Marvain parked her car near the entrance gate of the estate. It was a grand mansion perched on top of a hill overlooking Sormera Valley, the valley just north of Ridgemire. It hadn’t been sold yet, and she was the one who was going to sell it to the highest bidder.
She allowed the entrance to scan her face and her hand. The edges of the curly gates flashed green as the gates retracted into the pillars. She was the only one who had clearance to enter.
The front yard of the estate was an expansive lawn populated with massive bush sculptures and fountains. The main driveway was decorated with cascading marble plates creating a wave-like pattern that never repeated. Just the driveway and the front yard alone would go for more than most houses.
The garage was a custom underground lair accessible by driving around the circular driveway and stopping in front of the front doors. The platform would then lower into the ground, where the car would be washed clean by the machines in the garage walls.
Marvain smiled to herself. Evan would kill to have something like that.
The double doors opened automatically, and Marvain was buffeted with the aroma of freshly cleaned carpets and polished marble. Though the mansion was state of the art high-tech, the architect had designed it with an ancient palace feel. The walls were carved with intricate patterns. Two symmetrical staircases led to the second floor.
Marvain ran her hand along the railing. She knew she would be slightly jealous of whomever was going to own this place.
She paused and looked around. Something didn’t seem right. The lights hadn’t turned on automatically. She went over to the light switch and tried it. The lights stayed off. She raised her hand in disgust and scoffed. Just when everything was starting to go right, something went wrong.
“Hey Paul,” she said to her wrist pad, using its voice to text feature. “Can you get a technician to the mansion? The power’s out.”
His response was quick as usual. “You got it. I’ll let the new guy know.”
She began pacing around the room, trying to talk herself out of her anger. It was curious Paul hired a new technician. His team was great and he said he wasn’t even accepting any new applications. What could have changed his mind?
She wandered the other rooms of the mansion as she waited. She was tempted to dip her toes into the expansive pool in the backyard. There was a spa at both ends of the pool. This place was meant for parties. She hoped she would be invited one day.
Having nothing better to do until the technician arrived, she went looking for the control room. Every house had one. It was where all the functions of the mansion could be managed. This one was located underground as a side room to the garage. The only light was the natural sunlight that leaked in down the stairwell leading to the garage. Marvain used her wrist pad to illuminate the room.
As she approached the door she paused. It was already open slightly. The lock had been destroyed by some kind of blast, and there was a hole burnt through where the handle should have been. Her hands grew clammy as she glanced behind her. Who could have done this, and how could they do it without triggering the alarm system?
Still, her curiosity got the best of her. She used a finger to ease the door open. The light from her wrist pad glinted off the metal walls. It was long and narrow, with the wall-mounted screens close to the door. She tapped on one of the screens. It was unresponsive. Odd, these usually ran on their own power.
She pushed on a tiny drawer in the wall and it popped out. The spring-loaded crystal mounts were empty. She took a step back. This wasn’t some malfunction of the mansion. This was done on purpose. She strode to the back of the room and pulled open one of the Aether crystal racks set into the wall. The typical red glow was absent. There weren’t even any dead crystals. She confirmed this was the case for all the other racks as well.
She went back to the computer screens. The least she could do was try to see who had done it. The computer required a crystal no longer than a couple centimeters. There were a couple of spares that size in her car, so she made her way back to the daylight of the front yard.
Just as she was getting back out of her car with the crystals, an orange van with the blue AetherTech logo pulled up and parked on the other side of the road. The driver smiled and waved as he got out. His face was freckled and red curly hair spilled out under the sides of his cap.
“Hi miss, I hear the place is out of power?” the guy said as he pulled a giant tool case from the side of the truck.
“Hi, yes,” Marvain said, walking up to shake his hand. He wore rubber gloves and his name tag read Dennis. “I did some investigating before you came. All the crystals were stolen. Do you have any backups?”
Dennis patted the case. “Of course! We here at AetherTech are prepared for every situation, miss.” He tipped the bill of his cap.
“Okay.” Marvain nodded, trying to not look at him suspiciously. It seemed like he was acting for a commercial or something. Well, Paul said he was the newbie. Dennis was probably just nervous.
She opened the front gate again and followed him in. He walked straight ahead without looking at any of the plant sculptures.
