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“At arms!” I yelled and reached towards the soul stone kept close to my heart. In my hand, a magenta sword materialized, a projection of my own magical capabilities. I held it out and with a firm swing, obliterated the tendril of crystilare that shot out towards me into millions of pieces.
I didn’t need to say anything by the looks of the situation—or if I didn’t, it wouldn’t change the quick reactions of my compatriots. Charya had a blade of her own at the ready, likely a weapon she carried with her on her phone’s digital compression inventory. Dori pulled out two pistols from his pocket and fired, breaking some of the crystilare structure’s “arms” while Charya sliced down at the base. They were lucky to avoid each other, and even more lucky to act quickly, as neither of the other three could. Serena had positioned herself in front of Kelsey protectively, while Ale all but flung himself behind Serena too.
Kelsey scrunched her face up. The magical weapons recovered quickly, keeping the three of us occupied with destroying the stretches of crystilare poured out of their beings, a tidal wave of brightness forced upon us over and over. A disaster on all sides—whiteboard torn in half, scratches and cracks covered the wall as light filled every crevice it could.
As an arm made of crystilare formed out of the gem and snaked towards the unengaged three, Serena raised her arms and conjured a wall of ice to protect them, though it already began to crumble as the gem applied force. As it crumbled, Kelsey jumped back, making a circular motion with her arms in front of her. As the ice wall fell and the arm lunged to grab Kelsey, a black hole appeared in front of her, and it sucked the light out of the gleaming structure. The crystilare, now pitch black, crumbled away.
A bright pink ball of energy infused with the light it stole mere moments ago shot out of the hole. It swelled to the size of a cannonball, and launched with comet-like speed, ramming through the sea of crystilare and destroying the dagger that laid at the heart of it all.
That reduced the power of the pendant, and so the rest of us swung into action. Dori aimed and fired right at the gem, while Charya and I worked to shatter the base of the light swarm with firm swings of our swords now that the flow of new crystilare slowed. It cracked, and combined with the snap of the pendant as the bullet went through it, the crystilare formation around it disintegrated in an instant.
“Excellent work!” I said once I caught my breath, flashing a thumbs up around the room. Charya raised her hand, and I waited for her to speak until she laughed, grabbed my hand, and slapped it against her own.
Dori lowered his gun and pocketed it, while Serena and Kelsey found the nearest seats to collapse in. Ale remained curled behind one of the chairs like the two weapons were poised to come back at any moment. Most of the other chairs were destroyed from the crystilare’s maw of destruction, either pounded into submission or broken into pieces.
However, the weapons…
No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see any trace of them. It was as if they were made of pure energy, and without a physical form that tethered them down, they escaped from our plane of existence.
Tethered—hm. Perhaps this unfolded exactly as I suspected.
For now, I made my way over to the one that had yet to recover. Ale’s face flushed red, and he reached over to grab my hand just as I offered it.
“I’m sorry—I wasn’t any help at all,” he said, voice low enough I almost couldn’t hear what he had to say. “I swear I’ll be prepared next time, it was just…” He slowly got up to his feet, shaking much as a newborn animal that just saw a ferocious beast would, “A bout of nerves! Like a flash of lightning, it struck my heart, and was gone in the next moment!”
“If your heart holds certainty,” I said and yanked his hand to get him to stand, “But there is no shame in admitting your place is not as a protector. I’d rather not have anyone hurt in our mission tonight.”
“Right! Tonight! …tonight…Wait, tonight?” He let go of my hand, running his hand through his hair. “Did we…Ah, I believe I might have missed something.”
“Of course, I wished to discuss that now,” I said, and he shrunk back and hurried over to a seat. I wondered if he’d have anything to say, but he kept his head down and his mouth shut.
“Yay!” Charya yelled and pumped a fist in the air. She then pulled out her phone, typed something, and her sword disappeared as quickly as it appeared. “Can’t wait! So, Ms. Magic Doctor, verdict on the weird possessed magic weapons?”
“Possessed is one word for it,” I said and crossed my arms. “Alive is what I would truly call it. I can’t say I understand how it was created without further examination, but there’s nothing I can do now that they’re gone.”
“Wait, does this mean I’m a murderer?” Dori said, a rare tilt of an question in his words. He frowned and stared at his hands before returning to his seat.
“I doubt there was anything we could have done for what lingered of their conscious,” I said. “Quite a surprise to see weapons so unruly, but given the circumstances, perhaps it’s all to be expected.”
Serena nodded.
“You need a body to keep you grounded,” Serena said, getting up again to pace over to the white board (what remained of it), “So even if they could still feel or think in some way, it would be a painful existence, living who knows how long when you can barely move. Not to mention losing your senses, like sight? Touch? I can’t even imagine how that feels.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I turned towards the white board as well, focusing back on the situation at hand. The encounter I had only a few days before regarding an illegal cache of magical light weapons lingered in my mind. Surely there was a connection, but it would mean nothing if we couldn’t get a hold of our current suspect.
One that held a hatred for those in possession of these weapons. Of those who possessed a research inclination towards light. Light—the only common factor between these victims.
Hatred for…oh, of course! A smile curled across my lips, unable to hide my pride towards my ingenious plan. Yes, this will be a mission to remember.
“It’s time to set our trap,” I said. I clapped my hands together to ensure I had everyone’s attention (“Is she gonna do that all the time?” Charya said, getting a shrug from Serena) and continued: “If our killer wishes to end those who study the light, then we will deliver a new disciple. One of you brave souls will pose as a member of SoX—”
“Heh, socks,” Dori said.
