Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3)

by Brian Wilkerson

  Second, Basilard Bladi was found dead in the Royal Mage Tower by four guards. Immediately upon discovery, the corpse attacked them and drained a unit of blood from each of them. His body radiated light, healed its injures, and released a ghoulish shout that contained dozens of voices. Then he apologized to the guards for their involuntary blood donations and paid them for it. She had to convince her staff that he wasn’t a monster either, nor a holy warrior, nor a zombie created by the previous Royal Mage. This last one was especially difficult because of rumors that her palace was a secret base for an ancient order that practiced dark arts. (The goal of said group changed with every shift in politics.)

  Third, she had to institute a media blackout on the delegate from Ozid's murder of the Queen of Latrot until she figured out a means to deal with it. No matter the reason, it was a PR catastrophe. JJ insisted on keeping the head as a war trophy!

  Fourth, she had to calm a general panic about the Order Obelisk appearing out of nowhere. Her social media department was spreading assurances that it wouldn’t steal everyone’s souls or create sleeper agents for King Epideus of Latrot. She could already imagine people accusing each of this other come the elections for the Common Council.

  Fifth, Dosh Heleti, the youngest child of the Heleti Family, was reported by his older brother to have attempted a kidnapping in her castle. She was torn between covering it up and telling his parents to punish him, and making an example out of him in a public trial. For now, she settled for Fairtheora subjecting him to Evil Eye and placing a tracker on him.

  All of this was on top of the mess at the Summit. This was her chance to demonstrate to the international community her worth as a ruler and it had turned into a display of the loose grip she had on her own castle. No one wanted to stay in an “insecure location.” None of them would have fared any better, but that didn’t stop them from complaining. Future relations would suffer for this.

  Annala’s proposal was the only good thing to come out of the affair. If it led to the establishment of Medical Mana Mutation and the saving of lives in the future, then she could be proud of this event and overlook the damage it caused in the (hopefully) short term. However, even this was tainted; the face of Medical Mana Mutation bore a Subjugation Collar that her personal ordercrafters couldn’t remove. It was unlikely that she would be allowed to enter Dnnac Ledo, much less anyone human or beastfolk.

  There was a knock on the door and Siron arose from his seat to answer it. He spoke with the guards outside, stepped back in, and closed the door.

  “Eric Watley to see you, Queen Kasile.”

  “When this crisis is over, you are dropping the ‘queen’ part.”

  A small smile graced his stoic face. “As you wish, Queen Kasile.”

  Kasile smiled back. “Bring him in.”

  Eric walked in wearing shackles on both his wrists and ankles with a chain connecting them. He was even wearing a muzzle. Royal guards flanked him and Fairtheora walked behind him. He looked sheepishly at his friend. She greeted him with a cold stare.

  “Eric Watley, you stand accused of crimes up to and including murder. The only reason you are not in a cell is that your first ‘victim’ was on death row anyway and your second wants to thank you for the opportunity to become a sower. Regardless, you attacked and injured many of my citizens because you went on a rampage in your grendel form. I can’t let that go unpunished. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  One of the guards removed his muzzle and, as he did so, he took great care to keep his fingers away from Eric’s mouth. Once finished, he retracted them immediately.

  “Find Gruffle! He’s responsible for this. He provoked me.”

  Kasile stood up, pounded on her desk, and flames sprouted from her hands.

  “This isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation! The last time you came to Ataidar, you killed someone because he threatened your friend. Because of the circumstances, I pardoned you. Today, you committed the same crime for the same reason. I can’t pardon you again.”

  “But—”

  “That woman was unrelated to this mess! If you want to be treated like a sapient, then you have to take responsibility for your actions!”

  She sat down, spread her skirts, and moved a strand of hair behind her ear. As she breathed in, then out, the ambient temperature of the room decreased to a tolerable level. She gestured to Siron and he spoke for her.

