Chapter 66

Courtly Intrigue

Guests remaining 97 of 100.

This time a guest on the far-right side had been killed. Nayali watched in horror as this caused multiple ripples of actions and reactions. Inevitably a group of people were drawn in, trying to either tend to or gawk at the fallen individual. While others turned away at the ghastly sights.

To put a word to it, the sight was chaos.

Worse multiple people were speaking with authority, or at least trying to exert authority over different sections of the crowd. Some people slammed their fists against the doors trying to escape. The only thing that was certain was that the murderer had been locked into the ball room and everyone was panicked.

Nayali could feel their panic, it was like a palpable wave of energy that threatened to engulf her. Closing her eyes, she focused through the feelings trying to calm her mind before she tried to solve this overly complex puzzle that was before her.

Her mind tried to grasp what was happening. What the purpose of this whole scenario was. This was like no game of old that she had ever read about. She kept her eyes closed for long enough that finally people began to calm down, which meant the scratchy static that had been building up in her mind also began to die down.

Then the scratching continued as she was greeted by yet another message from the gods.

Guests remaining 96 of 100.

The attacker had struck again. Though this time Nayali was almost convinced that there had to be a second murderer. Partly with how much distance was being covered. The murderer would have had to have run through the entire chamber room, found a target and then stabbed almost immediately.

Not to mention that it looked like this ball had two different rival factions. At least that is the impression that Nayali got from the different colored formal wear. One group had white with red stripes. The other had white with blue stripes. Now that there was more to go on, Nayali noticed that there was a pattern. At least if the four murders could be called a pattern. Two with red stripes, and two with blue stripes had been killed. If this pattern held true, then the next one would have a blue stripe.

“AHHHH!”

Guests remaining 95 of 100.

Nayali turned to see a woman in a blue dress with a white stripe standing over a man wearing a white suite with a blue stripe down the side. It was clear that they were a pair. Or was that just what the color schema told Nayali.

Nayali looked at the woman over the body and thought there was something off about her, but she could not tell exactly. Before she could get too far down that line of reasoning her thoughts were cut off.

“WAAAHHH!”

Guests remaining 94 of 100.

Nayali turned to see a second murder in as many seconds. This helped to confirm Nayali’s thoughts that there were two murderers. Also of note was the fact that so far, all the guests that were murdered had been males.

There were so many points that Nayali could focus on, that she found finding one area and focusing on it was almost impossible.

The scratching sensation on her brain began to ratchet up as she could almost feel the fear washing out in waves from everyone around her. Idly she closed her eyes, as that helped a little with the deluge of senses she was now feeling. But the overall experience remained the same. It felt like tiny fingers were wiggling their way into her mind and moving so quickly that they were peeling back protective layers of her mind. At least that is what she imagined happening with the various senses that she was now experiencing.

People were talking, scared, and confused. Then just when the world finally got to a lull, or at least a point where the tangible fear being felt by others was manageable, the whole sequence started again.

Guests remaining 93 of 100.

This time just like the last time, as everyone began to move in their different actions and reactions a second guest was murdered almost immediately after.

Guests remaining 92 of 100.

The murderers were becoming bolder, moving almost in perfect synchronization with each other. In fact, Nayali almost wondered if the people were killed at the exact same time and the difference was the times at which the bodies were identified.

To do this, Nayali needed to get closer. Being the specter that she was for this, she found when she put her mind to it, moving to the bodies was easy. She just thought about it, and she was there.

All the bodies were now being removed from the ball proper and placed in piles towards the back of the ball room. Everyone that was on body duty had at least two friends with them. In fact, everyone seemed to be moving around in pairs or larger. Most people were even breaking off to form close groups of people that would all circle around and face each other as they all looked to find out who the true killer was.

The whole scenario seemed ridiculous, but this was the scenario she had been given. So regardless of what she might think of the whole process she needed to take this event seriously, especially with Lykan’s life on the line.

Remembering her real reason for being here, she buckled down and focused on trying to find the clues she needed to identify the murderers.

As she approached the area with the eight bodies, there were so many details to take in at first. First were the number of badges and accolades each person had on their uniforms. Looking at the bodies now it was clear that these people were all military officers of some kind or another all wearing different military uniforms with different ranks and medals for valor.

