– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 218, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 91 –
“...really, Alexander was so amazing.” Daisy spoke with flushed cheeks. “One vampire appeared out of the shadows but he and one other knight were on the beast in an instant while the rest escorted us further.”
“Uh-huh…” Edmund and his two assistant guards made notes.
“How long will this take?” asked Jasmine, who was standing impatiently behind Daisy. “Haven’t you heard all of this before?”
“Yes, just following up to see if anyone remembers anything new,” replied the dwarf. Edmund looked over his notes. “We’ll also have to talk again to your Flower Protector.”
“I’m sure he’ll be delighted.” It was hard to believe how much sarcasm Jasmine could put into a single word.
“Can’t say I’m enjoying it much either,” sighed Edmund. “But it’s my job. What can I do?” He looked at Daisy. “What happened then?”
“Alexander caught up with us again and…” Daisy blushed profusely.
“And?” prompted Edmund.
“...and he would never allow anything to happen to me.”
Edmund raised an eyebrow.
“I-I mean to us. To us.” Daisy fretted at her slip of tongue. “The knights would never let anything happen to us.”
“Uh-huh,” muttered Edmund. He puffed his cheeks and exhaled slowly with a weary expression. He looked at his aides and said: “Okay, I think we can cut this one short. Thank you, you can leave.” Under his breath, he quietly mumbled: “I don’t believe this lovey-dovey nonsense will help us.”
When Jasmine appeared to leave together with Daisy, Edmund held her back. “A word, please.”
“What for?” asked Jasmine. “I wasn’t there. Someone must have misplaced my invitation.”
“Funny,” said Edmund flatly. “You know that this isn’t personal. We had a major incident and we have to look into all unusual points. Can you see where I am going with this?”
If Jasmine did, she did not show it. She waited for Edmund to continue.
“Your Flower Protector was there and we don’t have any record of a bodyguard mission for him at the Guild,” said Edmund. “It wasn’t hard to figure out that one of your flowers was there too, but here is the thing: She didn’t have an invitation.”
“...” Jasmine maintained a deadpan expression.
“Now, we’re not gullible enough to believe that she got in on her own,” continued Edmund. “In fact, I think I have a very good idea of how she managed to attend, but he is denying it.”
Jasmine blinked slightly slower than usual but did not betray anything else on her face.
“I know that you like to maintain your guest’s privacy, but—”
“We do and it’s good that you know, because then I won’t have to explain why I’m not going to answer any questions in that regard,” hissed Jasmine. “I will neither deny nor confirm who is or isn’t a guest at this establishment.”
“That’s a problem for me, you see.” Edmund shook his head and spoke in an almost apologetic tone. “He won’t admit to it, so I need you to confirm it. Otherwise, Daisy will stay listed as a person of interest.”
“You can’t be serious,” growled Jasmine.
Edmund lifted his hands. “I don’t make the rules. That’s protocol. I don’t believe for a second she had anything to do with the attack, but without…” He shrugged. “Her attendance remains suspect. At least on record.” He took a deep breath. “Can’t you just confirm it? If it was me running this, I would punch the guy in the dick for refusing to acknowledge that he brought her as his date.”
“You wouldn’t get many guests then,” quipped Jasmine.
“Guess so.” Edmund shrugged. “Look, for what it’s worth, I don’t believe the little weasel had anything to do with it either, but as long as that matter is unresolved, we’re forced to waste our resources on this pointless endeavor. Besides, your Flower Protector already told us. He doesn’t seem to care about Alexander’s privacy as much. Didn’t seem to think anything of mentioning the date either.”
Jasmine could not help but snort amusedly, but she still shook her head. “You said it yourself. You don’t believe for a second that Daisy had anything to do with it. I don’t believe the others in the guard are that much stupider than you.”
“Thanks for the backhand.” Edmund frowned slightly. “I’m more worried about all the bigshots taking an interest in the investigation.” He shook his head and stood up. “Why does everyone always have to make everything so complicated?” He glanced at the set of chairs and table they had prepared in the reception room of the Flower House. “Thank you for preparing everything. I appreciate it.”
