Heya everyone!
Here's the second chapter, hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language, so please be patient with me!
Chapter 2 — "A course in linguistic."
It had been two days since Zach and Zorian's reunion in Cyoria. Since then, they solely focused their efforts on laying waste on as many aranean webs as possible across the country. True to his words, the war-machine that was Zach had given Zorian so much minds to read that he was overwhelmed, to the point that he now needed to prioritize whose mind he would read since grunt soldiers didn't develop his understanding nearly as much as before. It was truly amazing how fast he was growing, even though the mental taxation was quite high. Reading minds of aranean rulers was truly different, and the experience would be essential if he wanted to unravel Spear of Resolve's mind packet. The matriarch of the Cyoria's web was admittedly the mightiest aranea Zorian had ever met before.
Monday came around, the first day of school, and the duo decided to give Zenomir Olgai, the linguistic and history teacher, a visit.
They gently knocked on the door, and entered once they heard the old polyglot's grunt that gave them permission to come in. Zorian was treated to a familiar sight. The office was a mess, books and loose pieces of paper everywhere. Half-written notes on the floor, nearly all in different languages. As competent as the old goat was, he sure was one of the most extreme case of the messy-type of scientists that Zorian himself considered to be part of. Rather than the repulsion that seemed to slowly creep on Zach's face, it was admiration that Zorian felt. He found it fascinating that a man such as Zenomir could organize and work so efficiently in this chaos of his own choosing. Inspiring even.
The teacher stopped writing as they arrived, adding yet another paper to a dangerously unstable pile on his desk. He silently observed them with a compassionate smile. Zorian didn't need to rely on his empathy to know the man was genuine in his emotion. A sad as it is to say, the subjects he was so captivated by weren't the favorites of the young students of the academy, which made such impromptu visits to his office quite rare.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Mister Noveda, Mister Kazinski?"
"Hello Mister Olgai, I hope we're not intruding too much during your work," said Zorian as he reciprocated the smile. "We recently stumbled upon a piece of unknown language, but couldn't find anything about it, despite our best efforts. We were told you might be able to help us."
"Unknown language you say," Zenomir scratched his grayed beard. "Those can be really headache inducing for those without the sufficient base amount of knowledge. I can understand your plight young man. Would you lend me your sample so I can have a look?"
"Of course, professor," Zorian obliged, giving him the piece of paper containing the sentence of the primordial. "Please note that this is only a phonetic reproduction."
The old man took the paper and analyzed its content thoroughly for a full five minutes. Disturbing the silence only to mumble something under his breath, neither of the two boys could catch the meaning of.
With invigorated eyes, he looked up at Zorian again.
"Would you happen to have more ? It's a bit too scarce to derive any kind of meaning from it."
"I regret not, professor," admitted Zorian. "However, if it is of any help to you, I can share with you my humble assessment. The flow of words slightly reminded me of old Majara, but I have to admit that this is more of a shot in the dark than anything else."
"Oh, you know about old Majara? I didn't know you were such an enthusiast of linguistic! And I understand where you see the similarities." answered Zenomir. "But it's definitely not old Majara. And I highly doubt it could be a local dialect based on it... Were did you two find this?"
Zach and Zorian looked at each other briefly. Zorian nodded and chose his words carefully. "I hope to not offend you with my answer, Professor, but we've been prohibited from speaking about the origin of our founding to anyone outside our... hum..."
"No need to say it, Mister Kazinski. I understand that household's secret research are not to be trifled with," reassured the old teacher, nodding gently."But without more context, I'm afraid even with my expertise on the subject I won't be of any help."
"Yes, household secret," laughed awkwardly Zach beside Zorian.
"We can tell you that we strongly suspect that this language precedes old Majara itself. Though, we can't tell you the exact reason for this deduction" Zorian said, ignoring Zach's comment.
Zenomir's eyes widened a little at the revelation. Through his empathy, Zorian could feel the surface emotions of his teacher. Surprise and doubt. Nothing unusual considering how far back dated old Majara.
