(Jacob, 17)

Alex walks to the far side of the room and begins releasing prisoners from there, wrapping them in cloaks. Does he have enough for everyone? We will find out. If necessary, we can send someone from the Keeper's Resistance to acquire more.

I walk over to the crates and examine them, before using magic to open them, ensuring with wind magic that no sound escapes. If he hears me doing this, Alex might forget about his temporary truce and start an argument with me, and there is no time for that.

We need to destroy this stuff and evacuate the prisoners as soon as possible.

I pull out a few cases of the Crimson Pearl pills and place them into my spatial storage, then replace the lid and locate a crate full of boxes of vials of it, as well as another with boxes of small tins of powder. I add a few of each to my spatial storage, then replace the lids.

Jason and Sage Elena will likely possess the ability to analyze the drug and its curse and develop a counter or cure for it. It might be much easier for them to do with the raw product, rather than simply examining people who used the drug.

"Everything alright?" Alex calls out to me.

"Yes!" I call back.

"Why ain't ya destroying stuff?"

"I was seeing if there was something present which might hint as to who did this!" I call back. "While I trust the Keeper's Resistance to hand them over, I still want to start an investigation above-ground, too!"

There is not much here which could be used. I saw no notes, no journals, nothing which could make something personalized. Knowing how the investigation process works, I know the Royal Guards would yield that this is a dead-end without something outside coming in. As such, they would destroy everything themselves.

Without involving them, there are even fewer option for investigations. If I see anything that might assist with the investigation as I destroy things, then I will slip them into my spatial storage as well.

Answering where they came from will be difficult, but I will manage.

"Hurry up, would ya?" He calls back. "We've lots of prisoners to move in a short time!"

"I was just preparing to start!" I call back.

"Alright!"

Holding out a hand I hesitate. What if the drug fills the air here? Even with the filter over my mouth, it might make it in. I adjust the filter, then create a wind barrier around the crates I have targeted. With all of that in place, I send the hottest flames I can manage at the crates, burning them until there is nothing left but ash, burning even the ceramic with the heat.

I continue this, the process taking me a long time due to the additional spells, burning the ceramic, and ensuring every last piece of dust of the drug is burned away. More than two hours pass before I have destroyed or hidden in my spatial storage every last trace of the drug's manufacturing, glad to be rid of it.

Since no notes or journals are present, that means the makers have the recipe memorized. They will likely try to set up shop somewhere else, but it will cost them. A lot. I know what to look for, and I will alert the Royal Guards to be on the lookout in order to help track them down.

After I destroy everything in here, I enter the first room and begin destroying things. The boy they experimented on will never recover from what they did to him, so I grant him mercy and kill him, then return to destroying things. I walk into the room with the horrors and enhance myself further, before killing everything.

The shadowy people do not suffer any injuries from my attacks, yet they do not react to them, either. Just what are they?

After I finish this, I rejoin Alex, who has finished freeing everyone and putting them in cloaks. He has used some sort of mind spell to ensure they follow him. We leave the chamber, and Alex tells the Keeper's Resistance that he will take lead and bring everyone to the chamber they showed us, that they can go.

Then we begin walking, Alex at the front, me at the back. As we walk, I write up a list of every resource I saw in that room which the organization will need to restock in bulk, as well as a list of minor resources.

I prepare a full report as well, then send it back into my spatial storage just in time for us to enter another room. Alex instructs everyone to sit in rows, and they obey, still under the effects of his mind spell.

Honestly, his abilities at only green are impressive. I would put that level of mind magic in indigo, minimum. But considering who he is, it should not surprise me. Though why is he not in my head anymore? I would expect him to respond to my feelings regarding his abilities, that is how he is.

"What now?" I ask.

"Now," Alex says. "We feed them and give them something to drink, just to tide them over until we can get the Royal Guard down here. Come on, help me out. The resistance gave me supplies while I was waiting for you."

Alex opens up his spatial storage and dumps out crates of food and drink, and I help serve it to everyone. More than three hundred street rats, enslaved to be drained of blood, then turned into monstrosities.

As soon as they are above-ground and in a safe place, I will ensure they are cared for. Papa might resist me a little, but he will yield to my requests for something better than turning them loose as soon as they recover.

Most of them will likely return to the streets after, but no one will be capable of claiming I did not attempt to help them.

Once everyone is fed, I ask Alex why we stopped here rather than led them up to the surface.

