One of the older women shot me a kind smile as she passed me a steaming cup. “This should take the edge off.” Confused, I shot her a quizzical look but nonetheless accepted the proffered drink. It smelled of some flower I could identify. Under that, I got a hint of something else. Something a bit cooler. Which was odd given the amount of steam wafting off the white and brown liquid.
Given that this was a random drink I had been handed by a stranger I should have either faked a sip and set it down or simply offered a polite refusal. Especially when one considered what I had been given by Linda in the guise of sauce. Hell, I knew someone had already tried to poison me today – or was that yesterday? Yet something about the way the two ladies had spoken to me. They sounded grandmotherly. Fully expecting the worst, I took a sip.
The flavor of mint coated my tongue for a moment before it was overtaken by something else. Maybe I could have identified it if I tried to do so, but my mind was focused elsewhere. As if by magic, every muscle in my body slowly released. The tension and heat that had been building in my core dissipated, taking with it the majority of the need that accompanied it.
Sure, it wasn’t everything but it was as if my heat went from an eight to a two. The pain was there but I could easily ignore it. Of course, it wasn’t the only biological process that demanded attention. My stomach chose that moment to growl out its frustration at being ignored for so long. Laughter erupted around the table at the sound.
A young lady, no younger than me, sat on my other side. She reached out and spun a circle set into the table and pushed it to the side. The entire center of the table spun, bringing with it all the food and drinks stationed on it. “Eat!” “Eat something!” “Feel free to get some food!” “Fill that belly young’un!” Called a few voices.
Heat blossomed in my cheeks as I lowered my head to hide my embarrassment. Still, I reached out and took a plate with a sandwich on it. Or at least I thought it was a sandwich. Between two fluffy pieces of bread, there was some sort of meat and sauce. I tried to suppress the groan that threatened to escape as I took my first bite.
Sure, the meat had the expected earthy flavor, but it wasn’t alone. Interwoven in the strands of flavor presented by the meat was a hint of sweetness touched with a bit of something savory. As I worked my way through the sandwich, there were a few gossipers who filled the room with chatter.
“I heard that Beatrix was killed yesterday. Head cut right off.”
“How horrible. At least it was quick though. Poor Christian was killed with radiation of all things.”
Someone tsked. “Horrible way to go. Had a friend go that route after being sent into a reactor to fix a loose fuel rod back in the day. The poor fellow didn’t live out the week. Sometimes I can still hear his pained cries as his skin…”
Someone else hissed. “Not while some of us are eating Daryna.”
“Just telling it how it is.” Daryna’s heavily accented voice paused for a second as if deep in thought. “Though that begs the question as to how the person pulled off such a feat. I don’t think any of the people have found a source of radiation.”
I choked down what was in my mouth to ask “Magic?” Quite a few eyes turned to look in my direction. As they bored into me I dropped my eyes back toward my plate as I mumbled out “Sorry.”
“No,” the accented voice was short and sharp as she spoke. “What did you say?”
I tried to act as though I hadn’t said a word but it made the situation more awkward as the other conversations around us went quiet. Likely as they tried to figure out what was going on. Finally, I gave up and answered her. “Could they have created a source of radiation with magic? Or at least created something with a similar effect?”
“Nemaye.” Not understanding what Daryna just said, I lifted my head to see that she was shaking her head.
“Not possible.” Another woman agreed.
“No, it is possible,” Came a soft voice from one of the corners of the room. Everyone turned to look at the speaker. A skinny elven woman with platinum blond hair sat in the grass playing with some flowers that were actively blooming around her even as she picked them. “Sure, all of the tested methods have failed to yield results, but that does not mean there isn’t a method. Who is to say that one could not use Spatial magic to create a small star to create fusion? Add a shell of Time magic and you have yourself a portable bomb. Separate out just the radiation, contain it, and you have a damn fine bomb that no one would be able to track.”
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Yeah, the whole room stayed silent as we all took in the idea. Sure, I knew that a bomb was possible with Fire mana, hell that was the basis of a fireball, yet the thought that one person could create a tactical weapon was on another level. What would stop such a person from demanding whatever they wanted?
“Though,” the elven woman broke the silence. “I doubt any such person exists. At least not yet. Such a combination of spells would require quite a number of experiments and a massive mana pool. It may not even be possible without a few massive mana storage devices. Honestly, it wouldn’t be worth it. Not when there are quite a few other, easier methods of killing armies.”
