by Peri Akman
Heavy, stiff, and itchy, Quinn made an effort to move properly. Putting his socks on alone was very annoying, just too much friction. He was almost happy there were no mirrors nearby. He probably looked ridiculous.
He was about halfway back to the temple when Ser Hero caught his attention. This Ser Hero was seven feet tall, with red spiked hair, porcelain skin, a soft face and, of course, the familiar eyes, currently a pale pink.
“Master of the Summonings!” Ser Hero called, a monster heads gruesomely stuck on their sword.
Quinn gave a half wave. “Didn’t I send you off just a half-hour ago?”
“Correct, tiny and weak Summoner of Haldon.” Ser Hero nodded vigorously.
They said nothing else.
Quinn shifted his weight. “Uh… did you just come to say hello to me?”
Ser Hero forced a painful smile. “I am in great confusion.”
Nothing else. Quinn clapped his hands together. “Tell me what’s wrong!”
Immediately Ser Hero relaxed, almost as if the order was all they needed to experience relief.
“I am perfectly fine now actually, now that I can tell you what’s wrong—” Ser Hero proclaimed proudly, before stopping abruptly, cross-eyed.
Quinn groaned. “Get to the point!”
“I can only be fine if I can tell you something is wrong but there is nothing wrong once I can tell you it!” Ser Hero said in a panicked voice.
“Then what WAS wrong? Just a few minutes ago? By the gods, you’re impossible!” Quinn exclaimed, flailing his arms.
Ser Hero took another breath of relief. “I was worried because my job was done, and then I lost any purpose I had for existing. Ser Hero always needs an existence! Otherwise what am I but a husk of a Ser Hero?”
Quinn blinked in confusion. “So… when you have no goal… you shut down?”
“It is not just me, puffy-haired creator, Ser Crystal Flake is the same way!” Ser Hero proclaimed.
“Ser… who?” Quinn asked dully.
“My noble steed, of course! Ser Crystal Flake! Without orders, Ser Crystal Flake would also be just as stressed and in pain as I!” Ser Hero waved their sword around, blood spattering the ground.
Quinn deeply wished he could summon two things at once. That way he could summon a giant fish and slap Ser Hero with it.
“You named a monster. Crystal Flake,” Quinn stated back.
“Ser Crystal Flake!” Ser Hero corrected.
“Riiight. Look, go kill more monsters and demons. It’s not that hard.” Quinn muttered, turning to leave.
“I did that already, Freckled Master of the Monsters,” Ser Hero replied.
Quinn frowned and turned around. “All of them?”
“All in these fine mountains! Should I perhaps go further?” Ser Hero asked.
Quinn stared at him. “You’re joking, right? You’re honestly telling me you killed them all?”
“They could be hiding very very extremely well, Young Master Quinn,” Ser Hero said brightly.
“Right,” Quinn replied, rolling his eyes. He gave an airy wave, and Ser Hero disappeared. He could deal with that later. Either all the monsters were gone and he was going to be the biggest monster destroyer in all of history, or they were hiding somewhere.
They were probably hiding somewhere.
Or maybe the demons were doing something? When they first got here, the demons were literally riding the monsters, but neither they nor Ser Hero had encountered anything like that since.
With that weird underwater nest-egg-portal thing, maybe they were doing something like… feeding on the monsters?
Yeah, that seemed plausible.
The rest of the walk was uneventful, but Ser Hero didn’t seem to be lying—there were no monsters or demons. Quinn saw a deer and nearly jumped, thinking it was some brown-skinned quadruped monster.
He kept an eye out anyway, trying to find something, anything, that might be monstrous or demonic in nature, but saw nothing.
He felt a calming sensation as soon as he reached the temple. Part of it was associative; he had grown to like this place a great deal in the month (month? Seriously, a month?) he had been visiting, but there was also the combined magic juice of all the empaths making the place superficially calm.
He had gotten far more acclimated at picking it out and understanding its nuances with every trip he took here. It seemed strange he would ever confuse it with the demonic cast-dwarfing sensation.