"Waiting on a signal from Barry," he answers. "He'll let us know once the crew's ensured a clear path."

"Okay," I say. "Is there anything else about this situation I should know about? Anything you might have forgotten to inform me of?"

"Not that I can think of," he shrugs. "But then, if I've forgotten it, I ain't exactly remembering it, right?"

"Right," I look at the crowd of street rats. "While we wait for that, what do you think about Niko and his accidental adventures?"

Lina has grown quite depressed over the various things happening to Niko, as she knows it must be making him feel even worse about himself, to be targeted repeatedly just as he seemed to be overcoming the treatment his parents gave him.

"Him?" Alex scoffs. "He should grow the hell up. Everyone's got problems."

Alex dislikes Niko, too? He has never shown that before, but I suppose he is a much better actor than I give him credit for. What does everyone having problems have to do with Niko being targeted by grey-level beasts?

He tilts his head to the side before I can ask the connection, then shakes his head.

"Let us go check the path," he tells me. "Ensure it is clear before we take the rats up top."

"Will they be fine?" I ask.

"Yes," he tells me. "My spell remains active, so they will be fine."

"Okay," I say. "Lead the way."

Alex leads me through the tunnels, and after ten minutes of walking, I feel dizzy. Runes flare up on the walls, ceiling, and floor, then everything goes black.

When I come to, I find myself in a cage with Alex, the two of us wearing mithril mana-draining cuffs. That, at least, is a relief. Not many people know that Alex and I possess the ability to free ourselves from mithril ones. Even after destroying everything not all that long ago, I still have enough mana left to overload these cuffs and free myself.

Alex still seems to be out of it, so I look around. We are in a room with many cages, and these ones have healthy versions of the monsters I destroyed. Monstrosities without decay or wounds, whole and undamaged. People with additional limbs, spikes, horns, and more.

Completed versions? Then what was the deal with everything in the other chamber?

A man walks into view, his face obscured by a mask.

"Hello, Jacob," he speaks with a thick accent, one I do not recognize. "I have to thank you, destroying all traces of our presence in those rooms. Other than the cages, of course. It saved us a lot of trouble, as the dust from our drug and experiments can be quite troublesome. We're most glad to know that everything played out as we predicted, as we knew only a Magus could probably destroy things there."

They planned on that? Did they have contingencies for if Alex did not contact me? Or if the Keeper's Resistance did not find things?

Do they have a contingency for if I did not destroy everything and manage to escape?

"You'll notice," he says. "That those are mithril cuffs. Your magic is useless here, so don't expect to escape at all, Jacob. Normally, I would have killed you already. We want your family gone, removed from power. However, the body of a Magus has its uses, both alive and dead. Your blood and Alex's will prove quite useful in a more potent version of our drug. It's only a shame we can't get Jeshema, but he'll fall into a different trap soon enough."

"Jason is much too powerful for you to trap," I say.

"Oh, trust me," he says, his voice cruel. "Everyone can be trapped, even the High Magus, who has ascended to the level of grey magical power and is accompanied by a baby dragon. Even someone who can kill gods. In fact, a more powerful Nolan was captured once, wasn't he?"

I feel my eyes widen at that mention. How would he know about Nolan's capture? That was during the war, so no mortal should know about it!

"Yes," the man chuckles. "We know a few things about the war, Jacob. The god I serve has bid his time, waiting for the opportunity to strike. He knew you would return and made preparations, hid himself from Jeshema's observation. When he found out I wanted the Varilan family out of power, he offered a deal to me. After all, the king's two children are Magi. Our interests align."

A god who knows about Nolan's capture.

Reizanik!

If this man is honest, then he is serving an actual god, one who can hide his presence from Jason's detection. Was the god sealed away? Is it actually Reizanik? If so, some things would make sense. A god of blood and curse who came from hell. All three factors into what we found here.

If it is Reizanik, then Jason is in danger. My comm cuff was removed, probably because they were uncertain as to whether or not I would be able to use it even with the cuffs on. That means I cannot alert Jason to the threat.

Even if he dealt with blood and curses, Reizanik's true status was a god of traps, and one of the more powerful ones. By the time Jaklenai would notice something was amiss, there is a good chance Jason would be out of commission for a long time.

Unless we tracked down Enaveka and ordered him to do what he could to locate Jason. But if Reizanik hid out of Enaveka's notice, then it is doubtful the gods could track him or Jason down, once Jason falls into the trap.