“—in order to lure our killer out,” I continued. “Then, we will ambush them and finally put a stop to this mystery. As for the other crimes our victims are involved with, I believe we can address that at a later date.” If the Saturni Specialty Division didn’t get dismantled by Sunny when she returned. Hmph, Sunny. She’d surely understand my motives for this emergency maneuver, after a long talk.
A very long talk.
“Huuuuh, sounds cool and dangerous,” Charya said. “I’ll do it!”
She raised her hand, but Dori reached over and pushed it down. “Nope, I’m gonna do it,” he said.
“What?” she said, pouting as she crossed her arms. “I can totally handle myself.”
“I get that…but trust me. I should do this.”
“Ugh, fine. Whatever.”
Charya rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat, close enough to almost fall over. Kelsey sneered.
“Shouldn’t you be a little worried about running into a serial killer and dying before we jump into action?” Kelsey said.
“Rest assured, I would never let anything happen to any of you,” I said. “I’ll be everyone’s sword and shield.”
“Sure,” she said in a low voice. Hah, Kelsey finally understood me! If nothing else, I could be trusted to stand as the protector of the common person, utterly infallible. Yes. I never tolerated mistakes in my heroic duties.
Ever.
Serena frowned. “I can’t say I super agree with the risks, but I do understand we’re out of options and on a bit of a timer here?” She put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. “So let’s get going! How’re we gonna make sure our killer knows about the honeypot?”
“Ha!” I laughed and pulled out my phone. With some difficulty, I located SoX’s website for easy reference and looked through its decrepit pages for any members that might still live in Saturni. Many of them were for members who moved or stopped maintaining public pages in the last decade and a half, but one popped up as an independent magic researcher that fit my criteria.
“Easy. I’ll find a candidate that resides within Saturni close to the other victims. You,” I pointed to Dori, “will have the honor of taking on the greatest danger by posing as someone who is visiting the killer’s next target. From there, we will remove our candidate from their home for the evening and have you act as a fellow society member.”
I paused, taking a moment to watch the threads of my plot connect and twist. “That shall be all we need! Personally, I recommend taking to the streets and having loud conversations with others about your light magic research before nightfall, if our SoX connection isn’t strong enough of a motive. At the very least, it seems as though it may be a quick way to garner the attention of our killer, even if they only bear a grudge against the light rather than the organization.”
“…So we’re relying on luck…” Dori said, then gave a thumbs up.
“Not luck, guesswork!” I said.
“Even better…?”
“Regardless, I’ll direct you on how to associate your face with light research. Preferably in a visible place,” I added. “I’ll even help you print fliers! Or resumes, or something of that nature to give out. Of course, I will handle the logistics of hiding our civilian, and the rest of you will be dismissed to prepare until I call you back to base for our mission.”
“And you’re gonna get this all done before the sun goes down?” Charya said. She swung her legs back and forth before she stood up as well. “Sounds good! I mean, it totally sounds like a hack-job bet you’re going for, but I don’t care enough to correct you, so I’m gonna be going!”
“Eh, we’ll see,” Kelsey said. She also got up, except she began to go towards the door already. “You have our numbers, right?”
I nodded, and before I could speak, Kelsey took off. Charya skipped behind her with a wave, and soon, Ale slipped out without a farewell.
“Passionate group you’ve got there,” Serena said, covering her mouth with her hand.
“You think so?” I said and waved a hand towards the door. “I thought they could’ve used a bit more gusto, more chutzpah. Those were just lackluster exits on all their parts.”
“Oh, sorry, I was joking,” Serena said.
“…Ah.”
“Oops…”
I rubbed at my nose and sighed. Sometimes conversations can be quite the quiz. To recover from my embarrassment, I looked at Dori, who fell asleep somehow. I walked over, and after a gentle shake of his shoulder, he perked up and immediately began to ramble.
“I was listening,” he said, head lolling to the side. “Right. Listening. I think I can do the hassling bit ASAP, and…then you’ll take care of the friend-roommate thing?”
“Precisely,” I said. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his seat, to which he flopped up much as a puppet on strings would. “Serena, you can leave as well. The two of us will take care of everything. Thank you for demonstrating courage, brave and noble Dori.”
“You can just call me Dori,” he said. He yawned and added, “And, it’s not really a big deal. I figured I didn’t mind, so I should just go for it.”
“Regardless, it’s appreciated,” I said and patted his shoulder before I led him out the door. How humble of him, truly, but it remained important I displayed my appreciation to my comrades.
Serena followed us, shrugging off the MPF uniform jacket she had on as it blipped out of existence and a light blue coat replaced it. “It’s all right, I can organize the usual patrol routes tonight ‘round the rest of the city. You go speak to our SoX member ASAP, and be careful. Head in the game ‘n all, yeah? And if you need anything else, ask! I’ll probs be free.”
Ever reliable! Hah, and I didn’t even need to ask. I nodded and released Dori, who yawned again and buried part of his face in his scarf. “Sounds like a plan. I shall be sure to coordinate with you as best as I can.”
We split up from there—with only so much time, I had to work fast if I wished to stop another senseless murder.
Senseless—Hm. But was it aimless rage towards the light? Or something related to it? Something weaponized? Dangerous?
As If I wished to ponder that now. No matter what crimes the victims committed, to ignore the murders would be senseless on my behalf. Beware, angel of light—if you turn towards our trap, the darkness we carve out of your defeat will be a gift to all.