Interlude 2: The Light and The Glass

Harker sipped his coffee as Martius fiddled with the latest modification to his device, his thoughts drifting back to the last two days. Once he had recovered, he insisted on using the device as intended, not wanting to waste time in narrowing down where his traitorous apprentice was sacrificing people. Their efforts that night, however, had met with limited success. Further uses of the machine had only confirmed what the first use did: that she was somewhere on Earth.

After the fifth attempt to narrow down the location had failed, Martius claimed he needed time to make adjustments to further refine the machine and that the data they had collected needed to be reviewed before he could create those modifications. And while he had reluctantly accepted the need for recalibration, Harker was surprised to receive a request back to the lab so soon.

Once the gnome scientist had stepped back from his work, Harker finally spoke up, “I thought it would take you a few more days before you came up with something.”

“When the intent was to simply pinpoint their location, it would have,” Martius replied before taking a long sip from his own beverage, a bitter smelling concoction that caused the gnome to flinch as he swallowed it. “But when you mentioned that you sometimes get flashes of what happens from their perspective, I had an idea.”

“That only happens when she invokes a large amount of its power,” Harker said grimly. “And we don’t have the luxury to wait.”

“Which is why Lynn and I have come up with a method to invoke a vision from our end,” Martius supplied, gesturing to his machine. The basic setup remained the same, a metal chair in a pool surrounded by short pillars, though the pool, and the horseshoe shaped basins serving as the chair’s arms, were empty. The addition Martius had developed was a rectangular crystal framed in a coppery metal that rose from the dry pool on a pair of supports. It reminded Harker of a television display, a comparison supported by the fact it was perfectly aligned with where his line of sight would be when he took his position.

“From the design, I assume when things happen, you’ll see what I see in the crystal?” Harker queried, to which the gnome nodded.

“More or less,” he answered. “We can begin as soon as Lynn has finished prepping the contact solution.”

“Well, suppose I’ve got good timing today,” the alchemist cut in, wheeling in two barrels on a flatbed, the violet liquid nearly sloshing over the rims.

“So this’ll work the same way as before?” Harker asked as Lynn parked her concoction next to the machine.

“More or less,” Lynn answered as she began to move the solution into the machine’s basin with an errant gesture of a hand. “The formula is a bit different, so I can’t be one hundred percent sure on its efficiency, but the base work is the same, so we should get a pretty good run with this dose.”

“Right,” Harker said, finishing his drink. He set the cup down and rolled up his sleeves, then removed his shoes. “Let’s get started then.”

He strode into the pool, the cool liquid pleasant on his flesh. He took his position, letting his arms sink into the liquid as it pooled into the armrests. He could feel his mana already flowing into it and he focused on the process.

“Yes, just like before,” Martius instructed as he moved to one of the pillars, fiddling with the controls. “Try to recreate the sensation you felt two days ago. Once you have that, push.”

Harker refrained from issuing a harsh retort and spent his energy on establishing the needed connection. It was an odd feeling, like pushing upstream through a strong river, only instead of water, the flow was of something more viscous. Still, he had a path for his magic to follow and he pushed through.

Then he scensed it, faint echoes of emotion. Some nearly felt like they were present, others were just barely detectable, but they all had a similar emotion: terror.

“We’re getting something,” Martius exclaimed as he moved from pillar to pillar, taking readings and making adjustments as he did.

“I’m sensing their emotions,” Harker said. “I figure the stronger ones are the more recent victims. I’ll try to link with one of those.”

“The flow through the solution is remaining stable,” Lynn reported, her hands outstretched as she cycled the conductive fluid. “We should be able to keep using this batch for a while so don’t worry about trying to rush it.”

‘We really don’t have the luxury to take things slow,’ Harker thought as he focused on the more prominent emotions, trying to shift out one in an attempt to reach into any memories clinging to it. Its emotion began to grow clearer. There was still fear and panic, but oddly, a spark of hope. Then Harker’s perception lurched.

The lab, Martius and Lynn were replaced by an expanse of fog and the distorted sounds of a battle. Harker felt his body move, a body that was thinner than his. Lighter and with an extra set of limbs sprouting from his back.

‘No, those are wings,’ Harker thought as his host’s body rapidly ascended to avoid a massive jaw lunging out of the fog. For a second, Harker could make out a dog-like shape before it faded back into the mist and his host flew blindly around.

