“Aethera University was created in hopes of spreading and progressing the arcane knowledge.

Since the beginning, one of our ultimate goals is creating a universal language to write spells. The language that could be easily used by all wizards, which would make learning from each other much simpler. Instead of spending weeks, months or even years trying to understand each other notes, we wanted to be able to copy spells immediately.

The success is still far from our grasp. However, that’s how we have created first modern spellscrolls.”

- History of Aethera University

Sae eagerly listened to Reria’s story and claimed that they might help her. There was a condition though; she had to assist them in a small task inside Leisha’s Crossroads, one that would take a few next days. Grasping the chance to have means to fulfil Ashara’s mission she immediately agreed.

Together they moved around the town, convincing Sae’s party members.

Firstly, she was led to the tavern Sae just left and met with Dorian. He was simply all right with leaving the town in any direction but east, even eager to investigate the rumours Reria told him about, so convincing him was wasy.

Then they moved to a workshop where Thaleus confirmed that he would be glad to return her a favour should she help them. However, when a strange gnome, apparently an owner of the place, simply gave her a handful of parchments, which turned out to be spellscrolls, claiming that they would help her in their task, she started smelling something fishy about Sae’s deal.

When the rogue, talking with Ciros in another tavern, used goals of Reria’s mission as a pretext to make amends with the hunter, she really started to wonder whether she should keep her promise.

‘She presents him a task of eliminating an evil cult as a penance for what they have done? And he is buying this? And they refrain from speaking the reasons for their earlier arguments aloud because they fear someone might overhear this? Don’t tell me…’

Before she connected the dots Sae and herself were already disguised, going to meet someone posing as a necromancer feared by the whole Leisha’s Crossroads. The final member of Sae’s party, Ion.

‘Fighting the cult alone might have not been that bad idea,’ she thought as Silverfords’ guards gazed at her suspiciously when they’ve arrived at the estate, ‘Ashara even mentioned that the cult is secondary, what matters the most is keeping the boy out of their influence.’

“And who might that be?” a man approached them as they talked with the guards.

He was young, yet moved with an air of superiority as if he owned the place. Which was technically a truth.

Sae greeted Heinrich Silverford and explained their whereabouts.

“So you are Evans’ apprentice that I heard so much about,” when mentioning Evans’ name, a grimace passed his face, yet a beaming smile immediately returned. “You are even prettier than my reports implied. I’d really like to get to know you better…”

“Erm, thanks I guess,” Reria could see the man’s gaze all over herself.

“Master Evans ordered me to bring her to him as fast as possible. Do you know where to find him?”

“Well I also have my own work to do, so I won’t be stopping you any longer. As for Master Evans, I believe he was conducting a training in the backyard.”

Heinrich gave Reria one last glance before leaving the manor.

Sae guided the sorceress through the garden. They heard a loud crack of thunder, coming from behind the main building just before they could see the backyard.

Two prople were struggling against three creatures. Observing them was a figure clad in a dark robe engraved with runes.

On a whim, Reria activated her Eldritch Sight and almost stumbled, seeing a beacon of wild waves of mana piercing through ambient mana obscuring her vision.

‘I’ve never seen a magical item so powerful. Even Istaro’s glaive pales in comparison to those robes.’

That she might be interpreting the strength of an item incorrectly did not occur to her right now.

‘This must be that other wizard Sae mentioned. Are Sae and Ion mad? What are they even thinking, messing with him?’

To her dismay, Sae ushered her forward. The dreaded wizard, as if sensing them, turned around, for a moment his evil gaze locking on her.

Suddenly, Sae weaved to him.

‘This man? Is this Ion? Where did he get an artifact like this?’

An abrupt cry of pain made the wizard turn back towards the fight. Looking at the creatures that suddenly stopped moving, Reria noticed that they were also filled with magic. Animated. She shivered, seeing undead for the first time. When she heard about them before, she wasn’t afraid, but now… there was something unnatural to them, the mana she perceived moving through them was bleak, tainted.

As they closed in she turned her attention toward the combatants again. A pair of kids. They could be no more than two years younger than Reria herself, yet with all that she survived during the last six months, she couldn’t think about them differently. The girl seemed badly wounded. Her companion, also battered, called her, frightened, patting her face trying to wake her up, but without any results.

The wizard kneeled by the girl's side and placing his hands on her chest began to chant. His spell immediately closed her wounds and in a matter of seconds, she opened her eyes.

‘Had he somehow learned how to use divine magic in the past few days?’

