by Tao Wong
And then I got my wish, as both of them turned to regard me. My throat went dry as they looked at me as if expecting me to speak.
I struggled for a second and cleared my throat before I spoke. “Look. I don’t know about tradition or what magic is better. Well, I do, sort of. Because Lily is right. She teaches magic, pure magic. I’ve got… information, spells, data rattling around my head. And sometimes what I learn from the Mages isn’t right, and what I have works better.
“And yeah, I’m taking their apprentice test. But that’s because they offered to let me take it. Offered to teach me.” I drew a deep breath and plunged on, not entirely sure where I was going with this, but knowing that I needed to finish talking before they decided to interrupt me. “And you guys never did. You just watched over me, thinking somehow I’d join you guys for some reason? Hell, I never even talked to you or your guardians. As far as I could tell, you guys wanted me dead as much as the Templars did.
“So maybe I figured the Mage Council was my only choice because they were the only ones to offer another option. Now that you’re actually talking to me, well, things have changed, no? And maybe we’ll be able to talk about different choices. But even if there isn’t, why does everyone think I’m going to go lockstep with the Council? They’re a bunch of arrogant asses.”
I ran out of breath and grabbed my cup, draining it to fill my dry mouth and to find something, anything to do. When I set down my cup, the trio were sharing looks between one another before standing.
“What?” I said.
“I believe we’ve learnt all we needed to,” Osian said.
Chunta snorted at me, striding to the door, not even waiting for his companions to catch up. Alexa watched over the group as they left—a little more politely in the other two’s cases, but just as quickly. In short order, the three of us were alone once again.
After I flopped onto the couch with a newly retrieved can of pop, I placed it on my head and groaned softly. “I screwed up, didn’t I?”
“I’m not sure there was anything you could ever do,” Alexa said, letting the window blinds she’d been peering out of close.
“Osian and Milli looked to be open to changing their minds—”
“Milli was here to see me,” Lily said. “I don’t think whatever you did or said made a difference. Once she gauged my strength, she’d made up her mind.”
“How…” I clamped my lips shut. I wasn’t sure I agreed with her evaluation. Certainly, I didn’t see anything that Milli had done that warranted that belief. “But is it because I’m getting close to the Mages? Is that the reason for all this?”
Alexa shrugged. “Maybe. Or it could be a good excuse. It could be that the deals are done, that the balance of those wanting you dead has tipped.”
I sighed plaintively. “Hopefully they’ll reconsider. Maybe, maybe they’ll even help.”
Alexa looked at me pityingly but eventually relented. “Maybe.”
Chapter 8
“Fancy seeing you here this early,” I greeted Caleb, my sort-of teacher. And it was early—we’d barely started breakfast before the knocking on the door.
“What did you say to the pagans?” Caleb snapped, pushing his way in.
I sighed again. One of the aspects of my wards were that I’d keyed them to allow in those with no hostile intent. While it’d be simple enough for someone at Caleb’s level to spoof the spell, he—like our earlier visitors—was still limited by Lily. And anyone at my strength level would find it hard to beat my wards.
“What happened?” I said, growing serious. I saw how agitated the Mage was in the way he looked at me, the way he stomped past me, barely even glancing at Lily or Alexa in their morning clothes. Which was a bit of a sight since Lily was in a pink bunny onesie and Alexa was already dressed for her morning exercises.
“They withdrew their support this morning,” Caleb said, lips pursing. “As did two-thirds of those watching over you. Even the Templars have indicated that the Orders are in discussion if they should continue to support us.”
“Wait. What? I thought they wanted the ring…” I looked at Alexa. I wasn’t entirely sure why they wanted the ring. They’d never really explained it.
At my look, Alexa shrugged.
“They did. But they’re not as large as they used to be, and there are concerns that losing more people to protect, well, you isn’t worth it.” Caleb’s eyes narrowed as he continued. “I’ve been called back to speak to the Council itself. On the same topic.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you guys abandoning me too?”
