Liz and I discussed my inscription a bit more, talking about how it felt, the rate it used my mana, and other minutiae.

“Yeah, though all and all the use only lasted several moments before my mana ran dry,” I explained to her.

She looked at me, her brow furrowed as she considered the details of what I was saying.

“Have you tried forcibly activating it since then? The low-level effect may be a danger sense, but I’m not sure that’s what the higher-order effect may be in actuality,” She said

“No, I haven’t but I think I may have gotten a better handle on how to. Where to direct the mana,” I replied.

“Alright, then try it,” she told me, and I heeded her words.

My mana moved slowly at first, as I pushed and pulled it all at once toward the center of my being. For a moment, it felt like the manipulation exercises that Liz had me do. Next thing I know I moved it into a night-imperceptible void, a place inside me it doesn’t move to naturally. Then the world came alight.

I could feel the wind rushing outside, it told of a cold damp humidity, of rain to come very soon. I could feel the heartbeats of a small fuzzy being not too far away, about a floor below us. It was a jittery creature, its stomach releasing quiet squeaks of hunger. It scurried about with a piece of near-stale bread dragging along.

I felt someone nearby, watching our building, a male that was near the entrance, he had no intention of entering. His body told of no such story. It did tell a story of obsession unchecked and jealousy uncontrolled. His heart pounded in frustration and vexation, drips of adrenaline indicating bits of panicked thoughts uncontrolled. He started to step away, leaving to return another time.

My attention was dragged back into the room by the girl in front of me. She was going to clap, electrical signals shooting down her arms. It would cause the air around to ripple with strength, the sound being loud and surprising.

At that moment my mana dried up many of the rivers inside our city and I was brought back to reality.

I flinched, then Liz clapped.

I opened my eyes, and she looked at me, the amusement on her face evident.

“You flinched before I actually clapped, you know,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, I did. Hey Liz, do you have a stalker or something? Someone is outside our building and the vibe that they are giving off is weird.”

A few emotions crossed Liz’s face. Confusion, concern, then “problem-solving.”

“Wait wait, you’re not gonna catch them, they’re leaving already, you’ll just waste your energy.”

“Fine, you think it's related to Martha?” She asked.

“Don’t think so, wasn’t the vibe they gave off,” I explained.

She sighed, "Another thing to worry about," she said.

At that moment, my phone buzzed. It was Martha.

“Martha said she’s going to stop by in a bit,” I told Liz.

She just groaned, “Alright. Alright, whatever. There goes my good mood. “

“Oh come on, she’s not that bad,”

________________________________________________________

Martha showed up about twenty minutes later.

“Good Morning Trey, Elizabeth.” She said as I let her in. I realized I probably should have cleaned the place a bit beforehand, she is our landlord after all. Liz just looked up at her and acknowledged her with a simple, “Hey.”

“So the two of you have a task in the next few days as well as the other more important job coming up in a couple of weeks. Her voice emphasized the words ‘more important.’

“First order of business, the job this week. The task should be of relative simplicity. You are to meet with an associate of mine that currently owes me money and convince him it would be worthwhile to hand it over to you.”

“So an intimidation gig?” Liz asked, accusation lacing her voice.

“In essence, yes,” Martha responded, completely indifferent to Liz’s tone, “Anyone should be able to complete it, not much finesse or skill required, just a bit of force.”

“Alright, we can twist some arms I guess,” I said.

Liz spoke up, “Real question is about that other job. What’s that about?” she asked.

“Ah yes, the other job. Where exactly did we leave off?” Martha asked, brow furrowed in recollection. I wanted to sigh, knowing she was playing it up with her penchant for dramatic coming out in full.

“The bank heist, we talked about the bank heist that happened,” I said.

“Ah yes!” She said, voice leaking with faux-jubilation, “Well, to summarize, a large number of binding gem materials—which also serves as a reserve of one of our foremost natural resources— went missing. This material can also be used for the development of weaponry, and increasing the strength and stamina of those that are essentially weapons embodied. Now, what would happen if this went public?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

There was something about the framing of mana gems in her statement that gave me pause, I couldn’t pinpoint what but didn’t have much time to consider it.

Liz answered first, “There’d be panic.”

She was right, the majority of people would be concerned with unsavory types having mana gems. Those in the know would be more concerned with those same unsavory types becoming scribed recalling the little detail about binding gems being derivatives of mana gems that Martha taught us during our last conversation. There would be pressure from all angles on the government and public unrest.

“The unrest would completely destabilize us,” I said aloud. “But what does this have to do with a job you have?”

“And how did you know what was taken from the bank?” Liz tacked on at the end. Martha looked at her like she asked something incredibly stupid.

“I asked.”

What?

“What?” Liz asked.

“I asked an acquaintance that works at the bank. Focus children, back on track, we have debt and repayment to finish discussing and I must truly be off soon.

“So, what I need you to do is meet with a high-profile ‘investor’ and convince them to support my operations.”

