《Apocrypha of The Dead》


 Prologue - Thus Spoke Chrysippus

    It was another monotonous cycle at the Bureau, but that simply made the ancient god''s work easier to hide. A table sat in front of the cosmic being completely cluttered with stacks of paper inside the tiny featureless room. The god appeared to be a middle-aged man dressed in business casual attire. Strangely this seemed to be the man''s only features. He was hazy and indistinct as if all he was made up of was simply ''middle-aged man dressed in business casual attire''. His fellow Law makers, as indistinct as he was, sat in adjacent featureless rooms with far more tidy desks. He hated them.


    They were all neat and tidy and orderly and direct and the same and boring and boring and boring and...


    The god stopped to rub his face, leaving the Contract in front of him half finished. He had been making such Contracts for the warring deities for a couple of thousand years now and had grown to hate it. Oh sure, weaving the Fates of Gods and mortals was an interesting problem at first. A problem he found to be very good at solving, but now it was all he did!The Contracts were supposed to solve everything, and yet the stalemate holds as strong as ever,he thought to himself. The Contract in front of him was nothing special, he made countless similar ones in the past. The mortal gets a wish of their choosing and in turn, became a champion for one of the endless gods to represent them in the greatest conflict of existence. After all, if two all-powerful beings faced each other it would just be a standstill, and where was the fun in that? Where was the victor? Absolutely nowhere. Best to decide who wins by letting the mortals spill blood instead. Just inject a little bit of free will and voila! Enough actual randomness that theoretically somebody could finally come out in top in the whole blasted affair. But granting a mortal a fraction of a god''s free will by tying it to the Fate of an otherwise omnipotent deity was a dangerous thing. The Contract imposed many limitations on mortal and god alike to prevent utter disaster. Unfortunately, such limitations have been...heavy-handed in this particular god''s opinion.


    Thousands of years and the stalemate persisted anyways.


    But soon that will change.


    The Nameless diety threw himself back into work with a restored fervor. He changed his mind and decided this particular Contract was going to be one of hisspecialones. Every Contract had to be written up in advanced. Weaved with mighty Law magic that many of his fellow gods even had difficulty deciphering their true scope. Weaving the Fates of a divine being and mortal was no simple affair and each one had to be custom made for the pairing in question. The abstruse nature of the work though allowed him some element of ambiguity and he exploited this fact to it''s utmost. The other sticks in the mud working on similar Contracts would be horrified to learn about some of the adjustments he had been making lately. A few tweaks here, some swapped words there, this contingency removed, that safeguard conveniently forgotten...


    Oh, he would definitely face punishment if, no, when the other gods found out what he was doing with the Contracts he was charged with creating.It will be too late by then. Once bound by the Contract nobody can alter the terms haha!


    He moved the finished Contract over to the only remotely organized pile on the table. Contracts completed and due for proposal to the mortals in question. Not that there was really any choice in the matter, they had already agreed before the offer was even made. No point in offering a deal to pathetic worm bound by a static Fate if you already knew they would decline. Better to check that they will say yes first then make the Contract and only after make the actual offer.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    He only had to be patient and wait for his altered Contracts to be put into effect. Then maybe there was a real chance for the stalemate to be broken. Sure some will fall, maybe even himself, but that was the goal wasn''t it? To finally change the status quo? The god chuckled to himself. He has waited this long so far, he could find in himself the patience to wait just a little bit longer.


    The god wiped the smirk off his face and began to work on the next Contract when there was a knock on the wall.Now that was a bit unexpected. Nobody was due for pickup for a least a couple more cycles.He frowned.


    A faint rectangular box shimmered into existence in front of him. It was a door but could better be described as a gaping hole in the fabric of existence. A dark being stepped through the portal. Dressed in a monochrome suit, the visiting diety''s eyes burned with a sickly yellow hue. Not a single trace of hair could be seen anywhere on his body and his lips were impossibly thin, more like a thin cut in the grey skin that wrapped tightly around his skull. A knowing smirk was permanently plastered on his face.


    Thetos was early for his new Contract.


    The Nameless god stated as such with a frown.


    "Oh? And is that a problem my friend?" Asked Thetos, his voice raspy.


    "No. Unlike these other pencil pushers, I know how to get my work done in a timely fashion. Your Contract was finished last cycle. You''ve never been one to rush things though Thetos, why now and why this Contract?"


    "Ah yes my friend, you do manage to churn out these wonderful little things faster than anyone else. Hope you have not been taking any corners?"


    He froze at those words, not paying attention that Thetos had dodged his own question with one of his own. He gave his fellow dirty a stern look, offering no reply.Have I been caught already? I figured I could get more of the special ones out by now.


    Thetos seemed amused by the reaction, casually thumbing through the scattered paperwork on the desk but leaving the finished stack of Contracts alone.


    "Relax my friend, I only joke. I merely admire your work ethic. Must be hard not being Named and unable to compete with the rest of us."


    That verbal tick of his was starting to get irritating.


    "The price I paid for being trusted with Law may not have been easy to pay, but I paid it gladly. And would do so again if given the choice. Anything to end this blasted war once and for all."


    "Oh, I have no doubt that you would do anything, my friend. No doubt at all" The smirk never left his face.


    A silence stretched between the two. The air grew heavy enough to crush mountains and split seas settled around the two men and yet neither had any sign of straining under the pressure. The table creaked but held. A testament to the ancient processes that built the divine piece of furniture.


    Suddenly Thetos clapped his hands and the pressure evaporated into nothingness.


    "Well then my friend, where is my Contract? I''m excited about this particular one!" There was an unusual glee to Theros''s voice despite the previous tension between the two as if nothing had happened at all.


    The Law diety snapped his eyes to the stack of finished Contracts as if broken out a stupor. He quickly rummaged through a couple of the tops before handing Thetos the correct Contract.


    "Right here Thetos. All in order."


    "Very good my friend, very good indeed!" The god took the Contract eagerly. Glancing it over quickly before it vanished completely, stored away inside a personal pocket dimension.


    Thetos turned back to leave via the same tear in the fabric of reality. He stopped for a brief moment as if prepared to say something. However, he did not even turn around and proceeded through his portal, the rectangle closing up seamlessly as if it never existed.


    The god slumped in his chair, the tension draining away from him.


    Maybe giving Thetos be one of thespecial Contracts was a mistake....

 Chapter 1 - Kuzari

    Shadows shifted throughout the dark apartment, a result of the flickering lights dancing from the impressive array of monitors in the room. A young man sat hunched over in front. Green eyes dancing between the displays. In the central monitor, a first-person shooter played out but it wasn''t him playing the game. Not quite anyways. Numerous debug statements and statistics filled out the monitor to his right as a text editor with the current version of his bot was open to the left.


    Sure the account being played belonged to him, but it was the artificial intelligence he designed doing the actual playing. He was never any good at these sorts of games. Not good enough to win anyways. Not good enough to earn the sort of money these tournaments paid out at least. He used to feel bad about cheating when he was younger but had grown used to it by now. The money was more important now. Sure building a new bot that was good enough to beat outright professionals while still passing as a human player didn''t pull in much cash compared to his other endeavors but every bit counted these days. He felt more guilty about the hacks and corporate espionage that really paid the bills. He had to do what had to be done.


    The match was coming to a close and victory looked like it would be his again. He didn''t really need to keep watch anymore. The automated tool was pretty self-sufficient these days, including depositing the winnings into his account(after going through a few intermediaries just in case the organizers caught in after the fact). He rubbed his eyes, exhausted from the long night of making the final tweaks for this match. Competing in timezones halfway across the world made for poor sleep schedules. He got up from his chair and stumbled towards the bathroom to relieve himself. Splashing his face with some cold water to wake up he prepared for the morning. He made a promise for this day and he intended to keep it.


    He did one final check to make sure the bot was still running fine and got ready to leave. He pounded down a small cup of coffee and left his dingy apartment behind. The morning rays assaulted his eyes and he had to squint as he locked the door. Not that there was any real point to it. It was a bad neighborhood but the apartment was so cheap nobody ever bothered to break in. Thieves simply assumed there was nothing worth stealing. It was nice being a local to the area in some ways. Keep your head down and out of the way of local thugs and they left you alone. Bigger fish to fry than mugging someone who probably had no cash on them anyways. A distant gunshot woke him up a bit more, a reminder that it still wasn''t the safest of places. Still, every dime he saved on living expenses was a dime that could go towards treatment. If his brother Eric got better, then he could consider moving somewhere better. No, when he got better. WHEN, not if damnit.


    The man cursed his stray thought and took a deep breath. He left and started the long walk to the hospital, transportation was not worth the expenditure. It took a couple of hours to get there and by then he had little patience for the nurses when he arrived. They always gave him a hassle over visiting the younger brother, despite being responsible for bankrolling the whole deal, as if it was always a struggle to find him in their system no matter how many times he gave them his name.


    The doctors couldn''t actually figure out what was wrong. Eric would develop symptoms matching this disease or that disease and new rounds of treatments would be applied to keep him alive. As soon as it seemed he would turn around and finally make it, a new symptom would appear. It was utterly bizarre and took a substantial amount of cash injection just to keep Eric alive. Insurance had long ago run out unable to keep up with the demanding level of treatment required. Their parents certainly couldn''t keep up with the demands, not on their middle-class salaries. That just left the once-promising programmer to make ends meet. His software developer job was able to keep up at first despite his young age, but then Eric just got worse as if his ailment was mocking the older brother''s efforts. The kind of pay he made on the internet''s seedier underbelly however could. He worried though that things were going to get worse again. He didn''t know what he could possibly do more to make things work. He just had to pray Eric would get better.


    "Hey bro, you look like death" Eric smiled once his brother was finally allowed to visit. "Another late night playing games? He smiled weakly.


    The older sibling smiled back. Eric was shriveled at this point, his black hair finally starting to grow back after the chemo treatment from his latest outbreak. His eyes stayed as vibrant as ever though, a matching green they shared with father. No matter how much life beat him down, Eric''s soul still shined in those eyes.


    "Yeah, something like that." He answered back, taking a seat near the hospital bed. A steady beep filled the air between them from the machines monitoring Eric''s life. The room smelled like death as it always did.


    "You gotta take care of yourself man. Don''t worry so much about me. I''ll be okay. This will be over soon, I know it."


    "Soon for sure. Whatever''s got you in its grips can''t hold on for too much longer."


    Eric had been suffering like this for nearly a decade now.


    "Yeah, I feel really good this time. I was able to take two whole more steps this time in therapy than last!" Eric beamed.


    The brother couldn''t help but grin in response. Maybe this time would eventually be what sticks. Maybe his brother would finally get better...


    The two talked for hours, their laughter occasionally heard from the halls. Their spirits soared even as both brothers were tired and exhausted. When it became clear that both needed their rest the bid their goodbyes.


    <hr>


    He knew something was wrong two blocks from home. He just couldn''t place his finger on it but the streets were just too quiet for it being midday. He supposed it could have just been the exhaustion getting to him, being awake for thirty-two hours in a row now played funny tricks on the mind, but his gut said that wasn''t the case. He couldn''t possibly know for sure, but he was being followed. Crap crap crap. What should I do? Calling the police was out of the question. He¡¯d be lucky if they ever even showed up here. He was close to home, but leading his trail right to where he lived was likely a bad idea too. He could confront whoever it was here and now. Hopefully, it was a tweaker desperate enough to try to rob the poor. He had no cash on himself, he could just hand the wallet over, move on from this miserable experience and cancel his cards as soon as he got home. Whether or not it was stupid, he decided to duck into a nearby alleyway and wait. His fears were well founded as not shortly after another person stepped into the alleyway.


    He seized up his attacker. Tall, but didn¡¯t have the bulk that any of the local thugs would have had, and dressed in simple jeans and a hoodie. It was impossible to see the muggers face from the lighting but the person¡¯s movements were slightly erratic and unhinged. Definitely a tweaker then.


    ¡°Look, man, I don¡¯t want any trouble. Wallet is right here, just take it and let me go okay?¡± He held out the wallet with his left hand, the other raised into the air.


    The only response he received was some vague mumbling.


    ¡°Come on man just take it and go.¡±


    ¡°Y-y-you took everything!¡± The tweaker suddenly spoke up.


    ¡°Uh, what?¡±


    ¡°You t-t-took every t-t-thing¡±


    ¡°Look I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about man.¡±


    ¡°Im f-f-from V-v Vivli Pha-Pharmaceuticals. Desmond in re-research.¡±


    Shit. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.


    ¡°I uhh never heard of them.¡±


    He lied. It was one of his early jobs a few years back. Hack into the R&D department and supply the formulas for some new drugs they were working on for a competitor. It was a challenging job that took a couple of months but well worth the pay. Their rivals were able to bankroll the development of said drugs and got them patented before Vivli Pharmaceuticals was any wiser. Their entire business was hinging on the new developments and it didn¡¯t take long before they went under. It was the first time he truly felt bad, but Eric was more important to him.


    ¡°They FIRED me. My life''s work GONE. Stolen! I took out every loan I could and paid every investigator I could to find you. You were good. Covered your tracks pretty fucking well but not good fucking enough!¡± The man¡¯s stutter went away as the rage crept into his voice. He grew louder and louder with every word, screaming by the end.


    ¡°You have the wrong guy!¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The enraged researcher offered no reply, would hear no argument. Truthfully it didn¡¯t matter anymore to him if he had the right culprit or not. He stepped forward guided by a dark purpose. The object of his rage backed away, but the gap between them was closing. It turned out confronting this Desmondl had been a very very bad idea. As the gap closed to a few feet the attacker pulled a knife from his pocket a four-inch knife gleaming in the midday rays.


    Shit gotta think come on. He¡¯s going to kill me if I don¡¯t do something. Gotta get past him somehow and hope he doesn¡¯t stab me before I can get away. I HAVE to take this chance.


    The hacker chucked the wallet at Desmond, hoping to distract him for even a moment. He lunged forward, hoping to shove the deranged man into a wall and get away.


    It almost worked.


    He shoved his attacker alright but as he turned the falling man grabbed his shirt and pulled. They both lost their footing from this and fell to the ground together. Before he could comprehend what happened a sharp pain radiated from his side like fire. Desmond had plunged the knife into his victim¡¯s side.


    It was by far the most excruciating pain he had ever felt in his life. There wasn¡¯t any time to process anything however as pure survival instinct took over.


    Desmond was on top of him now, trying to dig the blade deeper into his side. His left arm was pinned under the weight of the man¡¯s body. Even though Desmond couldn¡¯t have weighed much more than he did it was still too much. His right hand was free though and he swung a fist as hard as his adrenaline fueled arm could. It cracked into Desmond¡¯s jaw who was laughing maniacally at this point. He followed through on the momentum, rolling over on top of Desmond triggering a fresh wave of fire-like pain from his side. He tried to pin down Desmond¡¯s knife arm with his now freed left hand but only had partial success. He rained uncoordinated blows with his other fist onto Desmond¡¯s face.


    Desmond never stopped laughing and started to repeatedly stab the hacker over and over with his limited mobility. The man on top was relentless, seemingly impervious to the pain. He could definitely still feel it but he was too submerged in his own rage. A dim part of his mind knew that he had taken too much damage. There was no way he was going to get help in time and he would bleed out even if he did manage to incapacitate his attacker. The more dominant thought was that after he died, no one would be able to pay for Eric¡¯s care and his brother would die too. Years spent trying to save him would be wasted. Their parents would lose both their sons. It felt far too unfair to him. He did what he had to be done and now the consequences were going to kill him with nothing to show for it. He felt powerless and in his despair, he reached for control over the one thing he could at this moment.


    Before he died he would KILL Desmond.


    He continued to rain blows on Desmond¡¯s head long after the other man lost the strength to keep stabbing. Still, he continued to laugh, the man¡¯s madness was infectious and the sound burned into the bloodied victim¡¯s skull.


    Though any passerby would find it challenging to identify who was really the aggressor at this point.


    He decided to silence the laughter and began squeezing Desmond¡¯s neck, forcing his entire body weight down to crush the trachea. He used both hands as trying to prevent further stabbings had long since become useless. Finally, the laughter stopped as it changed to gurgling gasps for air. Gasps that were ultimately futile.


    After what seemed like an eternity, Desmond shuddered and stopped moving, eyes glazed back and lifeless.


    The fury of the fight began to leave the victor¡¯s body. Blood had pulled around the two from his gaping wounds. He slumped over and rolled onto his back, no longer possessing the strength to hold up his body. He could not process taking the life of the other man as he could barely process his own impending death. He was cold. His vision was filled only with blue sky.


    That is until he hallucinated the devil standing over him. Come to take his soul away. He must have been dreaming up the disturbing yellow eyed figure hunched over him. A morbid representation of his own inner guilt and failures he mused. The devil reached out a gray hand and offered it to the dying man and somehow he found the strength to accept the help.


    It was no hallucination however.


    Thetos had come to bargain.


    He thought he knew pain from being repeatedly stabbed. No pain was what he felt now. A strange strength filled him down to his very soul and he stood up with the assistance of the grey demon. His whole being felt on fire and he screamed throughout the entire process. Thetos said nothing during this process, merely smirking the whole time.


    After an eternity the pain began to recede as he stood upon his feet once again. His vision swam and he had no idea how it was possible for him to stand at all after what he had gone through. He looked down and screamed again.


    Below him, on the ground, he saw his own corpse. Green eyes glazed back the same as Desmond''s surrounded by a pool of blood. He looked over ¡®himself¡¯ and only saw a golden silhouette of the body he remembered. Thetos had plucked his soul from his dying body before it could move on.


    ¡°Now then my friend, are you done screaming?¡± Thetos spoke with his rasp.


    This question strangely calmed the apparition who looked at Thetos in bewilderment.


    ¡°Ah much better my friend. I get enough screaming from living mortals. I don¡¯t need the dead screaming at me too¡±


    ¡°Wh-what demon are you? Are you taking me to some sort of hell?¡±


    ¡°Oh ho no my friend. No demon, though you may visit some manner of ¡®hell¡¯ yet. I am one of the Named and I am called Thetos. I am a god.¡±


    The name seemed to vibrate in the air, quaking down to the ghost¡¯s very core. As if reality struggled to support the utterance of a cosmic being.


    ¡°I am here to offer you a deal. I like you, my friend. I¡¯ve been watching you for a long time now and I think you have what it takes to become one of my champions. To fight for my cause, crush my enemies, and claim kingdoms and souls in MY name.¡± Thetos elaborated.


    The dead man was bewildered. Some sort of god wanted him to fight as what? Some sort of crusader? And why the hell did he keep calling him ¡®his friend¡¯?


    ¡°I..uhh..what?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I believe I was perfectly clear my friend. Accept my terms and gain a chance to live again. Fight for me. Use that determination of yours that has kept Eric alive for so long focus it towards my enemies for they are many. Look at poor Desmond there,¡± Thetos gestured at the second corpse on the ground. ¡°He had you dead to rights literally, but then you decided he would die and he did. You decided Eric would live and he has...for now anyway. I like that kind of determination. I want to weaponize it.¡±


    ¡°Will I be able to continue helping Eric if I accept?¡±


    ¡°Oh, there is no if about the matter my friend,¡± Thetos chuckled. ¡°But yes, those are part of the terms. In exchange for accepting a Contract, the mortal benefactor gets one wish granted to them within the capabilities of the deity offering. Yours is the life of the mortal Eric and it is well within my power to cure him in totality. No more sickness, ever.¡±


    ¡°There are other benefits to this arrangement my friend.¡±  Thetos continued. ¡°The Contract weaves the Fates of the mortal and god together. No longer will you be bound by the constraints of the universe, you will gain a measure of our kind¡¯s control over our own Fate. True free will, no longer a slave to determinism. Trust me, it is a far better perk than many realize.¡±


    The god¡¯s words struck him to the core. He may not have entirely understood what Thetos was talking about but he understood two points. He never truly controlled his own actions, he was predetermined to fail in saving Eric and was always meant to die uselessly in a random alley. Also, Eric would live by accepting this ¡®Contract¡¯.


