It was Veil’s third meeting with Charik since the mental construct appeared. His other Pursuits were slowly bearing fruit. Developing his battle magic skill was proceeding apace, but it would probably be months before he could short cast all his current battle spells. Professor Cosven had taught him divination spells specifically keyed to locating written information, significantly accelerating his research speed in the library, and he was somehow managing the ever increasing workload. Still, there must be a way to speed his growth?

“How is your development of Parallel Thought coming along?” Professor Charik inquired while sitting perfectly still and generally emanating a feeling of patience. “I believe that is the key to the ‘interface.’” Interface was the name they had decided to give the mental construct that inhabited Veil’s mind.

Parallel Thought was an internal mind power that let a person separate their thoughts into multiple streams. You could literally divide your mind into separate thought processes, work on numerous subjects simultaneously, and then recombine those thoughts. Veil had reluctantly set aside his work on Symbolic Calculate to focus exclusively on acquiring this new mental power.

“It will be months before it is useful, Professor,” Veil replied, shifting in his seat in frustration. For people without psychic abilities, it would take years. “I still haven’t had any success in getting the interface to do anything. I don’t know how to ‘grab’ onto it. Have you been able to translate any more of the symbols?”

“I am making progress,” Charik replied, “but the Forerunner language is complicated and little understood. There is also the fact that the language has multiple streams of information depending on who is reading it. One layer may apply to the commoners, another to their rulers, and yet another to their technicians. This will take time. As for the interface, there is little I can recommend except to vary your technique and keep trying.”

“Before you ask,” Charik continued, “I have no new information on the terrorists. I believe the city or federal authorities may have made some progress, but they haven’t chosen to share that information with a lowly researcher, at least not at this time.”

Veil felt frustrated, but Charik merely shifted focus and continued teaching Veil Forerunner runes.

“Forerunner runes are logograms, with each rune representing a word, idea, or image,” Charik said. “Over time, these runes became highly abstract, but the original idea or image is still there. Once you get a feel for this abstraction, you can start intuiting meaning. This is how a significant portion of the original translation was determined.”

“Do the Feran Kuin have any information on the relationship between the Forerunners and the gods?” Veil asked, interrupting Charik’s lecture.

Charik hesitated a moment and, for just a fraction of a second, Veil sensed an unusual emotion emanating from the Feran. It was gone before Veil could identify the feeling. Acting on instinct, Veil strained his empathic ability to its fullest extent.

“All we have are theories,” Charik replied, “that the Origin People were the god’s creation, were the god’s servants, or somehow were gods themselves? Some theories say they were the enemies of the gods. All of these hypotheses are rank speculation.”

Veil sensed complete sincerity from the Feran. Not giving up, Veil kept his psychic attention entirely focused on Charik.

“You’ve said your people aren’t interested in the gods,” Veil said, watching the Feran closely. “Are your people interested in the Forerunners?”

Once again, Veil perceived a quick flash of emotion, almost too fast to notice.

“Our researchers are interested in the Origin People,” Charik replied with complete sincerity. “Perhaps we should return to studying runes. I think that is our best avenue of inquiry.”

Veil allowed Charik to shift topics since he wasn’t sure what he had sensed. It might just be a natural reaction on the Feran’s part, and if it wasn’t, Veil wanted to keep his discovery secret. At least until he had a chance to do some research to see if there was any known connection between the Feran Kuin and the Forerunners?

While walking home, Veil considered other avenues of inquiry. He would go to the library and study Feran Kuin history. Regarding the interface, alchemy could accelerate learning or help simulate specific mental states. Still, those potions could damage a person’s mind or body if taken too often, and some were addictive. With no better options, he went back to ruminating over the only concrete piece of information they had, the map. The bombings formed a circle. Did the center of the circle have some special significance?

The following weekend found Veil, Sacha, Ilya, and Jelina having lunch in a restaurant that sat on the outskirts of a plaza containing one of the academy’s eight subsidiary fountains. As near as they could tell, this was the exact center around which the bombings had taken place. While attractive, the fountain and surroundings were a lot smaller and more primitive in design compared to Ithalaan’s central plaza.

