Rai was in a bit of a pickle. After handing over the would-be assassins to the inn management, he had slept until late mid-morning, at which point he was rudely interrupted by the city watch pounding on his door. Because the situation was an attempted murder and it had taken place in a well-to-do inn, Rai had to go to the watch station for questioning. After he had answered the same questions what felt like a million times, the watch was finally convinced of his story, but he still wasn’t allowed to simply leave. The sterling reputation of the inn was at stake, after all, so they didn’t want him simply going around and announcing how unsafe the place was. Additionally, the fact that assassins had tried to kill him because he was chasing after remnants of the Tower Era had roused the interest of one of the local lords, Lord Henrik Amit, who was the de facto boss of the city watch.
And so now he was sitting in a luxurious cushioned armchair, sitting across from a clear glass table (how much did THAT cost, he wondered) from Lord Henrik himself. The lord was a middle-aged man who looked every bit the part of gentleman, from his well-kempt mustache to his impeccable suit to his monocle to the way he sipped his tea with his pinky extended. Rai felt incredibly out of place; he could chat with other scholars all day long, but he’d never rubbed shoulders with high society. He did his best to hide his discomfort as he waited for the lord to speak.
“Rai Flamme, you are a curious one,” Lord Henrik said amiably, holding his teacup off to the side. “A scholar, chasing after the legendary Tower Era, who finds himself embroiled in the machinations of an unknown organization, his work and his life targeted by thieves and assassins bearing a secret mark. It is like something out of an adventure novel! I happen to like adventure novels. How about you?”
“I used to read them when I was a boy,” Rai said carefully, “but these days I am more focused on my work than on fictional stories.”
The lord smiled genially. “Ah, yes. Your work. As I’m certain you are well aware, the Tower Era itself is regarded by many to be a tale of fiction. And yet, you remain firmly convinced of its actuality. And it would appear, based on the actions of this mysterious organization, that you are not alone in that regard. And that is why my own interest has been piqued. You see, I am fond of the rare and unusual – people, places, objects. I am a bit of a collector, of course, but it is more than that: I find exposure to and knowledge of such things to be greatly stimulating, an excitement that cannot be matched by mundanities that others pursue. And so your novelesque circumstances have captured my attention. The heart palpitates at the intrigue!”
He paused, taking another sip of tea.
“If you are right – and the fact that someone tried to steal from you and silence you is evidence to that effect – then I want to be a part of your story. I may not be a scholar or an explorer, nor intrepid adventurer, but what I do have is money and a position as a nobleman. No man is an island; alone, you are but a pebble that can be washed away by a strong enough current. What you need, my young friend, if you want to be truly successful as an adventuring scholar… is a backer. Someone to fund your escapades. Someone to shield you from the influence of those in power. And who better to fill that role than yours truly?”
He set the teacup down and folded his hands in his lap, waiting for a response.
Rai considered the offer. He was surprised that it had been made; anyone he had approached in the past for support had laughed him off, whether it be minor nobility or the faculty of schools. While he was slightly reluctant to tie himself to a noble that he knew nothing about, he was well aware that he didn’t have the option of delaying and investigating Lord Henrik first. His response now would determine the fate he shared with the nobleman. And Lord Henrik was very influential within Fairholm as the one whom the law enforcers answered to. Irritating him, as declining his offer might, would be a potentially deadly act. On the other hand, Fairholm was where the Library of Fairholm was located, which by itself made the city an important one, and therefore made an influential noble in that city potentially influential beyond its borders, meaning that the idea of Lord Henrik acting as a shield was more than empty words.
To the hells with it, I’m taking the plunge, Rai decided.
“I agree,” he said aloud. “And if you’re offering, I’d be a fool to decline.”
“Excellent! I hoped you see it my way. Now, it’s my understanding that you believe you have located the general area where a Tower Era ruin is located?”
“Correct. It’s not terribly far from the city: about four to five days on foot.”
“Oh? Is that so? Are you intending to head out on expedition immediately?”
“I was going to leave the city tomorrow, yes.”
“That doesn’t give me a lot of time… but I will arrange for escorts and a healer. When you get closer to your destination, you should also hire a local guide – a spirit mage would be a good choice, since they are at home in the wilderness. Don’t worry, I’ll provide you with the funds to do so. Don’t worry, you will be in complete charge of the expedition and receive full credit for your findings; I just don’t believe it is appropriate for you to do this alone, considering the potential risk.”
Rai’s natural inclination was to protest this, but having extra protection – and extra hands to carry anything he found – wouldn’t be a bad thing. While I’m a good fighter, I’m by no means some sort of master, and there’s no telling what sort of danger there might be, he thought. If I didn’t have a sponsor, I wouldn’t bother hiring anyone, but since I do, I might as well take advantage of it. It’s not MY money, after all.
Rai nodded. “Shall I meet with them here tomorrow morning, then?”