It was a good thing that Zenomir had misinterpreted their explanation and attributed their findings to their households. Otherwise, if two teenager, barely mages, had claimed to have discovered the eldest language known to man out of the blue, the man at best might have laughed at their faces, and at worst could've taken offense and contacted the headmaster of the academy, who was actually pretty close by from Zenomir's office.
"Hmm... I wouldn't say the thought hadn't crossed by mind. But, considering the implications, I discarded it pretty fast. If it indeed dates so far back, this is quite the discovery your families have stumbled onto." the professor said, seemingly getting more and more energized with the topic. "As I'm sure you're aware, most of our known history starts with the Ikosian Empire, the center of human civilization. How it was originally in the continent of Miasina before they colonized Altazia, where we are today, even though the empire is long gone. Everything before the empire is still highly debated, as it is completely unsubstantiated. Most of what we hear from that time period are wild theories or legends. Since old Majara is the oldest language used by the Ikosian Empire, any older language would by default go beyond our current understanding of history. Though very interesting, I still don't see how I could help you in such uncharted territory."
"We're sorry to trouble you so, Mister Olgai. But we weren't really in search of a translation actually. We were wandering if you could tell us more about the origin of language? Are human dialects derivatives of some kind of divine language, for example?" asked Zorian.
Zenomir seemed to be in deep thought for a few seconds, as he simply caressed his long beard while his eyes seemed to focus on nothing.
"I'm afraid theology has never been a subject of great interest to me." admitted the old man. "But I can recommend you some books about it. Furthermore, I can also give you the contact of one of my old friend who happens to be a high priest in the Triumvirate church. He's quite eccentric, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable scholar about the origin of our world."
"That would be of great help, professor! Do you know when we could meet him at the earliest?" Zorian happily inquired, delighted to learn that their visit wasn't for naught.
"Hmm... at least a few months, my boy. As you might now, high ranking personnel of the church are infamous for their very tight schedules since their numbers fell down considerably after the Weeping. Even with my letter of introduction, the fellow won't be able to clear his schedule easily. Also, the last time we've met, a few years ago, I remember he mentioned something about being stationed in Koth for the foreseeable future. I don't know is he's still there, but if he is, the travel alone will take you at least a month."
Zorian visibly deflated. There was no way they could travel to Koth and organize a meeting with their limited time frame. Hell, even if they could magically teleport to the other continent with a snap of their finger, he doubted the church would allow a meeting before the end of the month... maybe with the help of Alanic, but the priest wouldn't use his large network just to organize a history session. Zorian sighed. Was this track dead already ? No, he could still ask about it to other people, but he doubted he would get anything more from it.
He could just let the matter go entirely, it wasn't really essential to begin with. Why was he so weirdly obsessed about it in the first place? Zorian caught a glimpse of Zach, the boy seemed bored out of his mind. Clearly, he didn't think the primordial's words held any kind of value for their purpose.
Is it my curiosity about the language that obsesses me? Zorian thought to himself. No, he couldn't care less about the language or where it came from in on itself. What he wanted was the meaning behind those words... the reason that compelled the primordial's first action to speak instead of destroying his surrounding. Those words... words... ?
Suddenly, Zorian remembered something that had completely escaped his mind. He recalled that weird panic he felt the morning of the restart that he had attributed to stress.
"... fi nazari—k ario Ain Ol gon—" he muttered, focusing his empathy on himself. Amplifying any kind of sudden change in emotion he might feel. And so it came again, like last time, in the form of a tiny shiver down his spine. His throat tightened and he felt his heart pulse just a bit faster.
"Did you said something, Mister Kazinski? You've been awfully quiet. Are you perhaps disappointment that you'll need to wai—" Zenomir was then interrupted by the boy.
"Fi Nazari—k Ario Ain Ol Gon—," he said, focusing on every words. "Does it remind you of anything, professor?"
"I already told you, without more context, I can't—"
"Does it make you feel anything?" Zorian interrupted his teacher again, not caring about his sudden rudeness. "Fi Nazari—k Ario Ain Ol Gon—, please try repeating it out loud and tell me."
