Usually initiates weren’t allowed to leave the compound without express permission, but luckily Kayden had Ruth with her, and no one was about to challenge her except maybe Rem but he was too busy and not anywhere near to interfere.
When Bog heard that Ruth had shown up to the compound--one of the other initiates must have gone to find him after Ruth had left the gym--he hurried to the mess hall to locate her. They were just getting ready to leave when he burst through the doors.
“Elf, it is you.” He was slightly out of breath, unlike the initiates he stood with all the respect that Ruth was due. His eyes flickered over to Kayden and then back to Ruth. “May I ask the purpose of your visit? Did Cassius…”
Ruth waved him to silence. “It is no concern of yours. My business is with Kayden here. I will be taking her with me. And this probably won’t be the last time. You should probably train your initiates to recognize my position for the future.”
“Of course, I apologize for any inconvenience they may have caused. If there is anything you need from me, just let me know.”
“Thank you, but we were just heading out.”
With that, they left Bog and the compound behind. She knew that Bog would report this to Rem, but she didn’t think Rem could interfere. Rem certainly held more power within the organization than Ruth, but it didn’t extend so far that she thought he would be able to command Ruth.
However, Cassuis could still put an end to it once he found out. Ruth would follow his command. But she couldn’t worry about that right now.
It wasn’t that they were disobeying him, but they were certainly skirting the edge. They would just have to have come to some arrangement with Sook before then it did turn into a command.
Ruth had a ride waiting outside. It wasn’t an automobile but a carriage pulled by two of the long-limned flightless birds, the Osto, natives of the Gelgine Wilderness. They climbed in and made their way over to the arena where Kayden recalled Sook’s shop had been.
She wasn’t sure how this would go, she had only had a passing interaction with the deep denizen. Sook probably wouldn’t even remember her, but it wasn’t like she could just sit on her hands and do nothing while she had the chance to increase her power.
Ruth was wearing a green cloak and when they came to a stop, she pulled up the hood before stepping out.
“So we don’t draw attention,” she explained at Kayden’s questioning glance. “It is one thing to reveal myself around Nikiphero, another entirely around regular people. If word got around that there was an elf Cliffside, it could draw the wrong sort of attention.”
Kayden nodded in understanding. It was hard getting used to someone who drew so much attention. She understood why the elf served as more of a background player within the ranks of Nikiphero. It wasn’t just because she was a scientist but because she was extremely conspicuous.
With her ears and elfen features obscured, they exited the carriage. The area didn’t have much traffic because of the time of day so there wouldn’t really have been anyone to see either way, but it was wise to be safe.
The carriage had brought them to the street from Kayden’s directions, but it had overshot the destination a little bit so they had to walk down the street to where the thin shop was sandwiched between two big buildings.
Kayden pointed it out and led the way inside. The bell rang as they walked through the door. Just like the first time Kayden came here, the front area was deserted of any living being, there were only the many tall shelves lined with boxes full of mechanical junk.
However, as they took a few steps inside, something rose off one of the shelves and began to whir over to them. Kayden instantly recognized what it was, but Ruth jumped back in surprise and pulled her cloak back to reveal a wand which she pointed at the device.
It was a drone, the devices which had become so popular with the more mechanically minded students at the Academy. This one didn’t look as sleek as the ones she had seen there. It was easily apparent that it had been fashioned from the resources available, but despite that, from what Kayden could tell, it was functioning much more efficiently than any she had seen at the Academy--besides maybe the more advanced versions put together by a team of students under the tutelage of a professor.
It had a central hub which appeared to house all of the mechanical and magical parts necessary to make it function, and branching off from there were four limbs with propellers on the ends of each.
Before Kayden could tell Ruth to lower the wand, and explain what the flying metal contraption was, a voice emanated out of it.
Hostile threat detected. Engaging defense protocol.
A red light like an eye--which made Kayden think uncomfortably of Tenebrex, that Sendolian artifact Pascal had been using in the tunnels below the Lower Caverns--and a metal arm popped out of the central hub, swiveling around to point at them.
Kayden jumped slightly at the voice. That was something that the drones at the Academy certainly had never done. And as far as the arm, that could only be a weapon. Kayden wondered what the professors at the Academy would think about a drone being utilized for such nefarious purposes.
