Heya everyone!
Here's the fourth chapter, hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: English is not my first language, so please be patient with me!
Chapter 4 - "The tightening grip of fate"
"CAN'T THIS THING GO ANY FASTER?!" Zorian screamed, briefly overcoming the cacophony of the pandemonium around them, channeling shields after shields like his life depended on it —and it did—. A loud and thunderous lightning spear crashed on a nearby wall, barely missing Zorian's head by a few centimeters ; but still obliterating most of his defenses that he'd just erected.
The time travelers dashed through the air at an unimaginable speed ; straight down toward the dark chasm of the Hole below. They could feel and hear the wind wheezing past them, like an angry banshee out for blood.
Their bodies shook violently as Zach's evasive maneuvers became more and more erratic, rash and desperate. The abruptness of the motions would've costed Zorian's breakfast if he had taken time to eat one.
"SHUT UP! DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT MY BABY!" shrieked back Zach, his face contorted by the effort of his spell.
Said baby was an orb of shining light that was currently enveloping the duo, courtesy of Zach's spellcasting. A magic spell of his own creation ; something that he might go as far as call a trump card. It was a marvel of the magical arts, something many would pay dearly just to witness. The pulsating milky-white colored sphere moved faster than most projectiles ever could, and was powerful and precise enough to easily strike down an adult dragon in mid-air.
A roar shook the air behind them, sending shills down their backs.
"ZACH! THAT DAMN SHIFTER IS COMING BACK!" Zorian shouted, widening his eyes in horror at the sight of the monstrous brownish-red werewolf behind them. The eyes of the beast were shining amidst the darkness, a scarlet unspeakable fury inside of them. As if cursing their very existence, it roared again, bursting every animal's eardrums in its vicinity.
The speed with which Zach and Zorian descended down the dark abyss was so fast that most would've miss them if they blinked. But still, that abomination gained ground on them by lunging itself further down from one side of the hole to the other continuously, breaking the rocks under its powerful thrust and producing small craters each time.
"DAMN IT, HOW?! I WAS SURE SHE WAS OUT COLD THIS TIME!"
Out of the three that were pursuing them, she was the worst to deal with—
Another bolt of lightning flashed toward them, blinding Zorian. Zach barely reacted in time and moved the white sphere they were in to their left, nearly crashing into the wall before adjusting back right before impact.
The arch-mage groaned in exhaustion. His spell wasn't meant for such quick and fast deviation. As such, the mana toll each time he needed to evade was immense... and their mana-reserve were emptying fast. Way faster then what they could absorb, even in this mana-saturated space.
"I THINK WE'RE CLOSE TO THE OBJECTIVE. WE SHOULD—" Zorian said, before being cut off.
"WE'RE CRASHING IN!" Zach shouted, his gaze scanning the ever-changing environment in search of the building they were targeting.
"WHAT?!" Zorian shouted in a hurry, still channeling whatever defenses he could to cushion the attacks of the attackers. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! IT'S A SECRET GOVERNMENT RESEARCH FACILITY, ITS BOUND TO BE FULL OF THE BEST DEFENSES ELDEMAR HAVE IN STORE—"
"WE'RE CRASHING IN! WE CAN'T AFFORD TO SLOW DOWN WITH THOSE MONSTERS ON OUR BACKS!"
A dangerous and reckless choice, but a calculated one. Zorian could understand Zach's logic, even in this chaotic situation that generally muddled one's mind. If they slowed down now, their pursuers would catch up. If they rammed into the facility, they would face the worst the government had to offer, but so would the monsters behind them. With a bit of chance, and if they survived the initial encounter, they might buy themselves enough time to find what they were after.
As the facility appeared in their distant field of visions, their speed seemed to multiply in a last ditch effort by Zach to cause as much destruction as possible upon the initial impact. The air around them shook violently as they accelerated to a speed never reached before in human history.
As he braced for impact, Zorian cursed internally. How did it come to this? How did things turned so bad so fast?! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN THIS FUCKING NAME!
[Two and a half days ago.]