The group hadn’t been able to find out anything further about the explosions. Still, their guess about the area’s importance had been obliquely confirmed by the increased police presence in the area, which persisted over a month later.

Their current conversation was not about the location or the police. Jelina was discussing her latest boyfriend. Honestly, Veil didn’t even try to keep track. It seemed like there was a new one every week. Ilya and Veil were making a heroic effort to pretend to pay attention while the girls talked. Ilya was gently tapping his fingers and squirming in his seat, while Veil was silently meditating and looking in their direction. The girls both glanced at him, a clue to start listening.

“You two have been together for ages, “Jelina remarked, half question, half statement with a dramatic sigh, “since the beginning of the term.”

“About two months,” said Veil.

“More like seventy-two days,” Sacha stated, giving Veil a side glance.

He was supposed to remember the exact number of days? That was … Suddenly, screams and shouts cut the air. People around the square began to shift and flow, first one person and then another, and then whole groups were running. By this time, Veil and the others were on their feet, and he had pulled his pistol out of the book bag. Scuttling into view, a giant scorpion creature overran several people tearing them apart in the process. Veil took aim and pulled the trigger three times while infusing mana into his gun’s explosive circuits. The three bullets struck the creature’s head and upper flank, blowing huge pieces of it off and instantly killing the monster.

“Arm yourselves,” Veil shouted at his friends. Sacha was the only one who had drawn a blasting rod, but even she looked to be in shock. Ilya and Jelina appeared stunned and didn’t seem to remember that they were armed.

Veil could sense something, many somethings from under the ground? “Where behind and below!” Veil exclaimed sharply to the others. “We need to get away from here,” Veil said while moving directly away from the plaza.

Just then, the earth below their feet shook powerfully, knocking them and the fleeing people off their feet. Cracks spread across the area, and dozens of creatures burst up from the earth, fleeing through the crowd of people in all directions. Veil, with his gun, and Sacha, with her blasting rod, both shot an immense lizard, only chest high but at least four meters long, that was running right toward them.

Veil turned toward his friends and urged them to move as fast as possible out of the area. Those creatures were trying to escape from something, and he sensed that it was big! They made it less than a block before the ground shook violently, and everyone was thrown from their feet once again. Most of the plaza dropped downward and disappeared, and a…wyrm lifted into view, a freaking wyrm!

The wyrm rose majestically into the air out of the new hole in the ground. Its body was a cross between a snake and worm, four meters thick, and though they couldn’t see this, at least sixty meters long. It was covered in razor-sharp, articulating bristles as thick as a human leg and as long as a spear. The mouth was a horror show of circular grinding teeth. The wyrm seemed to consider the scene in front of it before leisurely reaching down to devour everything in its path. Fortunately, it was directed well to their side, or they would simply have died. Nothing Veil carried could hurt a wyrm. A fully armed battalion of battle mages couldn’t hurt a wyrm.

“Forget fighting. We need to run,” Veil hissed, grabbing first Jelina, then Ilya, who were frozen in fear, and pushed them in the direction opposite to the leviathan. Sacha was already moving. The wyrm twisted around the hole, smashing buildings like kindling and eating anything that moved. It was turning in their direction. Seeing a manhole cover, he telekinetically yanked it open and barked, “down.”

Sacha followed by Ilya, then Jelina, and finally, Veil practically jumped down into the partially collapsed sewer. Sacha cast a quick light spell and began leading them as rapidly as possible away from the plaza and the wyrm. The ceiling was still in the process of collapsing and, in places, light shown through from the surface. They traveled slowly, climbing up, over, and around debris for fifty meters before coming to an intersection. Using his psychic skill, Veil sensed something ahead.

As they neared the intersection, Veil hissed in a low voice, “Sacha, switch.”

