Every time the rowboat rocked in the waves that rolled across the lake, Emily let out a little gasp. Renji had been given oar duty and was moving the boat through the water with ridiculous speed, thanks to his tremendous strength. Ludwig insisted on standing on the front of the rowboat, while looking towards island in the distance. Elye, Emily, and I were seated between the two and the Spellhand was holding onto the Elfin with a death grip.
The water itself reflected the sky above like a mirror despite its choppy waters, but it was so murky that it was impossible to see more than a metre down. To compound the unease that such murky waters inspired in me, Ludwig had said that there was a unique species of monster that called the Lake home: the Melusina.
Renji had described a Quest he’d taken to kill one of the Mermaid-like creatures for its scales and his depiction made the blood freeze in my veins. The Melusina was similar to a Siren, in that it was half-woman and half-animal. However, unlike the Sirens whose human parts were proportionally normal, the Melusina was like a giant and Renji described its ‘human’ features as that of a horrifically-twisted monstrosity: thin spider-like arms adorned with quadruple-jointed fingers capped with hook-shaped nails; teeth like spearheads; eyes the size of wagon-wheels with a single white dot for a pupil; a face like a melted barbie doll; and skin like that of a water-logged day-old corpse. The other half was that of a ten-metre-long black spined serpent.
He made a point of saying that they didn’t usually eat humans and that they only hunted at night, since sunlight physically hurt them.
Hardly reassuring…
I was relieved to finally step off the boat when we pulled into the primitive wooden dock on the Altar Lake Isle. From afar it had looked like a forested bit of land pinched off from the shore of the Lake, but once we all stepped onto the wooden bridge of the dock and made our way inland, I saw that it was covered in grass and had a large pebble beach on the opposite side.
The Isle was small enough that one could walk across it in about fifteen minutes and the centre was like a raised hill. The trees were like pines, though their needles were soft and flexible like rubber and had a thin coating of grey dust that made them look almost silver when the sunlight hit the trees just right.
“Alright, kiddos, play nice while I’m gone,” Ludwig told my friends, who were already playing around near the pebble shore, Emily running after Elye, while Renji was laying half-submerged in the water.
I followed after the Incarnate as he took me to the crest of the central hill, where a large dead tree stood. It was maybe five metres across in diameter and we went in through a narrow gap in the bark, before descending down an internal spiralling stairwell.
After only about twenty steps down, the wood and earth were replaced by the same porous volcanic rock as I’d seen in the Helmstatter branch of the Necromancy Guild. Unsurprisingly, at the bottom we came to a metal door with a scowling face on it.
Ludwig pulled out a finger-pendant attached to a woven string, and I took out my own necklace as well, then we said, “Open sesame.”
The metal door began rapidly dripping and melting until it became a puddle around the doorframe, and we both went through the opening that’d formed.
“Who came up with that phrase?” I wondered, as the door began rebuilding itself behind us.
“I did. Why? You don’t like it?”
“It just sounds weird to me, that’s all.”
“What? You’ve never read the story of ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’?”
“No.”
Ludwig shook his head. “I don’t think you could’ve told me anything more disappointing than that.”
Before I could reply, a metallic skeleton came into the entrance where we stood. “Salutations Savant Ludwig and Eminent Ryūta,” it said with a hard yet distinctly-female voice.
“Miss me?” Ludwig asked the skeleton.
“Hardly.” Its shiny cranium swivelled to fix me with its hollow eye sockets. “Eminent Ryūta,” it started, “My brother Mortimer extends his regards and I carry a message from Master Mortl. Mine name is Elaine and I am the Chaplain of the Altar Necromancy Guild.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said politely.
“Come find me when you’re done,” Ludwig told me and walked past the Chaplain. Then, as soon as he had rounded the corner into the next room, he called back to Elaine, “Are there no more biscuits!?”
Without turning, she replied, “Thou ate them all yesterday. I have not baked new ones yet.”
“Aw…”
“Too much sugar will make thee fat.”
“I’m old, it’s better if I’m a bit pudgy!” he responded indignantly, before he could be heard rummaging through drawers.
“Apologies for mine unsightly oaf of a summoner,” Elaine said to me.
“Sounds as though he treats you like his caretaker.”
