“So, uh.” Kaiz scratched the back of his neck, “What’s the job?”

“Well, sit down first.”

He did, in the chair furthest from the scowling woman, and Viz handed him a piece of yellow paper.

“For the duration of this job you’re Black.” He pointed at Kaiz, “And you’re Red.” He pointed at the red haired woman across from Kaiz, handing her a piece of yellow paper as well, “This is what we’re doing.”

To Kaiz's credit, he waited until the end of the briefing to get hysterical.

“A blood run?! You want me to do a blood run? For an officer in the military no less? Are you mad?! What the fuck does this have to do with stealing cloaks?!”

"Well. He makes them."

The job was ‘simple’. They were to, at the dead of night, sneak into the second highest security compound in the city, the one that housed military personnel, and quietly kidnap a man from his home. Straightforward with only a few dashes of insanity.

“You must be out of your mind. There isn’t a chance in Gouldin’s Pit I’ll be caught anywhere near that compound.” Kaiz was well and truly enraged.

“That would be the plan.”

Nobody found Viz funny.

“Look. You’re blowing this out of proportion. He's not 'in the military', he's in their compound. Plus, did you miss the part where you’ll be wearing Nightwatcher cloaks?”

“No, but I did miss the part where that was supposed to mean something. A Nighwatcher’s cloak is useless under sufficient light. Guess what that compound is going to have? Sufficient light! Have you even properly scouted that place?”

Viz pointed at Red, “That’s what she’s here for. Show him your spells.”

Red looked at Viz warily, but the intense glare she received back spurred her.

To call Kaiz's home a glorified hole in the ground would be rude, but not unjust. Its previous owner smoothed out the floor, walls, and ceiling and Kaiz had added furniture and a few decorations, but that didn’t change what it was. Especially now, stripped bare. Because of that, there were few natural light sources and all of them came by way of small vents that led to the surface. They existed only for air flow. Since Kaiz was a fan of seeing, he was forced to use a lantern for light. He only needed one, the space inside wasn’t large and the bathroom only required a candle. He used to have plenty of candles, in case he needed extra light at his desk, but like his desk, they were missing.

Red stood up and placed her hand on the sole lantern. Out of her palm, pure white particles of light emerged. They flowed into different shapes and patterns.

Instant casting?

Kaiz would have loved to dissect the image, but it happened in the blink of an eye. Before his brain could properly process the sight, it disappeared. Gone too was most of the light that illuminated the room. Darkness engulfed them. Not complete darkness though. When Kaiz looked at the lantern, he could still see the flame silently burning within.

Huh?!

That piqued his curiosity. He got closer to the flame, watching it flicker, as flames do. He brought his fingers to the glass protecting it from the elements; it was still warm. His mind struggled to understand what was going on. He could still see the fire, but somehow it wasn’t lighting the room. It was as if the fire merely glowed in the dark, instead of burning brightly as he was accustomed to. He desperately wanted to study this spell, but the chance was unlikely to come.

Annoying.

Kaiz sighed before sitting back down, “How long does that last?”

Red didn’t reply.

“What are you waiting for? You’ll be working together.”

“On plain fire, an hour.”

Kaiz waited for more, but after a bit he realized she thought that was enough, “Most places don’t use regular fire.”

He could hear her grumble to herself before elaborating, “A couple minutes on magic fire or manafire, less on light magic.”

It affects magically created fire and fire made of mana the same? Those are completely different things. Ho—Wait. Idiot. Light magic, this is light magic. The type that...destroys it instead of making it? How does that work? Why is it more effective against regular fire? Why would it be less effective against itself? Shouldn’t they cancel each other out? Is the spell just weak? What wo—

“You can ask how this works later.” Viz interrupted Kaiz's thoughts, knowing the silence he heard was him wasting valuable time pondering it, “Show him the other one.”

Red didn’t hesitate this time. She cast a spell again, Kaiz couldn’t tell if it was the same spell or a different, similar one. It happened too quickly for him to see, again. What he could see was the return of the warm light that previously lit the room. His eyes weren’t particularly happy about that though. While he was busy mentally swearing, Red moved to the edge of the room. She stood as close to the wall as she could without ruining her outfit and whispered a chant. Kaiz couldn’t hear what she said, but he didn’t need to. This time he could see the spell.

The white particles weren’t present for long, but he only needed a few seconds. When they disappeared the area Red stood in suddenly darkened, hiding her in a magically engineered shadow. Even the green light that permeated from her body had dimmed. It wasn’t perfect. There was still a vague greenness and he could roughly make out her form, but this was in a relatively small room and they were quite close to each other. Kaiz immediately understood how the spell could be applied in an outdoor space.

