Many buildings used stone that was completely different to what came out of the quarry to the south of Logate. Someone had decided that importing stone by ship was preferable to that which was was available less than an hour away on foot. I hoped it at least impressed the other rich people and was not a complete waste of effort.

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After reaching the Mage Guild, I spent some minutes in confusion, before I gave in and asked a younger man for directions to the library. I was met with an eye roll and a scoff. But I got the answer I needed.

**

The Mage Guild library was impressive, shelves full of books were everywhere. There were walkways where people stood, searchingly studying the shelves. There were stairways that wound higher and higher, and everywhere were people with volumes in hand, thick or thin. Most importantly; the whole place smelled like books. With a deep sigh I shook off the experience in the Chatheza.

I rushed over to the desk that barred my entrance to the library proper, and waited impatiently in line for a few minutes. Until I could step up and meet the eyes of a bored looking young woman.

"First time? First time! Five silver for access for the rest of the day, here is your pass, anything you may read will not be shining. Anything shining is a no go, stay away. Reading room is extra, ritual room is extra, materials are extra, assistance is extra. Nagging about access will have you thrown out. Questions? Good. Next!"

I paid her quickly, hurried on by her rapid fire speech. Only moments after I had handed over the coin and been thrown something by the woman, someone shoved me aside with a loud 'idiot'.

I moved away and studied what I had gotten. It was a medallion of some kind. I could feel the Mana in it, and it took real effort to ignore my curiosity and look around the library instead of studying it. Despite my efforts I noted that there was Mana everywhere I could sense, which was not all that far, but it hinted at the sheer amount of spells in effect.

Since everyone else seemed to wear a medallion, though in differing colors, I put mine on. I immediately noticed how some parts of the shelves nearby were covered by partially translucent barriers, in various hues. At a distance, it looked like I might be able to read the covers on the blocked shelves. But if I understood the abrupt woman correctly, I could not touch those books.

I noticed that several people seemed to bring small, narrow carts into the library. They were taken from a line of them, to the side of the desk. A minute of further study led me to believe that people put books they intended to read on the cart, while putting others back on the shelf. Walking past the desk a few steps, I could see a space open up in the very center of the library. It was full of chairs and tables, where people sat reading and taking notes. As such, there seemed to be no requirement to get a reading room. Which was very nice.

After a moment of consideration, getting a cart seemed like a very good idea, I would want several books after all.

I walked past shelves on history. The Race War and the fall of the First Empire covered almost a full row of shelves on its own. Everyone had some knowledge about what had happened back then. While it had indeed lasted a long time, I had not thought that even the war that divided the world among the main races; humans, elves, dwarves and fey would merit this much writing.

Before the war everyone had lived, if not in harmony, at least in mostly peaceful coexistence. Now though, it was all but expected to kill someone if they were of a different race. Enmity ran deep and betrayal had been a major factor on all sides. Admittedly I assumed it had happened on all sides. The idea that everyone else had taken advantage of humans, as the narrative was, sat badly with my understanding of human nature.

I walked past history, and more history. Then behind a barrier I saw books about the classes of different races. It would have been nice if I could find out where Enchantress came from, but that was apparently not possible with my access.

Economics and geography. City planning was apparently a rather large subject as well, covering a shelf on its own. And then finally, the subject turned to classes, levels and Attributes.

A thick book stood out, 'The Balance of Attributes, and the understanding thereof'. The title was sprawled in a lopsided fashion across a gaudy cover. I quietly hoped the contents of the book were still worthwhile and I picked it up to have a look.

'... believed that Strength is strength, nothing could be further from the truth! More correct one could say that Strength is the potential for action! But! It is limited by ones other Attributes! Agility, Dexterity, and Intelligence for leverage! Constitution and Endurance for perseverance! Willpower and Endurance for the ability to push yourself!

Perfection and Constitution to avoid harming yourself in your action! Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom to find ways of not having to do anything in the first place! ...'

I put the book back, I really did not like the way the author wrote.

A slimmer, less ostentatious volume was next to be considered 'A treatise on the effects of Attributes'.

