“So all you have to do is go get it and bring it back, simple as that.” The small insect creature said.
“I’m surprised Hictor is going through with this deal. He already has what he needed from the necromancer, why keep up his end?” the red and purple entity asked.
“Because this guy has power. The things he could do would destroy us or at the very least force us out of the city. I told him it was best to avoid causing an incident if he wants to stay hidden.” the insect creature said.
“You met him didn’t you, Torrid? Do you truly think he’s that much of a concern?” the entity asked as it looked down at the small chitinous being.
“The man is harnessing the death energy of a thousand dead planets. Eso, I’m serious in that you do not want to be on the receiving end of it. The weird energy death makes here is immensely toxic for most of the other summons when concentrated on that level. Yes we could probably beat him, but we won’t last long after.” Torrid said as it looked back at the entity.
“Ah…. So I just have to go get the thing and bring it to the guy?” Eso asked.
“Yes. How you do it doesn’t matter, just don’t get followed.” Torrid said.
Torrid watched as Eso vanished from view thanks to their perception manipulating abilities. Torrid could still tell where Eso was, but no one else could. The small creature scuttled back into the wrecked car it had taken shelter in while it waited for Eso. Torrid hopped onto the tattered seats and calmly watched as the rain began to fall.
Rain was new to Torrid, water droplets falling from the sky for sometimes hours on end. This world always had something new for them to experience. Torrid never regretted accepting Hictor’s offer to become a summon. While he was not exactly an intellectual equal, he at least gave Torrid chances to experience this strange place. Which is why Torrid felt bad about lying.
Hictor had not sent Torrid out to find a transformative memory. Instead Torrid was tasked with finding an instance of someone accepting death willingly. Originally the plan was to force someone into that state in order to get one, Torrid wasn’t big on killing though. Instead it decided to seek out the source of a strange death energy they had sensed in the city. It led them to Vaughn who had what it needed.
This deal with Vaughn was not part of the plan, Torrid could have easily mentally overwhelmed him and plucked the memory from his unconscious mind. Instead it wanted to gain his trust, seeing the potential in him for a future plan. Torrid’s warning about the danger he posed was no lie, Vaughn genuinely is a threat to the plan. But it didn’t tell that to Hictor.
Hictor would have had Vaughn killed as a precaution, but as of now he does not understand the power Vaughn had and only knew him as a random necromancer he heard about on the news. Torrid merely had to say it required Eso’s help for the job, and to tell Eso a convincing lie about it. For all Hictor knew, Torrid is out doing who knows what to someone just to get the memory. Hictor won’t ask for details, he rarely became curious about what they do anymore. Torrid didn’t know what that thing that put those ideas in his head did to him, but it knew Hictor was being remade into something else.
Hictor’s eyes no longer showed Torrid anything, it seemed whatever that thing showed him had also blocked off Torrid from peeking inside as well. Deciphering the purpose of whatever Hictor was building was their only option for figuring out what is going on. It found itself disappointed that this strange and unique opportunity has now become something so serious. Torrid had only agreed to any of this out of curiosity, even if it initially didn’t have a choice in getting the chance for it.
Torrid’s world was simple compared to this one. So when it was randomly pulled into a portal that appeared out of nowhere and ended up in another universe entirely, it couldn’t help but be curious. Hictor’s summoning contract was simple in its terms as it was abundantly clear Torrid had zero potential for combat. It had originally accepted to become Hictor’s consultant, as due to his notoriety and the intelligence of anything else he summoned being a total crapshoot, Torrid was one of the only things of equal intellect Hictor had regular contact with.
Now they barely speak unless he was asking something of Torrid. They’ve been getting summoned back here far more often than normal since they are now his unofficial second in command over the other summons. Hictor doesn’t trust the other summons as much because they don’t understand this world as well as Torrid. Though this is probably because they lack Torrid’s incredible observation skills. Torrid nervously shuddered at the things they’ve seen from the eyes of the various summons. This world was strange for them but the worlds some of the others were from were something else entirely.
Eso appeared beside the car. Torrid looked into their eyes and saw how Eso effortlessly stole the soul and delivered it to Vaughn, who was incredibly startled by Eso until it handed him the soul. A job well done, Hictor will never know. Torrid however, wanted to make sure of this. They told Eso of another task Hictor had for them, one he had actually requested. Eso understood and turned away to vanish as they went off to do their job. In the last second of eye contact Torrid had changed Eso’s memories. To them, it would seem like they had left straight from the hideout to the location of their current job. Eso will never know the difference. Editing memories is particularly taxing on Torrid so it was always an emergency use sort of ability. With their goal achieved, Torrid scuttled back to the hideout. Torrid arrived without incident and saw Hictor feverishly imbuing his crystal with magic. He heard Torrid’s scuttling and turned to face the small creature.