Zorian knew he seemed more and more like a madman by the seconds, but he insisted nonetheless. He had his reason. Out of the three of them, Zorian was by far the most proficient in mind magic, some would even call him a master of the art. Moreso, as a natural empath, if someone was capable of detecting unusual shift in emotions, it was him. Though he didn't sense any kind of tempering of his mind, the results were there, plain to see if he focused on them. It was unnatural. Abnormal. Bizarre. Emotions didn't behave like that, they wouldn't shift without a proper stimuli. Bit it did.
The professor complied. He repeated the last part a number of time, articulating every sound to the best of his ability whilst focusing on himself. At first, it was clear that the old mage seemed annoyed at the rudeness of his student. But, the more he slowly repeated the words, the more his expression turned from mild ire to sharp seriousness. His brows furrowed, and Zenomir Olgai stopped talking.
An eerie silence fell on the room. Zach, who had been completely out of the conversation so far, seemed to focus back.
Zenomir studied the both of them intensely, a mean look in his eyes, before dryly ordering them to wait here while he left to his personal quarters, just behind where they were.
The absolute silence continued for a full five minutes, before the two teenager could hear faint rustling on the other side of the door. Then, it seemed something large had came tumbling down the floor, creating a loud crash, which was followed by even more angry rustling quickly after. It continued again for another five or six minutes of rough ruffling. Worryingly, they sometimes could hear tiny giggles from the other side of the door. Zach and Zorian looked at each other, but decided to say nothing, and just continued waiting.
Suddenly, the door busted open. Zenomir came out of it, his complexion having visibly paled compared to ten minutes ago. He had a teethy grin adorned, a few droplet of sweat covered his wrinkled forehead. His hair were completely dishevelled as if he had just run a marathon. He looked at them like a starving beast, eyes wide open and panting.
With all the noise he had made, Zorian half-expected him to come back carrying a mountain of documents, but he was wrong. Zenomir only hold two books and a couple of loose papers under his arm.
Zorian quickly caught a glance to the back-room which was supposed to be Zenomir's quarters. A pandemonium is what greeted his eyes. It was as if a tornado had passed through. Zorian couldn't even see the floor of the room.
"Hmm... Professor? Are you alright?" asked Zach after a second of silence, clearly weirded out by the seemingly serene old teacher going crazy. For something to shake up the kind and peaceful Zenomir so quickly, it had to be big, and Zorian felt his hope reignite.
"Perfectly alright! Better than ever even!" grinned the mad professor, before focusing his attention to Zorian. "Zorian, my boy, you just asked me if I was feeling anything from those words, right?"
Zorian timidly nodded.
"Well, I do! I do! I DO! I DO! It's amazing! Spectacular! WONDERFUL!"
"Big deal gramps. Now, can you explain to us what's the ruckus about?" rhetorically asked Zach, annoyance and rudeness getting the better of him.
"Yes, big deal, Zach my boy!" continued the old teacher, not caring the least bit about the apparent disrespect of the youngling."Very, very big deal! Tell me, what do you know about the silent gods?"
"What do you mean? Beside common knowledge you ask?" intervened Zorian.
"What's their name?" specified Zenomir.
The boys remained silent. Not because they searched for an answer or because they didn't know it. They were actually wandering what the point of the question was. They looked at each other, surely understanding the other's silence.
"Of course we don't know. Nobody does. I'm not even sure they were named before going silent ages ago." Zorian finally commented.
"Exactly! But that wasn't always the case. Though their names never made it out to our written history, we are almost certain that at some point, some people knew of them!" explained Zenomir, gesticulating with his hands to support his point. "Why it never was passed on, that I don't know. Maybe it was a conscious decision of the gods to make humanity forget. Maybe the mere knowledge of the Names made the gods vulnerable, or caused damaged within our societies, or some other esoteric reason beyond our comprehension. Anyway, let's not digress!"
While he looked to have aged by a decade, the old goat talked with the feistiness of youth. Zorian had never seen him speak that fast before.
