Chapter 54: Deals With Strangers

Subject: Caim Location: Malisacade - The Blightbane Guild

Where is enemy? Scion asked.

“Enemy,” Caim growled and pointed at Gillis.

The Hexknight had yet to move. Scion received the target and Caim immediately targeted himself with Safeguard. He placed two Safeguard beacons on his Guild companions.

Gillis watched on in bewilderment. Safeguard, calibrated for immobile defense, extended it’s phantasm blue spikes up from the floor, which was already glowing blue from Gillis’s spell. Caim noticed that this calibration made Safeguard’s coloration more of a dull blue, edging toward silver.

The first of Scion’s attacks fired toward Gillis’s head was immediately rejected by an invisible barrier around the man’s flesh. It made a sharp *ping* sound and vanished like it normally would after striking a target, but Gillis’s defensive enhancement had intercepted the projectile.

Only now did Gillis react. He slid a hand across his chest, a brief yellow shimmer in his eyes. He was calm, his movements restrained.

“Stop it! He’ll kill you!” Mille took the opportunity to call out.

Caim was surprised that the attack had no effect. More projectiles hit the barrier and Gillis slowly rose to his feet. A curious surprise wavered on his face, but then it vanished and he only looked deeply saddened by what was occurring.

“You don’t understand what people can get away with if you give them too much power. Don’t worry. I’ll kill him. I’ll find a way to kill him, and we will be safe,” Caim rambled, still unable to control his emotions. “Scion is strong. But, just in case, do you have another of those seeds?”

Mille shook her head, a constant stream of red light pouring through her conduits, even the shoulder conduits obscured by her uniform were shining slightly through the thick layers of cloth. She wasn’t angry, but the emotion was so intense, he had only one other logical guess. Was it fear?

He needed to reaffirm his reasoning. Hexaline Knights were evil. The Shrouded Theocracy was corrupt. Gillis admitted to orchestrating a mass, forced relocation of entire populations of people. Shroud specifically targeted them, and maybe it could stop if this person died right now. Perhaps that was a possibility?

“You aren’t strong enough to do that,” Gillis whispered, vanishing and appearing beside Caim in an instant.

Scion repositioned itself in the constrained environment and continued firing to no effect, while the yellow Hexknight’s eyes returned and intensified. His face was calm, without a touch of anger. Though, he looked to be impressed at Scion’s fast-tracking of his movement and its ability to precisely aim so as not to hit its master nor its masters allies.

“You aren’t prepared enough. You haven’t the ability or wisdom to take me down. If you were cunning and patient, you might have the intellect, but I wouldn’t admire someone like that. And a person like that would be too much of a threat to spare.”

Caim reached for Gillis’s neck, but Mille pulled him back.

“And all of that is a good thing. If you killed me, your life would end. You would never discover that I am telling the truth. You need to learn patience with time.”

Without looking, the Hexknight cast a spell, and Scion crumbled away in an instant.

Scion [ Destroyed ]

“A curious spell, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. That’s my point. You can’t handle me, so stop here.”

What was happening? Scion had been damaged, but it had never been destroyed before. Was the only offensive spell he had going to fail? Why was it so weak?

No. I’m weak. I made progress using borrowed power, and I let it get to my head. Since I’ve come this far, I might as well keep going.

Caim was lucid enough to suspect the one who sent him that message before was Vera. He didn’t place her voice at the time. To be fair, it wasn’t quite a voice. Also fair, they’d always communicated in a unique way.

He dug down deep to the place he’d learn his magic could be accessed, even without the card in his pocket. He didn’t want information, so he didn’t need the card. Rather than knowledge, Caim was requesting- no, demanding, “access”.

Neither of us wants to die. You never demanded I submit to your will or anything sinister like that, but you also didn’t give me much of a choice when you did this to me. You said I could be useful to you by “just being me,” but I doubt you meant my death would be helpful at all.

Interface Event Subject Accessing Interface [ System Vulnerability Detected ]

Caim was grasping at straws, but no one else was moving, including the person he’d tried to kill.

I’m in danger. You locked away your spells. You said they would “grow with time”, but I don’t feel steady stages of growth. I feel like something you created is preventing me from getting to the tools I want. I don’t need them all. Just give me some offensive spell. Like Scion, but stronger!

Interface Event Evaluating Command [ System Resources Requested, Authorization Unverified ]

Nothing?! Do you want me to beg until my dying breath? You like to look down on us when we’re suffering, just so you can withhold power.

