The four of them watched the man with short blond hair walk into the Guildmaster’s office, talk for a bit, and hand over a package and a letter before leaving. They couldn’t hear what was said, and Serenity realized he’d forgotten to add sound to the illusion rune. Oops.

It was probably just as well; with his low ability with illusions, the rune cost significantly more than the Time magic, and he was already worried about the amount of mana it was consuming. Hopefully they weren’t missing anything they needed to hear, because he wasn’t sure this could be repeated, since his spell would affect the atmospheric mana.

The Guildmaster took a look at the letter, set it to the side, and opened the package. He pulled out a silk bag, opened it, then dropped the contents - a stone ball. Serenity watched it roll under the table as the Guildmaster shouted something and threw lightning at the wall of his office.

Guildmaster Hollis stepped carefully through the office, acting as though he couldn’t see well and there were enemies present, while he scorched the walls. When he reached the outer door, he took a step backwards and tripped over open air, throwing one last lightning strike. He started to stand, then sank to the floor and seemed to fall asleep.

The image rippled and Serenity felt the spell start winding down. He tried to drag it out as long as possible, but the important event for the mana he’d linked the spell to was over. He saw an impression of someone or something coming down the hall, but that was all before the spell ended itself.

Serenity swayed on his feet. He felt positively dizzy. When he checked his mana, he realized he had less than a tenth of it left, and was glad he hadn’t included sound. The additional cost would have forced him to end the spell early when he ran out of mana.

“That’s why the room is so scorched?” Raz looked around the hallway. “Does that help us? Did this just happen or was it a long time ago?”

“That was the current Guildmaster.” Hale looked down the corridor leading to the scorched room. “I’ve met him. I think I saw someone coming down this way at the end, but I couldn’t get a good look.”

“How the heavens did you cast that without a chant?” Katya had her hands on her hips as she stared at Serenity. “And what spell was it anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Time Viewing spell like that. Can you teach it?”

“It’s not a formalized spell. That’s not how I prefer to do magic.” Serenity turned away from Katya and headed over to the table the Guildmaster had sat at. The ball had rolled under it, hadn’t it? “I keyed my Time affinity to follow the bits of lightning energy floating in the mana, then tied that to an Illusion rune - sense-affecting, but I only keyed in vision. It would have been nice to hear, but as it was the rune nearly tapped me out. I’d have preferred to join in a secondary spell, but my illusion magic’s always been terrible. A rune was a better choice, even if it was really expensive.”

Katya stopped in place. “That’s not how magic works.”

Serenity shrugged a shoulder. “Just did.” There was an open box and a silk bag on the table, but not a stone ball. He knelt down and looked under the table. The ball wasn’t there either.

Ah, there it was - it’d rolled under the chair, where it’d been shoved back when Guildmaster Hollis stood up. Serenity reached under the chair and picked it up, hoping it wouldn’t affect him the way it had Hollis.

Thomas’s phone rang. It was a local number, but not one he recognized. It was probably a spam call, but the number did say “Verified,” so he went ahead and answered it. It was probably someone calling to report an issue; he hoped it wouldn’t delay him too badly. He’d be done with the things he’d planned in a couple hours, and he wanted to get back to his apartment so he could prepare to pick Rissa up at her house. He was looking forward to the evening, and thought Rissa would be surprised.

“Mr. Rothmer?”

“Speaking.” Thomas had learned to be short and clear on the phone.

“This is Sergeant Rook with the New York City Police Department. Clarissa Latimer gave your name-”

No. This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t real. Serenity knew this had happened in the past, and what he was about to be told, but he also knew it hadn’t happened in this timeline.

He was on Tzintkra, not Earth.

He was Serenity, not Thomas.

There wasn’t a notification of an increase to his Mind Resistance, but Serenity knew he’d used it to get out of a mental trap. It explained why the Guildmaster had acted the way he did; he’d been trapped.

Serenity backed up out from under the table. As he did, he felt a wave of weariness, which he pushed through.

[Sleep Resistance increased]

It was magical sleep, not normal weariness. That explained some things. Serenity looked over at his companions, and found that all three of them were on the floor, unconscious.

Why had all three fallen asleep? Sleep Resistance wasn’t common, since it could only be gained by resisting a magical sleep effect, but he only had - wait, when had it gone up to 52? The last time he’d paid attention to it, it was 1.

Serenity suspected that his resistance increase - whenever it happened - had made all the difference. He slipped the stone ball into the silk bag and tugged it closed. A pressure he hadn’t realized he was under lifted off Serenity’s mind. He suspected it had continued to attack him, but he’d been resisting it.

He hadn’t even gotten an increase to his Mind Resistance from the attack. Too bad.

Serenity walked over to Katya, since she was closest, and shook her awake. It took a while for her to really come to, but once she started stirring, he moved on to Raz.