"My point is, some people in the far past did know their, or at least some of their Names! Though there is some discrepancies here and there like any related history from so long ago, nearly all of the testimonies states that the mere mention of an holy Name is enough to shamble ones emotions. Actually, this here is the biggest point of contention between the different records. Some details a major shift while other suggest a more subtle one. And so—"
"Wait, WAIT!" Zach interrupted the professor, raising his palm. "I thought you said we didn't know anything about pre-Ikosian history. Also, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you hated theology. Are you—"
"Incorrect, Mister Noveda! Firstly, I said nothing substantiated came from that time period, only wild theories and legends. Secondly, I didn't say I hated the subject. Only that it didn't hold much interest to me. Of course an historian like myself would be familiar with the impact of theology in our history! But that not even the reason why I know this bit of forgotten knowledge, if you can even call it that." responded vehemently Zenomir at Zach's accusation before he could finish. "I'll be honest, until today I had completely forgotten about it. I considered it just a little historical trivia that held no deeper meaning. It was just an inconsequential legend about the silent gods and the weird property of their names."
Zach, surprisingly, apologized for his comment. Zorian noted that his companion seemed weirdly antagonistic to the old teacher. Maybe something happened between the two of them in a past loop? Unlikely, Zach wasn't the bitter type like Zorian was. Maybe their personalities just didn't match. Yes, the more Zorian thought about the two of them, the more it seemed like the most plausible explanation. Some people were just never meant to get along, as sad as it was.
"Apologies accepted." nodded Zenomir, his ardor a bit subdued, seemingly to accommodate Zach's irritation. "Anyway, during our little experiment, I indeed felt something stir up within me. It took me some time to notice it at first. Weren't I entirely focusing on it, I would've definitely missed it."
The teacher sat down, while continuing his speech.
"I hope you won't take it the wrong way, but my first thought was that you were playing a nasty trick on me. A dangerous prank actually, since you'd have needed to mess with my mind to achieve it. A criminal offense that I would have reported without a second thought. That's why I vacated to my private study while casting every mind protection spells I knew off. Then, I also tried to cast a multitude of divination spells on me to identify any kind of tempering of my mind. But nothing. I found nothing.
I knew you wouldn't be the type, and the trivia about gods names is likewise so obscure that I doubted you even knew about it. But the implication of the contrary were even more absurd... so please, accept my apology for not trusting you, my own students."
"Apologies accepted." snarkily responded Zach with a grin.
Zorian for his part, also sneered internally. Sure... he was totally not the type to mess around someone's mind... Sooo unlike him!
"So, now do you understand my enthusiasm, my boys? The fact that those words indeed affected my psyche without any external influence nor prior knowledge that could've bend my perception... do you finally understand why this is such a big deal?"
Realization slowly sank in Zorian's mind as he opened his mouth.
"You don't mean..." he began, apprehensive to continue his thought out loud. "Those are names of gods?!"
Zach visibly recoiled at Zorian's deduction, while Zenomir simply nodded in confirmation.
"Or name, singular. First of all, you don't know if this string of words is actually a single word with pauses in between or not. Secondly, we absolutely know nothing of the naming habits of gods, maybe numerous words compose a single name. But let's no digress. Even so, I don't think that's exactly it either, my boy."
"What do you mean?" asked Zach.
Zenomir searched briefly the little stack of documents he brought from his study. He handed them a piece of paper and opened two books in front of them, each at a particular page. Out of the three, one of the book and the paper were both written in languages the boys could not read.
The last book was a collection of notes compiling every relevant information about the Cataclysm that had ruined the Ikosian Empire. The part they were at seemed to be a transcript detailing and analyzing the testimony of an hermit that claimed to have met a piece of god. Said hermit briefly described his state of mind whenever he spoke its name, using term like 'shifting sands', 'explosion of bliss', 'sudden illumination' and such. The author expressed his doubt concerning this part of the testimony, before changing subject to another part of the hermit's story that was relevant for the purpose of the book.
Zenomir went on to describe and translate the other two documents. The paper was the translation of an extremely old song whose dates of conception couldn't be pin-pointed. The other book was also a collection of testimonies, this one concerning the start of the Ikosian Empire. Both document included brief references to gods names and their weird properties.
"That's all I could find in my study," informed Zenomir. "But I'll easily be able to find more if I were to go searching the Cyoria's library."