Reria have never heard a healing spell with a similar chant before. She knew the incantations varied between spellcasters, but they followed an internal melody, a feeling of order. This one however, was lacking, it felt strangely atonal, disturbing.

Yet it worked. Soon the couple left the area, the boy visibly in pain from the wound around his buttock.

“Earlier… Have you really healed her?” Reria asked still shocked. When Sae struck her with an elbow she added. “Master?”

“As it wasn’t based on the same principles as clerical magic, I wouldn’t really call it healing.”

Ion wondered for a moment. Even with his face covered by a hood, Reria was able to see that for a moment Ion’s gaze grew very distant.

“The more proper term would be… infusing, I guess. Not that it matters right now, apprentice. Let’s go to the room. There are some things we need to discuss.”

Reria clenched her fists, but nodded and followed Ion.

Even if she already knew that it was supposed to be an act, calling her an apprentice annoyed her. Especially as she felt envy, being shown a difference between the abilities of a Gifted and hers once more.

This only fuelled her determination to fulfil Ashara’s task.

Soon later, they entered inside the manor house. A few days ago she would judge the interior to be extravagant, yet after seeing the interior of Ashara’s palace, she found the decorations somehow lacking.

„Hmm… I will need a moment to adjust wards protecting the apartment, wait here,” Ion spoke after they climbed the stairs, leaving her to wait in front of the door.

“He started to be a little bit paranoid after someone broke inside five days ago,” Sae whispered conspiratorially. „He has been layering additional layers of wards on top of previous every day since.”

Perceiving the haphazard conglomerate of contained mana Reria was able to believe this. Apparently, where Ion lacked in a skill and finesse he tried to make up with a sheer amount of power.

‘At least he isn’t a genius in every branch of magic,’ The thought improved her mood.

Reria had no idea how effective the formation was, but was sure that sustaining it with mana must have been a nightmare.

"It should be all right now," Ion called them inside.

As soon as they closed the door, he placed his hand on it and murmured a few words.

“An Arcane Lock?” Reria asked, seeing that the door was also radiating mana.

“I told you he grew paranoid,” Sae rolled her eyes.

Turning towards them, Ion removed a hood and sighed in a relief.

"Wearing a hood all the times is a nightmare," the wizard seated himself and used Mage Hand to fetch glasses for everyone. "So, Reria, I guess that Sae convinced you to participate in our little affair here? Good, we would surely use more help inside. But what made you change your plans? I have already heard that your team planned to leave with a caravan tomorrow.”

“I was, but then I heard about few zealots from an evil cult taking a residence inside one of the southern villages,” Reria answered. “The people began to disappear. It is something I’d like to investigate, I heard that the cult has been using an unusual magic…”

Reria hoped that mentioning the possibility of finding unknown spells would help convince Ion. It was also a convenient excuse for her to investigate the cause.

However, the wizard frowned and looked at Sae dubiously.

“Isn’t this the same evil cult that you’ve made up?”

“Nah, ours was summoning demons and raising undead in the forests north from Leisha,” Sae waived hand dismissively. “However, the gossips about disappearing people started even before I have begun spreading our rumours. Through people could have messed everything up by now.”

She finished and shrugged.

“Seriously guys?” Reria was bewildered. “You’ve made up a presence of ‘Cult of Horned Rat’ in the city? Pretending to be necromancers wasn’t enough?”

“Oh, they’ve even come up with a name on their own? How cuute!” The rogue was delighted.

“But this cult is a real deal! It is said that the Horned Rat is a god of vile monsters lurking deep beneath the ground. The dwarves sometimes breached into their tunnels when digging too deep! Thaleus surely could tell you more about this! About malevolent Rat-like creatures of the Underempire!”

Ion rolled his eyes.

“An evil cult led by rats? That is something new. Are people really that naïve to believe in this?”

Reria sent him an angry glare, but remained silent, not wanting to pursue a subject.

“So it seems that we have no guarantee whether south from the city there is any cult at all. People might have disappeared due to the beasts descending from the mountains; after all, autumn is coming to an end, they might search for warmer places for winter.”

Reria wanted to interrupt him, but he continued nonetheless.

“Of course we might check the rumours, but I want to travel to Cirran as fast as possible. I have already spent too long here. With any more delay, I’m afraid I might not be able to go through Ironward Pass before the snows fall.”

Reria furrowed. The last time she has seen Ion he wasn’t in any hurry.

“Aren’t you interested in their spells? The villages I want to check are only three days of travel away, not even two if we get fast horses.”

