The Effaced: Chapter Thirty-Nine (Patreon)

Once Aiden left, I glanced up at Hadiya and Kelly. 

“Did you hear anything about the attack on Anterior Gardens?” I asked. 

“There wasn’t one,” Hadiya said. “At least, nothing that made the papers and rippled across the city quickly. Which means either Firefright lied, or the constables actually managed to catch him.” 

Everyone glanced at Rhys, who shook his head. 

“I might be able to convince them to listen to a tip, but that’s far from being able to get an insider scoop on their operations,” he said. “If they did intercept an attack, that’ll be headlines in tomorrow's papers, though. The constables will want to shift public opinion in their favor, so they’ll blast from every outlet that will listen to them about how they stopped one of the two attacks. Hammer in how much worse things could have been.” 

“They’re also going to be extra alert for a while,” Hadiya agreed. “Even if the attack didn’t happen, they can’t allow the Arenamaster to just run around attacking the city.”

“Think we can do another report?” Kelly asked. “I mean, Axel knows the company she hired, and the airship they stole. That could at least maybe get them to do their jobs. Unless Abe makes them look the other way.” 

“Abe?” Rhys asked. 

“Judge Abraham Tahmid,” Kelly said, with a tone that was clearly a mockery of showing decorum. 

Hadiya just grunted her agreement, then sighed. 

“We were lucky to be at the target of one of her attacks, and the second one was following a tip from Firefright,” she said. “We don’t even know where the others are.” 

I gave a reluctant grunt of my own, and Rhys drummed his fingers on the table. 

“What does Nexus have to do with her plans?” he finally asked. “They gained something through funding the experimentation and keeping her powering of the Throne of the Gambler. Even if we say they let the bloodsport go on because of the profits they got out of it, it still doesn’t make sense. And the Arenamaster isn’t making much sense either.”

“The experimentation could be any number of reasons,” Hadiya said. “Blue sky research yields results more commonly than you’d expect, and being able to experiment on humans without the need to go through an ethics board can catapult research forwards by a decade or more. Look at Paerús – they were a bunch of backwards barbarians, but their lack of laws on harvesting meant they had the most efficient aura-spark harvesting and aura moving enchantments in the world.” 

“Well, that’s lovely to know,” I said. 

“And why didn’t she teleport away?” Kelly asked. 

“No ley line,” Hadiya said. “The White Rooms was on a Ley Line that had a direct connection to the Fallen Void. It made it easy to open a gate there with spellcraft.” 

She paused, then made air quotation marks. 

“Easy. It’s not easy, but it goes from being a feat that costs hundreds of thin-panes worth of components and powerful magic and preparation to build, to something that can be done with just runes and spellcasting.”

“That still doesn’t explain why Alyphize is still an Heir, and didn’t take the Throne for the power it offered, or why Nexus is letting her carry out terror attacks at all. What are they even trying to do? They clearly have a similar goal, just not inherently the same one,” I pointed out. “If she didn’t have Nexus’ approval, they would have turned Abraham over long ago.” 

“Build a super mage?” Hadiya suggested. “That’s what every nation on the planet tries at least once. Usually multiple times.”

“I buy that for Nexus, but not the Arenamaster,” Kelly said. “Nexus is a big government person. Well. people. They want more power to prop up in the front of the world. I don’t think the Arenamaster is in charge of Nexus, though.”

“I agree,” I said, and Rhys and Hadiya both agreed as well. 

Hadiya slapped her hands on the table. 

“I don’t think that any of this is going to get solved here,” she said. “I’m going home to get some real sleep, but first, let’s wrap up our obligations to Nexus. Give me the binding seal?” 

“Oh, right!” Rhys said, scrabbling in his pockets and removing the strange seal that Nexus had given to him. He passed it over to Hadiya, who began drawing up ritual circles on her desk with a pen, setting out sheets of paper, and placing piles of components. 

I closed my eyes and let her work, while Kelly looked on in fascination. I realized that he’d probably never gotten to see a witch writing out a ritual until now, since most of  Hadiya’s other magic had come in the form of items she’d already prepared. 

His fascination lasted right up until Hadiya placed down the aura generator and started letting the spell charge. He started bobbing his head around, looking for things to do, then poked me in the side. 

“What should my third arch-star be?” he asked. “What even are the options?” 

“A lot. Two or three is where most mages stall out,” I said, keeping my eyes closed. “The most common third arch-stars are familiar swapping, trickle charging, spell storage, elemental alignment, density automation, and direct empowerment.” 

“In the north they have one for expanding the size of the aura,” Rhys threw out. “It’s less commonly seen here, in part because they’re not the most open to trading information, even still.” 

“Familiar swapping… that’s teleporting, right?” 

I made a so-so gesture. 

“You trade places with a familiar. It’s as close to easy teleportation as I know of. Everything else requires you to open a gate to another plane. I have trickle charging, which gives me a constant amount of aura. I’ve trained it to integrate well with my guns.” 

“Spell storage is what it sounds like,” Rhys said. “It lets you store spells in your arch-star for later use. Elemental alignment deepens your connection to something. It could make your mind magic easier. Great general option. Density automation will make your aura perform some exercises on its own, removing the burden of needing constant practice.” 

Rhys then gave me an odd look. 

“Direct empowerment is from the south. I wouldn’t call it common. It’s no better known than aura expansion, though I don’t think Vyrma is refusing to tell us, as much as it’s hard getting good quality information this far north.” 

I shrugged. 

“Aniseed knew it, nearly made me do it,” I said. “But she knew a lot of things.” 

