The Search for Izel [pt. II]

“Klaria preserve us. What happened here?” Brynn stepped over a pile of wooden debris that at one point might have been a chair. She clutched her staff in her hand. The sapphire gem at the tip crackled angrily with magical energy.

“A fight to the ****, obviously,” Velri murmured quietly, her ocean-blue eyes panning over the room clinically. She kept her right hand on the pommel of her large sword as she scanned the room. She cocked her hip slightly, accentuating the appetizing shape of her big round ass.

Clevis stalked over to the center of the room and knelt down near a puddle of black liquid that was beginning to dry, staining the wood. He held out his hand. A circular dark blue glyph flickered into existence over his palm.

“Blood.” The red-haired elf took a deep breath. “It’s definitely not elvenoid.”

“Did it come from a monster?” Rila asked. Her hands had a subtle white glow to them, as if she were keeping an incantation at the ready. She stayed near the door. Her blue eyes, wide and worried, darted back and forth.

“Maybe,” Clevis answered after a short pause. “I’ve fought people of all races and any kind of monster you can imagine making it within city limits, but my examination glyph has no idea what I’m looking at here. That hasn’t happened since I started my training as an Enforcer.”

Suddenly, the elf looked towards Julian, suspicion evident in his violet gaze.

“Just what in the name of the gods did you fight here?”

Julian ignored him. He’d been staring at the center of the room since they’d arrived. That had been where the bodies of the two Amyss he’d killed had laid.

There’s no way Izel would have moved them, but Valda might have. He did say they were his sons. It makes sense he’d want to gather the bodies for burial, or whatever funerary custom his race practices. But to have the opportunity to do that would mean he’d have incapacitated or killed Izel. Or maybe she ran.

He tried to nurture a bit of hope that Izel had somehow managed to get away from Valda. That she was holed up in some isolated part of the city recuperating.

He shook his head.

No. I saw the pure hatred in Valda’s eyes. He’d have never let her go. Especially not after what happened to his sons. The fact that their bodies are gone now means he won the fight. So he wins the fight, quickly grabs his sons’ bodies and takes them… somewhere. A back exit? No. There’s a busy street there, too. If anyone saw Valda carrying dead bodies, they’d have stopped him or notified the Enforcers. If he's a **** Mage, he could have flown, but that's illegal within city limits. The Enforcers would have noticed. Teleportation? Unlikely. He could have just teleported Izel and I someplace much more isolated and killed us if he had that power. No, he has to be here, somewhere. He also has to know that my fall from the window would have attracted the attention of passersby and the Enforcers. It’s only a matter of time before they barge in here to investigate. So what is his escape plan? He would have to have one to risk setting up so close to a building crawling with Enforcers.

Velri stepped in front of him, breaking him from his reverie. Her heavily armed and armed form was taller and larger than he was, and she had always used that to dominate their interactions. Over time, he’d grown used to it.

He met her eyes unflinchingly as she spoke.

“You said your friend was still in the building, but so far I’ve seen no sign of that. Where do you think she could have gone?” she said, stepping into his space. His eyes were only slightly above the expansive pale tops of her large breasts.

He shook his head.

“I don’t know. There were… there were two dead bodies in the center of this room. Both of them belonged to people who tried to kill us. I…”

He felt everyone’s eyes on him.

An irrational surge of anger gripped him.

“Gods, why are you all looking at me like that? They were going to kill us. Eat us. Whatever. I couldn’t let that happen, so I killed them first.”

Rila gasped and looked away for a few moments. When she looked back at him again, he couldn’t help but feel like she was disappointed in him for some reason.

Brynn maintained her stormy-eyed stare. Her eyes were alight with curiosity and a glimmer of recrimination. She tightened her grip on her staff.

“It was either you or them right?” she asked.

Julian nodded.

“Yeah,” he inclined his head and spoke as solemnly as he could. “They left me ****.”

Brynn nodded stiffly, but relaxed her grip on her staff.

He caught Clevis staring at him from the corner of his eye. The elf was smiling, like he’d just been handed a particularly appealing gift.

What are you after, Revenar? You know this was self-defense and with my family’s backing there’s no chance the Enforcers will ever arrest me for what I’ve done, especially now that I’ve discovered my class. You can do nothing to me now without incurring my family's wrath.