As the first lights of day pierced through his window shutters and weakly illuminated his chamber, the boy leisurely rose from his light slumber. He yawned, stretching his stiffness away and letting his eyes adjust to the luminosity of the room. Yet again, it had been a rather short night, the boy thought, still feeling the aftermath of yesterday's training. His constant state of exhaustion was becoming a problem. It made him sluggish at time and prone to negligence, which frustrated him to no end as the perfectionist he prided himself to be.
Who would've thought that raiding hordes of giant telepathic spiders all over the country, for days on ends, without rest, battling their minds, subjecting them to his will and experimentally tinkering with their senses until his own brain started defaulting under the strain, would be that demanding on his adolescent, weak and untrained body?
He sighed, letting the matter of his fatigue go, as it couldn't be helped at the moment. It was necessary for him to train as much as possible until the last days of the loop, where he could safely attempt to open and decipher Spear of Resolve's mind packet.
Putting his round glasses on and dressing himself up, Zorian Kazinski headed out of his residence for a morning stroll. He didn't remember being such an early riser before being entangled in this time loop shenanigan. But nowadays, the boy deeply appreciated that specific time of day where most people were either asleep or waking up.
The outside temperature was rather enjoyable, cold enough to stimulate one's warmth without causing any kind of chills. The sun had barely peaked above the horizon, spreading its light and giving life and colors to everything it touches. The air was a little damp from the nightly humidity of the region, accentuating the sweet floral aromas of the early morning. In summary, a perfect time for a little promenade.
Breathing in the air, and after assuring himself that all of his anti-divination measures were still actives, Zorian headed toward the academy. There wasn't any rhymes or reasons as to why he chose this particular direction... maybe it was just out of habits. Still, he hadn't planned to actually visit it, or even get there in the first place. He simply wished to enjoy the little downtime he had before his partner in crime, Zach, woke up and rejoined him.
Today was going to be another grueling day of arduous mind training for the boy, one that would yet again test the limit of what is sanity could endure. How many aranean webs had they destroyed so far? He truly didn't know anymore. Zorian had stopped counting after the twentieth. Aside from the physical toll that all of those expeditions had on him, the moral dilemma was even harder for him to endure. The world might reset itself at the end of the month, but it didn't change the fact that they were attacking —or rather, massacring— all those mostly innocent colonies of sentient beings. A specie that had deeply helped Zorian in the past, and with whom he could honestly feel some sort of connection. And yet, there he was, abusing them to gain what he needed. He felt ashamed, as the words of the Ghost Serpent about past 'Branded Ones' resonated with him:
"Who dares to even imagine what they did in the In-Between, free of the constrains of consequences? What they made us go through to greedily achieve their twisted goal!"
As most philosopher would agree with, someone's interpretation of morality tended to deteriorates as the person continued to indulge in his unethical behavior without self-reflection. The boundary of what's acceptable within the constrain of their worldview would hence get pushed back more and more, until it disappeared altogether. And that very real possibility frightened Zorian to no end. He still felt like himself for now, but he couldn't help but wonder if it would last? What kind of person would he be when he finally leave the time loop? Were all Branded Ones, like the Ghost Serpent had described them, destined to be murderous sociopath that only valued their own life? He dearly hoped not.
So, the disgust he currently felt about their actions with the araneas was actually a blessing in disguise in his eyes. He deeply loathed what they did, and it was a good thing. The worst case scenario would be to become indifferent to sentient life's woes.
As he shook the thought out of his head, he continued walking.
Not long after, glancing toward the blue sky, he caught a glimpse of a trail of white smoke rising into the sky on the horizon. The remnant of a fire? he wondered. It seemed pretty far, probably near the academy. As far as he remembered, there hadn't been such a fire in past loops —at least not until the invasion— ; but then again, he knew how sensitive to change the timeline was, so it didn't bother him too much. Still, judging by the size of this trail, the fire must've been quite large. Odd given that Cyoria's architecture mostly relied on bricks, stones and other sturdy materials, none of which were easily flammable. That hold true especially the closer you would get to academy grounds... for obvious reason given the amount of idiotic young fledgling mages roaming around. Point is, this part of the city didn't have much that could burn to begin with.