Naylai had just seen Lykan wear his, or at least have his Sidherthan military uniform fixed in a similar manner to these, so the idea wasn’t that foreign. Also of note, judging by the stars and different medals the first few were high ranking officers for each side. Followed shortly by other high-ranking members. While the last few seemed to be lower ranking enlisted, at least if the shift from stars to inverted stripes was any indication. In all Nayali was certain of one thing. These attacks were not only coordinated, but the attackers seemed to strike at people of similar ranks from the different opposing factions at the same time.

At least that was her working theory.

“AHHH!”

Guests remaining 91 of 100.

“GAHHH!”

Guests remaining 90 of 100.

Hearing those sounds Nayali was almost relieved, for this would be her chance to get direct feedback on her theory of the attackers targeting people of the same rank on different sides.

The first body brought over was a red-stripe soldier wearing two straight lines on his left arm. For ease of processing everything Nayali decided to break the two groups down by the color of the stripe on their uniform. So there would now be red and blue striped soldiers to process.

Judging by the lack of pomp and medals on this soldier’s chest, Nayali guessed this person to be a junior enlisted of some kind.

Then the next body brought over was someone wearing an officer uniform, also with a red stripe. Seeing the body Nayali paused, as this one threw off all her understanding of what was happening.

“WAHHH!”

Guests remaining 89 of 100.

Hearing the scream, Nayali paused and waited for the second body to be found. But there was a silence.

Sure enough the single body was brought over, this one was a blue-striped soldier with two straight lines on the left arm? Seeing this Nayali paused and wondered what caused the anomaly? This was exactly like the first body, number 92. So this should have been the pair to that body.

Did this mean there was another body that hadn’t been found yet? Or was something else going on.

Looking at the officer body with the red-stripe Nayali felt more than saw the differences between the regular murders. For the first part this was the only one that was done with multiple stabs.

Looking at the stab wounds, Nayali couldn’t help but feel there was energy and passion in the strikes.

Then turning from the odd officer to the different matching pairs Nayali felt there was no malice. At least none that spoke of unyielding violence. By contrast the energy surrounding the other soldiers of the two sides that were present was minimal.

Nayali’s mind rushed through the myriad of scenarios and felt that the gender of the killers also changed. With the standard murders Nayali got the strict impression of males conducting the acts. While with this one-off murder, she got the impression of a jealous female.

These sensations were all so new to her, that before she even realized what she was doing, she reached a handout to touch one of the bodies. No, not just the bodies, but the body of the one murdered out of passion.

A quick touch confirmed her thoughts, this was a murder of compassion. With this insight she was now certain that there were at least three murderers on the ball. The two who had been killing from the start, and one who took advantage of the confusion.

Latent Ability Unlocked: Psychometry Psychometry

You have discovered the ability to identify moments of the past by a simple touch.

Seeing the message from the gods, Nayali’s heart began to beat with vigor.

Badump. Badump.

She felt waves of sensations rolling through her body and being processed by her mind. Energies of the dead, of the attackers, they all clung to the bodies. And with a simple touch, Nayali felt she could absorb and understand the memories of the past that she was now experiencing.

Suddenly the scraping away of layers of her mind ceased, and she was left with an ability to breath. While her mind still hurt from all the attention it had just received, she was now able to focus.

Had this all been a test to awaken my latent ability? Nayali thought, but then immediately stopped that line of thinking. Especially as she heard the next scream from the audience.

“AHHH!”

Guests remaining 88 of 100.

Just as the first body was brought over showing a blue-striped soldier with a star on his right shoulder there was a second scream, followed shortly by a red-striped body with a star on his right shoulder.

Guests remaining 87 of 100.

So now Nayali had to quickly think about what was happening. She had six guesses left to find three murderers within a group of 87 people. She also knew that something happened once the group dropped to half, maybe everyone decided to end it all in a violent bloody massacre. Or maybe something else entirely was at play.

There was still a lot to go over, but Nayali felt that she now understood the purpose of this scenario. She also understood why this one had been chosen for her and not for Lykan. She had always had a latent ability to read people’s emotions, and perhaps this test recognized that from within her and wished to pull it to the forefront.

