Hugo’s original plan to stop the saboteurs involved attracting the attention of a local sentinel. He knew their routes and had planned on throwing a few rocks at them to get their attention. That way when they came to investigate, the spies would be caught, and Hugo wouldn’t be involved.

That plan went out the window.

The two saboteurs in sentinel disguise were advancing on the runic inspector. Hugo knew that if he did nothing, they would kill the inspector to hide their tracks. He was already moving forward to stop them. He just didn’t know how.

“I could use some help here,” Hugo said to the rat. He was talking to himself more than anything. Hugo stepped off the roof, a few steps of barrier magic to slow his descent. He took off running towards the wall, trying to be silent as he did.

The inspector walked down the steps while the imposters pretended innocence. They were waiting for him to get closer so they could ambush him and kill him. They obviously knew that they couldn’t afford a drawn out battle, so they had to finish him off as quickly as possible.

“Watch out! They are imposters!” Hugo yelled. He hadn’t wanted to get involved, but he couldn’t stand idly by.

The inspector stopped walking forward, and dropped into a combat stance. He activated something on his waist and a light shimmer appeared across his whole body.

“What’s going on here?” the runic inspector said.

The saboteurs sighed and looked at each other. Without a word, they nodded and split up. The woman jumped up the flight of stairs to the runic inspector, grappling him.

Meanwhile the other man jumped down the two flights of stairs. He arched down, a closed fist pointed at Hugo.

As the man was falling, Hugo jumped back to get out of his way. He had been thinking of ways to take out higher ranked people, and it was time to see if any of his strategies would work.

The man landed heavily on his feet, going down on one knee. But he didn’t look like he was injured and slowly got back up. He stalked forward towards Hugo.

Reaching into a pocket, Hugo grabbed and threw a handful of pebbles and dirt into the saboteur's face. The man squinted and kept walking forward, the attack not slowing him.

That wasn’t really Hugo’s plan though. As the dirt was hitting his face, Hugo created a shield flat on the ground between them. As the man walked forward, he stepped onto the shield. The slick surface made his legs fly out from under him.

The man’s body dispelled the shield as he fell, but it had done its job. Hugo darted in and stabbed him in the calf. He had been aiming for the Achilles' heel, but this would do. A jerk of his leg kicked Hugo away and left the knife embedded in his leg.

Hugo rolled to his feet. He glanced up to the inspector, to see how he was doing. The woman held him as sparks of lightning leapt from his clothing. The sparks made her jerk and shake. The runic inspector struggled with her, trying to pry her grip off his arm. She wouldn’t let go, despite being in pain and the steam rising from her body.

Then the runic inspector fell to the floor, lifeless.

The woman slowly stood up and straightened her uniform as the steam stopped. The burns on her hands and face quickly disappeared. She started making her way down towards them, jumping down one flight of stairs at a time.

Backing up, Hugo realized what must have happened. The woman must be a life mage. She had just stolen the inspectors life force with a touch. Hugo backed up even further. He couldn’t let her touch him. He would take even less time to drain. Since he was only a rank four, she could probably drain him in three seconds.

Keeping an eye on the both of them, Hugo kept backing up as they stalked forward. The man looked around for a second, then pointed both hands at Hugo. A bright light shot out, hitting him directly in the face. Hugo had instinctively shut his eyes, but it didn’t help much. He was still blinded. He stumbled around, still trying to back up.

Hugo struggled to mentally catch up to what was happening. The two people trying to kill him were a light mage and a life mage. They said that you couldn’t be a life mage without a kind and giving heart, and you couldn’t be a light mage without a devotion to the truth. But there they were, in disguises and trying to kill him.

As his sight slowly returned, he got his head on straight. He needed to focus, or he would be dead. Case in point, an inadvertent stumble just barely helped him avoid a swipe by the life mage. He put a shield at his feet, and saw her slip to her knees.

“Rose. Get back here and heal me,” the man said, “Then we can take him together. Come on, we don’t have much time.”

She grunted in frustration and ran back towards her friend. Hugo tried the shield trick again, but she saw it in time and jumped over it. Hugo knew he wouldn’t get another chance and turned to run away. He put his head down and sprinted for all he was worth.

He was almost to the alleyway when a strobe of light distracted him. The bright flash made him stumble. By the time he got back up, the light mage was in front of him. Hugo put his forearm in front of his face, and tried to run around him. That just made it easier for the man to hit him though. A sharp blow to his chest sent Hugo flying back five feet.

Groaning, Hugo tried to roll to his feet. The light mage was on him before he could. With a stomp, the mage knocked Hugo breathless and cracked a rib. Blood dripped onto his chest from where the mage's pants. The leg underneath had been healed though.

“Listen here, you little shit,” the light mage said, “You are going to tell me what you are doing here, and if I don’t like what you are saying, my partner will suck the life right out of you.”

Hugo tried to breathe, but he couldn’t. His lungs weren’t working right after his breath got knocked out of him. He worked his mouth, trying to draw in a lungful, but nothing happened.