Zorian wasn't the only one to have noticed it. Around him, the few individuals already up and running the streets of the city also wondered what it could be.
Curiosity overcoming his wish to continue his relaxed stroll, Zorian decided to head over there and further examine the aftermath of this presumed fire. Since he was still pretty far away, he entered a tight alleyway, looked over his shoulder to confirm nobody could see him, and casted his teleportation spell after a quick incantation. He vanished from sight and appeared in another poorly illuminated backstreet corner, far more closer to the academy —mere minutes away—.
As soon as Zorian found his way back into the main street, he couldn't help but notice that some windows were shattered, a pattern that would only become more and more recurrent as he approached his destination. As he continued to follow the smoking trail in the sky, he finally understood that his initial assumption had been erroneous, the location of the incident wasn't near the academy, but inside of it.
When the boy arrived, he witnessed the catastrophe that had occurred. Where the main central tower of the academy once stood proud and tall, now only darkened debris remained. Piles of crumbled stones and destroyed furnitures accumulated on the ground, forming miniature mountains of wastes.
The base of the former administrative wing of the academy was crowded by numerous first responders —mages and non-mages alike— as well as multiple emergency rescue teams. All were busy roaming the wreckage in search of injured survivors or tragic victims, which there were some, proven by the grief-bound shriek Zorian could hear from where he was standing. But, their search efforts was somewhat limited as they all kept a fair distance from the still standing ruin, as its integrity seemed rather unreliable at best and few chunks of rubble fell down from time to time.
The authorities had erected a security perimeter around the area, keeping unauthorized individuals out of the danger zone. It was strictly guarded by the military-police personnel. Aside from the aforementioned rescue effort participants, there were also a few other individuals present inside the perimeter, talking among themselves with grave and somber faces. Probably investigators, Zorian thought.
He let his empathy wonder towards them, hoping to learn something from their surface thoughts, only to surprisingly find pretty solid protections shielding their minds. While most investigators were taught how to protect themselves against mind magic, the extent of their education was laughable to a master mind-mage such as Zorian. It was as basic as it could be, not surprising considering how underdeveloped mind magic was in their human society. But those persons that he tried to secretly read had proper defenses that he couldn't invade without them knowing. This indicated a somewhat high status and an underlying respectable competency in magecraft. They might even be royal detectives for all he knew, Zorian thought.
Deciding wisely to not further test his chances by prying too much and potentially exposing himself to the entire Eldemar's government, he let the matter go for now.
Returning his mind to the incident at hand, it obviously wasn't a fire. It seemed more like an explosion than anything else. Zorian was somewhat baffled by the damages, as this scale of destruction would only be achievable through the use of a pretty advanced and costly artillery-spell. The likeliest culprit he could think of would be the Ibasan's invasion army, but there wasn't any motive. Their objective, first and foremost, was to stay hidden until the end of the month. The only time where they launched a preemptive attack was when, in the very last loop, Zorian had involuntarily thwarted their entire plan early by capturing Iasku Mansion. And even then, they hadn't simply launched a single targeted spell in retaliation, but rather executed the whole invasion plan early out of desperation. Was it Red Robe, finally moving his chess pieces around? If it was, Zorian had no idea how attacking the administrative wing of the academy achieved anything. Why would they want to dispose of the Headmaster, a few faculty members and professors in such a visible fashion?
Then, out of nowhere, Zorian felt like something wasn't quite right with his reasoning. Like he had skimmed over a critical piece of information. He felt like his unconscious-self had already connected the dots, but he himself hadn't. An ominous feeling started to swell up inside his stomach as he slowly retraced his thought process.
Wait, if it isn't the invader nor Red Robe, then who could it be?he wondered.
Seemingly, the place itself had no intrinsic value whatsoever, so it would be safe to assume that the attack must've been targeted toward individuals. Furthermore, if the objective was mass-casualties, there could have been a hundred better places than this, far more populated. And it wouldn't have happened at night.
