-Dust-

[In addition to it’s typical meaning, Dust refers

to the physical manifestation of souls, which looks like dust.

It typically holds a light gray coloration, but under certain

circumstances can change color.]

A few hours later, I woke up to Oroske opening the door. He said something, which to my groggy, still waking up mind, sounded like gibberish, before closing the door again. “Hu- what?” I wondered out loud. I looked over to Jarou’s bed with half-closed eyes, and saw him straightening out his cloak.

“Good morning, Kuro,” he said, shaking his head slightly to move the part of his hair that rested in front of his left eye. “Oroske was just letting us know we’ll need to leave in about an hour or so.”

I nodded, rubbing my eyes. I got off my bed and stretched. It was the kind of stretch that felt so good your body shakes a bit. Unlike Jarou, I both fell asleep in my cloak, and didn’t bother to straighten it out at all, not minding the fact it looked messy and unkempt. Jarou and I left the room shortly after.

“Ah, there you two are,” Nadred greeted us, “All set to return home?”

I yawned as Jarou said “We are.”

“Good,” Oroske spoke this time, “We’ve just finished finalizing our report. If you’d like to look over it you can.” He slid a piece of paper towards the edge of the table he was sitting at. I figured I’d probably have no input or anything, but I may as well see what all is written on it.

It read as follows.

Hunter’s Report - 18th Sun of the 6th Moon, 1652

Hunters Involved:

Red Cloaks:

Kared

White Cloaks:

Oroske

Black Cloaks:

Nadred

Navy Cloaks:

Jarou

Kuro

Hunt type: Short Investigation and Termination of Target

Summary:

Several reports from before the Hunt was posted all but confirmed a Necromancer had made a base out of the Old City Center in the City of Towers. Multiple Restless had been sighted, in an area otherwise usually devoid of Restless activity.

Upon further investigation by Hunters, we learned there had also been a couple eye-witness sightings of a man going in and out of the building. Hunters Nadred, Jarou, and Kuro found blackened Aether on the premises, confirming the presence of a Necromancer.

All Hunters participated in combat, and they successfully defeated all Restless and the Necromancer within the building. The Necromancer was stronger than expected, and the two Navy Cloaks were injured. Kuro suffered a stab wound on his arm, and Jarou was pierced by Holy magic in multiple spots. Kared was able to heal Kuro’s wounds, but Jarou will require attention from Clan Healers.

The Hunt was successful, and the Necromancer’s Dust was collected.

Everything seemed in order to me. I was expecting the report to be more complicated, but it all seemed simple enough to understand. After Jarou said he didn’t see anything wrong or missing, Oroske spoke once more. “Very well then, if there’s nothing anyone needs to do before we leave, we can head back immediately.” He folded the paper with the report and put it inside one of his jacket pockets.

With nobody objecting, he and Kared stood up from the table, and quickly scanned over the entire hotel room. Finding nothing wrong, Kared beckoned for us to follow her, and we left. She and Oroske dropped the keys off at the front desk, and we hailed an Aeth’mobile to pick us up outside. The vehicle was similar to the one we arrived in, but with a white paint job. As it only had four free seats, we decided to split into two groups, with Nadred and Jarou leaving in the first car, while Kared, Oroske, and I would go in a separate vehicle.

“See you guys back home,” Nadred said as he was getting in the vehicle, “We’ll either be waiting near the drop-off point, or over at HQ.” Oroske simply nodded as Nadred closed the door. The three of us waved goodbye as the two departed.

It took a surprisingly long time to get another Aeth’mobile. Even then, it wasn’t until the second one stopped for us that we got going, as the first one was big enough to fit a group of ten or so people. Why couldn’t they have been the first ones to stop? I wondered to myself. Eventually, however, we got another small cab to stop. This one had a wildly different shape from the other ones I’d seen. It was far curvier than the typical straight-edged models, and on top of that, it was a bright blue. Oroske commented on it as he got in the front seat. “Ah yeah, I typically drive the Yun’anum family around, this was a gift from Lady Yun’anum herself. Given to celebrate my first year with them.” the driver explained.

“You’re a long way from the Royal City, aren’t you?” Kared asked from the backseat, her head resting on her hand, elbow propped up on the window sill.

“Ah, yes,” the driver said, maintaining her cheerful attitude, “The family is here in town for a few weeks, and any time I’m not with them I can spend driving other folk around. It’s a rare opportunity for me to travel with Hunters and other people in general, since I’m usually limited to just the Royal City.”

