The Profound Thesis #4 - The Depth of my Name

“I am quite sorry,” A young woman huffed. She was Muslim and wore a light Shayla around her face. She had dark mascara around her eyes and lips as red as figs. Her chestnut cheeks were quite visible underneath the current Sun. “I know we’ve been at this for two days now, but what are all of your names again? Bismillah! I’m not great with names.”

At the front, a group of three lean individuals blinked back at her. On the right, a tall man with long rouge hair and green eyes wore a rugged and green jacket. He flashed the Peace Sign, slinging his arm around a shorter young man beside him.

The shorter young man had similarly green eyes and short, if a bit spiky and curly, bright red hair. To the far left, a girl in a blue sweater had a couple of hairclips and ribbons in her hair. She gave the most friendly of smiles and waves. Slowly, she took the hairclips out, as if they only acted to help dry her moist curls.

“So, I’m Liana, this is Mikaiah, and that’s--”

“Lynar.” The tallest, and lankiest, raised his hand. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it at some point. Honestly, I think it’s karma. I still can’t… really pronounce your name. Your last name, that is.”

The Muslim girl crossed her arms and clicked her tongue. “Abdulaman. Jani Abdulaman.”

Liana then slung her arm around Mikaiah’s neck, brushing up against Lynar. “It’s actually not that hard to remember, Lynar. Also, this one’s mine.” Liana gestured to Mikaiah.

“Ah-Ah-Ah,” Lynar wagged a finger. “We have missions to go on, Liana. It’s my job to be your cockblock. Mikaiah needs to practice his magic anyhow, right? Can’t be getting distracted by the fairer sex.”

Mikaiah looked up at his older cousin. He gave him a nervous shrug at first, tossing a shy look at Jani. In his chest, his heart rumbled as images flashed across his mind. The past two nights in the Dianemes were marked by tossing, turning, and gasping.

Mikaiah had rolled around in the sleeping bags, even as Liana had placed herself close by. In a white two-piece gown, Liana slipped herself tightly into Mikaiah’s grasp. Over the night, however, the two drifted from body heat.

It was in this drift that Mikaiah started to gasp and sweat from strange dreams.

At this, Mikaiah blushed. “Wh-- What ever could you be talking about--”

“Oh my gosh, don’t even with me!” Lynar rolled his eyes. “Is, uh, everything alright up in there in dome-land, Mikaiah? Seriously, um--”

Jani took a step forward, putting a cold palm up to Mikaiah’s forehead. She looked up at her backhand, then closed her eyes for a moment. When she pulled her hand away, her gaze trailed back down to her palm.

She pulled out a small baster from her back pocket and a miniature beaker. With a quick baste from her palm, she then ejected it into the beaker. As it passed through a series of pipes, the mix of skin and sweat began to change colors.

“Well, I can tell you what’s not wrong with him.” Jani said, rubbing at her chin.

Liana wore an anxious grin. “P-- Pardon? Um, that’s actually a really cool setup though, Jani. Do you just carry your little laboratory with you wherever ya go?”

Jani huffed. “If Christians can carry the Tabernacle, I can carry this. Now…” She watched as the mix landed at the very bottom of a swirling slide. “... this is a Miniature Litmus Park. Whenever the color changes, it just means it’s the same thing reacting differently to the chemicals within the fibers of the slides. If the colors didn’t change, that’d mean it’d be a brand-new thing passing through the slides each time.”

“How would… a new thing get in there, exactly?” Liana’s eyes were wide and curious.

“Usually if something were to die right away. A microbiotic specimen perishing on impact would send an outbreak of new chemicals and cytosomes. Our microbiomes didn’t perish on contact, so that’s a place to start. Instead, whatever’s been causing Mikaiah’s bad dreams… is much more mental, rather than a physical illness. He doesn’t have a fever, either.”

“I coulda told you guys that!” Mikaiah’s cheeks reddened. “I’ve been feeling fine, guys.”

Jani gave a taunting grin. “Then explain why you’ve been speaking in your sleep in the Dianemes. Especially with cuddles from your significant other!”

Mikaiah gulped. “I-- I speak in my sleep? Wait, how long’s this been going on?”

Liana rolled her eyes. “Babe, we’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Correction,” Lynar said. “We’ve been trying to tell you… while in the middle of our own missions. Timing is not exactly Liana’s strong suit.”