Veil moved to the front, and Sacha went to the back of the group. In one hand, Veil had his pistol, and in the other, he placed two blue-colored grenades. Veil waved the others to wait and cautiously approached the intersection after summoning his own light. Peering around the corner, he saw a large hulking, tentacled mass and immediately pitched the grenades towards it. Before the creature could respond, the grenades went off in a freezing explosion of icy blue colored mist. Masses of the creature’s tentacles froze solid, and it emitted a careening hiss while pitching over on its side. Veil opened fire with his pistol while activating the armor-piercing mana circuitry in the guns. It shuddered and stopped moving after a moment. The group kept cautiously walking forward for a few dozen meters before Veil turned at the same time as Sacha. Although they couldn’t see anything beyond a few meters, Veil sensed something big and mean moving rapidly in their direction. Sacha glanced at Veil before he hissed, “run,” once more.

Allowing the others to pass, Veil short cast a spell on several more red colored grenades and rushed to catch up with his friends. Just as he was running away, he had looked down the tunnel and seen something big and clawed, moving through a beam of sunlight directly toward them. Less than two seconds later, as Veil was catching up with his friends, there was a violent fiery explosion behind them, knocking them all to the ground. They jumped to their feet as quickly as possible and kept moving as the ceiling began to fall. Fortunately, it only collapsed in the section behind them.

“Are you trying to kill us?” Jelina scream whispered. “You brought the ceiling down.”

“Keep moving,” said Veil in a whisper, “It was either that or get ripped apart. Whatever was following us was too big to fight.”

Too out of breath to keep talking even with adrenaline pumping through their Veins, they continued forward, hitting the next intersection after a few dozen meters.

“Which way?” Veil said, looking at three distinct paths they could take. “We have to get out of this sewer.”

“Then why did you bring us down here in the first place?” Jelina said in a voice verging on hysteria and tears.

Ilya just looked frightened. His blasting rod clutched tightly in one hand.

“This way,” Sacha said firmly and led them along the intersection to the left.

It was as good a direction as any. Veil couldn’t sense any monsters in that direction, not that his senses meant much. They were limited in range and didn’t work on some types of creatures. After several more turns and another hundred meters with Sacha leading the way, they stopped below a manhole entrance. Veil climbed to the top, slowly pushed the cover to the side while peeking out with eyes and psychic senses. Finding nothing of concern, indeed, this part of the city was almost empty, they crawled out, and made their roundabout way back to Veil’s house and hid inside.

His house had some decent defensive wards that Veil had paid to have put in place and stood several kilometers away from the former plaza. Hopefully, they were safe for the moment. They were utterly wrung out and exhausted by their ordeal. As soon as they entered the house, Jelina turned to Veil with her face twisted up. He thought she might yell or attack him, but she threw herself into his arms and started crying instead. It was hard to tell, but he thought she might have sobbed something like, “I’m sorry,” along with other things too garbled for him to even guess its meaning.

Veil nearly fell over when she rushed him and then looked up at Sacha with a helpless expression on his face. Vicious monsters he could deal with, but he had no idea what to do with a hysterical girl. Sacha came over and helped pry Jelina’s arms off him. Sacha then half carried the other girl over to the couch, where they collapsed together where Sacha started speaking softly to Jelina and rubbing her back.

Ilya stood to the side during this whole process, looking as if he couldn’t decide whether to help, throw up, pass out, or simply sit down. He eventually settled into one of the other chairs after Veil sat down on the couch a bit away from the girls.

After sitting there for ten minutes, Veil realized he had to go back out and scout the area. He needed to determine if the house was safe and try to locate Melik as well as Yamini and Elynor. Veil could leave the others here with Sacha and key her to his second pistol so that she could use it. With that decided, he went down to his laboratory and retrieved the gun along with a dozen more grenades. He really needed to make more.

After returning to the living room and keying the gun to Sacha, “I’m going to go out and look for Melik, Yamini, and Elynor and make sure the area is secure,” Veil said.

“You don’t have to go out. We can send messages,” Sacha said sharply. Jelina had quieted down but didn’t look up when he announced his intentions.

“You can do that?” Veil said, sharing a look with Ilya. Why hadn’t they thought to learn those sorts of spells? “Can you get a reply from Melik? I’m sure he doesn’t know that spell?”