“Yes, that should work. But before you go… could you tell me more about your studies? I’m curious as to how you wound up seeking out Tower Era remnants.”
Rai paused, deciding how to explain. Making a decision, he said, “Do you collect rare weapons?”
“I do. Why?”
“Then you might have interest in mine – though I will not give it up, as it holds a great deal of sentimental value to me. I was divested of it upon entering your estate. If you could call for whichever guard or servant is currently watching over it…”
Lord Henrik nodded at a nearby servant, who swiftly left the room and returned less than a minute later with Rai’s lightblade. Lord Henrik raised an eyebrow.
“That’s a northern lightblade, yes? From Kirilana?”
“It is. It belonged to a young mercenary named Mizeiya Swiftblade.” Rai smiled, looking at something – or someone – that existed only in his mind’s eye. “She was a prodigy of a swordswoman, becoming recognized as an elite by the age of nineteen, and showing no signs of slowing down. She was also quite fascinated by tales of the Tower Era, despite not being a mage or scholar herself. It was one of the things we shared in common. She was the one who taught me how to use a sword, just so we’d have something else in common.”
Rai fell silent, lost in memories.
“She was your lover?” Lord Henrik said after a long pause.
“She was. I met her when I was thirteen and she was sixteen, and we became friends right from the start, though our romantic relationship didn’t begin until two years after that. I planned to marry her one day.” Rai’s expression darkened. “Then that happened.”
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He took a breath to steady himself. “My hometown was attacked by monsters while she was visiting, four years ago. Being the virtuous woman she was, she took it upon herself to fight them off, but there were too many. One of the houses caught on fire, and I ran in to try to save the residents.” He lifted his left arm. “That’s when I got this burn. I thought I’d lose my arm at first. Anyway, we got out, only to be attacked by a person – that was when I first realized that people were working with the monsters, perhaps controlling them. I was wounded.
“Mizeiya showed up very quickly after somehow hearing my scream over the din and slew the attacker. When she turned to check on me, another monster showed up and attacked her from behind, closely followed by another person. They ganged up on her and…” Rai closed his eyes. “That was when I had my awakening as a soul mage. A thunderbolt fell from the cloudless night sky and gave me the markings on my right arm, and I discharged magical energy that killed the ones who had brought her down. I held her in my arms as she died.”
Rai reached into his satchel. “She gave me this. Said she found it being sold by someone who claimed he found it being sold by someone else who said it was in an old ruin.” He pulled out a simple silver disc about an inch in diameter with a runic marking on it that was attached to a thin silver chain. Neither disc nor chain was tarnished in the slightest. “The rune on this is something that shows up repeatedly in works about the Tower Era. It means ‘pass.’ There is complex magic worked into this pendant, magic which I have studied for years, and I’m fairly certain that this is a key of sorts – an authorization pass to enable the wearer to enter certain places or activate certain devices.”
He let out a shuddering sigh. “A genuine artifact from the Tower Era. I… after that, it became my goal to uncover as much as I could regarding the Tower Era, to find its remnants. It’s a way of honoring her memory, of carrying on her interests. And… perhaps… a way to find magic more powerful than anything we have today. The typical mage can only use second circle spells, while even masters can only cast up to fourth circle spells. Archmages and High Priests typically only reach fifth circle. The highest level of magic we have in recorded history is sixth circle, which is the stuff of legends. And yet… the Tower Era is the stuff of myths. Isn’t it possible that they had even higher circle spells than that?”
They sat in silence for several long moments.
“Resurrection magic,” Lord Henrik said eventually. “You’re hoping to find a way to bring your lover back to life.”
“I’ve never stopped loving her – or missing her. But I’m not so foolish as to believe I’m guaranteed to find a way to be reunited with her. I study the Tower Era because the Tower Era is fascinating and she loved stories about it as much as I did. Do I hold out hope that I’ll find a way? Absolutely. Is it my only goal? No. I will never let that desire blind me or cause me to not appreciate what I do have. She would never forgive me if I did.”
“I understand. I’m sorry to have dredged up those memories.”
“It’s… alright. It actually feels good to be able to talk about it, and as my sponsor, you have the right to know my motivations. Besides, Mizeiya wouldn’t want me to bottle everything up. Now, why don’t I share with you some of my findings…”
-x-
Bright and early the following morning, Rai reconvened with Lord Henrik. Three strangers were in the entry hall as well. The first was a tall young man in his early twenties with brown hair. He had two sheathed short swords and an unstrung bow with hip quiver full of arrows, and had had supple multilayered leather chest armor over his shirt. The second was a bald, dark-skinned dwarf with a giant black beard wearing a dinged up breastplate with a large axe strapped to his back. And finally, there was a long-blonde-haired elven woman in white robes in the style of the priesthood.