“Oh, hush!” The short Brit spun around. “It’s not our strong suit, thank you very much! Have some team accountability. But, I say, ya know what is?” Liana asked, raising her brow.

On their current Earth, the group saw a countryside filled with hooded and cloaked figures. Out from among them, a man with gaunt cheeks pulled back his cowl. He had the orange eyes of a Revellich. Then, he opened his mouth to reveal a fangy smile. His arms went out to his sides as the other figures around him flew at the group.

Liana weaved her hands around her hips. Sparkles of dust configured together to form a sheath made of an electric red. It hummed like a ball of plasma. She put her palm over the top of the sheath and slid out an ethereal sword.

The sword ran with streaks of muted blue and dark green across its blade. Her blue sweatshirt got covered in a series of scaly, glassy, and mosaic pieces of ocean blue ribbons, white pockets, and black buttons. It was a brand new dress, now.

Beside her, Lynar glowed the tips of his fingers and eyes. With a meek green aura, he punched the Lesser Revellichs into the tall prairie grass around them. His hair swayed wildly back and forth as he then conjured up a thin rod.

He stabbed it through the Lessers, skewering them into a nearby oak tree. The Lessers wailed, and his rod began to disintegrate. At the sign of his magic waning, he chucked one final orb into the tree’s trunk.

“Boom, assholes.” He snapped his fingers. He watched as the tree popped from the middle of its bottom. A series of ethereal embers and sharp bark blew into the backs of the Lessers. The shockwave split them in half. Lynar spun back to the others proudly. “I might not be able to hold onto my magic for very long, but I can disperse it. Call me a Bomberman!”

Jani got a running start. She pivoted off of one of the Lessers, kicking into its sternum. She ran a sharp claw across another one a few inches away. With her own fangs -- the fangs of a Cursed-Blood --, she bit a chunk out of one of their necks. One of the cloaked and animalistic figures lurched back.

In about ten seconds, their skin congealed back into place. Annoyed, Jani wrapped both her legs around the Lesser’s neck. The Lesser clawed at the air in a futile panic. As the fresh air slowly left his lungs, his vision went black.

“And I might not be able to kill these sick assholes, but I can knock at least them unconscious. I think that has its own respects.” Jani clenched a fist, standing tall.

Up ahead, a masked figure with glowing orange eyes set his sights on Liana. He had an outfit that was harder in texture than just a mere cloak. His arms were as wide as his head. He had a series of steaming pipes and cords hooked up to his back. The mask didn’t even have any slits for a nose or mouth, just a long slit for his murderous eyes.

He ran forward, pumping his arms. Below him, the very grass managed to tear itself apart. Soil and dirt flew up into the air, creating a trail of total dust. In a word, he ran with exceptional speed. Liana’s eyes widened.

In just a few seconds, the man stood inches in front of her. Liana quickly waved her hand in front of her. An electric and deep-blue ward flew up. She then shut her eyes as her palms stung with a black aura. Energy as sharp as lead and as dark as coal covered her skin.

The figure jumped back, his one eye twitching. U-- Unrick? N-- No! She doesn’t have that signature green color that Lady Kalish uses. And yet--

Black imps began to spring out from all sides of Liana’s ward. Six of the miniature demons shielded her on one side as another six ran to her other. At the front, Liana continued to dual-wield her sword and stare the armored Revellich down with a glare. The masked figure looked down at his gloved hands. His forefinger began to glow a hot yellow at its tip. He pointed it forward, reciprocating Liana’s confident glare.

As soon as the armored Revellich’s laser beam seemed to crack Liana’s ward, six of the twelve imps ran to her defense. Three of them took the blast, falling over and bleeding out black ichor. They coughed until their skin began to disintegrate.

The other six, avenging their conjured and fallen comrades, ran at the armored Revellich. The figure just picked them up, knocking them into each other. As their skulls cracked, the imps fell to the ground, limp and unconscious.

“Okay, um? Rude, bruv!” Liana clenched her teeth. “I mean, seriously! Couldn’t you’ve done that a bit more gracefully or somethin’?”

“You.” The figure stomped forward. As he put his hand up to her cracked ward, the ward zapped at his gloves. The armored Revellich recoiled back, setting his arms to his sides. “You summoned up solid imps. That’s an old, old spell that Unricks haven’t done in many Trines, let alone Erazons.”

“What the-- What’s an ‘Erazon’? And, um, long story, that. It was a bit of a surprise to even me, actually. Do ya reckon ya have the time? I could get us some tea.”