“No. Not if I have anything to say about it,” Caleb stated. “But some assurances would be reassuring.”
“Assurances on what?”
“That you’ll join us. That when you’re done with the ring, you’ll pass it on to our safekeeping.” Caleb raised a finger. “No matter what they say of us, we are good at keeping the really bad artifacts out of circulation.”
“Bad artifacts?”
“Yes. Like Blackbeard’s Chest. Muhammad’s Pot. The Strangling Rope of Kuching.”
“Never heard of them.”
“Exactly!”
Rather than reply to Caleb, I looked at Lily, who shrugged. “He’s not wrong. The Mage Council’s Vault of Unending Space is well-known to be very secure.”
I gave Lily a curt nod before looking at Caleb, muttering to stall for time as my mind swirled, “You know that the reason we’re getting so much pushback is because the Mage Council is trying to take it all. Everyone’s worried that I’m tilting too much in your favor. That it isn’t going to be a fair competition in the end and you guys are all going to pile on.”
Caleb shrugged. “Lily’s knowledge is certainly a draw for us. As is the ring and the powers it holds. But understand, we’re as interested in you. Despite your unorthodox introduction to our world, you’ve adapted well. Your magic—your spells—give you an unprecedented flexibility, especially compared to our own apprentices. Already we’re adjusting the lessons we provide from our reports. I expect great things from you. As do many on the Council.”
I noted how Caleb was avoiding the point I was trying to make, trying to butter me up. Not that it didn’t help. The usual taciturn Mage was actually complimenting me, which was a nice change. But… “I don’t know. You’re pretty nice, but I’m not sure I’d want to be made part of your Council. I barely know them.”
“Then meet us.”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t provide us any reassurance, trying to convince the Council to dedicate more resources will be difficult. At best. We might even be forced to back off.”
“I know.”
Caleb stared at me, letting his gaze do all the talking. But I refused to turn away from him or change my mind, and in the end, Caleb walked out, tutting to himself. I stayed serious till he was gone, then I broke into laughter as Lily mimicked Caleb’s last moments, tutting and tapping her foot, arms beneath her breasts.
“Stop. Please,” I said.
“But I’m so disappointed in you,” Lily whined in a gruffer voice.
Alexa giggled, covering her mouth, and I laughed. For a time, we shared a laugh, then we turned to our food. Only when we were done and cleaning up did we turn our thoughts to our visit.
“Are you sure you don’t want to meet the Council?” Alexa said, cocking her head.
“Mostly. They’re… dangerous,” I said. “Even if Lily can kick any one of their asses—”
“Or all of them!”
Ignoring Lily, I continued. “Going into their place of power would put even her at a disadvantage. They’ve had hundreds of years to layer defenses. I’m not sure even she could stop them from killing me if they wanted to.”
“Right…” Alexa cocked her head to the side. “Sorry, I’m just used to Lily being, well, Lily.”
“She’s powerful, but not omnipotent,” I said. “Un
til I can escape by myself, I won’t put myself in such a situation.”
“But we’re going to lose all our support.” Alexa looked at the door and what lay behind. “Do you think the government…?”
“They’ll stay out of it.” After placing the dish in the drying rack with the rest of the plates, I wiped my hands dry and stepped away from the sink. “That’s their modus operandi, no? They leave us to deal with one another, while keeping an eye that things don’t get out of hand. It’s too much trouble to get rid of us, especially when the supernatural world is slowly dying out.”
Alexa made a face but had to agree. As powerful as magic was, as powerful as we were individually, humanity had the numbers and the technology to more than even the odds. It was why the supernatural world lived peacefully alongside humanity. For the most part. There were still a few countries run by supernaturals, but it was often in the background, as puppeteers rather than the face.
“Then what do we do?” Alexa said as she poured herself another cup of coffee.
