The white light faded as expected, which was a common occurrence at this point. The others seemed to be in the same situation as nobody started moving until the light had faded from Gilliam’s eyes. He never asked but it seemed like it was a constant time between people.
Once they started moving they headed for the only door in the room, exiting into a larger room with a bunch of guards, most armoured, all armed, and one man sitting at a desk with a lot of papers.
A guard right outside of the door funnelled the people coming out into different locations in the room, seemed like they all got their own guard to speak to. Though Rhyan held up four fingers once it was his turn, the whole group was sent to the same one.
“Papers, please.” The guard commented once they gathered around him.
Rhyan showed his necklace and pointed at Gilliam’s as well. “We’re part of the Guild in Aestu, sent here to do a job for the local branch.”
The guard looked at both of them for a few seconds, then at Cera.
“What about her? And where is your fourth member you mentioned?”
“She’s not registered with the guild, but she’s our scout. The fourth member is her.” Rhyan explained to Cera as he waved in her direction, and pointed at the back of his head and Gilliam simultaneously.
Gilliam took the hint and turned his head around, showing the little creature tangled up in his hair.
“A... familiar?” The guard asked uncertainly.
“Yes, I’m a mage with the Guild.” Gilliam turned back and pointed at his higher-rank ID badge, hoping this would stop further questioning.
“That’s good. Can I confirm that you understand the local laws for mages in Albion?” He didn’t sound judgemental, more like it was a standard question to ask people from another country.
“I understand the basics, I’ll get a proper explanation at the Guild, we’re heading there now.” Gilliam responded honestly, he felt that it could probably be best to get the info from the Guild, someone on the ‘same side’ as him, rather than a local guard that might skew certain details.
“That is fine, you’re cleared to go.” The guard commented, motioning for them to exist through a door.
Gilliam and Rhyan nodded as permission was given and left through the door, exiting into a large and busy square. The air here was salty and humid, the ocean could be seen through some buildings to his left-hand side as he exited the building. There was a river going through the city. The square itself was bustling with people selling knickknacks, food and stuff, though most of the people in this part of the square seemed more tilted towards information and port control. The square to their right was filled with stalls, carts and more, much more free and chaotic.
Just past the plazas to the right was a large church, it was very bronze coloured and had massive bronze disc high up on what could be defined as the main wall.
The church was entirely made out of stone, most of the buildings around were the same, though there was the odd wooden building here and there.
Rhyan didn’t stop to take in the sights but continued onwards and was taking some notes as he checked a local city map. Cera didn’t act much differently in this city than she did in Aestu, which made sense; it was kind of just the same but in a different location.
By the time Gilliam had caught up to Rhyan he seemed to have found what he was after.
“The Guild Hall is just over there, I say we go there and get the info we need before we do anything else.” He seemed surprisingly satisfied with being the guide. Not something Gilliam had a problem with.
The Guild Hall was just a few buildings to the south, with the local bank between the teleporting buildings and the Guild. Even with as many people as there were around, taking some alleyway paths had them arrive there in only a few minutes.
The Guild Hall was not as decadent as it was in Aestu. It was still nice and fancy but not as large nor as shiny. It seemed to be well-maintained and looked nicer than the surrounding buildings but it looked a bit more mundane.
Rhyan didn’t stop and simply pushed on, entering the open double doors and coming into a surprisingly similar-looking room to the one in Aestu. Gilliam wondered if that was a standardized thing or just randomly the same. But since it now was the same it made the whole process easier. Gilliam found his group queued up to speak to a receptionist in record time, almost feeling that it was almost too easy. He didn’t even get a scenic route to the Guild, everything was surprisingly streamlined.
Though they had queued up there wasn’t much time for small talk or any comments until it was their turn. The one calling for their turn was a young man, looking like he was in his late teens, with short brown hair and brown eyes.
“What can I do for you today?” He seemed chipper and honestly happy to be there.
Rhyan pushed over the letter they got in Aestu not that long ago. “We’re here to speak with the guildmaster about a job.”
The young man took the letter and skimmed through it.
“Ah yes, give me a minute and I’ll check if she’s available.” He took the letter with him and left the lobby through a door behind the counters.
He was gone for a few minutes, a few minutes that Gilliam used to check the locals in the room. It was interesting to see a few more beastfolk in here than in Aestu, he was also happy to see the lack of collars or brands on them.
By the time he had taken in the local Guild lobby people, the young clerk came back and started talking as he sat down.
“She’s ready to see you now, just head in that hallway and she’s waiting for you in the end.”
He had an honest smile which was somewhat refreshing compared to the auto-pilot practiced ones Gilliam had seen so far.
Rhyan nodded and thanked the young man, looking back at Gilliam and Cera he made sure they had contact with him before he started walking.
The hallway in this building had more side doors and was longer in general. So there was a difference in layout or at least in construction. It was also somewhat less fancy, with no filigrees on the walls, though they were wood-covered.
