Minutes passed, or maybe hours, I wasn’t quite sure. Breathing was difficult, like something was sitting on my chest, but nothing was there. Trying to move my eyes sent sparks of agony into my forehead, and though I knew it was a sensory illusion the world felt like it was spinning and rotating continually. Brain injury, I thought, major concussion, probably. I would have thought the healing magic could fix it, but maybe this is just the lingering effects. That doesn’t explain why I can’t breathe though.

While I waited for the motion to stop, I could hear voices that were difficult to make sense of. They weren’t like the ones that had appeared immediately after the explosion, they were calm and orderly. A few times I thought I heard footsteps nearby, but even trying to twist my neck to look made me almost vomit from vertigo. Fortunately, someone walked into my field of vision, and I managed to center my eyes on them. Female, blonde, guard uniform, I said to myself, Damn, they’re probably going to arrest me. I should have gotten up. Wait, she’s not looking this way, if I just- I tried to push myself off the ground with my elbows but ended up falling to my right.

“Gods and spirits!” a female voice that was now out of my line of sight blurted. “He’s alive!”

“What?” a male voice replied, then the sounds of several pairs of footsteps came from all around me. I tried to summon up magic to help move, but couldn’t manage any, so I ended up relaxing and falling onto my back again, gasping for air.

“Do we… arrest him?” someone asked.

“How are we supposed to cuff him?” someone else asked.

“Get out of the way, recruits!” a gruff male demanded as a new pair of heavy footfalls approached. A man’s face, clean-shaven and rugged with scars, bent over me and peered down into my eyes. “Yuwniht Lihyveyz, am I correct?” he queried. No sense denying it, I thought, Aavspeyjh should be able to help me with this, unless he betrayed me, in which case denying it is pointless anyway.

“Correct,” I wheezed, tasting blood in the back of my throat.

“You are a person of interest in this attack,” the guard said. “As such, you are to be taken into custody immediately for interrogation. Given your current state, you will be provided with new clothing and treatment for your lasting injuries before the interrogation begins. This, however, is contingent upon your cooperation and can be revoked at any time. Do you understand me?”

“Rehvites-” I gasped, trying to make a full sentence but failing due to my lung capacity. Even just the word I got out prompted gasps from some of the other guards. “Attacked… two dead… my room… two more…” I felt my vision narrowing as the lack of oxygen threatened to knock me out.

“Do you understand what I told you or not?” the gruff guard demanded. I tried to inhale again so I could speak, but then my whole body began contorting and seizing. Vomit and blood forced their way out of my mouth as I curled up from the pain, falling to my right once more. “Seyt, get someone over here with the special restraints and some sedative,” the gruff guard swore.

“Right away sir,” the initial female guard replied. Still laying on my right side, my vision began to return, and I saw that I was closer to the ground than I had expected. Then, just a few meters away, something came into focus. A human arm, severed just below the shoulder by what looked like a blunt impact, holding a very thick sword. A human arm with much darker skin than any Luwahriy had, and wearing the tattered sleeve of a gambeson. My arm. Oh, that would explain a lot, actually, was my only thought upon seeing it.

Turning my head just slightly and pulling my eyes down to look at myself, I saw the extent of my injury. My shoulder had been completely obliterated, and even my collarbone and upper right rib cage suffered damage. In the place of the missing bones and muscle, a mass of scar tissue covered the area, sealing my organs inside and stopping the bleeding. My chest’s internal pressure is destabilized, I thought blearily, I can’t breathe because my body trapped air inside as it healed.

“Special restraints and sedative, sir,” the female guard said from somewhere behind me. I could feel the world slipping away again, and I knew I needed to speak quickly. Inhaling as much as I could, I rolled back onto my back.

“Air in… chest…” I gasped, tapping my ribs with my left hand. “You need… to stab… with knife…”

“Why would we stab you?” someone asked. I wasn’t sure which guard because my eyesight had gone away again. I probably won’t die, but if they can’t fix my breathing I’ll be unconscious until my healing somehow fixes it.

“Get the air out…” I gasped, then everything went black.

“Looks like he’s waking up now,” a soft female voice said, rousing me from my unconscious stupor. Though I hadn’t dreamt anything at all, for some reason I felt as though many hours had passed. “To remind you, he may not be fully rational, we can’t know how badly his head was jostled by whatever did this to him. His body is very weak, but once he’s fully awake I’ll begin feeding him. Then you can proceed with your questions.”

