《Arch Magus, The Wich Hunter》 Ch.1 Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. " " Ch. 2 It was nine in the evening when Elizabeth had dropped him off at the hotel that had been reserved, the Lion''s Gate hotel was located in the upper quarter of the city and catered mainly to wealthy businessmen and members of the nobility. The whole place was a gross representation of the finacial gap between the upper and lower classes of the Empire. Two golden colored lions stood on either side of the entrance, to the average person they would appear to be little more that decorative architecture, but Sebastian could feel the faint electric tingle of arcane energy as he walked between them. More like than not, these two lions were actually golems, statues embedded with an artificer''s circuit and programmed to carry out simple tasks. It would not be difficult for one as powerful as Sebastian to overwrite their programming, though doing so would serve no purpose save to draw unnecessary attention to him self. Still the way they watched his every movement with their blue crystaline eyes was unnerving, ignoring the golems he walked through the heavy oak double doors of the hotel his coat gently blowing in the night air. His baggage had already arived and had been placed into his room during the afternoon, all that was left to retrieve his room key. The woman who was currently working the concierge desk apparently had been told to exprct the arival of a gentleman bearing his appearance, upon seeing him enter she had hopped up, her long red curls bouncing. "Sebastian Thorn I presume, we have been expecting you since the afternoon, my name is Mary, should you need anything It''d be my pleasure to fulfill your desires" the woman spoke in a tone some where between sultry and professional. "If anything comes to mind I shall call upon your services, though for now I shall be leaving again shortly, could you call a coach fom me" Sebastian replied with a charming smile. Room 202, he stared at the brass number on the door for a moment before placing his hand upon the door streching his consciousness to the room beyond. The rooms were warded with sound barriers to prevent eavesdropping and to prevent guests from disturbing one another, it seemed to be free of any tampering. It was highly unusual for a local Bureau office to make reservations in swanky hotels for agents from other offices, something was off, he could feel it in his bood. What Sebastian saught from amongst his large traveling chest was a pair of custom made revolvers chambered in .45 caliber with a cartidge length of 50mm, the projectiles were made of Aetheric silver. The bullets were easily enchanted to produce a number of effects, it was a late night encounter with a werewolf that motivated the creation of such expensive arms. Aside from the revolvers he also grabbed a gentleman''s cane with a concealed blade coated in a rare magical poison, now he was fully prepared for an evening stroll. Before leaving he wove a hidden spell into the room''s exsisting security measures, nothing too deadly, but any one with out the proper key would have an experience that would disuade them from a second attempt. The carriage he had called for dropped him off at the public house he visited earlier in the evening, it was perfect for his intended purpose. With a some effort he wove a glamour around himself, illusion had always been his weakest field of study. The spell it''s self was weak in nature, it affected the minds of any one who saw him, subtly blurring their memory and redirecting their focus. A spell perfect for moonlight galavanting, or performing illegal activities. Adrian took a final look around the crime scene, it was left just as he instructed, untouched and warded against any passersbys or prying eyes. With an outstretched hand he felt the ward, it was a subtle but powerful weave, with many layered effects that pushed back against his will. Much to his suprise the spell flexed upon his gentle probing, the sorceress was skilled indeed, his gentle probing usually tore throug the strongest of wards like wet tissue. "No matter" he thought as he simply sliced through her spell allowing it''s many threads of arcane energy to reconnect as he stepped through.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Who ever killed these three did so because they either, saw, heard, or kne something that they should not have, but the dead do not speak, at least not legally. Necromancy was considered one of the few magical taboos, along with blood magic, aside from very rare sanctioned uses. It was largely a misunderstanding of the non mages to label any magic "evil", necromancy''s purpose not only lay in creating undead, it could kill but it could also heal. Something the weak minded sheep failed to understand, regardless how terrifying a field of study may be, it was only a tool, it''s purpose lay with the weilder. Adrian stood above one of the charred corpses and wove a soul tether anchoring the soul of the deceased to its once living form. No matter how many time he witnessed it, what came next turned his stomach. Slowly the corpse twitched in akward and inhuman ways, like a child''s marionette, its limbs twisting and dangling as it struggled to it''s feet. Pale blue flames burned in its eyes and mouth, it tried to speak, tried to anwser it''s master''s summons but it knew not how to use this coporeal shell. Images flashed through his mind as he watched the last moments of the beings mortal life, the images were like