Coming to the end, there was an open door leading into an office, behind the desk sat a woman, looking to be in her early 30s. She had short blonde hair and plenty of scars across her body, easily seen through her less-than-modest outfit of what could be described as a tank top and short shorts. On her desk was a name plaque of sorts reading: Guildmaster, Yeta.
This caught Gilliam a bit off guard, as he hadn’t seen anything like this so far, she was almost dressed somewhat modern in his mind.
“So, you’re the unlucky fuckers roped into this thing.” Her voice sounded like she had smoked 20 packs of smoke for most of her life. She also had zero politeness in her voice, seeming to just say what came to mind.
Rhyan nodded but was interrupted after he inhaled to respond.
“Well, here’s what we have.” She took out a stack of papers and started commenting with details as she took out the top paper and placed it forward after checking it.
“There’s three confirmed missing people-” Placing the paper on the desk she took out a simple city map and marked directly on it as she pointed to three locations as she continued talking. “All from various parts of the residential districts, here, here and there. Then there are five that were mutilated and torn apart, missing various parts of their body. One missing her heart, one missing most of his guts, all limbs, head... you get the idea.” She didn’t bother completing the details but did mark them with different symbols on the map, numbering them according to the paper.
“Now, we don’t know any patterns to these, it looks seemingly random. So have fun with that.” She pushed everything in their direction seeming to ignore it from that point.
“That’s it?” Rhyan asked in disbelief. “This feels a bit... lacking.”
“Oh, I know, right?!” Yeta agreed.
“What about the mentions of undead?” He added questioningly.
“Oh, yeah. People think it’s for some fucked up ritual or something. We don’t have much knowledge about the topic. But some animated fucker was caught and shoved in the basement.” She flailed her arms at the annoyance of not knowing about the topic.
“Can we see it?” Gilliam asked. It was the first proper meeting with necromancy in Lisica, he had seen and personally used Darkness magic before but never for something like that.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Yeta got up and started moving for the door. “Come with me.”
She walked fast and didn’t seem to plan to wait. Causing Cera to almost have to jog with her shorter legs. Gilliam and Rhyan managed fine but it was just faster than comfortable walking.
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Leading them down the hallway, into one of the side doors and down a spiral staircase, the wooden furnishings and walls made way for stone as soon as they entered the stair-room. The temperature sank enough to instantly notice it as they came down the stairs, heading into a stone hallway that took them to what looked like a larger storage area. Or it could have been one had it not been for the free-standing metal cages which were chained to the walls. The air down here was heavy and spent, as well as carrying a horrible smell.
All the cells were all empty, save one that had a man inside it.
Yeta motioned for the caged man. “Have fun.”
Gilliam and Rhyan walked closer but stopped well outside of any reach through the cage, Cera kept herself in a position so that Gilliam was between herself and the caged individual.
As they came in close and stopped, the man inside turned around to face them. His eyes were entirely white, his skin rotten and his clothing seemingly stuck to his skin through the half-rotten and moist flesh barely hanging onto the bones. The stench of rotten flesh and other fluids halfway pooling around his feet was horrible.
Gilliam could sense mana within him, there was concentrated darkness magic in his body, and through his falling apart body he could see what looked like a Darkness mana gem. Or rather, a Darkness life-force gem due to how that element worked.
The nauseating feelings from the smell and sight of this... man, if you could call it that, faded in favour of curiosity at the creature he saw. He had read up on many things during his years in the Fractured Lands, but he didn’t know much about this way of using it, but it made sense. Concentrated lifeforce injected into a corpse could be enough to give it a semblance of life, just that the crystal was now acting as the source of life. Parts of him wanted to experiment and test a bit on his own, other parts wanted to have a chat with Nolis before they continued. But no matter what the next step was, this was fascinating.
“You can do whatever you want if that helps you.” Yeta commented. “The letter from Aestu said that you were some super-mage, so if you need to do something to help you with this. Well... Darkness magic is outlawed in Albion, so finding someone skilled here is impossible.”
“Before we continue... Can you just explain to me how being an Arcane mage in Albion works? I think I know the basics but... I need to know what I can and can’t do.” He was a bit worried if he did something very wrong it could make a horrible situation for himself or his group.
“Oh, it’s simple. According to their religion, you’re a sinner that needs to be converted or cleansed. And by that, I mean killed. Since you are working via the Guild you are kind of, halfway almost in a way given a free card. As long as you work on this specific job, which benefits Albion, you’re allowed to do a lot of things as a Guild-registered mage. But remember that you don’t have your social value like in V’ida, you’re just a random shit like the rest of us.” She smiled widely at the comparison.
“You can use magic publicly if you have to, but it is disliked and at best you’ll most likely be questioned for doing anything, you’ll probably be followed by an inquisitor in hiding or just plainly. You’re probably already followed after you arrived. Soo...”
