(Niko, 17)

"Benjamin?" I ask.

"Yes," Lina chuckles. "A distant cousin and Hannah's younger brother. His father is a baron, Duke Ranmal. He shares the same name you held in our past life."

"Yes," I say. "He arrived today?"

It has been four days since the solstice, four days since we began our search for Jacob, yet nothing seems to yield results. Alex went through nearly every criminal organization in all of Varilsy, just in case, and no one could tell him who the man in the cloak was. Tasha still acts the part of a crying betrothed, while the rest of us act various parts.

This is the first I have heard of Hannah's direct family coming to Varilsy.

"Maybe an hour before you arrived here at the palace," she tells me, dipping her feet into the pond we are seated beside. I do the same, feeling the cool water with my right foot. "Due to the distance his family is from Papa, they are a branch family. It seems his papa is busy with work, so he came to supervise what happens with Hannah's body, including the funeral. He also wishes to look at the academies here, it seems his papa will force him to attend one."

"He does not wish to?"

"No," she answers. "He does not, but it appears he gave up arguing against it."

She looks like she has something more to say, so I link my fingers with hers and give her hand a light squeeze.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Something seems to be on Benjamin's mind," she tells me. "Something other than his sister's death and attending academy next term."

"You believe he might know something regarding what happened?" I ask. "Do you believe that his papa may be responsible, after all?"

We considered the possibility that Hannah's father might have something to do with the kidnapping, but that thought was dismissed. Even if he did not like that Tasha became Jacob's betrothed over Hannah, little other evidence existed to suspect him.

"It seems unrelated to that," she tells me. "He says he has not seen his papa in months."

"I see," I say. "What do you-"

My question is interrupted by a call on my commplate, and I pull it out to check the caller. Alex. I look at Lina.

"Answer it," she tells me. "It most likely relates to the case."

"Hello?" I answer the call using the ancient tongue.

"I found the cloaked man," Alex responds in the ancient tongue. "Lord Gregory Hrurith. He lives in a castle about a day's ride out of Varilsy. It was constructed under the watchful eye of Sage Alyssa, and I doubt I'd be able to get to him inside of it without risking killing him."

"Lord Hrurith?" Lina asks. "Are you certain, Alex? I hear his health is not that well."

"I've been watching from a great height with an illusion wrapped around me," Alex says. "It seems his health ain't as bad as they claim. He was just training with the sword a little bit ago, moving like a master."

"From height?" Lina asks.

"Yeah," Alex says. "I'm flying a few hundred feet away. If it weren't for those anti-air defenses Sage Alyssa put into the castle, getting down there wouldn't have been a problem."

"Sage Alyssa usually puts them into castles and fortresses she builds," Lina states. "The palace possesses them as well. He hired her to build the castle there years ago, I do not remember the reason behind it."

"Well, whatever the reason," Alex says. "I ain't sure how we're going to get to him, unless we wait for him to leave. Sage Alyssa's too good of a builder to build a castle that would let someone invisible sneak in."

"Through the gate, maybe," I say. "But I have a trick that can allow me inside."

"What is it?" Lina asks.

"A spell Jason was scolded for teaching me," I state.

"Phasing through objects," Alex says. "I forgot Jason taught ya that, I remember him mentioning it after hearing him get scolded for it. I knew there was a reason I felt like ya might be able to."

"I might also possess enough power to simply break in," I look at Lina.

"No," she says. "Do not break in, Niko. Leave the castle as intact as possible."

"Okay," I stand and dry off my feet. "Alex, open a gate to me once you find a suitable spot."

"Will do," he says as I start to pull my boots back on. "Where are ya?"

"I will be at Jason's," I tell him. "Open the gate there."

"Will do," he says.

I fix the legs of my pants, then lean down and kiss Lina.

"I will see you when I return," I tell her.

"I will see you then," she kisses me back.