Lower your weapon and vacate the premises or corrective action will be taken.
Before Ruth could do anything else to antagonize the drone further, Kayden pushed her hand holding the wand down, and stepped in front of her so that the red eye’s glare was directed at her.
She wasn’t sure if the drone would understand her speech, but she tried anyway. “Excuse my friend, she was just surprised. We are here to see Sook.”
It took the drone a second to respond, Kayden was afraid that it wouldn’t, although when it did, the response wasn’t what Kayden was hoping for.
Vacate the premises. You have until the count of ten until corrective action will be taken. 10-9…
Kayden was just getting ready to run for the entrance, and drag Ruth along with her, when suddenly the red eye vanished and the drone turned around to fly into the hands of Sook who had just parted the curtains in the back and came floating through.
The drone stopped in front of her and floated in place. Sook held out a metal device with a screen toward it. She took a moment to read whatever it said, her feet kicking in the air like a child might swing their feet from a chair.
It was uncanny how the deep denizen looked just enough like a child to make their alien features seem all the more unnatural; the big purple eyes, the red bristles on her head rather than hair, the long ears which were just as long as Ruth’s if not longer but on such a smaller body, and of course the fact that she floated in the air.
“It still has a ways to go,” she said thoughtfully in an arid sort of way. Then her eyes rose to her two guests. “I’ve been looking for an opportunity to test out its interface, so I suppose I have you two to thank for that.”
“Umm, you're welcome,” Kayden said, uncertain.
She didn’t think they had been in any real danger, Ruth certainly would have been able to stop the drone before it attacked them, but still, it seemed a little risky to keep such a thing in the shop. But Kayden didn’t want to antagonize the deep denizen when they needed her help so she refrained from pointing that out.
Ruth didn’t seem to share her concern and stepped out from behind her. She had put her wand away, Kayden saw with relief. The elfs eyes had taken on the bright gleam they got when something of interest had gotten her attention.
“What is that contraption?” Ruth asked Sook. “It’s fascinating.”
Kayden should have known that Ruth would be more interested in the machine rather than shaken from their confrontation with it.
Sook’s dour expression brightened slightly. “Oh, you think so? I have been working on it for quite some time. The artificial intelligence is quite complicated.”
“Artificial intelligence?” Ruth said. “As in you have created a sentient interface within that device.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Sook responded, floating closer. The drone had landed back on one of the shelves and gone inert. “It is simply a series of conditions which has been programmed into it. It isn’t a new theory. Much like you might turn a faucet handle to get hot water and another to get cold. It works in a similar manner if on a grander scale. Some believe this is not the same thing as actual intelligence, but I am not so certain.” Sook’s expression flashed with a hint of contempt as she said that.
“Fascinating, may I?”
Ruth pointed at the device which Sook had used to study her drone, but Sook quickly drew it back.
“I’m sorry,” Ruth said. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I am a scientist myself, although my area of expertise is in the medical field.”
“It isn’t a problem,” Sook said, but she didn’t offer the reading device to Ruth, and she was obviously more guarded. “I overheard that you wished to speak to me. How can I help you?”
Ruth looked slightly disappointed at the change of subject, but Kayden was glad for a chance to step in and get to the purpose of their visit.
“I don’t know if you remember me,” Kayden said, “But I came to your shop a few months ago and bought a book from you.”
“I remember. The gate magic book. Did anything come of it?”
Kayden wanted to say yes, she felt that it had helped her to some degree with the meditation forms it contained within it, but she knew Sook wasn’t talking about that so she shook her head.
“No? I didn’t think it would.”
Kayden noted that Sook had never mentioned any doubt about the viability of gate magic when she had sold her the book. In fact, she had purposefully talked the book up by saying she could sell it for more if she wanted to. Had that all been a ploy to upsell it to Kayden? The naive Uptowner, looking for forbidden magic from a distant land.
The thought that she may have been taken advantage of made her flare up in anger. It wasn’t even the price. Money hardly concerned her anymore; not just because she was extravagantly wealthy now, but because the only thing that concerned her was accomplishing her goal. That was the reason for her anger. The thought that her effort may have been wasted practicing for hundreds of hours at something that wouldn’t help her reach her goal.