My escape needs to come sooner, but there are several problems wrong with it. First, if I overload the cuffs, I will be left drained of mana due to how much I used earlier. I need to recover a lot more before I try fighting the monsters here.

Second, praying to the King and Queen of the Gods I or someone else manages to contact Jason and warn him that he may be facing Reizanik.

Third, pray that Jason does not fall into the trap.

As the man leaves the room, leaving Alex and me alone, I think over my options. I have the mana potions Jason made for me, ones which used my own blood to ensure my body is compatible with them. I do not want to use them, even if he assured all of us they were safe.

But they will be necessary for escape.

"Don't bother," Alex says as I start pushing mana into my cuffs, and I look at him, finding him awake. "We've been here a couple o' hours, ya were out quite awhile. He's come in every twenty minutes to see if we woke, I faked being asleep."

"We walked into a trap," I say.

"Yeah," he sits up, stretching. "I tried escaping the way you did, and before I managed to make it halfway to transmuting them, the floor started glowing, and I was drained dry. It seems this room has some sort of enchantment on the floor to draw away mana whenever there's a high use from it. From the source."

I turn my gaze to the stone floor, spotting the grooves carved into it. They are light and thin, but they make up a runic circle. I am not expert on enchantments and magical circles, but it does appear to do what Alex said.

That adds yet another issue to this. They want us to try to escape, so that they can drain us dry of magic, then probably begin the blood drain, taking our blood regularly until they dispose of us for not having whatever makes our blood special due to our age anymore.

Chances are, once they find out we do not stay dead, they will try to turn us into monstrosities. If they do, would we ever be able to return to this form?

Slumping against one of the cage walls, I try to figure out what to do. They caught us. Jason is being captured by a powerful god who can evade the notice of other gods, Alex and I are captured, to be drained of blood so that drugs can be made, then later killed and probably turned into horrific beasts, and with what Alex said the plan was, my city will fall. My family will fall.

The Keeper's Resistance will fail.

There will be only nine Magi left around, and I am sure the others will be captured as well, taken out of commission.

I wish I was fully Ethan, not just someone with a few of his memories. Were I truly the King of Spring, I would probably find a way out of this situation. At least for everything but Jason. There is no escaping Reizanik for him, especially not alone.

"It's okay," Alex says when I groan. "Everything'll be alright, we'll find a way out of this. Though… things might not look so good outside when we do."

"That is what worries me," I tell him. "They plan on causing a large problem for people, and they have shown a level of planning that can capture three Magi. This really is hopeless."

Alex falls silent, and I sit here, wondering just how we could escape. If it is not possible, then what I can do to protect my people?

I wish I had spent time with Tasha after the training group. If we never make it out of this, then the last time we did anything together would be train. Train, train, and train. It has been too long since we went on a proper date.

We were supposed to go tomorrow night. Or, well, I guess this coming night, since we are after midnight, now.

But then, as I sit here, a thought comes to me.

We are the Magi. There is always a way out. I can worry about rescuing Jason once Alex and I escape and deal with this situation. We can recruit every god on this world if we need to. I will find a World Pearl, track down Niko, and ask him to summon Midlaris to grant us insight as to Jason's location.

Before then, though, I will escape here.

"Alex," I open my eyes. "Tell me everything you know about our situation, this organization, and anything else you found which might relate to it. These tunnels, where we might be, and so on. We need to formulate a plan. Now."

(Niko, 16)

"Lina sent another gift basket."

I jump, then twist my torso to face Jason, who startled me with his sudden and unexpected arrival. He needs to stop using his ability to evade scanning spells, because that can be dangerous!

Right now, he wears his usual outfit, and is holding a gift basket from Lina. Sitting on top of it is Zevenas, looking at me warily, as if I might steal his horde.

"Uh…"

"Zevenas, down!" Jason orders, and Zevenas jumps off the basket. "He jumped on there as soon as Lina handed it to me, and I was coming straight here."

"Okay," I accept the basket, then set it down beside me before I turn my gaze back to the valley I am watching.

It is beautiful, with the moon reflecting on the quiet lake in the middle, the evergreens growing through the valley, the river snaking its way through it, and the glades and fields here and there. I wish I could show it to Lina, but that may never happen.

Jason sits beside me, dangling his legs over the cliff as well, and he watches the valley for a few minutes.