Zorian concluded that, given the information he currently had, the culprits must've targeted one or multiple people that they knew would be inside the administrative wing during the night. Unfortunately, the boy wasn't acquainted enough with the administrative staff to actually know who among them lived and slept on academy ground ; the only person he could think of was the old Zenomir Olgai—
Then, like thunderous illumination, paths connected inside the boy's mind as he recalled the name of the linguistic teacher he had met a little over a week ago.
Zenomir Olgai. The only person related to the academy that Zach and Zorian had interacted with since the start of the loop. The only other human that knew of the name uttered by the Primordial beneath Cyoria.
Of course! The time line may be sensitive to change, but it wouldn't diverge that much without a considerable catalyst that would cause a corresponding chain of reactions! Zorian realized internally. Such a radical change in the flow of events could only be the result of something we've only done in this specific iteration of the world.
His eyes widened a little as the argument inside his mind unfolded. He swallowed loudly.
If he was right, and he prayed to the silent gods that he wasn't, it meant that whatever entity had destroyed the Spirit a few days ago was also involved in this explosion. Even though the scale was way smaller.
Zorian, remembering what had happened during the Ghost Serpent incident, hurriedly analyzed more closely the charred remains of the once proud standing tower. It was a complicated task from his distance, but what little he saw was enough to confirm his dreary suspicions:
The stones weren't simply charred, discolored by the heat, but rather melted halfway through. A black tar-like substance had hardened on their surfaces, remnants of the liquefying process. Something he only ever saw once, a few days ago at the now destroyed aranean settlement of the Ghost Serpent Acolytes. The result of an impossible spell. And inconceivable magic formation that defied most of their understanding of magical arts. A flame so condensed and energized, akin to the sun itself, that even their sturdiest construction materials and magical barriers couldn't withstand even for a second if exposed to it.
Zorian's heart dropped in his chest, as he took a step back. Cold panic invading his mind. He spun around, looking frantically behind him, past the crowd that had formed around him. It was sudden and irrational, but Zorian just felt a nasty shiver running down his spine. He quietly and discretely observed the state of his anti-divination spell, which returned nothing unusual. Yet, he strangely felt observed. He looked around him yet again, but nothing.
He needed to reach Zach as fast as possible, he thought, hastily retreating into an alleyway, where prying eyes wouldn't be able to see him. He looked over his shoulder one last time, before vanishing from sight.
[. . .]
After a few random teleportations around the surrounding region of Cyoria, assuring total secrecy about his real finale destination, Zorian appeared near the Noveda estate, his mind a bit calmer then before. He hadn't teleported directly within as they —Zach and Zorian— had decided to ward the entire area against it a few days ago, after their narrow escape from the Ghost Serpent's mountain.
He walked up to the mansion, approaching its entrance. The crest of the Noveda household encrusted beautifully into the majestic double-doors. A vestige of the past, one of the last remnants of the once strong and proud noble family. The Noveda had been fundamentally a military house, even though they were active in a lot of other fields. Closely connected to the Eldemar royal family and traditionalist at heart, the Noveda used to be one of, if not the most powerful political force within the kingdom of Eldemar after the royal family itself.
Now, after a series of unfortunate tragedies, namely the Splinter Wars and the Weeping that had followed, and a political annihilation, only its last scion remained: Zach Noveda. It was a slow and tragic downfall from grace, and Zorian couldn't help but be reminded of it each time he came here by the crude state of the area.
The boy entered without notice, only to be faced by Zach who was waiting for him. His posture seemed nonchalant and easy going, but it was obvious to Zorian that his partner was a little on edge. His disheveled hair and unwashed face showed that he had just woken up, probably alarmed that someone had entered his property suddenly and without notice. Not surprising given that Zorian had never showed up unannounced like that.
As usual, the unassuming arch-mage in front of him held onto the Mind Blank spell, the ultimate protection against mind-mage such as Zorian. He didn't mind, but worried a little about his friend's safety as the long term usage of it could cause serious and long-lasting damage to its user.