I open a gate and step through it, then wait for Eli and Micah to step through, as they were present to act as the escorts for me, even with the guards and Lina's own escorts around. I open another gate for them and send them back to our embassy, then wait for Alex's gate to appear. Once it does, I step through, finding myself in some plains, the castle only a few hundred yards away.

"I've woven an illusion field," Alex tells me. "It's hiding us from sight, there ain't really a good spot for us here."

"I understand," I tell him. "When I reach Lord Hrurith, what should I do?"

"Find a place where you can open a gate in secret," he tells me. "Then open a gate back to here. The crew and I will handle things from there."

"Understood," I say, then wrap myself in an illusion to turn myself invisible.

Hidden from detection, I approach the castle, checking the enchantments to ensure nothing will stop me. Due to the properties of phasing magic, no one has yet to guard against it except for High Magus Nolan, on his most special creations, such as the tombs. That does not worry me, but I wished to ensure that the spell which strips illusions would not touch me as I approached.

After confirming that nothing will strip my illusions, I reach the wall of the castle, then remove my clothes and jewelry, including the cuffs, and send them into my spatial storage. Phasing spells do not allow us to phase anything other than our body, so all of those would fall off.

Because I removed the cuffs, my arm and leg are visible once more, but because of my own illusion, no one but I can see them at the moment.

Ready, I weave together the spell Jason taught me, then begin walking through the stone. After nearly a foot of stone, I enter into a narrow passageway, then continue through the foot of stone on the other side of it, out into a wide, more decorated hall. Rather than a service tunnel, this hall is used by not just servants but the noble residents as well.

Upon making it through the wall, I open up my spatial storage and pull my clothes out, dressing once more. I put on my cuffs and reactivate the illusions with them, even though only I would see the truth, then pull on my jewelry, my rings from Lina.

Dressed once more, I make my way through the halls, still wrapped in my illusion. The enchantments in the walls would normally mess with scanning spells, but my improved one can push right through those. It makes it easier for me to track down Lord Hrurith, who has retreated to his office.

When I reach the office, I examine the door. It is closed, and entering would alert him to my presence. Stepping to the side, I prepare for phasing, then step through the wall and pull my stuff back on.

Alex can wait a little longer.

Lord Hrurith has blue magical power, though I cannot tell which level. Not upper blue for sure, so either lower or middle. I need to train this sense I trained a little more if I want to more finely distinguish between magical power levels of the same color.

The walls of the office are lined with shelves filled with books, and the duke's desk is covered in papers, candles used to illuminate the space. I suppose they have yet to install a mana generator here yet.

I fix my clothes after a glance through the office, then step up to his desk. Once in front of it, I release the illusion concealing me and clear my throat. Lord Hrurith jumps, startled, and looks at me with confused eyes.

"Who are you?" He demands to know. "How did you get in here?"

"I am Niko sul'Mar," I answer. "Betrothed of Lina Varil, the twin sister of the man you paid to have kidnapped. You were not an easy person to find, Gregory. However, you had my friend kidnapped, so do not believe I will go easy on you."

"Niko, this ain't the plan," Alex says into my head.

So he was observing through telepathy, then?

"Yes," he answers. "Now he'll tell Zachary, and-"

Quiet, Alex.

"If you believe that betrothal to the princess can protect-"

"I did not say you could speak," I flick a wrist, silencing him with a spell that lasts only a few moments. "So do not speak unless I say you can, Gregory. You paid to have a Magus kidnapped. We are not people to be taken lightly. We fought the gods and won. That does not happen by being nice."

I wrap my aura around myself, infused with the power of curse magics, set to decay anything not alive. I push the aura out, just enough to fill the room, then release it. As Lord Hrurith and I are the only living things in here, everything begins to decay, rust, or crumble. I was careful to keep it from touching my clothes so those are unaffected as well.

"One of the Magi," I tell the now-terrified lord. "Wished to simply demolish this building with you inside of it. Consider yourself unfortunate that we need answers, because we will extract them from you before we kill you, regardless of how powerful a mind shield you might manage."