Edmund and his two assisting guards walked to the side exit that led to the garden. “Do you believe if I told your Flower Protector, he would do the dick punching for me?”
For the second time, Jasmine was unable to maintain a completely neutral expression. “He just might, Edmund. Are you sure you want to deal with the fallout? You would be obligated to stop him and you know how well he listens to you. Sounds like a lot of headaches and paperwork.”
“Guess I’ll have to think about it,” muttered Edmund and walked out for his next follow-up interview.
“Isn’t Terry’s word enough?” asked Jasmine before Edmund could leave the reception hall. “From what I heard he has done your job for you that night.”
“...” Edmund exhaled softly and placed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Not when it stands against his word. That night doesn’t change that, unfortunately.”
***
“...so you could see through their mana cloaking?” Edmund asked while keeping his eyes on Terry, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground.
“Not exactly, but you can think of it like that if you want,” replied Terry wearily. They had gone over this before. He had tried to explain the difference between mana sense and his mana touch before, but the nuance must have slipped their minds again since the first few interviews.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” asked Edmund. “Alert the guards.”
Terry rolled his eyes at yet another question he had already answered before. He was getting irritated and decided at that moment that he would not focus his primary attention on the conversation anymore. Instead, he flipped through one of his notebooks to order his thoughts while restarting his practice in ranged mana compression.
“Vampires are hardly unusual in this city, are they?” said Terry absentmindedly. “How am I supposed to know who is or isn’t a guest or a guard?”
“And yet, you did attack them.” Edmund pointed out.
“I lightly nudged one of them,” corrected Terry. Without taking his eyes off his notebook, he flicked a finger and a small ball of divine mana impacted on the earth next to him without leaving much of a mark.
“Good choice,” interjected one of the assisting city guards and he earned himself a frown from Edmund.
“The one you ‘nudged’ – why did you choose that one?” asked Edmund.
Terry flipped a page and replied. “Like I’ve told you before, because I sensed something with that vampire at the center. A magic that targeted most people there, including Daisy.”
“‘Most people.’ Whom didn’t it target?” pressed Edmund.
“Can’t say,” said Terry. “I was more concerned with whom it did target.”
“You said before that you couldn’t really detect the magic with mana sense.” Edmund shifted to another topic.
“Maybe,” said Terry. “It didn’t stand out as an active spell. Not in regular mana perception. It blended into the ambient mana. Low concentration. No structure as far as I could tell.”
“That’s why you refer to it as ‘magic’ and not as a spell…” Edmund nodded at one of his aides to record that.
“I don’t know what it was,” stressed Terry.
“But you don’t seem to be very concerned about it,” noted Edmund.
“It was interrupted.” Terry corrected one of his own notes in his notebook. “And I don’t believe Daisy or I were the real targets to begin with.”
“Why not?” asked Edmund.
Terry rolled his eyes.
“Alright, what about that ‘extra layer’ of your mana sight?” Edmund scratched his nose with his index finger. “Do you know what it is?”
“I have a guess,” said Terry without elaborating.
Edmund frowned and then added: “We have a guess too. Want to compare guesses? You first.”
Terry furrowed his brow and looked up to catch the gaze of the dwarven guard. He subconsciously activated the ability and stared pensively at the flickers of purple. “I believe it could be soulsight, but…” I have no idea where it comes from, or what some of the things I’m seeing with it mean.
He was supposed to be soulless.
How could he be soulless and see a soul inside himself in soulsight?
If it was a soul, then why wasn’t it always present? He distinctly remembered that there was nothing inside himself the first few times his mana sight had flashed purple.
If it was a soul, then why didn’t soul magic work on him?
“...we have come to the same conclusion as you.” Edmund clasped his hands together and leaned closer to Terry. “This is between us and I don’t want you to spread it. Can you do that?”
Terry shrugged and nodded. He was curious how they had pieced together the soulsight theory, especially since it might clear up some of his own confusion on the topic. However, he also reminded himself that this might be another interrogation mind game. He had shared his own guess first. They might simply pretend to have reached the same conclusion.
