– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 45 –

“And they informed you that the Heart siphons some of your life energy?” asked Megumi.

“Yeah,” replied the man sitting in front of her. “Right on the first day.”

Lizzy and Terry were leaning against a wall near the entrance door while Megumi interviewed some of the villagers one by one.

“And you chose to accept the Heart despite the cost?”

“Sure. Wouldn’t you?” The man raised his eyebrows. “Losing a few years of your lifespan in exchange for getting to live the rest of your life untroubled? Getting a chance to protect your loved ones after death?”

“On the day that they opened the dimensional gate for you to visit Syn City, did you interact with the Progenitor?”

The man shook his head slowly. “Not much, no. The Lightbringer only opened the gate. Ying and Saul take over pretty much all of the day-to-day responsibilities. The Lightbringer can be considered our patron saint. Ying is practically our mayor.”

“Could you describe the Lightbringer to me?”

“If you stay here long enough, you may be able to see him yourself. Then again, he usually wears a mask. Simple. Plain white. Holes for the eyes. Not much I can describe for you.”

Megumi asked a few more questions. Afterwards, she thanked the man and sent him out.

“What do you think?” asked Lizzy.

“Depends on whose perspective I am taking,” replied Megumi. “I believe that they are here by their own volition and that they have willingly accepted the Heart of Synergy.”

Lizzy nodded. “They don’t show any of the usual signs of mind interference.”

“I could not detect any significant mana layer either,” added Terry. “Except for the traces of the Heart I mean.”

Megumi shrugged. “From the perspective of an average waster, there is little reason to refuse Syn’s offer.” She scowled. “Since Tiv has stopped sending the army to patrol the Wasted Zone, their lives have constantly been under threat. More than the danger, the people hate the uncertainty. Here, they get a definite deal. They can get a feeling of control.”

“Are they though?” Lizzy looked outside the window. “Are they in control?”

“I don’t believe Ying has any nefarious ulterior motives,” said Terry. “Saul’s lack of facial expressions makes it hard to get a read on him, but he seems genuinely concerned about the citizens.”

“Still, it’s an awful lot of trust to put into an unknown magic,” retorted Lizzy.

Megumi nodded. “I agree with both of you. The unknown nature of the magic worries me. Even if I were to put my trust in Ying and the others, I am less willing to place faith into this mysterious Progenitor. Even Saul does not seem to fully understand the magic. That is a lot of risk embodied in a single individual. The fact that the individual is masked does not inspire me with confidence either. From the perspective of a paranoid Deathguard, this reeks of trouble.”

Megumi clicked her tongue and shrugged. “Then again, from the perspective of a desperate Wasteguard, the whole idea of Synergy is a glimmer of hope.”

“Because Syn will only grow stronger with time?” asked Terry. “Allies against the Wastes?”

Megumi nodded and tapped her fingers on the table while thinking out loud. “Everyone gets an afterlife. No limits on the lifespan in the afterlife. Unaffected by the death aura curse. The deathlife citizens even get a portion of the life energy to grow more powerful more quickly.”

“Synergy, huh?” muttered Lizzy.

“Unfortunately, there is another side to this.” Megumi scowled. “While Syn growing stronger over time would be beneficial for the fight against the Wastes, the question remains how the other empires will feel about such a newly formed neighbor.”

“I believe many in the Assembly won’t be happy about Tiv citizens leaving for Syn,” said Lizzy. “There were already talks about closing off the border and cracking down on emigration when people left for Arcana or the other empires.”

“Yeah, and I am afraid a nation of undead—” started Megumi

“Deathlife,” interjected Terry.

“Exactly my point,” said Megumi. “I am afraid that many people would not see it like that. They will see death knights.”

“Or liches and they will automatically think of the Lich Kingdoms,” said Lizzy and sighed. “I certainly did.”

“In any case, it would be easy for someone to fan the flames.” Megumi sighed. “I can see why they were worried about the report.”

“Do you have to write it?” asked Terry.

“Yes,” replied Megum firmly. “Besides, sooner or later a report will be written. You can’t keep something of this scale a secret forever, not even in the Wastes. Better for the report to be written by someone with an open mind.” Her gaze became unfocused and she pouted. “Although, it sure would be nice if that someone was someone else.”