“Pretty decorations!” Dennis said mechanically.
“Yes, they are…” Marvain replied, keeping her distance behind him. “I’m going to be selling this place to some very rich people in a couple of days, so I need it up and running as quick as possible.”
“No worries, miss. Whatever happens, AetherTech can handle it.”
She rolled her eyes. The commercial-talk was getting annoying quick.
Dennis used a flashlight when they entered the garage. Marvain pointed to the door. “Over there, the door with no handle.”
He walked to the door without responding. She stayed well behind him as he opened the door and inspected it. “What do you know about the break-in?”
Why does he care? Marvain thought, folding her arms. She made a mental note to call Hector later to file a police report. “I just discovered what happened right before you arrived.”
He made his way to the back of the control room, put his toolkit on the floor, and began checking out the crystal racks. The crystal compartment for the computer was still open from earlier. Marvain quietly slipped a crystal into the mount and pushed it back into the wall. A power-on logo appeared on each of the three screens.
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“How many crystals do you have, Dennis?” she asked, trying to not seem like she was in a rush.
He was inserting a crystal into one of the mounts on the racks. “I have four full medium crystals, miss. They should be able to keep this place powered for a couple of weeks.”
The computer system was up and running. She accessed the security console, hoping to not find anything like Evan had described in the refinery. Her eyes widened. She got her wish, but she now wished she hadn’t. There was no security footage. It had just started storing the live feeds since a couple minutes ago. She checked to see who was authenticated to access restricted areas. Only her name showed up.
Instinctively, she had the system run a threat scan. Only one alert popped up, and it was the only one she needed. Someone with the same weight and shoe size as Dennis had been in here four days ago, in the middle of the night. It had registered the data only for a couple of seconds before going blank.
“Nice going, detective,” Dennis said, leaning on the door frame next to her. She gasped and stumbled away from him. She could’ve sworn he was still installing the crystals just a moment ago. He grinned eagerly. “What’s the verdict? Did the creepy ass technician do it?”
She stared at him in horror. Her mind raced through the past few minutes. She knew something was off. The commercial-like talk, the stiff behavior, and now the complete personality change. She gave a small nod, gripping the other small Aether crystal firmly in her quivering hand. “Yeah, I think I know who did it.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember her high school defense class training. She focused on the crystal, and it responded by growing hot in her hand, almost too hot to hold. The energy began to leak into her hand, creating the telltale sign of electrical pain wherever it traveled.
Opening her eyes, her face contorted with anger as she pictured Krista, her high school bully, in Dennis’ place, sneering with all her filthy cockiness. Marvain raised her fist as if to deliver a punch, and it was already surrounded by red energy. Her arm shot forward and fired a red, fist-shaped bolt at Dennis.
Dennis casually raised up the back of his hand and deflected the projectile away. He had a smug look. “No.”
The bolt shattered against the garage wall and evaporated. Marvain stared, shocked both by the intensity of her own attack and its ineffectiveness against Dennis. He didn’t look like much, even a bit on the heavy side, but had just done something she’d seen only the most advanced Aether mages do.
“You’re him, aren’t you?” she said, charging up her fist again.
He raised a finger. “Ah, I would save your energy if I were you. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
She shot another bolt at him. This time, it shattered on a shimmering wall of red energy that covered the entire doorframe. She nearly dropped the crystal. She was trapped.
Dennis lowered his hand. “Now that we understand each other, we can get down to business.”
“And what business is that?” Marvain shouted, stepping forward to within inches of the glowing wall of Aether energy. Any closer and her hair might catch fire. “Ruining people’s lives for your own gain? How can you sleep at night—?"
“I CAN’T!” Dennis roared. His voice had changed completely to someone else’s. His eyes were glazed over with a red tint. He scowled and stabbed a finger at her. “Don’t you ever talk to me about getting sleep. We can talk about anything but that.”
“Oh, excuse me for hurting your feelings, jackass.” She put both arms behind her back as she spoke, trying to remember where the speed dial option was on her wrist pad. Hector needed to hear this. Just as she hit the call button, the red screen started to advance into the room. Dennis walked forward behind it, forcing Marvain to retreat to the back of the room.