“Ah shit. This is just a kid. A level four. I hit him too hard. Can you give him a dose? Otherwise we are going to lose him,” the man said to his partner. He lifted his foot up a bit.

Just then Hugo was able to take a big gasping breath. Two shuddering breaths later, and Hugo had caught his breath. His rib was pulsing with agony on every breath.

“Whelp, nevermind, Rose,” he said. He turned to Hugo and said, “What in the seven hells are you doing here, kid? Who sent you?” the man said. When Hugo didn’t say anything, the mage’s eyes flashed white, and he turned to Rose and said, “His name is Cristian Fieraru, have you heard of him?”

“No, and don’t use my name,” she said.

The man shrugged an apology. That just cemented things for Hugo, they were planning on killing him after they got their answers. They thought he was part of some organization and they wanted to know who had discovered them. They must have assumed their covers were blown, but needed to know the extent of the breach.

They probably wouldn’t accept that he was alone. Not that he wanted to tell them that anyway. He just needed to get away.

He took a deep breath, then let it out quickly. In the small space he had created for himself, he put a shield, the strongest one he could create. It took forty points of mana, all at once. He was down to twenty-three points of mana, since he hadn’t fully recovered from making that knife earlier.

The light mage must have learned from his mistake from earlier, and hadn’t put his full weight on his foot. So the mage just wobbled a bit and kept his balance.

But that shield wasn’t the only one he had created. He had also created one below his back, and one near his feet. He pushed off with his feet and slipped between the shields. He shot himself across the ground and rolled towards the alley. He left the two saboteurs the gift of flung dust and dirt to obscure the move.

That took ten more points of mana, leaving him with thirteen. He gave himself claws with his barrier domain, and leapt up the apartment wall.

He wasn’t fast enough.

The light mage had seen right through the cloud of dust and followed him right away. Hugo should have known it wouldn’t work, light mages’ primary stat was perception. The light mage grabbed his leg and flung him back to the ground.

Hugo’s head hit the ground, and he went limp. The light mage didn’t let go of his leg though, suspecting a trick. He dragged Hugo back to Rose where she was just recovering from the dust and dirt to the face.

“Damn kid, we were just asking some questions. No need to get dirt in my eyes,” Rose said as she continued to blink.

Hugo lay there, pretending to be unconscious. He needed a moment to get his thoughts together. His little tricks weren’t going to work again. He couldn’t obstruct the vision of the light mage, and both of them would be wary of where they put their feet down now.

Beating them in a fight was out of the question. Both were much stronger than him, even without considering their magic.

“Come on kid, we don’t have all night,” the man said and kicked Hugo’s side gently.

The kick still made Hugo groan, his cracked rib sending waves of agony through his body. He rolled to the side, the pain almost making him vomit. Hugo’s every breath was labored.

“Come on,” the man said and pulled back his leg for a kick.

“All right, all right. I will tell you,” Hugo said and took a careful breath, “The sentinels know everything. They know about the attacks here in Reval, and the other cities.”

A few whispered swears came out of Rose’s mouth. She said, “Tell me. Tell us exactly what they know. Leave nothing out.”

“There isn’t time. I am just a scout, they are already on their way. I warned them before I tried to save that guy’s life.”

Rose’s head jerked up, looking around for Hugo’s nonexistent backup. He had to school his expression so he didn’t smile and give everything away. He just needed to convince them to run and leave him here.

“That’s a lie,” the man said, “You can’t lie to a light mage. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that, son?”

Hugo mentally swore. He had heard that light mages always knew the truth, but he had always assumed that was an exaggeration of their perception skills. He hadn’t thought they could actually see the truth. He was out of options. He wouldn’t be able to lie his way out of this. Unless...

“Ok, fine. They aren’t on their way as far as I know. But I have talked to sentinels that know exactly what you two are doing,” Hugo said. That wasn’t a lie. He had talked to sentinels during his previous life. “And they are going to find you soon if you keep wasting time. Just leave me here and run.”

“The kid is right. We can’t afford to waste time with this. Rose, kill him and let’s go,” the light mage said.

“Wait, no!” Hugo said, his hand outstretched.

Rose reached out to touch him. Hugo scrabbled back, but the man held fast to Hugo's leg. With rising panic, he created barrier after barrier to stop her touch, but the life mage just punched through each one. He attempted to create armor at the last moment, but she was too quick for him.

Once her hand was on his leg, he felt it. A pull, a draw of his very essence, flowing away. It was like he was bleeding without being cut. An exhale that left him unable to draw breath.

A second after it started, the pull stopped. With a flash of shimmering light accompanied a small bang. Hugo fell to the ground lifeless.

The life mage and the light mage fell to the ground next to him. He could only focus on the agony he was feeling now. It wasn’t the life mage anymore, this was something different. Much worse. The pain was soul deep. His Hugo was dimly aware of someone walking up to him and dragging him away.