“I am interested, but I am sure that searching for them around Aethera University is a much better choice.”

“You know Ion, for a travel so long as the one you are planning, we would require a good ranger,” Sae interjected. “I have already convinced Ciros that by fighting off that cult we wish to atone for… how he called it? Disrupting the cycle of life?”

Ion hesitated. His skills for survival in forest ended with casting Find Direction, setting an alarm around the camp to know if some wild beast tried to attack and, the most recent addition, creating a shelter with a spell he received from Sae. Few months he spent hunting with Ryan in forests around Windhelm taught him that it might be insufficient.

“And what if there is no such cult there, only rumours?”

Sae shrugged.

“I think that our intent still matters. Give me those two days of travel, without him having any excuse to constantly avoid me, I will convince him to stop that childish behaviour of his.”

Reria could promise that for a moment she saw a devilish grin on the girl’s face.

“So three days until we finish there, then another two or three of travelling, returning back, adding a time for an investigation…”

“Don’t worry, we can always steal griffons from Ironward to cross the mountains.”

Sae joked… hopefully. However, Ion seemed to really consider the idea.

“Nah… they are bonding only with a single rider for a lifetime,” he answered after pondering. “However, I wonder how feasible would be animating something capable of flight… But the mana cost rises geometrically… could rotten muscles even propel such a creature to flight? And the sheer difficulty of controlling it…”

In the end, the wizard sighed, dejected.

“Are you in, then?” Reria decided to prevent them from forming even more ridiculous plans. Remembering Ion’s showing some interest in demonology during their travel, she added:

“The disappearances on the south are not only due to the beasts migrating. The cultists are either convincing or kidnapping people to join them. Then, during a ritual, those convinced are opening themselves for their influence. The unwilling have the essence of devils bound to their bodies against their will, effectively becoming possessed vessels.”

For the first time, she caught a hint of interest inside Ion’s eyes.

'Got you there!'

“Well… you have added quite a few details now,” Sae squeezed her eyes. “I might have been concerned with other things recently, but I’ve been still keeping a track on the rumours around the city and I certainly hadn’t heard those details before.”

“Well…” Reria began making up an excuse. She spilled too much of what Ashara told her. “I am also not entirely sure whether it is true…. However, yesterday, when I searched for some material components outside of the city, I met with a family fleeing from one of the southern villages. Smallrock was it? One of their neighbours supposedly left with cultists earlier. After a few days he has returned, wanting to convince more to join them; however, he seemed to not recognize anyone living there. And he behaved strangely…”

“Oh Sae, you can’t know every single gossip occurring around the town. You were right, it won’t hurt to check whether there is a kernel of truth,” This time it was Ion who supported her plan. “But would you have any way to check whether a villager is controlled or is he just a normal commoner?”

“With Dorian being a Paladin, he might be able to perceive them through the senses given him by a deity of his,” probably Reria’s enchanted eyes could also discern lingering traces of a ritual. “At least those forcefully taken, those working willingly… probably not, at least not until they let the fiend manifest.”

“I don’t like depending on abilities such as those,” Sae grimaced. “Still, investigating some cultists is one thing, but if it is an area already overrun by fiends, it might get too dangerous. We’ve already had a dangerous encounter with Yugoloths and we had more people to rely on back then…”

“They were with their own bodies back then, used a rift or a summoning ritual. Even if the cult leader is able to summon fiends directly to our world, their numbers would be limited by his capacity of sustaining them here with his mana… Because of that, I believe that most of the fiends we might have to deal with would solely depend on their vessels.”

“Yet they still have the knowledge gathered for ages ready to be used…” Sae still wasn’t relenting.

“There is only as much as you can make up with a knowledge. There are far too many limitations of the body that can’t be simply overcome just by knowing about them,” Ion said firmly, strangely annoyed. “If they are using bodies of farmers, then they would be as good fighters as… hmmm… average soldiers, maybe? At least as long as they don’t have long enough to get used to their vessels and make them stronger. And even if studying fiends was never one of my hobbies, I know that a pride of those truly powerful would never let them risk their position in Infernal Planes just to take the control over a lowly peasant.”

“I agree. Any being that might have orchestrated such a thing is probably using only some of his weakest subordinates. To warrant sending powerful ones the cultist would have first seized control over powerful or at least influential vessels..."

After some more explanations from Reria, they finally settled on investigating the villages. However, Reria’s grin started to crumble when Sae and Ion proceeded with their burglary plan.