“Hi, I’m interested in selling off my mana crystal.” After leaving the diner Clay wasted no time in catching a bus to Raleigh. He didn’t really know where to go to try to sell his mana crystal, so he just stopped at the first storefront he found advertising magical equipment.
“May I take a look at it, I need to measure its mana charge.” Clay removed the crystal from his neck, handing it to the man behind the register. The man inspected it closely before gently removing the crystal from the necklace, and inserting it into a staff he pulled from underneath the counter. “It has a pretty large charge, you must’ve had it for a while.”
“Yeah, about a decade now” Clay responded.
“For this amount of charge, I can offer you 50,000 for it.”
“Man, I know it's worth at least twice that.”
The man gave him a friendly smile “You're right, but I’m running a business here, not buying the crystal for myself. I will need to resell it and make some profit. How about 75?”
It was less than he would’ve liked, but being nearly broke left him in a desperate situation. “I guess I will take it” Clay agreed.
“Great, I will just need some form of ID.” Clay hesitated for a moment. “Uhh…”
“What's wrong? Forgot your ID at home kid? If you can give me your identification number that’s all I need” the man said as he turned to the computer on the counter
“Is it possible to do this off the books?” The man looked back at Clay, the friendliness on his face fading. “No, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“What if I lowered the price?” The man's face hardened with suspicion.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at kid, but I’m running a respectable business here.”
“Please, I need the money.” The man behind the counter raised his hand, summoning a barrier behind Clay.
“Are you a fed, or working with the Venetis? Who sent you to mess with me?”
Clay was taken by surprise by the mans sudden hostility. He recognized the name Venetis, a famous guild of mages that was lead by the most powerful magician in the country. But he had no idea why this man was accusing him of working with them. More importantly, the man still had his mana crystal in the staff he was wielding, and had just sealed off his escape.
“Listen man, I don’t know what you’re talking about, if you want the truth I’m in a bit of legal trouble, and would rather not have a paper trail.” It wasn’t completely a lie, but Clay wasn’t about to tell this guy he was an accused murderer.
The man eyed Clay up before his face softened. He released the barrier “Sorry kid, been a bit jumpy lately on account of… well never mind. I really can’t buy this from you, not right now.” The man removed the mana crystal from the staff, returning it to the necklace and handing it back to Clay.
He then pulled out a business card, scribbling down an address on the back of it. “I know someone who will be willing to buy it off you, although don’t expect anything near market value for it. She’s a bit eccentric, but she’s a good person. Just hand this card to her. And try to stay out of any more legal trouble kid.”
…
Clay found himself in a rundown part of the city, the beat-up storefront he was staring at lacked any kind of signs or advertising, just an address next to the door, confirming that it was the same one given by the store clerk from earlier.
Maybe he sent you to get robbed.
“Or killed” Clay sighed as he approached the door. He had just raised his fist to knock when the door swung open, a woman who appeared to be in her 30s greeting him. “This must be destiny, fate has brought you to my door.”
Was she running some kind of gimmick or scam? This was the right part of town for that kind of thing. “Actually, this business card brought me here” Clay handed it to her. She looked it over before turning back to him “Destiny has a funny way of unfolding, but it unfolds all the same. Come in.”
Clay was second-guessing himself but ultimately followed her through the door. “What can I do for a gentleman like yourself?”
“Uh, I’m here to sell my mana crystal. I tried selling it to the guy who gave me that business card, but he refused to buy it. He said you would though.”
“Gavin is a good guy, but extremely over-cautious. Though I suppose caution is a good thing in times like these.”
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“Why’s that?” Clay asked as they entered what appeared to be a small office room. It was extremely disorganized, with stacks of papers and folders scattered around the room.
“A bunch of magicians have died or gone missing under mysterious circumstances. It has a lot of people freaked out.”
That information surprised Clay. “Wouldn’t something like that be all over the news?”
The woman cleared some papers from a chair, offering it to Clay. “The NDSA and Venetis have been keeping it quiet. It’s taboo to bring it up, but a lot of rumors are going around that the recent deaths and disappearances are being organized by one or both of them. Some of the more outspoken mages have been the ones disappearing. It has Gavin and many others scared.”
