“Greetings, imperial princess.” My Astral Self bowed to the albino draconid as I materialized in the imperial palace. Checking back on my body, I felt Alatea’s healing magic making its course.

“Greetings, ellari mystic.” She bowed back to me, partially unfolding her white wings and raising slightly the skirt of her also white dress.

I heard a grunt coming from the armor-clad figure.

“Greetings to you too, Right Hand of the Emperor.”

The ancient and powerful draconid didn’t answer, he just observed. His eyes glowed red and had elongated irises one might expect from a dragon of yore. The dragonborn could only be described as black. Full black armor of metal like that of the mana capacitor, long dark hair, black scales, wings, tail and horns, and grey skin.

If someone looked like a villain in this world, it was the catastrophe that led the Wyrm’s Landing.

“What brings you here, esteemed guest?” Normally I would say such words were filled with venom and hate, yet I couldn’t detect that from the princess. The knight was another deal though. That man was a soothing boiler room in flames, to which I could only say: fair.

“This artifact.” I laid my hand on the levitating orb.

Which was a bad move as my Astral Self was almost dispelled by the sheer quantities of mana trapped inside acting as interference. The mana-absorbing capabilities of the capacitator had nothing to do with it because when capacitors were full they could no longer intake energy.

By the tiniest of margins, I maintained the spell up, quickly removing the hand away. It was amazing how Astral Self was affected by space on the corporeal plane, but not in the spiritual plane.

“I fear that a fragment of my soul has been embedded here, and I wish to retrieve it,” I explained after recomposing myself. The draconid duo was unaware to my stupidity. They only saw Astral Self’s light dim for a fraction of a second then come back to normal.

“An embedded soul?” The princess tilted her head in ponderation. “Akin a phylactery?”

“A phylactery I can’t access, but yes.” Partially false. I wasn’t idiotic enough to reveal all my cards to the draconids, even when I owed them a lot. Paranoia speaks treacherously, but also wisely.

“I think I comprehend.” The princess approached the capacitator, against the desires of her protector. “Can I inspect the orb?” I nodded in permission.

The Emperor’s Right Hand made no gesture to stop her, but his visage turned hostile as he looked at me.

If I weren’t conscious that I was balancing on a very tight string, that had clued me in.

The princess’ white tail swung from side to side in a slow yet harmonious movement as she inspected the artifact. I knew for a fact this was the first time she was inspecting it closely as I hadn’t detected souls nearby the capacitor until now.

“Yes, now I see it.” She nodded. “The artifact has a lot of presence in the spiritual plane, and it does look as if something was trapped inside, besides all that mana. Though it’s obscured by interferences.” The mystic admitted then gave a more thorough peek. “I didn’t notice until now, but yes, it’s a soul.”

The black orb stayed still in the air in a very unnatural way. One could think it was frozen in time if it weren’t for the small arcane sparks that it radiated off occasionally.

“So,” the princess turned to look at me, “how are you planning to recover that soul?”

This wasn’t a political move of some kind; she was truly invested in how I would do so.

“I’m afraid I’m still working on the how,” I replied. “I had been rather busy as of late to worry about it.”

“You aren’t worried about that soul fragment?” She asked. “It’s big enough to rival the soul of an adult mage.”

“Oh, I am.” I nodded. “But it doesn’t affect my soul such a small part being shed away. I’m worried more about the possibility of the fragment achieving self-consciousness by spontaneous animomancy. It still has the soul of a mystic.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Such a small part…” She whispered to herself, stuck on my first claim and ignoring the later ones, yet I was able to hear it with my long ears. That’s when she looked at my soul directly through the spiritual plane instead of my Astral Self. “Ah!” The princess mustered taking a step away from my avatar.

That single noise was enough to activate the dormant dragonborn, who quickly approached me in a mad dash. The stone floor cracked below him.

“Stop!” The princess shouted as she saw him move, putting her claws before the man to stop him. “It’s my fault. I was surprised by his soul. Please, stand back, Caius.”

The Emperor’s Right Hand, apparently called Caius, tensed up and stopped. He gazed at me with violence and distrust. He still refused to talk. I could totally get behind his mood. At the end of the day, I was the man who threatened the people he protected and also blasted him with a lesser leyline.