(Alex, 17)

Niko was angry. I suppose I should have expected his wrath based on what I knew of him when he was Magus Benjamin. We're all pissed about Jacob being kidnapped, but the anger of the Magus of Curse is second only to that of the Magus of Magic.

He had Gregory singing like a canary within a minute, though nothing useful. He was given the cloak and mask, and receives regular payments and instructions. The amulets used by the kidnappers were provided as well. The incident with Tasha's family was his doing as well, so we at least know that now.

However, he doesn't know who pays him. He doesn't know what their plans are, or how to contact them. They give him money, messages, and packages to deliver, and he does. In exchange for that, he receives payments in addition to a treatment for his body, to allow him to act as any healthy man. To prevent suspicion, however, he continued to pretend to be of fragile body.

This has gone on for more than thirty years.

Now, though, it's over. Niko proved himself to be far more capable with mind magics than he's shown before, wiping Lord Hrurith's memory of his interrogation before ordering Thunderbird Alpha to open a gate into the royal prisons. Then, he tossed the arrogant noble into them.

Now, Niko Lina, the other Magi here in Varilsy, and I are sitting in a room at the royal palace, under King Zachary's unamused and quite annoyed glare. He has been lecturing us for quite some time, though I think most of us tuned him out after the first half-second of it.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty," I interrupt him after an hour of the lecture passes, standing and ignoring the glare the king sends me. "One does not simply kidnap a Magus and get away with it. Ya might consider this a national issue, we consider it a Magus issue. If ya really want to stop us, then convince the Sages to let Jason return, 'cause Jacob being found is the only thing that'll cause us to stop hunting for him. Ya ain't in a room with nine Varilans and a Marran. Ya are in a room with ten of the Magi. Unless ya can get Jason or a god to stop us, ya ain't got a choice in what we do."

"He's right," Adam stands. "Our friend was kidnapped, and it isn't in our nature to let that sort of thing go."

One by one, the other Magi present stand and add to this, and King Zachary only starts to look more and more annoyed. Honesty, he looks ready to blow up on us even more. He opens his mouth, but before he can speak, a grey gate appears in here and Zevenas waddles in. The gate closes.

What? Did Zevenas just open a gate to come visit us while we were being lectured? That's actually rather strangely coincidental.

Unless that amulet of his that Jason made so he can turn himself invisible also has a communication enchantment woven into it. Was he or Jason listening in through the stuffie golems present?

All eyes fix on Zevenas, who looks at us Magi. Then, he opens his mouth and starts talking in dragon-speak. That is, in noises that have no meaning to us other than… letting us know he's saying something. I can sense in his mind that he's feeling quite confident in his scolding, but he's blocking me from actually reading his thoughts, so I don't know what he's actually trying to tell us.

When the baby dragon finishes his scolding, he says something else to us, a note of pride in his mind, then he opens up a gate and walks back through it, closing the gate behind him.

"What just happened?" Elise mutters.

"Zevenas just scolded us," I say. "Then told us something he felt quite happy telling us. Anyway, Your Majesty, try to stop us from finding Jacob. I dare ya."

For a moment, it seems as if His Majesty actually considers attempting to stop us, likely through the use of the Royal Guard or the Sages. Then his gaze rests on Niko, whose eyes are full of isivinite determination.

Deciding not to try to stop a Magus with violet magical power, King Zachary addresses all of us.

"Please stop this rampage you are performing," he says. "Searching for Jacob is one thing, dismantling the entire criminal underworld and attacking nobles is another."

"We make no promises," I tell him. "Oh, but I should let ya know – whoever has the Crimson Pearl, they ain't in Varilsy right now. I did find that out while looking for Jacob. That explains why we ain't had any cases of it here yet."

"We have yet to have a single reported case," he tells me. "It makes us suspect they are planning on biding their time and building up a stash before setting things into motion."