“That is correct.”
I smiled at the incongruency between Ludwig’s appearance and behaviour. “What message did you have for me?”
Elaine cleared her throat, a mannerism that was at odds with the fact that she was a contained spirit, but which, despite the fact that she was a metal skeleton, humanised her in some way. “Master Mortl would like to thank thee for punishing Master Owl for his trespassing. She has thoroughly interrogated him and would like to extend an apology for not intervening in his ‘mentorship’.”
“Why would she have intervened?” I asked.
“Master Mortl believes that Master Owl’s machinations has led to the sharp drop in capable young Exorcists. Besides thyself and Savant Ludwig, there exist only three other Seeker-ranked-or-higher Exorcists on the continent at present time, with one of them believed to be the mastermind behind the Helmstatter Calamity.”
“The Demonologist?”
“Indeed. Through her interrogation of Master Owl, she has learnt the name of this Demonologist: ‘Carmine Anabello’. It is unknown who trained him, but it is believed he had ties to Leopold Schober and played some part in steering him off the path of goodness, though they must have split ways, given the Old Gods they both chose to serve.”
“The Keening and the Flayed Lord,” I recalled.
“Correct. These are believed to be Gods whose powers negatively impact the worlds they attempt to spread their influence across. That is to say: they are classified as evil.”
“Have you heard anything about the Demonologist, this ‘Carmine’? Mortl was in contact with the Witch Hunters, wasn’t she?”
“He is believed to be travelling north to the far reaches beyond the Lacksmey territory, known as Meteorite Valley. The Witch Hunters briefly caught him, but he broke free after killing several of them. Only a small unit of them are still in pursuit, but King Egil Gyldenrose is believed to have sent his own champions after him as well. His death is a foregone conclusion, or so Master Mortl believes.”
“Do you know if Oliver Smile is still alive?” I asked, worried.
“I do not.”
I grimaced, then suddenly remembered something. “Owl believed that I had a role to play in apprehending the Demonologist.”
Though it was slight, I saw a small change in the metal skeleton’s features, before she answered, “I will relay this to Master Mortl.”
“What will happen to him?”
“Master Mortl will no doubt have him imprisoned somewhere he cannot escape from once the Siren’s spell wears off.”
“Wait, it’s still active?”
“Yes. Master Mortl did not wish to have it lifted until the interrogation has concluded.”
“Speaking of the Siren,” I started, “Did she mention anything about what we discussed?”
“Indeed. Master Mortl has issued high-reward Quests for sightings of Sirens in Harrlev, Arley, and Lacksmey. But she cautions thee to be patient, for these are rare creatures.”
“Thank you, Elaine.”
“Do not hesitate to call upon me if need arises,” she said eagerly.
I nodded then followed after her into the common room with soft hides draped over porous volcanic stone blocks. Ludwig was in the midst of stuffing himself with a loaf of bread and a pitcher of tea. In three quick moves, he swallowed the lot and then washed it down with a long pour of the pitcher directly down his throat.
“Savant Ludwig, thy behaviour is unbecoming of thy stature.”
“Who are you? My mother?”
“It does indeed feel that way.”
I sat down opposite the glutton. “Ludwig, I need your help with something.”
He quickly wiped his mouth with the sleeve of the shirt he wore under his trench coat, which was draped over the seat next to him. “Shoot.”
I rummaged through my bags until I found the voodoo doll and presented it to him. “This is a cursed doll that Leopold made to control me. It is bound to me with the Bond of Excruciating Pain.”
Ludwig grimaced as he looked at it, but I pulled it out of his reach when he tried to take it from me. “Be careful,” I warned.
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He fixed me with a grin. “I’ve got delicate hands.”
Somehow I doubt that…
Nevertheless, I allowed him to take it and inspect it. To my relief, he didn’t immediately start squeezing and prodding it. Instead he spun it around and inspected the seams of the stitching that Leopold had made.
“Do you know the order in which it was stitched?”
“I think I remember where he ended it, but I didn’t see where he started.”
“Hmm, that complicates things. Either way, undoing it will hurt a lot. It may be better to leave it be.”
I frowned. “I don’t like knowing that anyone could steal it and inflict mind-breaking agony on me.”
“Fair.”