It was just like the last time he had been shot with a shimmer gun. He felt like his soul was being ripped out of his body. He focused on hanging on with every fiber of his being.

An unknown amount of time later, Hugo came back to himself. He was confused and disorientated. He wasn’t sure what had happened. He sat up and mumbled to himself, “What...”

“Shhh. They are about to be found,” a woman said and put her hand over Hugo’s mouth. She pointed forward. Hugo didn’t look at first, staring at her, confused. She was wearing all black and a fox mask. The fox gang had been watching through that rat earlier after all. A glance to her side showed a cobbled together shimmer gun.

She must have shot the three of them. Suddenly the agony of his soul leaving his body was worth it. She had saved his life.

Eventually he followed her pointing finger. The two of them were in an alley and the saboteurs were out in the open, between the walls and the apartments of the narrows. The life mage and light mage stirred, able to move once again. They slowly stood up, supporting each other as their faculties returned.

“You there!” a sentinel yelled. This was a true sentinel, standing on the stairs of the wall. He had been checking on the body of the murdered runic inspector. He only noticed the imposter sentinels as soon as they were standing.

The light mage held out his hand and pointed it at him. Hugo put his arm over his face to shield from the flash. Nothing came. Once Hugo lowered his arm, he had the same realization that the light mage did.

They didn’t have their magic. The shimmer gun had robbed them of their domains and it would be a while before they gained their mana back. The pair of saboteurs must have realized this too, and turned and ran away.

They didn’t get far.

The new sentinel was a barrier mage, and he immediately surrounded them with a cage of blue. They tried to break free, but their soulmarked power was gone. The strength and dexterity that came with higher ranks was artificial. Now that they were left with their natural bodies, they didn’t have a chance of escaping.

“Who are you two?” the barrier sentinel said, “I am the section captain, I know everyone on my watch, and I don’t know you.”

The two imposters didn’t have a lie ready, instead they just stood there quietly.

The barrier sentinel looked back to the dead body and back to them, “What did you do?” His eyes flashed blue and he started looking around.

Hugo knew what that was. He was using the mana sight skill to look for other soulmarked in the area. Hugo shrunk back, but he needn’t have worried. His empty soul core didn’t show up in the barrier mage’s vision.

A slow sweep of the area didn’t reveal anyone else lurking in the dark, but the barrier sentinel did stare at the wall and swear. He must have seen the sabotage. The sentinel raised his hand and shot a bright beam of blue into the sky. He must be calling for reinforcements.

Hugo slumped in relief. He had done it. He had warned the sentinels, and hadn’t gotten caught in the process. He hadn’t died either, which was looking pretty grim at the end there.

The only one that knew he was even there was the fox gang woman crouching near him. And whoever was controlling the rats. Probably the fox boss. Hugo opened his mouth to talk but she went first.

“Come on, time to go,” she whispered.

Hugo nodded and followed after her. She was right, they needed to be gone when the cavalry arrived. They quietly ran away from the walls. Every so often she would look back at him, staring at his feet. Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough. Hugo shrugged. It was her fault he was weak and uncoordinated. He was grateful she saved his life though, so he tried his best to be quiet.

“So, who are you?” she said three blocks later.

Hugo glanced around and rubbed his neck, “I don’t exactly want to tell you that.”

She shrugged, “You don’t have to tell me. But the boss man told me he would love to have a conversation, face to face.”

Hugo shivered, remembering the charisma of the fox boss. That man’s skills were paramount to mind control. “That isn’t going to happen,” Hugo said forcefully.

She folded her arms. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him from behind the fox mask. “Alright. The boss is patient, perhaps you can meet him another day. Do you have any other juicy tidbits you can pass along? Maybe something that doesn’t end up with us saving the city from destruction but getting no credit for it?” she said bitterly.

“Hey, you live here too. Just be glad we are going to survive the monster surge,” Hugo said, “And no, no juicy tidbits for now. But if I were to come across some information you would be interested in, how would I get ahold of you?”

Hugo could hear the smile on her voice as she replied, “Just find a rat and talk its ear off.” She turned down an alleyway and disappeared.

Chuckling, Hugo continued on. He needed to get back to the academy. He could probably get a few hours of sleep in before he had to get up in the morning.

As he walked uphill, he wondered if he should try and lose his tail. The fox gang member was undoubtedly following him, of that he was sure. He knew they were curious about this strange boy that just so happened to know where saboteurs were going to show up. He took a circuitous route back to the academy. He stopped often, checking for people and rats watching him.

By the time Hugo reached the academy, his soul core was back, and filling with mana. He gave himself another half hour of recovery before he attempted the walking on air maneuver. He was successful, but the landing inside the academy walls reminded him that he still had a cracked rib. He hoped his regeneration would take care of it by morning. He just wanted some rest.

A sudden realization made Hugo’s eyes go wide. He started to recite every curse word he knew. The sentinel hadn’t realized that this was part of a coordinated effort. They had saved Reval, but several other cities were still in danger. He still needed to figure out a way to warn the other cities.