The more she touched the bodies, the more she got images of two men who looked almost identical. Though to be honest, everyone here looked identical to her as she was not familiar with the facial features of those that had gathered. If she had to hazard a guess, she would have thought these people were what the ancient elves looked like before the fall, perfect and nearly flawless in their appearances.

Despite everyone being nearly perfect, there were still subtle differences between the people. The differences weren’t in the way they looked, but rather the way they felt to her mind.

Once she realized this, she closed her eyes as she touched each body. Each time she did, she could feel the ambient energy that was tethered to the bodies slowly unweave itself and enter her mind. In a way she felt her own mind taking in the lingering death energy and consuming it, to get an image of the last few images of the victim’s life. Moving away from the possible moral ramifications of that train of thought, Nayali focused on trying to solve the task at hand.

Now that she knew what she was supposed to do, or at least now that she thought she knew this whole scenario seemed easy. The first thing to do was identify the female killer. Shew as the easiest to notice, for her signature had been the most passionate, which apparently meant there was more death energy tethering her to her former lover.

Closing her eyes and focusing on the energy resonance of the female killer in question, Nayali first found her and then found her body warping to her. Rather than thinking about the way the world twisted around her, she reached out a hand and touched the person before her.

Chime.

Murderers Found 1 of ??

Murderer Identified. Chances remaining 5 of 7.

As she opened her eyes the body of the female, she had just touched glowed bright red, causing her to stand still like a statue. The visage of the murderous female being made into a statue was odd, but not as odd as this entire scenario seemed to be. Looking at her there were clear signs of blood splatter on her dress, a sign that she had been close when she made the multiple stab wounds into her lover. Looking at the woman, Nayali couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman in some way. While murdering was a bit much, Nayali could feel the passion and pain that came from each strike she made.

Guests remaining 86 of 100.

The scenario didn’t seem to care that she had identified one murder, especially as the next body was found almost immediately.

Wanting to try something new, she warped her body to the downed individual before they were moved and quickly touched the deceased. Just as she had expected the death energy was thicker here before they were moved. Here she could get a mental energy signature of the attacker. Not even bothering to look at the killer’s face, she just focused on the energy signature, closed her eyes, and then felt around the room for the same mental signature. As soon as she did, she found a person matching the signature. Then with a quick warp of her mind she was next to the murderer, where she reached out to touch the attacker. Only opening her eyes once her fingers made solid contact with the individual in question, causing him to freeze in place.

Murderers Found 2 of ??

Murderer Identified. Chances remaining 4 of 7.

“AHH!”

Guests remaining 85 of 100.

The crowd once again alerted her to the cries of another murder. Not even wanting to waste the valuable time Nayali warped to the body. Read the traces of death energy again and followed them to the third and final murder. She tagged him and was met with a message.

Murderers Found 3 of 3.

Congratulations Candidate scenario completed. You now have the option to dedicate the power in this pillar to a deity. That deity, based on their nature will use that power in a way befitting their true nature.

Nayali felt both simultaneously pleased, while also a growing sense of urgency hit her as she realized she still needed to act quickly. Worse, she needed to be prepared to move once the time compression of these pillars stopped. At least she hoped there was a time compression, otherwise Nayali would have just spent hours playing a game, while Lykan lay dying slowly in the forest. A list of deities that were available to dedicate this ruin too appeared in her mind. Without even wanting to bother with them, she thought the name until only one option remained.

You wish to dedicate this pillar to the great forest spirit? [Yes] or [No]?

Nayali didn’t even pause as she chose [Yes]. With that the world around her began to warp and fold in on itself a second before her mind was spit out of the pillar and into her body.

Nayali staggered as the world went white around her. She tried to remain conscious, but her mind began spinning from so much going on. She could feel the power of the pillar being dropped into the earth around her. With a start she realized she was about to collapse as her mind was fighting and losing the battle to remain conscious. Her last act was a prayer, or what could more accurately be described as a thought of hope.

Great forest spirit, heal Lykan of his wounds. Was the last thought Nayali had before collapsing to the ground, as a swirl of darkness filled her mind.