He glared at Clevis, daring him to speak up.

The elf’s smile only grew.

We’ll see if you’re still smiling when I’m done with you and your mother, Clevis.

Seemingly unaware of their byplay, Brynn continued.

“I think you’ll be lucky if Mother doesn’t assign one of us to chaperone you whenever you leave the house. And that’s if she ever lets you leave at all.”

He shrugged.

“Honestly, Mom’s the least of my concerns now. As long as we find my friend I’ll accept any punishment she comes up with.”

Brynn’s inviting lips curled into a faint smirk.

“I’ll make sure she knows you said that.”

He glared at her.

“I'd expect nothing less from you.”

Velri took another step towards him, invading his space and distracting him from his thoughts. She inclined her head slightly, her face a cold mask of contemplation. He couldn’t help but feel that there was something different about the way she was looking at him. She put a hand on his shoulder. He mentally braced himself for her to start thrashing him.

“How are you feeling? Your first kills will always be the hardest. It gets easier with time, though. It’ll be alright,” she said in a surprisingly soft voice. If he didn’t know her any better, he’d almost call her tone nurturing.

Dim, half-forgotten memories whispered from the back of his mind. He remembered enjoying climbing the trees on his family’s estate when he’d been but a boy. One time, he’d fallen from a particularly tall tree, severely injuring himself. It’d been after Velri had first discovered her class. She’d still made time for him, though. She’d rushed over to him, stark black hair trailing behind her as she ran.

She’d scooped him up in her arms and held him close as he tried not to cry.

“Shh. It’ll be alright.”

He shook his head, dismissing the memory.

“We’re wasting time,” he said. “The fact that the bodies on the floor are gone doesn’t bode well for my friend. She wouldn’t have moved them.”

Velri nodded, the faint tenderness she’d expressed earlier utterly absent. She glanced toward the right side wall, where wood had been torn apart and a hole large enough to fit something with greater bulk than a human had been created.

A memory flickered across his mind. He saw Izel taking the full brunt of one of Valda’s blasts, sending her through the wall.

Worry gnawed at his chest. He saw Izel again, her body bloodied and broken. Wood splinters jutted out from her flesh. Her amber eyes stared at him pleadingly.

“Julian.” She rasped hoarsely through bloodstained lips.

He tried to banish the image from his mind.

Velri followed his gaze and tilted her head, “Let’s check that out, shall we? See if there are more clues about where your friend or that **** Mage went.”

He nodded, doing his best to bury his worry. He followed Velri through the opening. The wood flooring whined beneath them as they walked. Footsteps behind him told him Brynn, Rila, and Clevis were making their way through as well.

They came upon a guest room not all that dissimilar from the one he and Izel had rented. The majority of the furniture was still intact, further into the room, but something that looked like it had once been a chair and desk lay in splinters.

“It looks like something was thrown through the wall. A person, maybe,” Brynn uttered from behind him. “I’ve seen wind magic do similar things to wood. Could this be the work of **** magic?”

“That would be my guess,” Velri said. "Their magic is actually very similar in practice despite their differences in mana essence."

A spec of green on the floor caught Julian’s eye. It was mixed among the fragments of wood scattered about across the room. He moved further into the room and crouched down, picking up a green piece of fabric. He held it up to his eye and smoothed it between his thumb and index finger.

Exactly the same material and color as the dress Izel wore.

“Find something?” Velri walked up beside him.

He nodded, holding up the piece of fabric.

“This was Izel’s. It must have come off her outfit. I’m sure of it.”

“Izel?” Rila blurted out. “Wasn’t that the Tenlani woman who got you arrested at the classless protest yesterday?”

Julian sighed.

Damn, I really shouldn’t have blurted out her name.

Velri’s eyes narrowed. Her grip on the pommel of her sword tightened.

“I think you owe us an explanation. Why are you so interested in saving this woman? It sounds like she’s caused this family nothing but trouble. Don’t tell me you still feel sympathy for those ingrates even after you’ve discovered your class.”

He stood up.

