Ray

Ray felt like rushing out and finding out what was going on, but he knew that was foolish. The army base was outside the city, there was no way he would be able to leave the city easily without a license. Aunty Ariana must know, or perhaps even Anita?

Ray rushed up the stairs, heading towards the communicator.

"Do you know if anything happened to the army?" Ray asked Anita.

"Hmm,” Anita replied, sounding half asleep, “Hmm. Wait, what did you say? The army? The Empire’s army? Why would something happen to the army?"

"The Empire is acting to get the rebellion to expose themselves so that it can kill them." Ray said.

"Oh." Anita said, sounding startled. Did none of it make it to the Noble district?

"I will ask around, but I don't think it will be that easy to find out. Why don't you ask that Master of yours? The College Dean is sure to be informed of any changes." Anita said. Ray hadn't thought of that.

"Ok, I will do that. And could you please tell Aunty Ariana I want to meet her? I don't have her communicator number yet." he said.

"Oh, sure," Anita said, sounding excited for some reason. "Dad is in town,, so she'll be very happy to get away."

Ray paused. "Wait, General Trevor is here early? And you didn't think that was a bit suspicious?" Ray asked.

"Oh, right. I don't really think of him as a big fancy general…just idiot dad, really." Anita said, giggling at some unknown joke as she finished her sentence. Ray wanted to slam his face on the wall. How did you forget that your dad was a famous general?

"Ok, you call the College Dean, and I'll call Dad, how about it?" Anita suggested.

"Ok." Ray said, fishing another communicator from his bag. A few seconds later, the Dean’s voice emerged, sounding irritated. "I am in the middle of something, Ray. Can you call back later?"

"Oh, sure. I was just calling to tell you that I can get the Satyrs to help." Ray replied, lying through his teeth. Well, he did have the Satyrs’ help, so it wasn’t a complete lie.

"Wait, what?" the Dean said, suddenly a lot more interested. "What do they want?"

"Oh, nothing much, I was able to join it up with my deal with the rebellion. Though I will need a potion that increases the crop yield, perhaps even one that decreases the time needed? Do you have something like that?" Ray said.

"I have an entire collection! A Duke wanted it years ago, you can have it." the Dean said, sounding excited.

"Yes, the Xnarthan are acting up a bit now. On that subject, did you hear anything about their plans for the army?" Ray said, trying to drop the topic into conversation.

The Dean paused. "Ray, you need to work on dropping things into conversations, you're quite bad at it. But no, I didn't. Did something happen?"

"Yes," Ray said. "The amount of army brats here today was much smaller than usual."

"Well, it's just one day, maybe they just had an emergency drill or something?"

"Wait, do they have those?' Ray said, realizing that he may have mentally exaggerated the significance of what was happening.

"Yes? I don't know much about how the bloody army works. Isn't that brat your stepdad? Or whatever the heck you call the husband of your adoptive mom? Just ask him. The idiot is back here for some reason too." the Dean said, sounding irritated.

"Did something happen?" Ray asked.

"Just a stupid dinner. The Xnarthan lieutanent is finally here, so the stupid Duke wants to hold a banquet. And now I have to waste an evening eating with a bunch of idiots patting each other on the back while they think of ways to kill each other." the Dean said, shaking his head.

"Ok…" Ray said, but he was more preoccupied with a Xnarthan lieutenant arriving there. At least he knew why the policies were coming now. Was it the prelude to a massacre? Or at least an attempted one? Anita's communicator began ringing, telling Ray that she must have found something.

"Just take it, I have to prepare gifts for that stupid dinner tomorrow." the Dean said. The sound of something crashing emerged, making Ray pause while cutting the call. "What happened?" he asked.

"The dinner got delayed. The Emperor is seeing another disciple here. An inner disciple this time. So now I have to prepare an even better gift." the Dean said. Ray could practically hear him grinding his teeth in irritation.

"Just use something from the Treasury?' Ray suggested, hesitantly.

"No, I have use for those things. The Emperor gets the things I don’t want, I don't want to give that greedy bastard a single good thing. I just have to find something decent enough that it isn't insulting." the Dean said as the sound of things crashing was heard. What exactly was he doing?

