Rumors about the black stone incident spread through the town like wildfire, and two days later we had yet to figure out what exactly had happened. Understandably, the citizens were getting worried, and that was after it had only happened once... Unfortunately, it wasn’t an isolated event. Aside from an entire building disappearing, we had several smaller cases of strange sightings, people and objects vanishing, as well as accounts of the colorful flakes swirling around people’s homes.

It was hardly debatable whether the black stones had something to do with these incidents, seeing how they were the only common denominator we could find. But I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening exactly. One of the earliest theories was that Shadi might be involved in some way, due to her Calling and how she seemingly went into hiding shortly after we released her, but Reurig eventually managed to track her down. He found evidence that she had stayed with an old acquaintance from the Raising Site, and that they hadn’t been running around town. We also considered that others might have an interest in wreaking havoc throughout town, but came to realize that the locations it happened in seemed rather random. Poorer districts were hit just as much as richer ones. It happened inside and outside, and to young and old—there was just no pattern. Except that we usually found black stones on the people or in their vicinity.

After the second incident, we made an announcement, informing people about what happened. During it, I explained our suspicion that the black stones were related and declared a temporary ban on their possession while this issue was under investigation.

What really surprised me was how widespread the black stones seemed to be. Often found in the form of powder, dozens of people came forward, willingly getting rid of theirs out of fear. The guards also found smaller and larger stashes, however, particularly inside the market district. And while black stones hadn’t been illegal per se before, smuggling them into town was, making the topic a bit of a gray zone, like being allowed to own a certain drug, but not to acquire it. This was presumably part of the reason some people were reluctant to hand over their stones—at least until the fear of getting killed rose.

With no other leads, my preliminary theory was that the black stones were reacting negatively to the magic system. They had always seemed unusual, and Gallas mentioned that the system starting up would have “devastating effects.” The dungeon certainly wasn’t great for morale, but this... This was starting to feel like an actual problem, with at least twenty-six deaths or disappearances so far. Unlike beasts, we couldn’t simply fight off such an issue, and we also didn’t always find signs of stones or powder.

After the eighth incident, we finally got a bit of a breather, with an entire three hours of no new reports coming in or alarms going off. I was looking out through the office window, onto the main square. It was a usual, sunny afternoon in Alarna, people were out and about, but you could practically see the gloomy thoughts written on the citizens’ faces as they passed by the temple.

“Yea, they do not look happy,” I said with a sigh.

“They’re dreading the bells going off again,” Hayla said, sitting behind me at the desk. “You’ll have to give them some time. Assuming that it’s over...”

“Honestly, I have my doubts. Grym is doing his best, and people should understand that it’s dangerous to hold onto this stuff by now, but it’s a large town, and we’re still finding stones.”

I turned away from the window, my eyes falling on the empty couch that appeared oh so inviting, and yet so dangerous. I was on edge, wishing to relax for just a moment. However, every time I tried, the next emergency came in.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hayla pause her writing, glancing up at me, and following my gaze.

“What happens, happens. You know that,” she said.

“I know.”

“You could get some rest then.”

“And yet... I feel like that’s going to spell doom for us.” I let out another sigh. “Anyway, I just came to see how you were doing. Is everything in order?”

“There’s no new problems at least,” she said with a wry smile. “Uncle Hertar always complained about his workload, and how there were new issues around every corner all the time. I guess the tradition continues.”

“That reminds me... We told him we’d release him soon. It completely slipped my mind.”

“Is that so? I would recommend that you don’t rush it.”

It was a little peculiar how content she seemed with letting her family stay in prison, but I felt like I understood her well enough by now. While she cared about them, her priority was the town of Alarna.

“You think they’re not going to accept our rule?” I asked.

“It’s not them I’m worried about, but the others. If you release the king, they’ll believe they have a chance to get their influence back, and they’ll almost certainly attempt to pressure him into taking action. Their little visit made that clear. I honestly don’t know what will happen then. We should at least wait until Arax is dealt with.”

“Hm, alright. Anything else?”

“Well, we did get another complaint from a merchant about the trip to Cerus. What can I tell them?”

“Ugh...”

Originally I had planned to already be on my way by then, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving in the middle of these black stone incidents. Even if I couldn’t do more about them than anyone else, this might change any minute.