    He thought the matter over in his head wordlessly and Thetos silently allowed him to absorb the ramifications of this proposal.


    That¡¯s when it occurred to him.


    ¡°If everything I¡¯ve done till now has been predetermined and I don¡¯t truly get a choice until we ¡®weave our Fates¡¯ or whatever then that means I don¡¯t have a choice even now do I? You already know I say yes don¡¯t you?¡±


    Thetos laughed at this revelation. The laugh was a deep baritone in stark contrast to his normal raspy voice. Reality shook from the reaction.


    ¡°See my friend this is the other reason I like you. Not everyone manages to put two and two together like that, but I would have been gravely disappointed in you if you hadn¡¯t. Yes, you indeed have already accepted. My offer here at this point and time is a mere formality.¡±


    The confirmation didn¡¯t bother him as much as he thought it would.


    ¡°Then I accept. How do we do this? And how will I fight your enemies as a ghost like this?¡±


    "No worries my friend. The battlefield my kind wages war over is not here on Earth, and it¡¯s not like you could take your body over anyways. Instead, I will find a body for you and shove your soul inside. That will be the last moment I can help you until further terms of the Contract are executed. A bridge we will cross when the times come. For now, I merely need you to sign the Contract.¡±


    Thetos waved his hand and a floating piece of paper appeared in the air. Scrawled across it was glowing golden lines. The words seemed impossibly dense and endless. Far more was written on this single page than what seemed possible for a simple piece of paper to hold. He didn¡¯t question such oddities at this point though dealing in the absurdity of being dead and making deals with a god.


    He examined the Contract over and realized he couldn¡¯t actually make out what it said or even where he was supposed to sign, it was not like he was offered a pen or anything. A wave of paranoia flashed over him. So far he had taken this so called god at his word but was now being asked to sign a strange mystical document he couldn¡¯t even read. He knew he was being played like a fool somehow but had no idea how to figure it out. There was no other option than to continue though was there?


    ¡°H-how do I sign?¡± He asked, more nervous and less confident in his decision than he was a moment ago.


    ¡°Oh thats simple, press your hand against the Contract and offer the appropriate sacrifice to consecrate it. For a Contract to be accepted you must trade away a fundamental part of who and what you are.¡± The grin on Thetos¡¯s face grew wider.


    ¡°And what am I supposed to be sacrificing here?¡± An edge came to his voice, this must have been the real catch to the whole deal.


    ¡°Nothing crazy important, my friend. Just your own name. But dont worry, I will give you a new one once the Contract is sealed. Im not like other nasty gods that demand more grievous things like memories or emotions. In comparison, a name is the cheapest thing to give up really.¡±


    He sighed. His own name. It couldn¡¯t have been as simple as Thetos was saying. Now he knew he was being screwed in this deal. There wasn¡¯t any alternative unfortunately. He placed his hand on the Contract and somehow knew what to do. He pushed his name forward, lodged deep somewhere in his soul and into the Contract where it stayed, blended seamlessly in the inscrutable words of the document.


    Energy flowed back into his soul, the text of the Contract being burned and carved into the deepest recesses of his being. He thought being ripped from his dying body was bad, this reached a whole new level. The essence of who and what he was had been changed.


    He knew at that point his name was gone. Not just a frivolous thing like what people called him, but the very marker and cosmic stamp of who he was. It was gone and he felt lesser for it. It was scoured from his soul and along his Fate, reaching backward and into his own past. Suddenly it made sense why the nurses had trouble looking him up, why nobody referred to him by his own name, why he couldn¡¯t even remember calling himself anything. His name was traded away now and that means it was always traded away, that it never existed. He wasn¡¯t a person, he was a character, an entity of vague identity. Reality had merely bent around this fact and made it seem like it had always been the most natural thing in the world.


    Even as he felt lesser for his trade a new feeling rose up from within. A sense of power and direction. It was likely waking up from a deep slumber. He had always been going through the motions without ever realizing it, without ever having a choice. Now that was different. He was more awake than he ever was, he felt he could truly choose now, he tasted real and true freedom for the first time ever like discovering a lost limb or remembering a dear friend. He awakened to free will for his Fate was now in his own grasp.


    Thetos watched the change with glee. He underwent changes of his own but handled the transition far more smoothly with a practiced hand. An observer would be mistaken in thinking nothing had changed the god.


    Thetos waved his hand and a rent in reality appeared in the shape of a simple doorway. It lead out to a complete unnatural blackness.


    ¡°Come Kuzari, there is work to be done.¡±

 Chapter 2 - Déjà rêvé

    Kuzari mentally braced himself for the journey through the portal. He imagined all sorts of possible reaction to being whisked away from Earth in soul form to wherever this ''battlefield'' was. He just never imagined it to be so...boring.


    He floated along next to the god Thetos as they went down the long endlessly dark corridor between worlds.  Kuzari likely should have used this time to pester the god with questions. Get a better bearing on what he was expected to do or suss out the meaning of life. Instead, he took the silent and long journey to mentally come to terms with his situation. It still hasn''t felt quite real that he was dead. Didn''t feel real that he had killed someone. Taken a life. The disturbing part was that he found himself not bothered by the event as much as he thought he would. He expected to feel more for killing another human but he just didn''t. Perhaps something was just wrong with him but Kuzari didn''t know. He suspected that the Contract may have done something with this, made its signers more ''amenable'' to the idea of murder before the reality of the situation could set in. Sending someone to fight and kill in some sort of holy war who was too squeamish to follow through would likely end poorly. Or maybe there had just been some sort of darkness within himself all along, never rearing its head till this fateful (literally) day. He had yet to sign the Contract when he killed Desmond after all. He didn''t know, not without learning more about the Contract first. Kuzari decided to put the concern of his own lack of guilt out of mind for now. He had no one to justify his feelings to other than himself and he suspected he would soon have bigger issues to deal with.


    It was Thetos who broke the silence first.


    "My you are amusing my Kuzari. Normally others would be chatting ceaselessly to learn more about the war they signed up for or trying to learn secrets of the universe. It is normally a valuable opportunity." He said with amusement in his voice.


    Kuzari half heatedly shrugged in response. "I''m supposed to be fighting on your behalf right? You have a vested interest in me succeeding in this whole thing. If there was something you thought I should know that would help me succeed you''d have just told me by now."


    That and truthfully he didn''t trust the god. Thetos had already undersold the ramifications of trading one''s name away, something Kuzari didn''t fully understand but he knew was bad. It''s not like this Contract deal had really been a choice either. Thetos had all the power here, figuratively and literally. Kuzari was under no doubt the god only had his own best interest at heart, not Kuzari''s.


    "Quite correct there my Kuzari. There are limits as to the kind of information I''m allowed to tell you. Obviously, things like the meaning of life and such are off the table. There is only so much I can tell you about the Contract as well. Rules within rules that limit me. It was the only way they got us to agree to the whole thing. You''ve figured out the gist of it though, yes?"


    "I imagine two gods duking it out is a bad thing for well everyone. Better to let two peons fight instead. Less collateral damage that way but the dispute gets resolved all the same."


    "You''ve got the right of it my Kuzari. Same reason I can''t just shower you in divine power, hand you magic swords willy nilly or whisper forbidden secrets that would unlock your full potential instantly. All of it would be cheating and violate the Contract. I get some wiggle room by choosing a suitable vessel for you to start off with first. Anything beyond that requires you to prove yourself in the war. Slay other Contracted champions, claim wells of divine power or souls in my name and so forth. Quite simple really. Do these things and the Contract will allow me to grant you some of the benefits I mentioned."


    Wait. There were forbidden secrets that could unlock somebody''s true potential instantly? What did that even mean?


    And as he suspected he would have to find other people given the same deal he had been and kill them. Some of them may have been granted these boons as well. He noted that Thetos conveniently didn''t mention any sort of end game. If there was a win condition of any sort to aim for, Thetos wasn''t telling him. It was a daunting task and it seemed likely that he could find himself fighting for the rest of his second life until ultimately some other Contracted killed him in turn. Kuzari grimaced. Somehow he suspected that there wasn''t going to be any second chances.


    "I have other Contracted in the world we are going towards however my Kuzari. Seek them out, or rather they will seek you out. There is much you can learn from them about this conflict that I cannot tell you myself. Your life may very well depend on it. " Thetos continued.


    Kuzari nodded in response. He still knew better than to bother attempting to ask any questions. Despite his paranoia over Thetos, he did agree that we would need to find others Contracted with the god. They could prove to be valuable sources of information about what was really going on.


    Thetos abruptly came to a stop and so did Kuzari. He wasn''t sure why as the only thing he could see was the same endless expanse of darkness.


    "Ah, we''ve arrived, my Kuzari. And this is where we must part ways. I wish you the best of luck and I really hope the body doesn''t fight back against your soul too badly. I''d hate to lose you during the transition."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Wait what?"


    The darkness and Thetos were gone. Instead, there was nothing but an endless blue. Kuzari gasped a deep breath of air, suddenly requiring oxygen for the first time in several hours. He was disoriented and the pain in his chest didn''t match the pain going in his head.


    He lurched forward, suddenly realizing he had been lying down for some reason. He tried to remember what was happening but his thoughts were sluggish and confused. He needed to escape further away before the city Ratcatchers found him. Wait no, he needed to find other Contracted. What the hell was a Contracted? That pain in his chest reminded him of being stabbed in the side. When did he get stabbed in the side? Didn''t that bandit stab him in the chest? How was he still alive? He was alive cause Thetos brought him back obviously.


    Kuzari held his head in agony. Two sets of memories waged war against each other. The biological memories of the host body trying to assert itself as the memories of the soul bent neurons to match its own record. He desperately tried to shove the pain to the back of his mind and figure out where he was. One thing was clear from the host memories, whoever owned this body before had been recently murdered and the killer could still be close by.


    He stared at the ground for a brief moment puzzled by why all he saw was blue. He grasped at the color with his fingers and it felt coarse grainy. It was blue sand he realized. So blue in practically blended with the sky. It was a surreal experience. He felt the heat beat down on him and vague memories not his own told him he was in a desert. Vast dunes of blue sand rolled as far as he could see and he wondered what the sand could be made of to make such a striking color in such vast quantities.


    He heard a strange rhythmic sound coming from behind him. Kuzari rolled over and lurched to his feet to face the noise, alert to potential danger. His movements still felt sluggish and strange to himself and weaker than he expected.


    His alertness was well founded. There was a man covered in blue fabrics and wearing a shawl. No doubt to camouflage and blend in with the sand. He wielded a wicked looking curved dagger, dripping with fresh blood. The man''s dark eyes were widened with shock. He exclaimed something in a language Kuzari didn''t understand, which he now recognized as the rhythmic sound that grabbed his attention. At the man''s feet was a brown satchel, assorted writing instruments spilling from its opening.


    Kuzari experienced a brief mental flash of the man up close, dagger plunged deep into his chest mixed with a memory of fear and pain.


    The bandit was in utter shock. He knew he killed the poor fool moments ago. Even if he hadn''t, if he had somehow made a mistake, there was no way the kid could be back on his feet like that! He could still see the fresh blood seeped through the kid''s brown shirt. What kind of idiot travels the desert in such visible clothing anyways? No matter, he would finish what he started.


    The bandit screamed at Kuzari and lunged forward with the dagger. He was getting an annoying sense of deja vu as he scrambled backward trying to create some distance. He wasn''t enclosed in an alleyway this time and could afford to back away and flee the other direction instead of stupidly charging a crazed maniac unarmed.


    His eyes darted all around him searching for any hint of a weapon to defend himself with but the dunes appeared empty. He quickly patted himself down even as he started running away, hoping to find something stashed away on his person but he was unlucky in this regard as well.


    The bandit gave chase, clearly not willing to give up quite so easily.


    Panic began to set in for Kuzari. Not even five minutes into his second life and he was already facing being murdered again. Just his luck. It didn''t help that the migraine hadn''t gone away yet either. He needed something, anything at all to gain leverage and even the odds. What did he possibly have that would work? Seemingly nothing as far as he could tell.


    He kept running away, trudging up the side of a dune, his pursuer mere feet away. He created the top of the dune and when he tried to head down the sand shifted and gave way. His balance completely lost, Kuzari found himself tumbling down the side of the dune. Blues swirled around his vision and he felt the coarse sand scrape against his skin.


    Eventually, he came to a stop and jerked his head around trying to catch sight of the lone bandit once again. The opposing man was fast approaching, taking a smoother but slower path down the side of the dune, clearly more comfortable with the terrain than Kuzari was.


    He needed something damnit. Anything at all. His body was weak and rapidly losing energy. He needed to keep running but knew he simply didn''t have the stamina to outpace the madman.


    The blue clothed man closed in and Kuzari reached deep in his mind, desperate for some piece of knowledge his host had that could save him.


    Oh.


    Of course there was.


    He knew.


    Strange confidence filled Kuzari as he raised his right hand. Mana raised from the depths of his core, flowing fresh through his bloodstream and into his capillaries within his fingers. It burst through the meridian in his hand coalesced into a ball. He mentally tweaked the composition, aligning it with the raw elemental power he desired. The ball shifted and rotated till it gained a red hue and burst into flame. Such twisting of raw mana had taken years of practice to even achieve this simplest expression of magic. This singular moment of desperation almost made Magni''s cruel teachings worth it. Almost. He willed the small ball of fire forward to engulf his target. He felt the expenditure take its toll on his reserves in an instant, almost depleting his reserves.


    But the results were magnificent.


    The bandit screamed in fear and then in pain, never realizing his target had been a mage all along. The fireball was small but flesh seared easily. It struck him in the chest and ate through his clothes like nothing. The skin on his chest blistered radiated intense pain. He dropped the dagger instantly and began clawing at his clothes, desperate to remove the burning garments.


    The memory faded back into the recesses of Kuzari''s mind. He had no time to go over the sensation of accessing magic or puzzle over the fleeting recollection of whoever this Magni was. Instead, he seized the opportunity that presented itself before the bandit could finish snuffing out the receding flames.


    Kuzari charged forward and grabbed the dropped dagger, grubbing the handle until his knuckles showed white. The bandit was only dimly aware of Kuzari''s presence as the dagger was plunged deep into his belly. The bandit screamed even louder this time.


    Kuzari rammed his shoulder into the man to knock him over, hands still firmly wrapped around the blades handle. They tumbled over and Kuzari shifted on too of the man, pinning him down between his thighs. He yanked the blade out of the man''s stomach and decisively drove it home into the man''s eye socket.


    The man''s body shook from the last second firing of neurons before growing still. Kuzari was panting hard from the exhaustion and adrenaline and let his arms drop to his side. The smell of sweat and burnt flesh filling his nostrils.


    He had killed again, this time managing to not die in the process.


    However, the only thought running through Kuzari''s mind was magic.


    He cast magic.

 Chapter 3 - Mad World

    The idea of magic was exhilarating. Kuzari had always dreamed of it, every power fantasy he ever had involved magic in some way and here it was in his grasp. It was mechanically still vague to him, the memories from his host still not integrating properly. He needed to explore this capability as soon as he could.


    Unfortunately, right now he was covered in blood and grime, in the middle of a desert with the sun beating down his back, and possibly being pursued by so-called Ratcatchers whoever they are. He needed to move and he needed a plan, magic could wait.


    He yanked the dagger out of the dead man''s skull and wiped the blood off on a piece of tattered fabric. Searching the body he managed to find a leather sheath and belt to hold it and immediately attached it to his side. The dead man also had a water skin on him which Kuzari drunk from greedily. Other than that the man carried nothing else which was puzzling. He really didn''t know much about desert survival but he knew there was no way anybody was going to survive off so little supplies. He remembered the satchel left on the other side of the dune and figured it was worth investigating.


    To his utter disappointment, the bag seemed to be entirely writing supplies and books. Granted such books could be an absolutely invaluable source of information about the world but he couldn''t eat them and they couldn''t tell him where to go. The markings made his head hurt but he couldn''t make out the words. Getting these stupid memories to integrate into his head so he could actually use them was another thing on his growing list of things he needed. Unfortunately as far as he could tell that required mostly time. He packed everything back into the satchel and slung it around his neck.


    He took stock of himself. His brown shirt was torn where the body had been stabbed before he took control over it and it was completely covered in blood. Similarly brown thin pants covered his legs. Thankfully he also had a pair of soft moccasins that staved off the heat of the sand. He rubbed his chest where the wound should have been and felt a slight ridge of a scar over his heart. Evidently, it had healed over when his soul had been placed into the body. Suddenly curious he lift up his shirt to take a look at his left side where he had been stabbed back on Earth. Interestingly enough there were scars there too. Either that was some extreme coincidence or there was more going on with this merger than mixed memories and being resurrected. He ran his hands through his hair and confirmed that it was cut fairly short, no more than an inch or two. He plucked a hair to take a look at the color and was surprised to see it was pure white, different than the brown he sported in his original body. Looking at his arms his skin was more tan than his original, which made sense if his host lived out in a desert. He wished he had a mirror to get a good look at his face. He had always liked his eyes and hoped he kept the same green color. Beggers couldn''t be choosers though.


    He spun in a circle looking around. All he could make out was the endless blue sand. He needed to figure out a direction to start heading towards but there was no longer any signs of footprints, blown away by gusts of wind. He had no idea what direction he or the bandit had come from and no idea which direction either had been headed. If I don''t start going somewhere though I''ll just die out here


    Kuzari picked a random direction and started walking hoping for the best. He kept an eye out for any more sources of water or food, knowing his meager ration of water wouldn''t last very long in this heat. He walked for about an hour before he saw another sign of life. A small blue fox looking creature peered at him from the top of a nearby large dune. Kuzari normally wouldn''t have noticed the creature with the way its fur blended with the sand if it wasn''t for the chirping noises it made. It had long ears and short limbs. Kuzari estimated the thing would have barely stood above his ankles. It was adorable he admitted, but also potentially food, so the bloodied young man edged towards the animal. He wasn''t sure how he was going to catch and cook the thing without figuring out this whole magic business, but he had to try.


    He steadily climbed the dune and at the halfway point the fox jumped and dipped down the other side of the dune. Kuzari figured as much would happen but he persisted. If nothing else a dune this large should give him a vantage point to see if there were any landmarks in the area.


    He reached the top, peered over, and immediately dropped the ground in a panic. On the other side was a large camp of people. He hadn''t expected to run into a group of people so soon or in such large amounts. He saw at least a couple dozen people, most of them dressed blue fabrics like his run-in with the bandit. The tents were simple, more blue fabric held up sticks. In the center of the camp, there was a large gathering of sticks and logs. Kuzari idly wondered where these people got all this blue fabric from and where the hell did you get any sort of wood out here?Stolen story; please report.


    Kuzari debated his options. On one had people could be a godsend. Potentially a source of information, supplies, and safety. On the other hand, they were dressed like the bandit he killed and was entirely possible they were affiliated, his host had evidently been running from some group called ''the Ratcatchers'' and Kuzari had no idea if these people were them or not, oh and he didn''t know the language yet either. He really hoped language was one of the things he picked up from his host. Learning a brand new one from scratch when it was highly probable that anyone he ran into wouldn''t be able to speak English either would be a challenge.


    Still, he needed food and water, and it was becoming increasingly likely that he wasn''t going to find it out here on his own. He simply didn''t have the knowledge for it and was starting to suspect his host didn''t either with how unprepared he seemed to be overall. He could try sneaking into the camp when it got dark and stealing what he needed, but he had no idea what sorts of guards they might prop up, and any sense of diplomacy would be gone if he was caught. He already had enough of people trying to stab him and he really didn''t need to encourage more of the behavior.


