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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“

The Merseburg Incantations or Merseburg Charms are medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in this language.

”

-Mages and their influences on the normals

***Sol, Aether***

***Gideon***

She hit a faceless! I've always known that Melan is a bad-ass woman, but for her to hit Ed hard enough to crack his mask took balls. If any of the other faceless saw that she would have been arrested for attacking the authorities. And I didn't even know half of the curses she had in store for him. The most surprising thing was that Ed took everything like he deserved it, which he probably does.

Ed never told me the story which went down between him and Sadina in enough detail to judge how much fault falls to either of them.

But Grandma certainly took it out on him. If that was a preview for what she has in store for Sadina I certainly look forward to handing her to Melan.

I hold the medical scanner in my hand tighter. The doctors issued one to me, so that I can check if anyone in my surroundings is suspicious. I wave it at random passer-byes while walking home. The world is a much shinier place if you know who the bad guys are. The scanner is detecting the energy wave pattern of the magic which is responsible for the drug's effect.

We can identify everyone who took the drug, carries it around or used magic with a similar wave pattern. So there is a possibility to get the wrong person if they have an affinity for blood magic. It's a little drawback and the reach isn't very far, but it's better to scan the minds of a few selected people than having to read the minds of everyone.

My happy time with the new toy comes to an end when I reach my home. There aren't many people there whom I could scan. Galia returned to her duties as a OFA agent and was promptly assigned as an intermediary to the observers from Earth.

Those two are stiff people. Especially the woman. She doesn't get that we mages don't believe in anything. We are the ultimate atheists in her book and every time I talk to her, she keeps searching for something in our culture that hints at a higher power.

I can't wait until she gets in contact with our version of history. She will explode. No idea how a person like her managed it to go on such a mission. On the other hand she accepts our explanations, even if she continues to search for loopholes. It could have been worse I guess. She could have turned out to be some kind of fanatic.

Back on my private floor I find Cyla and Amia in the living room. The both of them seem to be very busy with each other. Cyla is wearing an expensive looking dress and inspecting herself in a mirror while Amia is inspecting her with a serious expression. “Are you two intending to go out?”

Cyla turns to me. “Gideon! You are coming at exactly the right moment. What do you think of this dress? We are searching for something that I can wear at the party.”

“Which party?” I ask, pointing the scanner at Cyla. These medical instruments have quite a few functions and one of them is measuring sizes. I've spent my way here to measure quite a few women, noting down their quality. Cyla's are on the upper scale of my list.

“Duh, the party where you two announce your marriage contract!” Amia calls out. Then she turns to Cyla. “Are you sure you love this guy?”

“Yes.” Cyla grins at Amia. “He may be a jerk, but under all that density is a soft core. How was your day, Gideon?”

“Not good. I beat my secretary's head against a drawer because she tried to feed me Fog. Apparently the dealer is trying everything to get off of Aether. Then I had to listen to an extended preach by Grandma because I told her about Ed. Though watching her beating him was worth the time. And afterwards I had to file tons of reports to get our secretary the best treatments because she was exposed to Fog and has no relatives here.” I take a deep breath.

Cyla tilts her head. “See? Only someone with a soft heart would do that for his employees.”

Melan forced me to! I point the scanner at Amia and get an ominous positive signal for blood-magic. Just great! I've invited the devil into my home.

The both of them return to their discussion while I edge slowly closer and pick up a vase from a cupboard. If I render Amia unconscious I can inspect her mind and make sure that she isn't affected by the drug.

Just when I raise the vase Cyla turns around and faces me with an ice cold glare. “What are you doing?”

I hide the vase behind my back just in time to stop Amia from seeing it when she turns around. Both of them stare at me and I realize that I probably got carried away. The proper course of action would have been to first ask Amia about the result, then rendering her unconscious.

“The scanner says that something on Amia is related to blood-magic! I only wanted to interrogate her!” I raise the scanner.

“Right.” Cyla crosses her hands in front of her chest. “By hitting her with a vase?”

Amia takes the scanner from my hands and throws a doubtful look at me. Then she hands the scanner to Cyla.

Cyla's eyes turn to small slits. “Those numbers are dangerously close to my three sizes.”

“He has mine too!” Amia declares with certainty.

“Not that! The result to the right is the important one!” I call out. “We have to make sure that Amia isn't related to them!”

Amia takes a deep sigh. “I have an affinity to blood-magic, it's no surprise that the scan was positive.”

“You've two affinities? I thought you have an affinity for fire-magic.”I eye her with a doubtful expression. “Then why are you on Aether? Excuse me, but there is a blood-mage who is dealing with a highly addictive drug on the loose. And he already tried to get me, everyone who is close to me could be a target.”

