by Eric Vall
“Good to hear that,” I leveled with him.
Gawain grunted, clearly done with the conversation. That was fine with me.
As soon as I turned back to Varleth, the door opened again, and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I wasn’t so shocked to see Layla, as she had at least been on a mission before, but Braden? That was a surprise. I straightened myself and ran to the door.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked though I was excited to see them both.
“Same thing as you, I imagine,” Braden replied, and I laughed a little as we bumped fists.
“The tiny man sent for us,” Layla explained, and I could deduce for myself she was referencing Petyr. “We were on our way to breakfast when he found us and asked us to follow him.”
I smiled. If Braden and Layla were here, that meant Sleet thought they were worthy enough to be sent on whatever mission this was, and that made me giddy. Summoners were really beginning to remake their marks in history, and it was all thanks to a little bit of encouragement and proof they could actually do it if they set their minds to it, and ignore societal standards.
They followed me inside and stood beside me. No sooner had they arrived and waved to Arwyn and Varleth did the door open again, and Sleet himself walked in, followed by a face I hadn’t seen in a few months.
Keith Almasy looked a little more rough around the edges than the last time we saw him at the Garvesh Enclave, with blond stubble that poked out from his chin and hair just long enough to pull back into a slick ponytail that rested on the back of his neck. He still had that toothy grin, however, despite the dark circles beneath his eyes. Something told me the last few months patrolling Garvesh hadn’t been kind to him.
“Good morning, everyone!” Sleet greeted as he breezed by Arwyn and Gawain. He seemed rather chipper for someone who just had a bit of a blow out with one of the head councilwomen.
“I trust you all know one another,” he gestured absently.
“I know most of you,” Almasy replied, and he held up a thin box, “but I have doughnuts, so that has to count for extra good impression points, right?”
I drooled a little as he set the box down on the table and stood beside Arwyn. No one moved to open the box, so I bit the bullet, so to speak, and dove in. As stated, there were, in fact, a variety of differently flavored doughnuts inside, and I quickly snatched a cinnamon sugar one before anyone else could lay claim to it.
“Name’s Braden Flint,” Braden introduced and held his hand out to Almasy, who took it eagerly.
“Flint? That’s quite a name to live up to,” Almasy commented in regards to the trade business Braden’s family owned.
“Sure is,” Braden agreed, “and you?”
“Keith Almasy, airship pilot and Earth elementalist from Garvesh,” Almasy replied. They parted their hands after another firm shake.
“You must be Madox,” Almasy commented as he turned to face Gawain, who nodded in silence. “Friend of mine pilots one of the family ships.”
“Charming,” Gawain responded curtly, and Arwyn narrowed a look at him.
Almasy, however, didn’t seem at all bothered by it. “Poor sap. Should have stayed in the military instead of being a babysitter.”
Gawain opened his mouth to retort at the same time the whole other side of the table tried to conceal our laughter. We would have burst out in hysterics had it not been for Sleet interrupting us. He held up a hand, which effectively silenced us.
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I have gathered you here this morning,” Sleet drawled, and there was a mutual murmur of ‘yes’ around the room. “As it so happens, I have a long, possibly arduous mission I need to be carried out by some of my finest mages.”
Braden, Layla, and I looked between one another and grinned. We were considered to be ‘most fine’ by the Stormbringer himself. That was more than impressive if I did say so myself.
“Sir, what exactly is this about?” Arwyn cut in. She was in no mood to hear lengthy explanations. Either that, or she didn’t want to hear how long winded the Headmaster could be. Sleet meant well, but even I had noticed that at times it was easy for him to get derailed. Having someone like Arwyn in the room who was able to keep him on task was probably beneficial to everyone.
Sleet paused for a moment, as though he were considering how best to approach whatever it was he wanted to talk about. He hummed quietly, then closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked more focused, more intense. I’d seen this before, this no-nonsense Sleet, when he had come into the rift after Nia and me at the beginning of my time here at the Academy.
“Over the course of the last few months, we’ve come across quite a lot of new discoveries,” he began. “The first, and likely most important in the long run, is the ability to concentrate the essence certain monsters give off and compress it into a metal that reacts to mana, which we call rhin. What’s more is we have been able to craft weapons based on this newfound resource, though we are still in the testing process of how effective they are.”
Varleth, Gawain, and I all looked at our respective weapons. Did that mean Gawain’s gun was in fact already made of rhin? If that was the case it would explain why the weapon had such an odd reaction to my mana because it generally isn’t used offensively, at least, not in the traditional sense like an elementalist.
This was also stuff I already knew, though I supposed Sleet had to fill in everyone else. I already felt like I carried some kind of special knowledge no one else had.
“However, that isn’t all we’ve discovered,” Sleet continued. “Over the course of the last few months and several events, I have gotten my hands on what seems to be monster lore.”
Braden balked. “Did you say monster lore, Sir?”
“That is correct, Mr. Flint,” Sleet confirmed. “I had Mr. Prost and Mr. Gryff retrieve this.”
Sleet held up the tablet Varleth and I had stolen as detention from a group of thieves in a tavern. He then held up the book Orenn and Varleth recovered from the rift in Bathi Highlands.