    As Kuzari pondered his course of action the sky grew dim until suddenly the light of day winked out. He was startled by the sudden transition into night and glanced up at where the sun was. Instead of the sun, there was a massive grey moon with visible chunks missing out of it in the shape of three large grooves. It was a frightening prospect. He had simply assumed that the day-night cycle on this planet would be similar to Earth, or at least follow a cycle that made sense for a planetary body. Evidently, that wasn''t the case here as it took mere seconds transition from bright day to night. There was definitely magic and fuckery about with this but he had no other possible explanation. Not to mention he couldn''t think of a single natural reason why the moon would have what almost appeared to be claw marks visible from down here. The thought of some space monster large enough to damage a moon and not be bothered by the square-cube law disturbed him. He briefly chuckled to himself, If I can barely trust physics to work the same here, what can I trust?


    Kuzari peered over the dune again as stealthily as he could to watch the camp. Who knew, maybe the sudden switch to night wasn''t normal? He''d have to gauge their reactions from afar.


    The people in the camp seemed unperturbed by the transition and Kuzari watched as the began lighting the bundle in the center on fire, creating a decently sized bonfire. They didn''t light it with a torch or anything either. A tall person in the center had waved their hand over the stack and it simply burst into flames. Kuzari clearly wasn''t the only one with access to magic. If you count the one time as ''access to magic''. This person was distinguished from the others in the camp as they seemed to wear a scarlet scarf around their neck on top of a long blue robe. Unfortunately from the distance Kuzari couldn''t gather much more than that or even their gender. He did note that there was a distinct absence of women in the camp as far he could tell and wondered if there was a particular cultural reason for it or something. He was still observing the camp when he felt a very light brush wash over him. He almost thought it was the wind at first except he clearly felt it deep inside his body, where that ''core'' was he remembered pulling mana up from.


    The roped magic user suddenly jerked towards his direction and pointed towards him. Kuzari ducked down and knew he had been caught somehow. The other magic user had some way of detecting him. Kuzari made for a mad dash down the hill to put as much distance as he could between him and the camp. There was no way he was going to be able to fight off that many people on his own. He had gotten lucky as it was that he won the last fight.


    He ran as fast as he could in the night, but he was exhausted from the day''s struggle and dehydrated. There was simply no way he could keep a chase up for long. He would have considered hiding somehow except periodically he would feel that same brush against his core. His pursuers might as well have radar for tracking him. Sure enough, it did not take long to get caught. Five men caught up to him and by the time they did Kuzari was on his last legs, barely able to put on foot over the other.


    The man in front threw a brown net over him, tripping Kuzari up as he hit the ground hard, tasting sand once again. He weakly struggled to break free of the net but his efforts were useless. He briefly considered trying to reach down again for magic to burn the net away but a dim part of his mind told him he didn''t have the energy stored up for that. Not that it would have done him much good to be honest.


    The men Pinned him down, removing his satchel and retrieving the dagger he held to his side. One man bound Kuzari''s hands and feet together. They barked orders at him that he simply did not understand but made his head hurt. A part of him was struggling to interpret the demands but the cohesion just was not there yet. Then he was dragged along by a rope. Sand scraped away painfully at his skin as they brought the captive back to camp.


    On the positive side, they didn''t kill me outright, so there''s still a chance to live through this.


    He was dragged into the camp and caught the gaze of several of the others glaring at him wearily. He was unceremoniously dumped into the largest of the tents.


    The inside was sparsely decorated. It had a simple bed robe and in a chair sat the robed figured Kuzari spotted earlier. The figure pulled back a good and Kuzari met the first woman he had seen since coming here. She had shoulder length red hair and fiery eyes to match which unnerved him. Her skin was absolutely porcelain which seemed strange out here in the desert. Honestly, he thought she would be pretty cute if he wasn''t currently terrified for his life.


    The woman had a perplexed look on her face. Like she really couldn''t believe what she was looking at. Then she spoke and with a flash of mental agony he knew.


    "Ralin, is that really you?"

 Chapter 4 - Qualia

    Well, this woman clearly recognized Kuzari''s host body and he had no idea whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing. Probably a terrible thing. It was interesting that he was able to absorb the local language when at a stressing point with it. Seemed the two sets of memory integrated faster when in situations that demanded the knowledge the most much like when he reached for magic earlier. Which unfortunately it seemed he had yet to recover any mana whatsoever. He originally thought that the magic here worked on a simple ''fatigue'' based system: Cast spell, spend energy, recover energy, cast more spells. Perhaps there was a bit more to it than that however. He really hoped it wasn''t something crazy like it took years to stack that minuscule amount and he had just burned all of it at once. He doubted it or else the woman in front of him wouldn''t have wasted such power to light a simple fire earlier.


    She kept staring at him expecting an answer that he still hadn''t figured out how to give. Tell the truth? Lie? Play dumb? Play dumb was probably for the best, at least to feel her out.


    Still bound by rope Kuzari jerked his body up into a partial sitting position and looked back at his captor. He gave her a big grin with as much faux bravado as he could muster.


    "I''m...afraid...I....don''t...know....who...that...is." Kuzari stammered out. The foreign tongue was still awkward to speak. He grasped an understanding of the language but was far from practiced at using it.


    She eyed Kuzari warily for a few seconds before responding.


    "You have his face, his hair, the last clothes he was seen in, and you had his things. Yet your eyes are different, you speak differently, and you''re covered in Jodah''s blood. Ralin couldn''t hurt a soul."


    Well shit, she evidently knew his host quite well. Nice to know he kept his eye color at least. Evidently, the ''bandit'' that had killed him wasn''t just a random encounter, he was indeed affiliated with this ''Ratcatcher'' group. ''Couldn''t hurt a soul'' was probably why he wounded up dead in the first place.


    "In..my..defence...Jodah...started it. I...just ended it."


    "Tell me who or what are you really. What are you doing with Ralin''s body? What happened to him?" Anger crept into her voice.


    "Names Kuzari.... good question..he wasn''t using it...and seemed as good as any... other, and Jodah got a...little too stab happy. No idea what...their beef was." He answered each question in turn. "And what...is your name?"


    She refused to answer at first, mulling his response over, constantly giving him a strange stare, like he was some unusual captive wild animal. He kinda was in a way. She laced her fingers together in front of her face, debating how to handle the situation.


    "I am Adara. Jodah was one of our scouts. We were looking for you, for Ralin. He took some very important things from our master, and he was to pay the price of betrayal. Seems he paid far more than he bargained for." She finally responded.


    "That''s an understatement...I''m assuming...the books?" Kuzari asked.


    "That and..." Adara pointed at Kuzari, "the core located inside that body. Apprentices owe their master mana tribute. Running off before the debt is paid is theft."


    A memory of pain flashed through Kuzari''s mind. Images of being chained to a table, energy leeched from his back and full of agonizing pain. Tribute was not a pleasant experience.


    "Well, I don''t suppose that means you''ll...let me go then? You have the books, and whatever...debt Ralin had died...with him." He pleaded with Adara but in truth didn''t hold much in the way of expectations. He gave her a hopeful smile.


    Adara chuckled at his pleas.


    "Oh heavens no. Ralin may have hoped to use master''s research notes to earn enough cash to start a new life but the core is the most grievous theft of all. He will get it back. Whether your life is still attached to it or it''s taken from your corpse is simply a matter of your cooperation."


    Well, this whole ''core'' business was a bigger deal than he thought. He didn''t just steal someone''s body, he stole someone''s body that technically belonged to someone else as well. Awkward. At least there seemed a path that didn''t end in him dying again.


    "Then consider this me cooperating."


    Adara smiled, "Of course. Besides, I''m sure Magni would much prefer to dissect a live body snatcher such as yourself rather than do an autopsy."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Kuzari gulped. Maybe he got his hopes up too soon?


    <hr>


    They let him sleep in a wooden cage for the night. He wasn''t fed anything at all and was given a wide berth by the camp''s inhabitants. It probably had something to do with everyone thinking he was some dark monster inhabiting the corpse of the man they had been hunting for the better part of a few days. Well, that wouldn''t be too far off from the truth depending on how you look at things.


    It did frighten him a bit to see the disparity between how the normal camp members treated him and Adara did. The others seemed to fear him once they learned of his story, but the mage was utterly unafraid. That either spoke volumes about the common folk''s superstition or volumes about Adara''s confidence in handling a strange resurrecting monster. That possibility was disturbing in its own right.


    Despite the cramped nature of his cage, Kuzari fell asleep soundly. He barely had time to consider any thoughts of escape before exhaustion took over. Besides the physical effort he had expended he was quite simply mentally exhausted. The past twenty-four hours had been a lot to mentally cope with.


    By the time he woke up the day was already bright, the sun high in the sky. He wondered if the change to morning was as abrupt as the change to night. Judging that the sun seemed to be in the same position as he remembered it from the other day he wondered if they even moved. How the fuck does anybody even keep track of time around here? Hell, how long were days and nights around here?


    The camp seemed mostly packed up already, the tents all seemingly gone. He was fairly certain at this point that there was magical fuckery going on with the supplies at this point. Adara had come to give him a small sip of water and ignored any of his attempts to strike up a conversation for more information. Then the group was off heading towards gods knows where. Kuzari wondered what they did with Jodah''s body since they clearly knew the man had been killed earlier but he saw no sign of any corpses.


    They had attached two poles to his cage and four men lifted and carried his whole cage. Apparently, they didn''t trust him enough to walk along with the others. Still, it gave him more time to rest and more importantly he finally had time to take care of an important matter.


    He closed his eyes and mentally reached inwards. He didn''t really know what he was doing but he needed to figure out this magic business. This Ralin evidently had some knowledge in how it worked and he hoped to tease out more memories of how it all worked. He recalled the scene of casting his little fireball and reached for this ''core'' that he had inside him. It was interesting how Adara spoke of it as if it was a physical object, independent of the body itself. He was surprised that it was easier to locate than he expected. It felt like a jagged star located just below his heart, a myriad of spikes jutting out and into the organs around it. Strangely the spikes didn''t seem to cause him any pain and indeed if he hadn''t been purposely trying to find this core he wouldn''t have felt it at all. Whatever it was it seemed to have integrated with the rest of his flesh.


    He pushed deeper into his core. The inside felt like a reservoir for energy and to his dismay, it felt bone dry. The dim part of his mind he recognized as being Ralin''s memories told him that it should have been obvious it was empty as he hadn''t yet done....something. Damnit! So close!


    He pulled out of the core itself and mentally stayed there for a moment. This whole sensation of peering into his own body was strange. It was close to effortless and he wondered what the extent of this awareness truly was. He already figured that it had to be some skill imparted to him by his host as there was no way he had this kind of internal awareness on Earth. Curious his mind started following the veins and arteries leading away from the core. He found that it was easier to mentally follow his bloodstream than it was to delve into the sense of his own organs but not impossible. This ability seemed amazing to him. He didn''t have to guess if something was wrong with his body, he could just look at it. He figured athletes would kill for such an ability as the power to actually see how his muscles and body moved and responded to actions was actually pretty powerful. It meant that somebody could effectively determine the most optimal means of training various muscle groups, just by judging how the body responded. Or eliminate wasted movements just by-


    Kuzari''s thoughts were cut short as his cage was bumped around. The group was headed up a hill and the change in motion had startled him. Kuzari kept his eyes open and tried to reach inside himself again, finding it significantly more challenging than earlier. This internal awareness he had was one thing while totally focused on it, but a completely separate matter when there was any sort of distraction at all. It was a surprisingly simple yet powerful tool even outside the consideration for magic. He had no idea if other people were abusing this power, he was certain he wasn''t the only one that had it, but it was definitely on his plans to abuse in the future.


    He spent most of the trip focusing on developing this awareness while trying to force Ralin''s memories of how magic worked to reveal itself. He had little luck on that front and the hunger he felt proved to be a mighty distraction. No one had bothered to feed him yet. It seemed needlessly cruel to him but there wasn''t anything he could do about it. When night approached he did get an idea where the Ratcatchers got all their supplies from.


    At first he thought the uniforms everyone wore aside from Adara were the same but then he noticed several individuals that wore a silver star pinned to their shawls just under the left collar bone. These members would tap the stars and wave their hands in front of themselves, equipment and supplies seemingly materializing out of thin air. Kuzari doubted it was outright creation of raw matter, that was a prospect simply too insane to entertain, but those stars seemed to serve as some means of storage far more capable and magical than silly things like backpacks. It was impressive the number of supplies they could carry with so few people. Such a transportation device probably dominates how trade works in this world.


    It wasn''t until the end of the second day that they finally fed him. It was a meal consisting of a piece of hard tacky bread and a thin slice of unidentified meat. Adara gave him a disgusted look as he wolfed down the food in front of her. Hey you go two days without food and see how you like it


    A part of Kuzari wished something dramatic would happen. Ambush or monster raid. Something to give him a chance to get away. Unfortunately about once an hour he would feel a familiar breeze wash over his core. Whatever magic or skill Adara had used to find him earlier was likely responsible for guiding the group away from any trouble. It made Kuzari wonder how Ralin managed to get this far away on his own. The task seemed impossible to him.


    It was on the third day that he finally caught sight of their destination. They crested another blue dune and there in the near distance was a city.


    And it was far grander than he imagined possible for lying in the middle of a desert. Tall spires of dark indigo stone rose into the air, each surrounded by an assortment of square buildings made from a similar material all of different sizes. Roofs seemed to have a reflective metal sheet or bronze domes covering the tops, no doubt as a means of reflecting some of the sun''s powerful rays. The city at this distance seemed to have been grown haphazardly with no visible sign of any planned arrangement as it stretched for miles in all visible directions. The city didn''t even have any walls. Above all the most shocking aspect was the colors.


    Glass comprising the entire color spectrum littered the whole city. Windows of greens, reds, and yellows reflected light everywhere. Strings connected the tops of buildings together, decorated with ornamental shards of glass. The whole place dazzled in the gleam of the sun giving it a bright and festive cheer.


    Adara slowed her pace until she found herself next to Kuzari''s cage. She seemed amused at his gawking and spoke for the first time since their meeting.


    "Welcome to Alastazia, the City of Glass."

 Chapter 5 - Ultimatum

    It wasn''t long before they were traveling through the city proper via one of the many roads leading in and out of Anastazia. Despite traveling through what seemed to be a residential area, the streets were still crowded with people. None of which seemed.even slightly perturbed by a group of blue cloaked people carrying around a cage with a person inside.


    Kuzari noticed that although the blue shawls and robes were fairly popular, people supported a variety of clothing styles, many hardly wearing clothes at all seemingly more at home at a beach than in the middle of a desert city. The heat simply didn''t bother many people. He did spot more than a few people sporting red scarves similar to Adara''s. Glass jewelry was extremely popular, individuals of all genders wearing intricate bracelets and necklaces of colored glass. An unusual pattern Kuzari began to notice was the sorts of tattoos people had. It seemed fairly common for people to have a tattoo but rarely did an individual have more than one visible and even more strangely there were a lot of repeating designs.


    Some would have simple designs like waves flowing across their shoulders, or suns emblazoned across the back of their hands. A few people had complex stars on their chests that suspiciously reminded him of the stars carried by those in the Ratcatchers responsible for carrying supplies. It seemed plausible that these tattoos denoted some form of local factions, but the way people seemed to intermingle in the crowd suggested it was more than that.


    They were guided towards one of the larger spires deep in the heart of the city, a trek that took a few more hours than he expected. Kuzari had tried to practice his newfound awareness but found it difficult when he was also trying to absorb as much as he could of the sights and sounds of the city. The base of the spire was huge, easily spanning the size of a city block. A massive bronze door stood as the entrance underneath a bright red banner emblazoned with the image of a star wreathed in flames. Two men stood guard of the entrance, both wearing blue robes and sporting red scarves matching Adara''s own. They nodded to her as she approached and the two opened the doors. To Kuzari''s surprise, the doors opened quite easily despite their massive bulk, almost gliding open.


    His cage was brought into a large entrance hall. It was sparsely decorated was lined with many doors leading to who knows where. People flitted in and out of these doors, always in a constant hurry. At the end of the hallway was a large set of stairs that spiraled up to the next floor. His carriers brought him towards these stairs and he briefly thought they were going to haul him up the flight, which would have been an amusing endeavor. Instead, they set the cage down near the steps. They exchanged a few words with Adara before setting off on their own, leaving just her to stand watch over him. Kuzari recognized the satchel sitting at her feet as the one he discovered to be Ralin''s hoard of stolen books.


    "So uhh is this where you finally let me out?" He asked hopefully.


    He was offered no answer, the woman simply staring at the top of the stairs with a grim expression. She was expecting someone.


    Moments later a man began to descend the stairs. Suddenly it seemed as if everyone about had much MUCH more important things to do than be caught dead in the entrance hall. The bustling air of the hall became quiet and empty until only Kuzari and Adara was left. All within the span of about three steps. Adara herself immediately began prostrating.


    The man slowly walked down the stairs with measured steps. Unlike the more common blue robes everyone seemed to prefer in this area he wore a deep blood red cloak over intricately embroidered clothes. He too seemed to enjoy the fashion of gaudy glass jewelry, his fingers covered in rings and wearing no less than four gold necklaces sporting a variety of colors. His hair was dark and trimmed short. He had a young looking face, almost boyish in appearance. His most striking feature, however, was his skin, boasting a dark inhuman red. His eyes were an indigo color and if Kuzari had thought Thetos looked the part of a demon this man had him beat in that category.


    Ralin''s memories rose to the top in a panic and Kuzari found himself recognizing this man. It was Magni himself, and he was an Ifrit, a living manifestation of fire. He was their master, owned Ralin and many others outright, and boasted considerable command a chunk of the city.


    Magni stared at Kuzari intently as he walked down the stairs, his steps echoing in the now silent hall. Kuzari had never felt so judged, so ''measured'' in his life. I''m starting to think Adara wasn''t joking about the idea that Magni would want to dissect me


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    Magni reached the bottom of the stairs and unexpectedly sat down on the steps casually, resting against the rails. His grim expression washed away into a boyish smile as he spoke.


    "Well now, finally my possessions have returned to me. Though I must admit, I hadn''t expected a Contractor to take Ralin''s place." His voice was sweet and languid.


    Kuzari was surprised and his face showed it. Adara, still prostrated and silent on the ground, slightly adjusted her head to peer at Kuzari.


    "Wait, how di-" Kuzari started but was cut off by Magni making a quiet hushing sound. He felt strangely compelled to obey, totally unable to continue speaking. Whatever powers this Magni possessed was beginning to frighten him.


    "I keep tabs of all my little followers. Can''t begin to be careless when you all carry one of my special cores inside you. Very valuable things they are. The moment you entered the city I knew what happened. The...flavor of your soul radiating from the core was different than Ralin''s, and I remember every distinct flavor." Magni said with an amused smile. The possessive and predatory tone in his voice frightened Kuzari even more than he already was. Memories of Ralin''s own fear bubbling to the surface didn''t help either.


    "Yes yes, I know about the Contractors too. Your kind may be rare, but they''re not that rare. I have tabs on four other Contractors living in this very city. None of which owe me as you do now. Very fascinating business."


    Kuzari tried to speak, to ask questions about what Magni knew about Contractors but still found himself utterly compelled to be silent.


    "Whatever shall we do with you? I''m very generous I''ll have you know. I give out cores to many people who otherwise would never have access to such a wondrous thing. Access to magic and training directly from myself or my direct apprentices. Valuable information and power given to many. All I ask if in return is for my followers, my children, to pay the customary tribute. A donation of accumulated mana every so often to pay their debts to me." Magni monologued, waving his hands in the air to accentuate his words.


