Skull [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ADCreHccaSdLGuxYJxW6sOcVh35xOE5qjse8C35i3nUUv3zQ10uzMxTf_AulJ1zZ1YBWFeFS8Q47bXfmVh4ZJRLljkYflKF__JMHdUT1AMIKRm26eTay9J6OWXN89k5ClTxc8BK219IewfsHqeUmMAjjGgfJ=w621-h931-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Ohsen Ruwena was furiously writing in his notebook as he watched his latest test subject silently squirming while hanging from the [Chains of Silence] currently attached to the ceiling. They were keeping the human man he had lured from the International District in place above the ritual circle on the stone floor. While a more conventional gag was keeping the subject quiet; not that anyone would hear the man's screams down here, he just hated noise.
It was a rather advanced diagram for being Sapphire Caste and he found himself wishing the blood moon had begun sooner so he would have had more Monster Seeds by now. He had been able to cultivate his Caste much faster since the surplus of Seeds began with the increased spawning the blood moon blessed them with. Emerald felt so close yet so far and he knew that if he wanted to pull off his ultimate plan then he would need to be able to cast the Emerald version of this ritual.
He left the Reality Rift to his wife, while his true passion lay in amassing others’ power as his own. The Soul Cages the Reapers had brought to this world had been such a boon to his work and he was closer to figuring out the best way to get his current goal. He just needed to upgrade his Caste then upgrade the items he could now reproduce.
The nobleman lifted the item up again, the sleek black hand forming a spindly cage around nothing currently. This particular one he had modified to be more in tune with human souls and he would confirm their efficiency momentarily.
He stroked one of the long fingers and the device opened as though to grab something and he purposely walked over to the restrained man, careful to not disturb the ritual circle, and explained, “Now, this should only take a few minutes and be extremely painful but afterwards you won’t feel anything so please bear with it.”
As he placed the palm of the Soul Cage over the man’s sternum he touched a rune on the back of it and the device snapped down, puncturing the human’s flesh and latching on to its new potential host. The man tried to scream through the gag and struggled in vain.
Ohsen retraced his steps then activated the complex ritual, his mana getting siphoned into the circle and he spoke the incantation in a language he barely understood. It seemed to work better than the translated version though and he hypothesized there were some key concepts he wasn’t quite translating properly to make the magic work as intended.
Once the ritual began taking effect, he retreated to his table and downed a mana potion before beginning to take notes once more. Writing down everything he observed and timing the stages as the black hand first dug into the flesh then seemed to meld with the human, sinking into the skin like a half-merged Familiar. Black veins began to appear across the tan skin spreading out from the source of the Soul Cage as it began to claim its new body.
He frowned as the subject began coughing and blood dribbled from the man’s mouth. That wasn’t a good sign. Then blood began leaking from the eyes and ears. Also not a positive symptom. When the blood turned black and the man stopped screaming, or moving at all, the Magi gave a frustrated groan and banged his forehead against the table.
“Another failure…” he muttered, then dragged himself up to go study what exactly went wrong this time.
After a few minutes of making notes in his journal and running a wand around the quickly cooling corpse the door to his workshop opened and a feminine voice filled the once-pleasant silence, “Hey Uncle Ohsen, the Fraser- woah, what happened to that guy?”
He didn’t glance up at Arktis as he finished his current test and answered in annoyance, “Extreme mana poisoning. This is similar to what happens if a Mundane ate an [Emerald Mana Bit].”
“Yikes. Now I get why my mum got so mad when I tried to eat a Sapphire one as a kid thinking it would make me super strong,” she said warily, eyeing the body that had begun leaking black blood from its pores now, “That is seriously messed up…”
“Is there a reason you’re here disturbing my research, Arktis?” he asked, cutting off any further tangents.
“Ah, right. The Fraser girl is alive,” his niece answered, still distracted by the wet corpse.
Ohsen almost snapped his pen as he stared at her and stated, “How? You said you saw her lifeless body fall into the sea. Were you lying?”
The young woman turned her attention back to him finally and crossed her arms, “I wouldn’t be here telling you then. I know she was dead. Her weird aura vanished and I saw the body turn to dust under the water. She was dead.”
“That’s not possible,” he stated flatly.
“I’m telling you what I saw! Unless she’s really really good at faking it, that girl was dead.”
“People don’t just come back to life,” the Magi continued in frustration, “Many powerful Casters throughout history have been chasing the power of resurrection for millenia. Coming back to life as you once were is simply not possible. Dead is dead.”
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“Well she’s different then,” the assassin said with a shrug, “She wasn’t human. Maybe it’s a species thing? I didn’t recognize what she was. Whatever it is, she was dead and now she’s not, so what are we going to do? I don’t want that Emerald Paladin coming after me next if she tells him who I am.”
“How would she know?” the lord asked in confusion as he made another note in his book about the subject's skin beginning to liquify and slide off the muscle; definitely severe mana poisoning.