Vera wasn’t listening, but something else was. Most likely, it was the “something” she attached to him, the very same modification that allowed him to access the spells despite never having studied magic, despite what he told others.

The details escaped him, but he probably wouldn’t understand even if he had all the time in the world. That was just the kind of person Vera was, and he didn’t mean that as a compliment.

The dormant mechanism lining Caim’s spine tingled. It should have been inactive ever since arriving in The Shrouded Theocracy. There was nothing here that could possibly synchronize with it. Shroud technology just wasn’t built for it.

The nostalgic feeling drew his thoughts to those associated with home. It gave him a perversely ironic kind of hopefulness, ironic considering the way that place was described to have ended up by now.

And I don’t want to end up that way. Fine! I promise I’ll do one small favor for you. Bolster my foundation and give me the opportunity to show you what I’ve been planning. You picked me because of ARC, right? I’ll give you more of the same with a little something extra. After all that’s been happening, I don’t even care about going slow.

Interface Event Access Log [ Relevant Keywords Detected. Recorded Appeal For Approval. ] Unauthorized Attempt

[ Barrier Cannot Be Removed Without Master Override. ]

Error

[ Unanticipated Override From Infected Host Detected. Pinging Master. ]

System Restart

[ Unexpected Restart Detected, Log Corrupted. Resuming From Interrupted Operation ]

Authorization Successful

[ Prototype Sourcetech Granted To Subject ]

Legion Category: [ Offensive ] Description: [ Corrupted ] Recovery: [ 1 Unit / Day (Maximum 30 Units) ] Tactical Control System: [ Corrupted ] Subject: Mille Location: Malisacade - The Blightbane Guild

“What is he doing?!” Hexaline Knight Gillis exclaimed, eyes locked on Caim’s frozen stance.

Mille looked over to Marian and then back to the Hexknight. Her colleague wasn’t answering, but she debated keeping her mouth shut, as would normally be the place of a faron in the presence of someone like this. However, she could interpret this as receiving a request to answer, making it her responsibility to share anything she knew, in which case the penalty for staying quiet would be severe.

Penalty and holy hierarchy aside, she didn’t know what was going on. It was the same now as it always was with Caim. At this point, she should be offering prayers of thanks to every god in the Covenant if places or people didn’t burst into flame or get stormed by armed thugs the moment Caim got himself involved.

“That. See that waver in the air right there? That’s a prelude to what’s called a ‘silent echo’. A mage trained in magic detection like me encounters all manner of concealed casts, but this seeker here isn’t showing any signs of exerting himself to make that happen. He’s obviously activating some incredibly powerful spell, but I should be able to detect even military-grade magical interference with my skill set.”

The knight wasn’t afraid, so Mille hoped that meant he could still protect them all in case Caim didn’t even know what he was doing, which was very likely.

“I think I know even less than you, my lord. I swear on my life. Caim! Can you hear us?”

A loud chime echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and reverberating until Gillis silenced it with a wave of his hand. Though it had only done this for a moment, Mille’s underutilized inherent faron sensitivity to magic gave her the sense that this was just the start.

“He doesn’t appear to be listening. It may be your life that gets claimed, but not by me. I’ll do what I can to stop this. I still need the Guild on my side when my people arrive to set up the factories.”

“Caim is not a bad person, but I don’t think he always thinks things through as he should. I will do anything you say if you are able to stop this without killing him. He hasn’t hurt anyone in all the time I’ve known him.”

Gillis beamed a bright smile and reached into his pocket for an exquisite shard, which he hastily shattered to absorb its stored power.

“You say he’s short-sighted? That makes him like most people, then. He’s a bright boy, but I think he’s in over his head. No promises either way, but I’ll do my best to protect us all. Oh, and I don’t intend to have you owing me any favors. I’m doing this for me.”

The Hexknight cast a number of spells of his own, gesturing to his targets in an increasingly exaggerated fashion. Mille didn’t understand why some mages gestured, and others didn’t, but she picked the perfect time to start thinking about something like that.

“Magic should be a conscious effort,” Gillis explained. “We exert ourselves to do something specific. It is not easy, and that is why we don’t have more mages out there in the world. When you react on impulse like this… it is more like the activation of a Mark. Caim isn’t a Bearer of Red, is he?”

“Caim? No. He isn’t.”

“I didn’t think so, but a Bearer of Blue isn’t so volatile. If only my subordinate were here. She might be able to tell me if this is evidence of the development of a new Mark. I have little confidence in my assessment of the situation.”