Was gate magic truly a dead end? It certainly seemed to be pointing that direction. She couldn’t say it had been a complete waste of time. It had helped her develop useful techniques for knife fighting. If they had been worthless, Cassius would have corrected her. But that wasn’t the purpose of learning from the book. She could have learned knife fighting techniques from other places.
She put it out of her mind for now. She had a task at hand that she needed to take care of.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve returned because I'm looking for a way to learn shadow magic.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
“Shadow magic? I thought you were interested in body enhancement magic?”
“I am, but there’s no reason why shadow magic can’t be used for that purpose, right?”
“A little unconventional. Shadow magic isn’t exactly compatible with body enhancement abilities, but I see no reason why it couldn't be used for that purpose. They are called the arcane arts for a reason, and not arcane laws. But why come to me? As you can see from my shop, I am more mechanically inclined.”
Kayden knew from her previous visit that Sook may focus on tech magic, but she had shown hints that her areas of expertise went well beyond that. At the very least she was an expert in psionics, after all she was a deep denizen. But if Sook wanted to play this game then Kayden would play along, if only so she didn’t lose this opportunity to find someone to teach her.
“It isn’t specifically you who I want to teach me. I was just hoping you could point me in the right direction. I have heard your kind are versed in shadow magic.”
“Yes,” Sook admitted, but Kayden could see that she was becoming more closed off.
Did she not like speaking about her kind? They were very secretive so it was highly possible. That combined with Ruth trying to pry the secrets of her artificial intelligence out of her really seemed to be putting Sook off to their presence quickly.
Sook spoke before Kayden could try to placate her. “This is a tech shop. Are you here to purchase tech? If not, I would ask you to leave. I am very busy.”
“Can you just hear us out? You owe me that much for overcharging me so much on that gate magic book.” It was a gamble. She didn’t know for a fact that the gate magic book wasn’t worth that much, but judging from Sook’s reaction, she was right.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Maybe it was just Sook or maybe it was a characteristic of her people, but she was a terrible liar.
Kayden folded her arms and glared at the floating, childlike creature. It was eerie keeping eye contact with those uncanny eyes but it seemed to have an effect because Sook glanced down.
“No refunds,” she said. “I gave you the price and you paid for it. As far as I’m concerned our transaction was fair.”
“I don’t want a refund. In fact, I want to buy more from you. We are willing to pay whatever it requires.”
Sook softened somewhat. “I am not well versed in shadow magic. My kind may be known for it, but that doesn’t mean I am. Are you an expert at everything you humans are known for like running and lifting heavy things with your hands.”
Kayden didn’t know if that was something exclusive to humans. Was that the only thing she could think humans were good at? It certainly exposed how she felt about them. But she could see the point which Sook was making.
“Fair enough,” Kayden said. “You don’t know shadow magic. But you could point us to one of your kind who does.”
“True, but unfortunately that is more complicated than you might think. I am not on the best of terms with the Collective inhabiting Cliffside.”
Collective? Is that how they referred to a group of their own kind? Another insight into how the deep denizen functioned, maybe.
Ruth jumped into the conversation. “I thought it was interesting when I heard a deep denizen was running a shop. Your kind don’t usually branch off on their own.”
“No. We do not. But the Collective did not appreciate the field of study which I wished to pursue.”
“It must be difficult working on your own. Have you ever been apart from the Collective before?”
Ruth seemed to have struck a nerve because Sook bobbed a bit in the air. Kayden assumed that was the equivalent of a flinch from a human.
Ruth pushed more before Sook could kick them out which she seemed on the verge of doing. She withdrew her hood and exposed her ears. “I am like you, separated from my kind.”
“An elf?” This caught Sook’s attention, and she settled down and listened to what Ruth had to say.
“We are part of an organization with significant reach and resources. They took me in when I had nowhere to go. Gave me the ability to perform my research. I know our boss would be extremely interested in doing business with you.”
“I have been made such offers before. The Academy has tried to force me into their servitude multiple times. But I am not interested in divulging the secrets of my kind, no matter what you offer.”