Her breaths grew heavy as she started to panic. The heat was growing to be unbearable. She finally put her hands up to cover her face. “Stop! Please, stop! Please, just tell me what you want!”
Just then, Hector answered the call. “Hey Marv, what’s happening?”
The wall receded a bit. Dennis stood with folded arms behind it. His voice had reverted back to his original voice. “I want you to tell me what you think of this place.”
She blinked, not sure if she heard him correctly. “What?”
“Hello?” Hector said on the call. She put him on mute, but he could still hear her end of the call.
“The mansion, you had a look around. What do you think it’s worth?”
“Contract says the price starts at eighty-five million. The auction would bring it up higher.”
“Excellent,” he said, tapping on his wrist pad. He showed her his wrist pad with a thumbprint screen displayed. “You will sell this place to a Mr. Damron Wellfire for eighty-five million shards.”
Marvain stared at the contract displayed on his wrist pad. “How did you get that? Only the most qualified candidates were allowed access to the contract.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “Do you really want to know how I got this? I’m sure you’d find the details highly boring.”
She shook her head in tiny movements. The shimmering Aether wall disintegrated. Dennis walked forward and thrust the screen in her face. She gingerly put her thumb to the screen until it blinked green twice. She stared at the copy of her thumbprint. What else he could do with that fingerprint, she couldn’t imagine.
Dennis immediately returned to a calm and cheery demeanor, giving her a nod and a tip of the hat. “Pleasure doing business with you, miss.”
He picked up his toolkit as he exited the room. “Remember, you can always count on AetherTech to get the job done. With our premium 24/7 service, you’ll never have to worry about… eh, something or other problems. I forgot the rest of that cheesy bullshit.”
He exited the garage without another word. Marvain was left leaning against the back wall of the control room, trying to calm herself down. She unmuted Hector.
He was in the middle of talking. “—tell me where you are! You have your location blocked. I can’t get to you if you don’t tell me!”
“Sorry Hector, I couldn’t let him hear you, though I think he did anyway.” She left the control room and jogged to the garage exit. “I’m at the Rivercrest mansion, at least an hour away from Ridgemire. I think I just had a close encounter with the Phantom Spear. It was scary, but I’m okay now.”
“Phantom Scythe,” Hector said.
“Oh, whatever!” Marvain yelled as she shoved through the front door of the mansion. She looked to the road, but the AetherTech van was already gone. She was definitely going to have a talk with Paul about his new employee. “He’s gone now, but you should file a report to the detective.”
“Already made a note for that. Do you need a ride?”
The front gates opened automatically for her, and her car lights turned on in response to her presence. It unlocked once she got within range. “No, I have my car.”
She got into the driver’s seat and laid her head back, trying to take deep breaths. Her heart was still racing. “How much of the interaction did you hear?”
“It didn’t sound like much. There was talk about the value of the house, and then he got your fingerprint on a contract that he wasn’t supposed to have?”
“Did you notice the intense buzzing?”
“Yes, I did, but I assumed it was just poor reception. Was it something else?”
“Yeah,” she said, inadvertently imagining the shimmering wall of death closing in on her. “It was a wall of Aether pinning me against the wall about to incinerate me.”
“Great saints! You said you are okay, though, right?”
Her breathing intensified until she broke down and cried into her hands. “He almost killed me. I almost died!”
Hector was silent on his end, and she appreciated that he didn’t immediately try to console her. She hated when Brandon tried to do it, anyway. Whenever he did it, she felt patronized, like she wasn’t allowed to express her upset.
After a minute of sobbing, the emotion subsided and she could talk normally again. She wiped the tears off her face. “Glad it’s over.”
“Is there anything else I should know?” Hector asked. “If not, I suggest you talk with Domrik soon. He will be interested in your encounter.”
She tried to remember who this Domrik was, then she remembered the man who asked Evan about his encounter with the Scythe. Part of her wanted to forget this day happened, but the other part of her knew better. “Yes, but I’ll need his contact.”
“Just sent it.”
“Thanks, I’ll message you any further details if I find any.”
“That would be appreciated. Take it easy for the rest of the day, Marvain.”
“You do the same, Hector.” The call ended.
She slung both hands on the steering wheel and started the engine. She decided she had enough drama for one day. All she wanted to do now was go see Evan and share in his misery.