“Do you have the memory?” Hictor asked.
“I found it without any trouble.” Torrid said as it stared deep into the crystal.
The orange magic surrounding the crystal suddenly turned reddish-orange as the memory was imbued into the spell. Hictor will never see the memory himself, no need to let him know about Vaughn’s involvement. He quickly pulled his hands away and shook them, the magic must have burned him somehow. He remarks on how the memory is stronger than he originally planned. Despite that, it will work just fine. Now no longer needing their help, Hictor casts a short spell and sent Torrid back to their home until they were needed again.
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Seron was sitting in a vacant vehicle the bounty hunters used. A former mail truck converted into a way to transport caught bounties. She didn’t own it, the truck was merely a private place for Seron to collect her thoughts. Despite all being part of a guild, the hunters were all independent since guilds were more of a way to prove someone was legally allowed to be doing what they were doing.
Seron’s report on Vaughn had gotten attention from various other necromancers in the area. All wanting to ensure her report was accurate. While she was lying about what happened in that encounter, the information she learned was genuine and barely felt like lying at all. None of them suspected anything, not even the other bounty hunters.
These are people she had worked with her whole life. She had told them plenty about where she was from. They all knew about her dead brother, but never the whole story since until very recently it was a very sore topic for her. Unfortunately she now had no idea what to think of Vaughn.
He had changed since that day he vanished and Seron believed it to be the fault of the very ones hiring her to go after him to be responsible. Vaughn was mischievous but never cruel, only ever harming others in self defense. He enjoyed conversing with people, making friends, and would have loved to finally be out of that town.
Now he had turned into a paranoid criminal because people had been after him the moment he crawled out of that tower. She could tell in their first conversation since then, he had not been able to be that close to anyone in years. Now he was probably going to face that for the rest of his life. No one can just ignore a power like that, they won’t stop until they either get his secrets or put an end to him for good.
Even if one were to ignore his power. He’s still a criminal charged with multiple accounts of robbery and murder. Vaughn assured her it was all purely because of the job and he avoided killing when he could. Yet Seron still wondered if it was only a matter of time until that part of him changed too. She’s seen footage of his magic in action, Vaughn can cause immense amounts of damage if he wanted to.
Seron considered herself lucky she ran into the bounty hunters so early. A group was looking for new talent and she happened to make the cut. They were good to her but they have since gone their separate ways. If she never became a hunter, she might have had to turn to crime like Vaughn did. After all, having no legal documentation of any kind is a massive barrier to getting a normal job.
But even after all those years, Vaughn was the closest thing she had to a family. Sure Seron has had relationships since she left her hometown, but none of them lasted. According to what Vaughn told her, he’s not much different. Vaughn claimed he knew of some distant relatives thanks to one of those ancestry dna tests he took on a whim. Though he would like to meet them, he has more pressing matters before he can risk it. Seron didn’t know anything about her father’s family, her mother seemed to have messed with his memories. He had barely any idea where he was from or even what his own name was.
Seron decided she needed to talk to Vaughn again. See if she could figure out what it was he’s planning and if it’s something she needed to worry about. Seron desperately wanted Vaughn to come out of this situation okay, but she couldn’t sit idle if he decided to start abusing his power. Though she is unsure she could take on Vaughn in a direct fight, she can make hiding immensely harder for him if she needed to.
Seron stepped out of the vehicle and began walking towards Vaughn’s motel. One of the other hunters asked where she was going. Seron simply said she’s going on a walk to get something to eat. The hunter just shrugged and let Seron walk off.
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She wondered how things would have gone if Vaughn didn’t vanish and left town with her. One of the first things Seron did once she had money was to look into who her mother was. Unfortunately since she was a demon, finding that kind of information was hard outside of Deepworld. Vaughn always said Seron should just forget she ever existed since it was her fault she had to grow up in that town. Vaughn might have been able to talk her out of it if he had come.
But he didn’t leave with her. Instead he got crazy powers from the bottom of a pit and now she had to lie to the entire magic community just to throw them off of his trail. If they or the other hunters found out Seron was aiding him and withholding vital information as well, she’d likely get labeled as an accomplice and arrested. Granted that while Vaughn said what she did say she heard was technically true, the fact that she knows his face and hasn’t told anyone is reason enough to get her blacklisted from bounty hunting.