“We aren’t interested in taking your kind’s secrets,” Ruth said quickly. “Well, except maybe what you know about shadow magic, and that is hardly your most important secret. Shadow magic may be hard to come by, but the deep denizen hardly have a monopoly on it. What I’m more interested in and what I know my boss will be more interested in is your knowledge on this artificial intelligence. I know you can’t have very much access to the resources you need to develop it as much as you want. Imagine what you would be able to do if there was no limit to your reach. And we are not like the Academy. We will not try to control you.”
Sook’s eyes squinted suspiciously, but there was certainly a glint of interest there. “I don’t think--”
“Before you answer,” Ruth cut her off, “Take some time to think about it. In the meantime what do you say about putting us into contact with someone who could teach us shadow magic. We will pay handsomely regardless of whether they agree to do it or not. There is no risk to you. And I can tell you need the funds to further your research.”
Sook bobbed in place for a second, thinking. “How much are we talking?”
Ruth smiled. It appeared that deep denizens were not so different from humans after all.
*****
The dwelling of a deep denizen was not so different from that of a human’s--other than the lack of chairs. Kayden found herself wondering whether the deep denizen slept in beds or if they bobbed in the air while they slept. Maybe they didn’t need to sleep at all.
The place they were at resembled a mausoleum if that mausoleum had been severely distorted.
The room was huge with large arches supporting it. The floors were made from shiny marble. There was all sorts of artwork from statues, paintings, and glass cases holding artifacts.
Kayden had tuned in her aura sense and was surprised to see that more than a few of the artifacts were shown as being imbued with some sort of magical essence.
It was very darkly lit with only a few candles scattered about, hardly sufficient to light such a huge place. And Kayden suspected they had only been lit for their benefit.
None of that was really out of the ordinary, except the lighting, but what made this place really unique was the placement of the artwork. There were paintings hanging high up on the walls, alcoves and passages carved into the walls holding more artifacts, and random platforms suspended in the air with statues. And none of it was accessible with stairs. It was like a maze, except this maze was impossible to traverse--at least if one was confined to the ground.
Kayden and Ruth stood at one of the glass cases, inspecting its contents while they waited. It had been given a prestigious position at the center of the room.
Inside was the gray pelt of some small creature that could have been a squirrel. It hardly looked interesting. The reason they were bent over it was because it was unarguably the most magical item in the entire place, and Ruth had wanted to come study it.
But as soon as she reached out with her aura, the glass had prevented her from going any further. That wasn’t that much of a surprise. With the right runes, aura’s could be interfered with, but the glass didn’t appear to have any runes.
Since she couldn’t get past it to study the thing contained within, Ruth had turned her attention to the glass itself, trying to gleam how it functioned.
“There are no runes,” Ruth revealed.
“How does it work then?” Kayden asked.
She had suspected that the runes had simply been expertly hidden so that they couldn’t be tampered with. It wasn’t that she doubted that Ruth was mistaken--if anyone would be capable of sensing them with their aura it would be Ruth--but she couldn’t think of any other reason how the glass would function.
“It has to be a property of the glass itself,” Ruth explained. “Fascinating. I can’t sense anything from it. It might as well not exist. This day has been filled with so many new discoveries. I wish I had time to study them all.”
A door opened and a tall, gaunt man walked out into the vast room, his steps echoing. He had been the one to welcome them in when Sook had brought them here.
Sook and the man had never said a word to each other, but some sort of communication had passed between them because the man gestured them in silently, leaving Kayden and Ruth in this room while he took Sook deeper within.
The man was skinny to the point of emaciation, his cheekbones looking like they were about to cut through his skin. And he had the purple eyes which were unique to the deep denizen. The darkness didn’t seem to concern him either.
He wore a servants waistcoat so served as some sort of butler, but his relationship to the deep denizen obviously extended well beyond that. They had somehow altered his physiology so that he was more like him. And judging by how he was able to communicate with Sook, that extended to psionic abilities as well.
He made Kayden more uneasy than being around the deep denizen. The deep denizen might be uncanny but it fit in with what she knew about them. Everything about this man felt wrong and unnatural.
The man spoke for the first time aloud, his voice rasping from long disuse. “If you would--” He cleared his voice and tried again, this time somewhat more successfully. “If you would follow me.”
He obviously didn’t enjoy communicating aloud because he turned around and began leading the way without another word, expecting them to follow, which they did.
