“Ma’am, Captain Larien would like to request that you stay in today.”

I blinked at the soldier slowly and gave him my best incredulous look, “Why?”

To his credit he didn’t even shift nervously, “You see, most of the nobles are going to be back in the next few days and you’ll probably be invited to a multitude of lunches, parties, and such.”

I sighed, “Why today specifically? They’re bound to do that all week.”

He ducked his head sheepishly, “The wall guard is occupied elsewhere.”

Which meant they were either preparing for those nobles to arrive or something terrible happened. Honestly it was probably both. I nodded slowly, it interfered with Niun’s ability to get a hold of me as Foralen, but if he was persistent -and I was pretty sparking sure he was- me sitting around in the Ayfel wouldn’t slow him down much.

“I might have to head outside the city for an hour or so later today.”

Now what would be really funny if he’d been talking about someone else and he wasn’t about to-

A knock came at the door, Aymiae, who was sitting patiently outside her workshop went to get it. The guard stood from the bench with a salute as the door opened, “If you must leave the Ayfel we ask that you go in disguise.” He sent a significant glance at Aymiae. Sparks how deep in the black market was that woman? She had to be at least known across a couple of cities.

He left though, passing whoever was at the door, and to my delight I heard Niun’s familiar voice from the doorstep.

I do so love it when a plot unfolds itself.

“-I’d just like to talk with her about soul magic? Do you think she’d be willing to hear me out? I know I’m a terrible mage but I want to get my friend checked on and I can’t think of anyone else to ask.”

Aymiae frowned at him in that cross way of hers, “Foralen is not accepting guests at this time. Unless you’re with the noble houses and this will offend someone important, I’m going to have to ask that you go on your way.”

She started to close the door.

Niun pushed against it, “Wait! She might remember me! Is she here right now? Could I just see her for a second?”

Aymiae gave him the most dragon-crapless look I’d ever had the pleasure of seeing. “Sir, we are not taking this to a full on mage duel. You know who would win that.”

Niun flinched.

I finally stood up, making my way easily toward the door, pretending to be slightly confused, “Who’s that?”

Niun straightened, saluting for some reason, “I’m called Niun Previan! I was wondering if you could help me with an exorcism!”

I sighed, pretending to be annoyed, “Ah, I remember you now. Come on, what exactly is the problem?”

He wavered, “I…ah…it might be better to show you?” I’d watched him sneak out of the city last night, because I’m just that cool, so he likely knew exactly the state Jeref -Turste?- was in. He’d probably also tried sending the zombie back to Nasei again. I wasn’t sure what the problem there was.

I sent Aymiae a sidelong glance, “Aymiiii, would you be willing to lend me a disguise illusion for the day~”

“Where is this at?” She asked Niun instead of responding.

“Ah…outside of the city, on a beach not far up the coast.”

Aymiae glanced back at me, “Just teleport, miss Dimensionalism expert.”

I glared at her, “Yeah I’d love to pop over to some random haunted beach for a couple hours, sounds like a great idea. Thankfully I kinda can’t.”

Niun gave me a confused look, “I can just show you where it is once we’re out of the city-”

“No no, I was planning on that already” I glared at Aymiae, who was unrepentant. “I’m just in the middle of learning a very basic time spell and my soul is being stupid about it.”

Aymi sighed and made her way across the room, “I’m giving you the old lady illusion.”

“Perfect, maybe I’ll finally feel my age.”

Aymi pulled out a key and opened a nondescript cabinet that I remembered Lady Raia keeping wine in. Aymi was apparently still not into alcohol because now it was filled with simple chains almost identical to the one currently around my neck. Most were more embellished though, with gemstones or pendants that probably served some purpose for the illusion.

She picked one out seemingly at random -I certainly couldn’t make heads or tails of the organization- and closed the doors, the lock clicking back into place on its own.

She handed it to me. “Recharge this when you’re done.”

--

Sneaking through the city as an old lady was thrilling. People ignored me just like when I was Eliax, but each glance away had a note of respect in it. Mostly, it was an experience that I tried to live to the best of my ability.

Niun was projecting anxiety and concern the entire time, but I did my best to ignore that as we made our way from the Ayfel to the wall. I knew the wall guard didn’t pay as much attention to people leaving the city, but there was clearly something wrong when I didn’t see anyone up there watching the gate.

Perhaps they really were having a crisis.

