If you find mistakes, pls tell, thx. I don't like mistakes.

Also feel free to ask for more background information on the world. I am somehow running out of interesting points regarding the small comments at the beginning of the chapters.

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“

It is very clear who was the target of the witch-hunts between the 13th and 17th century. What's not widely know is that shape-shifting-magic is mainly responsible for most fairy tales which ended in the myth of vampires, werewolves, angels, demons and other mythical creatures.

The ability to shape-shift is a very rare gift and only a few mages are able to change their whole body. It's so rare because it isn't an inherited ability, but rather a trait which is achieved by the body's mutation due to high exposure of magic.

”

-Mages and their influences on the normals

***Sol, Aether***

***Gideon***

“Sadina, you always call me when I am busy. Do you have some kind of sixth sense in regards to that?” I start rocking in my office chair. It's the same one I stole from Earth's president and I've yet to find a better one.

“No. I simply had the urge to speak to you and congratulate you to your new assignment. You took my advice to heart!” Her avatar squirms once more in that strange motion she is always doing when she is thrilled.

“So it's just another call to piss me off.” I conclude. “And how does my current job have anything to with relaxing. You told me to relax.”

She stops the squirming and smiles. “I just wanted you to take an official test to search for a job and brought the experiment to a success.”

I squint my eyes at her and try to think while grinding my teeth. Did she manipulate the test results or influence Exo? It seems rather unlikely since I spun a tight personal security web around everything that had anything to do with my new assignment. The only result I couldn't control was the assessment of the psychiatrist.

“It's not like you think. I really just wanted you to take the test and I've manipulated nothing. Nothing. It would be against the experiment to interfere with the result.” She states.

I raise an eyebrow, remembering something. Ed once told me that the reason for her actions are to prove that techno-mages aren't worth any less than any other mage. Although I only experienced that during my time at school. Adults have the decency of not mentioning any differences in status. “Now I get it. You want me to rise through the ranks as fast as possible. Maybe even becoming an elder! And it has to be fast because you want everyone to see that a young techno-mage can be strong and influential.”

“Ack...” She freezes up. “You are a smart one. So simply forget what you've just found out and continue as if nothing happened. It's influencing the experiment if you know.”

“So it's just about displaying power.” I run a hand over my forehead. “Could you do something productive for a change and help me out with a little incident. We've someone on the station who is spreading Fog. Any idea how we can catch him?”

Sadina's eyes narrow. “Fog? The blood-magic drug? That's the reason why Aether is shut-down?” I nod and let her continue. “I won't help you with something that easy.”

“If it's that easy, then give me a hint.” I throw up my hands.

She tilts her head as if contemplating something. “Fine. The answer is blood-magic.” Then she disconnects and her avatar vanishes.

I let my hands hang and lean back. The answer is blood-magic? What's that supposed to mean? Crazy bitch. I wish she would be a little more forthcoming. And my attempts at tracking her aren't very successful.

Blood-magic. The drug is made out of blood and the process requires blood-magic. Or maybe she played with the words and meant blood and magic?

If that's the case, then... no. That would be too easy. Ed surely already thought about that, it's a basic forensic measure. But maybe such processes never made to mage-society? Who needs to analyse the blood at crime scenes if he can rely on magic to truth read everyone around him?

I open a channel to Ed and his avatar appears right away in my office. “What?”

“Is there a possibility to analyse the Fog and find out whose blood it is?” I ask and cross my fingers, waiting for a positive answer. But Ed just stares at me. “The Fog. Didn't you say it's blood? If that's true, then the source gave us a sample of his or her blood. Can we analyse it and build a few machines which are able to test someone for matching blood? It would be much faster than inspecting the minds of everyone to interrogate them. At least we should be able to find out if the source is male or female.”

Ed looks startled. “I- I don't know? I am not a doctor. But I'll ask one right away.” His avatar vanishes.

So the faceless don't have basic forensic methods after all. A wide grin starts spreading on my face. Old crime thrillers rock. Oh, I'll use this to embarrass him every now and then. It's just too epic than not to use it and rub it into their faces.

The door opens and my secretary dances into the room, a smile all over her face and a can with a cup in her hand. “Do you want coffee?”

“Sure.” I concentrate once more on my reports while she fills the cup, humming a happy tune. Then she leaves the office.

Absent-mindedly I reach for the cup, but a strange feeling makes me stop. My eyes wander to the cup and I try to remember from where I know that feeling.

I sniff at the cup, but there is no strange smell. Then I press the cup to my cheek and explore the strange signature in the coffee. It's the drug? But why should someone want to make me an addict? Stupid. I and my staff are very influential people. If the source can get us under control it should be possible to escape Aether despite the lock-down.

And the secretary was awfully cheerful right now. I've seen her almost daily for over a month and she was never that cheerful at work. She is the earnest and timid type.

With a smile on my face I stand up and leave the office, entering the reception room in front of it. My secretary is still humming her song while sitting at her desk, sorting her documents with incredible speed. I approach her until she notices me. “I just realized that we never really talked up until now, Alessia.”

She smiles, showing off her perfect teeth. “I guess you are right. There was no chance.”

“I was just asking myself why you are so happy. It's been a while and I never saw you that energetic.” I gesture at her desk, still holding my coffee. “Did something really good happen to you?”

Her smile widens even more and she nods. “I guess that's true. Today everything I do works out and I never felt that good before. It's like my perfect day, my true self.”

