The train ride was quiet at first with Swiss allowing Owen to read through the notes that had been taken on the moles. All they had to do was flash the crest to the conductor and they were allowed on the train bound for Agdyne.
It was a small village not far from The Dragons Nest but it was where the search would begin. According to the notes the moles primarily lived underground and would only surface by mistake if they had gotten confused by something interfering with their sense of direction.
They had razor sharp claws that they would use to dig through the dirt and create tunnels for traversing. This was where their mind magic came in and they would project a small mental wave of sorts to let other moles know that they were nearby to prevent each other from digging into the others tunnels.
It stood to reason that their eyesight was quite poor due to living underground along with communicating through mental waves. It left Owen mostly concerned with what could someone like him even offer these moles that would convince them to train him.
It’s not like any race would simply hand over the secrets to their signature magic for the promise of some coin. Especially if the coin was completely useless to them. Not unless they found the shiny pieces alluring.
Primarily nomadic in nature they only came together in times of mating, where the newborns would stay with the mother until they were developed enough to be taken by the father and taught mind magic, then thrust into the world on their own to forge their own path when training was complete.
After a while of reading, he placed the book down and returned to thinking “Access to infinite gold isn’t something that is going to help here.” He said aloud to stir up conversation with Swiss, who was currently enthralled with the scenery as she stood on her seat to watch it pass.
She turned her attention from the window and sat on the seat regularly once more. “Sometimes you need to think of more of what a client needs, rather than what they want,” a cryptic hint to say the least but it did give him some food for thought. Returning to thinking hard about the problem at hand. She let him mull over his options as he would ponder mostly on the fact that as a race they seemed quite fragmented.
“Perhaps some form of teaching them language?” He asked aloud, hoping that Swiss could share her input on his ideas. “It would allow them to communicate with those above and perhaps even make trade agreements,” the ratling suggested for a moment but ultimately shook her head at the idea “What would they even have to trade?”
“They could train others in the forms of magic they seem to be the sole owners of.” He reasoned, though remembering that this magic was considered highly illegal in most parts of the world. Just letting the world know that these moles not only practised it, but used it in their daily lives may cause a stigma before they had even advanced sufficiently enough to be considered a society by the king.
Returning to his thoughts he watched the scenic forestry soon part ways through the window to reveal large open fields as far as the eye could see. The green grass filled to the brim with animals and monsters alike. The latter seems to grow stronger and more prominent every year.
Though that wasn’t his problem at this current time, he needed to focus on the task at hand.
Luckily the trains were warded and often patrolled by goons hired by the company to fight off any monsters or bandits that attempted to board at any point. It reminded him of the time that he came to the capital of the seven kingdoms during the war to study alchemy at the Rosemary academy.
A lot of attacks happened on trains during the war and when bandits attempted to get on board the wards activated and each room locked keeping him inside with the other passengers he shared a booth with. Outside, the guards dealt with the bandits before they could even begin to crack the wards.
Returning from his memories he once again read over the information that he had. A nomadic group that communicates through mental waves that project intents into the recipient's mind. Agriculture may not be what they want, or need at this point given they seem to survive just fine within the tunnels and whatever food source they already have.
Swiss watched him struggle to come up with something and once again gave her own hint towards what might help. “I remember a very long time ago, the ratlings used to just be considered another subspecies of monsters. Until the Queen at the time granted us the title of advanced civilization.”
He perked up when she spoke, closing the book once more using a finger to mark the page he was on. “Hard to imagine,” he replied, as far as he knew they had been in charge of the council of alchemy for decades at this point.
“It was a very long time ago, as you can imagine being immortal you live to see a lot. The history of entire kingdoms passes in the blink of an eye,” she continued, reaching into her pocket space once more to pull out what seemed to be an ancient coin. Given the condition that it was in and the markings it was probably worth far more than the entire estate Owen’s family owned plus double.
She flicked it into the air with a satisfying clang before catching it when it slapped against her palm. It was likely she had time to perfect the technique but she soon rolled the coin between two of her fingers to show the face of it that contained an engraving of Alexandria, the first queen to rule one of the seven kingdoms under the spire almost nine thousand years ago. “My mother gave me this coin that had been passed down through my family for generations. It was the first coin ever traded for goods and services once Alexandria officially recognised the ratlings as a community and not monsters.”