I put that to the back of my mind though, a step behind Niun as we left the walls and entered the vast fields of farmland surrounding the city. There were even a few buildings right outside the walls, since land inside the walls was getting more sparse. I’d seen older cities in Sanaria, especially Ceruleia itself, that had completely overflowed from the initial walls. The Last King had tried to curb the idea since war had been on the horizon and he didn’t want to have the city build a new untested wall farther out, but Queen Steris didn’t even frown on it.

The farmland eventually melted away as we followed the northern coast on a faint almost imperceptible trail. I glanced to the east and thought I could see Mount Beial again. Fallstar, that’s what that translated to. I remembered the story of how that eccentric mage had first decided to build on a migratory mountain, a falling star had hit the side of a cliff, embedding itself there.

Finally, Niun broke the silence. “So...where have you been all this time?”

I watched Mount Beial for longer, “You know how sometimes something happens that you can’t -despite all your planning- truly prepare for? Something that knocks you down farther than you’ve ever been.” I continued walking, “It was like that. I’m still recovering.”

Niun blinked, not having expected an answer, “That’s...I’m sorry to hear it. What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I fought someone powerful that I should have left alone.”

Niun was silent.

It was a bad idea to start venting, in fact it was a bad idea to tell him what I’d already said. But if there was someone I knew could keep a secret, it was Niun. I closed my eyes and focused on the present. “This haunting, tell me the details.”

Niun blinked, “Well, I’m a soul mage, you know that already but I ah...I summoned a zombie a couple of months back. I tried to send him back to Nasei but he wouldn’t go, so a friend had the idea to keep him at this desolate beach until I could figure out what to do about it. Then, he started acting weird. We figured out that he got possessed by something while I wasn’t attending him.”

“Who’s this friend?” I asked, kind of curious now how he would describe Eliax.

“Ah, she’s Eliax Lestwood, I don’t think you know her.”

I paused at the last name, sparks, I kept forgetting about Estin. “No, I don’t think I do. You trust her with your secrets though?”

Niun shrugged, “ah…kind of.”

I nodded slowly, feeling terrible that he trusted me at all when I could barely tell him a sentence to describe the details. “It’s good to trust some people, sometimes I wish I could do that.”

“That makes sense, most people who try to get close to you would either be after your fame or your magic.”

“Exactly. Like right now you’re after my magic.”

Niun cringed, “I-”

“Don’t apologize, it makes things less real. I’m happy to help, really. I’m curious about this possessor entity though, do you know anything about it?”

Niun looked down, “We’re pretty sure it’s made out of Sandfrost. The zombie is covered in the mushrooms.”

“How far out are we now?”

Niun glanced ahead and pointed to a spot just ahead, “That white beach.”

I examined it, remembering again the thousands of times I’d come here. “Nice choice, very secluded, those hills will keep people from spotting anything strange and most folks are leery around Sandfrost to begin with.”

“Uh...yeah.”

I stepped onto the sand a moment later, seeing the strange beauty in the tan quartz crystals and flecks of sediment, even the tiny luminescent spores that pulsed slowly in the sunlight.

It made the beach sparkle.

The form of Jeref was laying in the stuff, half buried in spores and grains. He looked out of it, but I’d expected that. Niun crouched down beside the undead hound, “Is Jeref in there?”

It growled, burying its face in the sand, “Turn…off the SUN.”

Ah.

“I don’t think sandfrost likes the sunlight.” I pointed out, “Is there a cave nearby or something?”

Niun nodded and gently patted the miserable creature, “Come with me, I’ll take you somewhere without the sun.”

I followed them, trying to remember if I knew where the cave was, I didn’t think I remembered a cave, but hey, I’d straight up forgotten a lot of things that were more important than this.

To my surprise, Niun led the creature up one of the hills and into the nearby forest. Sparks I was dumb.

There was a noticeable difference in the bearing of the zombie when it stepped into the shade, it seemed to relax, its gait became more smooth, the glow of its eyes and the mushrooms along its back became more steady, like a heartbeat.

I folded my arms and glanced at Niun, “So it’s not rampaging or anything, the mushrooms just...possessed your zombie and no one’s sure what to do about it?”

Turste growled.

I glanced at him, and then back at Niun. “I’d like to examine the thing privately, could you step away for a few moments?”

Niun nodded quickly and went back toward the beach.

“Turste?” I asked.

Turste growled again.

“Oh don’t be like that.”

He moved deeper into the shadows, “You smell the same, you know my name, why do you look different.”

“This is an illusion.”

The eyes narrowed, “So which one is real, Foralen?”

I sighed, “Sit still, I’m going to cast some diagnostic spells on you.”

“How long? How long, how looooong.”

I snapped my fingers, “Be quiet for a second.”