Kared just nodded, not even taking her head off her hand. The driver departed, turning around at the nearest intersection. She and Oroske chatted about various things the entire way back, but I wasn’t really paying any attention to their conversation. Instead, my mind wandered, thinking about the events of the past few days.

Shortly after we entered the forest area near the Realm Rift, I turned to Kared. “Hey, Kared?” I asked sheepishly.

“What’s up, kid?” She rotated her head, still resting in her palm, to face me.

“What were those circles you and the people in the tournament created?”

“Oh, those?” She took her free hand and rubbed the bridge of her nose and eyes with the middle finger and thumb, taking a moment to think. “They’re… complicated? They’re referred to as magic circles. Think of it as a visual representation of incantations, and the commands you give your magic. They’re generally only used for very complex spells, and are used to keep track of what commands and elements and all that you’re using.”

“I think I kinda get it,” I said, trying to absorb as much of the information as possible. “Can you teach me how to use them?”

“Probably not,” she sighed, “Frankly, I’m not a very good teacher, and this is a concept I had drilled into me by a separate mentor from Oroske. I can, however, tell you all the information I have on them, if you’d like.” I nodded my head enthusiastically. “Very well, the circles are composed of three primary items. First is the element sigil. This one I understand the least, and don’t know if I’d be able to explain very well at all, but it determines what element is being used. Second is the command lines, or the ‘inner shape’ of the circle. In the case of the circles I use, the command lines form an eight pointed star. These lines determine the power and/or complexity of the spell. The more ‘points’ the shape has, the more powerful, or the more complex, the spell is. Until last night, the most I had heard of someone using in a single spell was ten, with three points on each of those. But, that was on a whole other level.” She seemed distracted by the thought of the previous night’s battle, but reigned herself back in quickly. “And, the third and final part, the commands. Each command line in the ‘inner shape’ fits a command, which can change up how the spell works drastically. These commands are what give the circle the most complex parts of their designs.

“And that’s it, that’s all I’ve got for you right now,” She finished, finally taking her head off her hand, to roll her neck around. “Sorry it isn’t much, but maybe that’ll be a good starting point for you.”

“Oh no, that’s okay!” I shook my head, “Thank you for telling me what you can.” In that moment, as I made eye contact with her, I could tell there were some significantly deeper thoughts going on in her mind. What those thoughts could entail, I had no idea.

It wasn’t long after her lesson ended that we emerged from the forest and could see the bridge leading into Tsumi’din. And not long after that, we were at the drop-off area, and leaving the car. “Thanks for the ride,” Oroske said, handing the driver payment, and a small piece of paper.

“Of course, thanks for the opportunity to get out of the city for a bit.” She responded, before driving off.

Scanning the landing area, Jarou and Nadred were nowhere to be seen. Figuring they were already headed for HQ, we began walking there ourselves.

“What were you two talking about that whole time?” I asked Oroske, transparent as can be about the fact I wasn’t paying attention at all.

“Oh, nothing too crazy,” he responded, “As is typical with dealing with nobility, it was a lot of trying to get information out of them, without giving out too much information myself. I do have on good authority which of the Lords and Ladies are attending the Human-Demon Peace Party in Ish’din, though. Should be an interesting conference this year.”

Upon entering the central plaza, Nadred and Jarou found us. After exchanging greetings, we continued on to the HQ building. Once there, we turned in our report paper to Venn, and were able to get a meeting with Danfis. We did have to wait around for about an hour though. We passed the time just chatting about various things, and I shared my newfound knowledge on magic circles with Jarou.

Eventually, Danfis came down and greeted us, before taking us up to his office. The office was dimly lit, much like the last time I had been in there. He sat down at his desk, while the five of us congregated in front of it. “Welcome back, all of you,” he started, “I was told you have some information to relay to me, outside of the mission report.”

Oroske nodded and looked at the rest of the group. Nadred and Kared both gestured to him, in a way that said “go ahead.”

He nodded again, and pulled out the envelope from Naen. “The Guardian, Naen, asked us personally to deliver this envelope to you. He gave similar envelopes to members of the other Half-Demon Clans, as well.”

Danfis’s eyes narrowed, and he wove his fingers together in front of his mouth, resting his elbows on the desk. “I see. I’ll read this in private,” he said, accepting the letter from Oroske’s hands. “And where did you see Guardian Naen?”

“That leads me to the next topic of interest,” Oroske continued, “He managed to get us tickets to attend the tier five bracket of the Tournament of Towers.” Danfis raised an eyebrow, clearly interested. “And in the final match of this tournament, we witnessed Human contestants not only use Demon Sheath, but they also managed to use Acceleration, and to a degree higher than anything I’ve seen before.”