“Good morning, Rai,” Lord Henrik greeted. “These are the individuals I’ve hired to accompany you. Introduce yourselves, if you would.”
“I’m Samuel, a mercenary ranger,” the first man said without any trace of a smile. “I’m used to jobs where I have to rough it in the wild, and I’m a decent hunter as well. His Lordship here has purchased my services as an escort for the duration of your expedition, not to last longer than two months.”
“My name is Obsidian,” the dwarf said gruffly. “I’m also a mercenary. I usually do bodyguarding jobs, but I’m no stranger to the battlefield either, and I’ve fought my fair share of beasties. So long as the coin flows from the lord, you have my axe.”
“Camellia,” the elf said timidly. “I’m a traveling priestess of the God of Medicine who specializes in healing, so you can rely on me to magically patch you up if you get hurt.”
“And I’m Rai, the leader of this expedition,” Rai said. “I’m both a mage and swordsman, so you don’t have to worry about treating me like glass. I appreciate the extra help.”
“N-no problem,” Camellia replied.
“Everyone has all their supplies, yes?” Henrik said. “Good. May you have great fortune on your expedition. I’m looking forward to seeing what you bring back and hearing your stories.”
-x-
The journey proceeded smoothly. The first two days were along the roads between settlements, but after that they turned off into the wilderness, accompanied by a fifth member that Rai had hired at the most recent settlement, a green-haired gnomish man with a tamed panther companion named Brak: a spirit mage. Unlike soul mages such as Rai, spirit mages gained their powers through contracts with nature spirits and had very different selections of spells. Arguably the most useful spells possessed by Brak for travel were the zeroth circle “Summon Water,” which condensed pure, fresh water out of the air in quantities of several gallons at a time, and the first circle spell “Nourishing Berries,” which affected freshly-picked berries, making each give as much sustenance as a full day’s worth of meals.
As they traveled through the wilderness with Brak in the lead, Rai’s map in hand, Rai drank from his recently-refilled canteen and popped one of the bright purple berries in his mouth, squishing it between his teeth and relishing the slightly tart taste before swallowing. He didn’t expect they’d reach their destination until tomorrow, so he allowed his thoughts to wander instead of focusing on his surroundings. They turned to his companions, and how he wasn’t sure what to make of the others. None of them were particularly friendly, so he hadn’t been able to get to know them very well, but his impressions were less than ideal.
First, Samuel. He was mercenary to his core, caring only about money. The ranger was almost aggressively neutral in his bearing, and remained so all the time, except when talk had moved to monsters. Monster was a general term without a well-established definition that people used to describe any creature that wasn’t a person or ordinary everyday animal. While there was some gray area in what counted as a normal animal versus a monster, the real contention was what counted as a person versus a monster. There were, in the general view, a total of five “civilized” races: humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and beastfolk. However, there were other intelligent races as well, including kobolds, goblins, saurians, hobgoblins, giants, ogres, orcs, dragons, and more. Did these count as people or monsters? It depended on who you asked. Many compromised and called them monstrous races.
Samuel had reacted with visceral hatred when Rai had brought the subject up, and so the scholar had quickly dropped the matter, afraid that the ranger was going to pop a blood vessel or something. Whatever backstory the mercenary had had left him with serious anger issues regarding monstrous races. Rai hoped that wouldn’t become a problem.
Next, Obsidian. Another true-blue mercenary whose only interest was what he was getting paid, the dwarf was standoffish and unapproachable. Something about him made Rai wary, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. The problem with mercenaries, he knew, was that there were two kinds: the kind for whom the contract was everything, and the kind for whom a higher payday would have them switching sides… and without a history to look back on, it was impossible to know which someone was. If Obsidian was the latter and realized how valuable Tower Era artifacts could be, he might be a genuine danger to have around.
Third, Camellia. She seemed nice enough, but her timidity was almost comedic, and Rai wondered why she even signed up for this job. He certainly didn’t expect her to perform battlefield healing, just after-combat patching up. The only reason he hadn’t sent her back while they were still in reach of civilization was because healing was a necessity when exploring the unknown. Fortunately, none of the others seemed particularly interested in her, or he’d have been worried about them trying their luck with taking advantage of her due to her beauty. Not that he would ever allow that, of course. That was one offense he could never forgive.
And lastly, Brak. Rai had no idea what to make of the gnome. He was clearly a competent woodsman (and otherwise adept with wilderness travel and survival), but something about his interactions seemed almost rehearsed. Spirit mages weren’t exactly common, and it was almost impossible to find them in high-density population centers since they preferred natural surroundings, so Rai had initially taken it as good fortune to come across Brak right as they were about to leave settled lands. Now, though, he was wondering if that hadn’t been luck after all. It wasn’t as though he could just demand to see the gnome’s bare biceps to check if he was a member of the organization that had tried to steal from and murder him, though.
Ah, well. No sense in worrying, Rai thought. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?