Beyond?

by Andur

  I take position outside of the restaurant and wait. People are walking in all directions and I feel safe inside the crowd. Normally I would leave immediately after placing a trap like this, but I was briefed on the Gejene's abilities.

  After everything I heard about their abilities I fear that they might be able to survive the explosion. I should stay to finish the job, just in case.

  Confirming the kill is also important, if I run back and report their death while they actually survived isn't good in my branch.

  While I am counting the seconds, one of the sisters looks through the window and waves at a group of people. They are walking past the restaurant and I can identify two women and a man, as well as a male and a female Dwemer.

  I bite into my lower lip, but it's too late. I heard that the Dwemer might become allies if we play our cards right. They turn and head towards the restaurant, but before they arrive at the entrance, the time on my item runs out.

  Both of the sister's heads snap towards the seat where I placed my wristband. I smile in respect, there are not many magicians who can detect a triggered spell like that. A second later the restaurant turns into a ball of flames and the approaching party is blown off their feet. The civilians around me twitch in shock and several people go down, being hit by debris. Good, the Dwemer shouldn't be dead.

  I watch calmly while the world seems to stop. It's always interesting to watch the moment after one of my attacks. Most people need quite a while to recover and adjust to the situation. Originally I had hoped that I could use this moment to rush in and finish the job.

  But the man and one woman from the approaching group jumped up immediately after the explosion and entered a fighting stance. There was no opportunity to make certain of the kill since I am not that good in personal combat. Using triggered spells and poison is my forte, I am not stupid enough to rush between several hostiles. I click with my tongue and continue to hide myself within the mass of confused people. After the silence of the first shock, the moaning of the wounded starts.

  One of the women rushes into the destroyed building, followed by one of the Dwemer. They return with the Gejene from the smoke. Both of them look wounded, but alive. At least the women is casting healing magic on my targets.

  They are sturdy ones, again I click with my tongue. Should I call it a day? It doesn't look like they'll give me a second chance. Next time I'll use poison or a higher spell. That's what I get for being stingy with my equipment, though I would have never thought that anyone can tank such an explosion with just a few moments to prepare. I frown and spend some time watching them, then I realize that a big crowd of watchers gathered around the scene.

  I walk closer and use them as cover, maybe I'll get my chance after all. More people arrive, but this time they look like healers. They take over in treating the sisters and the other people who got caught up in it. My gaze wanders, searching for an opening, but there are just too many people arriving on the scene and some of them look like military. At least they are pushing the crowd back and me with it.

  One of the sister's starts crying and the healer who is treating her pushes her down. I notice that the man of the group is talking into a golden card. Just a moment later another figure appears on the scene. It's a young man and he simply appeared besides the guy who was talking to the card.

  He immediately steps towards the Gejene who is wailing on the ground and pushes her down. He is talking to the healer and the crying girl. His expression turns from confusion, to pain. Then he starts to stroke the girls hair while she is clinging to him.

  His gaze wanders aimlessly around until his eyes fix upon me and stay there. I watch his expression turning cold as his eyes make contact with mine.

  A bad feeling runs down my spine and I turn to leave the scene.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  “I lost it...” Stella whimpers repeatedly while holding onto my clothes. The healer promised that she and her sister will survive, though the growing life within Stella is lost. I stroke her head in a vain attempt to soothe her.

  A torrent of emotions runs through me as I realize that I can neither solve nor fix this problem. The person I love for whatever reason is crying and I can't help her. I never saw Stella crying before and it feels like something stabs right into my heart.

  She lost her child and I can't change it. Our child. My child. My gaze wanders and I scan the faces of the crowd. There I see pain, confusion, curiosity, shock... shouldn't I feel some of those feelings too? Why is there just this strange pain in my chest.

  Then my eyes lock onto a certain face, it shows neither of the feelings which should be expected. The face belongs to a woman with average looks and average features. Her gaze is analysing and thoughtful. That's not the expression of someone who is caught up in a terrorist attack.

  She realizes that I'm looking directly into her eyes and flinches. It can't be, am I just imaging things? My raging feelings stop from one moment to the next. Then she turns away, but not like someone who is uncomfortable with the eye contact. Her whole demeanour screams guilty while she is hastily walking away! It's almost as if she is fleeing the scene.

  I teleport directly in front of her, not caring if anyone sees my display of skill. It's just a stupid hunch, but I have to confirm it. It can't be that the assassin who set the bomb stayed to watch. But maybe she stayed to confirm the kill and thought herself safe within the crowd?

  Her eyes widen upon realizing my appearance in front of her and she looks over her shoulders to confirm that I am gone from my previous location. Then she attempts to run from me, dropping a wristband onto the ground while turning.

  I kick the thing with all my might before it touches the ground and leap after the woman. Now I know why I found her strange! She was just a touch too average, like someone who didn't want to be remembered. And she looks just a little too old for a student, though she tried to look younger by applying tons of make up.