“Guilty until proven innocent, got it.” Gilliam commented. It didn’t sound that bad but at the same time if he was pre-defined as a sinner by just having arcane magic, it kind of was.
Being on the work visa-like logic helped a lot, and being registered with the Guild was most likely the main saving grace.
“Kind of, yes.” She confirmed his guilty status.
Gilliam made a mental note of doing his best to not use magic in public, at least unless he absolutely had to. He could try to hide it and use it secretly, but if the Inquisitors were half as good as Kintas mentioned, then that would be easily discovered.
“Well, can I leave this place and go check with an expert I know on the subject? I might need to steal him-” Gilliam motioned for the zombie when stating ‘him’. “-with me to show him. There’s no guarantee that I’ll bring him back.”
Yeta shrugged. “It’s not like we have plans for him, and he didn’t have any living relatives, so do what you need.”
“Oh, that makes things easier. I’ll be teleporting out of here, and probably back and forth a few times. Is that fine?” Gilliam expected that he had to go there and find Nolis, explain the situation and then go back, pick up the zombie before he pops back to Nolis again. Then finally returning after learning what he needed.
So at least a few times.
“Sure, I’ll be in my office, just come and inform me before you go out and do anything. I’ll write up a letter for you that you can give to any guards that might stop you during your time here, should make things at least a tiny bit easier.” Yeta didn’t wait for a response and simply left the room as she was talking, leaving the group down there to do their own thing.
Gilliam fumbled Savia out of his hair and lifted her down to his face. “Savia, can you take us back to the academy?”
She used a few seconds to process what was going on as she was slowly waking up. Though in the end she nodded happily, seeming to at least have heard what the request was.
Energy started building up in the tiny creature as Gilliam reaced out his other hand for the other two to grab onto. After they grabbed on, Savia pulsed the energy she had been collecting and they were again blinded.
As the light faded, they found themselves in a teleporting room, like they had done a few times before. Gilliam didn’t wait for anything in particular and left the room into a large grass field. The weather was less than decent with heavy wind and gray slides, but it did’t affect him nor the grass field on the account of the anti-weather barrier around the whole academy. Opening his hand properly Savia attempted to take off into the skies, but was stopped from doing so as Rhyan and Cera exited the room as well.
“Well, do whatever you want for a short while, he tends to be in restricted areas so you might not be able to come with.” Gilliam informed the duo behind him.
Rhyan nodded “We can wait outside, I have heard about the academy but haven’t been here, so I can walk about a little.”
Turning to Cera he smiled at his furry companion. “Would you like to come with me?”
Cera looked between Rhyan and Gilliam for a few seconds before she ended up nodding, taking a few steps closer to the man in metal.
Gilliam nodded and left for the lobby, putting Savia back in his hair. “I’ll need you in a few minutes.” He finally explained to her. Though he coudln’t see it he could feel satisfaction over their shared bond.
He got in the massive heptagon room, walking over to the single reception-like desk there, which had a tiny woman sitting behind. “What can I do fo-. Oh, it’s you.” The halfling woman realised it was Gilliam halfway through her greeing, but her voice ended up a bit negative in the end.
“It is indeed!” Gilliam smiled back. “Do you know if Nolis is available? I have some questions for him.”
She sighed and checked a large book, flipping a few pages back and forth.
“He should be free now, in his room.” She commented as she nodded for the massive spiral staircase in the middle of the room.
“Good. Am I still allowed down there?” He decided to ask since he wasn’t a student of the academy anymore, he didn’t even graduate.
“I think so?” The woman commented in an uncertain tone. “If not you’ll be stopped, so I think it’s fine.”
Gilliam nodded and left her with a simple word of thanks, walking to the spiral staircase and walking down a few levels. There were doors in seemingly random points along the staircase. As he came to the second one he opened it and entered, coming into a small rectangular room with a door on the opposite wall and an armored young woman sitting on the other side, reading a book. She looked him over and nodded, letting Gilliam walk throug the small stone room into a longer hallway.
He still remembered where it was, not that it was hard to remember as it was only so many doors in there. Stopping in front of the door he knocked and waited.
It didn’t take more than a second before a voice inside called for him to enter.
Gilliam opened the door to find Nolis at his desk. The young man was covered in scars, looking like he fought blenders every week. He had shoulder-long white hair and wore a black robe, his academy pin only had the black triangle coloured in. The room itself was rectangular, having a desk, bed and chairs, though in the end of the rectangle was a magical circle engraved into the floor. In the dark corners of his desk and the room itself were barely noticeable eyes looking back, some looked like tiny black marbles witout eyelids or pupils, where others had full human-like eyes that moved around in a weird motion.
“Oh, Gilliam. Fuck, you’re still alive?” Nolis commented with a wide smile.
“Kind of, yes.” Gilliam smiled back. “I have a few questions about Darkness magic and corpses.”
This statement had Nolis raise an eyebrow and turn his attention more towards Gilliam.
“Go on.”