    "Sadly not everyone can appreciate my terms, as Ralin has so clearly demonstrated. Not that I understand why, eighty years of tribute is truly a paltry sum. Why my own apprenticeship was four centuries!" Magni exclaimed, chuckling to himself. He truly seemed pleased with himself.


    Kuzari balked at these words. If he understood Magni right, essentially this powerful mage would train other people how to use magic in exchange for indentured servitude. Not only that but either other people lived a long longer here than in Earth, or most humans had to pay nearly their entire lives towards this man before earning their freedom. The prospect was truly ridiculous. How long has this Ifrit been alive anyways?


    "Now Ralin only paid for a decade''s worth so far and it''s such a shame he''s gone now. I hate unfulfilled investments. It''s your lucky day though as I really would hate to find another suitable vessel for that core inside you. So I''ll offer you the same terms. Eighty years of service in exchange for that core and training. It''s entirely up to you. Of course, if you don''t like those terms I''ll need to take that core back. I don''t believe I''ve ever heard of someone surviving the procedure, but still, the choice is yours to make."


    Magni''s eyes gleamed viciously.


    Kuzari suddenly released the breath he held in, not realizing he had been holding it in this entire time. Guy sure loves to hear himself talk, doesn''t he?


    Kuzari began to answer slowly, as if testing that he was indeed able to speak again, "I...I accept your terms."


    What other option did he have really? He would no doubt be killed if he said no. Eighty years was a crazy length of time to him, but Ralin proved that it wasn''t impossible to escape this deal, merely mind-boggling difficult. Besides, this mage knew about Contractors, likely even more than what Kuzari knew. Hell, there were other Contractors in this very city! That was either something very good or very bad. He needed to learn more.


    There was an even more enticing implication with Magni''s offer, which honestly is what led Kuzari to agree even more than because of the threat to his life. He had yet to tease the secret of truly using magic from Ralin''s memories, and Magni was offering a path forward in that regard.


    "Excellent, excellent!" Magni said with enthusiasm, "And what is my new pupil''s name?"


    Kuzari felt the same compulsion to obey, even though he had no reason not to answer anyways, "I was given the name Kuzari".


    "Kuzari? Very well" Magni clapped his hands together and turned to Adara, "You, my child, find this Kuzari a room and make sure he gets oriented."


    "Yes my Lord" Adara responded, never looking up.


    Magni leaned forward towards the cage Kuzari was captive in and casually reached out and ripped the iron lock barring the cage shut. He stood back up to his full height, molten metal dripping between his fingers and spattering onto the floor. His casual easygoing demeanor was gone, replaced with the same imposing presence as when he descended the stairs.


    "Oh, and let our newest student keep the books. They were all beginner material anyways. He is going to need all the help to catch up."


    Adara seemed surprised at the decision and couldn''t help but ask for clarification.


    "When you say he needs-"


    "I mean he has none of Ralin''s built up affinities. He''s starting from worse than scratch. He is unaffiliated."


    Adara''s surprise turned into shock as her head whipped over entirely to stare at Kuzari, her face a mix of confusion and horror.


    Magni solemnly ascended back up the stairs without further explanation.


    Kuzari felt a sense of dread as he exited his cramped cage, careful not to touch the blazing hot metal where Magni had opened the cage, clearly an unnecessary display of power.


    Whatever being ''unaffiliated'' meant, it didn''t sound good, and he had a hunch it had something to do with why he wasn''t been able to use any magic since the first time against Jodah.

 Chapter 6 - Affinity

    Kuzari stretched his limbs, sore from several days stuck inside the cage. He felt weak and hungry, hoping that his induction into servitude would mean they''d finally start feeding him real food. Adara finally stood up and was giving him a strange glare.


    "What? Never seen an unaffiliated Contractor before?" Kuzari asked, weakly joking.


    "No. I haven''t as a matter of fact." She said warily. "Follow me, I''ll show you your room."


    Apparently, food wasn''t on the table yet. Kuzari grabbed the satchel of books now belonging to him and followed after Adara, ducking into one of the side paths. It was a winding path that led past many doors before twisting upwards using a different set of stairs. He estimated about four flights of stairs before Adara led him down a straight hallway filled with rooms with symbols atop the doorway. It reminded Kuzari of college dorm rooms. He was aware the symbols represented numbers, but the exact meanings of them eluded his grasp. Considering his gift of books, obtaining literacy was high on his list of priorities. He had a few ideas on how to force the issue based on how he had previously absorbed information.


    Adara stopped in front of a room and stared at it lost in thought for a moment.


    "So uhh my room I presume?" Kuzari asked.


    Adara broke away from her thoughts and turned to him, with a sigh she said, "Yes this is your room now. One of the few vacancies we have in the Initiate quarters. That''s your rank now by the way. Aside from the servants and non-mage workers Initiate is the lowest rank. Glorified mana batteries to fuel our lord''s vast demands. Prove yourself and then you can become a real apprentice like me. That''s when you can start learning real magic. I doubt you''ll be able to make it that far though."


    Kuzari had no intention of waiting for something as silly as a promotion. He did feel insulted that she thought he wouldn''t be able to make the cut. He had a sinking feeling it had something to do with being ''unaffiliated'' and asked as such.


    "Study and find out. I''m not responsible for teaching you, Contractor. I suggest you rest up, mana exercises for the initiates begin in the morning and you do not want to be tired for those." Adara responded with an acid tone. Something had set her on edge and Kuzari could not narrow down exactly what the reason was.


    She began to turn away before he stopped her.


    "Wait! I''ve barely been given any food or water. Where can I get some food around here?" He asked.


    She rolled her eyes, not empathizing with his plight.


    "Lunch is already over and Magni doesn''t believe in dinner. Don''t ask why."


    He really wanted to ask why.


    She pulled a small metal disk from a pocket hidden in her robes. It had a silver star emblazoned on the front. Kuzari recognized it as the same star the carriers marked their clothes with. She tapped it and a fresh loaf of bread appeared in her hand.


    Kuzari really wanted one of these devices for his own. A sort of dimensional pocket storage was incredibly useful.


    "Eat this to tide you over till breakfast." She tossed the bread over to Kuzari who fumbled with the catch almost dropping the precious food.


    Adara didn''t stick around long enough to answer any more questions, leaving Kuzari to his own devices for the first time in days. He briefly considered fleeing right then and there but figured he probably wouldn''t get very far. Magni didn''t seem the type to give third chances.


    He entered the room while eating the loaf of bread. The room seemed largely barren but oddly nostalgic. It was larger than he expected at an estimated twenty-foot by sixteen-foot space. A simple bed sat in the far corner and opposed to it was a decent sized desk that lacked any drawers. A small window looked out over the city on the far wall. There didn''t seem to be anywhere to store possessions but he supposed with people carrying around those star things there wasn''t a huge need. It did make him wonder why his host didn''t have one, it would have been a lot easier to sneak out a bunch of books with one of those things.


    He dropped the satchel at the end of the bed and sat down to think. He was in service to a ridiculously powerful inhuman mage, to act as some sort of battery via tribute that didn''t sound pleasant at all. He lacked information about the area and he wasn''t the only Contractor in town. Thetos told him to expect an allied one to contact him but failed to instruct him how to tell the difference between friend and foe. Until proven otherwise he had to assume the other Contractors wanted him dead and were likely far more experienced. On top of everything Magni and Adara implied he had a handicap to deal with. Ultimately, what he needed was to get more powerful and he highly doubted that simply taking the ''normal'' route other magic users took in this route would work, not in the long term at least. He needed to leverage what he did best. He needed to analyze the systems at play here and exploit them for all they were worth. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    He needed to cheat.


    Several hours later and Kuzari found himself sitting in the center of the room surrounded by open books and writing materials. The desk lacked the space he needed and was shoved on its side in the corner along with the bed propped on its headboard, all to maximize the floor space to evenly distribute his materials. He was rapidly skimming through a book in his hand, mentally taking in all the symbols he could take. He hadn''t broken through Ralin''s memories to access literacy yet, but the migraine he felt told him he was close. The largest breakthroughs he had in integrating the memories came when he was under stress, so the plan was simple: induce stress by forcing himself to memorize as much of the foreign alphabet as possible. With the writing materials at hand, he was making copies of random passages, particularly anytime he found a section that had uncommon patterns of symbols. The common stuff he was more likely to pick up from repetition and using writing to build up muscle memory of the weird stuff reinforced his learning.


    He was almost finished skimming his current book when a spike of pain almost blinded his vision. He dropped the book in his hands and grabbed his head. The pain began to recede and he knew.


    Kuzari started to chuckle to himself. It worked! It freaking work! No telling how long if he had simply waited for it to come to him naturally. He glanced around at the books he was surrounded by with a newfound appreciation for their meaning. Of course, there was no way he would retroactively be able to remember all their contents just because he could read the language now, doing so even if the books had been written in his native language would have been an extreme feat for a few hours of study.


    The books were exactly what he needed, however. They were primers on magic. Everything from The Principals of  Affinity to Introduction to Structured Mana Manipulation. Fascinatingly enough some of the books seemed entirely dedicated to a single spell such as Minor Telekinetic Pull. A sense of giddiness rose up from within, washing away any feeling fatigue and tiredness from the past few days. It was a familiar and exciting rush of so much information on a new exciting topic laid out in front of him. Reminded him of the first time he started to learn how to code or find an exploit.


    He reached for the book on affinities first and started to pour over it. Magni''s comment on lacking Ralin''s affinities and being unaffiliated concerned him. He needed to understand what sort of handicap he was supposedly dealing with.


    It was a fascinating read, and once he figured out what the hubbub was about he felt stupid for wondering why his mana reserves were empty, indeed he felt stupid about a lot of his questions. Mana didn''t simply come from nowhere and expecting his reserves to simply fill up over time was like expecting your car to spontaneously start producing gas. The process of refilling his core of mana was a distillation and refinement process by gathering it from his surroundings. What surroundings you gathered from mattered too and that is where affinities came into play. Mana simply didn''t exist naturally in a neutral state, it existed in various aligned forms. Fire, water, air, earth, light, sound, darkness, space, time, and countless other forms. The world brimmed with an assortment of different types of mana. A mages ability to collect this ambient mana depended on their affinity for particular elemental types. An affinity built up over time of repeated absorption. Mages who selectively drew in power from fire and heat would correspondingly build up their affinity for fire and heat and allow them to draw in more. As the body and core of an individual adapted towards a particular type it became harder and harder to draw in other types. A system that rewarded specialization.


    Kuzari considered the implications this meant for him. It took years to build up any affinities at all, most mages focusing on only one or two elements. He lacked any of the affinities that Ralin had spent a decade developing. It was no exaggeration to say he was indeed starting from scratch. Worst still was being unaffiliated.


    In the natural course of someone''s life people built up at least a smidgen of affinity regardless if they had a core or not, and some were even born with affinities inherited from their family. It was no wonder that someone like Magni, a creature born of elemental fire had near perfect fire affinity and it augmented everything he could do. But Kuzari''s soul wasn''t from this world and Ralin''s body wasn''t anything special. Trying to draw in mana of any type would be like trying to drink sand through a thin straw. It would be a hundred times more difficult for him to even begin practicing than any of his peers.


    It did afford him one vital advantage that he would have to make a serious decision about. No affinities and being unaffiliated meant a totally clean slate. Unlike most people who would have to choose their affinities based on what their highest levels were the time of awakening to magic, he could outright choose his specialty from the very beginning. He was limited only by the availability of his chosen types and his own persistence.


    He began fantasizing about freezing time and teleporting around the world but further reading splashed cold water on those ideas. Despite time technically being always available, the amount of time-aligned mana in any given area was appallingly minuscule. It would take literal lifetimes to build enough affinity to even pull the equivalent of the fireball stunt he pulled earlier. And that was if you were a born genius warned the book. As for spatial mana, it was definitely feasible, but it was a very fickle field, often requiring elaborate and complex spell structures to anchor their effects. The small pocket storage devices Kuzari recognized earlier was such an example. It was potentially powerful but lacked the speed necessary to do anything useful in the middle of a fight. He would consider it, but he needed something he could actually fight with.


    Fire was the obvious choice here in the desert. The place was practically saturated with the stuff and it was no wonder Magni made his base of operations in the middle of one. It was powerful, direct, and had clear combat implications. Still, he knew he wouldn''t be able to choose it. He had no intention of serving out his eighty years and that meant he would inevitably come into conflict with Magni''s faction which no doubt would include a large number of fire mages. No way was he going to beat them out when they had more expertise and the home field advantage. No, he needed something that would give him an unexpected edge. He needed to learn all they could teach here but also needed something that they wouldn''t be able to teach him at all.


    Kuzari continued his reading, absorbed in the detail descriptions about the properties of various affinities and their notable usages. He needed to learn more about magic as a whole before deciding what direction he was going to take. He did have time to choose, as any efforts to gather affinity was going to be painstakingly slow regardless of what picked he could draw out a mixture of mana to practice the basics of magic until he decided which affinity to focus on.


    His studies carried him well past the switch to night. He huddled up under the window and used the moonlight to read until he physically could not stay awake any longer, his dirty and battered body not having the stamina to stay awake and focused for so many hours straight.


    When morning came and he was woken for the day''s mana exercises he quickly learned that he should have taken Adara''s warning about getting rest seriously.

 Chapter 7 - Chrysopoeia

    The morning started off well enough for Kuzari. A servant in plain white clothes woke him up early and brought him to a bath down the hall. He was given a fresh set of clothes, most notably a blue robe like the other mages in the complex wore. The hot water felt good on his sore muscles and finally being freed from the dirt and grime of dried blood was refreshing. He was then lead to a dining hall on a lower floor where he was able to eat his fill. It was bland food consisting of bread and simple meats, but he ate it with relish. All in all, he was starting to think this whole servitude to a powerful narcissistic fire mage wasn''t such a bad gig after all.


    His opinion started to change when he was brought to a large enclosed gymnasium. The room ate up the entire eighth floor and Kuzari found himself lined up along with a dozen other initiates. Each of them looked exhausted and ready to drop dead at any moment, grim faces focused forwards. It gave him an ominous feeling as he mimicked his fellow initiates, standing still and staring forward patiently. They varied in ages and height. The youngest of the group barely taller than his knees and the oldest already showing signs of grey hair.


    An elderly man paced in front of the group. He wore a red scarf that Kuzari had come to realize marked the man as one of the real apprentices. He had bronze skin and was showing signs of balding. His nose was long and hooked, supporting a small pair of spectacles that sat in front of beady black eyes.  He held his hands behind his back and leaned forward constantly in a matter that had to be terrible for his posture. He glared at everyone before him as if they were complete trash.


    According to the servant that guided him to his lessons, this was Apprentice Bakir and he liked nobody. He was one of the oldest of Magni''s apprentices and had nearly paid off his entire apprenticeship.


    "Attention you worthless lot." His voice boomed, far more loud and forceful than Kuzari expected from the old man.


    The initiates flinched in response.


    "I will explain once seeing as we have new faces. Further instruction will be to eliminate deficiencies. If you fail to progress and meet the quota then that will not be my problem, it will be yours. So strive to do better, your lives depend on it." Bakir said, pacing in front of the group.


    "Start from your core and follow the channels outwards. Find your external meridians and pull. Bring the mana down through the channels and do not let go, I do not want blood on my robes again. I''m talking to you Saban" Bakir said poking one student in the chest with a long finger. Saban looked like he was going to fall over.


    Bakir continued pacing up and down the line, continuing his instruction.


    "Bring the mana into your core and begin separating it. Organize it into its affinities and isolate the ones you have selected for progression. Reduce the rest to neutral. Now begin." Bakir said, eyeing the group expectantly.


    Most of the initiates immediately closed their eyes and began to focus. Some like Kuzari and the kid were completely lost. Bakir only explained what he wanted to be done, not how to actually do any of the steps!


    The child caught Bakir''s attention first. He slapped the child upside the head and began to instruct the child directly. To his credit, the boy took the blow well and stifled the urge to cry.


    Kuzari took the opportunity to attempt to follow the instructions on his own anyway. He focused inwards like he did before and settled inside his core. He wasn''t sure what the channels or meridians were outside of a vague memory from Ralin. Nonetheless, he mentally followed his bloodstream and tried to look out for anything that caught his attention that could explain the meridians. He was honestly at a loss as to what he was supposed to be doing next.


    He struggled for several minutes before he felt a wave brush over his body. The very next instant he felt a slap across his head that startled him and threatened to knock him off his feet. Kuzari opened his eyes and rebalanced himself, instinctively swinging a fist out at his attacker.


    Bakir swiftly caught Kuzari''s fist with an iron grip. Unperturbed by the reaction, the old man simply and forcibly spread out Kuzari''s hand and tapped his palm.


    "Here fool, here. Find the meridians, don''t just play around with yourself. Openings where the body and soul meet and open to the world."


    Surprised, Kuzari delved into his inner awareness again and followed the path to his palm. He was surprised when he found a small disc there a few inches wide. He hadn''t noticed it before because it seemed to be immaterial just like his core. As he mentally touched the thin disc it was like a valve suddenly opened up. He felt like he could almost leave through this tiny disc and out into the world itself but met a profound resistance in doing so. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He felt another pulse which he now recognized as some technique Bakir used to examine the initiates progress and make sure they were performing properly.


    "There, that''s it. Now find the rest and pull."  Bakir barked at him before letting go and marching down the line looking for another failure.


    Kuzari obeyed his instructions and continued to delve through his body. He was surprised at how many of these meridians he could find once he knew what to look for. One in each hand, foot, knee, elbow, and shoulder. Two large ones in his chest superimposed with his lungs, and a medium-sized one sitting just under his navel. Another medium-sized meridian sat in his skull itself. Fourteen of these meridians total. It was interesting he noted that most of them were in his limbs themselves while larger ones sat near vital organs. It reminded him of the tattoos he saw some people have, their locations matching the location of these meridians. It couldn''t have been a coincidence he decided and added it to his list of things to investigate.


    He focused on each of these points at once, willing them to open. It was slightly difficult at first but his practice in maintaining his awareness while being distracted aided him. They opened slightly but it was a struggle pushing them more than a few millimeters. Opening a single one all the way wasn''t hard but for some reason the more he tried to open at once the more monumental the resistance became. Still, he felt it could be enough to at least try the next step. He mentally pulled on his meridians and like a vacuum, he suddenly felt a rush of energy surge through his meridians.


    He didn''t expect it to be this painful. Mana rushed into his channels like a liquid fire burning him from within. His immediate instinct was to stop pulling and let go of the burning energy. Bakir''s initial warning scared him however and so he held on. The deeper the energy reached towards his core the more it burned. He felt his knees weaken and it looked like Kuzari would pass out at any moment. Finally, the energy reached his core and he felt a wave of relief as it settled inside without pain. He closed off his meridians and waited till the mana was purged from his channels and settled entirely in his core.


    The mana in his core felt like a small lake of pure energy. Contrary to the earlier pain a filled core of mana was oddly soothing and refreshing like having a good nights sleep for the first time in ages. He knew the next step was to organize and separate the mana he absorbed but it felt all the same to him. He opened his eyes to see how the other initiates were doing. Everyone seemed absorbed in their own work, cut off from the rest of the world and beads of sweat rolling down their foreheads. Bakir was still examining them one by one to ensure they were following the exercise correctly. He barked orders at the students and Kuzari listened in, hoping to pick up a useful piece of advice for the next stage.