“Why aren’t you scared then?”
She flashed Clay a smile “Because I’m the strongest mage.”
Clay looked around her dingy little office, before returning her gaze with a look of doubt. “Anyways, let's take a look at this mana crystal,” she said, ignoring his expression. Clay handed her the crystal.
She grabbed her staff from behind her desk, placing the crystal into it, much like the clerk from before. Clay wasn’t sure how they were able to tell how much mana was in it, from his perspective nothing happened.
“A pretty well-charged crystal. I will offer you 20k for it.” Clay winced at the number. The man at the store, Gavin, had said she would offer something below market value, but this was a lot less than he was expecting.
“I know I know,” She said noticing Clay's look. “It’s a pretty crap offer, but I’m not exactly rich here. When you’re not affiliated with Venetis finding work can be hard. I’m also blacklisted from buying mana crystals from most dealers, so I’m stuck picking up whatever black-market crystals come my way. This has been one of the better-charged crystals I’ve seen in a long time.”
She paused in thought for a moment “I’ll tell you what, I’ll throw in a favor for you, as long as it's within my power. If you need help with something I will be there, free of charge. It’s not every day you get to have the most powerful mage in the country in your debt.”
While Clay had serious reservations about the self-proclaimed strongest mage, a favor like that could come in handy. Besides, if what she said was true, he wasn’t going to find a better offer, at least not easily. “Fine, deal.”
“Excellent! That settles that then. On to the next matter,” She slowly lifted her staff tapping it on the floor three times.
What did she just do?
Clay sprang to his feet, feeling whatever it was Sephtis was talking about. “What did you do to me?” Before she could answer, some sort of apparition emerged from Clay, an ethereal outline of a man standing next to him.
“I could sense before you even knocked on my front door that you weren’t normal. The spiritual energy radiating off you is incredible" The woman explained.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Clay said, eyeing the thing standing next to him.
“How did you do that?” The voice for the first time didn’t come from inside his head, it came from the figure that stood next to him.
“Complicated to explain, but the spell is pretty simple. I wanted to be sure it was the real deal.”
“What kind of mage are you?” Clay asked, shocked at what was happening.
The woman laughed “Ah yes, I guess I never actually introduced myself. I’m Rika, a soul mage.” A soul mage? Clay had never heard of anything like that before.
“That's a dumb way to say you’re a necromancer.” The woman shook her head in disappointment “Necromancer has such a negative image attached to it. Technically there is a difference between me and a necromancer.”
Things made a lot more sense now, Necromancy was heavily shunned, if not outright banned in a lot of countries. No wonder this woman had been blacklisted.
“You’re a specter, right? And an extremely powerful one at that. What are you doing tagging around with a human?” Rika asked curiously. Sephtis remained silent.
“He’s tied to me by, well we don’t know what. He can't leave or kill me, apparently. I’ve been stuck with him for a while now” Clay explained.
“That's hilarious” Rika said with a giggle.
“Clay, necromancers are bad news. Don’t trust her, we should get out of here.”
Sephtis did have a bit of a point, Clay didn’t even know a mage could interact with Sephtis like this. There was no telling what she was capable of.
“Oh relax, I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanted to check you out” She looked at Clay with a hint of excitement. “Hey kid, how about a chance to make some extra cash? I can use this guy's spiritual energy to charge up my mana crystals.”
“He said that wasn’t possible” Clay responded.
“He’s lying to you. Even if he won’t do it willingly, I can pull the energy out of him with a little work.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“I can help you access more of his power too, no doubt this guy has been holding back on you.” This got Clay’s attention. Sephtis may have been useful, but he also made it very clear he would kill Clay if he ever got the chance. He wasn’t exactly on his side.
“I have been storing up my power for countless centuries, if you think I’m going to just hand it over for your use…”
“I got it, I can make this worth your while too,” Rika said with a smile.
“How?”
“I can summon spirits and other entities for you to devour. In return, you work with me.”
Sephtis didn’t respond right away, but Clay was sure this had caught his interest. It sure as hell had caught Clay’s.
“Very well human, since I’m stuck here anyways, I accept.”
Rika turned to Clay “And you.”
“Yeah, I’m in.”