Lizzy snorted and chuckled. “Poor Captain.”

Megumi smiled mirthlessly at Lizzy and then turned to Terry. “Could you tell Devon to pay me a visit? I would like to have some input from his senses.”

Terry nodded.

***

Terry walked into the city park. He still found it difficult to believe that they were in the Wastes when he saw the fresh grass and trees.

“Uh, Devon?”

“Give me a moment, Terry,” said Devon. “Millie and I have to defend the honor of the princess.”

Devon was crouched down on all fours. A little vampire girl was sitting on his back. She carried a small wooden stick in one arm and used a shoe as a shield in her other arm. Her expression was solemn.

Opposite the two was a little boy riding on Buttercup, the large molossoid dog. The boy, too, was equipped with a stick and a shoe.

“Princess?” Terry furrowed his brow and moved his eyes over the area.

Two small children were sitting in the back. They were holding two guinea pigs that were wearing tiny crowns. The two petted the little furry creatures happily.

In front of the guinea pigs was a large glass container with a frog inside. The frog wore a tiny crown, too. The children had also equipped it with a wig.

“Ruff.”

Terry could see the little terrier Brutus running around. Someone had strapped a small saddle on him. The saddle contained a hamster in a transparent ball.

Eventually, Terry found a familiar face – or rather a familiar skull. Olivienne was sitting next to the royal guinea pigs. A toddler was seated in her lap. The boy was eating pieces of mandarin that Olivienne was peeling for him.

Terry walked over to sit next to Olivienne.

“Greetings, Terry.” Olivienne’s voice was cheerful. “Say hello to Terry, Pedro.”

Little Pedro hid his face in his mother’s dress.

“He’s a bit shy,” said Olivienne.

“No worries.” Terry sat down and looked at the preparation for the jousting match. “So, what is this all about?”

“Chris called the princess a toad,” explained Olivienne. “He refused to kneel to the royal family in apology.”

Terry chuckled while Pedro stole glances at him.

“You look a bit different today,” said Terry. Olivienne’s dress was filled out more than was expected from a skeleton.

Olivienne chuckled. “Padded with foam so mommy is soft and retains some warmth. While my senses work differently now, I still enjoy the hugs of my little one.”

Pedro offered Terry a piece of mandarin.

“Thanks, Pedro.” Terry smiled at the toddler and received the fruit.

“Ready!” shouted an older boy that stood guard next to the princess. “Go!”

Devon slowly crawled forward and Buttercup moved to greet him.

Once the two had reached each other, Buttercup stood still and slobbered Devon’s face. Devon raised a hand to scratch Buttercup at the neck.

“NO Buttercup!” exclaimed Chris. Buttercup had laid down and then rolled over to expose her belly to Devon for pets. This caused Chris to find himself on the ground as well.

“Victory!” declared Millie happily.

“That doesn’t count!” objected Chris.

“Hey now, Chris,” interjected Devon. “You said the goal of jousting was to get the other person to fall from their saddle.”

“Yes, but!”

“Come on, you know that the princess is a frog and not a toad. Olivienne said so. The princess has long legs. Long legs means frog.” Devon laid down on his stomach to allow Millie to get off.

Chris scrunched up his face.

“The Captain says there is no shame in making mistakes,” said Devon. “That’s good, because I tend to make them all the time. Lizzy always tells me that I am supposed to learn from mistakes. I am sure an honorable knight would admit his own faults. Don’t you think so?”

Chris pouted. He slowly walked to the glass container and kneeled in front of the princess.

***

Terry had stopped listening in on the interviews. Instead, he mostly used the days to spar with the different inhabitants of Syn. While the styles of Logan or Romana were not too different from what Terry was used to, battling some of the others represented an entirely unfamiliar experience.

The skeletal bodies of Gretchen and Wilhelm did not tire out at all. Furthermore, they did not present any of the weak spots of normal folk. No liver punches. No pressing down on sensitive nerves. No threatening arteries or other lethal vulnerabilities for feints or finishing moves. In real combat, Terry would use aspected weapons. In sparring, however, they forced him to improve his technique and evasive movements.