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Edmund frowned at the casual attitude but decided to ignore it. “You said that the vampires were most likely using soul magic at some point. So we have done a few tests to confirm what you’ve said. While having our mages inspect the souls of some of the attending guards, we could confirm what you’ve suspected.”
“The enthrallment?” asked Terry. He had never looked much into how the creation of thralls worked. He knew that it was a latent ability in vampires that could be trained and that there was advanced spellwork that created similar effects. His primary guess would be mind magic, but after his encounter with the lizan prophet, he thought that soul magic might work as well.
“No,” denied Edmund. “Unfortunately, that was different.” He put a lot of emphasis on the ‘unfortunately.’
Terry tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll again have to ask you not to share what I’m going to tell you,” stressed Edmund. “In fact, there were many guards that disagreed with my plans to share it with you, but I thought you deserve at least that much, given that you pointed us in the right direction.”
Edmund took a deep breath and then added another precursory remark. “Just so you know, we already checked Daisy and she is not affected. Your own check was inconclusive because our mages failed to get a reading on your soul.”
Terry closed his notebook and sat up straighter.
“That purple spread you saw…” Edmund clenched his fists. “That was most likely soulrot.”
Wait, what?
“Soulrot? Like in the karmic rot mana curse?” asked Terry. He almost jumped up from the shock.
“Yes, that’s the one,” confirmed Edmund gravely. “Luckily, no one was exposed long enough to carry the curse forward.” He continued with sincere appreciation: “I think we have you to thank for that.”
Terry’s first thought was that a mana curse did not fit with most of his theories for the motivations behind the attack. A mana curse was messy. Hardly precise enough for an assassination to advance your position. It might be a way to hide the true target among others, but still. It was messy.
Terry hoped they would catch the lunatics behind the incident. Mana curses were no joke. He had seen enough fungus-infested elves to demonstrate that fact very vividly.
For a brief moment, Terry wondered if preventing the spread of the curse might motivate some of the frustrating cooperatives to lift their bans relating to him, but then he remembered that the soulrot attempt was kept under wraps by the guards. Probably to prevent a panic in the city.
Terry subconsciously began tapping his fingers on his closed notebook. “So what does this all mean?”
“That’s what we’re still trying to figure out.” Edmund rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately, the few vampires we were close to catching, killed themselves.” He shook his head and his voice took on a weary tone. “Why does everyone always have to make everything so complicated?”
Edmund rubbed his eyes. “Given their determination to rather die than be captured, we don’t have much to go on except to take it as evidence of fanaticism.” He shrugged and shook his head again. “Perhaps some of the guests got on the bad side of a cult.”
Edmund shrugged and caught Terry’s gaze. “Look, I know we’ve been on the wrong foot before, but you’ve made up for it when you stepped up there. As far as I’m concerned, we’re good. If you hadn’t made a move, I don’t know how long they would have remained undetected.”
Terry could not help but frown. As far as he was concerned, he was still pissed at the city guards’ actions, or lack of some.
Edmund didn’t appear to be bothered by Terry’s expression and he continued. “Technically, I’m supposed to tell you to not leave the city, but instead I’m going to give you a warning. The skills you demonstrated have invited some attention.”
“What kind of attention?” Terry narrowed his eyes.
“The good or bad kind. Depends on your point of view.” Edmund shrugged. “I’m pretty sure you’ll soon get a few offers of employment from people. However, I’m also sure you won’t like most of them.”
Terry’s eyebrows conveyed his incredulity. He needed money, so why wouldn’t he like job offers?
“We already have a nice little folder on you,” explained Edmund. “You regularly check the portal prices. You still rent a room in the same dump inn in which you arrived. You haven’t made a single large purchase since your arrival. Everything makes it clear that you don’t plan to settle down here.” He replied to the unspoken question on Terry’s face. “It doesn’t take a genius to guess that you won’t jump at long-term contracts.”
Terry nodded but did not know why that was something to be concerned about. At least not enough to be called a warning.