It wasn’t pleasant per se, but it was, well, calming. Yes, the calming effect was calming. Sure, it was really obvious, but considering how it had put him on edge at first, it was actually a nice thing to realize.
His emotions were being moderately shifted, and that was okay. It didn’t change who he was, and it certainly didn’t stop him from casting magic.
Granted, he felt a bit petty over the fact that he was so bothered by the effects of the demons. As it turned out, he got off immensely easy. His powers were so external that he had a far easier time casting spells of any sort than internal warlocks.
Void, if Kole was indeed internal, she probably had a tougher time even when she had access to his powers.
Yven greeted him outside.
Quinn grinned at them and waved, jogging to meet them.
“Hello Quinn. Back again so soon? Did you run out of food?” Yven asked, their polite smile faltering slightly.
They were probably put off by Quinn’s slightly damp, slightly uncomfortable strut.
“We… Kole and I… found it. We found the place where the demons are coming from.” Quinn said, fighting for breath.
Yven’s eyes widened. “What—where—how?”
“Bottom of the lake. By sheer dumb luck,” Quinn replied.
Yven hurried him into the temple, and, while the overwhelming energy was still calming, Yven emitted some degree of excitement, which in turn excited Quinn.
The excitement was slowly echoed throughout the halls.
“Yven, are there other warlocks here yet?” Quinn asked, now a bit jittery.
Yven thought for a moment. “I think there were a few who arrived a couple of days ago. We were keeping them away, as per your master’s request.”
Quinn frowned at Yven. “Kole only had an issue with Dale.”
“Yes, well, Dale of Javier has indeed come back, with a few others, and we figured it would be… prudent to not shake that nest again.” Yven spoke carefully.
That was… kind of rude. Just because Kole had issues didn’t mean they should be left in the dark. This was important stuff!
It was probably all that empathic nonsense. Didn’t want another fight or a blow-up or something unpredictable.
“Eh, okay. That makes sense,” Quinn lied. “Can I go see them, then? I’d like to prep them and stuff.”
And to tell Dale to shut up and shove it. If they were going to work together there would have to be rules, and boundaries, and maybe not ordering Cosime around all the time.
Because otherwise they would not only be stuck together, but he knew for a fact that Kole would outright refuse to be professional about it. She’d get all rigid and shakey again. Which probably was not something she wanted to do, to be perfectly fair, but it meant Quinn had to pick up the slack.
Yven nodded. “Of course you may. They’re in the west wing—hang on.”
They waved towards one of the guards.
“Yven.” The guard nodded. She was muscular, dark, and had an immensely crooked nose.
“Festrethe, this is Quinn of Haldon, you know him, yes?” Yven placed their hand on Quinn’s shoulder.
“Tch. Sure I do. He only naps in this hall about twice a week.” Festrethe sneered, looking directly at Quinn.
Quinn briefly surveyed her garb—no sigil on it, which meant she wasn’t a warlock. She was probably magic positive then, if she was here in the temple. Or just really into the Prismatic religion.
Or maybe she was sent here for some other reason. It was possible they were sen
ding city guards up now. But it was way more likely she was just magic positive. Quinn needed to stop overthinking things. That was Kole’s job, not his!
“Festrethe.” Yven stated neutrally, their smile faltering.
“Hey hey, it was a joke. He knows I’m joking, right?” Festrethe raised her hands defensively.
The two turned to Quinn expectantly. Quinn stared at them back, having evidently missed some important social cue.
“Uh… can I just… go get the warlocks?” Quinn asked, feeling awkward.
Yven nodded and gestured them away.
Festrethe groaned and started walking. “Who are we getting again?” she asked.
“The warlocks who are here to help with the demon problem,” Quinn recited dully.
“Riiiight. So black void lady and the windy fella.” Festrethe nodded, pleased with her memory.
Windy Fella?
No… it couldn’t be.
Could it?
“Onward, you!” Festrethe ordered to Quinn, her dramatic pointing probably resulting from her already having forgotten Quinn’s name.