The figure suddenly turned to the other hooded grunts. He watched as they surrounded Mikaiah. At this, he just chuckled darkly. He spoke with a low and raspy voice. He cracked his knuckles and then pointed at Mikaiah. “And then there’s the one with the short hair. He has Castleton-Green eyes. Someone must be pullin’ my damn leg right now. Who are you three? And that girl isn’t a Revellich, but she has fangs. Must be a real joyride.”

Mikaiah threw down an ethereal smoke bomb. It dissipated all over the ground. It spread out around the Lessers, coating them in thick and dark ash. As he twirled around in his own dark blue outfit, he threw out a series of electric spears into the Revellichs. The spears glowed green.

As he attacked them this way and that, his eyes burned. Below them, a tattoo began to glow beneath his skin. He then shut both his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. The tattoo on his skin, signifying that he was an Inheritance Mage, was glowing again.

Even as one of the Lessers jumped at him with a magic spear in their stomach, Mikaiah paid no attention. The ground in his vicinity began to rumble. A series of javelins shot up from the soil, cutting it up from the deeper crust of the Earth. Mikaiah kept his arms out at his sides, focusing on the humming of his own Staminance. But then, as the spears left the Lesser Revellichs, it seemed he was open for another ambush.

Instead, whole chunks of Earth flew into the air and decapitated the Lessers. He kept his eyes closed as the bodies of the Lessers called out to their heads. Slowly, the orange blood from both ends of the body parts began to crawl back to their other halves like worms.

Mikaiah brought a single forefinger out, only to bring it down. Like clockwork, a zap of electric red cut into the orange blood. Even as the blood began to crawl back to itself each and every time, the oxidation of the air turned it cold and rusty.

The masked figure crossed his arms. “Holy shit. Bravo, twirp.” He then turned back to Liana, peacocking. “He your ride home or something? You don’t look like you drive, unless the seat’s pulled up all the way to the steering wheel.”

Liana huffed. “What a weird insult! You son of a--”

Suddenly, as more of the Lessers surrounded Mikaiah, the young man’s eyes began to glow a burning yellow. He fell on his back, letting out a wretched scream. Liana, horrified, started to run over to him.

The masked figure grabbed her by her wrist. Liana jammed her sword into his stomach, swung her body up to kick him in the mask, and proceeded to run faster. Yellow aura began to shoot up into the very sky from Mikaiah’s mouth.

Off in the distance, the Earth shook harder as Mikaiah seized.

“You… idiot.” The masked figure gasped. His stomach recongealed in just three seconds, healing itself back to normal. This also indicated a higher rank of Revellichism. He patted his hard armor before throwing a lasso rope, made of Molten Blood, around Liana’s wrist. He dragged her back through the air. “You know how dangerous it is to run headfirst into someone having an Unstable Magic Attack?”

“U-- Unstable Magic Attack?” Liana put a hand up to her bosom. “Mikaiah’s never had one of those before! What even is that?”

“Maybe he’s a late bloomer. Tell me, has he been mumbling in his sleep lately? That’s one of the classic tell-tales. Sign as old as rhyme.”

Liana looked up at the masked figure, her mouth going small and tight. “Who are you?”

Back in the middle of the countryside, yellow energy continued to shoot out from Mikaiah’s eyes and mouth. It blasted all of the other Lessers to bits. Many feet ahead, the very ground began to shake and tremble like it was in the presence of a giant. A wisp of dark clouds began to gather around a strange shape.

The Lessers continued to jump into Mikaiah, hoping to get him to stop. It proved futile as the foolish sect of Lessers just blew up, their blood sizzling off into the air. Mikaiah’s whole body tensed, and stretched a little bit, as his hair stood straight up.

The Earth trembled again. As Lynar and Liana looked off into the distance, they saw it. A beast of gargantuan proportions began to stomp over to them. It had spores atop its moldy head and its arms had gray spores all over its skin. It smacked into the planet with a heavy thud from its dense and shroomish feet. It walked bipedally, and yet its face was a series of smaller faces.

“What the bloody hell is that?” Liana’s voice went hoarse.

“Take a guess, Anne of Green Gables.” The masked figure scoffed, crossing his arms.

“You think I’m in the mood to laugh at your tasteless references? My boyfriend is having a seizure! Mikaiah, wait for me! Mikaiah!”

The masked figure grabbed Liana’s wrist again. “You will wait for him to calm down.”

