Arryn


    “Reggie?” I sputtered out. Things started to click into place.


    “Arry, while you’re working here I expect you to call me Mr. Tarlow like everyone else. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”


    My brother strode right past me towards the tall elven woman, and gave a polite bow.


    “So sorry to keep you waiting. I have a lot of appointments lined up and many people vying for my time. If you would like to join me in my office, it’s this way.”


    Tuu’an did not seem impressed by the formalities, but followed him anyway. Her accessories jingled as she walked. Halfway across the room, Reggie stopped and turned back to me.


    “Don’t just stand there gawking, Arry. Come with us.” he said, snapping his fingers.


    It chafed to follow his instructions. I could tell he was enjoying this a bit too much. My brother had always been the favourite of my parents, and at an early age he realised it too. From then on he took some smug satisfaction from bossing me about, and going crying to my parents if I ever stood up for myself. A prodigious mage and a grade-A student, they would always take his side over their other, mundane son. Despite that, he always seemed to have a bone to pick, as if my very existence was a stain on his perfect life. I realise now that calling me out here was just another way to torment me, exerting his power over me knowing I couldn’t refuse without risking my job.


    With great reluctance, I propped my suitcase up by a nearby desk and followed him into the office.


    The room was not what I expected. It lacked the sterile white walls of most Horizon facilities, instead being somewhat of a greenhouse with windows for every wall. It offered an immaculate view of the forest outside while shielding the occupants from its dangers. There was a large desk in the center of the room, which was made from white marble that reflected the red-tinged sunlight filtering from the branches outside. Aside from the desk, the place was fairly unfurnished. The desk was covered in various papers and documents, as well as a small silver scrying mirror and an oil lamp, rather than a standard magelight. There was a small wooden box dotted with holes, from which smooth jazz was playing.


    Beyond the glass walls I got my first real glimpse of the Scarlet Woods. Gargantuan red-crowned trees formed a solid wall of biomass that blocked out most of the sky. There was a perimeter of about twenty feet around the building, where scarlet grass cracked and poked through a concrete patio. There were a few Horizon staff outside, smoking cigarettes as they cast wary looks into the forest. Long vines hung down from the lowest branches of the trees that seemed to slowly writhe and undulate, coiling around the tree trunks like snakes. In the underbrush at the feet of the trees, I could see the foliage shudder as if something passed through it, and I wasn’t sure whether it was a hidden predator prowling out of sight or the bushes themselves shuffling around. Nothing was ever what it seemed around here, so I’d been told.


    “Are you just going to stand there gawking? Grab a quill and notebook and take the notes for this meeting.” snapped Reggie. He and Tuu’an had sat on either side of the desk, and without a chair set out for me I just awkwardly picked up a quill and some paper from the desk and stood in the corner.


    “Sorry, my dear. You just can’t get the help these days.” said Reggie, pulling out two steaming cups of coffee from a compartment under his desk.


    Tuu’an eyed us both suspiciously. “I don’t care much for whatever is going on between you two. I’m here for answers on why my people are still being attacked by your people despite our arrangement.”


    I wrote down some brief notes as they talked. Writing was one thing I was good at, though I was tempted to scribe a Festering Cloud spell and slap it on to my brother’s perfectly tanned forehead.


    “I’m certain you must be mistaken. Horizon is very eager for these proceedings to go smoothly, and as you know we’ve invested a considerable amount of capital to do so. I hate to draw attention to it too, but some of our men have been injured by your forest too.”


    “Your men were trying to find our artifacts again. They were sent scampering with little more than a few stings. Our men had magefire rained down upon them.”


    “Any exploratory activities of the surrounding area are simply so our future expansion does not intrude upon your sacred ruins, as we agreed. No artifacts have been taken, correct?”


    “Not yet. But I know your type, always pushing the boundaries until you get what you want. We may have to end negotiations until we can guarantee the safety of our people.”


    Reggie’s practiced politician’s smile thinned by a barely perceptible amount. “Tuu’an, this is something that we both want to happen. If Horizon gets a foothold here it will facilitate the free movement of both of our people, and earn us a considerable amount of gold in the process. You would get better access to supplies from Danmer as well as making a huge stride towards peace. Let’s not threaten to end all the progress we’ve made over a misunderstanding. I’ll contact my associates at Brimstone and get this all sorted out, yes?”


    I wrote at the top of a new page “Tuu’an is unsatisfied with Mr. Tarlow, and threatens to end negotiations because of his broken promises”, hoping that these notes would be checked by someone higher up the ladder.


    Tuu’an did not look placated. She leant forward in her chair, and as she did so a shadow moved across the desk as the trees outside seemed to lean in too.


    “You are lucky that my people are strong, and fast, compared to you humans. Not for lack of trying, but you’ve been unable to harm a single elf. Should that day come, I will not hesitate to end negotiations personally by feeding you to the forest.”


    Reggie looked unphased. He had always been overconfident in his skills, and was likely thinking something along the lines of “I’d like to see you try”.


    Instead, he snapped his fingers at me and ordered “Arry, please get the object from drawer D4.”