“It is my belief that this tablet and this book are written in a forgotten language, one that was lost to the monsters years ago and thus lost to humans as well,” Sleet concluded.
A stunned silence fell over the group as we processed that last bit of information. It made sense, or at least, it did to me. Beyond a century ago, we knew nothing about the world of monsters, or how to protect ourselves from them, or fight back against them. It really didn’t seem all that farfetched, knowing there were, in fact, intelligent monsters out there, or that there was some sort of organized culture, or at the very least, a basic civilization before our worlds merged.
“What do the book and tablet say?” Layla questioned skeptically.
Sleet stroked his beard “We don’t know. It’s in a language we’ve never seen or heard of before recently.”
“Then how are we supposed to know what it says?” Layla pouted.
“Why don’t you let him finish instead of interrupting?” Gawain snapped, and Layla growled back.
“I’m going to smack you so hard you’ll feel it in your--”
“Let it go,” I soothed her with a firm hand on her shoulder. She bristled, but she did let it roll off her back, at least for now, and that was all I could really ask of her.
“As I was saying,” Sleet pressed on as he gave Gawain a pointed look, “I believe there are a number of translation stones out in the world that resemble this.” He held up the cipher I had brought him earlier this morning. “This, and five others are the missing piece to the puzzle.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked.
Sleet fell quiet, and I suddenly felt bad I raised the question in the first place. Everyone in the room looked at me as though I had done something awful. I didn’t understand why. It was a valid concern. Then, everyone looked at Sleet. They expected an answer.
He sighed. “I’m not.”
Something like a collectively hushed gasp filled the room before
he continued.
“What I mean to say is, I have no certain evidence this is the case, but it is the only conclusion I have,” Sleet clarified. “Having studied these first two stones, there is a distinct patterning along the edges. Extrapolated out to the natural conclusion, there should be a total of six. Now, these remaining ciphers are why I have gathered all of you here this morning.”
From there, Sleet launched into his hypothesis from when Varleth and I had spoken to him in his office. Today went by so quickly it felt like it happened yesterday. In reality, it had only been a matter of hours.
When he finished telling everyone his thoughts, I glanced around the room to gauge their reactions. As I suspected, most of them were on the fence between belief and skepticism. I couldn’t blame them. If it hadn’t happened to me personally, I would have a hard time believing what Sleet had to say on the matter, but when push came to shove, I knew the kind of mage, the kind of man Sleet was, and that spoke more to me than any amount of doubt. At the end of the day, I owed this man my life, and I’d do anything he asked of me if it was for the good of the people.
“This is bizarre,” Arwyn finally spoke up, and I could tell even though she believed him, she was trying to work out any other explanation. That was just the way her mind seemed to work. She wanted to look at all of the possible angles before making any conclusions herself. As it stood, however, she couldn’t come up with anything.
“This is where you all come in,” Sleet interjected. “Your missions are similar, but they will be vastly different. I am splitting you into pairs to hunt for the ciphers as I deem the most effective for your types of magic, as well as your performances in the Magicae Nito these past several days.”
“But, sir, what about the holiday?” Braden asked, and Layla seemed to be the only other person concerned about the break.
“That will depend entirely on how quickly you accomplish your mission, Mr. Flint,” Sleet responded. “I will pair you all off and give you your destinations. See the twins on your way out for more information about where you will be headed as well as any leads and other information pertaining to your mission. You are to retrieve the cipher and return here as soon as your mission is complete. Understood?”
We all nodded as we awaited our orders.
“Almasy and Arwyn, you’ll be headed northeast to the mountains,” Sleet informed them.
They both bowed their heads and didn’t wait for any further instructions. They were old hats at this taking orders thing. They knew what they had to do.
“Braden and Varleth, you will also be headed to the mountains, however, you will be headed southwest,” Sleet continued, and they also left without any further instruction.
That only left three of us, and I immediately saw an issue.
“Gryff and Gawain, you are tasked with headed northeast to the desert,” he instructed.
I inwardly groaned. Paired with Gawain again. I guessed it wouldn’t be so bad since we had sort of figured out how to mutually co-exist without the desire to kill one another, but I still wasn’t thrilled with the idea.
However, it led me to a whole other concern.
Layla was left without a partner. How was she supposed to be paired up with someone if there wasn’t anyone left? Maybe she was going to be paired with Sleet himself? That seemed rather unlikely, though it would have been one hell of an honor.
Layla sensed the issue as well, and a pout formed on her plush lips. “What about me, sir?”
Sleet smiled kindly. “I did not forget about you, Miss Bethel. You will have a bit of an extra step before you go on your mission.”
Her lashes fluttered wildly as she blinked at him. “What might that be, Sir?”
“I’ll need you to leave immediately,” Sleet told her. “I’ve already made the preparations for you to travel to the Hartmire Enclave via airship this afternoon.”
The three of us perked up, and Sleet chuckled.
“Yes, you will be meeting General Kenefick at the docking station, and he will personally escort you to Kenefick Manor, where you will rendezvous with Nia,” he finished.