Zach and Zorian listened intently, but weren't sure where the old professor was going with that.
"Thank you for sharing those with us, professor. But I'm unsure of the purpose," said Zorian, while continuing to observe the document. "You said earlier that our finding wasn't necessarily the name of a god. But those seemed to corroborate our earlier deduction, do they not?"
"Mister Kazinski, before answering you, I've been meaning to ask you a question. How did you find out the property of those words?" inquired Zenomir. "I'm a rather observant and perceptive person, but I could never have felt those shifts within me if you didn't pointed them out beforehand."
Zorian hesitated for a second, but decided to be straightforward. The track had become too important to skimp on it. On the condition that Zenomir wouldn't disclose this information to anybody, Zorian confessed to being a natural empath to his old teacher. As such, he explained how he was infinitely more attuned to his emotion than the average person. Of course, he said nothing of his ability as a mind mage.
"I see," Zenomir responded while caressing his beard. "And did you experience any difficulty spotting the alteration in your psyche?"
"Admittedly yes, professor. It was so faint at first that I attributed it to a stressful day."
"Very interesting! Now let me answer your earlier question." said Zenomir as he stood up."I believe, in fact, that those documents prove that what we have here is not a god's name stricto sensu."
Zorian brows furrowed a little trying to understand the logic.
"Let me explain. Admittedly, me and Zach had a very hard time feeling the movement of our psyche to such a faint change. Would you agree, Mister Noveda?"
Zach silently acquiesced
"And even you, Mister Kazinki, as an empath, describe having difficulties."
Zorian also silently acquiesced.
"And while we are in a world of difficulty even trying to sense it... those" Zenomir tapped his finger on the pile of testimonies they had just read. "Seem to exhibit no such struggle. And I don't think everyone of them is a one in a millennia empath so attune to their inner selves that they're beyond our comprehension."
As it finally clicked in the boys minds, Zorian seems to deflate a little again, but he understood that it was just yet another mystery to solve, then they would have their answer. They were closer than ever!
"I see. As unnerving as your conclusions are, professor, we can't deny the fact that our experiences clearly differ from what they all describe." admitted Zorian.
"Yeah, but there is still something here!" Zach added. Even if he hadn't participated much in the conversation so far, the time traveler was now clearly invested in their findings. "As much as we can't deny the differences, we can't also deny the existence of those unnatural phenomenons."
"I concur, Mister Noveda," said Zenomir while reseating himself on his chair. "As such, I have thought about three different explanations that could possibly explain our conundrum."
The teacher levitated a chalk to the blackboard he had hanging to the side of the room. Funnily enough, Zorian never took notice of it until now.
"First, they might not be names of god, but lesser beings." started the professor while the chalk began writing on its own. "Although, I guess such lesser entities would still need to be infinitely stronger than any mortal to have such impact from just its name. Think about high ranking angels or demons. Problem is, we actually already know a fair bit about them, even some of their names. I don't recall ever reading something related to our subject matter about them.
Sadly, and I hope I am wrong on this one, one more plausible explanation would be that... some of the silent gods are either dead, dying or that their power is fading from our world. Which might also explain why they went silent in the first place. And why their names have lost most of their power since they were last felt by the mortals we've read about."
A collective shiver went down their spines. A godless world? Zorian didn't want to think about it. Right now, the angels were supposed to protect humanity in the absence of the gods... but would they even continue if the gods were confirmed gone? Worst, would they forsake humanity completely and attack them? If so, humanity would have no chance.
Zenomir cleared his throat, and continued, a smile adorning the old wrinkled face.
"Finally, and what I believe to be the case... what we have here is an erroneous or incomplete name."
[. . .]
Their discussion continued for an hour or so afterward. When the two time travelers finally bid their goodbyes to Zenomir, it was already dark outside. It was not cold yet, rather, the air was pleasant, just the right amount of warmth for Zorian's taste. The lights of the city shone brightly, Cyoria's night life bursting around them.