Olivienne and Yancey were even worse for Terry. They had both reached high enough levels of their rank to get mastery over aspects aside from death. Olivienne wielded both ice and earth while Yancey wielded air and earth.

Both death mages were able to fly and Yancey’s control of the air aspect allowed him to fly way too fast for Terry. Even though Terry was able to approach through the air, he was too slow to get close enough and pose a threat.

To make it worse, the two death mages did not need to breathe and their earth spells allowed them to dive into the ground. Fortunately, Terry’s mana sense was good enough to avoid being ambushed from below. Unfortunately, the two were able to cast ranged spells, which meant that they could attack Terry without any way for him to retaliate.

Terry had hesitated to ask Saul or Ying for a spar. The two had a special status in the city and there was also the fact that Terry understood them to be way out of his league with respect to combat.

In the end, Terry’s curiosity won out and he asked Ying for a spar to learn how a vampire fights. Ying agreed to join him once. Once was enough for Terry to confirm his suspicions that Ying had held back when they had first met in the Wastes.

The vampire was an impressive mage. Furthermore, his vampiristic mana ability allowed him to levitate even in his elven form and he could use his bat-transformation to dodge attacks. The spar ended when Ying summoned a shadow panther soul spirit.

Not only was Terry unable to defeat the panther, Terry was also too excited to discover that Ying was collecting soul spirits. Ying, on the other hand, seemed very eager to learn about Arcana. Therefore, the two quickly dropped the practice weapons and chatted instead.

After the sparring sessions, Terry usually continued practicing with his rings and imprinted equipment. Today, he had trained until the late evening and then cleaned himself at home.

Syn had provided two rooms to Terry and the others. One for Lizzy and the Captain. One for Terry and Devon.

Terry was in fresh clothes and dried his head with a towel. He looked around the room. Devon’s bed was still as untouched as on the first day. Terry had never seen Devon sleep. Actually, Devon seemed averse to even entering the room – or any buildings in general. Unless there was any important reason to be inside, he would remain outside even if the weather was bad.

Terry placed the towel around his neck and walked out the door. Even with the interfering effect from Syn’s cloaking, it was now easy for Terry to locate Devon’s abnormal mana signature. Terry found him lying on the grass in the city park.

Devon was watching the stars in the sky.

“Still not in the mood to sleep?” asked Terry.

“No,” replied Devon. “When I sleep, the voices get louder.”

Terry was still unsure if he should press the topic. He doubted that Devon’s voices were of a similar nature to his own intrusive thoughts. It was more likely to be related to whatever the deathcult was trying to do to him.

“And I don’t believe I will ever get tired of watching the sky,” said Devon with a satisfied expression. “It is so much more beautiful than I imagined it to be when I was stuck in that tower.”

Terry laid down on the grass. He placed one arm underneath his head and joined in skygazing. There were a lot more stars visible here than in Arcana because of the light pollution of Arcana’s barrier.

While watching, Terry practiced compressing the spell structure for the Immovable Object spell…

***

“Do you want to visit Arcana?” asked Terry. He munched on one of Gretchen’s cookies. They were delicious.

“It would be nice if I could,” replied Ying. “But as you have realized yourself, it is difficult.” He sighed.

A death specter approached from the sky and grumbled with the voice of an old woman. “Stupid useless mana corrupted.”

“Oh no, the banshee has returned,” exclaimed Wilhelm.

“Banshee?” Terry tilted his head. “Isn’t she a death specter?”

“She was a banshee even before her death,” grumbled Wilhelm. “No mana required. Unpleasant character makes up for a lack of mana or ethereal form.”

“WHO’S A BANSHEE, YOU STUPID WASTE OF SPACE!?” howled the banshee.

“Greetings, Ethel,” said Ying. “I take it the upranking did not go very well?”

Wilhelm snickered.

“What’s so funny?” growled Ethel.

“Life sometimes. Karma. The vicissitudes of fate.” Wilhelm snickered again.

“Hmph! If I had a physical body, I would smack the grin from your face.”

“Haha, but you don’t, you old banshee,” retorted Wilhelm. “Even fate itself has decided that your unpleasant character should come with the proper form.”