“It’s not like that! I already told you she saved my life!” he gritted his teeth, exhaustion and desperation fraying at the remains of his patience. “If it weren’t for her, those monsters would have killed me. How would you have explained that to Mother and Father, huh? I owe her. You owe her. House Imerdan owes her. Or have we fallen so far that we’ve become a family that doesn’t pay its debts?”

She stared at him for a long moment, anger churning in her blue gaze like a hurricane.

Suddenly, Rila spoke up.

“Vel, I think we should still help him.”

Velri whirled around to face Rila. The young blonde swallowed audibly, but soldiered on. Her hands were still glowing white.

“He’s… he’s our brother. I mean, he’d do the same for us if we needed it, wouldn’t he? If someone saved my life and that person ended up getting in trouble, I’d expect him to do everything in his power to help me keep that person safe. You know it, Velri. Sure, he might not have told us the whole truth when he enlisted our help, but that doesn’t change anything.”

Brynn shook her head. The dark-haired young woman put a hand on Velri’s shoulder.

“You’re right. If Izel truly saved Julian’s life, it doesn’t matter if her past might be a bit questionable. We owe it to her to return the favor. Otherwise we may as well cast off our names to not bring shame to Mother and Father.”

Velri’s angry gaze swept over the three of them before finally settling on him. She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to throttle or praise him.

“Fine,” she said finally. “We’ve already come this far. We might as well finish the job. Now, you said you found something that belonged to this… Izel,” her face scrunched up like she’d tasted something foul. “That’s good. It’s a sign she may yet still be alive. We’ll search this floor for any more clues. If we find nothing, we’ll go back downstairs. If the **** Mage really has her captive, it’s doubtful they’d be able to leave the building without causing a scene. This whole area is too exposed and far too close to an Enforcer redoubt for that. They must still be in this inn, somewhere.”

“Thank you,” he inclined his head slightly. “After this is over and we’ve saved Izel, I’ll owe each of you a favor.”

Rila and Brynn gave him considering looks, and he had a feeling they were already trying to decide how best to utilize his debt to them.

They may be my sisters, but we’re nobles. Favors from the classed have greater value to us than all the gold in the imperial treasury.

“Damn right you will. A big favor,” Velri clarified. The severe expression on her face seemed intentional, as if to hint at what would happen if he expressed any inclinations to the contrary.

Clevis raised his eyebrows.

“I can think of a few things-”

“Not you,” Julian interrupted him. “You’re obviously only here for Brynn’s sake, not mine. And I’d sooner die than owe you anything.”

The elf put up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender and laughed.

“You take everything far too seriously. That’s always been your problem, Julian.”

I’d probably be a lot more easy-going if you’d actually left me alone. If this world didn’t think the classless were lesser people.

Velri gave an exasperated sigh.

“Enough. Let’s find this woman quickly. She may not have much time and I’d hate to have to explain to anyone that we allowed Julian’s savior to perish.”

---

Julian, his sisters, and Clevis searched the rest of the floor he and Izel had fought the Amyss on.

No sign of them. Our fight was confined to the room we’d rented and the one Izel had been flung into.

He clutched his bone-sword anxiously. Things were looking worse by the minute for Izel, and he couldn’t shake the notion that he’d failed her. He’d failed her and the monstrous Amyss had killed her.

No. Izel’s stronger than that. She has to be alive. She has to. She wouldn’t just die like that. I won’t allow it.

Someone grabbed his shoulder.

He spun around, settling into a practiced combat stance.

Velri stopped him with her other hand. A complicated expression dominated her face.

“Anything?” she asked.

He sighed.

“No.”

She nodded as if she’d expected that answer.

“The others have gone down to search the first floor. Come join them. Perhaps there’s something down there that we missed.”

“Very well. Lead the way.”

They made their way downstairs just in time to see Brynn appear from the back area where the Blue Dragon’s server had come from with his soup.

“Did you find anything, Brynn?” he asked.

His twin looked at him and shook her head.

“There’s nothing,” Brynn grounded out, clear frustration in her voice. “No basement entrance. No secret passageway. Nothing. Not even Clevis could find anything with that glyph of his.”

“Hey, I’m still looking!” came the elf’s voice from the area Brynn had come from. He heard something metallic clatter from Clevis’ direction. “Ah, fuck. This place is a complete mess. How do they find anything here?”

