Chapter 25: Congregation

In the darker alleyways within the poorest, shadiest district of Ordbridge City, there was a hooded man. He wasn’t very tall, and the dark gray coat he wore obscured much of his features, and the hood attached to his head covered his face in shadows. And if one was observant enough, they could just see the handle of a dagger sheathed by his side.

His arms were crossed over his chest, and he was idly leaning against a wall. And then his head perked up very slightly, as if he heard something. He turned to his left, and found another person standing there.

“Ste – No, Witch. My apologies.” He said, almost letting her name slip out. But he corrected himself at the last second, and raised a hand to give a small wave. Then he looked around, but found that the person was alone. “Where is our other guest?”

The Witch only looked at him. Contrary to her current nickname, she wasn’t donning her wide-brimmed hat, and instead opted for a simple porcelain-like mask, letting her hair flow freely. She seemed to stare at him with some minor confusion.

“I know I told you to act as covertly as possible... but something about the way you talk is just too tense.” She said, although her voice contained just the slightest amounts of amusement. “I’m glad to see you’re taking this seriously. But try to relax, okay?”

“Well, I will try.” He gave a minor shrug with his shoulders. “So about our other party member...?”

“Right here.” The air shimmered. It was as if one poured water in a glass, and the water caused the light to refract in sorts of ripples and manners. Then the illusion faded away, and it revealed another masked person who also wore a dark coat of sorts. “Concealment Magic, don’t worry about it.”

“Definitely a Mage of some kind, then.” The hooded man commented. “What should I call you?”

“Call me Magician.” In turn, the masked man simply shrugged. “So... you’re from the third party who get attacked.”

“Technically. I’m part of the party, but I wasn’t with them when they got attacked. So I’m the only non-magical combatant right here.”

“You got lucky, then.” Magician sighed. “If you were with them, you’d probably be having a couple bones broken.”

“Now, now.” Witch intoned, her voice drawing both of their attentions. “This isn’t some measuring contest to see who got hurt more. We know that Rogue’s party was just attacked yesterday, but I feel like we need to let him know our circumstances.”

“Well, if it means he won’t be asking later on then, sure.” Magician shrugged. “I am from the first party to get attacked... just two weeks ago. On the other hand, Witch here is from the second party, which was about a week ago?” He turned to ask for confirmation, and she nodded. “And now, you’re from the third party, which was yesterday.”

“There’s a pattern.” Tobias pointed out, and he could feel Witch’s grin even behind that mask of hers.

“Bingo, another point for you.” She said, snapping her fingers. That was definitely the woman who invited him back at the guild, but then again he already knew that.

“Indeed, that is the pattern. From the very obvious pattern they operate on, we can safely say that in theory, there should be another party which would get attacked next week. Or six days from now.” Magician stated. “We have already talked about this before, but really, we need to stop them.”

“We know why we need to, but how do we do it?” Tobias asked, his voice tinged with slight confusion.

“We have a lead, right?” Witch asked, although it wasn’t quite posed as a question. “That man who spoke up yesterday... he’s definitely involved with them, right?”

“It’s simply too convenient for him not to.” Magician agreed. “I did some background research on him. It seems like he’s currently not with a party.”

“He got kicked out then, you think?” Witch asked, and the two listeners turned to her for clarification. “I mean, the party attackers were silent for the past two attacks. Then right when their third attack happened, the man came up and spoke.”

“Now that you mentioned it... he also looked too tense while giving his speech.” Magician replied, nodding to himself. “But it’s simply too convenient if that were the case, don’t you think?”

“It really would be too convenient.” She nodded. “You’d think that a party attacking other parties would be a bit more careful about it, no?”

Tobias didn’t say anything; he didn’t need to. These two magic casters who were attacked before him; it seemed like they already spent a long time tracking and trying to figure out who exactly attacked them, except that lack of information didn’t lead to much. But with the advent of the third party and the strange man who announced, they finally got a lead to start somewhere.

“Did you get anything out of your party?” Magician asked, turning to him.

Tobias nodded. “My party’s Mage was left mostly uninjured, but he’s still suffering from symptoms of physical, as well as mana exhaustion. But he somehow managed to get up, and he recounted to me how exactly they got attacked. They were ambushed, and while they managed to drive them off, our Swordsman and Archer were in a terrible state after. Then after that, our Mage said that they came in again to ambush them, and left a message for him. ‘Don’t be ambitious’ I think...”