    "Raw mana is chaotic and unusable, sift through it and find the affinity you are looking for. Feel for its energy, feel it speak its nature to you. It is primal energy that transcends your meager interpretation. Let it speak to you. Even an imbecile can hear its call." Bakir explained to the student Saban, who evidently was struggling with the same phase as Kuzari.


    Not wanting to attract Bakir''s attention unnecessarily he dived back into his core to see if he could make it work. His mind swam deep into the mana energy and tried to focus on the minute differences in the mixture. After his late night studying, he had an idea he wanted to explore in regards to his affinity. It was a gamble but if it worked it could certainly provide him the edge he was looking for. If not, well he was such a newbie he could switch later and work towards a different element. He mentally listened to the raw energy and as he focused he felt sweat start dripping down his own forehead.


    He felt faint disturbances in the mana, microscopic presences fighting to make themselves known. Kuzari focused on these disturbances, isolating his entire awareness on the task till he could no longer register the world around him. Not even the boom of Bakir''s voice could break his reverie.


    Then he heard it. Hearing wasn''t quite the right word but it was the closest thing he could compare it to. Whispers of fire and air dominated the pool, with undercurrents of earth. Kuzari was looking for something deeper though. Eventually, he found it, a thin thread of energy that mixed in throughout the pool. It spoke of shadows and darkness and even that was only the surface levels of what he sought. He knew he wouldn''t be strong enough to discern the aspect he was really hunting for, but he knew it mingled in with the darkness and it would do for now. He pulled on this thin thread and raised it to the surface. Like a monster of the depths, it rose out of the lake of power until it sat on top, an inky oil layer covering the untamed chaos of energy.


    Kuzari allowed himself a small smile and gave a mental cheer. The last task he needed to do was ''reduce the rest to neutral''. At least this one he had a fair idea of how to perform on his own. The book on affinities he read last night had in fact opened with a chapter about neutral mana. The chaotic mana that mages drew in was totally unusable. The varying affinities in the mix would wage war and counter each other, trying to use this energy for any sort of structured or unstructured spellcasting would simply fizzle out. The energy would be too incoherent. On the other hand, utilizing only pure mana of a given affinity was simply impractical on its own. Instead, a mage would forcibly snuff out the undesired affinities, reducing them to a state of pure neutral energy. Energy that could be shifted into whatever state was needed, albeit at a significant loss of efficiency. It was a wasteful shame but the only real practical use of the substance.


    He didn''t understand at the time how this process was achieved but now that he understood how distilling mana into an affinity worked, it made sense to him now. Instead of listening carefully and pulling out the affinity he wanted instead he had to simply push down and snuff out the threads of energy that clung to such notions as fire or water. He pushed and dissolved the threads of energy until the lake was no more than a small pool of raw neutral energy, its glow balanced by the shimmering darkness of shadow mana. The two energies shifted and twisted around another in harmony.


    Kuzari finally opened his eyes with a shit eating grin on his face. He did it! He made it through each step and actually had mana he could work with and use now! The whole process had easily taken two hours but he admitted it was worth it.


    He felt Bakir''s inspection once again and the old man in front of him was not amused at his progress.


    "Pathetic. That is all you managed to pull in? And such waste during conversion. Barely enough power to warm my morning tea." The old man said shaking his head.


    Kuzari frowned at the scolding. He felt physically exhausted. His fellow initiates appearing no better.


    Bakir stomped his foot and yelled at the group of initiates.


    "Now do it again!"

 Chapter 8 - Tribute

    Bakir''s training continued for five more hours without break. Slowly the initiates accumulated more mana, desperately hoping to make enough to meet weekly quotas. If they were lucky, they''d have enough left over to actually practice real magic. Kuzari felt pleased with his own personal progress. He was aiming for a subaffinity, an aspect that was hard to distill directly and often had to be distilled from already purified complementary elemental mana. Shadow was by far the most accessible for what he needed, but it could be ages before he built up enough for a serious test. Shadows also had that edgy brooding bad boy vibe chicks dug.


    By the end of the training most of the initiates were on the verge of passing out, Kuzari included. The one named Saban was being carried out on a stretcher. During the last cycle, he lost control of the raw mana in his channels and caused him to spit out a freakish amount of blood from his mouth. The body did not seem to enjoy wild uncontrolled energy. Thankfully none of the others had lost control.


    Bakir marched down the line doing a final inspection on everyone''s progress. He nodded his head approvingly or shook his head in disappointment. He rarely nodded. The old man reached Kuzari and sent a pulse of energy to check the newest initiate''s progress. Bakir''s face scrunched up in disgust.


    "Is that all initiate? Have you been twiddling your thumbs the whole time?" Bakir asked.


    "What do you mean?" Kuzari asked, confused by the question.


    "Out of an entire session, that was all you managed to pull in? You would need to double your current progress to make this weeks quota, and that''s with the relaxed requirements for new initiates. You have less than a week to catch up and then must meet the normal minimums within a month. " Bakir said. "Failing even once is an excuse for core reassignment."


    Kuzari balked at the judgment. He genuinely felt like he pushed himself as much as possible and he had to double his progress just to survive the week? This must be the handicap of starting unaffiliated


    "I understand Apprentice, I will do better." Kuzari bowed slightly to his teacher. As much as he didn''t like how the old man treated people, he did respect the straightforward no bullshit approach to teaching. Either you followed his instructions successfully or you got carried away on a stretcher in a puddle of your own blood. It was a refreshingly simple dynamic.


    Bakir dismissed the initiates and hustled out of the room faster than anyone else. The old man didn''t want to waste another second on a pack of initiates. Many of the others split off to do their own thing while some broke off into their own cliques.


    As useful as his fellow initiates could have been for information, Kuzari was starving and headed off for more food. Besides, developing his magic was priority over everything else. Failure could mean death and the clock was short. It was a bit strange, he mused as he ate, but the pressure didn''t actually bother him all that much. It was no different than when he had crunch time to make payment for Eric''s treatments really. Either he buckled down and did what needed to be done or someone would die, except this time it was his own life at stake. No matter, he would just have to succeed then, wouldn''t he?


    After eating his fill he returned to his room. Once training for the day was finished, students were largely left to their own devices. Quota was the only thing that mattered it seemed. Whatever you did afterward was your own business. Kuzari knew he needed to spend his time more wisely than most.


    He sat in the cool shade away from his lone window and was reading a book about channels and meridians. He was looking for ways to maximize his ability to pull in more mana and purify it more efficiently. Most of the mana he gathered was wasted while purifying it into usable shadow and neutral types. Far more wasted than what was necessary.


    As he studied he tried something risky. He slowly gathered mana as he read the book. Trying to pull in mana while fully focused was already difficult enough, but doing so while purposely distracted and tired was dangerous. Still, Kuzari could afford to waste time. He needed to read and learn but he needed to spend every waking second he could to build his stockpile and increase his affinity towards shadows. The amount he could pull was a trickle compared to the amount of when he fully focused, but it was just practice at the moment. He would have far more success when night fell and the shadow affinity would be at its most plentiful.


    The book was helpful even though it was boring. It described how the way a person pulled from their meridians mattered, how tons of energy was wasted by having the raw mana slam against the channels instead of guiding it smoothly to the core, while also describing methods whereby some people purposely applied unnecessary pressure to stretch and grow the channels like a muscle. As neat as that was, he still struggled to open his meridians all the way and that would limit him far more than anything else. He studied till dark, practicing his control over the thin stream of raw mana as he absorbed it into his body.


    He set the book down and began to focus wholly on absorbing mana and extracting shadow mana. He was shocked by how easier it was to isolate the shadow affinity this time and just how much more of it there was when he was immersed in darkness. While the overall amount of mana he obtained was still minuscule, he managed to develop double twice his stockpile of shadow in just one cycle. It made the time and effort he spent during the day almost a total waste, the efficiency was just terrible. While intellectually he was aware that changes in the environment were a significant factor for gathering elemental mana, he was still shocked at how extreme the difference could be. He decided that during the day sessions he would be better off skilling the affinity section altogether and just focus purely on converting everything he gathered into neutral. Then at night while alone he could practice developing his affinity.


    And so for the rest of the week Kuzari did just that. He afforded no time for socializing or spent any time exploring the city. Besides, with other Contractors out it would be suicide to go out on his own. It was just begging to be ambushed by somebody looking for some bonus point from their patron. Instead, he focused time spent not gathering mana on studying better ways to gather mana and improve affinity. Advice was given on varying locations for ideal gathering of various affinities, of magical elixirs that changed the body to accommodate an affinity better, and dangerous ritualistic magic that didn''t actually include instructions. He dared not to crack open a book on actual spellcasting. He knew the moment he did he wouldn''t be able to resist the temptation to follow along and cast some spells just for the sake of it. That was mana he simply couldn''t afford to waste. He did manage to get introduced to the library and immediately stocked up on every relevant tome he could find on gathering Mana and developing affinities. He was disappointed that while there were a few books dedicated to fire and air affinities he couldn''t find one on shadows. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    At the end of the week, his core felt a quarter full of mana, split almost perfectly between shadow and neutral mana. He was nervous as tribute loomed. Nobody had actually told him what the quota amount was. Bakir hadn''t scolded him since the first day but still shook his head disapprovingly.  Kuzari was surprised that when the time came it was not one of the servants that came to get him but Adara. He hadn''t seen her since she first showed him his room.


    She arched an eyebrow when he opened the door. She wasn''t sure what to make by his odd furniture choices and having the floor littered with paper and books. Adara seemed prepared to make a comment but thought better of it.


    "It''s time for tribute, follow me." She said simply instead.


    Kuzari obeyed and soon found himself in a cluster of other initiates gathered by Adara. The group then proceeded up multiple flights of stairs, eventually mixing with other groups of initiates led by other scarfed apprentices. The solemn air grew heavy as the collective group ascended more and more flights of stairs. More than a few members of the group were panting heavily as the reached near the top. It was dark already and some members had already pulled out torches for visibility.


    Eventually, they did reach the top of the spire itself. It opened out to a grand atrium. Colored glass covered the room, replacing any idea of walls or a ceiling. The glass was fashioned into murals reminiscent of Catholic cathedrals on Earth. They depicted monsters being slain by brave heroes, and Kings bowing to radiant individuals. In the far back of the room, the largest mural of all dominated the when atrium. A glass portrait of Magni himself in all his glory. Now....that''s an ego.


    The entire group stood in formation and stood with an uneasy tension. Kuzari briefly scanned the room and estimated several hundred initiates in total with several dozen apprentices. He was still baffled at the size of the spire itself to support this number of people at its apex. It was easy to forget about it when you stuck to a small subsection twenty-four seven.


    Everyone else''s focus was on the center of the room. There Magni himself stood behind a simple unadorned stone table with metal chains. Kuzari felt apprehensive about the tribute process. Ralin''s memories had not been pleasant but experiencing it personally would be a different story.


    "Greetings my children!" Magni''s voice boomed over the silent crowd, his voice making Bakir seem like a whisper in comparison.


    "Once again it is time for tribute to your master! As I call out your name, stand forth and lie in the table. I will handle the rest. I will extract the quota. It is unpleasant, yes, but if you have enough you shall survive if not your core goes to someone more deserving. Simple no?" Magni laughed deeply.


    Kuzari wondered if this was a little speech he did every week. He could imagine it getting old quickly.


    "Fitz". Magni boomed without further ceremony. A small boy broke from the crowd and walked up to the table with fear visible on his face. Huh, that''s the kid from my group Kuzari realized as he recognized the young child.


    The kid sat on the table and laid down. Magni chained the child down and began his work. It was a brutally simple procedure really, a method used since ancient times by master''s to draw power from their own students. A barbaric method by the standards of supposedly more ''civilized'' nations in the world, but out here in the city of glass Anastazia? This was the norm.


    Magni rested his hand on the boy''s chest and closed his eyes. Kuzari did not have the magical means of perception that many of the apprentices seemed to have developed and all he could see was the child suddenly writhing in agony. The boys scream rang in the air and not a soul moved to do anything about it. The moment only lasted mere seconds, but the child continued crying long after Magni undid the chains. An apprentice carried the crying child away from the rest of the group, Fitz clearly not having the strength to walk any further on his own.


    Magni called out the next name and the cycle continued. It was the same thing for everyone. Screams filled the entire night as the hard-earned mana collected from dozens of people was drained into the Ifrit. Most people were able to weakly stumble from the table and file into the group of finished students, but more than a few of the young and old that never made it to apprentice had to be carried away. When an apprentice was called they managed to walk away from the table like the ordeal had been nothing at all. Yet everybody screamed. Fortunately, there had been no casualties yet.


    "Kuzari" Magni boomed.


    Kuzari gulped, shoving his anxiety down and tried to ignore the sickening feeling in his stomach as he approached the table. He heard a few confused gasps from initiates behind him. Not everyone had heard the news yet and assumed he was just Ralin up till now. Must have had no friends if they knew him but nobody checked up on me.


    Kuzari laid down on the table and felt Magni lock the chains around his body. He had figured from witnessing those earlier that the chains were likely more for his own protection than anything else. Magni placed his red hand over Kuzari''s chest. He had no time to brace himself before it happened.


    He felt spikes of energy lance into his meridians all at once. He screamed from the pain, his entire body and soul trying to warn him that something was wrong, that he was being invaded. He reflexively tried to push out the foreign energy with his mind but his efforts were futile. The energy crawled down his channels until they found his core. Like the tentacles of some vile creature, they wormed their way inside and he could feel it in his core. They began to drink greedily from his pool of mana. Hours and hours of hard work washed away in an instance until he felt dry until he felt robbed of his self and dignity. He expected the pain, he just didn''t expect to feel....less.


    The matter only took a few seconds but felt like an eternity. The trendils of energy receded from his channels and meridians and Kuzari found himself panting and his heart beating hard as Magni undid the chains. Kuzari slowly began to sit up, feeling exhausted and raw. He was just happy it was over and he managed to pass, though judging from how utterly empty his core was he had managed just barely. He moved to stand up and almost collapsed under his own weight.


    He felt someone catch him and was dimly aware of Adara wrapping his arm behind her head. He walked along with her support until he was able to stand on his own in the finished crowd. Everyone else looked as drained as he felt, and he had a newfound appreciation for these people that had just experienced the same thing he did. He seethed from the experience but knee he had to accept it. He simply wasn''t strong enough to resist Magni. Kuzari watched silently, eyes barely open, as the ceremony continued.


    Eventually, everyone was finished. Magni ended with a casual comment that everyone made quota this week and should feel proud of themselves for the accomplishment. Without any more fanfare, the group was led down by the haggard apprentices. Nearly everybody headed to bed immediately, a few went off to cope in their own ways from the harrowing event.


    Kuzari did not study that night. He did not cycle fresh mana into his drained core. He did not plan or scheme for crafty ways to get stronger. That could all wait till tomorrow. He simply curled into a ball on the floor and slept.


    That night his dreams were filled by the screams of tributes.

 Chapter 9 - Unstructured

    Before Kuzari could really process it, two more weeks passed. He spent every waking hour in training. Two more times he experienced tribute, and two more times, he was drained dry. There was one whole week left before the next tribute where his "grace" period will end, and it scared him. So far each time he had barely been able to meet quota, and while he made some amount of progress, it wasn''t nearly enough to meet the seemingly arbitrary demands the next tribute would bring. Something needed to change, and he honestly was at a loss.


    He was considering his options when he heard a faint knock at the door. That was strange. No visitors in weeks.


    Kuzari got up and answered the door and met face to face with....no one? Confused, he popped his head into the hallway and looked around to spot a woman walking away.


    "Adara?" He asked.


    Adara froze and turned around, looking nervous.


    "Oh uh, hi."


    "Did you need something from me?"


    "No, well of sorts. A small group of apprentices and initiates were going out for drinks. Saban mentioned how you never talked to anyone, and I just thought...nevermind."


    Adara seemed nervous, and Kuzari was amused. Where had this side of her come from?


    "I would love to, but it''s not safe for me." He said, turning down the informal invitation.


    Adara pouted and walked up to him.


    "Oh come on! You can''t just sit holes up in your room forever; it''s not healthy!"


    "Maybe," Kuzari said, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded over. "But there are other Contractors out there. I''ll be a sitting duck."


    "Well, you can''t hide forever! Besides, you''ll be out with Ratcatchers, who''s going to mess with an entire group of us? Magni is one of the most feared mages in the whole city." She pouted.


    She did have a bit of a point. If this faction held as much power as it seemed to be any lone Contractor would have to seriously consider if assaulting him would be a smart move. He did need a break as well, he wasn''t getting anywhere at the moment, and some relaxing could get the creative juices flowing.


    "Fine, but you owe me a favor" Kuzari relented with a smirk. He immediately planned on cashing in his favor to help him develop enough to meet quota. Apprentices had to have some tricks in that department to make it as far as they did, right?


    Anna smiled widely and motioned for him to follow her.


    <hr>


    For the first time since he arrived in the city, he stepped foot outside the spire. It was night already, but the streets were still bustling with activity. Adara led him through meandering streets. Lanterns hung by ropes and braziers burned at street corners. The light reflected off all the decorative glass, creating a dazzling kaleidoscope over the roads. It was beautiful in a chaotic way.


    Eventually, she brought the two of them to a large tavern. Sounds of cheer assaulted his ears before Kuzari even stepped inside. Once inside, he found a crowd of people forming a ring as two burly men swung fists at each other. The crowd cheered as a man dressed in a green tunic laid out his opponent. He raised a fist in the air and roared in triumph.


    "You brought me to a fight pit?" Kuzari asked incredulously, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd just barely.


    Adara laughed at him and caught sight of two blue robbed figures sitting around a table with drinks in hand. She waved over to them and grabbed Kuzari''s hand, dragging him over.


    They sat down at the table and Kuzari nervously glanced over his table mates. Saban waved to him, his broad smile bringing out his brown eyes. His cloak was down and revealed a short cropped set of brown hair, stylized in what appeared to be a common trend amongst the initiates. One could hardly tell from his cheerful demeanor that he spent nearly every other training session puking blood from overextending himself.


    A middle-aged man with a red scarf barely glanced up at Kuzari from behind a large pair of glasses. He seemed engrossed in a book titled Migratory Habits of the Mas''Quin He sported shoulder-length salt and pepper hair.


    "Uhh hello. I''m Kuzari" He introduced himself, yelling to make himself heard.


    The elder apprentice rolled his eyes and reached to the center of the table, giving it a single tap. Kuzari felt a pulse of power, and the noise became more muted. Still loud but a far more manageable level. Evidently, the apprentice knew some sound canceling spells.


    "Thanks," Kuzari said nodding to the man.


    The apprentice ignored him and returned his focus to the book.


    "Don''t let him bother you Kuzari, Odai always does stuff like that," Saban said with a smile and reached his hand out for a shake. Kuzari accepted it and smiled back as well.


    He was glad to see a familiar face of sorts but was disappointed to find this "gathering of Ratcatchers" was merely four people.


    The group engaged in small talk as Odai sat silently. A waitress brought a new round of drinks. Kuzari was a bit worried at first having no means of payment on him, but Adara said she would take care of it and to relax. Now that he thought about it, he didn''t know anything about the currency here or how he ought to go about gathering any.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Kuzari was mostly quiet throughout the conversation as Saban and Adara chatted ceaselessly about local drama. Never knew these two knew each other so well. Time passed as more rounds of drinks were brought to the table. Kuzari only sipped his single drink little by little, intent on not getting too buzzed. He did have to admit that it was nice to relax for a few hours without worrying about mana, tribute, or Contractors. It didn''t stop him from permanently maintaining a state of constant internal self-awareness. The skill had become second nature to him by now.


    He enjoyed watching the fights as well. The contenders didn''t seem particularly skilled, but the spectacle was still entertaining nonetheless. A dim part of his ego said he could probably take a couple of the fighters himself, but he didn''t feel particularly compelled to find out.