“Aeolia!” his ragged voice called out. “Thomas! Sandra!”

‘This mist is doing more than just reducing visibility,’ Harker thought as the memory played, picking though his host’s limited arcane sensory input. Another beast honed in on the shouting and attacked, this time with a swiping paw.

Harker’s diminutive viewpoint thrust a hand out and, with a cry, a wave of magic shot from his outstretched fingers. A wave of raw **** impacted the descending claws, snapping the limb that Harker now noted was not made of flesh but instead was a series of twisted vines, in the opposite direction, sending it back into the mist.

Suddenly, Harker’s view was shaken as an unseen claw slammed down from behind, pain grating against his senses as it ripped though flesh easily and they hit the ground hard. Before the attacking hound could finish the job, a blade cloaked in an aura of green easily cut through the beast’s neck from behind.

“Zeph, you alright?” the rescuer panted out as she materialised through the fog. She towered over the now named Zeph, blood dripping down from a few scratches on her arms, her wings folded close to her body and glaive poised to strike at any approaching enemy.

“Aeolia,” Zeph wheezed out, the pain far from what Harker even registered anymore, but for his obviously less physical viewpoint, it was likely the most he’d ever felt. “Where are the others?”

“I don’t know,” she spat, head twisting around frantically. “This damn fog is everywhere. Can’t find a damn thing in here. Can you do anything about it?”

Zeph shakily nodded his head as he slowly pulled himself off the floor. “I’ll need a bit of time. But I should be able to break it down. Hang on a second. I think I can whip something up to give you an alert if we’re about to get attacked.”

He reached into a pouch bound to his waist and pulled out a green gem. “If I synchronize this to the mana of the hounds, it should light up when one gets close. I don’t think the fog will mess that up.”

Zeph lifted the crystal and Harker could feel mana begin to trickle in from the remains of the fallen beast, a sensation like something tracing lines up and down his arms. Zeph looked at the gem and nodded before he sluggishly flew up to his taller companion. She held out a hand and Zeph dropped the gem into her palm, it looked more like a pebble in her larger hand.

Then it suddenly grew, leaving Harker a bit surprised. Aeolia began to pace around as Zeph began to reach into the fog, their linked senses letting the sanguinmancer feel the enchantment weaved into the mist. It was blocking all but the nearest mana sources along with muffling sound and the diminutive mage began to pluck at the spell’s construction, working to unravel it, his eyes closed as he worked.

Unable to see, Harker doubled his focus on his host’s arcane senses, hoping to pick up on something that could identify the mist’s caster. Then a chill ran down his spine when he detected a familiar mana signature reaching out through the fog. Zeph felt it a second later, and the panic that bloomed in his heart meant he quickly understood it was a malevolent working.

“‘Lia,” his panicked voice croaked out as his eyes snapped open. “Someone’s doing some big spell. I think it’s targeting all of us.”

The larger winged woman clicked her tongue as she swept her gaze through the mist.

“Any idea what sort of spell? Or where it’s coming from?” she quickly asked, a swirling wind gathering on her blade.

Zeph shook his head and Harker could feel his apprentice’s spell begin to increase in power, steadily reaching towards its release. And from his host’s rising tension, Harker knew he was aware of the ticking clock.

“No idea, but it’s not going to be a good thing,” Zeph answered tersely. “And I can’t pinpoint its origin because of the fog.”

Aeolia didn’t answer, instead she swung her glaive and let loose the gathered wind. The summoned gale pushed away the fog near them, but more quickly flowed in, keeping them isolated from whatever else was out there.

“Shit,” she cursed and whipped up more wind in a fruitless attempt to clear away the fog. Harker could feel Zeph’s fear and anxiety spike in step with the increasing pressure of the spell, and he steeled himself to experience his host’s ****.

Then, Zeph’s fear was quashed by a sense of purpose and Harker felt him begin to weave a spell. It wasn’t aimed at the fog or the growing hemomancy, but at the fabric of the Barrier itself.

“I can’t stop whatever is coming,” he breathed out, heart racing, “but I think I can warp the Barrier, isolate us from whatever’s about to happen.”

Aeolia shook her head. “And what, just leave everyone else to suffer whatever’s coming? Not an option, bro.”

