“Yes, dear?” the mayor repeated. “What is it? Well, go on, ho ho!”
Azim and Riva stood opposite the mayor and his assistant. The air was a little different than their last interaction together. “I think we know who the imposter is, Mr. Mayor,” Riva stated calmly but intensely.
“Ho, ho my! Well, who is it then?”
“Well, let me tell you,” Riva continued. “As we talked to the townsfolk, I was only reminded of what you said. Nobody in this town has any real magic potency. Even talking to Orvo at his bistro, he told us that, as far as he knew, he had the highest magic level in town. Which made it so obvious. The reason this find was so difficult was because we had been misdirected from the beginning. Not only does the town not have a lot of magic, but they all figure that nobody in the whole town has any. But there are two people who have high enough magic to set off the totem. You two.”
“Excuse me?!” the mayor retorted.
Riva was not done. “Now granted, that could mean it’s either one of you, or maybe both. There is a fair alibi for Amira being clean, considering she claims she noticed the totem go off, and she’s the one worried so much. However, this could all be a lie, too. But… only one of you has drawn the attention of the other townsfolk. Talking with others around town, you mayor, have been acting ‘off’! To the point that it has others worried.”
“Ho ho, dear…” the mayor chuckled as if joyful, though quickly made clear he was not in a playing mood. “I don’t know what you think you’ve discovered, but you are mistaken. I would watch my tone if I were you.”
“Why wouldn’t it make sense?” Riva shot back, not backing down. “It’s the perfect misdirection. Who better for the intruder to pretend to be… than the one who’s ‘worried’ for their town. You have the magic ability for it, but you also get the attention immediately off your back. You make everyone think you’ve always been in charge, with no way for anyone to think otherwise, and then go around talking about how someone has snuck into ‘your’ town… even though it was never yours to begin with.”
The mayor was furious. There were no more “ho ho”s in his voice. “You have… overstepped, dear. I suggest you back down now. Before I-“
Azim stood between them, staring down the mayor, who looked back up at him. The gnome stared into the metal man’s eyes. He saw the amber orange that looked like staring into the sun. He saw the lifeless light that still conveyed so much conviction. He would not be beaten like this. He then heard the automated, monotone echo of Azim’s voice, which now contained a gravitas that had not previously been there. “You will do anything to Riva. I apologize if you find her words threatening, but she has legitimate reason to believe that you do not belong here. However, you will not threaten her. Any threats made to the woman will be met with reciprocal action… by me.”
“I AM NOT A DAMN IMPOSTER, BOY! I AM GRAVELY WORRIED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF THIS TOWN. WE MAY BE SMALL, BUT I WORRY FOR MY PEOPLE. IF SOMETHING IS BREWING THAT WE ARE UNKNOWING OF, THAT CONCERN IS NO GREATER TO ANYONE THAN I. SO STAND DOWN.”
The android and the old gnome stared at each other for several seconds, neither moving even a hair. After a short while, Azim perked up, and his stare softened. He turned to Riva behind him and said calmly, “He is telling the truth.”
“W-What?!”
“Every word the mayor just spoke to me… was the truth. He is not the imposter.”
The mayor was confused more than anything, though he still held his gruff expression. Azim then turned to his assistant, Amira. “Are you the imposter of this town?”
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“W-What? No… I-“ Amira replied nervously.
Azim turned back to Riva before the assistant even finished answering him. “She is telling the truth as well,” he informed his companion. “Amira, as well as the mayor, belong here.”
Riva was stunned. She felt so embarrassed for falsely accusing the old mayor. The feeling was quickly washed away by the quickly overcoming feeling of dread. These two were the only ones who made sense? Who else could it be? Was it someone they hadn’t talked to? Somebody who had hidden from them entirely? She did not have the luxury to worry about that for long.
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It came out of nowhere. None of the four in the foyer could have anticipated it or reacted in time. There was not even the slightest window in which they could have done anything. It was over the second it started.