“I’d like to say that we just won’t go until things have calmed down around here, but... Where’s our stock of blue stones at?”

“They might last us another half-month,” Hayla said, “but I wouldn’t want to rely on it.”

“Right,” I said, thinking, Makes sense, even last month they only took a couple of bags with them, Tomar, Reurig, and the guards fleeing the destroyed Cerus as quickly as possible. “We could modify the water scripts a little, so they use less of the stones. It would give us some time. Though it’s certainly not a solution to the core problem.”

“No, it would be better to announce a proper plan soon.”

“I figured. Okay... Let’s say I’ll leave if nothing requires my attention for... six hours.”

“You’re going to let Hati carry you, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

“How long will it take?”

“Probably about twelve hours to get there and then return here.”

“Really... That’s impressive,” Hayla marveled. “If only we could always be that fast.”

“Hm, hm,” I agreed. “Another item on a very long list of things I need to look into.”

It’s kind of weird that there’s no horses in this world. Or at least in this area. What was I thinking? Or maybe they were hunted to extinction by humans and beasts or something?

Hayla put the quill down and leaned back in her chair, looking at me with a smile. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what you’ll be able to accomplish, you know?”

“Hm. First we have to survive the next week though.”

Black stones, Arax, moderators... And whatever else crosses our path in that time.

Stepping away from the desk, I stretched and got ready to leave. I was still checking in on Hayla and her work regularly, but so far she had done a great job and didn’t really need the supervision.

“Guess I’ll go back to training and research,” I said.

“I’m not worried,” Hayla said, her response not quite fitting my last words.

“Huh?” I glanced back at her in confusion.

“About all the problems. You’re giving your all for this town. If there’s a way for all of us to get through this, you’ll find it. You remind me of my uncle in that way. He never rests either.”

She looked at me happily and full of hope. It seemed like she was getting more comfortable with us, her professional facade slipping more and more often. And I was even receiving what sounded like high praise.

“Though he should from time to time,” she said admonishingly.

Hanging my head, I glanced in the direction of the couch again.

She is definitely getting more homey as my fiance... Trying to micromanage when I take a break... Although resting for a moment does sound lovely. And thinking that something will happen is of course nothing but superstition.

I stared holes into the cushions for a solid ten seconds before I said, “Fuck it,” and went for it. Letting myself fall down onto the couch and enjoying the pillowy sensation, I realized how silly it had been not to take the time to recharge, instead of walking around, waiting for the next disaster to strike.

While a satisfied sigh escaped my lips, Hayla went back to work. This was nice, but I couldn’t turn off my brain completely. Glancing at her occasionally, I thought about yet another problem I still had to figure out: ending our engagement. My newfound knowledge told me that breaking a magic contract was basically impossible, but I had to try.

During my last break, in-between incidents four and five, I managed to decode the script Riala had jotted down. But even in its normal format the script was difficult to read. There were too many unknown symbols and new, cryptic functions. It would take ages to figure it all out. I still had over three months until I was forced to marry her, but if the past couple of weeks were any indicator, going forward, I wouldn’t have a lot of free time to sit down for days and weeks on end for research either.

Despite Hayla’s nice words, all these issues were slowly starting to overwhelm me, with feelings of it never stopping creeping into my mind. They overshadowed even the fact that we might literally die in the coming days. Yes, Arax might rip me in half, but either way, there were three more days of nonsense until then, and countless days after that.

“Oh...” Hayla said.

I tensed up and stared stone-faced at the bookshelf across the room. “See... I sit down and something happens. What now?”

“Hm... Ah, nevermind. It was just a mix-up of some numbers.”

“Huh. Alright,” I said, happily surprised. “Maybe I can—”

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and my head swiveled in the direction the noise came from. I might have immediately thought the worst again if I hadn’t still been wallowing in the sensation of being proven wrong.

“Yes?” Hayla said.

Bren opened the door and announced to us that Aelene stood in the hallway, looking for me. Even at that point, I somehow wasn’t worried yet, but when she finally entered the room, she was clearly distressed. And me in turn, when my eyes wandered from her face down to her belly, coated in an unnatural amount of mana.