“What’s happening to him? He’s my boyfriend, damn it. I have every right to know!”

“It’s an Unstable Magic Attack. The old mages from Ratelle District used to have these problems a couple of Erazons ago. He’s summoning one of the Spore Lords from the Sungh-Mani District. It’s just an Avatar for now, but it can still bang shit around.” The masked figure said.

Liana’s eyes moistened as her lips trembled. “So, you really want me to just wait this out? There must be something I can do! You don’t understand. I love him!”

The masked figure said nothing, only turning to Mikaiah. He put an open palm out into the air, then swiftly closed it. Even as a bunch of surviving Lessers stood by him, the signal prompted the other, more foolish, Lessers to run back to him. With his immediate environment clear, Mikaiah’s burst of yellow energy began to dissipate. Up ahead, the giant Spore Lord began to take one more stomp a few inches away from Lynar.

Right on time, thankfully, it evaporated into an even more ethereal form…

… before vanishing from everyone’s sights completely.

Liana ran over to Mikaiah’s exhausted body. “MIKAIAH!”

“Wh-- Where am I?”

“Oh, thank God!” Liana wrapped her arms tightly around her lover’s neck. She pressed him into her neck and shoulder, crying into his air. As she sniffled, she began to pet the back of his hair lovingly. She softened her tight hug, but still didn’t let go.

At the realization of her panic, Mikaiah began to cry into her shoulder. He grabbed at her curves, his tears running down the back of her ermine uniform. He trembled, his voice cracking a little as he pleaded. “Please, just hold me, Liana. I don’t know what happened. I really don’t!”

“You’re alive. That’s all that matters.” Liana hiccuped, pulling away only to look into his eyes. As the last of her tears gathered around her chin, she hugged him again. “We’ll figure this out, baby. I promise.”

The masked figure watched their frightened affection. His eyes went hooded as he noticed a subtle streak of dark red swaying around the back of Liana’s hair. Briefly, he took a look at Jani before taking in the sight of Lynar.

The masked figure put his hands to his back, spinning together a rack of Molten Blood Swords that sat on a Molten Blood shelf. The more he stared at the back of Liana’s hair, the more his mind flashed with visions of a woman with white curly hair and a regal dress of red, white, and streaks of ermine blue. A woman that many called… Lady Kalish.

He then spun back to his battalion of Lesser Revellichs.

“I order all of you to retreat back to the Revarrante District. There, you’ll meet up with Lady Quinn-Cress. I will be returning in another hour. Do not wait up for me. That is an order!”

“YES SIR!” All the cloaked Lessers knelt down and then disappeared.

Liana and Mikaiah ran back to the man. Mikaiah limped a little, but he had a determined glare in his eyes, just as much as Liana had. With her Unrick form dissipated, Liana now stood in a normal sweater and had her hands balled up into fists. With red and teary eyes, she clenched Mikaiah’s hand tighter as she spat at the masked figure.

“You didn’t answer my question from earlier!” She growled. “Who the hell are you?”

At this, the masked figure just undid his mask and pursed his lips.

“You are a very intriguing ragtag bunch. I’ll bite. You may call me… Blaeton. Blaeton Revellique. It’s an old and boring name, but it has a bit of lore to it.” The middle of Blaeton’s outfit began to glow red among its blue and gold. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Liana’s forehead creased. “Wait. ‘Revellique’?”

“One of the oldest of the Revellich Families in the entirety of the Continent of Revarrante. Lord Carrehlor’s sent all of the Higher-Ups on a two-fold mission these days. One, to do the usual spiel and turn you folks into Revellichs… and two… to find a woman who just recently turned coat on us. Although I doubt you’d be much help, considering your kind wants to foil us.”

Lynar’s eyes glowed green as he charged up his magic in his hands. “Of course we wanna foil you, you blood-sucking bastards! Question is whether you take aluminum or tin.”

Blaeton sighed. “That was a pretty lame pun, but A for Effort. Also, it’s ‘blood-draining bastards’ to you. Now that my underlings are gone, I wanted to have a cup of conversation with you, if that’s alright. Judging by the color of his Staminance, I suspect that that kid is a Zirie.”

Mikaiah winced. “I’m right here, yanno! And that’s my mom’s last name.”

“Ah, yes, I remember. A certain woman used to tell us all about the mages of Ratelle District before it was even called ‘Ratelle’. And near the end of the First Erazon, we used to fly over and see what that other continent was making of itself. The Ziries are an old family… of dangerously powerful magics that none of them could ever really contain.”