“What? Why not meet with him yourself?” I asked.

“Well, I’ll be busy consolidating things here. Besides, I’ve never had your penchant for breaking and entering.”

I let out a heavy sigh as Liz pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Who’s place?” I simply asked.

Before Martha could respond, Liz butted in, “Still not quite sure how that ties into everything you’ve told us so far.”

“I’ll answer both in one fell swoop. As you may know, I am in control of a decent portion of both Vian, the area where the two of you live, and Sequew—also known as the slums. But I haven’t actually consolidated everything under my control. I expect in the next few weeks that the information I’ve given you two will go public. This will lead to opportunity as some of my competitors will be looking elsewhere and this will give Trey,” she glanced over at Liz, “and you the perfect opportunity to ensure they see my side of things.”

Liz just stared at her with thinly veiled contempt, “The investor is a slumlord?”

“Well in the simplest of terms, yes.”

She cleared her throat before continuing, “For that one, both of you will break into the investor’s property at night and use highly coercive means in order to convince them. This operation is actually quite valuable so I shall ensure your success by having a friend of mine manage your operation, you two should be contacted by them sometime tomorrow, they said they are planning on coming by.”

“Great, a minder too,” Liz complained. I snorted and rolled my eyes, empathizing with the feeling. I had an inkling that this minder was in fact for Liz more so than me. I would like the think I had a bit of a rapport built up with Martha at this point where such things were not needed. It could be exactly as she said though knowing her I doubted such.

“No such thing, think of them as an operational instructor. But that’s besides the manner, how have you acclimated to the living space? It isn’t my highest quality dwelling but I’d like to believe it is decent enough for a basic living arrangement.”

Liz and I look at each other and both shrugged.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s alright.”

We spoke simultaneously. It was a bit far from some stores and the like, but everything was still within walking distance. The place itself was a bit rundown but it was a roof over our heads. Not many bugs or rodents either, and all the utilities worked. Well, except for the time the sink had a leak.

“Decent place all in all,” Liz said, “If you want to only be mildly caustic to society, you should use all that wealth of yours to buy up a bunch of properties instead of your current businesses.”

Martha just smiled, “Maybe,” she said, humoring the idea, “I have considered renting out more rooms inside this building. Are either of you interested in being a property manager? The salary could go towards the currently owed debt,” said with a smile tugging at her face.

The idea sounded great if you ignored the fact we probably were only staying here for a couple of months. And the fact it would tie us together with Martha in a deeper sense. Besides, I was not too sure if I would trust the type of individuals Martha would rent a place so close to Sequew to.

“I think I can speak for us both when I say we are good,” I said.

Martha chuckled, “Alright, I believe that is all for me unless the two of you need anything from me?”

We looked at each other.

“Nah, nothing,” I responded.

“Well good, my associate will be in contact with you two tomorrow. I wish you two the best of luck,” she said as she left the house.

__________________________________________________________________

The next day came fast. It was early in the morning when there was a banging at the door.

“Hells, what the fuck is that?” I heard Liz shout, as she dragged herself out of bed.

“I dunno, I’ll get it,” I said, going to the door and checking it.

A bald lady was standing there.

I turned to Liz, "This is either our guest or some gangster."

"Ain't the second gonna be true either way?" She said as she headed to the bathroom.

I laughed and opened the door.

"You Trey?" The lady asked while stepping into me and pushing her way into the room.

I shot her a dirty look as I stepped to the side letting her in. She shot a rogue smile at the concession.

"Yeah and you are?"

"I'm your keeper this week for our lil' job? Where's your girlfriend at?"

The toilet flushed and the sink water started running.

"Ah, she is there?"

I nodded

"Well we can wait for her for a sec then, I don't wanna explain myself twice."

Liz came out of the bathroom and the two of us just stared at each other while waiting for her.

This lady gave me a bad vibe.

“Yo, that the minder?” Liz asked the moment she stepped out of the bathroom shaking her hands dry. I nodded,

“Well now that sugartits is finally here, we can get this show on the road! C’mon, let’s get going.”

I saw Liz’s eye twitch at the “sugartits” comment.

“Where are we going?” I asked, confused at her haste.

“The job?” The woman said with condescension leaking from her voice, “Let’s just get it over with. I don’t want this taking any more of my time and would rather be drinking and partying but alas, I prefer doing jobs sober. So let's get this done so I can become very unsober. Nonsober? Whatever you two fuckwits get the point.”

I had a feeling one of us was gonna sock her before the day was out.

“We were never actually told what the job was,” Liz informed the lady.

She shot Liz an annoyed look, but then had a wide grin appearing on her face.

“Don’t worry about that, we can just wing it once we get there.”

I spoke up to object, “That sounds like a terrible fucking—” before being interrupted.

“No no no, that was a command, an order. I was informing you. Understand? Not an argument, not a debate, Let’s get moving kids, I don’t have all year.”