"Nothing from Alex this time?" My voice has a note of bitterness to it.

"Niko," Jason says. "I told you, either I told him, or he'd launch his own investigation, eventually uncovering the full truth. You know how Alex is, he's stubborn and hard-headed. Sort of like the rest of us. And he's concerned about you. Heavily."

Jason only told Alex about my leg, not my arm. He claims Alex responded well to it, and Alex even sent me things a couple of times. It annoyed me, especially because it was Alex. He does not take too many things that seriously.

One of his gifts was a piece of stone he carved into a leg. However, he also sent me some quality ale, though, along with some stronger drinks and a note that said 'Ya know a good drinking buddy!'

It still worries me, though. How would he act if I returned? Is he attempting to lure me back just so that he can harass me? Out my injury to everyone? I would need to hide my real self from everyone, or they would look at me in disgust.

As I think about that, I frown a little. Jason had a strange note to his voice when he talked about Alex.

"Is everything okay?" I ask.

"No," he answers. "Something's wrong. I've been attempting to contact Alex ever since the meeting ended an hour ago, and he hasn't responded. I'm already worried because he was acting strange the last couple of days, too, and there's… something weird going on in the streets of Varilsy."

"Something weird?" I ask.

"Yes," Jason nods. "Street rats have been disappearing. Four entire crews are gone. Uncle Zach is ordering an investigation into it in the morning. If someone is kidnapping the street rats, how long before they go after others? Why are they kidnapping so many people?"

"Alex is a Magus," I say. "It is doubtful anyone would kidnap him successfully. He will likely allow himself to be taken, only so that he can find their headquarters and kill them all."

"Maybe," Jason says quietly. "I don't know, though. Something in my gut says it's not right. Something's wrong. Severely."

"Have you attempted to track him?" I ask. "You are able to do that using our magical residue, right?"

"I could," Jason says. "But what if Alex is just wanting some alone time? Or he simply forgot to carry his comm plate on him? He is busy with restoring his family's finances."

"Did you try contact his crew?" I ask.

Jason frowns for a few moments, then his frown deepens. Then deepens again.

"None of them are answering," he tells me. "I would expect at least one of them to, just to tell me to bug off. Why would-hold on. Hello?"

Jason listens for a few moments, then scrambles to his feet, though because of where we were sitting, he more or less scrambles to standing on air rather than on the cliff.

"What do you mean?" He asks. "Jacob disappeared?"

I look at Jason in shock. How could Jacob disappear? He has guards following him at all times.

"No, I'm returning," Jason says. "I was off doing some training stuff. Give me a couple of minutes, and I'll be there."

Jason looks at me.

"Jacob disappeared," he tells me. "He lost his guards in a lesser district, then just vanished. He hasn't returned, and it's nearly midnight in Varilsy. Alex and his crew not answering, Jacob not returning to the palace like he should have, something is wrong. I'm returning back."

"Okay," I say, then watch as Jason steps through a gate, vanishing.

I lie back, staring up at the stars.

Maybe I could return to Varisly, one day. I am nearly seventeen now, and with my current rate of training added onto sustaining two gargoyle limbs, I will likely reach grey magical power by the end of this year. Possibly within six months from now. When that happens, my limbs will regrow, returning me to a whole state.

My birthday is in a little more than a month and a half, as we are nearing the end of the fourth month. University ends with the second Sorday of next month.

What will Lina do, as she celebrates? I will be violet before then, I am sure. I train hard every day to ensure my power increases, because I wish for the healing power of grey magical power. Will I return when I reach grey-level magical power?

Even if I do not, will Lina continue to hope I will return? What will she do for my birthday this year? Ask Jason to send me a gift?

It frustrates me, holding back like this. I want to return to Varil, to hug Lina and kiss her and let her Know I have returned. But at the same time, I know that if she sees my real self, she will look at me with disgust.

Only Jason does not care. Well, I suppose there is Eli, too. He turned out to be a good friend after he learned about my leg, though I feel certain some of that rose from his obligation to me as one of my citizens.

Everything there is an unknown with certain negative reactions to me. Here, I have an apprentice who laps up everything I teach him, people who accept me for who I am, and the freedom to do as I please.

Yet I feel horrible. Why am I such a terrible person? Why am I broken?

Footsteps reach my ears, and I turn to find Aiden approaching. He sits beside me, dangling his legs over the edge of the cliff as well.