“Yes,” Sacha replied, “there is a message spell that comes with a reply option. Let me cast it now.”

“Tell them if they are in a secure location to stay there,” Veil instructed. “We can figure out how to safely move around later.”

Sacha nodded and cast the spells.

“Yamini and Elynor are safe in the dorms, and they’ll remain there for now,” Sacha stated. Ten minutes later, “Melik is safe at his parent’s home and hadn’t even realized anything was happening. He’ll stay there as well until it’s safe to travel.”

“Good,” Veil stated, “but I still need to go out and secure the area. We need to know what’s happening and if we need to move to another location. You three should stay here and protect each other. I’ll only be gone a short time.”

Sacha frowned, looking very unhappy, glancing down at Jelina and then to Ilya.

“I could go with you,” Ilya volunteered, appearing as if that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“You should stay here and protect the girls,” Veil replied.

“Yes, Ilya, we’re safer together,” Sacha said, smoothing her expression. She wasn’t happy at all, Veil realized.

Veil set out, first completing a circuit of the entire block. There were only a few people out, and he yelled at them to get inside. There were monsters on the loose. Next, he cut through campus, which was nearly deserted, to find high ground to observe the former plaza and the wyrm. This time he would maintain a safe distance. Finding a nine story tower with windows facing the plaza, Veil took an elevator to the top floor and broke through the emergency door to the roof.

The wyrm was gone. All that remained was a giant hole where the fountain once stood. Several blocks surrounding the pit were reduced to smoking rubble. He couldn’t see anything moving at this distance. Making a circuit around the tower, Veil noticed that most sections of the city were deserted. Though several monsters could be seen rampaging about, and what looked like a small battalion of military personnel were headed toward the hole from the Northwest. Gazing at the scene for about ten minutes and deciding the situation was manageable, Veil made his way to Indali’s clinic, which stood on the opposite side of campus from the hole and several kilometers away.

The clinic was full, but it looked like people were huddled inside the building because they were afraid to leave, not because they were injured. Veil stopped and talked to Indali briefly and then made his way quickly back home.

On the way back, he heard screams coming from a small house that was located along a side street. Moving quickly to investigate, Veil found a home with part of its outer wall caved in, and a giant scaled rat feasting on a man’s remains. The rat was waist high compared to a grown man. The shouts were still rising from inside the house, so Veil shot the rat with an explosive round blowing half its side and one of its legs away. Not bothering to finish killing the creature, Veil moved quickly inside the house. The cries were coming from up the stairs. Another giant rat had clawed most of its way through a thick door on the top floor. Veil shot its hind end with two explosive rounds, blowing it nearly in half.

Quickly running up and pushing the bloody remains aside, Veil peered through the broken door. He saw a woman and two small children huddled across the room.

“Are you okay,” Veil said. “The rats are dead.”

The woman simply stared at him in shock while tightly clutching her crying children.

“Wait here. I’ll check the house for more rats, and then I’ll take you somewhere safe,” Veil said.

Veil walked rapidly into a nearby room and pulled some covers off a bed. He next walked down to the ground floor, dragged the man’s remains aside, and covered them with the blankets. He could sense there were no rats in the house or anywhere nearby, but the man was likely the woman’s husband. Neither she nor her children needed to see his mutilated body.

It took him nearly half an hour to calm the woman, Helena, enough to usher her and her children into a nearby friend’s house. This building was much larger, wealthier, and had wards. Most importantly, the people who lived there were mages and had weapons.

“Where were you?” Sacha said sharply. “It’s been two hours.”

Veil almost made a joke about not knowing he had a wife but then controlled himself. That probably wouldn’t go over well. He then related to Ilya, Sacha, and Jelina what he had seen and experienced. Jelina was much calmer but quiet and subdued, unlike her usual self.

Later that evening, escorted by his parent’s Freja and Maxim, both tall blond northerners, Melik returned. They were both visibly armed and ready for action. Freja, upon seeing Ilya, immediately walked over and hugged him.

