Chapter 13

“Well, isn’t this exciting?” Kiyoko said as everyone else disappeared down the street past all the abandoned houses. “They are safe. The town gates are just around the corner.”

“I figured.” The section of wall he could see had made that clear, especially as the road was bending. He gazed at her. She was an old wrinkled Japanese woman who was spritely and glowed with vitality. He knew exactly where her attribute points had gone and if he was that old he would have done the same. “So why am I here?”

Kiyoto waved at the house that their greeting party had come from. With a nod, he walked ahead of her just in case there was anything unexpected inside. The moment he got close he realised that there was no need to be worried. The place was well maintained within even if the outside was deliberately left looking like a hovel.

“Kitchen,” Kiyoko ordered. “I’ll have green tea.”

When he reached the kitchen, he found a hot stove and an empty metal kettle.

“Plumbing works.”

Adrian tested the tap and sure enough, water dribbled out.

He filled the kettle and put it on the stove, which was already almost red hot. He could have used magic, but he figured Kiyoko would appreciate it more if he did not cheat and prepared the tea in the traditional way. Clean cups were in the cupboard above the sink along with a variety of tea bags. He grabbed two green teas and examined Kiyoko with his domain. She had settled on a seat, waiting patiently. The kettle started whistling, and he poured a drink for each of them and sat down opposite her.

“Thank you, dear.”

She sipped daintily.

“You are not in school.”

“What?”

“You are sitting tensely like you are a little kid waiting outside the principal’s office.”

Adrian chuckled. “Well, this is very…” he shrugged. There was something about her presence that meant what she said wasn’t too far out of the realms of possibilities. “What are you after?”

“I’m aware of…” she hesitated and then looked at him with a chilling, knowing look. “Sapience games.”

She was talking about Jaracol, his blood chilled. “It’s not a game!”

“No, it’s deadly serious.”

The heat vanished as quickly as it had risen. She was not presenting herself as an enemy. They both sipped their teas in silence.

“I know what happened.”

“Stop trying to be so mysterious. I understand how bloody forecasting works.”

She smiled. “A great shadow is currently obscuring my sight.”

“Stop it.”

“A mighty enemy is distorting the winds of fate and…”

“Just stop!”

Kiyoko chuckled. “Can’t you let an old lady have some fun?”

He laughed despite himself.

“I am over being preached at by the high and mighty. It would be refreshing to be talked to in plain normal English.”

Sorry, Jaracol.

“You’re no fun.”

They drank tea in silence and Adrian refused to take the bait, waiting for the other women to break. When his cup emptied, he put it down and just waited for the old lady to finish. Finally satisfied she looked up at him.

“The octopods are behaving strangely. We need help.”

He stayed silent, suppressing the curiosity that warred within him. They both watched each other. Her words were playing over in his head. Adrian hated these power games. The way they made him feel manipulated she was doing what the interface had done. Then again Adrian realised he was contributing to the problem. If he wanted them to talk honestly, then he should exhibit the right behaviours even if that meant that she won the ‘game.’ “What does that mean?”

“I am worried they are obscuring a threat to Wangaratta’s existence.”

“Hiding?”

“Octopods can be trained. It’s hard but possible. We need to find out if these are being controlled by a stronger entity.”

“We?” he asked, picking up on the inflection of that word.

“Wangaratta,” she clarified cautiously.

“Come on,” Adrian snapped. “Cut the bullshit and talk plainly. Not Wangaratta, the system.”

“Is mildly curious,” she interrupted smoothly. “The system is certain that the octopods are trained. When we push against one area, everywhere gets reinforced. That behaviour is not natural, but it means we can’t feint in one spot and breakthrough in another. Wangaratta doesn’t have anyone powerful enough to push the issue.”

“What could control them?”

The oracle shrugged. “It can be anything, but almost all the options are terrifying.”

Adrian hesitated. Things were not making sense. “The system… It wouldn’t care about a town.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Bullshit.”

Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. “Language.”

“I went through Wodonga. Everyone died.”

“You’re right and you’re not. Caring is a loaded word. Would they break a rule for a single city?”

Adrian shook his head. “Not a chance.”

“Correct.”

He hesitated his brain going a million miles per hour… “But the system is curious? About this?”

“Yes.” She looked at him her old eyes challenging him.

“And it wouldn’t be curious about a town-ending threat?”

“Yes.”

“And you want me to do something crazy?”

“Yes.”

She poured another cup of tea. There was very little steam. With a thought, Flame Sprout heated the cup.

“Thank you.” She moved her hand away from the cup that was boiling vigorously. He might have overdone it a little. “We need to know what is hiding itself from the system’s sight.”

“And the only way it gets intelligence is if an interface sees.”

“Observes and escapes,” she clarified.

“I thought the interfaces can broadcast stuff.”

Magic buzzed over him, and suddenly he could no longer sense anything beyond the room they were in.

“Special oracle skill,” Kiyoto explained. “Useful for protecting truly sensitive information. Interfaces should be able to send a pulse out for fifteen kilometres. An elite team on my request pushed deep into the mana octopod territory. Caught them by surprise and they got further than anyone else. More than enough to improve our intelligence back, but nothing came. No interface alarm signal, nada. Something actively blocked the communication. That is when the system went from mildly curious to insistent.”

Alarm bells were ringing in Adrian’s head. He could not help it. All those little slips of the tongue by the traders, Jaracol’s careful choice of wording, and now this.

“A cataclysm Alpha event.”

Kiyoto did not look at all surprised by the description. “Beyond my pay grade but we need to know what the octopods are hiding.”

“So why me?”

“Because you are a hero.”

He felt anger flush through him.

“But mainly because you are the only one who has a chance.”

The temper dropped to a simmer. It was easy enough to emphasise with the oracle. His group was far stronger than any of the locals and if they needed someone to infiltrate and then escape he was the only choice.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“Sneak, check what is happening and run.”

The system wanted something from him. Adrian’s mind immediately went to what he could get back.

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