“Excellent!” Wizard exclaimed, smiling wide. He opened his deep pocket and pulled out a small square parcel. It was a rather heavy metal box, the make of a very secure safebox. “Don’t worry about it being damaged. The box has a ton of different protection runes all over it. Just be sure not to lose it. Oh yeah, and don’t try to open it either. It will explode.” Trenton stowed the box in his invisible pocket, Wizards eye’s suddenly going wide. “What was that!?”

Trenton pulled his necklace out of shirt, showing it to Wizard, who stared at it with awe, “Some man gave it to me in a cathedral a little ways outside of Aria.”

“May I see it?”

Trenton handed the necklace to Wizard. It was precious, and not to be tossed around lightly, but Trenton got the distinct impression Wizard could just take the necklace from him forcefully if it came to it. Wizard inspected the craftsmanship of the necklace, slowly turning it over in his fingers. After a while, he handed it back to Trenton, who slipped it back on.

“Hesitantly, I want to say it looks like my fathers work, but I’m not certain. Wisdom would know better than me. If you get the chance, visit Wisdom in Baspheler,” Wizard pulled out a piece of paper, quickly writing some sort of recommendation letter for them, which he sealed in an envelope, signed, and handed to them. “This should allow you to see Wisdom personally. Could you describe the man who gave it to you?”

“He was tall, had short black hair, deep blue eyes and clothes, two deep blue tear lines on his skin, and he had this weird blue translucence to him,” Trenton said, thinking back to the odd man’s odd peculiarities.

Wizard shook his head, “No, definitely not Magnius, doesn’t sound familiar either. Talk to Wisdom. I can’t really help you outside of that,” he got up from his desk, “but, as promised, I’ll give each of you an item from my personal stash of magical items. I’m giving them to you ahead of time to help you actually get the parcel to Wrigley, so I trust you’ll use them wisely.”

Wizard led them to a side room, down a staircase, and into a circular room right underneath his office. Lining the walls were items held within locked glass boxes atop pedestals, their walls almost certainly lined with protection runes. As they walked around the circle, Wizard pointed out each item, explaining what it was, how it was used, and what it did.

“Why’s that one empty?” Leo said, pointing to the only not filled box in the whole gallery.

“Someone stole it a couple months ago. I’ve been trying to get it back, but there’s not much I can do at this point,” Wizard shrugged, “it is what it is. They’re expensive, but replaceable given enough time.”

Trenton focused on the items before him. Every item in here was capable of releasing mass quantities of magic, but there was one that caught his eye in particular, a little globe capable of casting the chronurgy spell–pause– on a mass scale one time. It was an incredibly useful spell, bringing all non sentient matter to a complete stop instantly. It was only one time use, but it could definitely save them in the right scenario. Leo, meanwhile, was drawn to a little bottle, the top of which was corked.

“What’s this?” Leo asked, hovering around the item.

“Oh, that’s a creature container. You can store a monster of nearly any variety inside of it if you uncork it and press the nose of the bottle against the monster's body. It should be empty right now,” Wizard responded.

“Does it work against humans?” Trenton asked.

“No, it doesn’t. Monsters lack of presence is what allows it to work on them. Anything else and it wouldn’t be able to capture them properly.”

“I’ll take it,” Leo said, making up his mind.

With that, Wizard gave them final instructions on how to reach Wrigley and Wisdom, calling up the elevator and bidding them farewell. They took the elevator down to the ground floor, leaving the store with far more than they’d originally bargained for. Their party consisted of one geomancer, one pyromancer, one hydrosophist, and one reality mage, when he was around, so having more utility could’ve been a lifesaver down the line.

Out on the street the town was still alive, the bustle of the shop far surpassed by the bustle of the city streets. Aria actually had much the same problem back when it still existed. With so many people living in one area, it was often crowded and backed up, travel being much slower than it would’ve otherwise been in a smaller population. Not like they really had any other choice. Living out on the plains was practically certain death.