She held it out, allowing Owen to take a hold of the ancient coin that pre dated anyone in his family's lineage as far as he could remember. A piece of history so valuable that it deserved to be within a museum. The coin itself was in quite good condition given what he had seen it being used for, the grooves still defined with “In the All Mother we offer our eternal souls” engraved around the outer rim. Alexandria was known for many things, but her devotion to religion was one that was often criticised by modern scholars.
Some went as far as to argue that magic, alchemy, and technology would have advanced threefold during her era if not for the meddling of the church. “A lot to take in, huh?” Swiss asked, leaning on the table between them.
“Holding a piece of history in my hands is quite difficult to process…” He responded, running his thumb over the indents before he handed it back to her “And you were there for it?”
That got a snort from Swiss, her snout wrinkling as she let out a series of short chirping noises that he could only assume was laughter given her body language. “Do I look that old?” She asked.
“You know, neither of you looked your age, I imagine,” he argued in his defence.
Once her bursts of chirping came to an end she placed the coin back into her pocket space and said “No, no. I may be immortal but I am the most recent before you. Probably about five hundred years. I just know a lot about my people's history.”
Five hundred years… That was such a long time, far beyond the scope of any mortal and yet here she was, speaking of it as if she was some toddler compared to her peers. Though it came to stand that the others must have been far older.
“If there is a time that your people were not recognised as a society, what was it like back then?” Owen asked once he gathered his thoughts.
“It was a dark time for us, according to the annolds there was no shortage of alchemists in search of a ratling to force their concoctions and scalpels onto given we were the closest thing to humans they were allowed to experiment upon,” she explained.
That caused Owens' heart to jump slightly into his throat. He knew that his chosen profession wasn’t the most ethical one throughout history but it wasn’t pleasant to hear. Echoes of the old man's raspy voice filled his mind along with glimpses of his vision trapped within the tube and an all too familiar scent of decay.
“It is where the term lab rat came from,” she responded to his sullen face with a few more quick chitters, pulling him back to reality. “What is in the past is in the past. It is not like you personally victimised my people.”
“Victimisation…” Owen mumbled, tapping the notepad against the table. His thoughts still lingered upon the lab. Finally, after some time, he felt he had an idea of what he could offer.
He slapped the notepad down on the table and said “Alright. I have an idea.”
When they made it to Agdyne they were quick off the train and Swiss decided it would be best to lead Owen to where she knew they could access the underground. They had been here a few times to document what they could.
It was quite well hidden. Swiss explained upon their approach “We had found one of the moles had made it to the surface on a tip from one of our envoys. He had made it to the surface by mistake and we had to help him make it back. From there we gathered all our intel.”
“How are we going to communicate with them given they don’t speak our language, I imagine?” Owen asked.
“Well, being mind readers they can read your intent and infer what needs to be said, then project their response into your mind,” she continued to explain as she waved her hand and dispelled a constructed set of rocks that covered a large hole.
It left Owen quite nervous seeing just how large the hole was “Just how big are these guys..?” He asked, given the hole was large enough for them to walk upright into.
Swiss demonstrated by wiggling her body left to right in a crawling motion. “Well, they crawl on their stomachs so as you can imagine this hole is big enough for them to shimmy though.”
“So standing they would tower over us?” He asked, all of a sudden being quite a bit more nervous about meeting them face to face.
“Just because they are bigger than us doesn’t mean that they are dangerous!” Swiss said with a confident huff, puffing her chest with her hands on her waist.
“Easy for you to say, everyone is bigger than you,” Owen responded. It was hard not to find her endearing at times, her boundless optimism and happy attitude was slightly contagious.
It did little to help in this situation but he was able to get a chuckle out of her fur puffing up “You aren’t even trained yet and you are already rude!” He wasn’t able to read the body language of a rat very well but he at least hoped that her tone of voice implied it was more playful banter than genuine annoyance.
That didn’t matter as it was, a noise came from the tunnel below and once again renewed Owen’s fear with the shifting of earth below them felt through the trembling earth.
“We have the one willing to talk to us waiting below.” Swiss said. With a hop in her step she jumped into the open hole within the earth.