Megumi, Lizzy, Saul, and Gretchen walked up to them.

“Sister, you’re back already?” asked Gretchen. “Oh, did the upranking fail? I’m sorry for you.”

“Insufficient to cross into the next rank?” asked Saul.

Ethel nodded and grumbled.

“Maybe this is one of those fairytales,” said Wilhelm. “Methinks the shrew ought to fix her violent tendencies before she will be accepted into the physical realm again.”

“Once I have ranked up into a reaper, I’ll show you violent tendencies,” growled Ethel.

Wilhelm scratched his non-existent nose – he put his finger into his nasal hole. “See that’s why no one wanted to be around you and why Gretchen and I had to take you in. Also it’s IF you rank up in the proper path and remember that you would have to rank up multiple times first.”

“Wilhelm, don’t argue with Ethel, please,” said Gretchen.

“Why not?” retorted Wilhelm. “It’s not as if her heart can give out anymore. I have swallowed my anger countless times in the past to not agitate the old banshee. Now, however, her health is impeccable. Her anger issues can’t cause her to fall dead a second time.”

“Wilhelm, please,” said Gretchen softly. “For me.”

“Alright.” Wilhelm took Gretchen’s bony hand. “I still can’t believe that an angel like you can be related to the ba—”

“Wilhelm,” interrupted Gretchen.

“I’ll hold my lack of a tongue.” Wilhelm turned to Ethel. “Luckily, I don’t have to control my facial expressions anymore to make it convincing.”

“Why the urgency to rank up?” asked Terry.

“Haaahh.” Ethel uttered a sad long-winded sigh. Terry thought to notice a skull movement from Wilhelm that would go well with an eye-roll.

“Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to see the physical world when lacking the ability to interact with it?”

“She wants to play bridge again,” interjected Wilhelm.

“Among other things, yes!” snapped Ethel.

“Right now, she has to ask others to hold and play the cards for her,” said Wilhelm gloatingly. “The fairytale is forcing dear Ethel to confront her own reputation among the villagers.”

“Insensitive scoundrels!” spat Ethel.

“As you can see, the very idea is an affront to dear Ethel’s character. She would rather face all the demons in the Wastes than to admit her faults and apologize for her own past behavior.”

“Bah! They’re all—”

“Ethel!” exclaimed Gretchen in a reprimanding tone.

“Haaah… Saul, how long until I can attain a corporeal body again?” asked Ethel.

“Difficult to say,” replied Saul.

“It’s a long way until the reaper stage,” said Megumi. “Luckily.”

“Isn’t there any other way?” asked Gretchen.

“We could try and transform her. We would have to find the right materials and then mold them into the familiar form of a skeletal warrior. Then, she could take possession of the body and turn into a spectral warrior. The body could serve her until she ranks up into a corporeal form.”

“Is a spectral warrior still impervious to physical attacks?” asked Terry.

“The body isn’t,” replied Saul. “But the specter inside still is. If the body gets destroyed, a specter will remain.”

“What materials do you need?” asked Ethel.

“I’m afraid that’s the difficult part. You would need a material that has been specifically prepared for holding and interacting with mana. Ideally, an inscription base metal. However, those are controlled materials inside of Tiv. Even in the dark markets of the Wasted Zone, there are few willing to sell it. The only alternative would be to extract the material from inscribed dungeon constructs.”

Terry’s ears perked up. He retrieved some of the darker material left behind by an inscribed earth warrior. “Like this?”

“Huh,” uttered Saul. He received the material from Terry.

“Terry, what did we tell you about brandishing your storage items?” asked Megumi.

“Uhm.” Terry was embarrassed. “Not to do that?”

Don’t follow up with ‘Why?’ Devon is a bad influence on you.

“Yes, that would work,” said Saul. “However, we will need to compress it first and we would need a lot more than this.”

“Are there more like Ethel?” asked Terry.

“Mana forbid!” Wilhelm blurted out.

“No other death specters so far,” said Saul.

“Does the Heart impact the evolution distribution?” asked Megumi. “Specters are rare, but not that rare.”