“I’m so glad you are safe, “Freja said and turning to the others, “that all of you are healthy and safe. Could you please tell us what happened? All we’ve heard are a bunch of wild rumors.”

After everyone sat down, Sacha, with Ilya’s help, told them about the plaza’s sudden collapse, the rise of the wyrm, and their escape to safety. Veil picked up the story from there and informed them of what he had seen on his scouting expedition. During Sacha’s narration, Maxim causally cast a few spells, checking on the house’s wards, and Freja and Maxim studied him intently while he was narrating his role in events. Both subtly focused on his guns, which Veil was openly wearing. He got the distinct impression they were sizing the situation up and deciding whether it was safe for Melik to stay.

“Thank you for that, Sacha, Veil,” Freja said after they finished. “We didn’t have any coherent information about the disaster. Some people were saying it was more explosions, others that it was a military style attack.”

“We can tell you that the army has already been called in and secured the hole,” She continued. “Both the police, the army, and civilian volunteers are out patrolling and killing monsters wherever they find them. Most of the creatures have already been destroyed or returned to the depths. Almost the entire civilian population is still in hiding, but it’s probably reasonably safe now.”

“If you are going to stay here, you should remain secured in the house until tomorrow morning,” Freja continued, giving Maxim a glance. “If you don’t feel safe, you are all welcome to come with us to our house.”

They all assured her they wished to stay, and after a few more minutes of discussion, Melik’s parents left.

Early the next morning, after his usual meditation practice, Veil made his way down to the kitchen. Ilya and Melik were already there, while the girls were still cleaning up in the upstairs bathroom. They ended up staying the night, taking over his room because it had a bed, and forcing him to sleep on the floor in the spare room. They seemed to consider that fair. Ilya was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of chai while Melik was cooking breakfast.

After Veil sat down at the table, Ilya said with a stern expression on his face, “Veil, I need to ask you something. How do you get a girl to like you? Sacha does whatever you want.”

Veil was drinking some juice when Ilya started talking, and he choked at the last statement.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken about Sacha,” Veil said after he quit coughing. “It’s more like I usually do what she wants. Girls are just more subtle about these things. And most often, you don’t get a woman to like you. When a girl decides to favor you, they give some subtle signal or sign to attract your attention. Then you are expected to approach them.”

Melik had turned from his cooking and was listening intently, while Ilya was frowning in deep thought.

“What sort of sign, and how are you supposed to know?” Ilya inquired.

“They have all sorts of signals,” Veil replied. “Probably the best way to learn is to watch how girls act with other boys, ones they like. Sit at a café, or some other social setting, and observe how couples interact.”

“How do you approach them once you know they’re interested?” Ilya asked thoughtfully.

“You probably won’t know they’re interested, you’ll be guessing,” Veil said. “The best thing to do is to take a chance. Girls really like confidence and bravery. Most girls will be nice to you, even if your mistaken and they’re not interested. Occasionally, they’ll be mean, but that’s pretty rare, and even if they are, so what. If your willing to take a risk, sooner or later, you’ll be rewarded.”

“You could also ask Sacha and Jelina for advice,” Veil said. “Girls love to help with that sort of stuff.”

With that last comment, their conversation came to an end as Sacha and Jelina entered the kitchen.

A few hours later, Rasvan, Yamini, and Elynor showed up at the unofficial clubhouse for a group discussion. They were all sitting in the living room, and Elynor and Yamini explained what they had been doing when the wyrm attacked.

Yamini was sitting right next to Ilya, and when she was looking in the other direction, Veil stared intently at Ilya and then flicked his eyes to Yamini. Ilya looked confused, and Veil rolled his eyes and actually tilted his head to the heavens in exasperation. When he looked back, Ilya’s eyes had become round, and he glanced at Yamini. Finally!

“Can you teach us those message spells?” Melik asked, oblivious to Ilya’s drama.

“Of course, they are the most useful thing in the world,” Jelina replied. She was still somewhat subdued but was slowly getting back to her old self.