I couldn’t help but wonder how the man was even standing straight. My real body was severely hurt, and I had to tinker a lot with soul magic to keep it working, but the draconid knight didn’t even seem to be bothered by sequelae.

I knew for a fact that he was the strongest dragonborn alive, but I couldn’t even comprehend how he had healed away the damage already. There weren’t even vestiges of healing magic, that was all part of his body’s natural regeneration.

Caius looked at me sternly as it seems my half-a-second stare of accelerated thought was enough to alert him.

“Caius!” The princess shouted at him.

Once again, the soldier didn’t talk, he limited himself to a slight bow to the imperial princess in acceptance. That’s when I noticed he had avoided my gaze all this time. Not a single time our eyes had connected. Caius was clearly aware of the abilities of mystics.

“I'm sorry for my entourage’s attitude.” The albino girl apologized, though this time I could feel it was more out of courtesy than actual intentions.

“Do not worry.” I dismissed the matter with a sway of my head. “I understand his hostility against me is justified. But that raises a question. Why are you not hostile to me?”

The white draconid was utterly surprised by my question as if she hadn’t even thought of it herself.

“Well…” She started. “I won’t deny someone of your caliber certainly scares me, but I do think that mutual cooperation can be incredibly beneficial to both parties.” The princess nodded, validating to herself her own words. “You know, as we are both mystics, an exchange of information and spells will benefit us.” She reiterated the same meaning with different words.

I could tell she was being truthful. Since our first encounter, I could see she wasn’t hostile. She shared the endless thirst for knowledge that all mages had. But I also noticed there was more to her agenda.

“Alright. What do you want?” I asked straightforwardly. “You already know what I want, so if you tell me your own desires, then I guess we have a deal.”

The white princess looked at the black knight. The two pairs of red eyes clashed. One searched for answers, and the other provided them.

Huh.

There was more than non-verbal communication here. They were engaged in some sort of telepathic dialogue. It wasn’t mind-based, as most telepathic spells were, but soul-based. It wasn’t that surprising knowing she was also a mystic.

Maybe I should also get that spell.

Hmm…

No, I already knew how that one worked. At the soul anthology, there was a spell like that. The only problem was that the spell needed both speakers to know how to cast it. I had never tried it because the only opportunity I had to use it on a common basis would be with Marissa, and whilst not complicated, it was still a five-star spell.

It would be a waste of time for non-mystics to learn it.

That wasn’t the case with Alatea. I guessed she may even know it, as she also had read the anthology and Kirielle was a mentalist, a proficient mage with telepathy and the like.

The exchange lasted a handful of seconds, not many but enough that I started trying to learn the Thought Relaying spell by recalling my spare memories of it with True Recall. A five-star soul spell was rather trivial after becoming proficient with Mystic’s Dominion. But I would need some minutes to make it fully functional.

Something told me the contents of the draconids’ telepathic exchange weren’t very colorful.

“I’m afraid we cannot tell you yet, I’m sorry.” The princess bowed in apology. “I hope you can understand.”

“I do.” I nodded. “You’ve been understanding enough so far, I’ll gladly listen to your part of the agreement when you are ready to enlighten me.”

My response satisfied Caius, whose expression lessened minimally. I was treading on a dangerous path, so I accepted whatever step I could take, no matter how small it was.

“I’ll take my leave for today,” I said as I noticed Alatea’s magic on my body had stopped. “I’ll come to visit again in the coming days.”

“Please, wait a moment!” The princess suddenly shouted. “Could you tell me your name before you leave?”

Once again, I had forgotten the introductions and had gone straight to business. I suppose giving them my name wouldn’t hurt.

“The name’s Edrie. Edrie Nightfallen.” I told with a slight bow.

“Pleased to make acquaintances with you, mystic Nightfallen.” She responded with the same bow.

“There’s no need for titles, you can call me by my name. If you prefer so.”

“Edrie, then.” The princess nodded to herself. “Then you can call me Salayah.”

Instantly the hostility in the room shot up. The source was none other than the full-plate knight. Something told me Caius wouldn’t tolerate that disrespect towards the imperial family.

“Goodbye then,” I told them. “Caius, princess Salayah.”

My choice of words proved to be the correct one, as Caius’ hostility recessed. Although Salayah’s mood faltered in return.

Well, we can’t always get everything we want.