“Not that we know of, no. Our conjecture is that we choose our battles differently than regular skeletal warriors cursed with the death aura. We haven’t been able to identify the precise evolution requirements yet.”

“Uhm…” Terry hesitated and turned to the Captain. He whispered into her ear.

“You got what?” blurted Megumi. Then, she burst into laughter. “Okay, you are from Arcana alright. Go ahead if you want to.” She shook her head.

Terry smiled and started summoning from his crafter’s pendant. After he was finished, the dark material from the inscribed earth giant was placed on the ground.

“Would this be enough?”

“What the—” muttered Lizzy. “Where did you take that out from?” She caught Megumi’s eye. “Nevermind.”

“That…” Saul was rendered speechless for a moment. “That would work, yes.”

“I also have some more pieces from the inscribed earth warriors. I don’t have any use for them at the moment. So you can have them.”

“GREAT!” shouted Ethel. “Go on Saul, take it!”

“Hmph,” grumbled Wilhelm.

“Ethel!” said Gretchen in a reprimanding tone.

“Yeah yeah. Thank you, boy!”

Saul looked at Terry in silence before he said: “Thank you, Terry. Is there anything that we could offer you in exchange? I am afraid we don’t have much money on hand.”

“Could you cloak some of his items?” asked Megumi.

Saul nodded. “Anything else?”

Terry thought it over. “I don’t know how easy it is for me to stock up on septimum and octavum in Tiv. Also, I was wondering if there was any way for me to kill a specter.”

“A natural reaction to Ethel,” quipped Wilhelm.

“Wilhelm!” reprimanded Gretchen.

“Sorry, dear.”

“Any materials that could be used for aspecting would be helpful. Enough for a spear tip.”

Terry remembered Megumi’s comment regarding piercing weapons as well as the bandit hideout. “Or maybe a glaive.”

He remembered Devon. “Are there any materials that could be aspected with hellfire or netherfrost?”

Saul chuckled at the flood of words escaping from Terry’s mouth. “I think we can prepare a range of aspects for aspecting. However, hellfire and netherfrost are not an option. Most abyssal aspects are very problematic for aspecting.

“Even if there were materials that could withstand them, you would not be able to place them in your storage items anymore. Regular fire may not harm a storage item from the inside, but hellfire does because it burns through mana. It’s similar for netherfrost with its mana absorption.”

“I can show you around the market later,” said Ying. “It does not measure up to Arcana, but it can put the average Tiv settlement market to shame.”

“Uhm, I don’t have any vals,” admitted Terry. “And I have no idea how much the inscription material is worth.” He furrowed his brow. “Ugh, even for septimum I would not know how much it costs in Tiv.”

Lizzy slapped her own forehead. Ying burst out in laughter.

“Such a nice young man,” exclaimed Gretchen.

“Interesting bargaining strategy,” said Saul and chuckled. “The kid is growing on me.” He turned to Megumi. “But you should walk the Tiv markets together with him.”

“I figured as much.” Megumi shook her head.

***

“I am afraid your friend is not within the boundaries of Syn City anymore,” said Saul.

“I asked the protectors, but no one saw him leave,” said Ying.

“Why would he leave without informing anyone?” asked Logan.

Megumi sighed. “Long story.”

“Involves dungeon fairies,” grumbled Lizzy.

“Pardon?” blurted Ying.

“Devon has the unfortunate tendency to be whisked away into dungeons,” explained Megumi.

“Dungeons?” exclaimed Saul. “That’s strange. Do you have a way to track him?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“He generally wakes up naked in the dungeon,” elaborated Lizzy. “Whatever item we give him, is lost in the process.”

Terry imagined he could see a raised eyebrow on Saul’s skull even though that was impossible.

“Do we wait for Devon here?” asked Terry.

“No point,” said Megumi. “He is just as likely to appear in the direction we are going. Equal chances to move closer to him or to move away from him.”

“He’ll find his way back to us,” said Lizzy. “Always does.”

“A pity. The trip to the Bulwark would have been safer with his mana signature as a deterrent.” Megumi clicked her tongue. “Oh well.”

“We can escort you to the Bulwark,” offered Ying. “And while my space magic does not compare to the Progenitor, I am still able to open a gate for some distance.”

***