Ray shook his head, cutting the call and picking up Anita's. The Dean could figure this one out without his help.

"So, what happened?" he asked.

"The army got quarantined. But Dad just told me that most of the recruits are dead, the Xnarthan did a big truth spell on them, and killed whoever wasn't loyal." Anita said, sounding frustrated. Ray sensed that this wasn’t the whole story. What else had the Xnarthan done?

"What else?' Ray asked again, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

"Dad wants me to consider the Emperor's disciple as a possible suitor." Anita said. Ray nearly dropped the communicator.

"Did Uncle Trevor hit his head? I just can't see you happily married." Ray asked, speaking without thinking.

A short silence followed as Ray realized what he had just said.

"I mean-" he began before Anita cut him off.

"I can't see myself happy as a wife, either. And no, Dad didn't hit his head. The Xnarthan lieutenant visited us a few days ago. How much do you want to bet he was here to talk about marriage?" she asked.

"Ten a million mana coins? I am sorry, that's all I have." Ray joked, getting a choked laugh out of Anita.

"I might just take you up on that." she said, scoffing at the situation. "But yes, apparently his grace, Faret, the eighteen-year-old Duke of Sicety is smitten with me. "

"Is there any reason his name sounds a bit too much like ferret?" Ray said, only half joking. The name did sound a bit too much like someone wanted to say ferret, but switched mid-word.

"Hmm, I don't know, but now I want to. A pity the guy wears an illusion most of the time, his face will be hard to get a look at." Anita replied, sounding a lot calmer. And much more likely to cut the guy's legs off.

"So his element is illusion?" Ray asked, trying to change the topic.

"Yes, just think of Professor Revelia without her limitations and with the ability to conjure monsters that could harm people." Anita answered. "The guy is pretty powerful, I don't think even I can beat him easily. Void is too weak right now to kill him, I would have to use Now hope to do it."

Ray blinked, right, the sword, he’d forgotten about that. Wait, why hadn't she used it in the battle?

"The sword is a single attack thing, each attack costs a hundred thousand mana whose effect the sword can double. But it was useless in that battle. I did have it with me, though." Anita said.

The sound of someone speaking sounded as Anita screamed into the communicator. “Ray, the Xnarthan are going to do their truth spell thing on the Commoner’s district next. I will speak to you later.”

"Ok, I need to start prepping things if the Xnarthan are going to attack soon. The rebellion needs to be informed to prepare for any attacks." Ray said, clicking shut the communicator.

The news was not good. Perhaps he had underestimated the Xnarthan a bit too much. But it still wasn't something he couldn't solve. Ray ran down the stairs, practically jumping down them in the hurry. Rena was there, waiting with Marcus and Gordon, who both looked a bit out of breath.

"What happened?" Ray asked, fearing that he was too late. Did the Xnarthan decide to act early or something?

"A lot of army brats haven't returned home. Do you know anything?" Marcus asked.

Ray took a deep breath. "Yes, they're dead. The Xnarthan killed them, and they're coming for the Commoner's district next. I need to get to the rebellion." Ray sped forward, using his mana to levitate obstacles out of the way as he sped off at the highest speed he could.

Ray reached the rebellion door to find it heavily guarded. Not just by rebellion guards, but by members of gangs and a collection of high Tiered individuals.

"The place is closed right now, we're still trying to find out what happened. The rebellion is aware of the army recruits dissapearing, and we are trying our-'' one of them started as Ray tried to catch his breath.

"I know what happened." Ray said. "I am Ray Rosenmund, I -"

"Yes, sir, the Rebel Queen is waiting for you." the guard suddenly interrupted, the gate opening behind him. Well, that was quick. Ray didn't waste any time, rushing in as fast as he could. The way was easy enough to detect, the air was filled with mana in here, and it got denser as Ray traveled.

The rebel Queen was sure to be where the mana was densest in the base. A few minutes later, Ray found himself entering a huge room with a round table in between. The table was littered with paper and other articles, with the hall filled with a lot of people pacing and discussing.

"Ray Rosenmund, my guards tell me that you have news for us?" the Rebel Queen said, her voice echoing through the room.

"Yes.'' Ray said, a little out of breath from all the running. "The Xnarthan killedthe army recruits"