“I thought about burying it or putting it somewhere no one would ever get to it.”
“That wouldn’t work,” he quickly answered. “If you bury it, eventually worms and other detritus eaters would begin devouring it, which would probably not feel great.”
The blood drained from my face as I took in this possibility. Thanks for the nightmares… I was glad I had decided against such a foolish move early on.
“Also, it’s a ‘bond’, as in: if you get too far away it’ll snap. I don’t imagine that would be a fond experience either.”
Awesome…
“Can you undo it?”
“I could try to unravel it, sure, but it would be better to consult a Cursebreaker. There should be one lazing about in Lacksmey’s Adventurers’ Guild named Killian. Just tell him Mortl sent you when you find him.”
“Why not tell him you sent me?”
He grinned instead of answering.
“Oh, while I remember. Elaine!”
The Chaplain who had gone into the kitchen poked her head out of the doorway. “What?”
“Tell Mortl that the Realm Gate Traversal might be underway.”
“Understood.”
“What’s that?” I asked, though the name gave me a pretty good idea.
“Since your Spellhand friend landed far away from where the Realm Gate is believed to be, i.e. Lundia, it is a possible indicator that it may be getting ready to move. Last time it was in Lacksmey, and before that it was in Harrlev, but there’s no telling what rules it operates by or how it chooses a new place, only that it seems to settle down for one-to-three-hundred years at a time. At least according to historical recordings. Granted, Mortl believed that the strange circumstances of my arrival were an indicator as well, so this could be nothing.”
“What would happen if the Realm Gate did change location?”
“Well. Last time it led the Lacksmey Crown to wage a war on Harrlev to gain a hold of Lundia, though they didn’t stop conquering until after claiming Helmstatter and establishing the port city of Ochre, forming the Principality of Arley. I’ve read that when the Realm Gate shifted from Harrlev to Lacksmey some five hundred years ago, it totally decimated the nation and brought on several long civil wars. So that’s all a fancy way of saying: Arley would be fucked.”
“What about Otherworlders? What happens to us?”
“Many end up pawns in national politics, though the clever ones go to wherever the new Realm Gate lands. There’s a belief that the Gate also draws the attention of monsters, though I don’t think that’s been proven. Fortunately, most of the Guilds have branches all over the continent of Hallem. There aren’t a lot on the other continents, like Asra in the east, Elpha in-between us and Asra, or Crescent to the far south. I’ve been to Elpha and Asra a decent amount, since Mortl wants me to establish new branches of her Guild, in case the Realm Gate goes off the continent.”
“Do you have a world map or something?”
“Oh boy, I wish. A Geo-Nav would be freaking sweet. It’s a total pain to navigate the seas. I’ve got maps of the various nations though, but they’re always a bit off, since land surveyors and whatnot aren’t really that skilled, plus mathematics is just a suggestion for most of them.”
“Why is it difficult to navigate the seas? Don’t you use a compass to know where you’re going?”
“That’s the creepy thing about the oceans, y’see. There’s something that attracts a compass needle, but it ain’t a static point like back on Terra Nova. It’s like some enormous magnetic mass that swims deep below the waves or something.”
“…Really?” I asked sceptically.
“It took me eye and leg!” Ludwig replied, doing a terrible pirate impression. “No, but I’m serious. There’s this thing called The Swirl, which is a kilometres-wide whirlpool, and a compass always points to its centre.”
“Then how do you navigate?”
“Well, the few captains who journey across the oceans tend to use a sextant or something similar to navigate by the stars. I’ve been on one ship that trailed the coasts of the continents, but it took six months to go from Ochre to Mourn in Asra, and we were hit by pirates eight times. So I’d rather risk The Swirl and getting lost, if it means a shorter trip. Granted, ‘short’ in this case is still like three months and you’ll get to experience some monster waves that’ll put the fear of Poseidon in ya.”
“Crap…”
“Why? Planning a trip abroad? Maybe some crazy Hunter will eventually learn to tame a Dragon and we can have our own jetliner. Would be pretty sick.”
“I promised my Ifrit familiar that I’d help her with her revenge against the wicked Witch Hunters of Mourn.”
Ludwig’s cheerful expression soured. “It’s a terrible idea to make promises to a Demon. They’re as binding as a Pact almost.”