Owen had little choice now. Taking a deep breath he readied himself and plunged into the earth below. The walls of the tunnel were quite compact, almost feeling like he was walking on a paved road
The darkness on the other hand, made it feel quite eerie. The deeper they went the more distant the ambient noise of the world above faded and left behind a silence that hung heavy in the air and left Owen tensing with each step.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Soon the silence was shattered by a scraping noise in the back of his head that took him off guard, causing him to quickly look over his shoulder to find no one there. It was uncomfortable, it felt like someone was dragging their nails across the back of his skull which produced a similar noise to doing so across a chalkboard that bounced around the inside of his skull until suddenly… it stopped.
All the pain and discomfort of the noise just vanished within a moment's notice, to be replaced with a silence that was now entirely relieving rather than concerning. Walking forward they came into an area of the tunnel that seemed to have been hollowed out even larger than the one that they had appeared from. As if some form of room.
The relief was short lived as from the darkness finally a figure emerged. A colossal shadow revealed itself to be the form of the mole they came to seek. Its eyes squinted to the point of looking closed while on the opposite end the claws that it had were quite a bit larger than Owen. They looked sharp enough to cut through solid boulders and given they lived down here they most likely did.
It had a long nose that it used to sniff the air and discern they were there and several whiskers that all reached the edges of the tunnel. While it lay on its stomach while moving this tunnel seemed quite bigger than it which was a tad strange.
Though he felt as if words were being placed into his mind directly, or more… feelings.
The mole sensed his confusion at its form and in turn placed a feeling within Owen that it would “show him” and at that it began to stand within the tunnel. It soon made more sense as to why this tunnel was so large in showing that it stood on its hind legs. Its form resembled that of a child's teddy bear with a stout form that happened to be very large in comparison. Owen tried to size himself up to the creature that towered over him that he must have been about a third of its size which made it almost comical the difference between Swiss and the mole.
His thoughts were interrupted by once again a feeling flowing through his mind, the mole wanted to know what someone from the surface was doing down here with the ratling that helped them return to the underground.
At that he was still unsure how to communicate with them so he said “I have come to offer a deal in return for learning your ways of mind magic for use by the spire.”
The next feeling was hard to interpret at first but it seemed to be a mocking tone. If the creature could laugh it would at such a request but this message into his mind would have to suffice.
Owen maintained his stance and once again tried to explain himself “Do you not think to wonder what would happen when those on the surface find out about your abilities?” Doing his best to not make it sound like a threat so he added “We can offer a lot of stability and ways to protect yourselves,” part of him hoped that being helped once already by the spire would have it feeling like it owed some form of debt.
Again the mole responded in kind as Owen felt it projected that they had been safe for millennia as it was. While the surface is a threat the moles as a whole did not view the need for stability due to being a secluded race. Letting Owen know that it saw through his visage.
Swiss watched the interaction but it seemed the mole wasn’t including her in this telepathic conversation so she was mostly trying to discern if this was going well.
Finally he could piece together only what he could describe as words from the feelings that had been passed within his mind. “The mind speaks truly. Words are manipulated.” While he had no idea what that meant, he once again kept his firm stance in front of the beast.
It seemed amused by the gesture with its whiskers twitching against the walls. “It seems even you look down upon us with such thoughts”
He shook his head to try and clear his mind, moving back slightly and composing himself with a deep breath. This time focusing on his thoughts since words were useless here. The first thought he pushed forward was that for any race a danger exists, and that is those on the surface. Eventually, no matter how careful they are, someone would find out about it down here. The fact they were here was proof of that.
The mole thought about it for a few minutes and finally responded with “There is some truth to your words but what you offer is vague.”
Of course it was, Owen hardly even had an idea of what he could offer and that was apparent when the mole read his mind. This time he focused his thoughts once more on explaining the story that Swiss had told him.
The tale of the ratlings and the laboratories that took advantage of them because of their nature and not being recognised as a society. In order to avoid a similar fate at the hands of those willing to bend the rules once it suits them, they would need a form of society. A form of kinship and advanced living that the kingdom could view and grant them the title.
Owen felt it was a deal that could not be denied at this point, it was an offer of safety for his people and at the cost of training a single person in their magic.