“What exactly is a wyrm?” Yamini inquired suddenly and looked at Ilya with concern. “It sounds really dangerous.”

“A wyrm is one of the primordial monsters,” Rasvan replied sonorously and somewhat grandiosely, “a leviathan of the underworld. Wyrms are creators of much of the Labyrinth. They burrow through the earth, making tunnels and caverns, compacting earth and rock by eating it, and then excreting a harder, denser crystalline material that supports the structures they have created. They are nearly immortal, almost unkillable, and they will devour anything and everything in their path.”

“Did it just rise to the surface by chance?” Elynor asked, leaning back and hugging herself tightly.

“Unlikely, I’ve never heard of a wyrm coming to the surface by accident,” Veil replied. “If it happens, there’s always something that draws them up. They feed off the higher density mana of the lower Labyrinth, so the surface is not a comfortable place for them.”

“There are other types of radiation that they consume in the depths as well,” Rasvan added. “The human world is an energy desert. If you go lower, the mana levels increase, but it also increases as you go higher. That’s why the most powerful creatures mostly avoid the surface world.”

“The mana levels increase as you go higher?” Yamini questioned in a rising tone. “I know that the heart of our world somehow generates mana like it does heat, but why does mana density increase with height?”

“The sun generates mana just like it does light,” Sacha replied. “The mana is then slowly changed to other forms of energy in the upper atmosphere. Which you would know if you paid more attention in class,” Sacha finished with exasperation.

“So, what brought the wyrm to the surface?” Elynor asked, frowning. “Is it related to the terrorist attacks? It came up, right in the center of that circle thing you were all talking about.”

“I don’t see how it could be a coincidence,” Veil replied, “but we still don’t have enough information to even guess who is responsible. Let’s focus on what we can do in response instead,” Veil suggested.

“Let me see if the local papers have arrived. Maybe they have more information,” Melik said. “Hopefully, the post is running on time.” With that, Melik stood up and exited the house.

“We need to get better at combat magic,” Rasvan immediately asserted. “Our city has become unsafe, and all of us must develop combat skills to protect ourselves and others. We should continue our battle magic meetings and increase the time we spend on them and intensify our focus — no more games. There are formal duels within the auditorium as well as group combat scenarios. We should go to those and, if possible, take part ourselves.”

“I agree,” Veil said, “but we all need practical training. There are short expeditions to the local sections of the Labyrinth and out to the Great Northern Forest that the academy regularly runs. All of us should take part. We all need real world training. I know many of you are frightened after the run-in with the wyrm and the other monsters, but clearly, hiding isn’t going to keep any of us safe.”

Rasvan nodded along enthusiastically with Veil’s comments while the others looked hesitant. At this point, Melik returned, several papers in hand. He handed one to Sacha, another to Elynor, and read one himself.

“It says here that a permanent military base is being established around the hole,” Sacha said, reading quickly. “Apparently, they can’t just close it off? The plan is to build a giant holding facility completely covering the opening, which will control any passage in or out. Several army divisions are on site, with more on the way. They also have heavy military hardware, along with elite groups of battle mages to kill the wyrm if it reappears.”

“I doubt they’ll be able to kill the wyrm, maybe drive it away in the unlikely event that it returns,” Veil said with a sniff.

“There are also dire warnings that those responsible will be severely punished,” Sacha continued, “no mention is made of who that might be.”

“Medina is not the only city or location to suffer such depredations,” Melik stated, reading from his paper. “Although many locations that experienced bombings haven’t experienced any new attack. Two other cities have reported wyrm sitings and cave-ins, and many more report monster incursions, as if the creatures are being driven upward.”

The group brought out maps of the regions and marked the locations of the latest chaos, but once again, no pattern was immediately evident. Of the hundreds of places that had initially reported bombings, only a few dozen experienced any new calamity. They continued their conversation for a time, but Veil had to leave soon after. He was due at the clinic.