“Caim?” Marian suddenly called out.

She wasn’t handling her fear well, but at least she wasn’t breaking down in front of the knight. Hilariously, to Mille at least, Caim actually answered.

“Yes?”

His attention was roused by the new voice in the room. Perhaps it was because Marian hadn’t done much talking yet.

Gillis and Mille both demanded an answer from Caim at the same time. He answered like nothing strange was happening.

“What am I doing? I’m trying to find a spell that will save us.”

“What spell are you trying to use?” Gillis asked with a stone-faced expression like he expected just what he got: a shrug.

“Anything that will protect us, really.”

“That isn’t how magic works. I’m guessing someone taught you a spell or two and you managed to find a more powerful one by a stroke of luck one time. That didn’t happen because that’s what usually happens. It isn’t normal. You’re just gifted in the arcane. For whatever reason, you ask a question, and that enigmatic force is more likely to answer back.

Caim laughed at the Hexknight. He was breathing normally, but his eyes traced the air like he could see something they couldn’t.

“It isn’t how it works? How does magic work, then? You’re the veteran mage, not me. I never meant to be a mage. Magic is just a means to an end.”

“Magic is a tool, yes. A powerful and dangerous tool. What you are doing now is much more likely to kill someone than it is to get you whatever result you want.”

This appeal got through to Caim.

“Even if that were the case, all you have to do is let Mille and Marian go free. Then, it will just be us in here. If someone died at that point, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. The Guild has been nothing but good to me, unlike you people. They shouldn’t die for me.”

“You’re wrong,” Marian said softly, but then she stopped.

This wasn’t the Marian she knew. All Guild employees were well-trained, but Mille’s associate didn’t seem sure of herself at this point in time. She’d been contemplating something since the Hexknight mentioned subhumans, and maybe Mille being a faron herself had helped to bring that about.

“You talk like I’m holding them hostage or something. I can’t easily unseal the room. That is just a drawback of the privacy spell I cast earlier. It will wear off, but first, I need you to listen to me and stop whatever it is you’re doing.”

Another chime fired off from the spot at which Caim stood. Then another and another. This continued in rapidly accelerating succession.

“Scion’s replenished, but you’ll just destroy it again,” Caim mumbled to himself. “You haven’t killed me yet to try and prevent some kind of disaster, right?”

“That’s right. No offense, but mages have a reputation for a reason.”

“We agree on that count,” Caim answered, turning his head away from the Hexknight.

A silvery silhouette appeared beside him in the direction he was looking. It began as just a slight shimmer in the air, slowly manifesting into a physical creation much like the mage’s other spell. This one bore more of a resemblance to a human or maybe one of the sentient species that lived beyond The Barrier of Shroud.

The creature looked up at Caim, tilting the pyramidal protrusion atop its torso. It was as if it was asking for orders. Mille really didn’t like where this was going.

“What is this? Caim, my goal right now is to resolve this with no deaths. I have responsibilities and people I care about too. Don’t force my hand here.”

Caim smiled. He pointed at Gillis, and the bipedal amalgamation of metal shards changed its stance like it was raring to fight. It stalked toward the Hexknight and he jumped back cautiously.

“Your comrade already forced this. I didn’t want to fight. I hate violence, but he wanted us to attack his knights. I’ll do as he asked right now.”

Hexaline Knight of Progress, Gillis The Cartographer grit his teeth and cut the air with a swipe of his hand. A strand of light flew through the air and wrapped itself around Caim’s creature, binding it in place.

In an instant, Gillis was standing with his back to Caim and the others. A metal canister was already in his hands. He undid the cap and dumped its ashy contents into the air, immediately using it for a spell.

“I haven’t had to use a Breachbolt in ages,” Gillis grunted.

An elongated projectile launched toward Caim’s creature. It couldn’t dodge, so it took the impact with a dull *thud*.

The creature looked up at Caim, who nodded wordlessly. Chips of grey metal cracked off of its torso, vibrating until they detonated, kicking up a plume of smoke.

Caim’s spell combined with Gillis’s spell to protect Caim, Mille, and Marian from a wave of debris, but Gillis’s spell was enough for the Hexknight to remain unharmed. The trouble was what came next.

The floor broke away as more micro-explosions went off from the remaining pieces of Caim’s creature. Mille quickly wracked her brain to think of what was beneath them, and she cursed The Strangers when she remembered it was Arla’s Forge.

This was going to be a long fall.