    Eventually, the mood of the place was winding down. Adara flagged down a waitress and paid their tabs with a couple of odd looking crystals. Kuzari hadn''t heard of rocks being used as currency before, but this was a different world after all. Quite frankly he was surprised no one had bothered him over the subject of him being a Contractor the entire night. Either it wasn''t widespread knowledge yet, or Adara was making everyone polite.


    They decided to call it a night and head home. They strolled down the bright streets together, laughing at some joke Saban made. Kuzari noticed the roads were slowly starting to empty at this time of night. He wasn''t concerned about this fact until mid conversation an arrow struck Odai in the chest.


    Alarms and panic went off in Kuzari''s head as adrenaline flooded his system. He spun around looking for the attackers as Saban screamed and clutched Odai who dropped to one knee. The older man grimaced but did not cry out. You did not make it to apprentice without bearing some pain. Adara was on full alert as well, eyes scanning the rooftops.


    She hurled a small fireball at a man she spotted on the rooftop of a nearby building. Her target ducked out of sight and evaded the blast.


    Kuzari sorely wished he had a weapon on him. More so when a cloaked figure darted from around the corner of a nearby building and lunged at Kuzari. He lept back from his attacker, barely dodging the sweeping blade. God damn what the fuck is with people trying to stab me?


    More figures emerged from the intersecting streets and engaged the group. Saban was in full panic mode and mostly of no help whatsoever. Adara launched a barrage of fireballs at her targets. Her foes screeched as they were engulfed in flames that made Kuzari''s first display of magic look like a simple spark.


    Odai really surprised Kuzari however. The man stood up on both feet and clasped his hands together. An aura of power rose up around the apprentice, and with it, idle rocks and shards of glass circled him. He waved his hands, sending streams of piercing projectiles at his foes. Several shards embedded them in the skulls of his opponents, a flash of blood filling the air before their bodies crumpled.


    Kuzari focused on his opponent. He was being pressed back and away from the group,  dodging strikes as much as he could. He was just thankful they hadn''t been surrounded yet. His inner awareness did afford him a sense of agility that aided him in evasion. Unfortunately, without a weapon, he didn''t have many ways he could attack back.


    He did have one method, but he was loathed to resort to it.


    He moved to dodge a slash coming from his left when he was felt the sharp pain of a blade digging into his right arm. He had been wrong about being surrounded as another cloaked figure assaulted him from out of Kuzari''s vision.


    The wound was enough for him to abandon his apprehension.


    Magic came mostly in two overarching types. Structured magic, channeled mana in a specific manner to create a particular effect. This type of magic was powerful and efficient, but called for a considerable amount of study and focus to achieve; each spell learned a significant addition to a mages repertoire. This was how Odai flung his rocks with lethal precision and how Adara burned her foes with extremes spurts of power.


    The other kind was unstructured magic. Raw mana channeled for their primal effects. One horribly inefficient but incredibly fast use of unstructured magic was to simply emit in forward to strike an object. This was less than ideal and what Kuzari did instinctively with his first puff of flame. A far more useful application of unstructured magic was to imbue its properties into your own body, gaining some of the traits of the element in question. It was how Bakir could catch a fist unperturbed, or Magni could melt iron with his bare hands. It still burned through mana at a rapid pace, and while couldn''t compare to the might of a real spell it was still a useful tool when applied correctly, and best of all it required minimum training to reach a useable state.


    Trying to ignore how much it would set him back, Kuzari exhaled and pushed out from his core. In that single moment, shadows flooded his channels. His flesh absorbed the energy greedily. He felt light, and his form was hazy and indistinct. White hair and bright green eyes turned grey and muted sea green.


    He felt cold and refreshed. His attackers seemed ever so slightly slower, but that''s all he needed.


    With agility that surprised the two attackers, Kuzari dropped low to the ground, even as that meant dragging his shoulder across his attacker''s blade. He shoved off with his left foot, ramming into the man''s armpit. The attacker groaned from the impact and dropped his knife. Before it could hit the ground, Kuzar''s hand snaked out and grabbed the handle.


    His first initial attacker was too surprised to respond quickly enough as Kuzari lunged forward, propelling himself off his right leg. The sunk the stolen blade into the man''s neck and with his free hand, he grabbed the cloaked man''s wrist, adamant to not make a repeat out of his first knife fight.


    The man gurgled blood as Kuzari stared coldly into the man''s dying blue eyes. Kuzari removed the blade and twisted to meet his other attacker, just in time to dodge another wide strike aiming for his side. Evidently, the man had more than one blade.


    The two combatants spent no time sizing each other up, immediately engaging. They swiped and slashed at each other, seeking openings. Shadow-infused Kuzari was faster, more focused, and hard to hit. He felt a part of the night itself, and the darkness seeping through his body felt good, damn good in fact. His opponent, however, was more skilled. He was caught off guard initially, but he knew his craft and knew it well enough to compete with magical reinforcement. Kuzari knew his mana would burn out before his opponent''s stamina did.


    Adara and Odai were too busy dealing with the array of numbers before them. They were visible apprentices after all, and the group was smart enough to concentrate their forces on the more experienced members. It was shit luck that they didn''t manage to take out Odai in the initial surprise. They would likely have been overrun at this point if Odai had gone down for good.


    Kuzari was starting to get desperate. Thin cuts were building up on his arms and torso, but his opponent wasn''t looking too poorly. The cloaked figure smirked knowing victory was near. Kuzari decided to take a gamble. He checked that he had enough mana for his plan and then went for it.


    He threw the blade at his opponent, relinquishing his only weapon. The man swiftly dodged the poorly aimed blade, but it was only to buy a few seconds. Kuzari dipped forward and broke inside the man''s inner guard and placed his palm against the man''s chest. He had less than a second to realize what happened before Kuzari pushed.


    Liquid darkness flood to his palm and pushed out of the open meridian. Kuzari held the meridian tightly, pushing the mana out in a small pressurized force. A lance of inky darkness erupted from his palm piercing through the man''s chest and out his back.


    Unstructured emission of mana may have been horribly inefficient, but point blank and under pressure? It was effective as any other spell at that point in terms of lethality.


    The shadows receded from his body as his channels emptied of mana. It required the last drop of shadow mana he had stockpiled for his little feat, and he already burnt through all his neutral mana, inefficiently converting it into more shadow mana.


    He felt woozy and weak again, and he fell to one knee as his opponent dropped dead. His eyes darted around, wary for more opponents to show up. Fortunately, it seemed whatever group was behind their assault had given up on sending men to the meat grinder that was two Ratcatcher apprentices. It was almost scary to consider the disparity between those with magical abilities and those without.


    Kuzari stumbled his way back towards the group. His ego was a least partially mollified to see Adara and Odai were visibly tired too. It would have been too depressing if the gulf between initiates and apprentices were so vast that flinging all those spells did nothing. Saban was still frazzled, trying to gather himself together. Kuzari was ashamed that the reaction annoyed him. They almost died, and Saban didn''t lift a finger.


    " I told you it was dangerous for me to go out," Kuzari stated loudly with a hint of frustration in his voice.


    "Whatever, not everything is about you and Contractors." Adara snapped back in frustration. The life and death struggle had put everyone on edge.


    Odai was rummaging through the bodies, looking for any sign of identification. Finding nothing, he broke his rare bit of silence and spoke with a gravelly voice.


    "We should be moving. No telling when more might arrive. They may even bring a real mage next time." He spoke with an air of authority. He expected everyone to obey, and nobody was in the mood to challenge him. Home, or at least what passed for it anyways, sounded good right now.


    Kuzari grabbed a pair of knives, deciding he didn''t want to be caught weaponless again. He wondered if there were any such thing as city guards that would investigate what happened. Or if anyone at all would check on the commotion for that matter. Then again, as far he could tell the Ratcatchers seemed to be the closest thing to guards as he could see in this place. There didn''t seem to be a single organized government. Just mages powerful enough to enact their will on the city and the factions that follow them such as Magni and his Ratcatchers.


    They made it back to the spire without further incident. Saban was still shaken up, and Odai promised he would get his shoulder wound checked out soon after making sure Saban made it to bed.


    Kuzari didn''t have the energy for any more words and left for his room, leaving Adara alone in the entrance hall with her thoughts.


    He was struggling to figure out how he would make quota as it was, and now a whole day''s worth of mana was burned up, not to mention he had no idea who had attacked their group or why. Adara had insisted nobody in their right mind would publicly mess with a group like theirs. Kuzari went to sleep angry and frustrated.

 Chapter 10 - Crystal

    Kuzari went to bed frustrated and woke up frustrated. He needed to solve his mana dilemma fast, or he would have to make a break for it. As upset as he was at Adara for putting them in danger, she was his best bet. He searched the common areas and eventually found her in the libraries. She was in a section on fire affinities(one of the most substantial sections in the library) and thumbing through a book.


    "Adara." He said, catching her attention.


    She gave him a sigh and closed the book she was reading before putting it away.


    "Look I''m sorry about last night. Maybe they were after you, it''s just strange that a group would attack a pair of apprentices without having magical backup." Adara apologized.


    "Right, well I''m actually not here about that. As much as I want to find out who they were and go after them, there''s a bigger problem."


    "What is it?" Adara asked, her face scrunched up in concern.


    "I''m not going to make quota," Kuzari said, releasing a breath of nervousness.


    "What? But I saw what you did last night. There''s no way you could be missing quota if you could channel that much mana."


    "No, I''ve barely been making it each week, using up a single days worth of energy means I won''t have enough."


    "That doesn''t make any sense. You''ve only been training for a couple of weeks. I assumed you overcame your lack of affinities to be able to pull that off. How did you use so much unstructured mana then?"


    Kuzari shrugged, "It wasn''t a lot at all. I''ve needed to save every drop I can so I''ve paid attention to how to use it more efficiently. "


    "That has to be some monster efficiency."


    "Yeah well, Magni''s quota isn''t going to care about how efficient I can use it, only how much I have."


    Adara bit her lip in thought. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded her head and spoke up.


    "Well, there''s a couple of ways you could close the gap. The most reliable method though, would be just to make some cash."


    "Money?"


    Adara removed a small clear crystal from her pocket.


    "You know how we use these as currency, right?"


    "Yes"


    "Do you know why?"


    Kuzari shook his head.


    "It''s crystalized neutral mana."


    Kuzari''s eyes widened. They used mana as money? Adara smiled ruefully.


    "Wait so if that is crystallized mana, are you saying that it can be absorbed? Why haven''t I heard about it yet?" He asked.


    Adara confirmed his suspicion by crushing the crystal in her hand and absorbing the released energy.


    "Well, it''s not exactly something that the initiates get told. It''s not useful for beginners who cant gather on their own and gets left out of a lot of introductory material. "


    Kuzari considered her words. If something as critical as "you can absorb power from our money" was left out of the basic material, what else was being left out? He added reading more advanced books to his priority list. It did make sense to him, however. In a world where magical might decided everything, what was the use in a coin based currency? There were likely thousands of ways to cheat a standard economy if that was the case. The only genuinely pervasive resource that mattered was mana. Nobody could cheat it, because any crystals they could make would just be as useful. This meant that in between his study and chipping away at his growing list of priorities, he needed a job.


    "I have a feeling you''re not going to hand me over what I would need," Kuzari said, staring at the crystal in her hands hungrily.


    "I can''t. I could make the argument for giving you a little here and there, but sooner or later Magni would find out an apprentice was coddling an initiate and get angry. It goes against the spirit of things. I''m not rich, either. Apprentices have to work hard to earn our keep, its how we can make quota and still have leftovers for spells every day."


    Kuzari nodded in understanding. This was probably why some apprentices stood guard, or others like Bakir taught classes. It wasn''t from goodwill; it was literally their livelihood.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Then what can I do to earn enough crystals?" He asked her.


    "Well, a peasant''s part-time job isn''t going to cut it, not with Magni''s demands. Finding a well-paying job at the initiate level is going to be challenging; most positions are going to require being at the apprentice level. Really the only feasible thing I can think of would be the bounty board."


    "A bounty board? Really?"


    "What''s that supposed to mean? With the disparity in power between those that have magic and those who don''t, there are many dangerous tasks only qualified for a mage. Those tasks are offered up on the bounty board for those willing. It is dangerous but the only choice."


    Kuzari was a bit disappointed. He was hoping for something a bit more...stable. It did remind him of taking various shady gigs to earn enough for his brother.


    "Very well. Where is this bounty board?" He asked.


    "Ehhh not so fast. Initiates are barred from the board..."


    Kuzari was starting to get a bit annoyed. If he couldn''t use the board, what was the point of suggesting it? Honestly-


    "...unless said initiate is signed off by at least two apprentices and their instructor." Adara flashed a smile. "I can give you one, and I can convince Odai. That just leaves-"


    "Bakir" Kuzari finished for her.


    He gave her a respectful bow in thanks, and the two parted ways. Adara to convince Odai, and Kuzari to convince Bakir.


    A task that already filled him with dread. Bakir was never happy with anyone, and he doubted it would be straightforward to convince the old apprentice.


    <hr>


    Kuzari knocked gently on the door to Bakir''s study on the seventh floor. He was granted permission with Bakir''s usual booming voice. Kuzari stepped inside, filled with apprehension.


    The study was twice as large as his own room, dominated in the center by a large wooden desk. Bookshelves lined the walls, no doubt filled with the man''s personal collection. On the far wall was a single painting burnt in half, vaguely depicting a smiling woman with bright blue hair and eyes like a cat. A single seat sat in front of the desk and Bakir motioned for Kuzari to sit.


    Bakir leaned forward and folded his hands in front of his face.


    "Why have you come to visit me Kuzari. If it is for additional lessons, know that I do not do additional lessons. Strive harder during our normally allotted time."


    "It is not that apprentice," Kuzari said, "I need your permission to use the bounty board. I won''t make quota without the pay."


    Bakir leaned back in thought. After a full minute of silence, he spoke.


    "If you tried harder, then the board wouldn''t be necessary."


    "Perhaps," Kuzari sighed in agreement, "I was attacked last night and had to burn mana to live. If I pushed beyond my limits then maybe I could have still made it, but working with a deficit now? It''s impossible."


    Bakir considered his words again, taking his time to come to a decision. He idly tapped his fingers on his desk.


    "Very well, I hope you already know how to obtain the other two signatures?" Bakir asked.


    Kuzari smiled with a sense of hope and nodded.


    "I do have two requirements," Bakir said with an odd hint of hesitation.


    "Anything"


    "The first is you owe me a task of my choice and time of execution. I will brook no argument over the matter when I call for you. This is a life debt you are owing to me."


    Kuzari felt paranoid about the request. Nobody requested a favor like that unless they knew the person wouldn''t agree in advance otherwise. What other options do I have?


    Kuzari nodded again, "and the second requirement?"


    "Learn spacial magic. Make it your second affinity."


    Kuzari was shocked. A demand to study a particular affinity is not what he expected.


    "Well, the thing is, I already have a second affinity in mind..."


    "I don''t care." Bakir said sternly, "You won''t be able to complete my task without it. I suspect you''ll find that it complements your shadow affinity far more than most would expect."


    Kuzari thought it over. It was an interesting affinity, being able to create pocket spaces and the like. He could even see himself one day being able to teleport all over, which would be awesome. The problem was it was challenging to gather in a pure form, and direct offensive and defensive usages were sparse high level, and simply monstrously inefficient in mana use compared to more offense based affinities.


    "I admit it has its appeal, but I cannot discard my second choice already. It''s just not an option." He knew he was still gambling with his idea and needed certain circumstances before Kuzari could even reasonably attempt for the affinity, but he was feeling more and more committed to his secret plan with every passing day.


    "Hmmph, then learn it as a third affinity, the difference is the same to me."


    Kuzari gawked. Most mages only had one affinity. Talented or driven ones would pick up two and Kuzari arrogantly considered himself at least the latter if not the former. Three affinities, however? Attempting that would be spreading most mages too thin. Even setting aside gathering, studying three different schools of magic, and becoming proficient was an absurd amount of work. Only real monsters and fools picked three affinities, and here Bakir was casually telling Kuzari to do just that.


    "Oh shush it, " Bakir said noting Kuzari''s surprise, "It''s not like I''m asking you to become the Allcaster or other such nonsense. You''ve shown promise in your short time here. If your second affinity is that important to you, then you''ll just have to make three work. I am not budging on you learning spacial."


    Kuzari had no idea what the Allcaster was but vowed to look into it later. He mulled over the prospect of three affinities. He was continually telling himself he needed to cheat if he was going to make it long term, and pulling off three affinities was cheating as far as the average mage was concerned.


    The more shocking piece was that Bakir said he showed promise! Bakir never complemented anybody he either approved, or you were trash, and Kuzari had fallen into the latter category quite often in training.


    "Fine, I agree to your terms," Kuzari said with a defeated sigh.


    "Excellent" Bakir said with a twinge that could almost be called a smile.


    Bakir reached into his desk and pulled out a simple form. It was a permission slip to allow initiates access to the bounty board. Kuzari found it suspicious that Bakir had a permission slip ready in advance. He was more concerned when he found out Bakir''s section was already filled out. Did he know I was coming already?


    Regardless, Kuzari knew he had already committed. He filled out the form and thanked Bakir for his time, taking the slip to find Adara and Odai.


    <hr>


    He found the two lounging in the entrance hall. After greeting them and confirming that Odai''s shoulder was fine, he got the last signatures he needed. He felt it prudent to leave out the agreement he made with Bakir. They decided to hand in the form for the bounty board together, and Adara led the trio forward.


    The bounty board was located in a moderately sized building not too far from the spire itself. It was open to the whole city, not just Ratcatchers, and was only one of four others located throughout the city. The entered inside, and Kuzari found himself in a pristine building that reminded him of a bank.


    The board was more massive than Kuzari expected. It filled up an entire hundred-foot wall and stood twenty feet high. Direct access to the board was not permitted, and instead, a long counter blocked it off staffed by servants. In the back, more servants were busying about, taking down papers and putting others up. Movable stairs slid up and down the board so the workers could reach the higher points. Lines formed up in front of tellers. Mages of varying stripes and colors collected pay and took on new jobs. One imposing figure stood a shocking nine feet tall and was pure muscle. Kuzari made a mental note to not mess with that guy if they ever crossed paths.


    They stood in line and patiently waited their turn. Kuzari asked what sort of job he should look for and Adara admitted that she actually had one in mind already. She and Odai had both taken on a job to eradicate a pack of Mas''Quin that were harassing traders lately. Kuzari had no idea what a Mas''Quin was, but Odai said it would be an excellent chance to earn some field experience and the pay was good for the difficulty. They had already claimed the job so as soon as his slip was approved, he would just need to register as part of their team.


    The whole process went smoother than he expected, and it wasn''t long before they were back at the spire. The plan was to set out two days from now. That would give them a couple of days to hunt the pack and clear it out with just enough time to collect the payment and rest up before tribute. If all went well, Kuzari should make tribute.


    They went their separate ways, and Kuzari made a brief stop by the library to pick up more books. They consisted of material on the space affinity as well as a few choice tomes on more advanced spellcasting above his current abilities.


    He had a lot more studying to do.

 Chapter 11 - Central Grey

    It turned out real spells were more fascinating than he imagined. Kuzari was flipping through Minor Telekinetic Pull with a rapid pace, his eyes darting from paragraph to paragraph and absorbing the information in large chunks.


    The base principal of a spell was deceptively simple: mana created specific effects when contorted into various shapes. The specifics were killer; as the forms needed to be cataloged and chained together to produce the desired result, failure could have extreme unknown consequences. Worse is that the effects produced by such glyphs were all situational. A mage user would have to alter the path mana flowed to different preset glyphs depending on the environment, target, distance, time of day, and more. It was why entire tomes would be dedicated to a single spell, to master a single spell the wielder had to learn thousands of variations and be able to understand the mathematical requirements on the fly intuitively.