“Let’s just say some of the people that might reach out to you are not used to hearing their offers refused,” elaborated Edmund. “From what I know, you can hardly afford to get on the bad side of any more influential cooperatives. So…” He shrugged. “I’m supposed to tell you that you should not leave the city.” He opened his eyes slightly wider and looked intently at Terry. “But I’m not going to tell you that.” He stood up. “You know best what you want to do. We’re going to take our leave now. Thanks for your time.”
Terry watched the city guards leave while ruminating on what he should do. The dwarf was right. If any of the remaining cooperatives decided to issue similar bans on him to the two he was already stomaching, then there would be even less of a chance for him to get ahead financially. Earning enough to use the portal to bypass the volcanic thunder would be an absolute pipe dream.
Calmness fell over Terry at that moment. With this additional obstacle, there was no question about his path anymore. The choice between lingering around and leaving to follow another path to Arcana was no choice at all.
Terry created small disruption fields and tried compressing them further. His mind was set on leaving the city, but for today, his senses were still employed elsewhere and he made sure that his mana perception never lost track of what was going on in the Flower House.
His work as a Flower Protector had been great because it allowed him to train while getting paid. Terry also appreciated the way Jasmine was running the place. Everyone in the Flower House respected her and Terry could see why. She did not have to step up and put her neck out for him when the city guards had quarreled with Terry for the first time, but she did.
The job had also been fun in many ways. Terry had been bored of Lavender’s conversations about her business class, but the elf knew her sweets. Talking body inscriptions with Iris was interesting, even though she seemed too eager and her descriptions often sounded like sales pitches. The story time with Daisy and Brandon was nostalgic and reminded Terry of his home.
It was fun.
But nostalgia remained a bad substitute. Memories, no matter how enjoyable, were not the real thing. One could never have enough of that which one does not want. Terry wanted the real thing.
Terry wanted to go home.
Nevertheless, the Flower House deserved to get enough warning to hire a replacement Flower Protector. Terry intended to wait for his scheduled free day as well. He would have to go shopping and stock up on food rations too.
***
Terry walked through the food district and he felt light on his feet. Now that he had accepted that he would never be able to afford the portal use, it freed up all of his savings to be spent elsewhere. He had emptied his money account with the Guild – much to the annoyance of the elven receptionist who had to count the coins – and was now on a shopping spree.
Purchasing regular food and water supplies was nearly nothing in comparison to the portal fee. Even an average mana user could afford several years worth of supplies without batting an eye and thanks to his high quality dimensional storage items, Terry did not have to worry about any of the food spoiling either.
Terry single-handedly bought more than half of the morning deliveries in the city’s regular food stores. He only refrained from emptying them out completely, because he knew that others needed to eat too. He knew that he probably bought far more than he would reasonably need, but it did not hurt to be on the safe side. Food and drinkable water were like mana and rope.
One can never have too much rope.
Besides, Terry had to spend his money before leaving because there was no point in taking any with him. He had crossed enough country borders to not put his hopes into being able to use the local currency anywhere outside the city state.
As such, Terry even splurged on some of the luxuries and curiosities he had carefully avoided before.
He bought the expensive chocolate. He bought one bar for himself. He gave one bar to Lavender as a gift. He bought a few more as gifts for his friends and family.
He bought body inscription references and supplies focused on ink usage that touched the life and space aspects. He also collected all the references for the magic tattoos that dealt with transforming the body into an ethereal state – on the suspicion that some might touch on the void aspect. Last, he got a voucher at an ink-shop and gifted it to Iris, together with a few possible designs that might fit her current collection.
He rummaged through the local book shops for two accurate reprints of the Path of a Mage – the historical account, naturally – as gifts for Daisy and Brandon. He added a few mana foundation practice tools for the boy and a pretty half-mask for the woman. Jasmine had helped him choose the latter gift.
Terry had been at a loss to pick a farewell gift for Jasmine at first. Eventually, he gave her a wand imprinted with the Immovable Object spell that carried a dozen charging primers. He hoped that the wand would prove useful in the household – be it for locking doors or quickly transfixing an item in the air.