“What was that?” Katya’s voice still sounded sleep-blurred. “Last thing I remember was you saying some nonsense about magic not requiring spells? What happened?”

Raz started to grumble, something about “not time yet Mom,” and Serenity moved on to Hale.

“I picked up the stone ball. Should have used the bag it came in; it looks like touching it sets off a mental attack and some sort of mass sleep spell. It’s back in the bag, now.” Serenity shook Hale again and realized Raz had rolled over and was back asleep. “Can you check and see if the letter he got says anything useful? And is there anything on the package that would tell us where it came from?”

“Why don’t you?” Katya’s voice still sounded blurred, and she seemed to be having trouble standing. Serenity wondered if there was more to the sleep spell than he’d realized; they generally weren’t useful in combat, but this seemed like it might actually be. It had to be a sleep spell or his resistance wouldn’t have worked on it

“If it says anything, I can’t see it. You’ll have to.” Serenity hadn’t looked hard, but when he’d glanced at the table, he’d been able to tell there was paper on it, but it all looked the same to him. He couldn’t see any sign of words, which wasn’t a surprise, even if it was a disappointment.

“Urf.” Hale seemed semiconscious, so Serenity lifted him to his feet. Maybe standing up would help him wake up?

Hale stumbled, but caught himself before Serenity had to. “Package?” He shook his head and the next sentence was clearer than Katya had managed yet. “You said you found the stone ball. What does the package say?”

Serenity sighed as he went to wake Raz again. “I don’t know, I can’t see. Why don’t you check?”

“What do you mean you can’t see? Katya said you have tons of Sight abilities…?” Hale seemed to be walking normally as he headed over to the table.

This time, when Serenity shook Raz, he seemed to wake more easily. Perhaps the sleep effect had a duration? Both Katya and Hale did seem more aware than they had before.

“I have several, which helps make up for being blind. I literally can’t see.” Serenity knew he was going to get tired of explaining that. Actually, he was already tired of it. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. One of my Sight abilities lets me know where objects are, so I’m not truly blind, just colorblind. More or less. I can’t even see black and white.”

“Then what do you see? How does that…?” Hale sounded confused.

“Unless you have the ability, it’s hard to explain. If I said that what I see doesn’t use visible light, would that help?” That would trigger a whole set of questions from anyone raised on Earth. Serenity expected different questions from Hale.

“Not really. What’s visible light?” Hale sounded puzzled, but also distracted.

That wasn’t the question Serenity had expected. “It’s the light you see.”

Hale picked up the box the stone ball had arrived in and examined it. “The package is addressed to go to the Healers’ Guildmaster. I think whoever sent it didn’t even know who that was. It doesn’t say who it’s from. There is a letter here … Hah! It’s from Guildmaster Irene. I bet we’ve found out why she didn’t get an answer.”

Hale tucked the silk bag back in the box and picked up it and the letter. “I think we’ve found as much here as we’re going to. The stone ball should go to the Mages Guild … or maybe the Artisans Guild …” Hale paused and turned to Serenity. “Unless you can figure out what it does and who made it? I only get a description that says what I already know, but you keep coming up with strange stuff?”

That was a good point, Serenity hadn’t Identified the stone. He pulled the bag open far enough to get a good look at it.

Dreamstone

This enchanted stone sends anyone who touches it into a waking dream. When the dream concludes, it sends out a burst of Dream energy, sending anyone nearby into a deep slumber. The range and power of the slumber depend on the power and duration of the waking dream. Mind resistance applies for the waking dream, while both Mind and Sleep resistances apply to resist the area slumber.

This is considered a ‘sacrificial’ item, as the person who triggers it is included in the effects, enhancing the power of these effects.

When Serenity shared the description, Hale nodded. “More or less what I saw, too.”

Raz jumped in, eager to share his thoughts. “That’s probably how whoever abducted these people did it. But … why didn’t they take it with them? And who was that guy who delivered it, was he one of them?”

Hale shook his head. “No, that’s a Messenger. Not sure which one, but they run letters and packages all over the city.”

“Oh.” Raz looked disappointed.

“It’s a good point, Raz. Even if he’s not involved, maybe he knows who gave him the package.” Serenity turned to Hale. “Think we can find him?”

“Hmm. Yeah, I think so. Probably better than trying to figure out who made the stone ball and who bought it. At least, finding a Messenger shouldn’t be as expensive. Let’s head to the district’s Messenger House. They can probably tell us who delivered it, even if not where it came from. While we’re on the way … does that mean there’s light you don’t see?”

“Yes…” There wasn’t really any reason not to talk physics while they walked, so Serenity resigned himself to explaining light - at least, that it came in colors and there were ones the eye couldn’t see. He didn’t even want to try explaining the particle wave duality; he sort of understood it, but only at a basic level.