watter paintings where the collors ran together. "You shouldn''t have run Jacob, you knew the bosses never were going to let you leave" a figure of swirling black spoke to him. "What there doing, even if they aren human, its fucking horrible, so if you''re gonna kill me spare me the damn lectures" he yelled at the man. "Too bad, perhaps your daughter can continue your work" the figure chuckled before lightning tore through his body. Sebastian sighed in annoyance as he cut the tether allowing the spirit of the dead man return to the Aetherium, the realm of souls and source of the arcane energy that made magic possible. A name was little to go on, but the rest of the situation helped him piece together just a small part of the puzzle, Jacob was very likely an arcane researcher, and they were using living non human tests subjects. That meant planar beings, or animals, but Jacob''s words pointed toward the former, what ever they were doing it was highly illegal in more ways than one. It was a situation that did not bode well. Sebastian turned around to see a very terrified and pale faced Elizabeth, he took a step forward causing her to take a step back. "I tried to spare you from witnessing that" he said softly as he looked at her with pity in his eyes. "A-are you going to kill me" she stammered as her breathing quickened, carefully she tried to hold onto her most powerful sheilding spell, but seeing him walk through her ward so easily she had little faith that it would stand up to the terrifying existence known as an Arch Magus. "That sweetheart, depends entirely on you" he said softly taking another step forward. What ever he had done with that corpse was taboo, and just feeling the energy of that "thing" left her feeling chilled to the bone, but what could she do against a man who wielded power she could not begin to fathom. Closing her eyes she accepted her fate, she even abandoned her sheilds. With each step the heels of his boots upon the pavement counted down the moments till her death, then silence, she only hoped it would be quick. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought about the years of hard work it had take her to get into this position at such a young age, all that work would be undone by her foolish curiosity. Was she so willing to accept death at my hands he thought as he looked down at the frail young woman, it would be all to easy to erase her mind, a fate worse than death, but to waste so much potential talent and power was not his way. Powerful arms wrapped around her body and pulled her close to him, she could smell the relaxing scent of sandal wood and cedar. She leaned her head against his shoulder and waited for darkness to swallow her, but the darkness never came. Gently she could feel her tears being wiped away, her mind awash with confusion she opened her eyes and looked into the seemingly endless void of his eyes. "You shouldn''t cry little one, it ruins your beautiful face" he cooed with his dark velvety voice. Powerless in his arms she did nothing to resist as he kissed her forehead much like her father once had, it was comforting, she leaned into him allowing his strength to support her before darkness took her. Ch. 3 "You should not have done that Sebastian, the only reason the Emperor indulges in your absurdities is because of you power" a female voice barked some where in the background. "What''s done is done Aveline, I have little patience for the Empire or it''s rules" Sebastian retorted. "As expected of the last of the Council of Magi, to arrogant, to powerful to understand the fears of the common man" the female barked back. "You should have erased her mind, or never bothered to break the taboos" the female voice lectured. "Your taboos are meaningless, intent and purpose, it is the mage who defines the magic, not the magic that defines the mage, besides from what I have gleaned there is something terible happening in this city, and I''m going to put a stop to it" Sebastian''s deep voice retorted with a lecture of his own. "What of the girl then, if the Inquisition has there way she will be erased" the woman sighed in frustration. "I have already taken that into account, I will take her as my apprentice, they will not risk incuring my wrath. "Very well Sebastian" the woman sighed in defeat. Elizabeth had woken to the sounds of Sebastian arguing with another woman, for once she wisely ignored her inquisitive nature and remained in bed. It was not hard for her to figure out that he had used a sleep spell on her, though the why bothered her, it was easy to imagine a being as powerful as Sebastian erasing her from existence to protect his secrets. She could not think of a good enough reason to risk becoming know as a necromancer by the rest of society, the Bureau would happily pull the strings of every mage in the Empire to kill said individual. Though from the heated discussion she could gather the man was no simple Bureau investigator. Elizabeth tried to hide her being awake as the door suddenly opened as the pair stepped in side, "I know you''re awake, now sit up" the woman comanded in a firm tone. She complied readily, the woman standing besides Sebastian looked out of place next to his highly fashionable suit. She had long blonde hair and wore a military style uniform, black trousers bloused into knee high polished boots, an officers coat worn open in a manner that emphasised the leather corset she wore openly. On one hip she carried an officers saber, on the other a large caliber revolver. "Elizabeth