Danfis thought for a moment, eyes closed, before speaking again. “This spells trouble. If it was the two highest performing students, we should thankfully have a few years before it becomes a problem, if it does in the first place. But that does mean they have someone in the school capable of teaching Humans to use Energy Manipulation to a much higher degree than previously thought possible.

“Is that all?” He finished.

“Yes, sir,” Oroske said, before pulling out the phial with the Necromancer’s Dust inside it. “Just need to turn this in, and we’ll be on our way. I was hoping you’d show Kuro and Jarou the cleansing process, though.”

“Ah yes, of course,” Danfis took the phial, taking off the lid with a satisfying pop. “It’s their first Necromancer Hunt, so I’d be glad to.”

Danfis poured the black dust onto his hand, and closed his eyes to focus. A shroud of black smoke covered the small mound, swirling in his hand for a few moments. It eventually cleared up to reveal the dust had been transformed into a very light gray. Not quite the pure white I had expected for some reason. He opened his eyes, and with a spark of fyrun, the dust burnt, and disappeared.

“This is a technique only the Danfis of the Tsumi Clan can perform. I would share the specifics, but unfortunately that must also stay with me and me alone. After the Dust is purified, burning it up in any manner of magic will return it to the Aetherial Realm, and into the pool of usable Aether.” He explained.

“Now, if there is nothing else I can do for you all, you may go,” He said with a wave of his hand, before gesturing to Oroske and Kared, “Except you two, I need to speak with you a little longer.” The two of them simply nodded, and Kared leaned on the desk as Nadred escorted Jarou and I out of the room.

—--

“Now that they’re out of the way, I have a favor to ask of you two. Moreso Kared, but Oroske will be involved as well,” Danfis began, leaning back in his chair. He reached down to one of the drawers on the side, and pulled a small envelope out of it. “The Human-Demon Peace Party begins soon, as I’m sure you’re both aware. This year, I want to push once more on the usual matter.” He slid the envelope to Kared. “However, we’re taking a much more… let’s say, aggressive, approach this time. All I need you to do is deliver this envelope to one of the Demon Parliament members, who I’ll help you target soon, and give him a little nudge. I’ll leave how aggressive the nudge is up to you, Kared.”

“Why me though?” She asked.

“Why else? You’re a member of the Crimson Twilight, and well known in Ish’din. A threat from you will not be taken lightly, regardless of the position the person is in.” Danfis said with a smile.

Kared sighed, “Alright, I’ll do it. Does this count as my yearly Tsumi Clan mission?”

Danfis chuckled, “We shall see. I’m sure I’ll have something to spark your interest sooner than later.”

“Alright, fine, whatever,” she said, making her being annoyed more than apparent.

“And me?” Oroske asked.

“You’ll just assist her in any way she asks. Probably in the sense of providing protection for her during the operation. Though, I do have something else I need to speak with you about, once Kared leaves.” Danfis explained. “Then there’s the matter of the envelope. I’m sure I already know what it’s talking about, and I’ll have an official meeting about it with the Red Cloaks in the next week or so.”

“Is it what I think it is?” Oroske asked.

“Probably. I believe it’s Naen telling us that the Chosen of each Clan will be needed soon. I don’t like it, but I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.” He said with a sigh.

“Yep, that’s what I was worried about,” Oroske said.

“Well, Kared, you’re dismissed for now, we’ll continue discussing the matter of your next assignment soon.”

Kared bowed, and left the room, with a wave of her hand as she walked.

“So, what’s up?” Oroske asked, as the door shut with a thud.

“How is Kuro? Have his memories returned at all?” Danfis inquired.

“He’s doing well. He suffered a pretty major injury during the Hunt, but Kared was able to treat it. I forgot how quickly he learns and picks things up. As for his memory, unless he’s hiding it for some reason, he still hasn’t remembered anything.”

“I see.” Danfis thought for a moment. “The path to Ish’din takes you through Al’din, where he died. Take him to where it happened, see if it helps jog his memory at all. Have you talked to him about how exactly he died?”

“No sir, I haven’t. Shall I do that?”

“I think that would be best,” Danfis nodded, “I think it’s valuable for anyone in his situation to know how they died.”

“Very well, I shall do just that. Anything else?”

“That will be all, Oroske. Thank you for your continued hard work.”

Oroske bowed, crossing an arm across his sternum, and left Danfis’s office, returning home to his young apprentice.