“There’s a big watchtower nearby that I was thinking about visiting. It’s supposed to have a great view of the city,” Trenton said, looking at the sun still hanging high in the air. It was about 3 now, the shopping on the lower floors of Sorcerer’s Atelier having taken them a while.

“There’s not a ton that I want to see particularly. I was planning on just wandering around,” Leo said, looking at Trenton for permission.

“We can split up, then. You know the way back to Olin’s place, yeah?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Try not to stay out too late. I’d say we should be back by 8 or so.”

“Sure, I’ll see you later,” Leo said, waving goodbye as he made his way further into the city.

Once Trenton had gotten directions from a local, he set off, finding the massive watchtower quite easily. Just like Sorcerer’s Atelier, it stuck out like a sore thumb, easily towering over the other buildings in the area. He quickly made his way to the top, luckily not having to wait in any sort of line. The attraction was likely very popular, a free gazing site in the middle of a residential district, but at this time of day, most people would still be working, so there was plenty of open space. The top of the tower was a wide circular platform, a railing lining the edge and a ceiling giving cover during bad weather. Trenton simply sat there for a while, admiring the view of the city, the buildings like ants below him. It was a nice view, and certainly enough to satisfy his desire. When he’d had his fill, he turned to leave.

“Watcha doin’?” Suddenly, a girl swung nearly into him, her whole body upside down over the several hundred foot drop. She was on the roof! Trenton staggered back, surprised by her rapid appearance, which only prompted her to laugh. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t expect to scare you so much. Here, the views are way better without the railing in the way,” she said, holding out her right hand towards Trenton. He hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided to let his inhibitions rest for the time being. He was curious where she was going with this.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When he took it, a thick vine grew from beneath her sleeve, wrapping itself around his wrist. With one solid heave, she threw him out over the great drop, and backwards onto the slanted roof behind her, the vine breaking off of her arm and launching out towards a steel spike in the middle of the roof. Trenton landed roughly on his side, scrambling so as not to slide off of the roof, but thanks to the vine securing him, he didn’t even begin to fall. The girl herself had vines wrapping around her legs also connecting her to the spike. Seems like she was prepared for this. That must’ve been how she was able to peer over the side the way she did. She quickly leapt to her feet, the vines moving to the side to allow her to walk without tripping over herself. She grabbed Trenton’s hand, pulling him up towards the spike at the center, the highest point on the tower. They grabbed the spike, standing together, now, looking out over the city. She was right, the view was much better up here.

Now, he was able to see the city below, the sky above, and various landmarks out on the horizon all around them. He could even make out the castle where the duke lived some dozen miles away. It was built into a massive stone wall, which appeared to cleave the entire city in half. The result of a fissure? Maybe. It could’ve also been some powerful geomancy. There was really no way to tell from this distance. Trenton took a closer look at the girl, sneaking a glance while she looked out over the city. She was beautiful, practically breathtaking. Her face was soft and rounded, her long auburn hair framing it perfectly, her emerald eyes sparkling in the sunlight. On top of that, she was tall, only an inch or so shorter than Trenton, her figure well built.

“It really is beautiful up here,” Trenton said, composing himself.

“Isn’t it? My favorite place in the whole city. Course, we’re not really supposed to be up here, but they don’t have to know that,” she said, winking at Trenton.

“What’s your name?”

“Kisa, and you’re Trenton, right?”

“Yeah, I am. I don’t recall meeting you before, though.”

She shook her head, “We’ve never met. I actually heard your name and description from a crier. Practically everyone in the city knows who you are by now, and what happened to Aria. To think, an entire city burned to the ground by a rogue pyromancer. Almost too far-fetched to believe.”

Burned to the ground? That wasn’t what happened. That wasn't what happened at all. Aria was the subject of geomancer, an unbelievably powerful geomancer. Geren must have returned from his trip and reported what happened by now. But then, why would he lie? No, that wasn’t it. He wasn’t the one making the decision. The Conqueror, or whoever made the decision, probably decided to hide what really happened, choosing to blame the pyromancer instead. It was easier for the public to stomach if it was just some random mage, some random scapegoat. And, it wasn’t like anyone was going to check. There wasn’t anything to the south of any note anymore.

