Mahon went back to his house with two packages under his arm. He didn’t even have time to open the door that an excited Zac was already pulling him inside.

“Show me! Show me! What did you get?”

Mahon smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm and handed him a one meter long wrapped cloth. “Check it out.”

Zac accepted the present with a solemn look, and he quickly removed the cloth to unravel a sheathed sword. Immediately, he grabbed the hilt and pulled it free. A beautiful shining silver blade came out, and Zac practiced a few motions. The sword was relatively simple except for a dozen short brown ribbons attached to the handle. The blade was a uniform silver, but the sharp edges always reflected light, giving it a shining touch.

“It’s perfect! The balance is excellent, and it’s much heavier than I thought it would be for a shortsword. Thank you Mahon!” Zac finally said, sword still in hand. “What did you find for yourself?”

Mahon flashed a happy smile and went to unwrap his own package. Under the two meters long cloth, he revealed his spear. The blade made for a bit less than a quarter of the spear’s length, and it was from the same silvery metal as Zac’s sword. Just under the blade, there were also the exact same brown ribbons floating loose. The handgrip was made of a pretty green leather, and the bottom of the spear had little golden rings compressing the wood.

“What is this?” Zac pointed to the rings.

“They are reinforcing the back of the spear, so you can parry or strike with it.” Mahon explained.

“And that?” This time he gestured for two little imperfections on the spear that seemed to have a purpose that he couldn’t guess.

“You should have these on your sheath as well. The armorer explained it’s for fast clipping. When you’re sufficiently proficient with Earth magic, you can make the sheath stick to you with It. For the spear, it’s especially useful because you can carry it on your back and, when needed, melt the clips and free the spear in an instant.”

“Ah, it's so cool! We’ve also got the same ribbons! Did you do this on purpose?”

“Maybe.” Mahon grinned.

“We have to test them now! Let’s go to the training room. I duel you, Mahon!”

Mahon’s smile turned into a grimace, and he shook his head. “I can’t right now Zac, I need to leave for the cultists.”

“Oh, right…” Zac hesitated for an instant before pursuing. “I’m gonna train on my own then. See you later!”

The noble rushed shamelessly to the training room with his sword still unsheathed, and Mahon couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He went to his room and stored his own weapon back in its cloth. As much as he wanted to try it, he couldn’t casually bring it to the cultists without arousing questions. He changed his clothes to the usual commoner clothes he used to wear with the cult and left for the meeting point.

“We’ve finished sorting the papers we stole, and we can finally tell you more about the next steps.” Belanor was talking to the little crowd of inner cultist members gathered in front of him. “We lack one vital piece, and two less important things, to start our first real step towards the return of the Fada. Due to the… nature of our missing vital piece, we have to hurry up our plan.”

Belanor took a small break to make sure everyone was listening with attention, and without surprise, everyone was excitedly waiting for his next words.

“Tonight, we’ll gather an elite team to grab that last vital piece, and if everything goes according to the plan, we’ll strike the nobles tomorrow. Let’s not paint in the air. We’ll assemble the team right now and gather other teams with the remaining tasks. Once we can confirm everything is a success, we’ll tell you more about the plan.”

Belanor wanted to stop there, but Oncith, the head of the cult, stepped forward at that time.

“You can’t leave them with such suspense, Belanor.” The man started. “Although, I’ll not reveal the whole plan, but know that we aim to destroy the no dream pill for good, so that everyone can come to the same conclusion as we did. The nobles wouldn’t be able to prevent our speech from reaching anyone through Nightmare, and it’ll be the first step of their demise.”

The little crowd roared their agreements to the man under a thunderous applause. The head of the cult flashed a satisfied smile before looking back at Belanor. “You can continue.”

Belanor shook his head, but he couldn’t hide the amused smile on his face as he took back the lead.

“Let’s focus for a moment, my friends. It’s time we move to the last action before we start to change history.”

Belanor called a small list of names, including Mahon, and gestured for them to follow him. The old veteran headed for another room, separated from the rest of the meeting where Maïa w as organizing the other tasks they needed to do.

The room wasn’t empty, and a familiar figure waited for them there.

“What is she doing here?” A cultist asked.

The backer’s bodyguard looked back at him with attention, but her eyes only reflected her indifference. Her hands were still on the hilt of her sword as she observed them.

“This mission is critical, and we don’t need numbers but professionals. The backer agreed to lend us his bodyguard for the duration of this mission.” Belanor explained. “Don’t bother her. She’ll do her job much better than any of us.”

So, really dangerous then. A perfect opportunity to gather more clues to where she and the backer come from.

Belanor walked to the middle of the room, where a table had been set up. A lot of papers covered it, and the veteran gestured for them to come closer.

“Let me explain what needs to be done. Part of our plan for tomorrow implies that we… urge someone not to be where he should be, so we can act more freely.”

“Blackmail?” Someone voiced what they all had in mind.

“Exactly. Lots of people have compromising papers. Alas, in the hurry of our last mission, we didn’t manage to obtain everything we wanted. So we have to go back to more barbaric but effective ways.”

The little group watched him closely, and he smiled back at them. “Kidnapping.”

Belanor then went to explain his plan to the different people involved. Contrary to what Mahon had expected, they wouldn’t kidnap the person directly as it would be too difficult. Instead, they’d abduct his child. Mahon did his best to avoid any direct responsibility in the mission and managed to get the role of the sentry while the others would go for the child.