Witch and Magician looked at each other, then nodded. “Sounds about right. We were all party members who had all of their members recently promoted, correct?” Magician asked.

“Yeah. I got promoted to Silver last month.” Witch replied, shrugging. “Same with my team mates. For reference, what are your ranks?”

“Bronze.” Tobias replied. “Also very recently... maybe about a week ago.”

“Also Bronze.” Magician said. “Somewhere a month ago.”

“So they are a party who can take on Silver-ranked adventurers at least...” He commented.

“They also said ‘don’t be ambitious’ to us, so that means that they’re trying to warn us about promoting too quickly. And to promote quickly...” Witch intoned.

“We need to complete the most rewarding quests.” Magician finalized. “This is a head ache. That guy earlier I researched about – he was only Copper rank.”

“Wait, Copper ranked?” Witch asked, and the man nodded. She hummed to herself, and while her expression was hidden, everyone else could tell she was concentrating on her thoughts. “Does that mean that we can safely assume that the man isn’t quite part of the attacking group?”

“But that doesn’t quite mean that he’s not involved, no?” Tobias asked.

“No, of course not.” Witch shook her head. “But what I’m implying is... if he’s involved, and he’s not highly ranked, then do you think we can bring him in for... extensive questioning?”

“Yeah.” Magician nodded. “We won’t be able to get anywhere with us just speculating around here. You do it, Witch. You charmed Rogue, after all.” A subtle head tilt towards the hooded adventurer, and she let out a sigh.

“He wasn’t exactly charmed, but whatever. I’ll do it.” She sighed. “But is this all we have to talk about?”

“I think.” Tobias said. “I understand the bigger picture now, so I think we can safely say that our next objective is asking that man if he has anything to say.”

“Boy’s right.” Everyone nodded at Magician’s words. “I guess we should go now and hide our disguises at some point.”

And with that, they nodded, and left the dark alleyway one by one after a few minutes worth of waiting. It was Tobias who stepped out last, and he wondered if this was what Marcus would do. But then, he shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.

Right now, he was simply the man known to his allies as Rogue, who came to avenge everyone who got attacked, and to prevent any more attacks from happening. Because he had a feeling that everything would only go downhill really fast from here on.

***

The first thing Clara saw was white. As in, the ceiling was white. Then the second thing she saw was even more white – curtains this time. And finally, she saw her body. She was covered in bandages, and her typically green clothing was replaced by a simple, one-piece white gown.

And while everything was white, it was quite... dark. There was a glow coming from here and there, but she already knew it was night time.

When she moved to sit up, her arms flared up in violent pain, and she fell back down to her lying position with a small wincing cry. Those arms, too, were covered in bandages.

She let out a small sigh of particular discontent, right when the white curtains suddenly shifted and moved.

She almost let out a shriek, before realizing that the person who appeared was a familiar face. “Marcus?” Indeed, she was an Archer. Her eyesight was exceptionally clear, and the long, uncut wavy silver hair, and eyes which looked like the purest earth which could only belong to their party Soldier made himself known.

“How are you?” The normally stoic, reserved boy she had known for the past month asked, and his voice was filled with concern for once. Something about him breaking his indifferent, almost icy-cold persona for her made a small smile flit to her face. But then again... if she listened carefully enough, he only seemed to hide his true emotions beneath his indifferent, yet sarcastic mask.

“I’m alright... I think.” She said, and the moment she did, the memories came back. The forest... they were supposed to be in a simple gathering quest when they got ambushed. Her eyes widened, and the small smile on her face was gone. She looked around frantically, but only found herself surrounded by curtains, and confined in a bed.

“Calm down.” Marcus said, as he daintily touched her shoulder. The action brought her confusion, but it also made her feel calmer. It wasn’t typical for the boy to do that. “Please don’t try to sit up or move too much, or you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Where’s Jacques and Bastille?” Clara asked, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She was an Archer; she had to remain calm and steady, otherwise her shots would never be precise and accurate.

