The two went back to their room, since many people had lost their home in the incident, the only room available had been for two in which they had hastily added a hammock.

“So, any idea? One that wouldn’t get use killed or branded criminal if possible.” Asked Ignis mockingly, expecting the whole thing to be a waste of time.

“Not yet, but… Thracian, the people out there have gone crazy, they are throwing accusations at each other, putting marks on each other houses and the people who’ve been accused get mobbed out of fear.”

“Na, I’ve seen that in the past, it’s mostly out of malice and self-empowerment. All you need is to make a few examples to calm down the other. I found impalement works great in those kinds of situation.”

The older mage looked at the other one triumphally; what did I told you spoke its smile.

“We can’t do that! We don’t even know who’re the leaders… we don’t even know if there are any.”

“There always are.” Announced Thracian with great authority, he’d been an expert at heading mob mentality himself. “Mob don’t make themselves, there’s always a triggering element, but if they do, they don’t persist on their own, they need some guiding hands.”

“Are you sure?” Asked the necromancer. “He had seen his fair share of mobs himself, and thought them to be spontaneous.

“Mob can’t form unprompted every day of the week, you know? Kill the leader, and you’ll seriously limit the risks.”

That made sense, but investigation wasn’t something they could do overnight. Ignis looked at his apprentice. “Heck no, we’re not staying! Do you want to solve the problems of every damn cities and villages along the way? If so, we’re parting way here and now!”

“That’s not it, but…” Started Azrael. ‘Well,’ He thought. “maybe that was it.” He couldn’t tell for sure.

Little did he know, it was him looking for a new goal. For most of his short life he had been on a mission to save his country, but it had ended without him getting to do anything. It wasn’t like he had a messiah complex, but it was in his character to help other and he absolutely needed a new task to focus on.

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“You can’t save everyone, you know? You’re a stranger in town, a kid and a commoner family and this is a work for the local authorities.”

“Even so… I want to do something, I know I can, I just don’t know how!” Murmured the child, in deep thought.

Thracian interrupted the youth probing with one of his own. “You said they were drawing marks on each-others house to mark the bad apples, right?”

“Yeah, at least that’s what we heard downstairs.” Answered Ignis.

“Then, wouldn’t a simple solution be to cover every building with this symbol?” Offered the ancient king.

The necromancer laughed out at the answer before answering much more seriously. “How the hell do you expect to do that without getting caught in a single night? It might not be a big city, but there are hundreds of building!”

“Aren’t I a ghost? And don’t the two of you have spirit familiars that can write them symbols?”

“Ah…” “Ah…” Both the mage and his apprentice suddenly felt very stupid, even if the familiars’ capacity to act on the physical word wasn’t strong, etching or drawing a mark wasn’t hard work under the possession of their masters. As long as there were creatures or corpses to possess, they could probably do it alone.

“Would you do it?” Asked Azrael to the ancestral king.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t have proposed it, if I didn’t.”

“Then please, help me.” Begged the youth. “Master, what about you?”

Ignis wasn’t sure how efficient the childish plot would be, but it wasn’t hard to do even adhering to his one task per familiar policy, it wouldn’t be a big loss considering the numbers he had on him. More than anything though, he had promised. “I said I would, and I will.”

He opened his bag to look inside. There were over thirty familiars left. Quite a big number for sure, however there wouldn’t be as many occasions to replenish their numbers in the future, it might be a good idea to select a few as his permanent helper and amongst them were some terrible murderers he didn’t mind using as much as the others.

The trio split the task into three. Thracian would get half the city since it was much easier for him. Ignis and Azrael both possessed their familiar and sent them into the city. At first, they tried to etch the mark into the wall using curses. It worked, but it was pretty slow as it took time to control it precisely. Next Azrael proposed to use chalk, which Ignis found sounded like a terrible idea, and yet after trying, they quickly found it was strangely easy, as easy as to possess and move a skeleton maybe.

By the time the sun rose, they pair still wasn’t finished. With people on the street and tired by their long night, they abandoned their task and slept for two hours; this was the most they could stay in their room without renting it for another day.

By the time they went down to take their breakfast, there was a buzz in the street. Curse words and accusation were fusing left and right but there were simply too many marks to take them seriously and it was like a cold shower and a wake-up call for many who had abused the system for their own gain: they weren’t safe, no one was.