Julian let out a quiet curse and faced Brynn.

“I don’t get it. They have to be here still, somewhere. It doesn’t make sense that they’d be able to leave without someone spotting them,” he glanced around. “Wait, where’s Rila?”

“She went outside to ask if anyone’s seen the person you described,” Brynn replied.

As if on cue, his blonde-haired sister came in through the inn's front entrance, her face scrunched up in dissatisfaction.

“I take it from the look on your face that no one saw anything?” Julian said.

Rila nodded after a moment.

“It’s so ridiculous. How could someone carry three bodies out of the inn so close to where the Enforcers hang out and not be spotted? I prayed to Klaria for guidance, but so far I’ve got no ideas as to where they could have gone.”

“There’s got to be a secret passageway somewhere around here,” Brynn crossed her arms beneath her breasts, pushing them upward. “Some kind of trap door that leads to a basement or a neighboring building. That’s the only explanation. That or our culprit used an illusion spell to mask his appearance, but it’d have to be really strong to fool that many people,” she continued. “I doubt a **** Mage would be able to muster anything like that. And if they were…” her gray eyes flicked over to Julian worriedly. “Julian’s fight might have ended very differently.”

A day ago, he doubted he would have been able to prevent himself from shuddering.

Any sufficiently powerful class capable of illusions spells would likely have been able to kill me before I saw them. I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

It did give him an idea, however. He remembered reading about wards in his family’s library. They were generally feared by non-magic users, but they did have a fatal weakness.

“Hey Rila, could the ward around this place be hiding them somehow?” Julian said.

The buxom blonde shook her head.

“No. It’s way too weak to maintain an effect like that. And it’d wear off the moment the guy stepped off the property.”

Julian nodded.

“Right, but don’t wards have to be cast in a central location to more efficiently cover a property? And use something that can properly store the mana?”

Rila furrowed her brow.

“Yeah, you’re right. Usually they need to make use of a mana stone. Anything powering a ward would drain out into the air faster than Clevis’s cock after two seconds of sex if it didn’t have any mana absorption properties.”

“Rila, that wasn’t nice!” Brynn glared at her.

The blonde ignored her. She glanced around the room.

“This entire building looks like it’s made of wood and glass. I can’t even think of anything that’d be worse at absorbing mana. Whoever set up the ward around this place had to have used a mana stone or something similar.”

Brynn was still glaring at her, clearly annoyed at being brushed off so easily.

“So how exactly does that help us?” she asked.

Rila gave her a small smile.

“You know how when we got in here, I was able to feel the ward?”

Brynn nodded.

“Yeah, and once you mentioned it I was able to notice it as well. I remember.”

“Right,” Rila’s smile grew. “We’re both magic users, so it’d make sense that we’d be sensitive to the flow of mana. What about you, Julian? You’re a Hexer, and that makes you a magic class. Can you feel anything out of the ordinary?”

Julian blinked. He’d been so caught up in their conversation that he hadn’t expected Rila to ask him anything.

“Oh, um. No. I don’t think I feel anything yet.”

Rila winced.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you just classed. Hopefully you’ll develop your ability to sense mana in time, though that ability is usually much stronger in Clerics than most other classes,” she muttered. “Don’t worry, we’ll find Izel soon. I promise.”

Velri stepped forward.

Their eyes flicked to their tall, armored sister. She’d always had that effect on people. Anytime she’d entered a room, people tended to stop what they were doing to register her presence.

And she thinks she got nothing from our father.

“Rila, since you can sense the mana in the ward, do you think you could follow it to its source?”

Rila licked her lips nervously.

“Yes. Yes, I think so,” she closed her eyes. After a long pause, she continued. “This way.”

She walked over to one of the tables that sat in the room.

“Here,” she said softly.

“A table?” Julian voiced skeptically.

“No,” Rila whispered, her eyes still closed. “Below. It’s coming from below. About ten feet down, give or take.”

Brynn, Velri, and Julian exchanged looks. After a few moments, they nodded to each other.

“Stand back, Rila,” Velri spoke firmly.

“Hm… what?” Rila blinked her eyes lazily, as if she were just waking up after a long sleep.