Quinn nodded and followed up. Time would tell whether he would have to deal with two warlocks who hated Kole or not.
Chapter Twenty-One
Festrethe got lost several times, but eventually she set them on the right path. She talked about some of the ongoing drama in the temple, but most of it went over Quinn’s head. Something about an “anti-transcendentalist conspiracy that was corrupting the establishment of integrity”, whatever that meant.
Quinn kept craning his head, half expecting to see Asim of Trell at any corner or around any turn. By the time they made it to the west wing, Quinn’s head was in a war, half convinced that it had to be Wind Walker here and half convinced that he needed to stop fooling himself.
And then he saw her, leaning against a banister, reading a book from the library.
Quinn brightened, and dashed past Festrethe.
“Hey!” Quinn called out, grinning widely from ear to ear.
Kay had cut her hair since they last met. The dirty blonde hair had previously been long enough to braid, and now it barely went to her ears. Unlike Quinn, she had not kept her school garb, and seemed to be wearing something completely new. It was a dark brown duster, with at least three sets of pockets, and a belt of the same material loosely tied around her waist. The shirt underneath it was a similar earthlike tone. Large black boots reached up to her knees, giving her at least an extra inch on him. There was an odd way it was bent around her though… had she gotten a personally tailored outfit? It looked like she had.
His eyes darted to where Kay’s thumb was in the book. It seemed like she had barely gotten a few pages in. Had she just picked up a random book and started reading?
Kay stared at Quinn with a complete lack of recognition. “Uh. Hello.”
Festrethe seemed to have no realization of the interactions. “This is the windy guy’s apprentice. And this is the apprentice in charge of taking on the demons.”
Quinn narrowed his eyes at Kay. She seriously didn’t remember him? Seriously? It had been two months! At the most! That wasn't nearly enough time for anyone to forget anyone!
Kay stared blankly back. She closed the book she was reading and placed it by her side, her blank face not changing for a second. If it hadn’t been for her glowing red swirl tattoo, Quinn would have thought he had mistaken some random person’s identity.
“I think you can take it from here,” Festrethe reported cheerfully, and turned away with a near flourish.
“I'm not that forgettable, you know!” Quinn cried out, angry.
Kay put her hands up in defense. “Hey, sir… look, calm down. Now where did we meet—”
“IN THE ACADEMY!” Quinn practically screamed out.
Kay’s eyes momentarily darted downwards, and then back up.
“Oh. You’re wearing the uniform.” she said quietly.
“I… YES!” Quinn continued his tirade. “This isn’t some affinity I have, you’re just a jerk!”
Kay narrowed her eyes, and slowly raised an eyebrow. “…Hogarth?”
“QUINN!” He flailed his arms.
Kay snapped to attention. “Oh gods dammit, Quinn! I’m sorry!”
She didn’t seem sorry, more annoyed. Quinn gave her a withering glance.
“No, seriously, I’m sorry, I’m absolutely terrible with faces,” Kay pleaded.
“You’re bad with faces, that guard over there is terrible with names, everyone here is just terrible with emotions, is there some sort of curse going on in this temple?” Quinn said dryly.
“I’ve always been bad with faces, you just never noticed it before because I was very good at hiding it,” Kay snapped.
Quinn cooled off slightly. He was being mean here and he knew it. It just… caught him off guard. He wasn’t really sure why though.
He… had gotten used to being noticed since he had left the Academy. Getting a blank stare was just bizarre. Even the monks who didn’t know him at this temple would nod to him knowingly, as a guest.
In some weird way, he was more comfortable as a stranger of Shorne, than as a long-time student in Haldon.
Wasn’t that just a delightfully sobering thought?
“Sorry I blew up at you,” Quinn reluctantly said. He didn’t actually feel sorry, but he knew that he should feel sorry, and that was what mattered.
Kay shrugged. “It’s… whatever. Just whatever.”