"Only gives us more time to prepare," I tell him. "Magi, let's move out. We still have several more things to do today."

"Stop attacking nobles," King Zachary tells us. "There are other ways to deal with this."

If the noble's in our way, we ain't gonna stop and play nice. Not until the Magi are back together.

The seven of us leave, and as we're walking out of the palace, I receive a call on my comm plate. Checking it, I frown. They shouldn't be able to contact me.

"What is it?" Connor asks.

"Jason," I answer. "I thought they confiscated his comm stuff until after his rest period ends?"

(Jason, 16)

"Seriously, Fael Mira?" I ask. "I'm recovered, I don't need to keep resting."

"No," she says. "You are staying here and continuing to rest. If we let you go now, you're just going to go on a rampage through Varil until you find Jacob."

I don't need to go on a rampage to find Jacob, my efforts will no doubt bear fruit soon. Whatever is happening to Jacob, he'll understand why I waited passively. What I did Felday morning will ensure I learn his location so long as I wait long enough. As he's a Magus, I don't have to worry about him dying, either. He will always come back, even if we need to restore his body first.

"It's been four days since I last talked to Alex," I complain. "Can I at least get a comm plate back so I can say 'hi'?"

"As long as you let me watch," she says. "And you speak in Varilan. Do not believe for a moment you are the only one who can block the signal of them."

"Yes, yes," I hold out my hand. "Please? I want to hear his voice again."

She opens up a spatial storage and pulls out one of my comm plates, and I call Alex. He takes a few seconds to answer.

"Jason?" He asks uncertainly.

"Hey, Alex," I greet him. "How are things there?"

"Not bad," he answers. "I have a small audience, by the way. The Magi still in Varilsy are here with me."

"That's fine," I say. "I have Fael Mira watching me with a glare because she thinks I'm going to try to escape again."

"Again?"

"Jaklenai caught me and dragged me back."

Alex cracks up laughing at that as Fael Mira sighs. She didn't know I'd actually succeeded in one of my attempts at leaving. Unfortunately, Jaklenai knows how to find me, and I didn't have a place I could go quickly enough for him to not find me, especially since he knows most of the places I made that hide from sight. Well, that I made as Nolan.

"Anyway," I tell him. "I heard that a certain group of people are going on a bit of a rampage."

"Did Zevenas tell ya?" Alex asks.

"Zevenas?" I ask. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Erm, nothing."

"Liar."

"He just scolded us," Alex answers, then explains to me about the lecture Uncle Zach was giving them, them standing up to him, then Zevenas's arrival and departure.

"Really?" I ask. "Huh. Jaklenai has him and the griffin cub… somewhere. I don't know where. He doesn't want me playing with them during my rest period, so I haven't seen him."

"Oh," Alex says. "So how did ya know about our rampage?"

"Yes," Fael Mira glares at me. "How did you know about that, Jason? We're keeping you under a tight monitor and checking for any attempts at mind magic, so we'd know-"

"Hush," I hold up a hand to silence her. "Anyway, Alex, I really mostly wanted to hear your voice, let you know that I know, and tell you I love you."

"I love ya, too," he says. "I'll see ya in a few days, okay?"

"See you," I tell him, then end the call and hand the comm plate back to Fael Mira. "Happy?"

"I don't need your attitude," she says.

"You do realize that if I really wanted to," I say. "I could stop Jaklenai from forcing me back, right? I'm back to full strength, even if it did take a couple of days. The only reason I'm still here is because I don't know where Jacob is yet. Once I find his location-"

A whispering in my ear stops my statement, and I listen intently to its words, deciphering the riddle given to me.

"Once you find his location," Miralandis says. "You will tell us where it is, and we will rescue him."

"Sorry," I tell her. "But this is a Magus issue. I left the prison around last time because it was useful for storing demons, angels, and gods, but this time, it needs to go."

Though I did kill or bind them all, in the end, so none were stored there after the last Gathering of Power. I really should have destroyed it before the Gathering happened, and I'm not sure why I didn't.

