“I figure enforcers here are highly trained personnel, and can handle two sleeping bandits and a hybrid fae.”
“You’re taking Gam much too lightly. I don’t care if he has a damaged girl kink, he is still dangerous.”
“I guess the alternative would be letting you rot behind their wall, huh?”
“No, the alternative would be releasing me, killing him, and slaughtering the rest of the guild in their sleep. I promised unnecessary death. I said this before and I’ll say it once more, the Deo Guild is dangerous.”
“Well, thanks to you, there’s two down, and I doubt three would be much trouble behind bars. I know your care for fae is unparalleled, but you just might have to take the knee on serving your country for this one!” I said sarcastically.
“Don’t be snarky with me, hero.”
“We got the ingredients, and we are in a secluded enough area to cast the spell. So—”
“So, I took a few items from the kitchen before we left.” Rufian smiled. “This is the very beginning of a new world, Silas. Let us breathe life into Thalian again.”
Rufian found a nice patch of dry land and laid out his materials—a big metal bowl, a mortar and pestle, and three candles. He instructed me to crush Pixie’s amethyst prism in the mortar since I was stronger than him and he was allergic to any type of physical labor, while he prepared the master elixir, the ashes of the noble, and the bird feather. Using a stick to mix the ingredients well, he took the granulated prism from me and poured it inside, Rufian taking to his knees in front of the bowl.
“Thank you Silas…” Rufian said in a rejuvenated sigh. “Without you, this wouldn’t have been possible…”
I watched as the concoction began to bubble and fizz, emitting a strange aroma that made my head spin. Rufian closed his eyes and began to chant in a language I didn't understand, his voice rising and falling with each word he spoke. I felt a sudden jolt of electricity in the air, and a gust of wind picked up, blowing my hair back from my face. The energy coming from that bowl was intense, forcing me to sink my feet into the ground from flying into the horizon.
And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the wind died down and the mixture in the bowl began to glow a bright, pulsing purple. Rufian opened his eyes and gasped, a satisfied grin spreading across his bright face. The mixture pulsed and swirled as the ashes were absorbed, emitting an ominous hissing noise.
And then-boom! The concoction shot up in the air in a whirling and whipping flash, its length reaching the clouds. I was afraid we’d draw some attention, but then I remembered we were isolated, and no one would witness us summoning the codex’s location.
Rufian rose to his feet with his arms outstretched, his uncontrollable snickering leaving me uneasy. His reaction felt like an ominous foreshadowing, but I didn’t stop the spell, knowing how much finding the Grimoire meant to Thalian.
“This is it, hero! We are about to do something incredible, something that could change the course of Thalian forever!” The contents of the bowl turned into smoke and spread across the sky, showing the geographical layout of Thalian in its entirety. The purple smoke lines traced out regions and landmarks, highlighting the different areas of Alzera-Kar’s creation. Rufian's laughter grew louder as the smoke suddenly began to scorch in both left and right, the map over our heads shrinking. Smaller and smaller it became, until it left nothing but a region in Mavriel, revealing the hidden location of the codex.
“This is it, Silas! The secret location of the codex, the book that will crack the code of all knowledge of our ancestors! With this book, we will be able to unlock the mysteries of Thalian and uncover the true potential of fae magic!”
“Ezdalise, Mavriel,” I whispered under my breath as I took a few steps forward while referring to my personal systems map. “It’s a highly populated city in Alpinuer district.”
“Yes… Alpinuer…” Rufian said almost reluctantly.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not at all.” He straightened his glasses, his back still facing me. But I could tell something was off. His voice changed when he realized where the book was hidden.
Whatever. Maybe he had history there. If it wasn’t anything like that scrap he had with Clave, then I shouldn’t worry about it.
The smoke finally dissipated completely, leaving behind an image burned into my mind. I could almost see the codex right in front of me, sitting atop a pedestal in an ancient, forgotten temple. It was guarded by powerful magic, but we were ready. With Rufian's arcane expertise and my brawn, we’d get our hands on the Grimoire and save Thalian in no time.
A smile finally found my face at the thought of helping the dungeon core and finding Jezz. I turned to Rufian, my heart pounding with excitement. “Well, what are we waiting for? We have our marker, let’s go.”
“Yes, let’s. Coincidentally, there’s a bounty court in our path. We should collect the money we might need for a high-end region like Ezdalise.”
I squinted at him funny. “I thought you said we should use Clave’s bounty for restoring Senterrian once this war is over?”
He chuckled. “A trip to Ezdalise won’t hurt a pot as deep as over ten million sammies.”
My eyes jumped. “Ten mill?!”
“Ah, the look on your face. I remember being that wealthy once…” He pulled out a bottle of water for himself and one for me and toasted. “Ezdalise or bust.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
-Earlier-
Lanette
I didn’t know why we had a huge bad luck cloud over our heads this past week! Not only were we running around like headless chickens on a dry trail, but we ran into an annoying pair of jackasses trying to ruin our ride! And then fate said, why not add a few ultra-super-powered enforcer junkies as the cherry on top?!
When will we catch a break?!
We were no match for the dozen who broke into our hideout. Gam hardly put up a fight, but Pixie almost brought the house down after they caught us in our sleep. Big Mama did her best to protect us, but there was no chance in mother Mavriel we were escaping that heated scrap.
I was lucky to get out of it alive…
They looted us, cuffed us with Kutra, and then hauled us in the back of a warded wagon as Rabashe birds took us away. They didn’t want to teleport us on the off chance one of us had a detour magnet that bounced them off course and into a cleverly planted trap. Oh, I wish. Those magnets were ultra-rare, and weren’t easy to come by.
Pixie sat at the corner of the wagon super pissed, her face twisted and her chest heavy. Gam on the other hand was calm, sitting quietly across from me while I tried to think of a way to get out of this shitty pickle.
I huffed under my breath, then got up on my feet and looked across the bars of the wagon at the enforcer who sat on the other side and asked, “So, where are you taking us?”
He answered me with nothing but silence, how rude! I asked him again, but five times louder, over and over again until my voice got too unbearable for him and he shot up on his feet.
“That’s enough!” he barked at me with a talisman in his hand. Judging by the green magical link that was coming off of it, it looked like it was keeping the cage we were in enchanted. I then thought about getting Pixie to ram her big body to one side to tip the wagon over, but that’d do us no good. We were still chained with the Kutra, and we didn’t have a scroll or ingredients for a counter spell to break it. “You shut up and sit down criminal!”