There was an awkward silence between the two. Kay didn’t even bother to lead Quinn back to Asim or Dale. She just stood there, occasionally glancing at her book. Quinn squinted at the title, but it was in a completely different language. Either that, or the script was far too dense for him to understand.
“Uh… so how’s learning under Asim of Trell?” Quinn asked brightly.
Kay shrugged. “It’s a thing. You know how it is, it’s only been a couple of months.”
That… was an odd sentence. No. Quinn didn’t know how it was. It had been a month and more, and he felt like he had changed immensely.
Kay seemed to realize by Quinn’s perplexed face that they did not share this understanding.
“Slow. We went to his house. He’s on a six month leave, so we’re just taking it easy until he goes back to the military. I dunno what we’re gonna do then.”
“Oh, he’s military?” Quinn asked, finding an inkling of conversation.
Kay nodded slowly. “Uh. Yeah. People who get titles are in the military.”
That couldn’t be right. He felt like he would already know that if it were true.
“So then, what have you been doing since then?” Quinn asked, once again pushing forward in the conversation.
Kay shrugged. “Trained a bit. Mostly learning politics. He’s been teaching me public speaking techniques.”
“So… can we get him now?” Quinn asked.
“For what?” Kay asked.
Quinn took a deep breath. “The demonic infestation. The reason you’re here. We found it. We’re gonna go and take care of that. Can’t do that unless I have the other warlocks to pummel it into submission.”
Kay’s eyes darted around in confusion. “Now? Right now?”
“Uh, yeah? Were you planning on waiting for something?” Quinn couldn’t quite shake the idea of him dreaming up all of this. It was like there was this gap in communication. Maybe he had just gotten really comfortable with Kole, and previously, Sennta?
“It’s just… it’s only us! There’s only three groups here, that… that can’t be enough!” Kay said indignantly, worry on her face.
“Wind Walker, Dale, Cosime, me, and Kole as a living duplicate. If you count her, that’s six groups. Wait, what is it you can do?” Quinn asked, curious.
“Can er… Kole? Can Kole copy my abilities even if I’m far away?” Kay asked.
Quinn nodded, although he had no idea why she’d be far away.
“I’m an amplifier. Know the terminology?” Kay seemed
hesitant.
Amplifier? Was that making other people’s skills better? No that was an enhancer.
After a few moments, Kay made a ‘hold on’ hand gesture, and closed her book. She dropped it, and it fell with all the grace that a book would have.
She bent down, picked it up, and shook it slightly. She dropped it again, and when it hit the ground, it was like she had dropped a fifty-pound weight. The ground practically echoed with the force of one measly book.
A grin of awe spread across Quinn’s face, but Kay didn’t seem too pleased.
“So, do you just add weight to things or can you do other stuff?” Quinn asked, his mind racing, picturing scenarios where it could be useful.
“Sharp things become sharper. Thick things become thicker. Whatever I focus on becomes more ‘er’ basically,” Kay explained, utterly unenthused.
“You don’t like that?”
Kay shrugged. “It’s… it’s not what I was picturing when I dreamed of being a warlock.”
“You pictured more mystical stuff?” Quinn ventured a guess. That sounded familiar.
“Yeah. But it’s whatever. I’ll just have to live with it.” Kay sighed and started walking away. “Come on, I’ll take you to Asim and… the other one. Dale? Her.”
They walked down the hallway for a while, but Quinn was not about to let this go. What if Kay could amplify his summoned weapons? For one, that would be awesome, for another, Kole would be unbeatable, and for another another, it would mean that Quinn wouldn’t have to fight alone.
“Can you amplify anything?” Quinn asked, jumping up slightly.
“No. Anything magical and it just explodes in my face. Can we stop talking about this now?” Kay snapped.
Quinn grimaced, but he kept quiet. It seemed like her time with Asim had not been pleasant. Or maybe she was just bitter about her affinity. It seemed pretty cool to Quinn, but that was because it meant he wouldn’t have to do anything. He could just hide under a rock and nothing would get through, as opposed to having to make some sort of detailed conceptualization of a very tough rock.