While the mole seemed hesitant as once again it thought about the implications of what teaching him of their magic would be. “To teach someone such as yourself could take decades with such a primitive and easy to probe mind…”
Now that one just felt like a personal attack but it was a valid concern. “Time is indeed of the essence…” Owen said as he rubbed his chin.
The next statement seemed vague, but all Owen could do was wait. The mole towered over them and its whiskers twitched before a wave of power rushed over them and echoed through the underground.
Its face scrunched and the small brow it had furrowed as it did not seem to enjoy the response that it had gotten, letting him know in no uncertain terms “My people do not care for your terms. They claim to not need help from outsiders.”
Owen could feel his heart sink, this would mean his first mission was going to be a failure, along with meaning he would not be able to learn mind magic which he could not deny he was excited at the prospect of. Swiss seemed unphased by the news but it was hard to tell if she knew what was going on.
“However.” The mole added once he was done wallowing in his thoughts of failure. “I fear my people do not know what is best for them and that they are blinded by the ignorance of decades of safety.”
In waiting for Owens' response it continued to press its thoughts onto the human. “My people may be strong, but I fear for our future and I could not rest knowing I passed up such an opportunity to prevent hardships for them.”
As much as it would have pleased Owen to simply accept and welcome him, he needed a definitive answer “Are you sure about this?”
“Delving into your mind I have seen the depths of depravity the surface dwellers are willing to inflict on their own. One could only imagine what they would be willing to do to one of mine. I accept your terms, Immortal,” the creature soon said, which was what he wanted to hear. Pulling his head out of failure to that of success before it once again probed his mind and stated “Your companion has informed me of a compromise on time. We shall grant you, and you alone, access to our teachings. In return you will provide us with what we need to be safe from the surface.”
Owen felt his heart skip a beat as that meant a job well done. The mole once again seemed amused and said “Enjoy these feelings while they last.”
Ominous, and it was enough to cause Owen to stop and stare at it blankly. Before he could try and formulate his thoughts into a question, it stated “From what your companion says, training will be a difficult task in itself.”
It would make sense that the creature capable of reading minds was capable of holding two conversations at once, but that did little to settle his nerves. Swiss simply shot him a smile and a thumbs up when he looked at her direction which also did very little to settle his mind.
At that, the two left the tunnel once Swiss had finished making her plans with the mole. Somehow she gave him directions to the tower which one would assume he would travel underground.
“So, three moles will accompany us to our training.” She stated once they were approaching the town once more.
Owen was still currently processing all that happened, but he did eventually reply to her and ask “What form of training is this going to be?”
“Well, what form of training do you think an immortal seer of life and death undergoes?” She asked as if it was a foregone conclusion “Rigorous and painful training.”
The journey back to psychopomps was quite quiet as Owen kept to himself, lost in his thoughts of the moles and what he was about to learn, along with what had even led up to this point. It was all a lot to take in. Swiss respected his silence and aside from the occasional jab or joke she allowed him to deal with his own feelings, along with preparing himself for what was to come.
In reporting success to the spire, however, Psychopomps seemed quite impressed at the time it took them. “I see you have completed your task,” it stated as they approached, before they could even report. Somehow Owen felt that he already knew of their success long before they even entered the city.
“We have, sir,” Swiss responded, saluting the dragon.
The dragon turned its attention to Owen and said “It is a pleasure to see you taking your new role seriously. Though you may harbour doubts about us I am sure in due time you will learn that what we do is just.”
Owen would be lying if he said that he didn’t have any doubts about this whole operation. Hard to take the word of an immoral beast coiled around the spire that it had the best of mankind's interests in mind. By now he also assumed that with the power the dragon claimed, it too could also read his mind and had been this entire time.
Nevertheless, he had already agreed to this position and no matter what doubts he may harbour he had a job like any other, and now it was time to learn.
“Then, as you have accepted your role with us you shall be trained.” The dragon said once it finally came to a decision. Its stare felt like it pierced right through his soul and an odd feeling washed over his body, as if something was taking a grasp on the very essence of what made him… well, him.
Darkness began to wash over his vision and he lost control of himself, collapsing to his knees before landing face down on the ground with shadows encroaching.