“They’re still sleeping.” He replied, giving a small shrug. He always tended to do that, didn’t he? In arguments, in his statements, but that only meant that everything was... well, not alright, but at least not as terrible as she’d expected. “They’re alive, and they’re not crippled so try not to worry too much about them.”

“Is that so...?” She looked towards the boy; on closer inspection, she could see that his posture was hunched more than usual, and his breathing was strained – he hid it well, but it didn’t go unnoticed from her sharp senses. “How long was I out for?”

Marcus had his lips pursed together, and his eyes moved about, as if avoiding looking directly into her eyes. But then, he gave a tired sigh and looked at her. “Honestly... you weren’t awake since two days ago. I only got lucky that you made a noise while I was checking on you all.”

“I see.” She sighed. Her gaze met his. “And how about you? I can tell that you’ve been running around for a while now.”

“I was.” There it was – that cold, almost indifferent tone of his that he always used. But that only meant he was being honest with her. “But there’s no need to worry about me. You should probably focus on getting better soon.”

“What do you mean? What are you even doing?” She asked, and his eyes turned to one of steel-like focus. She let out a small shudder, but her eyes only let out a determined gaze to try and match his. “You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”

“Now’s not the time.” Marcus replied. “If you’re really curious about it, then you should go ask Jacques about it, but good luck with that part.” And he moved to stand up. Her arms tried to moved to catch his hand, but they groaned in protest instead.

“Hey! I’m not done talking to you yet!” She hissed, but in turn, he only looked back at her and gave an intense glare.

She froze from that expression. He had never truly glared at her, or anyone from their party before... until now, that is. And that really stunned her for the longest while.

“Keep quiet, or you’ll disturb the people in here. You’re not the only one confined here.” He only replied ominously, before moving to close the curtains around her. Then his eyes softened, and looked at her with compassion. “And get well soon.” And then – she couldn’t see him anymore, and the footsteps only led to a door being opened, before being closed with a soft thud.

Yeah... she knew that he was tense and stiff like that, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed at his almost-casual dismissal of himself from her. But through that annoyance, she could feel a small relief seep through her heart. Thank goodness that everyone was alright.

But at the same time, she felt worried about Marcus. That boy – she could never truly read his intentions, and his independent streaks definitely caused her to be at odds with him, and she could tell that he would do something about it. He wasn’t one who ignored whatever happened to them, after all.

But if she paid even closer attention, she wouldn’t have missed the way his hands gripped the curtains, and how underneath his frown, his teeth lightly grit against each other.

***

“This is... very suspicious.” Tobias said, looking down at the man who was unconscious and tied to a chair.

The atmosphere also didn’t help – an abandoned, stone-gray, featureless room somewhere, with bare moonlight serving as their only light source. There was a ‘drip’ here and there which came from who knows where; probably from faulty piping, if nothing else.

“Relax, we’re not going to do anything dangerous or unethical.” Magician said, his hands resting on his pockets. “I can cast [Detect Lie], and he’s simply going to tell us what he knows.”

“And if not, then we always know what we’re doing.” Witch hummed, her hand idly twirling a small stick-like implement, varnished black. “Anyways, all you need to do is stand back and look as ominous as you could. Let us handle this.”

“I’ll try my best.” Tobias shrugged. Then he literally took a step back, his figure half hidden by the shadows. Witch gave him a thumbs up of approval, saying that he looked ominous as is.

He looked at the man who was tied up in the chair. With his brown hair, and typical appearance, he didn’t quite stand out. His equipment was stripped off him, and he was only left down to his white tunic, and dark blue colored trousers.

Tobias didn’t know how the man was captured exactly, but since Witch and Magician were both magic casters, then maybe they it pulled off using some of their magic or something. But then again, Witch’s charisma was simply... too good. She might have literally only charmed him, before drugging him or something.

He shrugged and stopped thinking about it.

A small groan resounded throughout the empty room, and everyone turned to look at the tied up man. His head rose, and he blinked uncertainly. Then he looked at the occupants of the room; their white porcelain masks and black robes did everything they could to ensure that the man woke up with a scream. It continued on for a short while.

“Are you done?” Magician said, the tone of his voice taking on a dangerous edge. “If you are, we would appreciate you to stop screaming our ears off.”

“W-who are you?!” The man yelled back, his eyes rapidly shifting all over the place, and he seemed to start to breathe quicker and quicker with each passing second.