Velri drew her sword. The metal sang almost melodically as it left its sheath. For a moment, Julian was struck by how simple it was. It had none of the ostentatious decorations so common in the weapons of classed nobles. It was long and sharp. A pragmatic weapon designed to stab and cleave through the enemy and nothing more.

“I said stand back,” Velri said as she approached the table.

Rila finally looked back at Velri. Her eyes widened.

“O-oh, sorry!” The blonde hurried away from the table and found her way to Julian’s side.

Velri placed her armored foot on the edge of the table and pushed. The table clattered to the floor and continued on for several feet before stopping.

Rila clutched his arm.

“What’s she doing?” she asked.

“Making a hole,” Julian said. “Thanks to you, we know this place has a basement. If we can’t find the trap door leading to it, then we have to make our own.”

Rila smiled. It made her look rather striking.

“Finally, we’re getting somewhere,” she said.

He smiled back.

A loud crack drew his eyes back to Velri. The busty dark-haired Knight slashed her sword downward. Her movements were so fast they were nearly a blur. He couldn’t tell how many slashes she’d made. Less than a second later, she held her sword at her side, eyeing the floor expectantly.

He heard footsteps behind him.

“Damn,” he heard Clevis mutter.

A moment later, as if by magic, four large cuts seemed to form in the floor in the shape of a square. Another crack, and the square wasn’t there anymore. He heard something clatter beneath the floor.

They all approached the opening and looked down.

A room, dimly lit, awaited them below. In its center stood a small podium. A blue-purple gem sat atop it. It glowed weakly.

“Please tell me that’s not where our **** Mage went,” Clevis muttered glumly, as if he already knew the answer but was dreading it.

Julian shrugged.

“Nowhere else for him to go,” he stepped forward.

Velri’s hand reached out and stopped him.

“I’ll go down first,” she said. “Clevis, you’re next. Then Brynn and Rila and Julian. Stay close to each other and follow my lead. If any of you wanders off, that **** Mage will be the least of your worries. Do I make myself clear?”

They nodded automatically.

Without another word, Velri positioned herself next to the hole and jumped down.

Clevis followed after her. Brynn went through immediately after.

Rila hesitated. She stared down at the hole and bit her lip.

Julian put a hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. We’ll be okay.”

Rila shook her head.

“No, I want to. It’s just…”

“What?” he asked.

She leaned closer to him and gave him a peck on the lips.

He stared at her.

Rila’s face brightened like a tomato.

“O-okay, now I’m ready,” she said, and lowered herself through the cut-out in the floor before he could respond.

Julian let out a long sigh and followed after her.

Hold on, Izel. I'm coming.

---

Izel was dimly aware of being moved.

Blackness covered her vision like an inky fog, relenting only slightly when tried to open her eyes.

Fuck. It’s like they’re sealed shut.

There was something important she had to do, but she couldn’t remember.

There was someone important I was supposed to protect. I know it! Damn it, why can’t I remember? Come on, I need to open my eyes.

Finally, she could.

She saw white.

Izel blinked and looked around.

She was standing in the middle of a snowfield that stretched almost as far as the eye could see.

White and black mountains tall enough to scrape the heavens dotted the horizon, surrounding her like distant giants. A cold white sun stared down at her indifferently from its perch above the blue sky that looked like it, too, had been frozen over.

Tenlan? But…

She suddenly realized she was naked, aside from her thin silvery necklace which dangled between her large breasts. She clutched at it instinctively. It had been a gift from Zira many years ago, and she’d held on to it ever since. When she’d left Tenlan, it’d been her one reminder of her sister. The woman who’d practically raised her and looked out for her when no one else would.

She took comfort from the closeness of the necklace. It was important, she knew, for reasons beyond the sentimentality that accompanied it.

Without it, I’d be a ****. Less than a ****. At least slaves have the capacity to think. Usually.

Nudity had never bothered her. She chalked it up to being Tenlani, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. Her people may have had different customs around modesty, but even they would object to appearing naked in public outside a few select celebrations, and not just for modesty’s sake either.

She was apparently in the shadow of the Krethu Mountains, yet she felt not a hint of the cold that had frozen many a fool that had ventured here.