As Zach confirmed that the mysterious visitor was in fact Zorian, he seemed to relax a little, though it wasn't something easily noticeable as, in the first place, few could've sensed the uneasiness of the noble heir.
"Hello, Zorian. You're a little early today. Not much of a sleeper, are you?" Zach said with a smile.
"Being sleep deprived is my natural state." Zorian reciprocated the smile, before turning serious. "But that's not why I'm here. Something happened. The academy have been blown up."
"What?! The entire academy? When?! By who?!"
"No, not the entire academy, the central tower. It happened last night, though I don't know exactly when. And for your last question, I'm not certain." answered Zorian.
Zorian proceeded to share with him what he had learned so far and what he thought about the whole affair. How Red Robe's involvement seemed unlikely at best, and how it connected a bit too well with the name.
"If what you're saying is true, why do you think it happened?" inquired Zach. "Maybe Zenomir tried to do what the snake did, and BOOM!"
"Mhh... I don't know. I doubt Zenomir is a skilled enough diviner to replicate what the Ghost Serpent did... No, actually I would be impressed if there is a single human capable of that in the first place. As much as he was a pain to deal with, the Ghost Serpent's ritual seemed out of this world. Maybe divine in origin?" Zorian commented, scratching his chin before returning to the subject at hand. "Anyway. I don't think simple divination spell alert whatever is behind that name. If it did, we would already be dead I reckon."
The duo had indeed tried on their own to locate the name a day or so after their meeting with the old linguistic teacher. Both of them were by no means expert in this domain, but still better than the average mage ; fortunately for them, nothing came out of their attempts. Now, armed with the knowledge of what happen to whoever succeed in this task, Zorian shivered at their past-selves actions... so ignorant of the danger they unknowingly put themselves into.
"Also, the scale of the explosion is definitely smaller this time. If it was the same spell as back then, I reckon the whole academy and then some would be ashes by now. So this goes somewhat against the theory that this and the Ghost Serpent incident are connected." Zorian continued.
"True. But it definitely have something to do with Zenomir though. That can't be a coincidence." Zach retorted. "Do you know if he was caught in the blast? Maybe he's still alive?"
"You're really optimistic, Zach." said Zorian, incredulous. "You think if a god wants you dead, you can escape by mere chance?"
"I don't know, never met one."
"And I hope we won't!"
Zach simply laughed at the response. Though, internally, the unassuming arch-mage specialized in magical combat had to agree. Even for him, those circumstances were rather enerving. Zach was fine with battling dragons and other legendary beasts. Hell, he would even admit that battling the millennial lich was the most fun he had every restart, even though the damn skeleton always overpowered him at some point and killed him. But, while those were all fun and games for him, battling a god? Or something close to one? Just... just no. That was a hard line his battle-maniac brain wouldn't cross. Maybe it was simply an instinctual limit of the mortal races?
"Well, there's nothing to lose by trying to learn what happened to him anyway. In a day or two, the city will surely post the listing of the peoples that have died. And we can just pretend to be concerned students if we want to know who is injured," Zach said nonchalantly.
Zorian pondered the proposition for a time, before speaking.
"I guess... But this is concerning. If whatever we're up against caught up on Zenomir just a week after he learned about the name, they'll definitely caught up on us at some point before the end of month."
"If you're that worried, we can just reset the loop," Zach said.
"No. Not until I've opened the mind packet. I can already feel it falling apart. I fear that if I go through another reset, we'll lose it completely. Too much is at stack here, we can't afford to not open it."
"Can't you try to open it earlier? Then, after we learn what Spear of Resolve wanted to tell us, we can think about terminating the loop? Not gonna lie, as much as I'd like to meet whatever is after us, I doubt I'd come back from it." Zach admitted, quite uncharacteristically so. It might be the first time Zorian heard his fellow time traveler back up from a fight before it even started.
"Yeah... I think we're in way over our heads because of that damn Spirit too," cursed Zorian under his breath.