The explosion erupted from Azim’s chest as if it had been buried inside him. It knocked him back and onto the ground in an instant. There was a distorted hole of metal, wires, and char along his upper left chest area, stretching into his shoulder, with smoke pouring out of the steely wound. It was some sort of contact spell that activated on a designated target and, after a short period, blasted a hole in their chest. Besides the damage done to the robot, the effect was rather minimal. The blast didn’t stretch more than a foot away from Azim, and was clearly well-contained. The group was unsure where the spell had come from, but they knew it was targeted. They knew it was meant for Azim.
The metal man’s eyes flickered rapidly, his programming and hardware desperately working together to keep him conscious, or as conscious as a robot could be. Riva was stiff for only a moment, but the second her android companion began his fall, she screamed and ran towards him. “AZIM! AZIM, NO!” She cried, catching him on her knees before he hit the ground.
The mayor’s fury dissipated immediately in response to the explosion. Whatever feud he was having with the two travelers was entirely dropped, and the gnome focused all his attention on the issue in front of him. Amira was not far behind with her response. The two quickly bent down beside Riva and the convulsing robot, unsure of what exactly they were looking at. The blast burnt up a section of his borrowed blouse, revealing the metal underneath and thus, the machinery inside. Neither the mayor nor his assistant had ever seen an individual like this before and felt ill-equipped to help. “What can we do, sir?” Amira asked through Riva’s whimpers and pleas.
“I can start with some basic healing, you can fill in needed spots, and we can hope that he stabilizes from there,” the mayor suggested.
Through the tears, Riva interjected, “No! No, that’s not going to work. Can you… Can you do something that doesn’t repair cells or the body? Something that undoes or outright protects against damage of any kind? I don’t know, something!”
The mayor wasn’t sure what the woman meant but figured now wasn’t the time to question her. He could ask for any clarifications later, after they had done their job. The gnome realized he had one other spell that might work, though it was tougher and, given his level, wouldn’t be as effective. “Ho, ho, okay, Amira. Listen up,” the mayor said, putting each hand on one of Azim’s shoulders.
As he spoke, the stone on his bracelet began to glow, and soon did his hands. “I’m going to rewind him, but I won’t be able to bring him back that far,” the mayor instructed as a glowing clock symbol appeared on Azim’s chest. “As soon as I’m at my limit, I want you to put him in stasis. That should keep him from worsening, if even temporarily. Once he’s stabilized, we can find him a more permanent solution. Azim, boy, we’re going to help you.”
Riva’s panic was only met with confusion from the gnome’s words. Before she could ask what the mayor was planning, Azim spoke. “I… know…” he groaned.
“Please, Azim. Don’t say anything,” Riva interrupted. “I don’t know much that blast took out of you, but you need to conserve your power. Focus on keeping yourself alive. Don’t worry about saying anything right now. We can talk after, okay?”
Still, Azim mustered what words he could. “I… know… … I… know…”
Over the course of a minute, the old gnome rewound the metal man 14 seconds from when he had started the spell. Time manipulation was not in any way the mayor’s specialty, but that’s what this Magem was for. A bright, colorful stone that contained concentrated magic essence, this stone in particular holding time magic. The mayor, having a baseline magic level of only 11, would not normally have the capability of such a strong spell. However, thanks to his magem, he was able to boost his time magic just enough to pull off a Persona Rewind spell, if even for only a few seconds. It took everything he had just to wind back 14 seconds, and took much longer than a stronger wizard would normally need.
As he approached his limit and the clock started to fade, the mayor called for Amira to assist him. She crossed the index and middle fingers of each hand in an X shape and chanted, “Hemio Malstasis”.
As she did, a pink glow covered Azim’s entire body. When they finished, they told Riva what they had been able to do. “I set Azim back 14 seconds from when I started the spell,” the mayor explained. “He is still wounded, but the spread of the damage that took place over the 14 seconds before I started has been undone. Amira then put his body in stasis, so instead of not receiving any more damage from now, his wounds won’t get any worse than from the point I set him back to.”
Azim slowly sat up, the hole in the upper left of his chest still agape. He twitched and spurted, trying his best to speak. I know…” he tried. “I-I know-I know…”
“Why is he still..?” Riva asked herself, puzzled.
“I-I-I know… I know… who the imposter is.”