Blackwell, my name is Tabitha Short, you can hereby consider yourself sworn to secrecy in his Majesty, the Emperor of Tiberia''s, service under penalty of death" the woman stated in a militaristic tone before doing an about face and walking out of the room. Elizabeth stared at Sebastian dumbstruck by the imperial edict that had practically been yelled at her by a woman who''s appearance was some where between that of an office and a harlot. "I realize this may be difficult for you to accept, but you will find it a pleasant alternative to death" Sebastian spoke to her with a seemingly sad smile. "What did you mean by apprentice when you two were arguing, I''ve already graduated from the Imperial Academy of Magical Studies and Artifice" she inquired furrowing her brow. "Hahaha, those hacks couldn''t teach a dog to urinate, my dear you will soon find that magic is far more powerful and terrifying than you have ever imagined, and you''ll wield those powers as naturally as you breathe" he chuckled as he held out his hand to her. His smile was warm and infectious, she couldn''t help but be swept up in his pace as she took his hand, "as long as you don''t expect my to call you master" she chuckled. After last night and this morning''s encounter with his handler Sebastian could think of nothing more than breakfast and invited Elizabeth to join him. The two of them shared a spread of scrambled eggs, rye bread, a hearty vegetable soup, and a slice of aged cheese. She had only known the man for a little over a day and he had inviter her for a meal twice, were it not for the recent circumstances, she would think he was trying to court her. Part of her thought it was a shame he wasn''t and instead decided to focus on the matter at hand.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "What were you able to learn, I assume that''s why you, returned to the scene of the crime" she had to forcibly pause before the last part to find the right words. "One of the three victims was a man nammed Jacob, I believe he was either an arcane researcher or an artificer, he was working on something for his killers but couldn''t stomach it any longer. What ever it was they are working on it involves planar beings, at least that is my guess. I was also able to determine that the murder was only an underling of the one''s in charge" he explained as she absorbed every detail. She was impressed by the amount of information he had gleaned in a breif few seconds, even if it was gathered by a means she neither approved of nor understood. Elizabeth thought for a moment, "I''ll have the archivists pull any files and records with the names Jacob and have them focus on researchers and artificers when I return to the office, should narrow it down". "I''ll trust your judgement in the search, I have to visit the office in a bit and introduce myself to your boss, though I''d rather not" Sebastian complained. "What do you mean you lost him" Maxwell yelled at the two men before him. "Just like we told you sir we tailed him to the hotel, then he got a carriage to the pub, we saw him walk in but even after an hour he didn''t come out so I went in just in case, and poof nothing" the man replied. "Urgh, just don''t fuck up again, I want to know everything that goon from central does while he''s in my district, now get out an find him" he yelled slamming his pudgy fist onto the desk. What ever central was doing was bad news for him, he didn''t need one of their agents turning over any stones an finding pests. As far as everyone was concerned Tiber was a quiet city, and he needed it to stay that way, that murder case needed to be swept under the rug, easier to pin it on the usual suspects so the citizens could relax. Sebastian hated Bureaucrats, he saw them as little more that parasites growing fat off the hard work of others. Always speaking but never saying anything of value, just platitudes and placation for the mindless masses. The current man incoherently rambling about the importance of cooperation between office branches and giving Sebastian''s investigation his full support was a born and bred bureaucrat. Just being in the same room with the pudgy beady eyed man made him feel the need for a shower, or the desire to set the man on fire, either would have been fine with him. "Were you able to discern anything from the crime scene" Maxwell inquired. "The murderer is likely a skilled mage, though I still have more evidence I need to look over" Sebastian explained dismissively. "I see, keep up the hard work, I''m sure you''ll get to the bottom of it soon" Maxwell kept any suprise he had deep down. As Sebastian wandered around the office he took note of the various "talents", no one in particular seemed of note, there was only one other person whose power matched Elizabeth though they reeked of incompetence. Elizabeth was flipping through a stack of files when Sebastian had found her, there were thirteen files piled on her desks of various thickness. "Find anything useful" he inquired. "Not yet, but I''ve at least got a list of addresses written down for us to check out, how was you meeting" she replied off handedly. "The man''s a snake dipped in grease, I''d perfer never to have be in the same room with him" Sebastian replied eliciting a chuckle from her. "We''ve a long day ahead of us, I''ll have a carriage brought around, you can read those files while we grab lunch" the man''s stomach had to be a botomless pit, still eating on his dime had its perks. "Very well" she replied taking his offered hand.