Well, okay, I do know why. I forgot about it, but in my defense, even the mind of a grey-level being can take time to remember things. I was over seven hundred years old by that point. I'd forgotten that restoring Midlaris's world-only pathways would have allowed Lreth Prison to be active again. Between when we Magi destroyed the pathways and when I restored the ones only linking places here on Midlaris, only I was able to access it, since only I knew where it was. So that did contribute to me forgetting that I should have destroyed the prison.

"The prison?" Fael Mira asks.

"Yes," I gesture with my arms. "Lreth Prison. It's where Jacob is."

Fael Mira realizes too late what I'm doing, and she moves forward in an attempt to stop me, throwing a spell at me. However, I finish accessing the pathway before it reaches me, and the spell instead flies through where I was as I enter the pathway, zipping through it.

Navigating the pathway is annoying, but I eventually reach my destination, a stone tower on an island in the ocean. For others to access it, they have to use a special artifact, which I also should have destroyed.

It isn't always on this island, because as stated, it moves around, which means it's in different locations regularly. Even if I was able to open a gate into places I went to in my last life here, I wouldn't have been able to open a gate into it because of the location change.

The prison also keeps itself hidden, which makes finding it difficult. The god who created it also designed it to be impossible to teleport into. However, that's no issue for the King of Magic.

After flying around the tower a little bit, I locate the giant hole from when I entered in a few thousand years ago. A sphere of raw spatial magic will do that to a place. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to disrupt the properties of the prison, but it does make a nice little entrance.

I soar into the hole, then land on the stone floor. Inside, I begin walking, making my way up to the cell where Jacob will be kept. Unsurprisingly, there's no one here.

When I reach the floor with Jacob's cell, I approach the door to it. A simple gesture is all I need to open it, then I'm inside, finding Jacob currently being tortured by the papa of one of the kidnappers. A duke and distant relation to the royal line.

I snap my fingers, stunning the duke, then I approach, placing a hand on his forehead. Immediately, I delve into his mind, pulling out all of the relevant information. Then, I scramble his brain with force magic, killing him.

With that taken care of, I look at my cousin. He's in a rather bad state, with bruises and cuts all over him, dressed in just a pair of plain pants. Another snap, and the cuffs binding him snap open, dropping him to the ground. The ones on his ankles break open as well, and I pull them away from him.

"You received my message," Jacob chuckles as he moves to a sitting position, legs crossed.

"Yeah," I begin applying holy magic to heal his wounds. "Clever, that was. You knew I'd get it no matter what happened after you left."

"I knew you'd probably do something drastic," he tells me. "And that you'd end up in a rest period, probably with the Dragon Clans. But I knew that if I sent him to Varilsy, you'd somehow take notice and figure out the location."

"By tracking his past locations," I nod. "Though the god was sloppily made, I'll probably have to do some adjustments to him later."

In my next life, though. I rushed his creation in this form, and there's no way I could smooth it over until I'm back in my true form. Even if I can make gods in this form, this form isn't supposed to be able to do so, resulting in some complications and difficulties.

"The god?" He asks. "What do you mean, the god was sloppily made?"

"Huh?" I ask. "Oh, I ripped out a chunk of Enaveka's essence and created a new god. I'd forgotten it was the summer solstice, though, and ended up getting sick for a little bit longer than I intended-ow!"

Jacob smacked me on the head as I spoke, and as I give him an unhappy glare, he gives me an annoyed look.

"You can make gods, even in this form?" He asks. "And you did? What were you thinking?"

"Don't worry," I tell him. "The new god isn't part of the current pantheon, so he won't have the issues the others did. He's mostly immaterial, unable to affect the mortal plane in most circumstances. I think Jaklenai suspects something's up, but if he's figured out I made a god, he hasn't told me."

"How did you even do that?" He asks. "And in a mortal form, too?"