“Well, the Mages and the Order haven’t left yet. So I figure we should look at what we can do to upgrade our defenses,” I said, looking around our house, eyeing the now-quiet wards. To make sure we didn’t have to pay the damage deposit, when I created the wards, I’d actually painted them on using a metallic paint. Where I could, on particularly worrisome areas—like our front door and the frame—I’d carved into the wood itself. But for the most part, the wards were anchored by paint and Mana, which I had to admit was not the most powerful method. “For that, we’ll need more—”
“Money.” Alexa nodded. “I’ll go find some quests then.”
I nodded, walking over to my computer. Time to check the good old job board.
***
It was interesting how more and more work had transferred over to the job board in the last couple of years. At first, only edge cases and those desperate for trivial help posted on the board. But as people got used to it, more and more jobs were posted. It helped that Bast, the board owner, had upgraded functionality and now, everyone who used the board had their own profile. Jobs were graded according to their difficulty, and those looking to take the jobs were also graded on their profile as they completed each job publicly.
To keep up with the growth of the job postings, Bast had even taken to outsourcing the work, with each local region having their own moderators who reviewed profiles, made sure no one doubled-up on profiles, and that all jobs were appropriately categorized. The last was probably the biggest concern, since a badly categorized job could lead to harm or a failure due to no fault of the job-taker. It was why ratings had been created for both sides.
The last reason the job board was popular was due to the fact that all high-tier jobs were verified by Bast herself, which made taking those jobs much less risky. Of course, to get the right to do those jobs—or post them—the various groups had to work themselves up, ensuring a high clear rate on the board.
All of which meant I had a chance to view the wide variety of jobs now available for someone like me. It was part of why El didn’t see me that much anymore, since I was rather busy. This time around though, I changed my filter settings.
Normally, I filtered for complex, decently paying jobs with no violence involved. Since I wasn’t a traditional RPG character, I didn’t need to kill things to Level up. And while combat would increase my Level, it was only because I was getting better at casting spells under duress—combining knowledge that had been inserted into my brain with the knowledge that I’d learned and teased apart in my studies. It wasn’t because I was getting some weird “experience” from fighting.
As such, I generally avoided violent missions. Of course, as one of the stronger supernaturals in town—at least, stronger freelancing supernaturals—I often ended up dealing with the really nasty problems anyway. But most of those were by personal request rather than choice.
Today was different.
Today, I looked for jobs that were high paying and could be completed in a day or less. Which, obviously, meant no gathering jobs, no ward reinforcement or enchantment fixing, no alchemical potions needing to be brewed or artist’s show being developed. No. It meant dealing with the kind of things that the sane didn’t want to deal with.
A supernatural fungal infestation in an alchemist warehouse that had grown semi-sentient and carnivorous.
An escaped chimera.
A new gang of redcaps making their presence known in the south west, mostly preying on teenagers by selling the latest drug.
Reports of a shadow creature moving in and out of bedrooms in a local neighborhood. Leaving behind the occasional smothered corpse and a lot of nightmares.
There were other reports, but these were the best paying. Over the next few hours, I reviewed information about each job. Just because a job was generally correct in its initial description did not mean that the details didn’t paint a different picture.
The fungal infestation post had been up for three months, with two others having attempted to clear the infection. Initially, the in-house alchemist had come up with a potion to destroy the fungus and it had worked. Except for a small, unnoticed portion that had escaped the cleansing. When the fungus came back, it was resistant to the alchemical potion and the two other potions the in-house alchemist came up with. By that point, the warehouse had to be abandoned and the job put up. The first applicant to try to cleanse the warehouse was a shaman who’d brought numerous spirits to play, destroying the spiritual nexus of the fungus. Of course, that didn’t work that well—for one thing, the spiritual body of a fungus was both nearly non-existent by nature and also quite hardy. The fungus had, once again, managed to escape total destruction. The next job-seeker was actually a group of sentient slimes who’d scoured the entire location. Until the fungus, having mutated again, drove the slimes away by destroying half of them.