Getting the child wouldn’t be much of a problem, and it was more escaping alive from the noble area that would prove to be the real challenge. That’s why Belanor had only chosen an elite troop to go with him. It consisted of him, the bodyguard, Mahon and three other older cultists, two women and a man.

It means Mahon was the only one from the most recent batch, and although Belanor knew his abilities, the others mainly thought about him as a competent novice. The bodyguard didn’t say anything for the whole meeting duration, only nodding sometime at Belanor direct questions. The man seemed to know how to address her, and he was the only one to do so.

They discussed the plan for a few minutes, mostly talking about potential escape paths, before waiting for the darkest hours of the night to cover the city. Only then did their little squad leave their meeting point and spread through Ratho’s streets in silence. They walked in duo, each taking a separate route to avoid the patrol with more ease.

Mahon was paired with a middle-aged woman who stayed quiet as they progressed across the city. The silence didn’t bother Mahon, who much preferred to be left with his own thoughts regarding the operation.

It was supposedly the last one before the final operation and the arrest of the cult. He doubted Jorik would have found anything relevant about the bodyguard in the meantime, so Mahon could as well end the cult tonight. Alas, the backer hadn’t shown his face yet. His bodyguard was there, but there hadn’t been a single trace of him.

Still, his mind couldn’t help but think about everything that could go wrong. They had brought only heavy fighters for this mission deep into the noble district. What if the kidnapping turned into a bloodbath?

Mahon couldn’t let a child or any guards die tonight. But if he intervened, it would reveal his true nature and probably abort the cult’s operation. The cultists would hide deeper, as they had done after Rizzo’s capture, and the Pine Hill Officer Institute wouldn’t be able to stop them completely. They’d have missed an incredible opportunity.

Whereas if they waited just one more day for the grand operation, they would be able to kill or capture everyone at once. They would stop all the cult in one swift move, and Mahon would then be able to try a new life of music.

That was if everything went well tonight.

Mahon felt conflicted all of a sudden. Before his recruitment within the inner cultists, he wouldn’t have hesitated a single instant to save people and harm a part of the cult. Now that he had the possibility of capturing them all, though, he didn’t know what to think about it. Was the life of a guard worth the whole cult arrest? Two guards? A child?

It was a question no one wanted to answer, and yet he couldn’t unsee the calculative eyes of Jorik as he had asked Mahon to wait.

Did Jorik already ponder that question?

He gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to think about it, and yet he couldn’t just hope everything would go alright tonight. He had to know his posture before things turned sour.

If the cultists started to kill people to escape, would he stand at their side to better capture them tomorrow? Or would he kill them instead, at the risk of missing the rest of the cult?

The question busied his mind the whole way, and he hadn’t really found a satisfactory answer when they reached the target house. His heart knew where to stand, but somehow his rational general’s mind pushed him the other way.

Wars aren’t won without sacrifice. Wait, am I thinking like Jorik?

Mahon finally abandoned trying to find a solution to the unsolvable dilemma. There was a reason he had trained hard for all his life. So he wouldn’t have to think about such dilemmas. He was the sole person who could be sacrificed. Because it was his own choice.

He clenched his teeth and came to the only reasonable conclusion. He would find a way no one died tonight. He had the abilities to make it happen. He trained for it.

“Everyone is here.” Belanor whispered at his side. “Let’s start the operation. Mahon, we count on you for our way back.”

Mahon nodded in answer, and the four cultists and the bodyguard moved discreetly to the mansion and disappeared in the dark night after a few seconds. He watched the empty street for another moment before he started Flowing while patrolling the surroundings. It wasn’t a time to spare his energy, and Mahon went all out to find nearby guards.

The silent night guided him to the rhythmic pace of boots pounding the ground. A patrol.

It was far away from the cultists’ location, and Mahon decided to ignore them for now. Instead, he tried to expand his senses even more by diving deeper into the Flow.

He could now see the people sleeping peacefully in the closest houses, but he ignored them. He went back in the other direction and detected another patrol in the vicinity.

It was dangerously approaching the area he was supposed to watch. Given their path and rhythm, they would pass in front of the house in a couple of minutes. Mahon couldn’t risk them discovering the cultists. Even if they might still be in the mansion at the time, if they escaped right at the moment the guards were here, they would be down to a fight.

There will be no fights tonight. Not on my watch.

Mahon intercepted the four city guards before they could even come close to the mansion. He appeared a few meters behind them, hidden in the shadows. The guards were discussing, boredom and tiredness creeping in their voices from the late hour.

The first guard fell without a noise. Before his comrades even notice he was down, Mahon struck another at the head in a powerful move, stunning him. He accompanied his fall so as not to make much noise, but two guards down were too much for the patrol not to notice.

One of the guards grabbed his whistle, but Mahon kicked it away in a swift motion. He punched the stomach of the other guard and followed with an elbow kick in the neck, sending the guard to the ground, unconscious.

The last remaining men opened his mouth to scream at the top of his lungs, but Mahon was faster. Much faster. He punched the man’s throat, and only a strange gurgle came out. His next hit plucked the guard under the chin, and he joined his knocked-out comrades on the ground.

The action hadn’t lasted more than two seconds. The guards had been quick to react, but it hadn’t been enough. Mahon pulled them to the side of the street, away from sight, and left just after.

He had more work to do if he wanted to stay true to his beliefs.