With those words it was like the room as a whole let out a breath of relief. “Leave it to Adalindë to figure out ways to blow up everything and then tell us it was not realistic.”
“Still,” the teenager had a bit of a quaver in their voice as they spoke. “What is with all of these deaths? Are we next?”
“Why do you think they gathered all of us here?” The older lady next to me scoffed.
“So they can keep us safe?” Daryna’s voice was full of scorn. “See how well that worked before. And even if it did, trapped here until someone decides that we are needed for something. Nothing more than slaves.”
“Wait,” I asked as I reached for a second plate. “Who is supposed to be keeping you safe here?”
“The guards,” A young voice I recognized spoke up. My head whipped in its direction to find Philipa half-hidden behind a hunched figure. Seeing her sitting there, alive and looking healthy, I felt relieved. “But not the usual guards. These guards were new. Off.” The group’s nods and affirming words filled the place as she finished speaking.
An odd thought occurred to me, one that didn’t make much sense given that these people were supposedly being protected. “If there are guards preventing people from attacking you, how did I get here without seeing one, let alone getting stopped?”
Once again, the room went silent at the thought. The old woman who had opened the door for me was the first to break the silence. “This structure, while well explored, still holds many secrets. Changing on a whim, as if it is alive as it tries to guide people where they need to be when they need to be there. Something tells me that, if you were to follow the route you took, you would find it is no longer there or goes in a completely different direction.”
The idea that a building could be alive, if not sentient, was absurd. But, then again, how else could I explain the tunnels I had used to get here? Very few places left such areas open to the public. Add to that the fact that I seemed to have bypassed every security measure that surrounded these people, what other explanation was there?
“Ahh…” A well-worn and quiet voice caught everyone's attention. While it wasn’t loud, it felt as though the words that came from it managed to fill the room. The speaker sat on the other side of the table from me. Her back was so bent over that her head nearly rested against the table.
That didn’t stop her misty white eyes from meeting mine as she spoke. “Child, you have done well to ignore temptation but I see a rough road filled with tough decisions laid out before you. While I see a possibility of happiness, I also see much pain and suffering. Just remember that you are not alone. Never alone…” It was as if she lost her train of thought or was falling asleep because her voice drifted off at the end.
“Don’t mind her.” The younger of the two sitting next to me said as her hand grabbed mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Her predictions are always right but only because they are so vague. So, what is it like being part fox?”
Her sudden change of topic, coupled with the changes in tone, caught me off guard. “Jessica!” Someone called out.
“But mom!” The woman called back. “I always wondered what it would be like to have a pair of ears and tail for myself. It isn’t my fault the stupid stone gave me such an annoying power set.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, curious as to what the SoulStone had given her.
“I was lucky” she sneered the word as if she didn’t really consider herself all that lucky. “Enough to gain the use of the Time Element. Too bad it is limited to peering into bits and pieces of the future and little else. The stupid element has no use in combat no matter what the elf over there says.” Her head tilted toward the elf who looked to be nearly done with a wreath made of flowers. “If it did then the people running this damned place might have let us live on our own.”
“What about using another element? And what about leveling up? Surely there is another way to defend yourself.”
“Sure,” one of the ladies nodded. “We can use other elements but we are discouraged from doing so. They refuse to provide any training or spaces to practice anything other than what is required for our jobs.”
Someone scoffs “And anytime someone argues that we need a way to defend ourselves they wave off our comments and say that that is the job of the guards and that we need not worry our heads about any of that.”
That sounded as though the people running this place were trying to keep control over this group. To make sure that they were always available and under their control. Which made some sense but they were not tools but people.
Without warning, one of the only men in the room hacked violently. Every eye swiveled as one to look at him. While one hand covered his mouth, the other lifted up to show that he was fine just as another hacking cough wracked his body. Unlike the previous one, this one sounded wet and didn’t stop after one or two hacks. It went on and on, growing worse and worse with each hacking cough.
Finally, after a good three minutes of straight coughing, it stopped. He lifted his head but his eyes did not lift to look at the rest of us. They were locked on whatever was in his hand. A moment later, his body shuddered as he collapsed. Particles of light flit off his body as it dropped toward the ground.