'... while it can be hard to pin down the effects of Attributes to a single concept, some general ideas are more apt than others. While both obvious and not in their aspects; Attributes are more or less what they seem, when approached without preconceptions.

Strength is the potential for physical effort. Dexterity is the minute workings not covered by the coordination and flexibility of Agility. Constitution is simply the measure of staying alive. Endurance governs the perseverance in the physical, as Willpower is to the mental. Intelligence, the ability to reason and think. Wisdom is a distance to the world, which provides perspective. Perfection is the approaching of the ideal self, though often mistaken for just an improvement in appearance. Finally Charisma is the force of personality, pushing things your way.

Obvious to any person of learning, this is overly simplified, to the point of almost incorrectness. Pages could be written on the details of each, and ...'

I skipped ahead to where the author started mentioning other effects.

'... as is readily obvious to anyone of even moderate levels, Attributes are not only improvements, they also change who we are. Some of the associated changes are easier to understand than others; Strength leads to a more brash personality, which in many ways, along with the curiosity of Intelligence, are the most easily grasped. Though the vanity of Perfection and the manipulative nature of Charisma are of the same ilk as the stubbornness of Willpower.

But that Agility makes you more flighty, Dexterity covetous, that Endurance leads to single-mindedness, Constitution to self-sacrifice, and Wisdom to passivity; can be harder to understand. By considering ... '

With a slow nod I put the book on my cart, this one seemed more sensible. While I could not speak to its accuracy I preferred the language.

On the shelf above the ones I had just considered, behind a shimmering barrier, sat a volume that caught my attention, 'The Bloodlines, The Aberrations: dangers and uses thereof'

I furrowed my brow for a moment, the imp had mentioned both of those before having a fit of giggles, had it not? Sadly though, I could not read the book. I scanned the rest of the row hoping titles might give me a hint and another one stood out.

'The bounties of the Kingdom: Deva, Devils, and Aberrations'

I raised an eyebrow. A royal bounty? Why only Aberrations, with no mention of the Bloodlines though?

With a shrug, I put that consideration aside, as I did not know what it was or meant.

I turned to the volumes on classes. I had far less luck there, most spoke in general terms. Mana was used by Mages and Clerics to affect the world around them. Rogues and Warriors used Force, which to my mind seemed a lot like Mana, but channeled through the body instead of a spell structure. I guessed people might feel better about calling it by a different name. Or maybe the Order had?

A volume called 'A summary of the advancement of levels' seemed interesting and I put it on my cart.

The next shelf contained rituals. I could see books about summonings of all kinds behind a shimmering barrier, though almost the whole shelf was blocked. I was about to move past it when my eyes fell to a slim volume. 'On the banishment of Imps: A practical guide!'

While the exclamation point brought the very first book I considered to mind, this seemed too good to pass up. I picked the volume up and skimmed it. It did not seem difficult at all. Would it be worth it?

I closed my eyes for a moment and considered.

Yes. I would take a risk on this. The imp was dangerous and deranged, almost anything would be better than having the creature around. It only had to get lucky once to kill me after all.

With a sad sigh at the pile of books I wanted to read, I headed back to the desk at the entrance.

There was no line at this point and the woman's eyes flicked to the book in my hand as I approached. She spoke in the same fashion as earlier.

"Ritual room is four silver, borrowing an athame is four copper, the power crystal is included in the room price." She said the last with a note of disgust, as if she resented the idea that an opportunity for more coin had been overlooked.

I fished out the sum. I had started to become numb to the amount of coin even the simplest things took in this Quarter. The woman handed me a key, a box, and a small bag. She then pointed down a hall I had not noticed when I first entered.

"You are in room 41, down the hall, second right, sixth room on the left."

Having said her peace, she turned away from me with a wave of her hand.

It did not take me long to find the room as the directions were on point. I soon found myself looking down on a floor covered in strange symbols, with a circle at the very center.

According to the instructions, due to the bond, the imp did not need to be here. Now I just needed to follow diagrams in the book. I looked out over the multitude of symbols.

This would take a while.