The boy was exhausted. Though very informative, their discussion with the old teacher had completely sapped Zorian of any mental fortitude he had left, and he didn't have a lot to begin with after their adventure with the aranean webs. The highs and the lows of this meeting had truly been soul-crushing to him. But Zorian steeled himself and beared with it, he still needed to debrief with Zach in private.
Zorian briefly glanced at his associate. Zach seemed quite happy as he was humming a low tune while slightly bouncing on his feet. Surely, he must have been relieve to finally be out of Zenomir's grasp.
Zorian tried to estimate the time, but couldn't. He sighed internally as he could already imagine Imaya's admonishment for his late arrival and Kirielle's incessant questioning in the morning.
"Fancy a drink?" happily proposed Zach, suddenly bringing Zorian back to reality.
"Sure, why not."
Zorian was not an avid drinker. In fact, he didn't consume alcohol at all. As such, he was wholly unfamiliar with it, and would've preferred to just head back to Zach's protected mansion to talk... but he wasn't willing to waste what little he had left of his strength to argue with Zach. His paranoiac tendencies seemingly vanishing through his exhaustion. So he complied, and the both of them searched for a place to drink. Or rather Zach was, as Zorian had zero experience with the environment. They settled on a rustic location in the heart of the city. They sat at a table situated outside of the bar itself, so they could enjoy the faintly night breeze.
Zach ordered a huge mug of beer, while Zorian settled for a non-alcoholic juice, which earned him a few questioning looks from the other patrons, as he seemingly was the only one abstaining from alcohol.
Once served, they quickly placed a few protection wards around them to protect themselves from divination magic and unwanted listeners. A shared habit that both of them had picked up after their few months on the run from Red Robe.
"Ahhhh! That it the spot!" Zach exclaimed loudly after taking a large sip of his mug.
Zorian just lightly chuckled at the seemingly lightheartedness of his friend. The boy was supposed to be his older by a few decades already, but it really didn't seem like it most of the time. Zach wasn't your run-of-the-mill wise-know-it-all arch-mage. He had retained most of his youthfull nature after so many years of fighting alone in this never-ending month. This part of him truly inspired Zorian, though he would never admit it to him.
"I agree. Even I am exhausted after this meeting," commented Zorian. "But it truly was worth it, I believe. If we could somehow discover more about this name, who know what we could encover?"
"Yes, but I don't see how we could. The only thing that could help us at the moment is the primordial itself. And I don't think you'd be too kin on the prospect of letting it run free again."
"Definitely not." answered Zorian right away. "The system shut off the loop for a reason. We would be foolish to go against it without more information about it. And I don't think the primordial is our only recourse anyway. If we could contact the angels and question them, thing would be far more easier... but of course we're cut off from the spiritual plane. Nothing's easy, right?"
"You betcha!"
The two continued to chat for half an hour. Mostly about trivialities or just joking around. It was a silent agreement between the two time-travelers that neither of them wanted to go right away into the heart of the matter. They needed the little break.
Finally, and surprisingly enough, it was Zach who first brought back the important discussion.
"So, now that I am a bit more wasted, what's next?"
"Hmm... our priorities haven't changed, really. The memory packet is still our main goal for this restart. We should continue to attack aranean settlements for the foreseeable future until I feel ready enough to attempt the deciphering process."
"Right... Oh, by the way, Zorian. Do you know the... what was the name again..." Zach grumbled a bit under his breath, trying to recall something. "Ghost... something sect? No, Ghost Sentient acco... not definitely not... Argh!"
"What are you mumbling about?" asked Zorian, genuinely lost about the words his drunken friend was spouting out.
"I was meaning to bring it up after you opened the matriach's package, but the more I think about it, the more I think we should check this out now. It might be crucial in understanding what the matriarch was thinking." explained Zach, more coherently. He had probably just cast a quick spell to undo his drunkenness. "Spear of Resolve told me back then that, if anything were to happen to her, I should go talk to this aranean web that I can't seem to remember the exact name."
The boy pondered a bit more before remembering.
"Ah, yes! She told me to contact the Ghost Serpent Acolytes. Though, she didn't tell me why, where they were or how I could contact them. I tried to locate them on my own for a bit, but I gave up after two or three loops of no results."