“I will ask my question as I please, priestess,” a man replied. “Rouse him quickly, I am tired of waiting.”

“Had your guards simply listened to his instructions at the scene, he would not have been-” the woman began to chide the man.

“My guards are not trained to remedy diseases,” the man countered. “Especially not diseases so obscure as to be solved by stabbing between one’s ribs.”

“Nevertheless, you must allow him to wake at his own pace,” the woman said.

“I’m awake,” I grunted, opening my eyes and looking around to scan my new surroundings. I was laying on a bed in what was unmistakably a prison cell of some kind. Rock walls sat on five sides of me, and an open wall to my front had thick metal bars preventing exit. The cell door looked reinforced, and had a strangely-designed lock that I suspected was made to resist picking through magic. Glancing down, I saw that my clothing had been removed and replaced with a standard tunic and pants combination, and my body had been washed while I was unconscious.

Just outside the cell, a man in a button-up shirt and pants stood with his hands behind his back. His black hair and goatee were groomed to perfection, and his red eyes were laser-focused on me. Inside the cell, to my right, was a woman wearing a similar style of priestess garb to the woman I had met at the temple in Pehrihnk. Under the black veil, she looked average for a Luwahriy, blonde and red-eyed.

“Do you know where you are?” the priestess asked me as I sat up. Glancing at my destroyed right shoulder, I sighed and directed my attention to the man outside the cell.

“I’m assuming I’m at a guard post,” I replied. “I don’t know the city well enough to judge which one, but if I recall correctly there was a post just three blocks from the inn I was staying at.”

“Seems rational enough to me,” the man growled. “You are Yuwniht Lihyveyz, please confirm this for me before we proceed.” I glanced at the man through the bars, then back at the priestess, and for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to ignore a strange inconsistency with the situation.

“Why is he out there, but you are in here?” I asked. “I would understand if both of you were outside, or both inside, but this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Answer the question,” the man demanded.

“The investigator is outside for his safety,” the priestess replied. “I need no such assurances, as I have faith that you would not harm me. The gods can be quite wrathful to those who disrespect their servants, after all.” Technically, the word for the man’s rank was shaejhoymahtmoyr, meaning something akin to “investigation team leader”, but I translated it to “investigator” mentally.

“I am Yuwniht Lihyveyz,” I said, turning back to the investigator. “I have no hostile intentions, so if you want to enter this cell for your interrogation, you can.” Now, let’s see how he reacts, I thought. To my surprise, the investigator pulled out two keys from the pocket of his pants, unlocked the cell, and walked inside. While he did so, the priestess picked up a glass bottle from the ground and held it out for me to take.

“Please drink this,” she requested. “Your body was weakened by your injuries, this will help you recover your strength.” At the mention of recovering my strength, I momentarily popped open my heads-up display, finding that my green bars were very low, and my blue long-term storage was at around ten percent. Even my blood wasn’t quite full. I really don’t understand this equilibrium at all, I thought.

With my left hand, I took the bottle, then glanced inside to see some kind of green porridge mixture. Steeling myself, I quickly brought the bottle to my mouth and began to drink it. Surprisingly, aside from the texture the liquid was decently palatable, and my green bars began increasing when I finished the bottle. Must have protein in it too, I thought, possibly whatever nutrient was needed to replenish magic as well.

“I am investigator Laev Pawtkahv of the Kahvahrniydah royal guard,” the investigator said. “You will answer my questions directly and elaborate if requested. Should you refuse to answer you will not be released and you will be charged with obstruction of justice. Should your answers implicate you in a crime you will not be released and you will be charged with the relevant crime. Should your answers be found to be deceptive at a later date, you will be charged with perjury. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I replied. “What happened to the Rehvites? Did you catch them?”

“We will get to that,” Laev said dismissively. “Firstly, your description matches a man who was recently sighted working for a Zae’ey’yaob family subsidiary company, please confirm or deny your involvement with the Zae’ey’yaob family.”

“I know Koylzmeyl and Aavspeyjh personally,” I explained. “The latter requested that I deliver several packages for him, and I agreed. That is the only job I have performed for them.” Laev’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t betray his inner feelings about the subject.

“Why were you staying at Tehlao’s inn?” he asked.

