Mahon and Zac exited the tavern with the last Nightmare veterans, and a few seconds later, everyone had vanished in the nearby streets, the tavern left empty and silent.

“What exactly happened there?” Zac asked once he was alone with Mahon.

“Let’s head out of here first.”

Mahon led Zac into a random alley that took them even further away from the tavern. Mahon didn’t know exactly where they were, but he had a rough approximation of where the school was. However, he did not rush to it, instead making detours and taking convoluted paths to an unknown destination.

“Mahon? You’re lost? The scho…”

“Shhh!” Mahon interrupted Zac and grabbed his friend by the shoulder, as he continued to walk with quick steps. He leaned a bit closer and whispered in his ear.

“Better they don’t know where we come from.”

Zac didn’t resist his friend’s strange behavior and copied Mahon’s low voice as he answered.

“You think the guard would follow us? They didn’t even know we talked with Fada cultists…”

“Not the guards, Zac. The cult.”

“The cult, but…”

“Imagine being recruited by the cultists as they find out you’re a student at the school tasked with their elimination.”

A tardive flash of understanding passed through Zac’s eyes as he went silent. A shiver of fear shook his body, and he sped up alongside Mahon. The duo spent the next fifteen minutes losing any possible followers in a maze of narrow streets, slowly creeping towards richer parts of the city where they knew they would be safer.

Another ten minutes passed while they circled the neighborhood and found a random tavern. Once inside, they sighed with nervousness as they sat at an isolated table far from the entrance.

“Are we good now?”

“Yes. We were probably overcautious, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I totally forgot we were Pine Hill students as I brought you there for a Nightmare issue… You think they could guess where we were from?”

Mahon took some time to think. He replayed the scene in his mind, trying to see if they had given away their origin. He had mostly talked about Nightmare, and Zac didn’t even speak with the veterans.

“Hmm… I think we’re fine. They would probably have acted differently if so.”

“Yeah, right. So what the heck did we witness?”

Mahon threw a quick knowing look at Zac.

“Looked like the Fada cult recruitment to me.”

Zac took some time to process the reality of it. Mahon, a student of the Pine Hill Officer Institute, tasked with the arrest of the Fada cult, just got asked to join that same cult. The last one who tried to mess with the cult had been Tiarsus, and he had lost his life horribly at their hands minutes later. What would happen to Mahon if he got caught, then?

Mahon watched each thought appear in Zac’s face as easily as if it was on paper. The confusion, the shock, the realization, the fear. For an instant, he felt honored that his friend cared enough to fear for his safety, but then his methodical Last Red brain took the lead.

“Zac, let’s focus! What do you think about it? Why would they recruit there?”

Zac broke out of his dark thoughts and started to muse aloud.

“Well… First, why would they recruit Nightmare veterans? There are better ways to…” Zac became silent for a second. “Or maybe they don’t want to recruit Nightmare veterans specifically. It’s just that it’s easier to do…” He suddenly clapped at the table. “Yeah, that’s why we never came across them! It’s brilliant! Which nobles in their right mind would try to attend to anything related to Nightmare? It’s the perfect hideout…”

“Are you sure? To me, it seemed that it was more than that. What the cultist said about Nightmare and the nobles was deep. The man thought like us. He got right to the point of the problem.”

“Yeah, but that’s just to say how good an orator he is. Of course, if they want to recruit Nightmare veterans, they would do it properly. But I think it’s not what they really want. They don’t care about Nightmare veterans, they can recruit anyone. It’s just sneakier for them to recruit Nightmare veterans. And it worked until then.”

Mahon nodded slowly at Zac’s explanation.

“If you say so, you’re the expert, there… Ok, ok, let’s say they recruited Nightmare veterans because it’s sneakier. By a nice stroke of luck, you brought me there and since I’m a Nightmare veteran, I got an invitation. We’ve got an opportunity to infiltrate and spy. What now?”

“What do you mean, what now? I’ve no idea! You just jumped in like that and asked to be in without thinking. That’s not how we should’ve done it!” Zac started to speak a bit louder, and Mahon put his hand on his arm to stop him.

“We may never have had a better opportunity. If we had left after his speech, there was no way they would let us in again. The man was too suspicious. It was now or never.”

“Ah, whatever… You started this… What do you think about it?”

“Hmm… I can see two options. Ok, three. First one, we forget everything and report to the school that we may have found a cult recruitment method and let them handle it. Second, we also tell them I kind of enrolled myself in and see how it goes. Third, we follow our lead a bit more first, and then we talk to them.”

“Fourth, we don’t tell anyone and do nothing.”

“True. But I vote against it. Fada cultists are killing people and scheming for a revolution or something. We can’t stay still when we have such an opportunity.”

“Yeah... So where is your preference leaning towards?”

“I already have the token to meet them. I’m involved in this and I don’t plan to shrink back. I’d say, either we talk to the school before or after the next meeting.”

Zac immediately shook his head.

“No, no, let’s take our time with this. I mean, we’re kind of dealing with potential threats to your life, infiltrating stuff, and so on. And you’re such a terrible liar. And you don’t know anything about Ratho. You’d get yourself killed in less than a day.”

“Uh, I appreciate your trust in my abilities.”