“Why should I? I’ve been turned into a dog. It’s not even the natural kind, why can’t I be a ferien again, oh Alner above my curse is unbearable-”

I finally managed to tune out the rambling. I cast a light soulsight spell with some leaves and a prepared sigil, examining the creature with a frown. There was only one soul in there. “Turste, what happened to the soul of the ah...dog you’re possessing?”

“How would I know. This thing is deader than my family.”

I sighed and dispelled the effect, instead squinting at him with my magesight. I’d gotten a general sense from him last time, but I had been mostly freaking out and hadn’t had time to really look.

He had an aura that reminded me of a shifter, but waaay more selective. Most shifters could turn into any creature they understood intimately, but this felt different somehow from that. It was also completely sealed away from what I could tell.

It was like the soul here had no affinities. Not having affinities wasn’t weird for something that wasn’t Human, Tuvei, or Pitten, but it was still odd to me. “Tell me, what is an Alanerea?”

Turste growled again, “I am an Alanerea. We’re the people of the world trees, the stewards of our land. But we...did not do that. We went against his wishes and left them behind and in turn he cursed us.”

“What’s this curse? Is that how you became a mushroom?”

“...I don’t want to be a mushroom. Can I be a ferien again?”

I sighed, “What’s a ferien?”

“It’s like your name but with different letters.”

“Never would have guessed that.”

Turste huffed and black smoke came out of the cracks in his wood. “I can’t believe your ancestors. I can accept forgetting about Alanerea, that was part of the curse, but how could you forget about the ferien! They’re amazing little creatures that can kill anything if you give them enough time. They’re like...The best thing in the universe!”

I cast some more diagnostic spells, but I only learned a few things.

First, Turste was firmly attached to Jeref’s body, he wasn’t going to leave unless he either got a new corpse or someone destroyed the body. Second, he seemed to have kicked out Jeref’s soul, I wasn’t sure when since it seemed like the last time I’d been here the two were fighting over the body.

And last, I was almost completely sure that if the zombie were to ‘die’ Turste would be kicked out of the body and Jeref would reset in Nasei to the state he’d been before the last summons. That was usually how undead worked.

-

Niun returned a few minutes later, awash with questions about Jeref. Was he okay? Would I be able to kick out the mushrooms? What were we going to do?

I didn’t have as many answers as I’d like to have, and it seemed like breaking into the repository again wouldn’t really help, but for some reason Niun still seemed to be in awe of what I’d gathered. “So…Jeref is fine then.”

I nodded, “There’s no evidence the soul got eaten or anything and this idiot mostly just seems confused at his predicament.”

Turste raised his head from the grass he was laying on, “Hey!”

“If he dies he’ll go back to being mushrooms and you could summon the original zombie again perfectly fine.”

“I DON’T LIKE MUSHROOMS.”

“Yeah that there is the only problem.”

Niun nodded slowly, watching as the creature rose to its feet and glared at me. Sparks he was still so big… “He can keep the body as long as he doesn’t do anything evil with it and make Starsbane hate me more. He seems a lot more stable than yesterday at least.”

I raised an eyebrow at Niun, not having expected that, “Well that’s good.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think I could make him leave even with the right spells, we would just disperse the entire body back into the underrealm. As I said, he’ll only leave if the body gets destroyed.”

“I don’t wannnaaaa be hereeee!!!” Turste yelled suddenly, “Curses curses curses. HOW LONG?”

“You said he’s less unstable now?” I quietly asked Niun.

The guy in question shrugged, “Unstable is a very good word for it.”

“How long…” Turste muttered, “Is there a year? Do you have years here?”

I sighed, “Of course, Turste, we have years. It’s…seven hundred and seventy one right now.”

Turste growled, “Since what?”

“Since recorded history.” Niun perked up, “Something wiped out most of civilization around year zero and we barely have legends.”

Turste growled again, “How would I know? But...you do not know the Alanerea. Curses above and stars below, we betrayed-”

I let out a long breath, and here we have the ranting again... “What in the world happened to you?”

He jerked his head to the side, meeting my eyes, “I do not know? But...You’re like that too, aren’t you, Foralen? Fari? Fora? How many names could you make?” He started rambling again and I gritted my teeth, he better not-

“Yesterday! I met you!” He leaned closer to Niun conspiratorially. “She looked different though, Younger. I could smell through it though! She wears an illusion!” Turste said proudly.

Apparently, Turste couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. Part of me was glad that this was happening, finally. “She even lied to me.” Turste kept talking, “Called herself a different name, I forgot the name though, so many lies!”

Niun glanced at me in confusion, “What is he talking about?”