    All that would have been reasonable enough if mana only existed in four-dimensional space-time like everything else. Instead, mana was a potentially infinite matrix, divided up into various mapped regions. These regions qualifying as known affinities. As a consequence, the math to complete one spell would be radically different depending on the exact types and quantity of mana channeled. It was downright mind-boggling.


    Kuzari set aside the book and rubbed his eyes. He had been up all night and skipped morning training. They would be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, so he knew he needed to get some rest for the day, but he couldn''t help himself.


    He set his eyes on a book propped against the far wall from where he sat. He raised his hand and closed his eyes, focusing. He built the glyphs inside his channels just before the meridian in his hand by assembling a thin membrane of neutral mana. The glyphs stacked on top of each other forming a series of lens before the meridian itself. Taking a moment to double-check his work Kuzari channeled mana down and through his internal spell construct. He felt the force blitz out of his hand.


    *fwomp*


    The book he aimed at crashed into the wall next to his head violently, and Kuzari opened his eyes in surprise. He grinned and let out a whooping noise while pumping his fist into the air. His math was slightly off and almost resulted in bludgeoning himself with the book. Kuzari still counted it as mostly a success. He needed more fine-tuning, but it was fine progress.


    He repeated the process for several more hours, developing an intuitive feel for the various control glyphs that determined the force and direction of the pull. He had a gut feeling that with some tweaks he could probably turn "minor telekinetic pull" into a push as well, but drastic alterations to a spell by a novice could be dangerous. Nonetheless, he was a hacker at heart, merely using a carbon copy of the same spell everyone else used would bug him, his gut was pushing him to experiment and optimize. An instinct he knew he had to squash down until he could study various spells. He had a feeling there were probably commonly shared glyphs between spells, and some variants were perhaps better than others. He could combine and tweak these glyphs to create his own unique and radical versions. That''s the theory anyway.


    Kuzari was starting to feel dizzy by the time he finally admitted he needed to go to sleep. He closed the book on spatial magic he had been reading and absentmindedly traced the thin scars on his arm from his knife fight. He was surprised at how quickly they had healed up, and Odai had already recovered from an arrow wound as well. He guessed there was something about magic that was strengthening the bodies natural healing mechanisms. It was convenient if nothing else. If it extended to muscles as well, then exercise had to be close to three times as effective on this planet. More stray thoughts ran through his head as he drifted off to sleep, ideas acting as a chorus to form a sweet lullaby.


    <hr>


    Morning arrived, and Kuzari had to practically drag himself down to the entrance hall to find Adara and Odai waiting for him. He was surprised that there didn''t seem to be anybody else.


    "No one else? You had like two dozen people when hunting down Ralin." Kuzari asked.


    "That was a bit different," Adara started, "A lone initiate didn''t pose too great of a threat, so the extra manpower was useful for scouting. Sending normal people to fight a group of marauding Mas''Quin would be a waste of life."


    "Plus nobody was getting paid. I don''t know about you, but Id hate to split the bounty more than necessary." Odai said.


    "Very well, I suppose we should get started?" Kuzari asked.


    Adara and Odai nodded, and the trio set off. Kuzari was a bit nervous heading out so soon after the attempt on their lives, but he didn''t have a choice at the moment. Still, he probably wouldn''t ever feel comfortable till he discovered who was responsible.


    "What are Mas''Quin anyways?" Kuzari asked after they had left the city limits.


    "Small humanoid lizards. They''re smart enough to use some tools and hunt in packs, but that''s about it. They favor ambushes out here in the dunes, lying wait just underneath the sands till prey approaches too closely," said Odai, the resident expert on the creatures.


    Kuzari nodded in understanding. Humanoid lizards? Sounds a lot like kobolds to me. What other fantastical creatures are real out here?The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Adara led in front, periodically sending out a pulse of energy to detect any potential creatures nearby. Kuzari wished he knew the technique; it seemed invaluable to him.


    The group traveled mostly in silence. Kuzari was nervous and would double check his knives were secured more often than what was necessary. It was late in the afternoon before they had any sign they were on the right track.


    Adara stopped the group with a wave of her hand. She held her finger up to her lips to hush the group. They got down low to the ground and peered above the dune they were on. Adara pointed slightly off towards a nearby dune, but Kuzari couldn''t see anything. Odai nodded in apparent understanding.


    Odai focused for a moment and held a fistful of blue sand. It whirled around and condensed into a hard, cobalt rock. He then tossed the stone forward, and as soon as it left his hand, it accelerated to impossible speeds.


    The rock exploded into the side of the dune, blasting blue sand up into the sky. Kuzari heard a loud screech, and by the time the dust settled, he spotted a lizard creature heavily wounded and desperately trying to flee.


    It was indeed a small humanoid creature. The snout was long and had four clawed fingers, one of which was opposable judging by the short spear it held in its hands. It was stark naked, and its scales were a dull cobalt color.


    Adara gave it no time to escape, launching a fast bolt of fire now that it was exposed. The flame ate into its back, boring a hole into its spine. It had time for one final yell before collapsing dead.


    Kuzari found himself slightly disappointed that he hadn''t helped at all. He supposed that originally Adara and Odai already planned on taking the mission even without further help. He kept his eyes open just in case any more popped out.


    "That was just a lone scout,'' said Odai "We should be close to a patrol so stay on guard."


    Kuzari followed their lead and stayed quiet. It was several hours before they came across the patrol they were looking for.


    A group of ten Mas''Quin moved in a loose pack. Most of them had spears topped with sharp blue rocks, but a few used sabres half their length.


    They were fortunate to catch the group transitioning to a new spot, and their targets were already exposed. They briefly debated the best way to tackle the group. Either Adara or Odai could have obliterated them from a distance, but the mana expenditure would be expensive. They made the lone scout look easy, but the truth was that they both had to pour in far more mana to make the kill quick than had it been a normal human. Those scales weren''t just for show.


    The plan they settled on was simple. Adara and Kuzari would engage directly in melee with Odai providing support. Adara came with a wicked looking sabre of her own that she knew how to use, and Kuzari''s current abilities were still more suited for buffing his speed and agility. Odai''s earth affinity would let him divide and confuse the group by whipping up irritating dust clouds. If it came down to an emergency, it was agreed Odai would take care of it with one of his most potent spells that would easily wipe the group, even if it made him useless afterward.


    It was a rational plan, but Kuzari couldn''t help but feel anxious. His previous fights had all been reactionary events were he was on the defensive. This would be the first time being the aggressor. They waited for the group to get closer to the dune they were hiding behind when one of the lizards sniffed the air. It seemed on edge and made a few grunts while waving its spear in the trio''s general direction.


    Taking that as the cue they had been discovered, Adara and Kuzari rushed forward.


    Odai stood up and immediately began waving his arms as he prepared his spell. The spell completed shortly after and sand whipped up around the Mas''Quin. The group of lizards started panicking and slashing around them, not understanding what was happening.


    Kuzari funneled shadow through his limbs, increasing his speed. It was exhilarating being able to let loose without worrying about expenditure. Either the earnings would be enough to save him, or he was screwed anyway.


    Kuzari ran into the lizard in the lead. The creature was distracted and blinded by the sand, not even facing the right direction. Kuzari grabbed the creature''s neck from behind and used the leverage to plunge a knife into its throat, ripping the blade to the side as blood gushed from the wound. He shoved the dying creature down to the ground and moved on to his next target.


    Adara was hot on his heels, and her attacks were no less vicious. Her wrist snapped forward and cleaved a lizard in half. She spun in a semi-circle and took the head of another flailing Mas''Quin. It may not have been her specialty, but the strength of a fire infused apprentice was not to be underestimated.


    Kuzari got the jump on two more of the creatures before he faced a real threat. His fourth target couldn''t see him with the dust, but its sense of smell was acute. It lunged with its spear and Kuzari had to halt in his tracks to avoid skewering himself. He readied his knife and eyed his opponent warily, looking for an opening. The lizard broke from the dust storm and stabbed furiously at Kuzari. It took all his focus to stay out of range of the deadly weapon, and he couldn''t see an easy way to close the gap.


    Kuzari found himself next to another Mas''Quin and had to evade a wild slash from the monster''s scimitar. The blade managed to bite into his arm, blood splattering into the air. Shit shit Kuzari mentally cursed at the mistake. His arm was still usable, but it hurt. He lunged out and stabbed into the creature''s shoulders and without missing a beat picked up the lizard with both hands and threw it into the spear-wielding Mas''Quin. The monsters were strong, but their size meant they didn''t have a lot of mass.


    The Mas''Quin skewered its ally before it could pull the spear back. Its weapon lodged into flesh, Kuzari took the opening to dart in, slamming his dagger into the base of its head, puncturing into the brain. He threw the body out of the way with his free hand and scanned the area.


    Adara had already mopped up the rest of the creatures were rushing to his aid. She checked out the wound and winced at the incision.


    "Nasty cut, at least we brought some supplies," Adara said, pulling a bandage from her pocket space.


    The wrapping instantly made his arm go numb, and he suspected it was laced with some strong medicines. Kuzari''s hands were still shaking from the adrenaline. The whole ordeal felt easy, but he knew it would have been a different situation if Odai hadn''t been disrupting the entire group.


    Odai made his way down to the battlefield and started sifting through the bodies.


    "What are you looking for?" Kuzari asked.


    "Shaman. Mas''Quin don''t get this organized without a shaman backing them. We need to bring back its head as proof of completion. With it dead, the rest will disband in short order."


    Odai didn''t find whatever signs he was looking for amongst the bodies and the group decided to press on.


    They took on two similar patrols before having to bunker down for the night. Kuzari was drained and needed to gather in the cool night to be ready for the next day. Odai likewise was burnt from channeling his debilitating spell over and over. Only Adara was still fresh and reserved her power in the event they faced any night ambushes. They started no fire to avoid the light and smoke, giving their position away and camped out using simple bedrolls. Tents would have made it difficult to get into combat positions if they did get jumped.


    Kuzari''s nerves were still a bit frazzled from the fighting of the day, but he found himself starting to get used to it. He had to admit to himself that battle had a morbid feeling of fun to it. Riding on that adrenaline rush with your life on the line felt almost addictive. He was a bit worried that he would grow to enjoy it too much. Kuzari had to focus on clearing his thoughts away to calm down and get some sleep.


    Unfortunately, none of the patrols they encountered had a shaman amongst their ranks.

 Chapter 12 - Infiltration

    The morning was relatively uneventful as they broke down camp. Kuzari was used to the sudden transition at this point and would often wake up early to cycle more shadow mana from the night sky before daybreak. He still didn''t comprehend how it happened, one moment the moon would be in the sky, and the next moment, the sun was there. It almost felt as if time just skipped forward, but there wasn''t any evidence that this was the case.


    Kuzari put the thought behind him as they began their hunt anew for the day. If they didn''t find the shaman today, there wouldn''t be any time left to search before they had to head back to the city. Magni did not tolerate tardiness.


    The patrols they encountered started to increase to a disturbing degree. There was an uncomfortable feeling of organization going on that was on a grander scale than usual. Odai speculated that there could be more than one shaman working in unison which was virtually unheard.


    They eventually had to start hiding from patrols to conserve power. With this many Mas''Quin traveling it seemed unlikely that any of the shaman caste would be with mere patrol routes.


    For several hours they weaved their way through the dunes, heading deeper into the lizard''s territory. They stopped when Adara sent a pulse and was shocked a the response.


    "I, I can''t see them all." She stuttered with a trace of fear.


    "What do you mean?" Odai asked, feeling alarmed.


    "There''s too many. A couple of miles down the way. I''m getting dozens and dozens of responses, more than I''m capable of picking up."


    "This is bad, very bad. It must be a settlement."


    Kuzari was feeling worried. The two apprentices were far stronger than he was if they were panicking, then things had to be bad.


    "What do we do then?" He asked, nervous about the response.


    "What can we do? We don''t have the firepower to deal with these numbers," said Odai.


    Adara cast her eyes down. As much as she wanted to be able to help Kuzari, she didn''t have a plan either.


    "But the crystals, I need them!"


    "Look, I understand, but if we go in there we are all dead," said Odai.


    "And if I don''t get that head I''m also dead. I can''t go back to the city without it. What are you about to hand me the amount I need?"


    Odai sucked wind through his teeth; the air was tense as his refusal went unspoken.


    "I''m going in whether you all are coming or not."


    "That''s suicide!" Adara spoke up, alarmed.


    Kuzari faced Adara, and his expression was grim.


    "Teach me the detection trick you use."


    "What?"


    "Teach me how you''re detecting the monsters. We wait till its dark, and I''ll go in. I just need to find a single shaman for the job, right? I''ll cut its throat while it sleeps and drag it back before they know what hit them. That gives us just enough time to make it back. "


    Both apprentices eyes widened in shock as it seemed too crazy to work. Kuzari sensed their apprehension and elaborated.


    "Look, in my world, I was an infiltrator, to begin with. Here I have shadow magic, Ill blend in with the darkness and be stealthier. With the detection technique, I can evade guard patrols easily, and with the storage device you have, I can stuff the body inside and leave. As far as the lizards would be concerned, the shaman would have just vanished." Kuzari glossed over that his escapades in physically breaking into places to steal data were rare and relied more on deception and fitting in than actual stealth, tricks that wouldn''t work on lizard monsters.


    Odai had to admit there was some merit to the audacity of the plan.


    "They may be primitive, but with numbers this large it should be a settlement. Tents and camps would provide opportunities for cover. A shaman would destroy you in a straight fight, but if you can find one first, there''s a chance."


    "No no, it''s too crazy. You can''t learn the detection spell in a matter of a few hours." Adara said.


    Kuzari shrugged in response, "Why not? I learned minor telekinetic pull in a couple of hours."


    Adara stared at him intensely. She had no words to describe how ludicrous that sounded. She would have called him a liar if he didn''t seem so sincere about the claim. After a few minutes of deliberation, she sighed and gave in.


    "Okay, I''ll teach you. But if you don''t learn it by nightfall you''re not going in, we will think of something else."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Kuzari smiled in response, and the two began to work.


    <hr>


    Kuzari didn''t understand why Adara thought learning the spell would be so difficult. The principal was pretty simple; it used glyphs to pulse a wave of neutral mana through the air, which would rebound off the energies of life forms that the mage could then pick up and process. It was very similar to echolocation. All the difficulty in the spell was interpreting the response, much of the spell''s heavy lifting was in glyphs that sorted the feedback and gave the user the information they could pick up from their internal awareness.


    Really Kuzari though much of the spell was unnecessary. Why not just process the response directly? He wasn''t sure, and Adara just shook her head when he asked. The far more fascinating aspect of the spell was the new glyph structures involved. Entire series of glyphs dedicated to calculations for him? With the amount of math required in more complicated spells, that aspect seemed abusable. It was information he filed away for later. He was itching to start modifying the detection spell, but doing so right before a high-pressure mission on a brand new spell would have been reckless.


    He was worried about the initial pulse of mana, remembering how he could feel it with his core before he even properly learned how to use magic. Adara assured him that a creature would need a core to sense it and also most monsters didn''t have one.


    "What about these shamans? They sound like magic users to me," he asked.


    She shuffled her feet a bit and seemed uncomfortable.


    "Well...yes they do have magic, but these at least don''t have cores."


    The news was startling.


    "I thought cores were a requirement for magic?"


    "For humans, it is. The entire purpose of a core is to filter and store mana. Most magical monsters don''t need to do this, their bodies filtering mana automatically." said Adara.


    Odai nodded his head, "Don''t get it wrong, there are definitely monsters out there with cores, and some that can detect the mana pulse without one so be careful. Fortunately, Mas''Quin are not one of these creatures."


    "Huh, so cores are more to level the playing field than anything else." Said Kuzari.


    "Correct. Though there are rumors that Magni doesn''t need a core for magic despite that not being a known property of Ifrits." Odai stared at Adara as he said this. Kuzari felt there was some subtext in his words directed at Adara, but she feigned ignorance on the matter.


    Kuzari took the pause of silence as an opportunity to attempt the spell. He built the spell construct around his navel meridian and channeled the necessary mana. He felt the pop of mana as it pulsed out and within a few seconds, his awareness lit up with sparks of various lifeforms. He could feel the presence of the nearby apprentices, and distantly he could feel an overwhelming concentration of bright flashes.


    He smiled and opened his eyes.


    "I got it." He announced confidently.


    Both Odai and Adara shook their heads in surprise. It felt hard for them to accept how quickly he took to the spell. They didn''t know if it was some weird talent of his or some property of Contractors. Kuzari just thought it was less annoying math than other spells and besides, interacting with information was his daily activity back home.


    The spell sufficiently mastered, they agreed to meet up there later once the deed was done. If he wasn''t back by morning, they would leave without him and report back. Adara handed him a spare storage star to use. He quietly hoped he wouldn''t have to return it after the mission; it was a useful item.


    He then set out for the monster''s camp.


    <hr>


    Kuzari took his time reaching the camp dodging patrols with the aid of his new spell. By the time he approached, night had already fallen. Thin shadow circulated through his channels the grace empowering his stealth and muting his presence.


    Curiously enough he saw another blue fox hoping around a dune right before the camp. The weird part was how it stared right at him before running off into the camp. Kuzari shook his head; the Mas''Quin would probably eat it or something if it got caught.


    He peaked over, and his pulse quickened once he viewed the camp. It was more accurate to call it a village. Not just tents, but rough shacks were thrown up in a haphazard arrangement. Fires and smoke dotted the area, and he could smell cooking meat. The level of organization was rough but far beyond that of a ''primitive'' monster race. He felt there was something more going on here but was more concerned about finding a shaman.


    He darted forward seeing no lizards in the immediate area and hid in the shadows of a shack. He was wary about the acute sense of smell some lizards had. He didn''t have a countermeasure for it, so he had to keep on the move in case they smelled him.


    He slinked from shadow to shadow, being conscious of his noise, thankful for the sand muting his footsteps. The lizards seemed largely inactive at night likely being cold-blooded reptiles, but occasionally he spotted guards patrolling the streets. He tried not to think too much about the dark armor they wore and the implications that held.


    Every five minutes, he sent a pulse and tried to move through the gaps between the sea of life forms, heading deeper into the village. He didn''t have a way to tell a shaman apart from a typical specimen from the pulse alone, but he doubted they slept in the rough housings out here. Their social status would put them at the heart with more grandiose furnishings.


    He got nervous the deeper he went in as the pings from his detection spell showed the groupings to be thicker and thicker.


    Eventually, he found what he was looking for. Dead center of the town was a building that stood taller than the others as a large cube. More strangely it was built entirely out of stone. Two lizards stood guard in front of the entrance as light danced from within.


    He knew it was too risky to approach from the front and started to slink his way around to back, casing the area.


    The walls were too smooth and too tall to climb up although he did see windows towards the top. In the rear of the building, he did find a small crack in the base of the wall that looked like he could barely squeeze through. Kuzari peered inside, but couldn''t see anything. Shadow affinity did give him a slightly better night eye, but he was far from being strong enough to see entirely in the dark. It was risky, but it was the only way he could see in. The Mas''Quin seemed not to be smart enough to cover or guard this back location. Gathering his nerves, Kuzari started to crawl through the crack.


    He emerged into a room on the other side, but he could not make out the dimensions. He carefully felt around the floor, sticking close to the wall. He felt bits of stone and nearly bumped into a hard object. Poking around, it seemed to be some clay pot of sorts. He wasn''t sure what was inside and soon found the room to be filled with them. He tread carefully to make sure he didn''t bump into anything till he found a gap in the wall that felt like it lead to another room or corridor. He slowly crept through the entrance and felt relieved when he came across a window that offered a bit of moonlight to see by.