“Shut up! You’re not here to play hero or anything. We’re talking about serious business. You coul…”

“Zac.” Mahon interrupted him with a gentle voice.

“What?” Zac snapped.

“We’re in the military now. Risking our life is what we do. And I'm no stranger to death. I’ve taken deadly risks my entire life. It’s the first time we’re devising an active move. It’s normal for you not to feel ready yet. But I am. I’ve done it every day for 22 years. I’ve been waiting to do such a move for months now!”

“That’s not a reason for…” Zac started, but his voice slowly died down under Mahon’s unflinching gaze.

“I’m an experienced warrior. You’re still a trainee. I’ve risked my life more often than not. We’re in my territory now. Trust me. I’d be infiltrating, that’s it. I need you to provide me with all the necessary information for this to work. I trust my skills enough to handle a few cultists if it turns sour. And it’s far too soon to plan for anything. We’ll see what happens at that meeting. The question for right now is: should we tell the school or not?”

Somehow, Mahon’s commanding voice put Zac at ease, and he tried to ignore the stressful situation to put his brain at use.

“We don’t have much information to share now. Any infiltration attempt would need someone with Nightmare knowledge, and that leaves only you at school. So it’s pretty obvious you would be the one going to the next meeting, anyway. If we want to be taken seriously, it’s best to gather more information first.” Zac finally said.

“That’s what I also thought. Best to dig in further before revealing what we found.”

“On the other hand, if you say nothing, you’re a commoner and Nightmare veteran discussing with Fada cultists. Who would defend you if someone says you’re a Fada cultist spy sent to the school? If it somehow goes wrong, even the school wouldn’t stand by your side.”

“Uh, right. Didn’t see that one coming. I knew I kept you around for a reason.”

“Shaddap.” Zac retorted, but he had the shadow of a smile as he continued. “Jorik kind of trusts you. Or at least he knows what you’re really capable of, and he is looking for results. And he is our commander. I say, let’s talk directly to him and see what he says. Worst case, he agrees with our plan and we just lost a bit of time. Best case, he helps us or provides new information we don’t know yet.”

Mahon threw Zac a skeptical look. “Or, worst case, he prevents me from going and deprives us of a good opportunity.”

“Jorik? The man who said he’d do anything to get results? I don’t think so.”

The two friends settled in a brief silence, lost in their own thoughts. Supporting his chin with his right hand, Mahon tried to make the most of this golden opportunity.

Should I trust Jorik on this? No way. But I trust Zac’s judgment. And I’d have to report to someone at some point anyway… And I’d rather report to Jorik than Ravatoris. Or a random First Green. At least he seems smart enough to see the opportunity.

“Ok, let’s do it. We’ll report to Jorik directly. But if he prevents me from going, I will go anyway. It’s more important to stop the cultists than being stopped by someone’s stupid ego.”

“I honestly doubt it will come to that. Even though Jorik is an asshole, he is smart and competent. I think we can trust him for anything related to the Fada cult. Anything else, I wouldn’t say the same.”

With a nod, Mahon and Zac showed their agreement on the strategy, and they left the tavern a minute later. They arrived at the school’s entrance without any problem, and Mahon confirmed for a last time the absence of any trailers before they walked directly inside and to Jorik’s estate.

A First White saw them coming and even though he let them enter the house, they were stopped in front of Jorik’s office by a First Green woman. She was sitting at a desk in the corridor while processing a pile of papers.

“You need to report something?”

“Yes, but I was ordered to report to Jorik directly.” Mahon answered.

The woman eyed him from bottom to top with an unconvinced look. She barely checked a random paper on her desk before speaking.

“Really? I’m not aware of it. Jorik is too focused to waste time with random patrol stories. You caught a cultist or what?”

While Mahon hesitated on how to deal with this setback, Zac took a step forward and spoke a bit louder.

“We really need to see Jorik. Mahon has some important information to share.”

He blatantly emphasized the word Mahon, so that it carried across the whole corridor, and even probably into Jorik’s office. The First Green wasn’t deceived at the trick, but she barely had the time to rebuke Zac that Jorik’s office opened. Two glacial blue eyes scanned the scene and after a slight frown, the First Black noble gestured at Mahon and Zac.

“You two. Come in.”

With an innocent smile, Zac immediately passed beside the First Green woman and went inside the office, Mahon in tow. The door closed and the two friends sat in front of Jorik.

“I really hope you’ve something interesting to say.” The First Black started.

The two friends exchanged a glance, and Mahon gestured for Zac to do the talking. He was the best for this kind of explanation. Zac started with Mahon’s problem with the Flow under Jorik’s impassive gaze and swiftly transitioned to their trip to the Mother’s Den.

At first, Jorik showed moderate interest in Mahon’s condition, but as Zac’s story progressed, he became more and more drawn in. Once Zac mentioned the Fada cult recruitment, he was already taking furious note. At this time, Mahon intervened every so often to provide some details that Zac had omitted, or to clarify some events with a chirurgical military analysis.

When they were done, Jorik asked Mahon to explain with his own point of view everything from the start. Then, he asked Zac to tell everything for a third time. Only then did he laid back in his chair, looking at Mahon with calculative eyes.

“Looks like you’re in for some infiltrating work. How confident are you?”