"Are you really being visited by a thunderbird regularly recently?"

"Yes," I answer. "Sriia is quite nervous to return to Varil, so she has remained out here ever since she arrived. Jason… bothers her. Heavily."

Aiden is silent for a few moments, then snorts.

"Jason," he says. "Sent her to you."

"Jason scared her by accident with an innocent question," I shake my head. "He asked for some of her blood or the blood of someone else from her flock. No one even knew where they were, and he just arrived and spoke as if it was an everyday thing. I have attempted to convince her that Jason likely just wishes to make potions and see the effects thunderbird blood has on it, but she still fears that he wishes to slaughter her flock, not just take some blood samples."

"I mean," Aiden says. "That he told me he used a subtle mind spell on her while he made the request to direct her to you when he realized his question was badly-worded and her flock grew scared. He sent her to you because he knew she already had questions about Lina."

"Why would he do that?" I ask.

"She wishes to see Lina," Aiden tells me. "You wish to see Lina, who is also the Divine Thunderbird."

I stare at Aiden in shock. Did Jason tell him?

"No!" He laughs, and I realize my question must be evident on my face. "I figured it out on my own, Niko. I've looked in ruins that talk of the war and the Magi, of the Kings and Queens of Power. From everything I've researched, it wasn't hard to draw that conclusion about the twelve of you.

"Anyway," he says. "Niko, Jason sent a thunderbird to you hoping it would make you miss your own thunderbird even more. Sriia was sent your way in the hopes that you'd miss Lina enough to return to your friends."

"Jason… was attempting to manipulate me?" I ask.

"He has been, ever since you came here," Aiden reminds me. "He wishes you were back in Varilsy with the rest of them, he misses hanging out with you properly, and your friends miss you, too. They want you to return."

"I am damaged!" I point at my right arm, my gargoyle arm. "I am a freak! Why would anyone care about me? Why would Lina care about me? All I have to do is wait until I turn grey in magical power, Aiden. Then, I can return."

"Will you be happy with that?" He asks, and I open my mouth to respond. "Niko, you are hiding because of your injuries. You hide them out of fear of how they will react. I know, and still see you as my little brother. Jason knows, and he's remained your friend."

"Eli knows," I tell him. "One of the Marrans who came to study in Varil after Jason showed Father the benefits of magic. He has helped me a few times, after finding out when the spell in my leg turned out to be wrong, causing it turn turn to solid stone rather than stay as living stone. We became sort-of friends after that."

"See?" Aiden asks. "You're worried for nothing, Niko. But honestly? If they would hate you because of your injury, would they deserve you without them? Even if you returned, I know you'll hide the injuries, the gargoyle limbs, and let yourself reach grey magical power so your arm and leg will regrow. But you'd be among your friends, and if more found out… how do you know they won't react the same way Jason, Eli, and I have? Just something to think on."

Aiden stands and opens up an indigo gate, then leaves me alone to my thoughts. Did Jason send him here?

I sit up and stare out across the valley once more. I want to see Lina again, not just send gifts to her through Jason or receive them from him when she sends them. But it still scares me. My parents rejected me, my people rejected me.

What if Aiden and Jason are wrong? What if Lina and the others reject me if they find out?

(Alex, 17)

The mage steps away from me, now that he has finished restoring the skin of my chest, back, and forehead. Damn demonic rituals. I ain't remembering much about them, but I know that what they did was something from the demons.

Chances are, there's some god from hell around who shared that information. No matter, Jason will probably deal with it before I even have a chance to let him know. If anything, he'll just whip out Reaper and thoroughly terrify them.

I watch everything here through my scanning spell. They think I'm unconscious still, unaware their curse slid right off of me. That's a little confusing, but I'm betting Jason had something to do with it.

The fact that he ain't barged in here yet suggests that the spell he has on me to detect if I'm harmed is blocked, too, considering they carved the runes into my forehead, chest, and back four days ago, then cut the patches off the day after. They drained me of mana thoroughly before I'd woken up here the first time, then put me in these mana-draining mithril cuffs.

Unfortunately for them, they've underestimated my mana regeneration.

The mage leaves the room, along with the two guards, and I smirk.

They really need to work on their process. Really? Leaving a prisoner unattended? It's like they're asking to not have an alarm sounded until the Magus of Mind is running loose, slaughtering them.