“It was recommended to me by Aavspeyjh after I completed the delivery job,” I said. Not a lie, I thought, but not the full truth. I can’t know how much I should reveal, so I’ll only reveal the legal parts.

“Why was your name not on the guest list?” Laev asked.

“Again, Aavspeyjh told me to use a different name,” I explained. “I don’t know why, he does have a business relationship with the inn as far as I can tell, so perhaps it has something to do with that.” How did you know my name if you didn’t get it from the guest list? I wanted to ask. “How long was I unconscious after you found me?” I asked.

“It has been half a day since the incident at Tehlao’s inn,” Laev replied. “How did you enter this city?”

“I came in with a caravan from Owsahlk, headed by a woman named Zhervaol,” I replied.

“What is your relation to the Rehvites?” Laev asked. Though his tone didn’t change at all, the question was far more pointed than the others. I thought about my answer, and what would be appropriate to say.

“They have tried to kill me several times now,” I replied. “I am not a member of their organization, nor would they take me if I desired to be, as I am not Uwrish Luwahriy.” Laev sighed, then pulled out a small notepad and a sharpened piece of graphite from the pocket on his pants that hadn’t contained the cell keys.

“There are… conflicting reports of what happened at Tehlao’s,” he said. “I need you to clear up some of the details for me. As of right now, you are the only living suspect in the incident that we have managed to capture.” The terminology he used wasn’t lost on me, and I didn’t like the implication.

“I was defending myself,” I replied. “The only people who I killed were trying to kill me.”

“Killing in self-defense is illegal in Uwriy,” Laev replied, stating something I had heard Koyl say many times. My mind seemed to hitch for a moment, then it pulled out a piece of information for me.

“There is an edict in this city that Rehvites are to be killed,” I replied. “I was attacked by Rehvites, it should be obvious from their clothing.”

“The law is to be enforced by those charged to enforce it mister Lihyveyz, not mercenaries such as yourself,” Laev countered. “That being said, we are not interested in charging you with murdering the two people we found in your room, as they are undeniably Rehvites and thus guilty of a capital crime. What we want from you is to fill in the missing pieces of what happened in exchange for your temporary release while we conduct our investigation.” For a moment, the cell was silent.

“Fine,” I agreed. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather us be alone for this, however?”

“No, the priestess can stay as a witness that your testimony was given willingly,” Laev replied. “Now, let me begin with what we know about, and work backward from there…”

Using Laev’s reports, I managed to piece together what had happened after the explosion, and during my fight. Apparently, after the first grenade went off someone went to fetch a guard, who promptly saw the second grenade blast and ran away to get reinforcements. Said reinforcements arrived just after whatever had taken off my arm, swarming the courtyard area from both sides with eight guards. The guards had found the assassin standing over me, two blades hovering near each of his arms, looking as though he was going to kill me. Naturally, the ones with crossbows shot at him immediately.

What happened after that was largely a mystery because everyone except one survivor was cut to pieces by the assassin. The sole survivor, a young male recruit, was too traumatized to talk and currently undergoing some kind of procedure at the nearby temple. He only survived because a second wave of reinforcements had been deployed from another nearby guard post independently due to the explosions, and that second wave managed to take the assassin partly by surprise while he was about to kill the survivor, pelting him with bolts and scoring a number of hits. The assassin then apparently proceeded to run straight up a wall to meet with his collaborator, who nobody got a good look at, then they both vanished into the night.

“So, as you might suspect, we are quite interested in why you aren’t dead, mister Lihyveyz,” Laev concluded after giving me a few minutes to put everything together. That’s a good question, I thought, but then something the assassin said echoed back into my mind: “We already know that you were sent here by a god, we simply need to know which god, and why.”

“I think they intended to capture me this time,” I said, speaking yet another half-truth.

“We suspected as much, given that you supposedly displayed not just one, but two types of combat magic that nobody in the guard has ever seen before, let alone heard of,” Laev sighed. “Not to mention there is evidence of a third type on one of the corpses in your room. How did you kill that boy, if I might ask?”

“Am I required to answer that question?” I asked back for clarification.

“You are,” Laev confirmed.

“I used heat magic to cook his brain,” I replied. For a moment, Laev paused, then he raised an eyebrow.