Zorian frowned. Ghost Serpent Acolytes? Those guys? The web that refused to speak to him because their spirit deity told them he was 'bad new'? Why them, he wondered. Maybe those araneas or their patron knew something about the time loop?
Plausible. The time loop mechanism might have severed the link between the material world and the spiritual plane, but if this snake spirit was linked to the material world, as most native spirit were, he might have something important for them. And when it came to information, the matriarch was rarely wrong, so listening to her —postmortem— words was definitely the right thing to do, Zorian thought.
Hell,now that he thought about it, the spirit could even teach them more about gods names. Yes, he needed to see them.
"I know where they are. I can bring us to them." Zorian responded. "Though, they never agreed to speak with me in the past, no matter how many attempt at negotiation I tried."
"Weird." Zach commented.
"Yes. But I never really had any cards to play with either. With you around, I bet they might reconsider before just tossing us out. Let's head there tomorrow."
"Deal." Zach concluded, raising a newly filled mug.
[. . .]
Zorian headed back home. Zach and him had parted ways at the bar after they both finished their drinks.
The night had become a bit more chilly, but still bearable for Zorian who was used to cooler temperatures anyway. The streets were empty as he left the center of the city where all the night life was concentrated. The street lights were less abundant here, but he was nowhere near complete darkness as long as he remained on the main street and avoided tiny alleys.
For the first time since the start of the day, the boy was alone. Just him and his thoughts. He appreciated the serene silence that surrounded him. Zorian was an introvert ; it was in his very nature. He liked being alone. That's were he both thrived and relaxed at the same time. Once a commodity, it had become more and more of a luxury has time passed by. Quite regrettable, the teenager thought. He wondered if, once the time loop ended, he would go back to his easy-going life. With his current set of skills, he could easily earn a decent living without much effort.
Zorian allowed himself to think of nothing in particular as he took his time returning to Imaya's place. He just focused on enjoying the air, breathing it in and out while observing the architecture of his surrounding.
Once every few minutes, he met other late-night wanderers across the streets that probably headed back home, much like him. Some inebriated, some not... actually most of them were. He let his empathy read their surface emotions. Not because he was searching for something in particular. No, it simply had become a habit of his to let his mind wander around when nothing needed his attention.
Then, as he was close to his destination, a couple appeared on the other side of the street, walking to where he came from. Weirdly enough, even from a distance, Zorian could clearly feel that something was different about the two.
One was a seemingly quite old gentleman, the silver fox handsome type, garbed with one of the finest costume Zorian had ever witnessed, with a build that even professional athlete would envy. The other was a red-headed beauty with tanned skin, probably a foreigner from the south since such hair color and complexion were near non-existent among the citizens of Eldemar. Given the way they were dressed, and how they carried themselves with both confidence and grace, Zorian would've bet they were a pair of highly ranked nobles.
As Zorian passed the couple, something wholly unexpected woke him up from his relaxed state. His empathy returned nothing. It wasn't that their minds were protected, no, it was as if the couple didn't exist... which was only possible if a mage used the mind blank spell, the highest form a protection someone could use to counteract a mind mage such as himself, but also whose long-term usage could be very dangerous to the user. Why would two high nobles wonder the streets at night —without protection— near his place and be under the protection of a spell whose usage could cause long-lasting damage?
Though he let nothing of his internal turmoil surface, Zorian secretly prepared to act at the faintest sign of animosity from the obviously very competent pair of mages that just happened to counteract nearly all his offensive capabilities.
But nothing happened. They didn't even glance back at him as they continued to walk toward the center of the city. Almost as if they didn't even took notice of his presence, like he was any other drunken passerby. After they were out of sight, Zorian relaxed his nerves, and watched back... wondering if he had just dreamed what had happened, or if he had just dodged a bullet.
He quickly regained Imaya's place. The weird couple didn't came from this direction, but he feared nonetheless that something bad might've happened to his dear sister. As he entered, fortunately, only Imaya's admonishment about his late arrival greeted him.
Another mystery to add to the list, Zorian thought uneasy. He had already committed the form of those two strangers to his memory.