  “You will be tried by a shadow jury because no one wants you to know their identity and the judge will be Queen Kasile herself. If you are found guilty, then she will decide the punishment. Until then, you will be watched by Royal Sentinel Fairtheora for as long as he deems you a threat to public safety. If he does, then he will kill you.”

  “Great, great… now Lawful Scary decides my fate?”

  “Yes.”

  He’s not really authorized to kill me, right?

  The wellbeing of my subjects is always at the forefront of my mind. You know better than anyone how important this duty is to me. Consider him a guest star party member for Team Four.

  Your Majesty is too generous.

  If we were alone, I’d smack you. Go. Your teammates are waiting in the courtyard.

  “Release him and return him to his guild.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  The two soldiers used two keys to unlock Eric’s cuffs and Fairtheora gestured to the door. Eric walked out, followed closely by the armored orc.

  Just like this morning, the air was filled with many and diverse kinds of airships. The delegates were all leaving and many of them left with poor opinions of their host. It took substantial willpower to ignore the urge to remove these threats to his little sister.

  Just as Kasile said, his team waited for him in the courtyard. Annala was there as well and she was guarded by the Ordercrafter team. He made a beeline for her, but Kimberly blocked his path. He growled and Fairtheora smacked him.

  “Congratulations on your conditional release, Mr. Watley,” Kimberly said. “There are certain things I must explain to you regarding the condition of Miss Enaz.”

  “There’s a collar. Nulso collared her. I’m going to tear him apart!”

  Fairtheora smacked him a second time.

  “Self-control, Mr. Watley,” Fairtheora said. “In your case, I have a license to kill.”

  “Yes, Mr. Watley, there is a collar. It serves a number of functions. First, it is a tracking beacon that informs the master of the slave's location no matter where they are in the world. Fortunately, the owner is currently inside one of the castle’s cells, so this information is of no use to him.”

  “You arrested him? Why isn’t he dead? He’s more dangerous than I am.”

  “He will stand trial for his actions just like you will. Moving on, the second function suppresses both her mana supply and spiritual power. This means she will be unable to use any sort of supernatural ability such as her Death Killer bow.”

  Eric bashed his grendel fists together and generated a mana bolt between them. Then he collapsed the latter and reverted the former. “My power will be enough for both of us.”

  “I should hope so. Third is a special feature unique to this collar that suppresses her Seed of Chaos. Normally, this would simply make her unable to shapeshift, but in her case, she will eventually cease to be an elf.”

  This news was so shameful for Annala that she hid her face. In contrast, Eric thought of the thousand and one things that could now fatally harm her, and Samael's remark that she used to be a daredevil.

  “That would kill her!”

  “Not for some decades. It is the fourth and final feature that is the most worrisome; mental conditioning. It alters her mind into that of a slave who is emotionally dependent on the owner of the collar and thus happy to serve whoever that happens to be.”

  Eric’s eyes slitted. “Then remove it now!” His eyes returned to human shape. “I mean, I’m sure you and your team have the situation under control. Is there anything else
?”

  “Yes, there is. You noticed that I said ‘the owner of the collar’ or 'the master' instead of ‘Nulso’ or ‘Order,’ correct?” Eric nodded. “There’s a reason for that.”

  “You want me to be the owner? You want me to be…”

  His throat closed at the notion.

  “At the moment, we cannot remove the collar because its unique construction is not within our training. We will research a solution, but in the meantime, we will minimize its effects by switching ownership. Technically, we are ‘restoring’ ownership to the legitimate owner.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Kimberly produced two strips of black velvet and an amber stone set in gold. “You gave Miss Enaz a collar of your own before the Summit, did you not?”

  “That was a gift! It wasn’t—”

  “Hear me out, Mr. Watley. Shortly before Nulso forced his collar on Miss Enaz, she said he acknowledged your claim. She replied that she would rather address you as ‘master’ than him. This gives us the precedent we need to switch ownership. It’s called ‘Property of Love.’ All we need to do is perform a brief ritual.”

  “Would Order really buy that?”