Ruth couldn’t keep from questioning him about the glass despite him obviously not wanting to speak to them. “How does the glass holding the artifacts keep auras from bypassing it? There are no runes on it.”
The man kept facing forward when he spoke. “It is not glass. It is a material conjured from psionics.”
“Ah. And the deep denizen have taught you some psionic abilities? I thought they didn’t share that sort of thing with outsiders.”
They reached the doors leading deeper into the building. The man pushed them open and stepped aside to allow them to walk through. He didn’t answer Ruth’s question.
It was pitch black on the other side, but they walked through nonetheless. The man followed after them and as the door closed they were plunged into darkness.
For a moment there was only unnerving silence until the man struck a match and lit a sconce on the wall which he pulled free to use as a source of light for them. What the light revealed was that they were in a small room that was completely empty.
“Do not be alarmed,” was all the man said before they were suddenly hoisted into the air by some invisible force.
Despite his warning, Kayden couldn’t help swing her arms around a bit to try to orient herself as they lifted off the ground. She looked up to see there was no ceiling. She hadn’t noticed before because of the darkness shrouding the room, but now she saw that this wasn’t a room at all but a shaft that continued upward to some unknown height.
Ruth managed the experience much more gracefully than Kayden. In fact, she didn’t seem to be taken aback in the slightest. She was even still continuing to question the man.
“How long have you been working for the deep denizen?” she asked as they floated upward.
Kayden knew they hadn’t traveled that high, but the darkness made it feel like they were miles above the ground. The candlelight only allowed them to see a few feet in either direction.
“I have been with Master Pali since a boy. Please, no more questions.” He added when Ruth began to speak again.
Ruth obediently quieted down if a little reluctantly.
They didn’t float for long before coming to a stop in front of a free floating door in the wall. The man opened it and gestured them through.
At first Kayden wasn’t sure how to go through since there was no ground beneath her on which to walk, but before she could try anything, the force holding them up glided them gently through of its own accord. She plopped down onto the ground on the other side in relief to be standing on her own two feet again.
It was a standard hallway on the other side with a carpeted floor, none of the strange architecture of the main room on the ground floor. With the little candlelight to guide them, the butler led them down the hall until they reached some double doors at which point he stopped. He didn’t knock, only stared at the door for a moment.
“Enter,” a deep, rich baritone spoke, except it had not spoken aloud, only in Kayden’s mind.
The doors swung open without the butler touching them. On the other side was what could only be described as a council chamber.
It was cut in a semicircle with six extremely tall podiums spread equidistant around the room. There were long windows that allowed the multicolored lights from outside to stream in. They were several stories up so the city was spread out below them.
Floating at each of the podiums was a deep denizen. They were all outfitted in rich, purple robes that almost reached the ground even from the height they were at, and they had fluffy white collars.
They had the traditional big purple eyes, but their spiked hair was different colors, ranging from reds and browns, to blues and purples. Sook’s bristles were relatively short, but most of them had bristles that were longer than their entire bodies. Kayden wondered if it was a sign of prestige to have longer bristles.
In their center, laying on the ground unconscious was Sook herself. Seeing her on the ground for the first time seemed somehow wrong. She looked so delicate with her dress splayed out around her, like a discarded doll.
Floating slightly above and beside her was a deep denizen with the longest bristles of any of them; his were a blue so dark that they looked black. He wore a robe as well, but his only reached a little past his feet.
It was hard to tell any of their genders, but Kayden got the sense that he had been the one to tell them to enter--she wasn’t sure how she knew, just some intuition inside her--and from the voice in her head he had sounded like a man.
He was staring down the last occupant of the room. Another deep denizen, this one's face was obscured behind a black helm. An opening allowed his red bristles to poke out, they were a little longer than Sook’s. He wore a black breastplate with shoulder pieces that had spikes that poked out like bristles, and a chain skirt hung down to his feet, also black. He held a transparent mace in his hand which radiated a dim purple light.
The doors closed behind them.
“The Collective demands to know why you have come here with the Disunified One,” six voices of varying pitches and resonances spoke at once within her mind. Just like she intuitively had known the deep denizen floating above Sook had been the one to bid them to enter, she could somehow tell each of the voices apart and distinguish who they had originated from.