He walked up to her, stopping where he judged the edge of her spell to be. It wasn’t far, probably a bit less than a meter from her body. Whether that was by design or merely the limit of her ability, he could only guess. He slid his hand into the shade and watched as blackness overtook it. Like her, he could still make out its form but the effect was potent enough. There was a fury of questions that swirled in his head but he realized they weren’t particularly pertinent. Red clearly wasn’t fond of answering his inquiries and he wasn’t fond of talking to her so he kept to the job-relevant questions.

“Can you apply this to me?”

“No.” A curt response.

Of course.

“How long does this last?”

“It’s active.”

Kaiz looked at her confused, “What d'you mean?”

She shook her head, “It doesn’t just work, I gotta keep puttin’ mana in it.”

That’s...a lie. You think because we’re tanlars we can’t tell the difference between a fixed spell and an active one?

Kaiz had no real grounds to feel insulted, tanlars didn’t have mana. They couldn’t use or sense it. In most cases, any form of direct interaction was impossible. Beyond experiencing its produce, it should have been alien to him. His ability to physically see its flow was not only abnormal, it was extraordinary.

He turned towards Viz and gave him a look he knew Viz would understand. They didn’t need to expose her now, but Kaiz was making note.

“So..” He went back to facing Red, “If you’re mana was full, how long could you keep it running?”

“Twenty minutes.”

Kaiz could hear the contempt in her voice and it was getting on his nerves. He wasn’t the type to get emotional over some ridicule but what was previously shaping out to be a great day was now becoming irksome.

I feel a headache coming.

He slumped back into his chair, done with the questions. Red quickly found her’s as well. She of course didn’t forget to discreetly whisper a spell before doing so. Kaiz noticed.

Active my ass. I’m supposed to complete a job with her as my partner? A blood run no less.

With both of them seated, Viz continued, “Now that we’re all caught up and acquainted. Let’s move on to the first step. A trial run.”

Another one? Or was the previous run not a trial..? Or...

Kaiz’s eyes went wide, “You’re joking? She’s an amatuer?”

Viz chuckled, “No, neither of you are. But you’ve never worked together either. Blood runs, as you’ve made much, much note of, are notoriously difficult. You’ll have much of Snake’s resources for your preparation, but it’ll ultimately be just you two. We need to see how you work together.”

‘Work together’. We don’t.

Kaiz kept those thoughts to himself though, “So what are we doing?”

“The council just sent out a convoy of soldiers to take care of some bandits to the north west. The cover story is that they're going to return peace to the region. The truth is, the bandits kidnapped a noble’s nephew.”

“Don’t tell me we’re supposed to take him off of them?”

Viz scoffed, “Of course not. We’re going to get there first and nab him before they do. Then, return him to the noble.”

“Right, of course. That sounds soo much better.” He gestured towards Red, “I’m guessing she already knew this?”

She paid him no mind, continuing her scowling session.

“I don’t know how much Snake did or did not say, but that doesn’t matter, you both know now. So.” He stood up, “Let's head out.”

“Head out? You haven’t explained anything.”

Viz continued towards the exit, “I’ll explain as we go. We have a time limit, remember?”

“Then why the hell did we meet here, last minute?”

“Why?” Viz turned to stare at Kaiz with the most deadpan of expressions.

Kaiz immediately understood. If Viz didn’t corner him at his front door, he’d have slinked away. There was no way he’d even consider accepting this job. If he was fully honest with himself, he wouldn’t have even waited to hear the details before running. Considering what the details ended up being, he wondered if taking Josslyn up on her offer was the better choice.

No. No, it isn’t.

“Alright. Damn it! Fine. What do I do about these?” He raised the bundle of books in his hand.

“Leave them here, someone will come pick them up while we’re out.”

Kaiz raised an eyebrow, “These were expensive.”

Viz rolled his eyes in response, “I’ll pay you double their cost if they’re ‘lost in transit’.”

“Lovely!”

As he placed the books down on a chair, Viz and Red left. Kaiz took the few seconds alone to look around the room. His former home. Even completely barren, it didn’t look all that different. Maybe it was just a hole under a tree. While he greatly appreciated the secrecy and seclusion it afforded him, he was never truly fond of the space itself. It served its purpose and no more. The abrupt eviction was less bittersweet and more concerning. Kaiz didn’t do sudden shifts, he was a carefully prepared sort. This felt... uncomfortable. Alas, he’d make do. Progress didn’t lie at the other side of comfort after all. Hopefully, the bad feeling in his gut was just his nerves.

He shook his head and moved towards the exit.

On the same day I revisit my old room, I leave my current one...almost poetic.

He chortled.

What’s next?