  “Order has a certain respect for free will. He wishes that all things surrendered it to him voluntarily. After all, a willing and happy slave is a more stable relationship than an unwilling and angry one because the latter will sabotage the master and/or attempt escape. Order desires stability over subjugation and thus prefers slaves and masters to have a healthy relationship.”

  “Uh…Annala, what do you think about this?”

  The ordercrafters finally parted to reveal her. The collar glowed faintly and her hair was dimmer than usual. The white strand stood out among the dull gold. She started to say something, then paused and looked away while tugging her ear. Finally, she said, “I don’t want to be anyone’s slave, but…If I had to choose…there are worse people….I mean, this is just a high school relationship and even though you….did stuff….not that stuff!…I mean...” She stopped again and tugged her ear again. “I prefer you to Nulso at any rate.”

  To Kimberly, Eric asked, “This is just temporary, right?”

  “Yes. It will be necessary until we devise a solution. We will work with the leading experts in the field in order to overcome the collar’s effects. One of these experts is her mother and another is her patron deity. Thus, I am confident that both motivation and resources for this project are plentiful. Do you accept the responsibility?”

  “Yes, I…wait? Hey, Lawful Scary, can I accept? I don’t want to break any custody laws.”

  “Yes, you can,” Fairtheora said in his deep and booming voice. “No, it does not.”

  “Then I accept the responsibility.”

  Kimberly issued orders to her subordinates and they formed a box enclosure around the pair, with herself standing between them. The four generated pillars of Order’s nonlight and transmitted beams of it to each other with their left hands, receiving them with their right. Once they were connected, they transmitted a similar beam to the collar from their foreheads. Kimberly placed one hand on each of the teenager's heads and began the ritual.

  “Mr. Watley, ask her ‘will you be my slave until such a day that I release you?’.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Yes. Order is a stickler for rules and protocol.”

  Eric took deep breath. “Annala Enaz.”

  “Y-yes?”

  “WillyoubemyslaveuntilsuchadaythatIreleaseyou?”

  “Close enough. Miss Enaz, say ‘Yes, I freely give myself and my future to you.’”

  Annala took deep breath. “YesIfreelygivemyselfandmyfuturetoyou.”

  An ethereal chain link leading from the gem on Annala’s collar to the castle’s dungeon underground appeared and shattered into countless motes of light. Kimberly tapped the gem, pulled a new leash from it, and wrapped it around Eric’s right wrist.

  “Mr. Watley, tug twice on the leash; Miss Enaz, take two steps forward after he does so.”

  Eric, so afraid that he’d hurt Annala, barely moved the string at all. Annala, so embarrassed at the whole affair, took two tiny steps forward while looking at the castle. Nonetheless, the leash flashed once and disappeared.

  “The contract is complete. Miss Enaz, aside from use of magic and any orders Mr. Watley gives, you should be able to go about your daily life as normal. The behavioral changes inflicted by the collar will not take effect until your Seed of Chaos has been suppressed and, even then, you could resist it for some time, depending on your spiritual strength. Hopefully, the solution will be ready before that time and so it will be a moot point. Do you have any questions?”

  Annala shook her head.

  “Mr. Watley, the law compels me to remind you that while Order recognizes Miss Enaz as your slave, the government of Ataidar does not. If you treat her like a slave, then you will be charged with unlawful enslavement and punished accordingly. This includes sexual intercourse because the collar makes ‘consent’ impossible. Understand?”

  Red in the face, Eric said, “Yes, I do.”

  “Also, you will be one hundred percent liable for Miss Enaz during this period because she will be less able to defend herself and unable to refuse any orders you give her. Do not worry about watching your language: figures of speech, rhetorical questions, etc. do not count as ‘orders.’ For instance, if you say ‘paint the town red’ she will not grab a paintbrush unless you say ‘I order you to paint the town red.’ Do you have any questions?”

  Eric shook his head.

  “I have a question!” Tiza said. “Are you done yet? I’m bored and I’m hungry and I want to fight something.”