“I was desperate.”
“Oh, I get it. But for future reference, try not to make promises with your familiars. They are servants, not equals.”
“I don’t view it the same way,” I told him. “And I’m not sure you do either, otherwise why would you allow Elaine enough autonomy to countermand you?”
“None of my familiars have such autonomy,” he said. “If I gave an actual command, none of them would deny me. I just don’t like to be a dick about it, so I rarely demand things from them, hence why it may allow them to act in ways that seem insubordinate.”
“So far I haven’t had an issue with it.”
Ludwig fixed me with a serious stare. “You were fortunate to not immediately pay the price for summoning an Ifrit, but I don’t think you’d be able to replicate that lucky break. Even a Demonologist wouldn’t try to summon such a Demon without an airtight ritual. Also, picture it this way: how many people would you trust with your life? People you have never met before.”
I frowned.
“What makes Demons and their ilk so dangerous is the fact that they are like people. They have their own agendas and ideas. They know how to flatter and manipulate, and they understand what buttons to push to get their way. Only the strongest and most volatile souls become Demons. All the placid and kind souls go straight to whatever Mondus uses as a substitute for Heaven.”
“My Guardian Wraith has a strong personality of his own as well.”
Ludwig nodded. “The Bishop, right? Mortl told me about him.”
“Did she mention his name?” I asked, horrified.
“She did. ‘Armen’, right?”
I took a deep breath. “That’s right.”
“I’ve read about strong personalities occurring with other types of entities than Demons, but they’re really rare and I couldn’t find a common occurrence between them or how they’re summoned. When bound to a duty, they’ll often appear with the prefix ‘Greater’ or ‘Potent’ or ‘Mythic’.”
“Apparently both my Ifrit and Wraith thought my soul was special somehow. The Siren in the Music Box said the same thing.”
“Odd. Mine often just curse at me if they’re able to speak. A Revenant with no bottom jaw once called me a ‘bastard’.”
“My Wraith, Armen, has kind of been missing ever since using a powerful ability to destroy the Flayed Noble in Helmstatter. My Ifrit tells me he’s just recovering, but do you know what I can do to bring him back?”
“Let me guess. He was bound to something and it was destroyed entirely?”
I nodded.
“When I’d made the first Chaplain for the Necromancy Guild in Evergreen, a monster attacked the city and ate it, and the vessel was destroyed by its stomach acid. It took about a month or so before I was able to successfully summon that familiar again, though it came back changed. When you bind a spirit that you have a Pact with into an object, then it isn’t released when the object is destroyed, but I believe the strain of having a vessel destroyed in such a state does a number on their soul. What I’m trying to say is: don’t hold out hope for your Wraith to come back the same. It’s a traumatic event, like experiencing true death for a second time.”
I frowned. I really hope he’s wrong about that…
“I also wanted to ask about recommendations for another Protector and Fighter. I’ve looked at some already, but I’m unsure if they’re good.”
I pulled out the time-worn Encyclopaedia and Ludwig’s organic eye lit up. “You got this from Owl, didn’t you?”
“I have three, though the last one is basically empty.”
“Do you mind if I look through them?” he asked eagerly. “That old racoon was always so stingy with his knowledge.”
I thought about it for a moment, then said, “If you help me with the summonings.”
“Deal!”
I allowed Ludwig to look through my Encyclopaedias for about an hour, while we talked about my ideas. He asked about what specific purposes I wanted my new familiars for and we steered towards two different ones for the Fighter, neither of which I’d given much thought prior: the Leipridot, a peculiar three-eyed rabbit the height of a child and which fought fiercely with spears or daggers, and was apparently native to the world of Merriddia; or the Gjenganger, a Wraith with the visage of a skeleton, which had the disturbing ability to pull the soul out of a living body. As a Haunter, the Gjenganger was an entity that sought to drag someone else with it into the grave, and from the description in the Encyclopaedia, it was impossible to deal with, since it always disappeared after stealing someone else’s soul.
“I don’t know how I feel about the rabbit thing,” I said. “It’s kind of like summoning an orangutan from Earth and telling it to fight…”
“Fair enough, but what about the Gjenganger?”
“Is it actually good as a Fighter?” I wondered.