  The wristband flies up into the sky and I manage to grab her. An explosion occurs above us and confirms my hunch. Both of us go down and she attempts to grapple with me.

  Rage wells up inside me and my mind simply stops working. I hit her face without holding back. Blood and teeth spurt out of her mouth and she coughs while I am grabbing her clothes and pull her into an upright position.

  She attempts to kick my feet away from under me, but I throw myself onto her with all my weight, placing my elbow on her throat while doing so. She lands on her back and I grin as I crush her throat. She was clearly trained in combat and had a reason to run.

  Her arms flail at me and I pull her towards me, then I slam her into the ground. Her eyes widen in disbelief at the sudden brutality of my attack. I can't stand her expression and grab her head, placing my thumbs on her eyes.

  Then I push them inside, invading her mind at the same time. We struggle for several moments and sparks of magical power surge back and forth between us. Her tail wriggles around my hands and her hands claw into my flesh as I am tearing her mind apart.

  She tries to scream, but everything that escapes her crushed throat is a silent gurgle.

  Piece by piece, Memory by memory, I strip away the being that calls herself Reagan. Memories of her childhood, I don't need them, so I discard them. Her mouth displays a silent scream and her body convulses as I continue my work.

  Finally I find what I want and though it's not as much as I want to know, it suffices. I let go and raise my hands above her face. Concentrating on her soul, a green mist is released from her mouth and gathers into an orb between my hands.

  Chuckling, I pull my hands apart. There is actually resistance and the orb stretches and bends between my fingers. She won't become a threat ever again. Finally the orb pops like a balloon and I hear the final scream of a dying soul as it disperses into fragments. The scream isn't one of sound, but one of pure mental pain, a last echo to the world.

  The body stops twitching under me and I free my hands
from her tail. Then I look up and realize that everyone's gazing at me.

  44. ~Hunt.~

  “A soul is a quantum energy wave, which can carry memories from one body to the next. It's not a container for your mind, or anything like that. If your soul connects with a mouse in your next life, then it doesn't mean that the mouse can magically make sense of your human memories.

  So try to not reincarnate as an animal, try something that's at least able to form a straight thought. I suggest a goblin as a start. Then you can work your way upwards to humans, angels, dragons and at last... shamans.

  But what am I talking about, you don't understand anything anyway.”

  -The Great Shaman.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  I stand up and it's like a spell is broken. The civilians disperse in all directions, fleeing the scene. Within seconds the area is empty and only the guards and healers remain. My face darkens as I realize the situation.

  That's it I guess. Despite everything I did really well in avoiding the usage of forbidden magic, until now. Just why did I have to fuck up so grandiosely.

  My eyes wander towards Stella. The healer is still busy with mending some internal injuries and it seems like she lost her consciousness. Sola is already healed and well, kneeling beside Stella and the healer. She is gaping at me in disbelief.

  I call out as the strange feeling wrings my heart once again. “I'll kill them all for hurting you.”

  The soldiers step closer and one of them calls out. “Kneel down and raise your hands! You are under arrest until we can determine what exactly happened.”

  Ignoring him, I kneel down and touch the corpse to my feet. Then I concentrate. The soldier repeats his warning and comes closer, but none of them seems to be eager for a fight. They give me enough time to teleport myself and the corpse into my laboratory.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Sola

  I don't understand anything that's going on. It was bad enough that my little sister threw herself in front of me, just a moment before the explosion. She turned her skin into metal, but wasn't able to complete the process in time.

  Both of us got injuries, but without my younger sister in front of me I wouldn't have survived. I am not that good at body magic. I am not a prodigy like her. Why did she do that, despite me being always so mean.

  And then the healer said that she lost her baby. Why? Then Azir showed up and went on a rampage. I don't even know how he suddenly picked that woman with the bomb out of the crowd! And that horrible scream when she died. It wasn't audible, but still everyone heard it in their minds.

  That was surely forbidden magic. Soul magic, since when is Azir capable of something like that.

  My gaze wanders to the two Dwemer who are standing close by. Both of them wear shocked and frightened expressions. I take a deep breath and correct my attire. Even if I can't do anything for Stella right now, I can find out what's going on with the dark magicians. And those two little punks are the key!

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  I reappear in my laboratory and stand up. “Spidey!” Where is that damn little robot. I walk to my working table and grab a set of hover disks. They are mobile drones. Originally I created them to spy on the Dwemer, but they'll do a good job with my new task.

  They should be able to do quite a lot of damage if I send them at full speed into an opponent. Next I get the staff which I got from my father. A few adjustments and reinforcements changed it from a basic weapon to a casting assistant device.

  Finally Spidey scuttles into the room and I point at the dead body. “Take that over. We are going to battle!” The fist sized robot signals acknowledgement and jumps onto the corpse, burying itself inside its chest. I look away, there is no need to watch the gruesome scene.

  I don't know much about biology or medicine, but I know that a body works with electrical signals. As long as it isn't dead for too long, you can control it by tapping into its nervous system. Teaching that knowledge to Spidey earned us a new set of spying tools.