It had been a while since Terry last imprinted his own items and he was delighted to find how quick and easy the process had become for him. The imprint was crystal clear and extremely stable. Even imprinting the primers had felt like child’s play.
Terry even visited his favorite crafting shop to leave a few mana cores. He knew that the shop lady had little choice but to follow the ban from the Dungeon Cooperative. After all, her own livelihood depended on them. He did not bear her any grudge. She might not be able to buy his cores, but he could leave a few as a gift.
Now that Terry knew he would leave, he felt less resentful towards the cooperatives too. At least he now had a storage full of mana cores and wares that would be useful in other countries. If he had managed to sell more, he would be left with more useless coins or had to exchange the coins back for something of real use.
Terry felt at peace. Of course, it was frustrating that his plans had not worked out, but he would get there. He would get back to Arcana.
Terry looked up at the beautiful blue sky. The sky shared with Arcana. As long as he was underneath this comforting sky, he felt confident that he would find his way back home.
A few more days and then he would embark on a new attempt to get there…
Terry reached the central plaza and stopped to take in the view of the dark, exquisitely crafted clock tower in front of the beautiful blue sky and the hazy flashes from the volcanic thunder in the distance. The city looked different now that he did not have to rush from place to place to chase money anymore. Now that he knew he would leave soon.
That was when Terry’s mana sense went haywire and he instinctively whirled his head around to gaze at the gigantic shadow-aspected magic.
It only took a few seconds before distant screams and deep rumbling drowned out every other sound.
A large horde of undead had stepped out of the shadows near the city. All at once, the monsters appeared out of nothing. Even though most were on the weaker side, there were plenty of strong signatures that felt all too familiar to Terry.
Undead hellspawn.
The shrill shrieks from widow makers pierced through the city…
The rhythmic banging of juggernauts that drummed their fists on their chests…
The crowd broke out in a panic and soon, everyone was rushing away from the monsters.
Everyone was tripping over themselves to flee the city.
Terry stood transfixed at one entrance to the plaza with his eyes on the undead mana signatures. He vaguely registered the terrified citizens rushing past him and bumping into his shoulders. Not long ago, he had thought it odd to see the thralls because there had been so many different people of various backgrounds acting together under mind control. Now, he saw an even more diverse group all deciding on the same single action: flee.
A blue-robed martialist jumped over a manaless woman that had fallen…
A channeler of the Bright Lady broke down and cried…
A man with a mustache goatee and oversized hat pushed away a pair of crafters that were trying to take some of their wares with them. The two fell to the ground, but the man did not look back and continued overtaking others during his flight…
Terry felt them all. Manaless. Hunters. Crafters. Knights of Labor. Martialists. Channelers. Even guards. All of them running. A whole city running into a single direction to flee from another.
His body reacted before his mind had managed to fully catch up with the situation.
Terry was running.
He burst his mana and accelerated.
At first, he was too dazed to think of stepping into the sky. He was too focused on his mana circulation and breathing to think about what he was doing.
Faster and faster.
Until he became unable to dodge everyone in the mass of panicking people.
One martialist whom Terry bumped into stopped and stared at Terry’s back.
A few meters further, an elven hunter did the same.
A palace guard collided with the elven hunter and joined the group of hesitating individuals. Some of them caught each other’s gaze through the mass of fleeing people. For a brief moment, they could read their own thoughts reflected on the faces of the others.
The martialist closed her eyes. She could feel the people bumping into her while they were running. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to search for the silhouette of flittering shadow fabric and battle-marked mushroom leather.
Most folks were fleeing for their lives.
Few folks were standing with hesitating eyes.
Only one man was running against the tide of people. When he dropped his cloaking, his mana stood out as an undeniable signal to everyone with mana sight. One unignorable signature that rushed towards the horde of monsters.
When Terry reached the end of the plaza, he finally remembered to use the divine hammer inscription and step into the sky. He had to because there was no dodging the crowd within the narrow roads. He continued running and remained completely unaware of the increasing number of gazes that were gathering on his back and mana signature.
***