Seron made sure no one was observing her as she approached the motel. A simple spell that let her detect when someone was directly watching her, very subtle and good for tailing targets. She knocked on Vaughn’s door, she hadn’t bothered to give him any warning about her visit. The ventriloquist carefully cracked the door open to look at who was knocking. Despite never meeting before, it seemed to recognize her and let her inside. Seron immediately saw Vaughn in an admittedly bad state.
He looked sick and was lying on his bed. Several bottles of generic painkillers were on the nightstand. Also on the nightstand was what Seron immediately recognized as an artificial soul. Vaughn looked at her and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh thank the gods above you’re here. I was just about to call you but I forgot I never got your phone number.” Vaughn said.
“What the hell is going on? What is all this!?” Seron said as she pointed to Vaughn and the soul.
“It’s something that happens every few months…. Not entirely sure what it is but I feel awful when it happens.” Vaughn said.
“What do you feel?” Seron asked.
“I get a fever almost every time. Sometimes with a pain in my side that I thought was appendicitis one time but turned out it wasn’t.” Vaughn said.
“Vaughn…. When was the last time you went to a doctor?” Seron asked.
“That appendicitis thing I just told you about, was over a year ago. Though he was less of a doctor and more of a private medical cleric some mob boss had on payroll. Couldn't figure out why this happens though.” Vaughn said.
“I mean an actual doctor.” Seron said.
“Never. I’m a wanted man, Seron. I can’t just walk into a hospital and ask for help! Free healthcare doesn’t do me much good when I’ll likely not leave the hospital alive!” Vaughn said.
“Okay, fine. I can accept that given your lifestyle a proper doctor visit was out of the question.” Seron said before pointing towards the soul. “But what the hell is THAT doing here?”
“I…. was made an offer by some weird little bug thing who wanted to see the moment I fell into the Goddess’s Bottle. In exchange it would get me one of those.” Vaughn said.
“And this little bug somehow broke into that place which was robbed earlier today and brought it to you?” Seron asked.
“I think so? I was kind of delirious at the time and the thing that dropped it off looked really weird.” Vaughn said.
“I always assumed this job would kill me but it looks like you’re trying to beat it to the punch…. Why do you need that soul?” Seron asked.
“So I can contact my dead master.” Vaughn said.
Seron was nearing her limit. She loved Vaughn, but things were getting so much more complicated with him. Seron decided that Vaughn needed to tell her his plans so she can stop him from doing something even crazier than he already has. Though it had to wait until he recovered from this illness.
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A strange being lied in wait, diligently watching the post office from a cleverly concealed spot. It was waiting for this moment, Clarita didn’t let it engage the runaway at the nightclub. Despite its desire to fight her, Clarita said the presence of another powerful wizard in that club made a fight undesirable. Now the situation was different.
At first she was furious to have been sent the letter about her relative’s death. She had spent so long trying to remove all known connections to herself but one distant relative she had forgotten about managed to bring a trail right to her. Clarita knew Yara had help now, letting word of this slip made that bad situation into a perfect trap. Yara had no idea what she had sent after her.
The being sensed it, the letter was taken. This surprised them as it did not sense Yara anywhere near the building, even her disguise shouldn’t hide her from it. But it could still detect the letter, it watched for the carrier to leave the building. To their surprise, it wasn’t Yara at all. Instead it was a strange looking half-elf, a witch judging from the kind of energy it sensed.
It assumed Yara must have seen the trap coming and hired someone to retrieve it in her stead. No matter, that witch can lead them to Yara. Following others wasn’t their strong suit, but there weren’t many other options at the time. It immediately wished it had acted sooner when it saw the witch meet up with a demon of some kind. They would have to act carefully.
Cyreen had retrieved the letter rather easily. A simple charm spell on an employee made him believe she was Clarita and happily gave her the letter. Cyreen didn’t dare open it and look inside. She felt how intense Yara’s anger for this person was, she knew better than to become her target. Cyreen had no intention of giving Yara any reason to think she betrayed her. If the information proved to be useless and it was opened, she could accuse Cyreen of taking the real information and then she’d have to deal with Yara coming for her too.
Lavor accompanied her since they had reason to assume there would be more trouble. Though there was none in the post office, there easily could be someone who was watching for someone to take the letter. Cyreen and Lavor stepped onto a mostly empty bus to ride back to the fae district. Cyreen looked at the letter in her clawed hands.