“It’s a terrifying one, that’s for sure. My own mentor used it as a Fighter. Once he dealt with a large group of bandits by just pointing his familiar at one of them, scaring the rest off as the man just collapsed, instantly dead. Y’see the thing is that, normally the Gjenganger would go to the afterlife alongside whichever soul it steals, but when it is bound to a Pact, it stays behind. It’s not particularly fast or powerful, but it’s able to kill someone just like that.
“Most of the time, you don’t want a Fighter that’s super strong and can tear through a Goblin den on its own, since that’s a waste of your energy and not worth your time. No, you want something that scares the shit out of anyone who fucks with you. And besides, you have an Ifrit already, so you’ve got all the firepower you could ever want, thus it’s a better investment I think.”
“I don’t see a way to summon it anywhere,” I said.
“It’s not well-known,” he told me conspiratorially, “But it’s very simple. You just need to find a Regretful Burial and bring a Gravebloom Flower.” Ludwig took the mostly-empty tome and wrote down the instructions, then drew a simple summoning sigil. “That’s it.”
“The Regretful Burial sounds like it’ll require some sleuthing,” I remarked.
“It’s time well-spent,” he replied.
“What about for a Protector?”
“I would actually recommend forming a Lifeward Pact.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A Lifeward will give its life to protect you, whereas a Protector won’t always do that.”
“What entity do you use?”
“Mine is what’s called a Finger Collector, but it requires a steady replenishment of bones, since it uses them to block attacks.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“Ask your lady-friend what she thinks. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing it, so it doesn’t faze me anymore.”
Anymore…
“But I have quite a few recommendations. Your Guardian Wraith wasn’t a bad choice, though it is a bit of an energy glutton. You’ll want something similar to my Finger Collector that doesn’t use up your energy every time it protects you, since that’s how you wind up exhausted and unable to run away when you most need to.”
“I wish I’d had you as my mentor,” I blurted out sincerely.
Ludwig took the compliment with a smile, then said, “Probably the Coffin Bearer would be a good choice.” He leafed through the time-worn tome to find the entry, then showed it to me.
It was a Visitor and Revenant mix, which featured a brute carrying a glass coffin, which was depicted as sprouting tentacles. The exorcism guide was to make the Revenant carrying the coffin ingest seafood of some kind.
“As with most Visitors, the summoning requirements are a bit odd, and you’ll also have to give up ever eating fish or any other kind of seafood, but—”
“Pass!” I instantly said.
“Seriously?” he asked.
“Are you crazy?” I replied. “I can’t give up seafood!”
“Jeez. Alright, how about…” he leafed through some pages, then realised it was in a different Encyclopaedia, before showing me an entry, “This.”
I took the tome and looked at it. It was a Visitor and the depiction was unsettling, as it pictured some kind of whale shark with eyes dotting the entire top-half of its head and something like a beard or feelers below its bottom jaw, as well as large fins and spines running along its body. It was called Voidborn Leviathan. It had no listed form of exorcism and had one of those trident marks that indicated it as forbidden.
“How is this supposed to be able to protect me?” I asked.
“Oh, woops, wrong page.”
I shook my head, then looked at the new page he showed me. It was a Wraith and Visitor combination called Moonlight Dancer. There was no image, but it was described as a flowing silken robe that danced around during full moons, as though there was an invisible person wearing them. It was listed as a benign kind of entity, which, although startling, had never been known to hurt or kill anyone who saw it, though it was also unknown if it could be exorcised. It was considered a Visitor type, since it had a peculiar nature.
“It’s a bit hard to summon, and it’s visible to anyone when moonlight hits it, but it’s great for intercepting physical attacks and projectiles, though I don’t know how well it functions against magic. To anyone who tries to attack you, it usually just seems like the wind deflects their strikes. The main benefit is that it is ‘charged-up’ with moonlight, so it doesn’t use your energy until after it has utilised all of the moonlight it stores in its body.”
“Are there any weird side-effects? Pretty much all the Visitor types have one or two I’ve noticed.”
“Not that I know of.”
I sighed. “Guess I’ll give it a shot.”
“I’ve got two of the four requirements for it already, and I know where we can get the other two.”
“Great.”
“If you go back out to your friends, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”