Despite her words, Zeph didn’t stop sinking his magic into the Barrier, his breathing growing more rapid as his power seeped into it. “I can save them too. If I can spread my awareness through it, I should be able to pick them out and pull them into an isolated pocket space.”

Harker had to give his host credit for keeping his panic from disrutping his work, a spell he thought could have worked if there had been more time. But time hadn’t been on their side. The spell grew and Harker could feel it reaching for his host’s blood, like fingers poking into the wounds.

Zeph gasped as the encroaching spell shook his concentration, his attempt to hack the Barrier faltering. The panic rose once more and the diminutive man turned his gaze to Aeolia right as the gem in her hand blinked. A vine hound burst into their visual range and Aeolia smoothly surged forward to deal with it, wind enhanced blade cutting into the beast’s head. Before she could free her weapon, a second hound raced in, slamming into her back.

The hound drove her to the ground, her head hitting the floor hard. She went limp, weapon and gem clattering to the floor. Harker felt Zeph’s panic spike and his mana flared wildly. In an instant, Aoelia vanished, pulled into a pocket space.

Zeph’s legs gave out, his quick action burning through most of his mana and the pressure from the approaching spell sapping his strength.

“Sorry, guys,” he managed to say as the hound approached, his voice drained of life. “I tried.”

Suddenly, the beast stopped and faded away. Then horrible pain shot through Zeph’s body as his blood began to flow out of his wounds, pulled by the spell he had detected. The fog began to dissipate, filling Zeph’s ears with the screams of his comrades as they suffered as he did.

Harker lurched, back in the chair, his breath coming in pants. He looked to Martius and Lynn, both regarding him with concerned eyes.

“What,” he wheezed out, “happened?”

“I think you had a negative reaction to reliving the blood drain,” Martius reported, turning his attention to his machine. “Everything was going well until it began. I suppose your connection to the artifact makes experiencing its effect from a victim's perspective dangerous. And I don’t think we can block the effect on our end.”

Harker pulled his hand out of the reservoir and reached for the gem in his pocket, drawing in the stored energy to ease his suffering.

“Then, let’s end the link before the drain can start this time. Fire it up,” Harker told them, earning a harsh glare from Lynn.

“Starting right away after that isn’t a smart move,” she chided. “At least rest for a bit.”

“That’s not an option we can take,” Harker shot back, sinking back into the chair, a heavy weariness settling over him. “They’re building towards something and the longer we take to find them, the more time they have to finalise their plan. And that means more people culled. We have to find out where they are. And if we can’t do that through tracking the magic back to the source, then we have to dig through the memories and hope there’s something we can use to narrow things down.”

Harker’s words dampened Lynn’s disapproval, though her aura still carried her reservations. Off to the side, Martius let out a hum as he examined some readout, drawing their attention.

“Find something useful?” Harker asked.

“Possibly,” the gnome responded, twisting a dial. “I’m going over some of the mana frequencies, and there are a few that are oddly more prominent.”

“Prominent how?” Lynn questioned, sliding over to look at the data.

“Most of these signatures are closer to what you’d expect to find on a long lasting enchantment,” Martius explained. “Which makes sense given that they come from stolen and stored power. But there are six here that are closer to live signatures.”

“That,” Harker began, before his thoughts began to race through the implications. “That means their blood was taken but not all of it. Those are living people connected to the artifact.”

“Is that a bad thing or a good thing?” Lynn asked, turning back to Harker.

“A little of both,” the sanguimancer replied grimly. “They’re alive, but linked to the artifact. As long as the sample from them remains suffused with mana, it can be used to fully drain them. Or control them.”

“So they could be puppets, then,” Martius concluded. “Either directly by way of magical control or by the threat of ****.”

Harker remained silent, the third option coming to mind: that they had willingly given their blood and that they could be enhanced by tapping the collected power within the artifact. Instead he said, “We should be able to link to them. A live target might give us more to go on.”

“Will that still work?” Lynn remarked.

“It should,” Martius supplied, already adjusting the machine. “The only real difference between these people and the victims is that they're alive. The machine might need more power to compensate for the live flow of emotion and memory, but that should be easy to compensate for. Shall we give it a go?”