Layla grinned ear to ear. “Score! Where are we going?”
“To the far south, Miss Bethel. I do hope you like the ocean.” Sleet smiled as he watched Layla’s eyes light up. If I had to venture a guess, she had never seen the ocean. I hadn’t either, for that matter. I’d never been further than Garvesh as far as venturing south goes.
“Yes, sir!” Layla bowed her head and shot me a wink before she bounded off to see Rae and Andi for further mission details.
I looked to Gawain, whose expression was unreadable. On one hand, he didn’t look all that excited we were being forced to team up again. On the other, he didn’t seem displeased about the decision either. I frowned and stared harder, but I still came up with nothing.
We both turned to leave to receive our mission files when Sleet stopped us.
“A moment, gentlemen,” he called.
Gawain and I turned to face him again, and Sleet walked along the side of the table closest to me.
“I have an extra task for the two of you,” Sleet uttered, and his tone was a little more hushed than it had been previously. “I’ve already sent a student in search of a fifth cipher, but I lost contact with him yesterday. If you see him along your travels, do let me know.”
I nodded. “Of course, Sir, but how will we know who we’re looking for?”
Sleet chuckled. “Well, I’d imagine your own squadmate would be recognizable to you.”
I twisted my face in confusion at first, but the longer I thought about it, the more his words made sense. There was only one person from our squad who hadn’t been in the meeting, and he hadn’t been seen around here for the last few days.
“Orenn!” My features displayed the hope that burst in my chest. He’d failed his round in the Magicae Nito, though no one could ponder any guesses as to why, and he had been devastated. I’d never seen him so crestfallen. It was heartbreaking, to say the least. It made sense it was him, though. As per the rules of the Magicae Nito, if you failed, you had to take on a solo quest to complete to keep your position in the monster response squad.
Chapter 3
My deduction about Orenn being the mysterious traveler who Sleet had lost contact with was indeed correct, as per the folders Rae gave Gawain and I as we took our leave. In accordance with the file, he was last heard from at a small hub town called Wildren on the outskirts of the Ortych Sands, and he still hadn’t recovered the piece of the cipher he was sent out to locate.
Overall, the mission seemed pretty straight forward, but like Layla, we needed to make an extra stop before we arrived at our final destination. However, instead of meeting up with Nia, Gawain and I would be meeting with an old man by the name of Nolan. Apparently, he was an old acquaintance of Headmaster Sleet’s, but they had lost contact over the years. He was said to have taken an interest in monster history, but no one had taken him seriously, including the Headmaster himself. We were to learn what we could from him before we continued on. That seemed simple enough.
I said my thanks to Rae and waved goodbye to her and her twin, who both waved back enthusiastically as I left, Gawain in tow with his own file to read over.
“We are to take horses to the village of Divine, the last known location of the old man,” Gawain read aloud, though not verbatim.
“At least we have the rest of the day to tie up any loose ends,” I reasoned. Unlike Layla, who would have to leave in the next hour if she wanted to catch the next carriage to the docking station in Varle. Hartmire, even by airship, was a few hours of travel. She would probably get there in the latter half of the afternoon and be with Nia before sundown.
“Yes, I suppose,” Gawain conceded. “In any case, I’ll take my leave. We shall meet in the stables first thing tomorrow morning. Divine is about a day’s ride from Varle according to the map in the file.”
“Okay. See you then.” I watched as Gawain walked away, his n
ose still tucked in the folder as he made it down the last few stairs before he wandered off in the direction of the dining hall.
Well, he was certainly eager. I supposed that was a good thing.
I stretched my arms over my head. There were preparations to be made, and temporary farewells to say before we hit the road the following morning.
I figured I should start with Layla since she would be the first one to leave, however, she wasn’t the first one I ran into. Arwyn and Almasy were nearby, and they chatted as they loitered in the hallway to the lab. As I approached, the stubbled man waved, and Arwyn turned to smile at me.
“Didn’t expect to see you this morning,” I told the man as I stepped up to them and offered him a proper handshake.
Almasy took my hand firmly. “Likewise. I only got in a few hours ago.”
“Been at Garvesh all this time?” I asked.
The pilot nodded and dropped my hand. “Sure have. Things are good, though. It’s been quiet since the threat of the pyrewyrm.”
“That’s good to hear,” Arwyn chimed in.
“Anyway, Sleet called me back a week early to go on this mission. Got the letter yesterday.” Almasy explained.
“So he’s had this planned for some time.” Arwyn crossed her arms in thought. “I wonder if the timing has something to do with our visitor.”
“You mean Miriam Sharpay?” I asked, and Arwyn nodded. “She left this morning back to wherever people of the council reside.”
Arwyn and Almasy shared a look as though a realization had formed in their minds.
I, however, was clearly out of the loop.
“Is that something we should be concerned about?” I questioned, and they both shook their heads.
“No, not especially,” Arwyn replied at length, “but that does explain quite a bit.”
I shook my head. “I’m not following.”
Almasy made a face, then continued where Arwyn left off. “Technically, Sleet isn’t authorized to organize operations without the consent of the council, despite his position.”