  “One more thing. Mr. Watley, because this is a formal event, you must dismiss Miss Enaz from your presence. If you want to share company later, as friends, then a dismal is not needed.”

  “Annala, you….Wait, couldn’t I say ‘dismissed from my service’ to unlock the collar?”

  “No. It is understood that the owner would have a key, passcode, or some other secure means if they wished to free their slave. We will utilize enhanced interrogation techniques to persuade Nulso to share such knowledge if it exists.”

  Eric recognized that “enhanced interrogation techniques” referred to “torture” and that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Nulso was a threat to himself, to his girlfriend, to his country, and to other ordercrafters because he made them look like crazy power junkies. Thus, according to his monster morality, torturing him was justified, but he didn't think it would work. Even on normal people, torture wasn’t likely to work, and Nulso was a nigh invulnerable super human.

  “Okay, then. Annala, you are dismissed from my presence.”

  Annala smiled puckishly and curtsied unnecessarily deep. “Thank you, my Lord Eric. I shall await your next command with an eager heart.”

  She twirled around and sashayed out of the castle. Eric watched her go.

  “Maybe I should escort her home…Just in case.”

  “No,” Basilard said. “You are going home as well.”

  His mentor bore a resemblance to a chicken after it was chewed up by a dog. He assured them that he was fine and explained the mechanics of Bladi biology on the way back to the guild. Eric summed it up as “vampire healing” and asked Nolien if this made sense.

  He had to repeat himself before Nolien heard him. The healer was too lost in thought to respond the first time. On the second time, he answered and then returned to his own world.

  His younger brother made a deal with Order and likely Prince Lunas to kidnap his best friend. If he was right, then Dosh was also behind the attempt on his own life and his own debt to Order. While their rivalry had been intense, it had always been between them. The exception was school crushes, but even there, he wouldn’t stoop to sabotage.

  He dearly wanted to warn his teammates about his compromised nature but a geis silenced him on that subject. He couldn’t even plan a way to bring up something relat
ed because the geis was smart enough to tell what he was planning. For now, he was happy that Tiza was safe. He was happier still when Mia gave them their payment: castle missions paid very well.

  Training came next, as always. New spells, new techniques, and new formations to deal with new enemies were the subjects of this session. The only difference was Fairtheora watching them. Eric transformed during sparring and he didn’t blink. Al and Meg stepped in to tickle him and he didn’t react, not even when they stuck their fingers up his nose. They were about to doodle on his armor when he released a low but potent killing intent. They wet themselves and scurried out of the training hall.

  After training, Fairtheora followed the mercenaries to the mess hall, but he refused to eat or drink anything given to him by the cook. He just stood off to the side of Eric’s table. After dinner, Eric parted with his teammates, but Fairtheora followed him all the way home. There he stopped and stood on the bridge above Eric's house. For all Eric knew, he was going to sleep up there, if he did indeed sleep. After such a long day, Eric was glad to fall on his bed.

  Riding a horse across a prairie: grass, trees, celery, and other things. He wasn’t wearing his usual mage armor but plate mail and he carried a broad sword instead of a staff. His horse galloped towards a mountain in the distance and arrived far too soon. He dismounted without difficulty and said, “Thank you Magic Bullet. I must do the rest alone.”

  He marched up the mountain with ease despite his heavy armor. Every living thing fled in fear at the sight of him. No matter how tall the mountain, he climbed without difficulty or strain for he was empowered. Falling rocks smashed themselves to pieces on his head and arms. At the peak of the mountain, he found his destination.

  It was cold inside the cave where the sun did not reach. His metal armor chilled him despite padding, but his heart warmed his spirit in opposition to his body’s frailty. When he came to a door marked by the Eye of Order, he kicked it off its hinges and the heavy oak crashed to the stone floor. The clatter startled the room’s two occupants: a humanoid monster with metal skin and an elf in a pink gown. The latter was tied up and on a leash held by the former.