As time travelers stuck inside this temporal mess —or rather inside the world of In-Between as the Ghost Serpent had described it— very few things could actually harm them in any long-term fashion. Their deaths was temporary by nature. Causality and consequences had been, for the most part, severed. Hence, the only way to cause them any kind of trouble would be to aim at something that they carried across restarts: theirs minds or their souls. That was why, realistically speaking, the only threats they took seriously thus far had been Red Robe and the millennial lich Quatach-Ichl. Red Robe because, aside from being the third time traveler, had the power to cut off people from the world of In-Between through still unknown means, like he had done with the Cyorian araneas. It was still unclear if, once they came back to the regular time line, those cut off from the In-Between would be alive or not. As for Quatach-Ichl... well, he was an arch-mage amongst arch-mage whose specialty was soul magic and with whom they were destined to fight at some point, so of course he was the second biggest threat.
Now, the threat level of this new mysterious enemy was still unclear to the two time loopers. As much power as it seemed to wield, if he couldn't mess up either their minds nor their souls, it wouldn't be a threat per se, rather an annoyance that needed to be avoided. But, the odds of that were low.
Returning to the topic of his mind packet imbued within him by Spear of Resolve, the matriarch of the now extinct Cyorian aranean settlement, Zorian spoke.
"I don't feel ready yet," he admitted, looking at the ground. "We only have once chance at this... we would be fools to thwart our only attempt because we rushed it..."
They were in a conundrum. Both path they would embark on had major drawbacks and few benefits in comparison.
By resetting early, their safety was guaranteed. Well... as long as whatever entity behind the name didn't retain memory of past loops, which was a possibility, but a an unlikely one. Unfortunately, choosing this route would mean almost certainly losing the memory packet inside Zorian's mind and all of its critical informations that Spear of Resolve had learned before her demise.
On the other hand, staying in the loop and continuing Zorian's mind-magic training exposed them to, possibly, the worst foe they could think of: an unimaginably powerful enemy, that they knew nothing about and couldn't learn more about without revealing themselves, and that wielded unknown magic, that of which their anti-divination measures might not contend with for long. But if they succeeded, the gains would be invaluable. Spear of Resolve's last memories would be theirs, and if what she eluded to Zorian before dying was to be believed, the knowledge of it could change everything.
It wasn't an easy decision to make. The two time travelers continued to discuss, ponder, analyze and hash over every ideas they could think of. Unfortunately for them, there wasn't a miracle answer. Only the better of two evils.
Zach leaned toward ending the loop prematurely —taking the risk of deciphering the mind packet early— while Zorian, unsure about his mastery of the aranea's senses, wished to gain as much time as possible to further his training.
Considering each of their characters, one might think that their roles were reversed. Zorian was usually the more prudent of the two, almost paranoiac at times, yet there he was, ready to risk being caught on by a foe they could only lose against. While Zach, for his part, was rarely ever anxious about anything.
But in reality, Zach's willingness to end the loop early wasn't only the result of his reluctance to deal with their mysterious enemy, but most importantly because he deeply trusted Zorian. Zach was ready to gamble on his friend's success... which, from this point of view, was the riskier route, as the loss they would suffer if the deciphering process failed would be immense.
In summary, Zorian wanted to gamble on evading their enemy while Zach wanted to bet on his partner's competence. Two opposite sides of the same coin ; either face an unknown threat or face yourself, your own abilities —or lack thereof—.
After an hour of debating the better choice, they hadn't come to an agreement.
Zach leaned on the sofa, letting a heavy sigh escape his mouth. Something that was mirrored by Zorian.
"We're going nowhere like that, Zach," Zorian said, gesticulating his hand in the air. "So let's go for the middle ground for now. Today and tomorrow, we continue my training. While we do that, we gather whatever info we can get from the academy's explosion. We choose then." the boy proposed.
"I can wait a few days," said Zach, his smile returning.
The next day, in the early evening, the time traveler duo finally finished their last raid on an aranean settlement — the Fiery Morning Wanderers—. This colony had been a rather aggressive one, but their mastery of mind-magic was lackluster compared to the most advanced aranean webs. Hence, Zorian was a bit disappointed, but also thankful that his mind wasn't fried like most days after their training.