“Normally I’d prefer to know more about who we’re working for and who we’re pissing off before we do these kinds of jobs. But since we’re pressed for time we had to go in blind. Did you look into who this lady is like I asked?” Cyreen asked.
“Which one?” Lavor asked.
“Either one.” Cyreen said.
“Well. Yara is some kind of strange case. No solid evidence for what species she even is, no papers or ID, no real legal documentation of any kind aside from police reports.” Lavor said.
“And what about the reports?” Cyreen asked.
“A string of gruesome murders that are clearly deliberate and not just random killings. Most everyone she has killed has been some kind of scumbag that very likely deserved it. She was out for blood a while ago but stopped until very recently. Most bounties posted for her come from criminal organizations pissed at her for killing a bunch of their goons. Though, a few days ago her bounty suddenly was raised greatly with the added stipulation that she be brought in alive.” Lavor said.
“Does this have to do with this Clarita lady?” Cyreen asked.
“I tried to look into her, but details about the woman herself are impossible to find. It is known that whoever she is, she’s a prominent member of a large criminal network. Though she is clearly working on projects independent from them, the one I always hear of is performing strange mutagenic experiments on people.” Lavor said.
“So why does Yara want her dead so badly?” Cyreen asked.
“My guess is she’s an escaped victim of hers. The first instance of her strange kind of magic I could find is at what was discovered to be one of Clarita’s facilities. Lattice geomancy is rare but uniquely destructive. Barely anyone can wield that power and those who do are very reclusive.” Lavor said.
“Well at least I don’t have to feel bad about leading Yara to her, sounds like she deserves it for-” Cyreen said before interrupting herself.
For an instant she saw someone standing up in the middle of the bus, then they were gone an instant later. Yara felt a strange presence, something completely new to her. She stood up to get a better look at whoever it might have been. Lavor asked her what was wrong. Cyreen turned around to explain what she saw to Lavor, but never got the chance to say a word.
She was suddenly flung backwards towards the front of the bus, she felt nothing having pushed her, it was as if a god had just willed it. She slammed against the front of the bus with enough force to break several of her bones, the added toughness of her arms at least kept those bones from breaking. Her vision was blurry from the sudden impact as she was trying to focus past the immense pain in her body. She could see the vague shape of someone walking down the bus towards her.
She realized that it had gone completely silent save for her own breathing and the steps of the other person. She looked over at the bus driver and saw he wasn’t moving at all, just frozen in time. Cyreen put it together that must be what happened. Someone froze time except for her, and the momentum she had while being in a moving bus had sent her flying. Her vision finally focused as the stranger stood in front of her and looked down at the witch.
It was someone wearing a strange helmet, it looked like an iron mask with the top half consisting of vertical iron bars. They wore an odd set of clothing that looked like a utility jumpsuit reinforced with some armored plates. Cyreen could see on his hip was a sheath for a sword of some kind. The man kneeled down and a thin tendril tipped with a needle-like blade poked out from his sleeve.
“She told you to get the letter! Where is she! I must find her!” he demanded.
Cyreen found it hard to breathe, much less form words. She could see behind his mask that he was the same shade of white as Yara. Cyreen was worried, she doubted she could take on Yara and this guy looked like he’s the same thing as her but with time magic instead. That kind of magic was outlawed for a millennia, all records of it destroyed as well. She wondered how the hell Clarita managed to find it.
The man grabbed Cyreen by the throat and asked again. “Tell me where she is!”
Ever since she was caught by the witch hunters, she had rigorously trained herself to learn a new spell. The main weakness of her magic was that she needed time to weave before she could cast it. Which was why she worked hard on learning a new one that was incredibly quick to use. Her right hand was positioned perfectly, the spell was aimed right at his torso as he was bent over her. A thin beam of energy only six inches long extended from her palm and stabbed into the man. She then jerked her hand away to cut even more before the spell quickly fizzled out.
He recoiled as he let out an inhuman shriek, time suddenly resumed as he was unable to focus on keeping the spell active. Everyone on the bus suddenly noticed the two wounded people at the front of the bus. Without even the slightest hesitation, Lavor sprung to his feet and charged towards the man. He was unable to react as Lavor grabbed the man’s head and slammed it against a seat.
The stranger was unable to stop time again, but it could still slow time. To everyone it looked as if he had pried open the door and sprinted away at supersonic speeds. The bus driver slammed on the brakes, Lavor grabbed a pole to stop himself from falling onto Cyreen. He could tell she was hurt, but she was still holding the letter in her left hand.