“I’m also an Unrick.” Mikaiah glared.

“Which means you’re twice the drama.” Blaeton sighed. “Say, how deep down the journey of defending the multiverse from my kind are you guys, anyway?”

“Pretty far. We know the big names. ‘Lady Kalish’ is supposed to be one of them, but I’ve never met her in person.” Liana continued to have a terse tone. Can I trust this guy? He seems so relaxed. But… no way! And yet, he tried to save me from Mikaiah’s Magical Seizure.

At this, Blaeton just smiled. “So you’ve heard of Lady Kalish? Say, it looks like we might be after the same woman. Lady Kalish defected from the cause, and Lord Carrehlor wanted to make an example out of her. Revillar Scouts suspect it’s because she got her hands on some Neferav Stones. Tell me, have you ever heard of… Neferav Stones?”

________

“What is all of this, little one?” In the next moment, Lady Kalish found herself in chains.

She sat in a tight prison. Her red and regal dress -- the one she wore with Lucielle Harker on their adventures -- had turned into a tattered and red hood. She looked through a series of dark bars in a cell as jetblack as a void. Her white hair fell in split ends and as she looked at her wrists, a set of handcuffs had stifled her mobility.

Through a set of dark bars, a second woman with dark red and curly hair had a confident hand on her hip. She gave a pitiful glare at Kalish. Nervously, she chewed on her bottom lip the more she looked down at the ensnared and white-haired Revellich woman. On either side of her, a long prison continued on for halls upon halls. The other cells were deathly quiet, only small drips of water fading in and out.

“I know we’re both very attractive women, but you don’t need to stare at me for so long without so much as a damn word. Answer me, wench! What. Is. All. This?”

At this, the red-headed woman clicked her tongue, regaining a sense of haughty confidence.

“What were you hoping I’d say? ‘I’m keeping you here to play cards and have tea’?” The woman tapped her foot impatiently. “Actually consuming those Neferav Stones was a fool’s errand, but you wanted to look like you really ‘held it down’ in front of Lucielle, didn’t you? And now we’re both in this prison. You’re just in the cell, while I’m playing the role of the guard.”

“Oh, pipe it, dollface.” Kalish glared. “Our hearts beat as one! I could tell you were just as in love with her as I was.”

“And now none of that matters right now. You aren’t going to be a bother to anyone for as long as I have this Mega-Spell active.”

“Oh? How sweet, but you forget… our clones. My… clones!” Kalish hissed. She stood up in the cell, smiling a crazed and maniacal smile. “All this means is that we’re just one clone short. Do the math. On top of that, how many of us are scurrying around this Memory World right now, Kaelith?”

At this, the redheaded woman’s gaze went deadpan and murderous. She brought a glow of Castleton-Green over to the prison cell. It glowed hot, melting the bars. Kalish tripped back, letting out a rather scoffing and high-maintenance sigh. Kaelith’s girly demeanor suddenly vanished behind a much more authoritative expression.

“You will silence yourself before me. I understand the gravity of this situation. All the memories of those people that were in those two stones. They’re here. 2,000 pieces of baggage of culture, history, unspoken final words, and gripping desires. It all brought me back out. And you are not going to bother Mavier and Elizabeth, understood?”

Kalish just wiggled her fingers around. “Then could I enjoy some, I don’t know, deliciously greasy Memory Food or something? Do be a good host to your guests, Kaelith.”

“You know what? I think I will be.” Kaelith grinned as she walked down the dark hall.

The further she walked away…

… the further a chorus of voices grew.

The voices of everyone inside of those Neferav Stones. The voices of all the memories and alleged souls that hadn’t ‘moved on in peace’. The voices of tragedy, of murder, of sickness, of health conditions, of plagues, of violent accidents, or… even of hunger. Voices of plunder, obsession, thirst, inquiry, and power. They all swirled around Kalish the further that Kaelith walked away.

“Haha. K-- Kaelith, come on. C-- Come back! This prison’s getting dreadfully loud, girl. Hurry back with that food.” Kalish said, but her heart raced.

The voices grew louder. She put her hands up to her ears, looking down at the ground. The voices grew louder and louder. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply the rusty smell of the prison cell. The voices only continued to grow and grow. Her eyes began to twitch. She then stood up, kicking a Molten Blood blast at the cell next to her.

“Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP! I will kill every last one of you right in front of your other friends! I haven’t been able to think-- To think my own damn thoughts in so long! How dare you infiltrate my mind! I… am Lady Kalish Unrick. Your memories mean nothing to me! Do you understand me?”

But the voices just grew louder.

Kalish’s eye twitched as she shot out Molten Blood attack after Molten Blood attack. Her own magic had mixed in with the attacks, shoveling a horrific mixture of creatures together. Snake-like imps ran through the prison, made of dripping magic and hot magma blood.

They ate at the cell walls, tearing into the sound of flesh and bone. Kalish continued to beat at the cell next to hers. As she tore through the dense stone, she saw it. A chair with a single blood-red skeleton. It looked at her with eyeless sockets and a chattering jaw.

“P-- Please. I’m cold! I went to deliver a torch from my city of Marathon, but I tripped and didn’t get back up. Help me. Help me!”

Beside it, another bloody skeleton crawled over the ground. “I don’t know where I am. I was out in the woods with my daughter and her friends.”

Then, a limping skeleton ran down the hall as it held a pistol. “Shit! They found me. I shot Lincoln at that theatre, and now they finally found me.”

Kalish just screamed so terribly that she blasted Molten Blood from her mouth.

“SHUT UP!”

Just then, Kaelith returned with a plate of strange candy and meat.

She pulled up a chair and crossed her legs. “Have fun getting acquainted with all the souls in those stones?”

Kalish whipped around, her eye twitching as her teeth clenched. “I sincerely hope, for your sake, that our friends solve whatever riddle you’ve laid out for them. When I break out of here and return to my quest--”

“What was your quest again, exactly?” Kaelith bent down, setting a carafe of water by Kalish’s bloody feet. “Do you even remember what it was? Because I don’t. You were trying to betray Lord Carrehlor, to do… what? And then you got side-swept by Love Interest after Love Interest. It seems we’ve both lost the plot.”

At this, Kalish fell to her knees. I will brutally tear every voice in this prison away from its accursed vocal cords. She suddenly grinned a psychotic grin. “And what do you think they’ll do when they meet… him? We’ve never been able to love normally, Kaelith. We always fall so hard. You’re right. We have lost the plot.”

At this, Kaelith swallowed, her gaze going somewhere far.

________

Undertow: Ratelle District

Current Continental Trine (“Year”) [CCT]: 122

“Sir! The Charlats reports seeing clones of Lady Kalish in the Districts of Ulca and Sooth-Shores. The Revellich Invasion is still taking place in the following Districts of Wopashai, Shur’iiv, Stal, and Al’La’Kem to the south. To the north, they’re also oddly maintaining the fight in Pathanos and Mett’Al. Ulca is asking for reinforcements, but the only mages we have on reserve are the Tamarinds of Luray Aram. The ones who took in Queen Alisandra’s son long ago.”

A mage in sharp green armor knelt down before an older man. They both stood by a fireplace. There was a red rug on the floor and old tankards by the mantle. They stood in a dank and underground room full of vials, bottles, and bookshelves. Tables and chairs, covered in cosmic-blue dye, acted as the setting for plates and bowls.

The bowls ran wet with green grapes and Antler-Crab meat. It smelled of Basil Butter and Cinna-Star leaves. The armored mage had a head of soft light-brown hair and a helmet beside his armory boots.

In front of him, an older man with tan skin and long gray hair had his eyes closed. This mysterious man held a long staff in his hands with a green orb at its top. A suit of red with light purple trim graced the man’s body. He had a chiseled chin and a sharp nose. The color of his hair had confused many about his exact age.

“Sir?” The armored mage looked up. “Do we use the Tamarinds? The District of Voran is also fending off the excess of Revellichs from the Sooth-Shores District. King Jarret of the Goblins has also gotten injured, according to reports. As Courier for the 3rd Tavern Charlats, I--”

“I know what your job is, Soridin. I think everyone makes good points. However, send the Tamarind mages to Voran District instead.”

“That solves that district, but what about the clones of High-Rank Revellich Kalish? Who’ll deal with those?”

With a sigh, the older mage stood up. He stomped the bottom of his staff over the floor of lavender wood. He let out an oddly adolescent groan. The vials on the bookshelves lit up, and the table covers flapped from a mysterious breeze. The fireplace flickered with a tall arm of flame just then. Stretching, the elder mage then looked at Soridin.

“I will.”

________