There were surprisingly few patients being treated. It seemed that people either mostly escaped the wyrm and other monsters or were outright killed. Veil speculated that most of the creatures driven upward by the wyrm never made it out of the Labyrinth. They probably fled laterally instead.

As soon as Veil arrived, Indali had him shadow her. She brought him to a patient, initiated the room’s privacy wards, then explained that the man’s wounds weren’t life threatening and that she wanted her apprentice to get some experience. The older, white haired man gave his permission with an amused expression on his face.

“Run a full suite of diagnostic spells on this gentleman, Veil,” Indali ordered, watching him closely.

Veil stepped forward and cast a divination spell to check on the man’s cardiovascular system first. You didn’t want your patient to drop dead while you were working on them. The spell caused a black and white model of the man’s organs to appear in Veil’s mind. They seemed to be in good shape. Next, he checked the man’s nervous system, bones, musculature, and skin. He cast the same spell repeatedly with minor variations, as well as a few other diagnostic arcana to look for breaks in the bones or accumulations of blood.

“Mr. Vega appears to have a hairline fracture in his ulna, a sprained wrist, as well as contusions and abrasions on his torso. Other than that, he seems to be healthy.”

“Correct,” Indali replied with a neutral expression. “Mr. Vegas’ wounds have already been cleaned. What course of arcane treatment do you recommend? I am well aware of your alchemy skills.”

“I would use a basic bone sealing spell on his ulna,” Veil replied. “That will keep the fracture from getting worse and increase his healing speed to a few days instead of a month or more. A blood and fluid draining spell with anti-inflammatory properties should be used on his contusions. A rejuvenation and anti-infection spell can be cast on his entire body to speed the healing of each injury, and lastly, I would cast a sealant spell to protect the abrasions. If needed, a basic alchemical mixture can be provided for pain.”

“Very well,” Indali said, “please proceed.”

Veil cast the fracture healing spell. His mana wove out through voice and gesture into a construct that, to mana sight, resembled a bundle of wires. Veil directed this bundle to flow through the skin and muscle of the patient’s arm. The tubules then broke apart and wrapped around the man’s ulna, each wire parallel to the bone. The mana frame adhered to the bone while tightening and driving inward until the two sides of the fracture were locked in place. A spell matrix was formed between the two edges of the break, creating a bridge that vastly increased cell growth. Veil then cast the other triage spells, most of which he had performed before coming to work with Indali. After scrutinizing his work and thanking the older man for his indulgence, Indali led him to another treatment room.

“The next man’s condition is much more serious, and he will be transferred to a local hospital later today,” Indali remarked casually, nodding to a badly injured and unconscious man. “I want you to practice your diagnostic spells before he leaves.” Indali activated the room’s privacy wards, and her attitude immediately changed. “Step closer and tell me what odor you detect, “Indali said sharply.

As soon as Veil stepped within a meter of the patient, he halted and said, “Osforte and Naptha.”

“Yes,” She said coldly. “I believe this is one of our terrorists.” Indali then filled a large syringe with two different mixtures. “This will both wake him and make him pliable to questioning. It also has the added benefit of not being a known truth serum and thus should be undetectable. I intend to have some answers before we turn him over to the authorities. I want you to connect with him telepathically before I start questioning him. Glean whatever you can.”

“Isn’t one of those medications a powerful stimulant,” Veil asked with concern. He didn’t want to get caught. “Couldn’t it hurt or kill him?”

“I’ve gauged things carefully,” Indali replied. “He should be fine, and if he isn’t, he was initially badly injured anyway,” she said indifferently.

Indali injected the patient as Veil stepped up, reached out mentally, and made a psychic connection. The terrorist’s mind was confused and had no defenses. The man stuttered, coughed, and slowly became semi-conscious.

“Who are you?” Indali question, her bedside manner was brutal. “Who do you work for?”

The man blinked his unfocused eyes. His thoughts were a chaotic mess.

“Who are you?” Indali repeated her question.

“Kuzma…Kuzma Chorny,” the patient stuttered out.

“Who do you work for?” Indali repeated. “Why are you destroying the city?”

“Shoes…,” Kuzma replied, barely coherent.