“There were no burns anywhere on his body,” he said. “Besides, don’t you mean fire magic?” It was my turn to sigh, a reaction that caused Laev to write something in his notepad.

“No, I mean heat magic,” I replied. “Is this really relevant?” More furious scribbling followed, and the priestess beside me glanced in my direction.

“This blinding light you apparently used,” Laev continued after finishing his notes, ignoring my question. “It was described by several witnesses, but as far as I know there is no record of any such magical technique existing in this country.”

“It isn’t a technique from this country,” I replied.

“In my spare time, mister Lihyveyz, I make a hobby of documenting various oddities from around the world,” Laev explained. “I have never even heard of such a technique or anything like it. I was informed that you hail from Yahn Gwah, dubious as that claim is, but the Gwahlaob are not known for their magic. Frankly, I find this part of your story very difficult to believe.”

“Do you need a demonstration?” I asked.

“Can it be done without blinding either of us?” Laev asked back. In response, I reached out to my magic and manifested a small ball of light above my left hand. Good to know that’s working again, I thought as Laev stared, transfixed for a moment.

“Is this sufficient?” I asked.

“What is it?” Laev asked in a suddenly unprofessional tone. Apparently catching himself, he cleared his throat, then rubbed his beard. “Please, increase the brightness slowly, if that is possible,” he said, his normal tone returning. At his request, I began to brighten the light until it was difficult to look at.

“To make it brighter would be too tiring at the moment,” I said. It wasn’t entirely a lie, I could feel that my magic reserves were low, but even at its brightest continuous output, I would still be able to hold the light on for several minutes. Actually, how did I manage to get the output so high in the fight? I wondered, making a mental note to investigate the matter later.

“That will be enough for now,” Laev said, and the light flickered out while he wrote something down. “Then finally, the technique with the knife that somehow halted the attacker, what was it?”

“Are you familiar with Rehv’s binding?” I asked. Both he and the priestess reacted with suspicion, though Laev dropped it quickly to regain his normal composure.

“I am,” Laev replied.

“It was a modified version of that technique, essentially,” I explained. “The effect generated by Rehv’s binding can be stored in metal and then released all at once when the metal is touched. I concentrated the effect in the throwing knife, and it released when it came into contact with the Rehvite.” Laev took another note, then raised his head and looked at me inquisitively.

“And where did you learn this?” he asked. “Forgive me, but for one who is not a Rehvite, having such intimate knowledge of that technique is surprising.”

“I taught myself, after seeing Rehv’s binding,” I replied. I guess saying it’s one of my people’s techniques likely wouldn’t work, I thought.

“This is not a time for boasting mister Lihyveyz,” Laev groaned. “I had thought we were on better terms than that by now. You have been highly cooperative, please do not ruin it for the sake of your ego. Or perhaps you would like to revise your statement about your relation to the Rehvites?”

“No, both statements are the truth,” I stated firmly. Neither Laev nor the priestess knew how to react, so the cell went silent for a moment.

“That remains to be seen,” Laev said, putting his notepad and graphite away. “Still, if this is the biggest secret you have kept from us today, I could hardly be disappointed in your lack of honesty. Come, follow me to the entrance, there are people waiting to pick you up.” Probably Aavspeyjh, or someone sent by him, I thought, maybe even Koyl.

“My belongings?” I asked, remembering them as I glanced down at my new clothing.

“You can get them on the way out,” Laev said. I was about to nod, but then I remembered something that sent a flash of panic through my spine.

“When you undressed me, did you take everything out of my clothing?” I asked.

“Yes, we have your money,” Laev sighed. “Contrary to popular belief, we do not steal money that wasn’t earned illegally.” That’s not what I’m worried about, I thought.

“Did you happen to find a document in a foreign language?” I asked. “As well, there was a medallion designed to be operated with magic.”

“You may view what we found when you leave, mister Lihyveyz,” Laev droned, as though playing a recording back with his mouth. “However, no, we did not find any such thing on your person, and to my knowledge, nothing similar was recovered nearby either.”

“Do you-” I started.

“No more questions, mister Lihyveyz,” Laev huffed. “Should we find items fitting that description we will return them to you. Do know, however, that we may also be contacting you in the future for further details. Do not leave the city. Should you find yourself outside the walls of Kahvahrniydah, you should return immediately, because your exit is now barred under penalty of execution until our investigation concludes.”