“I also feel very good. Maybe it's the coffee. It tastes exceptionally good. Where did you buy it?” I ask.

Her eyes move to the cup in my hand. “It's from the store down the main street.” Strangely her longing eyes remain on the cup like in trance and I don't fail to notice it.

“Really? Could I know the brand?” I ask.

“Sure!” Alessia rolls her office chair over to the coffee machine and opens the drawer beneath it. Then she bends down to retrieve a bag with coffee beans. I step around the table and reach her just when she looks up again.

Grabbing her head I slam it against the drawer and her body goes limp. It's highly doubtful that she even realized what hit her. To be sure I check her pulse.

I lean her back in her chair and adjust it to a lying position. Then I place both hands on her temples and invade her mind and make sure that she is unconscious. It doesn't matter to a good telepath if a person is awake or sleeping. A sleeping mind is even easier to invade since the person can't actively defend.

With exceptional care I push away mental defences and lay bare her long and short-term memories. This time I really want to avoid damaging something. Not that I care about Alessia, but if someone finds out what I did I could get in great trouble, like being hunted by the faceless trouble.

Two days ago she met a man who offered her a way out of her dull life. She was always a little depressed since her husband left her a few years ago. At the age of sixty she was madly in love with him, but it was mainly one sided. She blamed herself for the failure and never tried to get into another relationship afterwards.

The man offered her a medicine which makes all the pain go away to bring out her true self. Desperate, she took it and it worked.

With her bad conscience gone she immediately managed to hook up with someone, but the drug didn't work long and she fell into even deeper depression right the next day. Her craving was so strong that she had to meet the man again.

But this time he wanted something. And the price was making me addicted. The plan was to slip me the drug for several days, then put me on withdrawal to extort a passage away from Aether from me. Alessia never realized that she probably fell victim to the same strategy.

I move the bad memories which pushed her over the edge even deeper down the sea of her memories until they should be nothing more to her than faint and distant knowledge. There is no real reason for doing this, but since I am connected to her mind I feel somehow bad about her needless suffering. And such a manipulation is small and subtle. It should help her to get over it.

Then I shift everything back into place and make sure to wipe her short term memories. After a last check I decide that nobody should be able to recognize my work and let go of her mind.

My hands pull away from her temples and I start rubbing my own. Doing this so carefully and considerate really gnaws on my mind. I had a lot of opportunities to train this skill while running rampant on Earth, but since then I only had regular contact with Cyla.

Cyla is different. There is no effort involved in merging our minds. If both partners are willing participants its not exhausting at all and everything simply clicks into place on its own.

After a few moments I call Ed again and he answers immediately. “Sorry, but you are too fast. I've enlisted the help of the hospital and other resources, but it'll still take a while. You had a really good idea.”

“Not that. There was an incident here. My secretary tried to give me Fog. I need your people here and an ambulance.” I answer.

His expression turns shocked. “What!? What happened. No, wait. We'll be there right away.” His avatar disappears.

I nod slowly and think about the memories. According to their plan Alessia was scheduled to meet the drug dealer again in two days, but I've the feeling that the dealer is just another addict. According to Alessia's memories he is a very happy and cheerful person.

I start walking in circles and continue doing so until Ed and his men arrive with a crew of medics. Pointing at Alessia I start explaining the situation to the medics. “I think she was also drugged. She acted very strange today and if the story about the Fog is true she'll surely need special care once the withdrawal effects kicks in. I rendered her unconscious to keep her from doing something stupid.” I point out the cup of coffee to Ed's subordinates. “The coffee is drugged. She must still have a stash of the stuff somewhere. I would be grateful if you remove it from my office.”

“Gideon, what's going on here?” Grandmother enters the room with a disturbed expression on her face. Then she sees Alessia. “Alessia! What happened?”

I click my tongue then I gesture for Ed and Melan to speak in my office. This entire story is really starting to bother me. If the drug dealer is targeting my secretary to get to me, then everybody around me is a possible target. Once we are safely behind closed doors I explain everything to Ed and Melan.

But Grandma's reaction makes my mind cringe and squirm. “You rummaged through another's memories without consent!? I thought better of you, Gideon!” Her eyes flick to Ed. “What are you thinking? There is faceless here!”

“I didn't do anything else than looking at what's important to stop the drug dealer. Who knows whom else his actions might affect.” Mainly people whom I have feelings for, appealing to her feelings might work. “One person is already dead and others are being blackmailed and forced to do things against their will.”

To my astonishment Ed calms Melan down. “It's okay. We would have done it anyway and Gideon is obviously a very strong telepath. He also managed to read aliens. Now I know at least which questions I've to ask Alessia once she wakes up. It'll keep her stress levels down to a minimum. Our truth spells aren't half as sophisticated and we don't have someone on Gideon's level in Aether. The next one is on Mars and she is very busy.”

Her expression turns relieved. “Are you sure that you are a faceless?”

Aw, shit. This whole discussion might take even longer than I thought. “Ahem. I am sorry. Grandma. That's Ed, you know the Ed from my story about the Revelation Wing? I guess in a genetic way you could call him my father. Ed, I think you know my grandmother?”

I step a little further away from them to gain some distance. I swear, if this was a comic there would be sparks flying between them right this moment. It looks like Ed and I will get a chew-out of epic proportions.

.