As they came back to Cyoria, they decided to investigate the remnants of the academy together, hoping that some sort of list of the deceased had been published by now. Unfortunately, it wasn't. But that didn't mean the listing hadn't been made. Surely, an officer would know about such details, they simply needed to ask one.
Zorian was a bit nervous. The place was swarming with military-police personnel.
It wasn't the fear of being arrested that made him concerned, but rather the implication of so many of them gathered. It was akin to the last loop, when he had involuntary brought light upon the invasion conspiracy. Sure, it was delightful to see the whole invasion crumble before his eyes —even though they still invaded, just early and with less preparations—, but it had the undesired effect to limit his movements tremendously. While the government wasn't a threat stricto sensu —because it was mostly passive during this unending month— it didn't mean it didn't have the potential of being one. Under the right circumstances, the Eldemar government could be the most dangerous and unbeatable force they could contend with. Its military was numerous, powerful and well-equipped. But what was even more bothersome was it's information network and secret services. It's not a stretch to say that, if Zach or Zorian brought the ire of the government upon themselves, the innumerable divination attempts, every second of every minute of every hour by tens if not hundreds of skilled diviners, would breach their defenses, and a horde of high end-mages would teleport and ambush them in a heart beat.
As much as they liked to poke fun of it, mainly because it let an enemy nation invade one of its major city, the Eldemar government wasn't to be trifled with.
Returning to the topic at hand, the boys wondered who they should talk to. Since they would rely on Zorian's surface mind reading, it needed to be someone without strong mental defenses that would be oblivious to their tricks, but also important and involved enough to have access to confidential information. They settled their eyes on a young adult speaking with a few officers, seemingly giving them instructions. He wasn't in uniform, meaning that he most likely was an investigator, or at least an assistant of one. Zorian let his empathy touch the man's mind, confirming the lack of any decent enough protections.
Zorian discretely gestured his approval with a nod, and Zach walked up to their target. Zorian followed not far behind. The unassuming arch-mage introduced himself to the young investigator, pretending to be a saddened student of the academy —which was, in part, true—. Hence started the secret interrogation of the unknowing, quite friendly and compassionate operative. Through a slew of roundabout questions, sly insinuations and the reading of the his undefended mind, they managed to gather a lot from the detective. Far more than what a run of the mill policeman would've known. What they learned was as informative as it was concerning.
[. . .]
After about thirty minutes or so, they bid their farewells to the kind investigator who had offered his deepest condolences to Zach for his losses, as the horrible pretender faked a sob one last time. Zorian internally rolled his eyes, his friend's acting was terrible, but it managed to completely fool this particular agent of the law. Some people were just too kind for their own good.
As they left the premises, they returned to Zach's estate to debrief the matter in a more secured location. The first piece of critical information they collected was the status of Zenomir : he was currently listed as missing.
"Of all the possibilities, it's the most worrisome," Zach commented. "If he was captured and tortured, he might spill the beans on us."
"I agree, but if he had done so, wouldn't we already be dead? Or something would already have happened at least," Zorian pondered.
"Fair enough, so either he hasn't said anything yet, or he wasn't captured in the first place, and is just still under the rubles..."
They continued to go over the discussion they had with the detective. The government was apparently under the impression that this explosion was the doing of a neighboring country. Though it was wrong, how they came to that conclusion was both logical and understandable. Their reasoning wasn't based on evidences —as there were hardly any— but rather on the circumstances of the event and a thorough process of elimination.
Could it had been an accident? No. Could it had been a student? No. Could it had been the work of a single mage? No. Was there a clear motive, like monetary gain, political gain, etc.? No. What harmed did it do to the country? A tarnished and weak image. Etc.
But, amidst what the investigator had openly shared with Zach, there was something else that complemented this part of the story... something he hadn't voiced out loud and that only Zorian had caught on by deciphering his surface thoughts. And that part that he omitted was what Zorian found deeply, deeply concerning.
Zorian decided to share his concerns with his partner.