  At first he manipulated just small insects and sent them to the Dwemer's mansion. When he got more experienced with this skill he turned towards mice and other small animals. Manipulating a corpse is a first for him, but I hope that he manages it. I'll need all the help I can get.

  While I grab a big collar, the corpse starts twitching and rises with mechanical movements. Spidey moves like a zombie, but it gets better fast.

  I nod and my eyes wander to the glowing orb, which I created together with Stella. Not sure if I'll need it, but having it with me could prove useful. A few slight touches to the control board in front of the orb stop the spinning rings around it, then they tighten and enclose the orb safely in a silver sphere.

  The orb is cool to the touch, that means that no radiation is leaking. I manipulate the runes on the orb and add an overload function to the containment field. That done, I push the sphere into one of my pockets and leave the laboratory with Spidey following in my tracks.

  Outside I get a dead bunny from the cooling box and step onto the doorstep of our house. I whistle softly and within a second Ghost appears in front of me. He looks greedily at the bunny in my hand.

  Holding it out to him I whisper. “Here, nice little kitty. Let's make a deal, you listen to me just once and then we go for a little hunt?” The big cat growls at me. “Down! Don't move!”

  After a moment of indecision Ghost decides that lying down is the easiest way to get the bunny. Training a warcat isn't easy and consumes a lot of time. I can't say that he always listens to my commands, but he does follow most of them... when he wants to.

  I drop the bunny in front of him, then I snap the collar shut around his neck. Tracing the runes on the collar with my index finger, they start glowing and a whole set of buffs and strength enhancements envelops Ghost.

  There we have it, I just enhanced a lethally dangerous animal with enough support magic to make it even more dangerous than a battle tank from a high-tech civilization.

  Ghost growls and claws at the collar. The bunny was gone with two bites, just a small snack.

  “Don't!” I command him.

  Ghost continues to growl, but he stops and lays his long ears back. I grab the fur on his back and mount the big cat. Okay, he didn't kill me, yet. “Run!” I pull on the fur on his ears to guide him into the right direction and off he goes.

  I cast a shrouding spell which should make us invisible to most people. I came up with it after Helen gave me the hint on our enemy's concealment spell.

  It's becoming evening and there shouldn't be many people on the streets, so hiding my little team with magic isn't really vital. The population is sticking to the entertainment areas and shops at this time of the day. Though it's better to be safe than sorry. Someone riding a warcat and with a zombie following him is sure to cause a raised eyebrow.

  The wall of our garden is taken with a single jump and the cat continues on its way out of the park. I look behind me and find Spidey following us with big leaps and bursts of assistance magic. As a magical construct he can cast small spells on his own, though I guess that the body won't hold long if he continues like that.

  Urging Ghost to slow down a little, we enter the town's area for normal people. He is still leaping wildly and his biggest jumps take us on top of buildings and from one house to the next. Who would have thought that a non magician is playing an important role in this affair. I stop Ghost on top of a small shop and order him to stay put.

  Casting enhancement magic I jump down onto the street and enter the shop. There were a few lone people outside, so I turn the plate which signals the shop's state to closed and draw the curtains in front of the window.

  “Hey, what do you think you are doing?” The baker in the homey room stops his work to face me. He comes closer to the counter, which is separating him from the customers, and points at the windows while searching with his other hand for som
ething that's outside of my field of vision.

  I jump towards him and pull him over the counter. A miniature crossbow appears from under the counter and I knock it aside, breaking his fingers. “You are the middle man!”

  “Wha...”

  But I don't let him speak and invade his mind. As a non magician he can't put up any resistance and turns into a drooling piece of meat.

  The organization of the black magicians is a well oiled machine, which works only with hired individuals and tons of bribes. Nobody knows anything. Even the assassin knew only that she lived her life in a country which is unknown to me. Then it was torn apart by war and she was hired by the army. After a time of fighting different nations she was hired for a new assignment.

  She was blindfolded and brought here. In a dark room she was trained with others to disguise herself as a normal civilian of Nict. Her trainer was the baker. If she hadn't run across him during a stroll through the city, the track would have ended with her, but she recognized him and it was one of her most vibrant memories.

  Of course she doesn't know how she was brought to this strange country, but the baker knows where he goes every night to train young recruits in the art of being a civilian. He always knew that he was doing something strange, but the payment was good enough to shut him up.

  I smile and let go of him upon finding out where my next stop is. The shuddering bag of meat slides down behind the counter and disappears from my view.

  Next stop, Town Mono, the sewers.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Valda

  It is the morning after the bombing and I was invited to the palace as a ~guest~. Of course Helen and Lucas didn't forget to invite Yoran, Quarma and Valeria too. The four of us are lined up along a small office table in an even smaller room.

  Who would have thought that Helen is the type to hold back like that when it comes to her personal space. Across from us are Helen, Lucas and Sola. The atmosphere in the room is bad, as expected.