    I looked up from my notes and glanced around the room. I didn’t see any drawers anywhere. Reggie was looking at me impatiently, and another glance around the room confirmed there was nothing even like a drawer anywhere in the room. I was about to walk around to the back of his desk to see if he meant there, but before I could take my first step he sighed dramatically.


    “The windows, Arry. The windows. Must I do everything?” he said, getting out of his chair and moving towards the window to my left. I noticed then that each pane was labeled with a number and a letter on a little brass plate on the frame, and as Reggie laid his hand on the one marked D4 the glass suddenly became opaque and slid out as a long, thin drawer. That was an incredibly excessive decoration. Were all the windows just illusory projections of the outside? Why not just have windows and normal storage cabinets?


    Reggie pulled out a long staff from the drawer. It must have gone deeper than I thought, because the staff was easily six feet long. He shot me a glare as he shut it again, and the second it closed the fake-window effect flickered back on.


    “Consider this an offer of peace. It was purchased from a private seller in Danmer, and I would like to return it to you as a symbol of our ongoing partnership.” He said, ceremonially offering it to Tuu’an.


    She took it carefully, almost reverently, and looked over every inch of the artifact. “This certainly looks genuine, but it was stolen from us decades ago. Surely you wouldn’t mind if I tested that it works?”


    “Hmm, I suppose that is only fair, though I wish you could trust me. As far as I’m aware, it is a truth-telling device, yes?”


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Tuu’an scoffed. “Yes. And your artillerist evokers are candle lighters. The Ramashaana Elovien is a device made to open the very souls of its target. It was used in rites that swore in faction leaders and high-ranking guardians to confirm they do not hold any malice or secrets in their heart. There was considerable political chaos when it was stolen from us, and it took a long time for newly elected officials to be trusted by the people without it. It was said that even if your deepest secrets were revealed, subjecting yourself to its effects would earn you considerable trust among our people.”


    Reggie looked a bit nervous at that, which pleased me to see. “Fascinating, truly. You’ll understand why I would be unable to be the guinea pig for this experiment, with my extensive knowledge of highly protected trade secrets. Fortunately Arryn here was brought along for that very purpose. Step forward, please.”


    A knot of dread twisted my stomach. This could not be worse. If that thing was designed to extract secrets, I had plenty that I could under no circumstances let anyone know, least of all my brother. I didn’t step forward.


    “Arryn, I have given you an order. You’ve disappointed me enough today, do it again and I’ll be sending you back to Danmer with a terminated contract.” growled Reggie.


    I looked to Tuu’an for salvation, but she seemed indifferent to my discomfort, instead tracing the intricate carvings along the length of the staff with her finger as she slowly turned it towards me. There was only one thing I could think of to do. The carvings on the staff began to glow an emerald green, traveling from the base of the staff up towards me. With such a clear visualization of the mana flowing through the staff, I could easily picture where to cut the flow.


    I extended my will, and like a dam blocking the flow of a river I halted the magic in the staff and let it evaporate into nothingness. It was different than in the alleyway or outside the warehouse with Wyll - I had to sustain the effect - control it. Instead of being like snuffing out a flame, it felt more like choking out the mana like it was a living thing. I’d expected it to be harder, but I didn’t feel the slightest drain on my mana. Emboldened, I held that feeling and tightened it, hoping to finish cutting off that flow, and suddenly the room was plunged into darkness. The windows around the room that had been letting in sunlight had all gone opaque, and to my surprise I noticed that even the oil lamp had been extinguished. I suppose that counts for my assignment from Fyron.


    “What is this, Tarlow?” said Tuu’an


    “Ah, erm, I’m not sure. It could be a problem with the mana crystals in the walls.” said Reggie, a hint of panic in his voice.


    “No, the artifact. It did not work.”


    “Perhaps it is broken? It has been locked away for a long time, and-”


    “Our Artifacts do not break.” I could hear seething anger being barely constrained in Tuu’an’s voice. “This is either a fake or you have tampered with it.”


    Reggie finally found his way to the door, opening it to allow the cold white light from the office into the room. Tuu’an stormed past him, heading for the exit. I relaxed my focus, and the windows all flickered back on. The oil lamp remained extinguished.


    “Please come sit back down so we can continue our discussion.” pleaded Reggie.


    “You have one week to make sure these attacks stop, or we’re out and the forest will reclaim this fabricated white eyesore.” snarled Tuu’an before pushing past Reggie and storming out of the building.


    The various office workers around the room stared openly in shock, holding their breath in anticipation as Reggie pushed back his hair and straightened his tie. He gave his best “everything is fine” smile and nodded to a few people around the room before locking eyes with me, still standing in the doorway to his office. He walked over, hurried but trying to do his best impression of someone who wasn’t, and grabbed me tightly by the arm. He dragged me back into his office and closed the door behind me, before whirling around and getting right in my face, his expression furious.


    “What the fuck was that?” he spat.