"Zach, there is more. I don't know how to interpret this yet, but we might be way, way over our head... again..." he started, adding that last part with a bittersweet smile. They were already far outside their comfort zone with the whole name threat hanging over their head and the opening of the mind packet, their situation was dire to put it mildly. "The guy's anxiety spiked when you asked him why there was so many military personnel roaming around. It seems its not just because of the academy."
"Not sure I'm following. There is something else going on?"
"The guy didn't know all the details, but apparently a special investigator has gone missing on the same night, as he was conducting a search inside the academy. The bodies of his subordinates were found, but not his."
"A special invest'?" Zach repeated, tilting his head. "No wonder they're so on edge."
"On edge? That is putting it lightly. It will only go south from here I reckon. You can be sure the secret services are already crawling around, surveying every nook and cranny of Cyoria. I didn't feel any widespread divination attempt so far, but it might start soon. Moving around was already hard, but now..." Zorian said, slightly kicking the air in annoyance.
"Would they really go that far for one person?" Zach asked.
"I don't know, I never lived through a reset where the government seemed to desperate that an miniature army of investigators would show up in less than a day. Have you?"
"Not that I recall, no. And I've upset them plenty in the past." Zach answered, his smile widening at the feat, before returning serious as he continued to talk. "But... that means there isn't one person missing, but two, right?"
"Yes, Zenomir and that special investigator." Zorian agreed.
"Do you think they are connected somehow? If we're right, and Zenomir's been captured because whatever his name is isn't to keen on people searching for him, why would they take the other?"
Zorian pondered. It was indeed weird. But not something they had the means to answer, no matter how hard they racked their brains.
Zorian cursed a little. They lacked informations. Again. And now, with the big muscles of the Eldemar government around, it was rather unlikely that they would be able to gather more. Or to even move freely in the first place. Teleporting in and out of the city might be risky now with so many diviners probably scrying the whole city.
Their situation worsened by the hour. First the definite timeline of the aranea's mind packet. Then, the hidden threat of a possible god. Now, the very visible menace of Eldemar's might. Also, with so much turbulence in the time line, the danger of Red Robe was also a definite possibility ; he might come out of hiding and strike them when they least expect him. Oh, and who could forget? With Cyoria in such a turmoil, the invasion might even start in advance ; the masterminds behind it may be alarmed enough by the newly arrived investigative force, a foot away from their conspiracy... they might not look for it, but they definitely could stumble upon it.
Damn it...Mind packet. God. Government. Red Robe. Invasion... It was just too much to deal with! Each one of those alone would be enough to keep them busy for an entire loop. All of them? Impossible.
It was as if an evil god was tightening its grip around them, their oblivious selves just dancing in the palm of this hypothetical higher being. As if, in the end, they could do nothing but curse their fate and accept the despair it brought to their existence.
An awkward silence had settled in the room while Zorian ruminated in his mind the tragedy of their situation.
"So... what do you want to do?" Zach asked, breaking the deafening silence.
"What can we do?" Zorian responded as he let himself sunk into the sofa, defeated.
Another silence settled. There was something he could do, but he truly didn't want to commit to it. He analyzed all the solutions he could think of, but nothing worked. Nothing could solve their problems, or even alleviate their situation a little.
Finally, tired, Zorian relented. He sighed, before informing Zach of his decision.
"I'll do it."
"What?"
"I'll open the mind packet... tomorrow morning."
It was dark outside, Zorian was exhausted from today's training and revelation. He needed to rest, concentrate, and calm his nerves.
Tomorrow, Spear of Resolve. Just wait until tomorrow.
Voila!
Sorry for the wait! I hope you liked it. Not much action, but be assured, dear reader, that it's about to go DOWN (metaphorically and literally)!
This chapter and the next were supposed to be one chapter, but to alleviate your thirst sooner, and because it felt right to end things right here, I decided to split it in two.
Next chapter shouldn't take as long to come out... I think... I hope...I pray...
Next time in Father of Learning: a barred gate and a dreadful meeting.
Anyway, again it's getting late. Til' next time!