"I do have godly levels of magical power," I point out. "Any Magus could do it once they reach third or fourth level of grey magical power, Jacob. It's just taxing, and they'd end up being a minor god. Since we Magi can manipulate and use the essences of beings at grey magical power, and gods are formed from the essences of other gods, it really isn't a stretch for us to do that."

Jacob sighs, putting his head in his hands, and I continue healing him. Once I finish, my cousin gives me a curious look.

"So did you use some of your essence?" He asks. "Make it a God of the Second Order?"

"No," I answer. "I just used a little bit of Enaveka's essence, and some from a forest god hiding in a forest near the northern border of Varil."

"The one who repaired the forest after Alex and I fought?" He asks.

"Yeah, him," I answer. "It was a pain in the butt to do, and took me out for a couple of days. I really should have remembered it was the summer solstice coming up."

"So what can he do?" Jacob asks.

"The god?" I ask, and he nods. "He can track beings, even retroactively. It uses some of the same properties as using the gate spell does. I had him looking for people with certain thoughts. One of them was someone thinking about a message for me from you, since I figured you'd find a way to get a message to me, even in prison."

He's how I knew about the rampage the Magi went on, too.

"And once he found Benjamin," Jacob says. "He looked into his past locations and saw the leap, then reported it to you."

"Yep," I answer. "Come on, let's get out of here. It's time to destroy this place for good."

Jacob and I leave, and once we're floating over the ocean a safe distance away, I open up a spatial storage. Fael Mira really should have realized I didn't empty out of all of them when she didn't see any of the orbs of the essences of the various types of magic.

Rather than any of the elemental magics, I pull out an orb of violet and grey power condensed down.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," Jacob says.

"The essence of pure, unfiltered magic?" I ask, and he sighs. "No, it's not. It's just a little toy."

I throw the orb of the essence of pure, unfiltered magic, using wind magic to carry it to the tower, watching as it impacts the tower's wall. Immediately, it erupts into pure magical power, expanding out into a sphere that consumes everything withing a mile. Just as quickly as the attack came to be, it disappears.

For a few moments, there's a crater in the ocean. Then, the water rushes back in, filling in the space where the ocean had been consumed. Jacob lets out an aggravated groan.

"Now that that's done," I tell Jacob. "Let's head back to the Delvarkari. I want to get my stuff back from Fael Mira, and then have Jaklenai take the new god to his home in the divine realm. If he stays here much longer, my new creation will unravel. I did mention he's sloppily made."

If he weren't going to fall apart unless he went to the divine realm in the next day, I'd have him look for the Crimson Pearl source, too. But with how weak he is at the moment and how badly put together he is, the god would probably take too long to find it and end up dying before yielding results.

"So you'll have to fix him once we ascend back to our true selves," Jacob says.

"Yeah," I answer. "Also, I want to get that head of yours checked. You went through quite a bit of mental abuse."

"Just a few days," he says. "I'll be fine with some rest. How much trouble do you think you'll be in?"

"Probably a lot," I shrug. "But when it comes to rescuing my friends, no one is going to ever stop me."

"Yeah," he puts a hand on my shoulder. "I just hope that you'll understand that I, and probably the others, have realized how much weight we've put on your shoulders, Jason. You don't need to take care of everything yourself. It's okay to rely on others if it eases the burden on you. Unless it's a true absolute emergency, try to have us help, too. We can handle waiting a little longer for rescue, you know."

"Maybe," I mutter as I look away. "But I'd rather not let any of you suffer longer than necessary. If that means rushing into it-"

"Jason," he says firmly. "Rely on us. It's our fault you try to handle everything yourself. Let us bear that burden, too."

I sigh, and he tugs on my shoulder a little so that I'll look at him again. He gives me a grin.

"So how did you convince Enaveka to let you take some of his essence?" He asks. "I can't imagine he parted with it willingly."

"Oh, that was easy," I grin. "I simply reminded him of who was the top dragon."