“You may come out of this a different person,” the dragon's voice said as it rang through his mind “But you will be the person you were destined to be.”
With that, the world faded and his consciousness followed soon after.
“Hey, hey, wake up!” Owen heard from the darkness, followed by a light slap to his cheek.
He pulled away of course but the slap continued until he opened his eyes, it was Swiss who was standing over him. The ratling grinning widely and stepping back “About time, lazy!”
Taking a moment to gain his bearings he looked around to find they were in an odd sort of… town. The sky filled with a blackness that would terrify most, but somehow it felt almost comforting at this point.
Blue flamed lanterns lit up the village with a few buildings around, a town square where stalls were set up and a cobblestone path running through the streets leading to each house, shop, and even a large field full of striking dummies to the east.
The flames of the lanterns seemed to stave off the darkness of the edge of town. In the distance he could see a group of people hoisting large crates of supplies from the looks of it. Taking most of them to the stalls in the centre of town and some of them into the buildings around.
“Good morning.” Swiss said, offering Owen a hand.
Owen felt that his weight would pull her down, but to his surprise she was quite powerful as taking the hand helped him to his feet with ease, even if he was quite a bit taller.
“Welcome to the nexus. This is where we come to train new recruits and retain a part of ourselves!” She explained joyously.
Owen wasn’t sure what to make of the ‘retain part of ourselves’ bit, but he did know he was here to be taught how to work alongside these other immortals that he was yet to even meet. All of them gathered ahead.
First there was Frost, a woman of colossal stature. She put Alister to shame as she stood over a foot taller than him, and he was already a titan compared to most. Owen had no idea where she was from or even what she looked like. Her entire body was coated head to toe in thick winter vests, gloves, and a hat that covered most of her head. What little of her face wasn’t covered in cloth and fabric was covered in an odd black fog that only let through the view of two yellow orbs that he assumed were to represent eyes.
“Welcome.” She said, in a distinctly northern accent. Given her dress code it made sense that she would come from the mountains.
As he approached with Swiss, the group took a break from carting around supplies and turned to greet him. Alongside Frost was Alister who needed no introduction at this point, but he still took a moment to say “Welcome to the crew.” Patting his back so hard he could feel the air forcefully leaving his lungs “Sorry about the manhandling before.”
It was a brief apology, and one he wasn’t sure was even genuine but at this point he took what he could get. “Don’t worry about it…” Owen mumbled in response.
Returning from one of the homes with an empty crate in tow was a large orc. Osmir dressed in a long black coat with pants to match with a pair of nice shoes and a white undershirt; he looked quite similar to a group from Kiln that studied all forms of magic. Often dedicating their lives to the craft. “Ah, I see our new arrival finally raised his face.” The large Orc said, quite articulate for what the common comprehension of an Orc was. His two large teeth from his bottom jaw sticking out from his lips to create a rather intimidating set of fangs that reached up to his cheeks where he had some tattoos that were common for Orcs to be given at birth. “It is good to see Swiss is the one showing you around. She is the best at gaining people's trust.”
“It is because I look normal, compared to the rest of you.” She responded with a cocky tone, head raised high in the air with nose pointing upwards in a smug superiority.
“Perhaps,” Osmir responded, fixing a pair of thick glasses upon his face and brushing the long greying hair that contrasted against his dark green skin to the side. Mostly having it tied back into a ponytail but some strands still snuck down in front of his vision.
“That is enough talk.” Alister said. Placing his large hand on Owens back again he shoved him forward, towards the large field full of training dummies. He didn’t have much time to react but the others waved him off. Alister began to explain “If you are to be a part of the team, you need to be trained like us. So, starting today we will be training you in a specific area, starting with combat.”
He was certainly nervous at the prospect, at best the only fights he had ever gotten into were the ones on the schoolyard. The last fight he had ever been actively a part of ended in a single blow that left him unconscious, back when he was mugged on his way to work. He was sure they were thrilled with the entire four bronze coins and pastry he had on his person at the time.
He was broken out of his thoughts when Alister threw something at him, “Catch.” He said as the wooden stick hit Owens chest and fell to the floor. “Reaction time needs work too,” he added.
Owen picked up the heavy wooden stick that was quite durable and smooth before he heard Alister say;
“Your training begins now.”