“Don’t worry about us...” Witch cooed, her hand reaching out to cup the man’s chin. Almost expectedly, her soothing female voice and careful touch seemed to bring about a sense of peace within the man. “What’s important is if we all cooperate with each other, you’ll wake up from this terrible dream.”

“Ah... this is a dream...?” The man let out a small sigh.

“Yes, it is a dream.” Magician began, and he reached into his pockets... “But if you don’t listen to us, we can turn it into a nightmare just as quickly.” His tone shifted to something darker, and in his hands were a pair of scissors. Snip, snip, and the man’s breathing quickened again.

Tobias found Magician’s speech and mannerisms somewhat... exaggerated or comedic to a degree; Bastille might have called it ‘cringe’ or whatever that really meant, but he didn’t dare to say anything about it.

“But don’t worry...” Witch intoned, her silky voice resonating through the room. “I have no intentions to let this bad man do anything to you... You just need to tell me what you know.”

By this time, Tobias had figured out what they were planning. By imposing Magician as the cruel interrogator while Witch served as the benevolent (and no doubt charming) counterpart, then the man would definitely answer to whatever Witch asked. Clever, truly clever.

“What do you want to know...?” The man asked, although his fear was subdued now. Was Witch’s presence enough to subdue the fear of getting hurt? Or was it because he still thought he was in a dream?

To be honest, if Tobias woke up in a dark room surrounded by two scary figures who looked like ghosts, and they told him he was in a dream – then he might actually believe them.

Witch and Magician looked at each other, and with a nod, it was Magician who spoke. His voice was much rougher in comparison to the woman’s. “You know that there’s been attacks against adventuring parties, right? Tell me what you know.”

The man hesitantly looked at Witch, but she only gave a subtle nod for him to continue. “He won’t hurt you if you tell him.”

“Well... this is one hell of a dream...” He muttered to himself, although everyone heard it anyways. “I did hear about those attacks, but I didn’t really care much for it. Then an Adventurer came, offering me to join their party if I went up and announced that speech that day... damn did I look like a fool then.”

Tobias didn’t know why the man’s tongue was too slippery – was it because he wanted to vent about it and thought that it was a dream? If so, then it made things convenient for everyone involved.

“Yeah you were –”

“Now, now, you were offered something greater in exchange for that.” Witch said, cutting off Magician from speaking. “Now, could you tell us who exactly wanted you to do that?”

The man blinked, then nodded. “I think his name was -̵̬̼͝-̷̹̩̅́-̴̛̳̩́-̴̺̭͐̐-̸̢̽-̷͍̈́͌-̴̛̻̞-̷̩͓͒-̵̤̎͜-̸̙̏̈-̷͎̫̊̕-̷̝͆-̷͚̓”

Tobias blinked. What? What did he just say? That noise briefly reminded him of that time... Magician only looked at Witch with confusion, but she seemed to be unfazed. No, she stepped closer towards the man, and with a swift kick to the shin, the man screamed in pain.

And in that same moment, her hand moved to pull at the man’s tongue. Maybe it was because of the direct moonlight shining, but even he was able to see what exactly was happening.

“Shit.” Witch cursed, letting out a ‘tsk’ of annoyance as she let go of the marked tongue. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the darkness, but he faintly saw her left eye turn gold for a moment.

In his tongue... was a black scorched mark which looked like a letter, but Tobias couldn’t identify what exactly it was. Then the moment they all realized that there was a mark, the man suddenly began to cough and choke. Then he screamed – as his eyes rolled upwards and upwards – before there was a subtle ‘pop’ that could be heard clearly, even through his screams. His eyeballs popped out, still being connected to his head through bloodied tendons and nerves.

His suffering never stopped there; his veins enlarged themselves, before turning red, and finally blood began to burst out of them. Tobias didn’t know how long it took, but finally, the man’s convulsions and screams stopped, as his body laid there, unmoving and unflinching, drowned in his own blood and his eyeballs dangling about like some sort of stringed toy.

“What was that...?” Tobias finally gathered his common sense to ask.

“A Forbidden Hex... It was a Hex of Absolute Information Denial.” It was Witch who replied. Then what she said next was something chilling. “They know we’re trying to find them.”