“So. Carnivorous, semi-sentient, able to fight off slimes. And the job is rated a high C.” I snorted in amusement. It might have started as a simple D rank problem, but by now, the job was approaching Bast level of attention. “Not touching this one with a ten-foot pole. Especially since the damn company still wants their goods ‘intact.’”
Next up was the redcaps. A quick review of the job had me steering clear. Among other things, it looked like the reason why it was paying so much was because the local neighborhood supes had spotted a lot more mundane heat. Considering my current problems, getting entangled in a sting operation wasn’t a good idea. Better to let that play out.
The shadow creature, on the other hand, was a nighttime problem. It was also inconsistent, which meant I’d need to access the homes of people who might—or might not—believe I was there to help, set up wards, and try to track the creature. If I was lucky, there was enough of a signature for that to happen. More likely, I’d be forced to set up large scale tracking wards and hope to catch it. Either way, not a quick solution. Which meant it shouldn’t have been categorised as a ‘quick’ job. The joy of job hunting – no one ever categorised things properly.
That left the most dangerous—a solid C+ bordering on B—quest. Killing the chimera. The good news was, it had everything I needed—its lair was known, the payment was in an escrow account already, and I only needed to kill it because the chimera had gone feral. The bad news was that it was a chimera, which meant my magic would be less than useful due to its natural resistances.
“Alexa. Chimera?”
The blonde blinked, absently drying her hair after her shower. “Are you asking what they are or if we should fight one?”
“Fight. There’s a quest for it.”
“I’ll have to do most of the work…” Alexa grinned. “Like usual.”
“Funny. Let’s get ready. And bring your net.”
***
The chimera had gone to ground close by where it had escaped—in High Park, a small oasis of greenery in our urban jungle. The park was popular among joggers and hike
rs since it consisted of a trio of rolling hills with a jogging track circling the lower areas of the hills and rising over them occasionally. It was a good three mile workout if you ran the entire park, and I’d been there a couple of times during the summer months with Alexa.
Inside the park, off the main path, were dirt trails, kept in condition for those looking for more of a challenge and a greener run. I had to admit I much preferred jogging on the paths. The lack of tripping hazards and cobwebs to the face made me happy.
Alexa, on the other hand, was perfectly at ease walking on the dirt trails, her spear shaft used as a walking stick as we made our way deeper into the woods. We walked forward in silence, keeping an eye out for potential trouble, even if the job posting had indicated the chimera was lying low for the moment.
By the time we left the well-trod path, signs of the chimera’s presence were making themselves known. First and foremost was the lack of noise. Not that the park was that noisy, but the occasional bird call, the scamper of a squirrel, or the buzzing of insects was gone entirely. None of them wanted anything to do with the chimera.
Next was the smell. It started out subtle, a hint of wet dog, and grew until it almost choked me with its intensity. That the smell was as much in my mind from the corrupted Mana the creature exuded did little for my gag reflex. Still, at least we knew we were on the right track.
“Net?” I said, gesturing to Alexa.
The blonde nodded and pulled off her bag, getting her equipment ready. I unslung my bag from both shoulders too, pulling the zipper wide but not reaching for any of my warding blocks. We’d discussed our optimal strategy on the drive over, and now, we needed to get close to verify its presence.
As a magical construct, chimeras had a few notable characteristics that made them difficult opponents for Mages. They were highly resistant to any magic cast on and at them. Even a spell like Mana bolt or fire bolt would find its effectiveness greatly reduced as the miasmic Mana the chimera exuded corrupted and broke down the spell forms. Closer to the chimera’s body, the bolt would deflect or shift away, the power within dispersing. In some cases, chimeras were known to even gain strength from magic wielded against it. The most effective means of dealing with a chimera was via overwhelming force, using elemental bolts or force pushes and releasing the spells just before hitting the creature.