“So the news reports are really true!?” Amia purses her lips. “I guess it's only reasonable to become paranoid in that case. I came to the station because I hoped to meet someone of my family. I myself am an immigrant from Earth. I left with my mother when I was a small child. To be honest I don't remember much of Earth.

But I remember that I often played with my cousin, father and grandparents. Since most immigrants are handled through Aether I wanted to check if there is anyone here who is related to me.”

“Why coming yourself? Couldn't you have just asked the network?” I ask. “I hope you don't have something against it if we check your mind to make sure.”

Amia winces. “Cyla can do it, I don't want you inside my head. I came here because the hub back on Earth noted down that someone who could be my cousin came through en route to Aether. But his flight was delayed and then there was the lock-down. He got redirected to the Forge and I got stuck here.”

“So he is currently at the Forge?” Cyla steps closer to the nodding Amia and places a finger on her temple. “Just relax.” She closes her eyes and the both of them stand there in silence for a few minutes. Finally Cyla takes her fingers away and smiles. “Everything about Amia is okay, Gideon. It was a false alarm. But we've to talk about this device and why it's measuring the three sizes.”

“I don't know why it does that. It's not like I am a doctor.” This time I force myself to put on a serious expression, counting on my strangeness to get me out of this situation.

After a few moments Cyla's blank expression turns into a smug smile. “You are becoming better at hiding your lies, but I just have to wait until tonight. Then I'll know what's going through your head. I highly doubt that you are able to hold yourself back until this little incident is completely forgotten.”

I clench my teeth. That's what I get for sleeping with another telepath. “Fine. I had naughty thoughts and scanned all the women who came across me. Then I put them all on a list to see who has the optimal results.”

Cyla raises her eyebrows like. “So you are a guy after all. Just wait until the after the party. I've plans for us.”

Now it's my turn to suspect something. “Plans?”

“Stop talking like that you two.” Amia puffs out her cheeks. “You are making me giddy with all that lover's talk. I didn't have someone to share my bed for over two weeks.” Then she turns to me. “So the news channels are really telling the truth? There is a blood-mage running around the station who creates Fog? Is he also bonding people, or does he just make them addicted?”

“Bonding? That's the first time I hear of it. What's this bonding?” I urge Amia to go on. If she knows more about blood-magic I want to know it. She surely studied her trait in detail.

Amia starts playing with her fingers. “Ah, that's just a rumor. The creation of Fog is a forbidden spell for blood-magicians. It isn't even taught in school and I highly doubt that anyone could develop it that easily without dedicated research. So since the guy who is using it comes from Earth I theorized that he may be a really old mage. Maybe even from the war?”

Cyla shakes her head. “Isn't it much more likely that the skill was handed down inside a family on Earth?”

Amia shrugs her shoulders with a curious expression on her face. “I don't know. I just asked myself why he shouldn't know more about blood-magic than just creating Fog. Even if he isn't that old.”

Crap. She is right. That guy is using one illegal skill without holding back. Who says that he has any qualms about using all his skills to their full potential. Almost all magical traits have some forbidden or at least restricted abilities in one way or another. “Amia, what can a blood-mage do who doesn't care about anything. He is already using Fog. That alone will get him into a dark and moist cell.”

Amia starts playing with her hair and looks at the ceiling. Obviously she is trying to remember her studies at school. “The basic trait of blood-magic is to use the blood as a sacrifice to boost spells. That gives the mage an advantage as long as there is something to sacrifice. It doesn't matter if it's his own blood or if it belongs to someone else. I think it's the coolest and most versatile part about blood-magic.”

“Then you can use it as a power storage. That's similar to creating Fog, but without the addictive effect. Another possibility is to imbue it with power to control it like a water magician. But that really sucks. First you need a lot of blood and secondly any half decent water magician could steal your control away. There is a lot of water inside blood after all.”

Her eyes wander to the ground. “Where it gets illegal is imbuing spells and curses into your own blood to activate them on a certain condition. That's bordering on creating Fog. Finally there is the bonding spell. If a blood-mage exchanges blood with another person on a regular basis he can create a bond between himself and the person in question. The victim turns into a mindless slave and the blood-mage can access the victim's power reservoir as long as he is close.”

Amia's expression turns sour. “Depending on how many servants he has he could be really powerful. It's the most disgusting skill of that affinity. Otherwise I can't think of anything else for which you have to be on the lookout.”

“Vampires!” I call out.

Amia's eyes widen. “Hah!?”

Cyla pats Amia's shoulder. “Don't worry. Vampires are some monsters from his movies.”

.