Harker nodded, slipping his hands back into the conductive fluid. Lynn looked uneasy but steeled herself and began to circulate her alchemical solution. Martius powered up the device, carefully eying the displays.

“I’m isolating the likely frequencies,” Martius said. “Should make it easy for you to lock on.”

“After the last experience, I think I can manage to avoid a remnant,” Harker remarked back and focused his mind on the auras. Like he had said, they were more vibrant than the leftovers present in the artifact, nearly as crisp as the two belonging to his companions, akin to seeing someone through lightly frosted glass. Not as clear as an unobscured view, but more than able to make out the details.

One stood out oddly to him. Its emotions were in stark contrast to the others, a spot of nervousness amongst a sea of restlessness and anger. Beyond that, something about this sample, this person, resonated with him.

‘Their magic must be similar in some way to mine,’ Harker thought as he focused on that signal. ‘And from the emotions, it might be someone held against their will.’

Harker felt reality shift, and a wave of surprise washed over him as he took in the bleak surroundings: a gray room, with a single, well made cot and a trunk as the only furnishings. His host spun around, giving him the full view of the small chamber.

“I-is someone there?” a faint, timid woman’s voice said, and Harker then noticed the more dramatic shifts to his perceived physiology.

‘Well, that certainly feels weird,’ he thought as he noted more the lack of certain body parts than the addition of others before refocusing his mind. ‘She can sense me, but hasn’t figured out my aura is being broadcasted right into her. She thinks someone is actually in here.’

The girl continued to inspect her room, her panic causing her breath to start coming in pants. Before Harker could attempt to calm her down, her posture went ramrod straight and she sharply turned towards the door. For a moment, Harker was confused, then he picked up on his host’s arcane senses, and the aura that was approaching.

It was ill tempered, a festering mass of contained rage, and its owner didn’t knock as he threw open the door. He was stocky, his neck nearly non-existent and his arms were thick with muscle. A scowl twisted his scarred face, and his dark eyes caused the girl to flinch.

“B-bill,” she stuttered out while Harker committed the man’s face and name to memory. “Wh-what are you…”

“You know why I’m here, Kiera,” Bill spat and stepped into the small room, causing the now named girl to step back. “Tell me everything you can about my prey.”

“Boss said to drop it,” Kiera said, her eyes downcast.

“I know what he said,” Bill shot back, his voice rising in volume, causing Kiera to flinch. “But I hate leaving loose ends. Especially when they get away twice. The last thing we need is them bringing in some big guns and ruining things, right?”

Kiera nodded timidly, but spoke up, “B-but the Boss…”

“Doesn’t need to know,” Bill cut her off. “Things would be alright if they just disappeared, right?”

Hesitantly, Kiera replied, “R-right.”

“Then just keep an eye on the guy and feed me the info,” Bill ordered. “Find out where he goes and…”

Harker jerked back to the lab, Martius flicking some controls while Lynn let her hands drop.

“We lose the signal?” Harker asked, oddly winded as he pushed himself out of the chair.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Martius replied, peering at a display screen. “From these readings, I can only theorize that something is isolating the artifact, cutting it off from both incoming and outgoing connections.”

“How would they manage that?” Lynn asked. “We’re able to connect through a Kingdom and most likely a Barrier.”

“It would take a complex array to block the type of connection we’re working with,” Martius said, looking at Harker. “Can you feel anything?”

Harker frowned and turned his focus on his affliction. The now familiar ache was still present, but felt muted. He tried to reach out, an act that previously was like touching a live wire, greatly aggravating his condition. Now it caused only a minor discomfort.

“It’s still there,” Harker reported. “But its effect on me has been greatly weakened.”

“If your connection has been that diminished, then trying to use the artifact to bounce into a living donor would become something next to impossible,” Martius postulated. “Even trying to tap into the last memories held in the stored blood may be difficult given the situation. But I suppose we can try to recalibrate to counter the dampening effect.”

“Let’s see if that can work.” Harker nodded and Martius went to work, throwing open a hatch to fiddle with the internal workings. Lynn gave Harker a concerned look before she began to cycle the alchemical solution, extracting contaminants.

While the two worked, Harker looked into the violet liquid surrounding him, his thoughts on his experiences. And on the two people caught up in his apprentice's machinations, the girl likely held hostage and the fighter saved by a split second act.

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