She experimentally twisted her bare feet in the snow back and forth, creating semi-circles in the pale white. And she felt nothing. No numbness that would typically accompany skin contact with Tenlan’s unforgiving snow and frost. It was as if she were not touching the ground at all.

A puzzled expression came over her face. Her amber eyes narrowed.

I could’ve sworn I was being moved.

Her eyes widened.

I’m actually not here.

Nodding to herself, the notion became more and more obvious. She’d left Tenlan a long time ago, and sworn to never return for reasons that appealed to her sense of self-preservation and her desire, no, her need, for autonomy.

She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten here. That was perhaps the biggest clue of all that something was very wrong.

Julian.

The name winked into her thoughts. She imagined her mind was a dry forest. That name had been akin to a bolt of lightning setting the forest ablaze. Her mind was alight with fires. In their blazing embers glowed memories, images, thoughts, and emotions.

A weak woman would have buckled under the mental pressure of having so many ideas and images **** into her mind. Izel stood firm, hands clenched as she remembered.

She licked her lips when she saw him. Julian. The Aemari man who’d grown to mean so much to her.

He controlled her, she realized.

But I don’t mind. In fact, I like it. When I’m with him, it’s so freeing. I can be my true self. I don’t have to hide from him. I can tell him anything and he’ll just listen. He’s more a man than any I’ve ever met. And he's a Psion.

She saw him take the brunt of the Amyss’ **** blast, propelling him through the window.

Her heart leapt in her chest, but she resisted crying out. She wasn’t some weak-willed girl who let fear or worry dictate her actions. She was a fully-grown Tenlani Necromancer. A Shadower who had killed things more horrifying than most Aemari could ever conceive.

Julian’s alive. No man of mine would be undone by a simple fall. He’s out there, I just need to get out of this… this dream? Vision? And find him.

The Amyss had beaten her. Much as it galled her to admit, she wasn’t one to deny reality. Such was unproductive. Worse, counter to her interests.

It hadn’t killed her, however. That meant it was likely moving her someplace where it could **** and consume her without being interrupted.

A vicious smile spread across her face.

That disgusting thing hates me. It wants me to truly suffer. I can work with that.

Her hands went to her necklace again. The metal felt real in her hands, unlike the world around her. It was real. It always followed her into her dreams. It was the one constant in her life, no matter where she was.

Zira, don’t let me down now.

She grappled at her mana. It was dark and slippery. Elusive. But she’d long-since mastered its Stygian currents.

Dark magic answered her call like an old friend. Her necklace glowed purest black.

She awoke.

---

Julian Imerdan (lv. 6 Psion)

HP: 70/127

ST: 82/110

WP: 137/445

Skills...

<Two Skill Points Available>

Attributes…

Effects…

Julian's Skills

[Manipulation] Suggestion (cost: 20 WP) - The user can telepathically implant a suggestion in the mind of a target to influence an action, thought, or behavior of theirs. The target must be sapient. There is a chance that it might fail depending on the state of the target mind. The more simple and less unusual the suggestion, the easier it is to implant.

[Manipulation] Hypnosis (cost: 30 WP) - The user lulls the target into a light hypnotic trance. While hypnotized, the target will be more open to Suggestion and suggestions, and more likely to divulge information they would not otherwise. Requires the use of a pendant or other foci to draw the target’s gaze. Can be interrupted by any sudden or intense stimuli. Duration: ten minutes.

[Affliction] Mind Jab (cost: 15 WP) - The user projects a weak bolt of psionic energy that attacks the mind of an opponent, causing crippling mental pain that lasts for a few seconds. Affects any living creature with a brain.

[Affliction] Psi-Bolt (cost: 5 WP) – The user emits an unguided bolt of psionic energy that inflicts low Psi damage to a target upon impact. Deals moderate Psi damage against targets affected by Mind Jab, but clears them of the status.

[Connection] Detect Mind (cost: 2 WP/s) - The user can detect the minds of sentient organic beings within ten feet.

[Knowledge] Safe Fall (cost: free) - The user has learned a method of shifting one's body mid-air to significantly mitigate falling damage. Only usable from survivable heights.

[Innate] Focus (cost: free) - The user enters a state of emotional detachment, allowing the user to ignore pain and resist negative mental effects. Increases WP regeneration by 20% while active. Only usable during combat.

---

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