    He indeed found himself in a hallway, but the strange part is the wall was painted with a mural. He didn''t have enough light to make it out entirely, but it had crude images of massive winged beasts devouring what looked like people and creatures overrunning a city. Kuzari got the impression the mural was depicting some monster wave and wondered if this stone building was a weird religious building for the Mas''Quin.


    He crept on down the hallway, checking for rooms. He found a few places branching off from the hallway, so he sent a pulse of mana looking for life. He found a few spread out through the building. He skipped a closed room with light peaking underneath that held several sparks inside and came to a room that had a single being inside. Kuzari elevated the shadow mana in his system to heighten the effects as she stepped inside, drawing a dagger.


    A glint of moonlight showed a large lizard curled up on a bed of hay. While no doubt a Mas''Quin, the creature would have been a foot taller and much more massive than others of its species. Small spikes lined the top of its head and ran down its back. If it were not for the lack of wings, he could have seen himself mistaking it for a dragon. The creature was dressed an assortment of glass baubles and jewelry no doubt obtained from the raids on passing merchants.


    The monster matched the description Odai gave him of a shaman, and Kuzari felt adrenaline rush through his system as he approached slowly. He hovered over the sleeping beast and stilled his breath, judging the right way to execute the thing swiftly and silently.


    He didn''t have long when the Mas''Quins eyes lazily fluttered open sensing something disturbing its sleep. Kuzari did not hesitate any longer and clamped down on its snout to stifle any screeching as he plunged the dagger into its throat. It tried to thrash about as blood gushed from its neck. Kuzari threw his body weight onto the struggling lizard, desperate to keep it still and it''s noise minimal. He was worried the sound would attract attention and he wished it would just hurry up and die.


    After what felt like an eternity, it came to a still as blood drenched Kuzari''s hands and clothes. He quickly pulled out the star and almost fumbled it from the slick blood. He tapped it with a trickle of mana and then placed his hand on the corpse. He willed it inside. With a soft sucking noise, the body vanished.


    Kuzari let out a small sigh of relief as he finished the deed. He gave himself a brief moment to collect himself before he headed out. He had the urge to scour the room for loot, but frankly, he did not have the time to risk getting caught.


    He turned out to the hallway and took a left to head back to the room with clay jars.


    He froze when he heard words spoken behind him.


    "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

 Chapter 13 - Foxhole

    Kuzari knew he should have just started to run the moment he knew somebody had caught him. The curiosity of what could be speaking to him in a town full of lizards that were supposed to be incapable of speech was too mesmerizing. That and something else.


    He turned to view the origin of the voice and was met with a tall figure. It was a skinny man wearing a deep green robe. He seemed about Kuzari''s age, perhaps a little older. His hair was short and dark, and his eyes were a strange yellow with slitted pupil, much like a reptile. He bared his teeth with a frown, and they were jagged and haphazard, more for tearing flesh than those an omnivore would have. His long arms ended in pointed fingernails that may as well have been clawed.


    Both men stared at each other for a brief second as they felt a buzzing sensation in the air. A deep and primal hatred woke up deep inside Kuzari, a strange and hungering beast from the primitive parts of his brain. The sleeping dragon that was his own Fate had stirred catching the scent of this sworn reptilian prey. Fate whispered into his mind the name of this enemy.


    Zator, Contractor of Modeus


    Zator screeched as the buzzing passed, undoubtedly receiving similar information as Kuzari. The Contract that brought both of them to this world compelled them to fight and kill one another, Fated to be enemies just as the gods they represented were sworn against each other as well.


    Panic set into Kuzari''s stomach as he winced from the sharp sound. He knew the noise would attract the Mas''Quin, and although he didn''t know how or why it was hard to gather that this ''Zator'' was working with the lizard monsters. He shoved down the primal instinct to combat his foe and ran away as fast as he could. Stealth was blown, and he needed to escape as quickly as possible.


    Kuzari turned around a corner and heard the sound of a massive crash behind him. He peeked over his shoulders to see Zator pulling his fist out from the ruins of the wall just slammed into, shaking dust and rubble off his body. Oh, this is bad. This motherfucker just missed me with a crazy charge.


    Mas''Quin were slowly responding to the chaos, peeping out of doorways but still sluggish from the night. Kuzari ignored them as he found the dark room where he had snuck into the building. Going off of memory he immediately dipped through the crack in the wall, the sounds of more crashing and destruction following behind him.


    He didn''t waste any time as he sprinted down the nearest pathway and rushed to leave this town. More booming sounds echoed behind him as Zator demolished the wall barring his way and stepped over the rubble with ease. His eyes locked onto Kuzari and he gave chase.


    Kuzari flooded shadows through his system no longer caring about preserving energy. He barely had time to dove out of the way as Zator blitzed passed him. Kuzari screamed in pain as his back was rent from the clawed attack. Had he been a second too slow, he held no illusion that the attack would have split him in half.


    Gritting his teeth together, he pushed down the pain and zig-zagged between buildings, trying to put as much distance between him and the powerful Contractor. He is ungodly strong, and his speed is way beyond my own. Luckily it seems he can only use his speed in straight bursts. As long as he cant get a lock on me, there''s a chance I can lose him.


    He lost sight of Zator, but the brush against his core told him he hadn''t escaped yet. The sounds of destruction echoed behind. Zator opted to demolish a path to his foe instead of trying to catch up by chasing him down through pathways. The homes and possessions of the Mas''Quin didn''t matter. Slaying this fresh and weak Contractor dominated all reason.


    Kuzari felt the edge of the makeshift town coming closer, the way back sped up as stealth was abandoned long ago. Already he saw Mas''Quin joining in the chase and the sounds of screeching reverberated throughout, waking more of the monsters from their slumber. He quickly pulsed mana every few seconds to keep track of his pursuers. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    He couldn''t help but look back when he suddenly felt a response forty feet into the air.


    Zator seemed to float in the air for a second as he reached the apex of his jump. He spotted his prey and reached out his claws, ready for his blitz. He shot forward at an impossible angle and speed crashing into another shack. Kuzari winced as he leaped backward, lines of red flashing across his chest. Blood and pain bubbled to the surface. For a second time, he evaded sure death by a narrow margin. Okay, this Zator is just cheating if he can charge from the air like that. I can''t keep this up; I need to do something!


    Kuzari paused his running to think of a plan. At this rate, he would get mowed down just outside of town. The analytical part of his brain was churning as fast as it could. So far Zator hadn''t displayed any ranged magical offense. His strength crushed stone, and the speeds he reached felt more like a bullet. The only clues he could pick up was the way Zator seemed to position his fist and claws for an attack before charging. Either he was locked into the direction, or his mind couldn''t match the speeds of his body as the lizard man simply crashed into whatever direction he faced instead of turning to land the blow. It also seemed to take several seconds before he could make the reckless charge again.


    With the information available, he had one idea. He was nervous as he watched Zator shake more rubble off his green robe. If the plan failed, he was dead, full stop. Even if it did, it wasn''t a guarantee that he would be able to do more than buy some time. Time for what, he didn''t know.


    Kuzari stood as tall as he could, wincing from the pain and held his free left hand out. He constructed his spell glyphs and readied for his moment.


    Zator grinned, "Finally tired of running and read to face the end of your Fate?"


    The chosen of Modeus reached his hand forward for his own attack. At this distance, there would be no time for his prey to dodge.


    Kuzari counted the seconds down, timing the release of his spell.


    Now!


    Kuzari cast Minor Telekinetic Pull.


    Zator had no time to process the spell as his ability triggered. Kuzari''s spell pulled sharply on Zator''s head. The force was barely enough to do more than tilt the imposing figure briefly. That was all he needed, however, as Zator''s angle dipped away from Kuzari towards the ground.


    The lizard man crashed into the ground no more than a few feet in front of him. The crash hit him hard as his body tumbled across over and over.


    Kuzari was already running before he could even see the results of his ploy.


    Zator shook his head as he tried to refocus from his daze. Anger built up from his throat, and he growled.


    Kuzari cocked his head as he saw the strange sight of the small blue fox creature in front of him. The creature stared at him briefly before ducking down a pathway that headed deeper into the town. He couldn''t explain why, but he felt compelled to follow the strange creature. It had always seemed to vanish entirely after it passed by.  He turned the corner and found himself falling.


    It was a strange sensation to feel himself falling. It wasn''t like a pit had suddenly opened up underneath or anything. It felt like slipping into the deep part of a pool. He was sinking down into thick darkness. He looked around and saw nothing but murkiness. His lungs urged him to take a breath, but the air was compressed and felt strangely solid.


    The darkness wavered, and he found himself surrounded by the faint aura of the shacks and town around him. He waved his arm through a wall in confusion as the form wafted around his body. It wavered for a second before reforming into the same structure.


    He twisted around, trying to grasp what was happening. He looked down and was shocked to see the solid and real form of the blue fox. It sat there and swished its tail. His thoughts felt fuzzy as he tried to focus on the creature.


    The animal got up and turned around, trotting towards the outskirts, unphased by the phenomenon around it. Kuzari felt a strange sense of calm as he followed after the creature, merely walking through buildings as if they weren''t there. To be fair, the buildings indeed behaved as they weren''t there.


    He saw Mas''Quin running about, blind to his presence, even phasing through and around him as the buildings did. He wasn''t sure how or why, but he seemed to be safe for now. Not sure how long this effect would last or what would happen when-or even if - it ended, he made his way as far from the city as he could.


    He lost track of when the sight of the fox disappeared. He felt there was a reasonable probability the animal had been responsible for the strange turn of events. It certainly explained how it continually vanished from view the previous times he had spotted one. Likely some sort of spacial manipulation, although this was to a degree, he had never heard of in any of the books he had read. The greater mystery was why the animal saved him. He felt bad for thinking about eating one the first time he saw it.


    It was morning by the time he neared the meetup point. He was starting to get worried that he was trapped in this wispy world when the sensation of falling hit him again. Instead of feeling like he was falling into thick darkness, he felt like he was falling into an airy light. He took a deep breath as the world clicked into place, and everything felt solid again. Kuzari was released from the fox''s dimension.


    He shook the feeling of lethargy that had settled into his body as he came upon the apprentices'' camp. Adara was shocked to see the bloodied figure approach them.


    "Holy hells are you okay? What the fuck happened?" She exclaimed.


    "It''s a long story..."

 Chapter 14 - Descartes’ Dream

    The apprentices grew concerned as Kuzari explained what had happened during the night. As he elaborated on how he escaped the other Contractor, they looked at each with confusion.


    "That doesn''t make any sense," said Adara shaming her head.


    "What part?" Kuzari asked.


    "The fox part," Odai shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s no animal out here with that kind of power. I don''t know of any creatures with that kind of power." Adara continued.


    Kuzari rubbed his chin as he thought about it. He had just assumed that it was just local wildlife with a weird evolutionary defense mechanism. Hiding from predators is a lot easier if you could hide inside a pocket dimension and effectively teleport. It was how he made it alive at least. But if it wasn''t just a random known creature than there was more going on. He had spotted it at two completely different circumstances so it couldn''t have been a coincidence. It clearly chose to save him this time but not last time.


    "I honestly don''t know then. A blue fox that could manipulate space saved my life," said Kuzari giving up on trying to analyze what had happened.


    Adara was still concerned about the situation, especially at the prospect of a Contractor working with Mas''Quin but Odai soon dominated the conversation asking for as many details about the fox as possible. The possibility of an undiscovered and powerful monster was alluring to the scholar.


    The group did agree to move out quickly. The Mas''Quin were organized beyond anything anybody imagined, and they needed to report the info. They evaded the remaining patrol units with ease thanks to the detection spell. Kuzari was slightly hesitant about its use. It didn''t take a genius to figure out he got caught by assuming there was not going to be anybody with a core in the lizard town. That they didn''t even have intel of the small city existing before the mission was even more disturbing.


    Kuzari didn''t buy it that people back in Anastazia didn''t know about it. Someone had to have been suppressing the information. He planned on finding as much as he could about Zator once he got back. The paranoid portion of his brain imagining all sorts of conspiracies.


    Thinking of Zator brought back flashes of his fight. He was bandaged up again at this point, and between the exhaustive events of the night and the blood loss from his wounds, he was barely able to keep pace with his companions. It took a steady thin stream of shadow mana just to keep him going. I need to get stronger, a lot stronger. I was a little clever, but that edge had nothing against the raw power a real opponent like Zator brought to the table.


    Kuzari sighed at the thought of his own inadequacy.


    Night arrived as they settled down for camp. Despite exhaustion, Kuzari found it difficult to go to sleep right away, absorbed in his thoughts. He was slightly surprised to find Adara sitting next to him, Odai having already gone to sleep.


    "You need to be more careful, you know," she said.


    "I seem to not be given much choice lately. Feels like no matter what direction I head in, death looms over me."


    "Grim talk for an initiate that has learned two spells within a month and slain a shaman on their own."


    "Yeah but that''s all from not being careful. Classic risk-reward tradeoff."


    "Still, you should find more time to be happy, and ya know to take it easy."


    Kuzari was starting to feel irritated. She didn''t seem to understand that the alternative was just dying. He also didn''t understand how she could be so helpful one moment and then get under his skin the next.


    "And why do you care so much?" he asked.


    "I just don''t want to lose you again." She said, not quite realizing what she said.


    Kuzari''s face soured.


    "You knew him, didn''t you? Ralin. You had said he couldn''t hurt a fly when we met too. Must have been closer than you let on."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Adara''s face flushed red with embarrassment as she realized what she had said.


    "Yeah, I did. We were friends...really good friends," she said while staring off into the sky.


    "I have some of his memories, you know. But nothing about his life, or about you."


    It was Adara''s turn to be sour as she glared at him.


    "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked.


    Kuzari stood up.


    "It means I''m not him. I''m, not Ralin and you need to accept that sooner rather than later. " Kuzari retorted.


    "I know that," Adara said with a huff, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.


    "Good," Kuzari said tersely before heading to his bedroll to get some sleep.


    <hr>


    That night Kuzari dreamed.


    Darkness stretched all around as he floated in space. There was a sublime nothingness to his world. Endless uncertainties unresolved and threatening to crush him from everywhere. Yet despite this, he felt at home.


    Golden light broke the darkness, swelling from the depths of his soul. It formed the image of a coiling dragon, an ouroboros that ringed around his body. The darkness receded from the light revealing an endless plain of grass.


    A second burst of golden light flashed above him, pushing the darkness back again and forming the shape of a glorious angel.


    She had four wings stretched from her back, but did not need them to stay aloft in the dark sky. Her skin blazed a white fire in contrast to the ebony hair that hung around her shoulders. Her golden eyes shown with fervor. Silver armor tinged with black edges covered her form, giving her the visage of a holy avenger ready to smite evil wherever it chose to hide.


    The angel was sheer majesty, and he felt compelled to both reach out and kneel before such beauty. It smirked, sensing his obeisance and in a flash, she was mere feet away from him, just on the edge of the serpent.


    The dragon growled at her approach, and Kuzari was broken from his reverie. The angel reeked with the stench of Fate and alarms fired off inside his mind. He knew he was dreaming, but this encounter was more than that and possibly dangerous.


    "Finally I''ve found you." The angel spoke with a sing-song voice.


    "And who are you?" Kuzari asked with an edge to his voice, suddenly on guard.


    "Talia, Contractor of Thetos." She sang.


    Kuzari stepped back in shock. The angel was not only a Contractor like him but a Contractor of the same god! He was floored by the apparent display of power she had, invading his dreams like this.


    She chuckled at his reaction.


    "You certainly have some explaining to do newbie," Talia said, circulating Kuzari but not crossing the line formed by the golden dragon.


    "Explain what?" He asked in confusion.


    "How you resisted Challenge. And why the Oathbreaker''s scent is on you."


    "I have no idea what any of those means" he answered honestly.


    "When opposing Contractors meet, they can be Challenged. A Challenge is to the death, and you cannot escape, weak or strong consequences be damned, those Contractors will fight to the death. Zator Challenged you. Hells it was the only reason I was able to find you."


    Kuzari was even more confused. He remembered the weird compulsion to kill Zator, but it hadn''t been strong enough to prioritize over his survival.


    "What do you mean, find me? Thetos said he would send a Contractor to get me. What couldn''t tell you where I was?"


    "Oh no, not at all. The moment Thetos dropped you off in that body, he couldn''t sense you. None of us could. You know Contractors are supposed to be able to feel out those of the same god, right?"


    Kuzari was dumbfounded even more.


    "No. No, I did not know that."


    Talia chuckled again. That laugh was starting to get grating.


    "Oh my, how interesting. Cut off from other Contractors, refusing Challenges that has to be driving Zaror insane by the way, did the Oathbreaker do that to you?" She asked with her eyes gleaming from amusement.


    "You still haven''t told me what the Oathbreaker is." Kuzari was starting to get extremely annoyed the way she lorded her knowledge over him.


    "Good question." She laughed again.


    Okay, he wasn''t ''starting'' to get annoyed. He skipped that phase and settled right into being angry. It showed on his face.


    "Oh now, settle down newbie. The Oathbreaker is a Contractor, though nobody knows for what god. They don''t seem to be playing by the same rules the rest of us are. It shows up, and all sorts of Contractor stuff goes haywire. Haven''t heard of it messing with a Contractor as fresh as you thought. Can''t help but wonder if you''re in on it."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about. Zator is the only Contractor I''ve met before you, and he is Contracted to-"


    "Modeus, yes, I know." She rolled her eyes, finishing the sentence for him. "Get to my rank, and you can listen in on the threads of Fate. Zator meeting you sent waves down the threads that can be listened to. As I said, its the only reason we managed to find you."


    "Despite knowing exactly where I was dropped off? How dumb could you be not to narrow down my position?" He shot back, fed up with her attitude.


    Talia glared at him. "Watch your mouth. You''re a thousand years too early to be insulting the like of me."


    "Oh please, what cliched nonsense. What era did you get plucked from?" Kuzari asked.


    Talia huffed in response. He managed to get under her skin as well, and he couldn''t help but form a grin. As far as he was concerned, she deserved it for the holier than thou attitude. Although she literally appears as an angel...


    "The point is, somethings not right. You need to cooperate here before Thetos thinks you''ve defected somehow."


    Kuzari snorted in derision.


    "Defected? Can''t do that, Contractor remember? Would think a god of all people should know that. I have more immediate issues to take care of. So either start telling me about all this Contractor stuff like Thetos said you would or kindly fuck off. I don''t like you. "


    Talks turned red from anger, literally red consuming her skin and wings. The golden dragon started to snarl at the angel.


    "Your impudence stretches the limits of my patience. What would Eric think of his brother now?" She asked, deliberately prodding him.


    Kuzari grew cold.


    How dare she try to use my brother to make me submit?


    "You need to leave." He said icily.


    Darkness closed in around them, consuming the plains and bleeding away the angel''s light.


    The golden dragon grew large, becoming a vast beast looming over the two Contractors. It stared at Talia with primal hunger.


    Talia stared at the beast with a flash of fear, her mouth moving wordlessly. The red bled away from her form before she winked away from view.


    Kuzari had no more dreams for the rest of the night.

 -Authors Note-

    Hey there, so my internet at home has been down for the past coulle days and looks like it will be down for the next couple of days as well. This severely impacts my particular pipeline for editing and uploading chapters, so its going to be longer than usual before the next one comes out. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Im still going to be writing the rough drafts in the meantime, so once I get internet at home back I should have a couple of chapters ready to go shortly after each other.


    I apologize for the delay.