Rhys was silent for a moment, then looked at Kelly. 

“Either way, you shouldn’t be looking at forming a third arch-star until you’ve got a solid grasp on your second,” he said. “That’s not just me being a bore, either. Forming too many arch-stars too quickly can burn your aura out, make it much harder for you to form more. It’s better to take six months or a year between each star.” 

“Really?” I asked, opening one eye to look at Rhys. The Arenamaster and Aniseed had rushed us to gain stars, master shaping, master spellcraft, and everything else. 

“Yes,” Rhys said emphatically. “Rushing is really, really not a good idea.” 

“I had no idea it was that bad,” I admitted. “I always thought it was more a general thing. Like not learning to run before you can walk.” 

“I’m done,” Hadiya announced, looking up. “They were on the level. It will also record what you see and sense after you take it, sending it to Egress, but the compulsion is simple: you will do everything you can to try and get me to not put forward the proposition to the senate.” 

“Is it recording now?” I asked. 

“No.”

“Then… this isn’t bad,” Rhys said. “Just hold firm in your conviction, and we’ll have to remember to not talk about the real plan.” 

“No talking about the real plan, no talking about Nexus, or the Arenamaster, or anything,” I said. “All that you need to do is play your role.”

Rhys nodded and held out his hand. Hadiya tossed him the circle of power. Rhys’ aura flickered for a moment, then the power vanished. He glanced up at Hadiya and smiled. 

“I do think we should reconsider,” he said. “In all seriousness. The rippling impact would be enough to destabilize the economy. Right now, getting an aura is one of the few ways people in the Undercity have a chance to move up in the world. Not everyone can be a genius like you. But anyone with an aura can become a maintenance worker. If we pass out movers and generators for free, we’ll flood the market, which will be good for a short time, but what happens when the jobs dry up? Suddenly there are thousands of angry people who can cast spells if they learn how. Violence will skyrocket, the economy will suffer.”

Hadiya could have fired back with any number of rebuttals about how that was not guaranteed, and how this was creating options that there wouldn’t be before. How it could advance magic by allowing more people like her a chance to escape their birthright. 

She said nothing, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. Rhys studied her, then looked at me. His eyes were slightly glazed over as he began expanding on all of the reasons why I should help him make Hadiya see reason. 

I had to give it to him, he was a good orator and debater. I refused to engage, much like Hadiya, and it was clear that Egress’ spell was becoming frustrated with the lack of progress. Rhys began pacing and shouting, screaming at us that we were idiots for not listening to him. Even though I knew it was the spell talking, it still felt… wrong… to see Rhys acting this way. 

Meanwhile, Kelly was staring at Rhys strangely, so I leaned over.

“What is it?” I asked. 

“His mind is weird,” Kelly said. “Its like… Have you ever seen a cat trapped under a sheet? They’ll run around and rip at the fabric, trying to untangle themselves, but it only makes them more tangled. It’s like the thing he took was a sheet from another dimension, and his brain is a cat.” 

“That… Huh,” I said. “That is weird.” 

Rhys turned and shook his head. 

“This isn’t the spell, Kelly’s wrong.” 

“Lying would be included in your full effort,” I said, responding to his argument for the first time. “You can keep talking, spell. How long will this last?” 

“Twenty four hours.” Hadiya said, looking up in annoyance. “Why don’t you take Kelly and spare yourselves at least. Rhys, give them money for a tailor.” 

“I’ll happily do so, if I can convince you to stop,” Rhys said. “My father wasn’t the richest politician, but I can give you his entire estate, my full inheritance, if you stop.” 

I shook my head. 

“He’ll promise you the moon if it gets you to stop. Also, I’m not that poor. I can afford my own tailoring.” 

“I know,” Hadiya said. “Well, I didn’t know about the tailoring and money. You’ve had a lot going on. But I know enough to not listen to him.” 

“Full effort,” I said, pursing my lips. “Hey, Hadiya, do you want a sword?” 

“Huh?” she asked.

“Well, if the spell builds up enough, it might force him to try and attack.”

Rhys’ eyes bulged and I thought I heard him whisper something about that being a possibility he hadn’t considered, but was absolutely possible.

“Got it. I’m going to handcuff Rhys to the wall. Hadiya, do you have any spare metal?” 

“No, but we keep some in closet B,” she said. 

“I’ll get it!” Kelly said, bolting a way. 

A short while later, I handcuffed Rhys to the wall, apologizing to him all the while about how deranged this entire thing was. I included finger restraints, so that he couldn’t try to draw any spells in the dust on the tiles or anything else like that. I tried to make him comfortable, but practicality was more important right now. 

“Again, I’m so sorry Rhys,” I said. “I hope you’ll forgive me.” 

“I’ll forgive you only if you make Hadiya see reason,” Rhys said. We’d left his mouth unbound so that he could still use talking as an option, hoping that would slow the spell’s progression. 

Hadiya drew out a marble from her bag, then leaned back. 

“If he somehow manages to break out, I’ll knock him out with this,” she said. “You two can go.” 

“If you’re sure?” I asked. 

“Completely,” Hadiya said. “Just come back so we can sleep in shifts.” 

I nodded, then Kelly and I left to visit a tailor. Being tailored for a suit was a new experience. It wasn’t especially pleasant, but it was far from the worst. Lots of being poked and prodded, mostly with fingers, but sometimes with needles. Once my measurements had been taken, we left the suit with the tailor, an old lady with one eye that glowed a pinkish color, and she promised to get it back to us as soon as possible. 

Then, just like that, I was – relatively – free of obligations. At least for a little bit.