Lyra and I exchanged looks of disbelief as Isabel revealed her plan. "You're kidding, right?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Not at all. We need someone with certain skills - sneaking and moving around silently. Perhaps even a person who would remember everything and wouldn't need to steal anything," she said slyly.

I rolled my eyes. "Bloody hell, Isabel. You want to break into the castle, go through the guy's stuff for some evidence we're not even sure is there, and somehow get out again. And of course, all this needs to be done unseen and unheard, else I'm in the shit."

Isabel shrugged. "That's the gist of it."

I looked at her for a long time, considering. "Say I was willing to do this. Is there any kind of certainty you can offer me, any information that might help me?"

Isabel nodded. "The government is the one teaching rune magic, David. And each application is processed by the governor when it comes to Creston. Any half-decent administrator would keep records, right? I'm sure he has a safe, or something along those lines."

I sighed. "Fine. Where is his office located?"

Isabel took out her smooth stone and quickly sketched a rough map of the castle. "His office is located in the east wing, on the first floor," she said, pointing to an area on the map.

"I'll need to do some preparations. When would you like this done?" I asked.

"Sooner rather than later," Isabel replied.

I turned to Lyra, who had been silent this whole time. "Lyra, what's wrong?"

Lyra gave me an uncharacteristic sour look and then focused on Isabel. "You're putting David at risk, Isabel!"

Isabel nodded. "I am."

Lyra stood and paced. "I don't like this! Fighting monsters is one thing, but going against the guild... against the governor?"

Isabel looked a little guilty at that, but her face held determination. "We need to know, Lyra. What if some-"

Lyra interrupted her. "I'm not sure we do! We don't have to get involved, Isabel. Perhaps we should trust the master to handle this?"

"I don't think he will," Isabel said. "He is a good man, but he is of the guild. The guild does not interfere in local trouble unless paid to do so, you know this!"

Lyra bit her lip. "I know... but..."

Isabel stood and put a hand on Lyra's shoulder. "It will be fine, Lyra. We're not stealing anything."

Lyra scoffed. "No, but we're spying, and that could be taken as treason!"

Isabel flinched at that, but just as she was about to answer, I broke in. "I'll do it, Lyra. But I'm not going in there myself. I have certain skills that might allow me to look inside while staying well away, remember?"

They both looked at me, and Lyra slowly began to smile. "Ah! Right. I suppose that makes things a bit simpler. But they're still copies of you. What if someone sees?"

"I did say I needed to prepare," I said with a smile.

I spent the rest of that day in seclusion, deep in thought about how I was going to carry out Isabel's plan. With Harlequin's help, we managed to come up with a solution. Three hooded figures stood in front of me, each with no discernible features except for their eyes. "I think that will do, Harlequin," I said, looking at the three figures. Harlequin cackled in my mind, "Oh, I can't wait! Breaking into the most powerful person's house, spying on his secrets! I knew it was the right choice to bond with you." I smiled, "I don't want to make a habit of this kind of stuff, but I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

That night, I crept out of the house through my window, just in case somebody would see me exit and wonder about it. The house was not too far from the palace, but it took me almost an hour and a half to creep through the city. I wasn't familiar with this part of the city, or really any part of it, but the castle was a tall building, so it was a simple thing to orient in its direction.

Finally, we arrived and I quietly climbed a building a few blocks away, trying to find a good spot where I would be hidden but still close enough that my images would be in range. I slowly peeked over the roof, watching for any movement in the area. I stayed like that for a bit, who knew what kind of illicit stuff went on in a city like Creston.

I pulled myself up and was excited at how easy the climb had been. My body was already superhuman compared to someone from Earth. I crouched and looked around, and not far from where I stood, I found a spot: a dark garden terrace. I crept over the roof, crossed to another, and descended into the garden. I found a quiet spot in a dark corner, where I would be completely hidden by ornate bushes. I sat down and summoned my images, setting two of them on watch to spot any movement while Harlequin took control of the third. I summoned the mask and cast my illusion over the image that Harlequin controlled. We were ready to proceed.

I activated the second ability and my vision blurred, before I was looking at myself sitting there. "We're ready to go." I told Harlequin

Harlequin turned and we were off, moving quickly and quietly. He vaulted over the wall and landed in a dark alley. He scouted around, looking for any signs of movement.

"Clear," he said with a creepy giggle after a moment, he was having too much fun.

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We continued on, and as we reached the wall, we moved right through it and came out the other side in a patch of trees. We were in the castle grounds, and there were guards everywhere.

I cursed, but Harlequin simply laughed wickedly.

We crept along the trees, and as a guard turned, we moved like a shadow, quickly and quietly. In moments, we reached the castle itself, and Harlequin stopped.

"The walls are enchanted," Harlequin whispered in my mind.

"Shit, new plan?" I asked.

Harlequin crept along the wall and then laughed. "But the windows are not!"

There weren’t any windows at ground level, but large windows overlooked the grounds from the first floor. Harlequin climbed the wall expertly. The image had no real mass, so Harlequin was able to scale a wall with next to no handholds with no trouble. We reached the window and passed through it. We were in a music room of some sort. A piano was the center piece, but other instruments were stood against the wall, and the walls were covered in beautiful wall hangings. Harlequin moved through the room and out into a hallway, at first only peeking half a head through the door.

"Nothing," he said.

We found a servants staircase and ascended until we reached the second floor. We encountered a few guards, and while they were doing patrols, they weren’t very thorough. In true Scooby-Doo fashion, we even hid inside a decorative armor at one point, I admit, it made me chuckle.