    Perhaps the years of fraternal torment had finally gotten to me, or using my magic just now had altered my way of thinking like Fyron had warned, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about what my brother thought anymore. As I looked at him, red in the face and a sheen of sweat on his forehead, I realised then and there that this person had controlled too much of my life already, and that I didn’t have to be afraid of him like I once was. After all, I was immune to magic. Archmage or not, he couldn’t scratch me.


    Seemingly displeased by my lack of response, Reggie punched me so hard in the temple that I thought I’d turned off all the lights again for a second. When my vision returned to normal I saw his leg in mid swing as he sunk a perfectly polished loafer into my gut. The pain was delayed in its arrival, but once it did I gasped out in pain. I tried to push myself to my feet but he kicked my arms out from under me and stomped on my head.


    “I was nice enough to give you the opportunity of a lifetime here. You could have escaped your pointless dumb fuck job writing scrolls at a fraction of the speed of an enchanted quill. You could have gone to mother and father and told them how much better you’re doing, and how grateful you are to me. They might have even been proud, even liked you for the first time in your miserable life.” Reggie’s ravings were punctuated by blows aimed at my stomach or face. After a few of those, he got down on his knees and started slamming my head into the marble floor near the wall. “But you just had to fuck that up too, huh? Just like everything you do it turned to shit!”


    The pain was intolerable. My ears were ringing and my eyes were finding it hard to focus on anything. The blood pooling in my throat was starting to block my airway, making my breath rattle and gurgle. There was something sharp in my mouth, and I realised it was one of my teeth. I spat that out on the floor, and seeing that at some point Reggie had moved away to sit behind his desk, clutching his hair in his blood-splattered hands, I decided to risk sitting up again. It felt like a mistake. My head spun with the new movement, and something clicked in my ribcage that had never clicked before.


    Reggie seemed to take some deep breaths to collect himself, checking his appearance in the scrying mirror and wiping the blood from his knuckles with an embroidered handkerchief. He pulled a bracelet out of a compartment from under his desk and tossed it towards me. It clinked as it bounced on the floor.


    “Keep that on while you work here and I’ll let you keep your job. You don’t talk to me, you make coffee for anyone who asks, and you do whatever I say as soon as I say it.” he said while combing back his hair.


    I didn’t have the fight in me anymore. I put on the bracelet and could see the bloodstains vanish from my clothes. The bruising on my forearms from trying to protect myself vanished too, hidden by some minor illusion. The pain was still there, of course.


    “You’re very lucky to have someone like me in the position I have. Your job was due to be cut months ago, and if I hadn’t shown you this kindness you’d be out on the street. I expect some gratitude for that.”


    I nodded, slowly, wincing at the pain in my neck.


    “Tell me this - did you do anything to that Artifact? I’ve never seen one backfire or whatever it was, and it’s a little fucking coincidental it happens the first time you’re around one.”


    I shook my head, just as slowly.


    “I better not find out you did something. I really hope for your sake you didn’t.”


    I said nothing to that, just stared at the floor.


    “I have some catastrophes to manage. You stay in here for a bit. Someone will be here soon to take you to your lodgings. Then, you will come back and act like everything is fine. Understood?”


    I nodded again.


    Reggie left without another word. From the way the air popped slightly as the door opened and closed, I could tell the office was soundproofed. Not that anyone was likely to rush to my defense. I felt pathetic. All those illusions of grandeur, and I am still getting the shit beat out of me by my brother. He didn’t even use magic for me to defend against. Maybe I wasn’t worth the mana.


    The pain was a throbbing, living force raging through my body. It was impossible to ignore, and every movement of my body seemed to make it worse. Once, my brother had slammed a door on my fingers, breaking two of them. This hurt worse.


    An idea came to me. Fyron had asked me to extinguish a candle, knowing that mundane fire isn’t magic, and my powers as an anti-mage shouldn’t work on it. But I did manage to blow out the oil lamp. Maybe I could reframe my power as anti-energy, rather than anti-magic? It would take jumping through some mental loopholes, but that seemed to be what True Magic was all about. I didn’t even know if pain counted as “energy”, but for the purposes of what I wanted to do I would have to try and persuade myself.


    I pictured the pain inside me as a many-limbed jellyfish, its tentacles stretching to each injured part of my body. Many of its stinging appendages were coiled around my ribcage, reaching into my head, or my mouth. Like it was made of mana, I pictured that squeezing, choking feeling that worked on the staff, and I felt the limbs of the jellyfish begin to slowly recede. Like a chain reaction, my first signs of success emboldened me, and quickly the pain had been condensed to a small point, the size of a grape. To my surprise, I felt the wounds heal as I moved that bubble of agony away. My tooth even somewhat disgustingly flew off the floor and clicked back into my gums.


    Soon I was fully recovered and holding a pearl of pain in my hands, which was a purplish-red blob that occasionally grew sharp spikes which periodically grew and retreated like the claws of a cat. It floated just above my hands, and without anywhere to put it I made the decision to store it in my left hand. The pain was incredible, but manageable. A quick experiment let me pull the pearl out again and place it somewhere else, and some part of compressing the pain like this made it more manageable.


    I dreaded to think what would happen if it burst, but I had a very clear idea of where I’d like to burst it.