“Right,” Trenton thought about it for a moment, his description spread all over the town, “Why me? I get telling everyone about Aria, but I’m hardly of any importance,” he lied, hoping that they also covered up why the pyromancer was there in the first place.

Kisa shrugged, “It makes a good story. Sure the city is gone, but these two boy’s survived and are on a grand quest now! It’s exactly what the people need to stay docile. But,” she paused, looking straight through Trenton, “how true is that really? I’ve traveled the plains. I know what happens out there.”

“...you’re right. It’s not nearly as grand as the stories would have you believe. We’re fighting for our lives and barely managing at that.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured. Y’know, the crier said that you were some great warrior with a heart of bespoke iron, bravely shepherding his dearest friend to safety, but that’s not true either, is it?” She said, puffing up her chest and throwing on a mocking tone to imitate the typical tone of a crier.

Trenton laughed, “Not quite, a little embellished, anyway. I’m helping Leo, sure, but he’s hardly defenseless. His magic is actually a lot stronger than mine is, always has been. He just struggles to use it properly. Once he finds himself, I think he’ll be a finer warrior than any other in history. And, in the meantime, I’ll do what I can to help.”

“So a real upstanding guy.”

“Sure, you could say that. I’m just doing what I can, nothing special. We’re not alone, either. My mentor, Walibeld, is traveling with us.”

“WALIBELD!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” Kiva yelled, Trenton reeling back from the sudden burst of intensity.

“Yeah…do you know him?”

“Know him!? Are you kidding!?”

“I didn’t know much about him until recently. I assumed most others were in the same boat as me.”

“Well known!? You sound insane right now. Everyone east of the Thalian knows his name. He’s practically more popular than the Benevolent himself.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He did mention he was born in the east.”

“Do you guys not know about Walibeld here? I’m from the east myself, which is how I know his name, but I thought he’d be well known over here as well. He did make the map of the continent, afterall.”

“Wait, he made the map?”

“Among like one million other things! From what I heard, he was the first person to travel the entire world personally, so he drew the standard map that’s used today.”

“That…explains a lot, actually.”

“So wait, you said he was your mentor? Has he been in Aria this whole time?”

“The last decade or so, from what I’m aware.”

“Sye is going to kill when she hears about this. I gotta go tell her, actually. She’s been looking for him ever since he disappeared about a decade ago. Do you know where he is?”

“He said he was visiting a wizard named Polias on the other end of the city, but that’s all I know.”

“Polias…yeah, I know Polias,” Kiva looked up at him, her eyes gleaming, “Gods, thank you! I just wanted to hear about you from the source, rather than some crier, but this is incredible news. I’ll be in touch, probably. See ya!” She said, quickly vaulting back into the tower and out of view.

Now that he was alone, Trenton carefully made his way off of the roof, deciding to head back sooner, rather than later. At the base of the tower, he reoriented himself, retracing his steps that day to remember how to get back to Olin’s house, but just as he started to move, a strange man caught his attention. He was bulky, broad faced with a long scar on his face. But most importantly, he had Millie slumped over his shoulder, her form completely limp. Next to him, several town guards stood, their weapons lowered towards Trenton.

“Yeah, he looks about right. You are officially placed under arrest for…something or other,” the man said. Shit, did they trace the body to him? Everyone should’ve been asleep, but according to Walibled, if they were strong enough, they could resist the effect. Why would he have Millie, though?

A guard next to him chimed in, “You are charged with perjury of the highest order! Submit!”

Perjury? Perjury? How would he have even committed perjury? Trenton had never once in his life even been to a court. Trenton raised his hands over his head, trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation, “There must be some sort of mistake. I am guilty of no such-”

“Yeah, I don’t really care. As long as I’m paid, the means don’t really matter,” the scared man said.

Suddenly, he was gone, a great burst of air washing over Trenton. What just-Trenton’s head slammed forward, and the world went dark.