Finally, we arrived at the study and stepped inside. Harlequin surveyed the room, and we began with the desk. We found a plethora of papers, mostly reports on the economic situation and a few proposals for building projects. Apparently, the city was also facing a shortage of apples. Harlequin seemed unsure of what to do next. "Check the paintings," I suggested. "In movies, people always hide their safes behind paintings!"

Harlequin's creepy laughter rung in my mind. "That's a good idea, partner. What is a movie?"

"Something from where I come from. It's like a moving picture," I explained. Harlequin moved toward a large painting of a stoic man dressed in an army uniform. "That sounds fun! Can you make one?" he asked. I sighed, "No, and we need to concentrate on what we are here for." Harlequin scoffed, ‘’what a tease!’’

Harlequin began to examine each painting. I wasn't sure what I had expected, but the spirit just put his head through them one by one, which was a pretty surreal experience. There were a few of them in the room, and I was beginning to lose hope when we finally had success. A medium-sized painting of a beautiful woman sitting in a flower meadow held a secret. "That's it! Let's see what we have," I exclaimed.

Harlequin pulled his body halfway through the painting and into the fairly roomy safe. It was dark inside, and I hadn't considered that, but Harlequin apparently had perfect vision in any light. He shared his vision with me, so now I could see too. ‘’You had that ability the whole time? I asked in disbelief, and Harlequin responded, ‘’Tut tut.. We spirits need to have a few secrets, we are mysterious and all that! I tried rolled my eyes, couldn’t and decided to leave it alone. We moved a few heavy coin pouches out of the way and began looking through different the different items.

There were ledgers, which I ignored, letters, personal effects, and an official-looking notebook. My heart raced as Harlequin opened it. This was it. We had actually found what we came for. Harlequin slowly and methodically turned each page, and each page held information on an applicant and whether they had been granted access to rune magic or not. It also detailed the reasons for either decision.

I had just about gone through every page when I felt a tugging. I wasn't sure at first what it was, but then I realized. My heart began to race as I immediately cut the visual connection and returned to my own body. I saw one of my images being dispatched by a cloaked figure. The figure then focused on me and in a blur he was upon me, or maybe it was a she? Whatever it was, it was coming straight for me.

Cloaky stabbed at me with a long blade, and I barely managed to roll out of the way. With a thought, I dismissed the images and felt Harlequin’s presence more strongly within me.

‘’Ah! A fight! What did I miss?’’ Harlequin laughed creepily, but I had no time to answer since I was constantly dodging and weaving now. I had stupidly left my staff behind, but I wasn’t defenseless.

As Cloaky stepped in for a stab, I sidestepped smoothly and threw out a sharp punch infused with ether. Cloaky’s head rocked sideways, but he quickly recovered and launched another series of attacks.

I took a powerful kick to my side and was sent rolling over the grass. But I managed to turn the roll into an acrobatic flip to my feet and conjured my images again, which immediately spread out.

Cloaky charged, and the images and I surrounded him quickly, pummeling him with kicks and punches. Cloaky was tough as hell and managed to destroy my images again. I was sent flying once more and groaned in pain, pretty sure a couple of ribs were broken.

But Cloaky wasn’t unscathed either. He had definitely slowed down, and I decided to press the attack. I reached into my robe and conjured a throwing knife, which was just an illusion, and as I rushed in, I threw it at Cloaky’s face.

Predictably, Cloaky dodged, but that was my opening, and my punch crunched into his face. Cloaky stumbled, and I used Slippery Footing to bring him down. I laid into him with punches, then went into a grapple and finally had Cloaky in a grip that would tear his elbow apart if he moved.

‘’Who are you?’’ I whispered, but it was Harlequin’s voice. Cloaky struggled a little, and I increased the pressure. ‘’Who?’’

Cloaky hesitated for a moment, but then a raspy male voice said, ‘’I am no one..’’ The man began buckling, and I did the only thing I could do. I twisted, and with a nasty crunch, his elbow broke. He gave a muffled grunt of pain but twisted despite the pain and managed to kick me off him.

He immediately jumped to his feet and ran, quick as hell. But just as he vaulted the wall, I cast Slippery Footing a second time, and what was supposed to have been a smooth vault turned into an uncontrolled tumble. I heard a scream, and then the sound of a body impacting with cobblestones from the third floor.

I followed him over the wall and found him lying in the alley beyond. I slowly approached, ready to dodge in an instant, but I needn’t have bothered. ‘’Damn...didn’t mean for this to happen...’’ I whispered to myself.

It looked like he had landed on his head, and blood was pooling around him, ‘’shit..’’ I crouched next to him, and pulled off his mask. He was unfamiliar to me, but there was one thing I did recognise, a rune symbol tattooed into his forehead. I made sure to store the memory for later, and I quickly went through his pockets and found a few items.

I found a strange cube, a knife, a case filled with a variety of vials, a mix of healing and ether potions, and a ring on his finger. As I slipped the last item into my robe, Harlequin's voice cut through the quiet, "the boots!" I frowned, puzzled. "What about them?" Harlequin chuckled, "they are enchanted!" I let out an exasperated sigh, "and how do you know that?" Harlequin laughed again, "I am a spirit, am I not? We are sensitive to ether flows, and those boots hold ether in them." I considered for a moment, then decided it couldn't hurt to investigate. Shrugging, I knelt down and carefully removed the man's boots. I studied them for a moment, but they looked like ordinary boots to me. "Are you sure?" I asked Harlequin. ‘’You questioning my magnificence?’’ Sighing again, I put them under my arm.

Leaving the man lying on the ground, I stood up and listened for any sounds of activity outside. Sure enough, there were footsteps approaching. The guard had likely been alerted to the commotion we had caused. I wasted no time and turned to run, Harlequin chuckling the whole way.