“Because when I tried to pull her aside and ask how in the abyss she was walking around and breathing, her party member recognized me and told her my name,” she grumbled, crossing her arms defensively, “It’s not like I normally have to hide my identity.”
Ohsen sighed in annoyance and sat in his chair, staring at the ceiling in thought, the wet sound of the subject slipping free of the chains to slump into a wet mess on the floor brought his attention back as he wrote down the symptoms and time.
“That is super gross, Uncle,” the young mercenary commented.
“Well, if you don’t want to end up as a puddle either, then we need to make sure that Fraser doesn’t talk,” he snapped, then a marvelous idea came to mind, “Actually, that’s exactly what we’ll do. How stealthy can you be?”
She gave him an incredulous look, “I’m a Stone Juggernaut. I don’t do stealth.”
“Fine, I’ll take care of getting her here myself but you had best be here to assist.”
She glanced at the pile of goo and asked, “When?”
“Find out her schedule,” he ordered, “The next time she goes to sleep will be her last moment of rest.”
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Dazien was frustrated as he made his way through the inner city that he had been frequenting more and more often lately. Most of his memories were of life confined to the temple district as an underage orphan. At sixteen he had been ecstatic to join Uriel in the International District where he didn’t stand out quite so much and where the rent was cheaper.
While he had always talked about becoming a noble and eventually founding his own kingdom, he never really imagined roaming the noble district within the inner city of Tulimeir so frequently. Not that it mattered when his friend was getting threatened by the henchmen of a noble house.
When he found the residence he had been searching for, never really wanting to visit the woman who clung to him like the frost on the walls from the Quicksteam, he hesitated only a moment before knocking.
“Yes?” a cinderen man asked as he answered the door then glanced him over before saying, “Sorry, we’ve already got a perfectly working magiduster.”
“Seriously?” Dazien asked incredulously then looked himself over, taking in his simple yet clean black tunic with gold trim and grey pants tucked into black boots that could probably use a little more polish but it’s not like anybody really noticed other people’s feet, right?
“I’m looking for Noble Murinah,” he added quickly before the staff member could shut the door in his face, “Is she home?”
The staff gave him a pitiful look and said, “Young man, give up your pining.”
“No, I’m not- why does everyone think that’s all I’m after?” he asked in confusion before explaining, “I just want to talk to her about her cousin, Arktis, coming after my friend.”
The cinderen narrowed his eyes as he stated a bit more bitterly, “The Young Noble does not deal with Miss Arktis and even if she did she wouldn’t be able to help you.”
“Look I promise you that she’ll want to see me if you just tell her that I’m-”
“Noble Murinah died almost three weeks ago, young man. Now leave before I call for the city guard,” the man snapped and slammed the door shut with finality.
It took him a moment to process the news as he ran a hand through his amethyst hair that was getting much longer than he normally let it grow. His mind was racing with what might have happened and pieces started clicking together. Phoenix being constantly on edge and running away for a week. Paul asking him to agree with going on a long road mission that would keep them out of the city. Murinah dying while they were gone. Arktis threatening Phoenix, who had looked so scared when he had found her clinging to his partner. It was all beginning to form a picture that he was worried meant more danger for his friend from an enemy he couldn’t face alone.
The door opened again and he wondered if the staff member was going to actually chase him off when he found himself face to face with Arktis Neired who looked him up and down then gave a sneer, “Come to beg for scraps, orphan king?”
The gemite’s eyes narrowed and he said as calmly as he could, “I came to tell you to stay away from Phoenix.”
She laughed, “Oh, that’s rich. A Crystal trying to order around a Sapphire. Did they not teach you basic rules in that pitiful temple?”
“They taught me to protect my friends and I won’t idly stand by while you torment one of them,” he retorted.
“How… noble,” the cinderen commented then asked, “It’s getting rather late, don’t you need to sleep before playing with the other orphans in the morning?”
“I’m an Adventurer,” he growled, “Most of our missions are at night during the blood moon, so we sleep in the morning. You would know that if you were honorable yourself and actually helped protect the city instead of terrorizing its people.”
“Yes, yes, I’m a terrible person that will never measure up to the righteous Adventurers who hold back the monster hordes to protect the innocent. I’ve heard the sales pitch before and I much prefer enemies with less teeth and claws, not to mention the smells those monsters can spawn with, gross,” the henchman waved her hand dismissively through the air as she moved to pass him.
“Hey, I’m not done,” he began saying but she turned and slammed her aura into his, catching him off guard and taking a step back.
“Yes, you are, orphan king,” she said flatly, “Learn the Rule of Caste and go back to the temple full of sniveling children where you belong and don’t cross my path again or I will not be so noble.”
She pulled back her aura and the warrior felt like he could breathe again as he glared but remained silent while she walked away.
He abruptly turned and made his way towards the only person who could answer the many questions he had to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle before him. Dazien only hoped the woman from another world wouldn't run away from him again.