Indali looked at Veil, and he replied, “He’s a cobbler, a shoemaker, and he’s not native to Medina. I don’t think he intends to destroy the city.”

“Why are you in Medina?” Indali asked. “What are you trying to do?”

The man blinked several times, trying to focus before saying, “Order, we bring Ord….” Before collapsing backward.

Veil reeled back, his mind caught in a spell backlash.

“Veil, are you okay?” Indali quickly ran to his side and supported him.”

“I’m fine,” Veil said, briefly lifting a hand to his face. “There was some sort of spell on him that triggered when he started answering your questions. His mind just collapsed.”

Veil and Indali looked at the former terrorist, who stared blankly at the ceiling, drool coming out of his mouth. Indali walked up to their ‘patient’ and performed a series of diagnostic spells.

“His brain is ruined,” she stated. “Did you get anything? No, wait, let’s talk in my lab later. I want to get rid of our friend first.”

That said, she told Veil to go to the laboratory, that she would meet him later. First, she would contact the authorities and inform them there was a patient raving about destroying the city at her clinic — a man who had suddenly and mysteriously collapsed.

Veil faced down his nemesis, food in one hand. He eyed the innocent looking monster while slowly moving the lid of the terrarium aside. Looking the creature dead in the eye, he lifted his hand over the top. A miniature lightning bolt immediately shot out, but he was ready. Veil had learned to cast a tiny version of the disc shield, less than fifteen centimeters in diameter. The shield, positioned between the lightning bolt and his hand, was struck with lightning. Veil gave his best evil laugh at the pitiful creature.

“Veil, are you laughing mega-manically at my hamsters?” Indali asked, having snuck in without his notice. She pouted at him a moment before giggling.

“How are you able to sneak up on me?” Veil asked. “It shouldn’t be possible with my psychic senses active.

“There are several ways to shield against that,” Indali replied, becoming serious. “You shouldn’t rely on those abilities. Keep yourself aware on every level, at all times.” Indali paused. “I’ll teach you the technique I use later.”

Walking over and sitting in one of the chairs, Indali asked, “What did you learn from our terrorist friend?”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t learn that much,” Veil replied, taking a seat opposite her. “Kuzma is a follower of the god Isah, and somehow they are trying to create order, so their god will be appeased. That’s my best interpretation of his thoughts before Kuzma’s mind collapsed. Honestly, I could even be wrong about the order part or appeasing their god. I didn’t get any information about his group, other than the vague sense that there is one. I’m sorry, but there just isn’t much information. If I were a better trained psychic, I’m sure I could have extracted a lot more.”

Indali frowned and tapped her leg.

“Don’t feel bad Veil, neither one of us is very suited for this task,” Indali sighed after a moment. “That’s significantly more knowledge than we had before.” They sat deep in thought for an extended period.

“Do you know of a way to augment someone’s mana reserves?” Veil finally asked. “I feel like I need to get stronger quickly.”

“You mean utilizing a secondary core?” Indali replied. “I would strongly recommend against that, Veil. Because the secondary nucleus ‘orbits’ your primary core, it can only contain about 20% as much energy as the primary. So, the increase isn’t that significant. Plus, remember that you must be careful when selecting secondary cores, especially if you choose more than one. If chosen incorrectly, multiple secondary nuclei will not have the proper resonance, which could be lethal. In a way, your lucky you don’t have a bloodline because that would already limit the type of secondary core you could choose. People with bloodlines start out with resonance issues, although those issues aren’t as bad as someone who has added a secondary core.”

“If you choose two secondary cores with the proper resonance, that could give you a mana boost of up to 30%, but you need to really take your time and choose properly.” Indali continued. “You’re an ambitious person, and if you choose the right sort of cores to augment yourself, you could become very powerful. Not to mention the problem of acquiring the cores. Surprisingly enough, most monsters don’t want to die for our ambitions.”

“What about adding three secondary cores? Is that possible?” Veil asked.

“Theoretically,” Indali replied with a smile. “That’s what my research is all about.”