Mage Inquisitor

“Good Morning, Ria. How was the festival?” asked Elan’drin as she walked into his office within the palace.

“The fireworks at the end felt a little as if I finally arrived,” she admitted and smiled. “But I also met a people that reminded me of what happened in Solstice and after I came here.” She shook her head and took her surroundings in.

The elf was standing behind a polished mahogany desk and looked through some papers. The marble floor was covered by a red carpet and an arched door way in the wooden walls on the right led into a side room. A window to the left allowed just a bit of natural light to fall into the office. Behind the desk were shelves full of books that looked as if they had been naturally grown. In the side room, she could see more books as well as a comfortable looking sofa and a table. The ceiling looked like intertwined branches of a tree, and there were lanterns that hung at seemingly random free hanging branches.

“Ah, yes. There are many people from Solstice here.” The elf quickly signed a paper and moved it to a different stack.

“One of them is a felana that is missing her friends and family. She wanted to look outside the city, but everything is locked down right now. Since you gave Catrina a scholarship … could you help her out?” she asked.

“Maybe. I’ll look into it.” Elan’drin took a new piece of paper. “Catrina was it?” He scribbled something down as she nodded.

“It’s great that you care for the people here. It means that you have really arrived.” Elan’drin straightened. “Keep them in mind and it will help you when you try to learn how to control your powers. Come. Let’s sit somewhere more comfortable.” He motion for her to follow him and walked to the doorway at the right.

Ria followed him to the other room. It was spaceous. Magical lanterns hung from a ceiling that also looked like intertwined twigs. Several of them even bore leaves. A small fountain murmured in a corner. When she looked down, she saw two comfortable looking sofas. She was surprised to see Ariel sitting on one of them. The other Elemental Avatar sipped on something that looked and smelled like tea. “Hello Solaria,” she said in a sweet tone of voice, while keeping the white porcellain in hand. “I see you have a little pet now?”

“I asked Ariel to come here, because she’s learning how to control her powers as well.” Elan’drin took a seat opposite of the city’s Elemental Avatar.

“Hello Ariel.” She smiled and sat next to Elan’drin. Then she pointed at her slime. “It’s my little friend, Rin. It basically found me.”

“Nice to meet you, Rin.” Ariel put the tea cup on the table.

Ria turned to the Elf. “Why are you training her? Do you fear that her Control Collar might fail, too?”

“Elan’drin has been teaching me for quite a while already,” Ariel said leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “It began when he got a letter from his son, that mentioned concerns about the collars. He showed it to President Thun and sought his blessing to teach me.”

“Nepp Thun thought about it for a while and agreed, seeing no harm in this. Then he asked me to try to create a replacement.” Elan’drin sighed. “I wasn’t able to create another collar.”

“The ocean of wisdom asked me this morning, whether I’d be interested to practice together with you. Maybe even practice containing the power of each other to gain a new perspective.” Ariel smiled. “And since I wanted to spend some more time with one of my siblings, I said yes.”

Ria felt warm inside. She plucked Rin from her shoulder and sat it down on the table. “Rin might be able to help us, too.” It trilled its confirmation.

“That little slime can? How?” Ariel looked at Rin. Ria was sure that it had grown quite a bit since it latched onto her below the city. “I have never seen a slime as a pet. I only know that adventurers sometimes use them, but no one of them has ever adopted one.”

“It’s more that it has adopted me.” Ria smiled. “And it’s pretty smart. It can visualize magical constructs. Here, let me show you.” She touched the slime gently. “Rin, you know what to do.”

Ria formed her magic and Rin copied it exactly as it was, helping her to smooth out the edges.

“I’ve never seen a slime do that. That combined with its mana tracking ability is really remarkable.” Elan’drin was impressed.

“Yes, Rin’s great.” Ria had no idea, why, but she felt proud of her little friend. The same as Catrina had with her friend.

“You’re pretty good.” Ariel looked not at the slime, but at Ria herself. “That’s already some pretty tight control.”

“Thank you?” How could she tell?

“Ariel can feel every mana but her own. I guess it’s the same for you,” Elan’drin explained.

“Because I basically am water myself, I can’t feel the nuances of it anymore. It’s drowned out by my own power.” Ariel looked down at the Slime. “Rin? Can you do the same for me?”

It hesitated a moment, but when Ria let go of her own construct, it cooed.

“That’s a yes,” she translated.

“Thank you.” Ariel closed her eyes for a moment. Ria could feel something forming. Like power being held in a very tight cage. It was leaking at the seams, but the cage held. Meanwhile, Rin had formed into the magical construct that held Ariel’s power back. It wasn’t just a simple dodecahedron like hers. Ariel’s was reinforced by two more layers, held together by smaller dodecahedrons at each point. But even that was fuzzy, which explained why the construct was leaking.

Ariel opened her eyes and looked at Rin. The little slime was shaking slightly, but Ria could feel how Ariel was tightening her construct, her control. Then Rin melted back into a round drop that spread on the table.

Ria quickly picked it up and cupped it with her hands.

“That’s really impressive. Ariel, you improved by a lot. Rin, showing all those details must have been exhausting.” Elan’drin got a drawn out, deep sounding coo as an answer. “Now, Ria. What you have is a good start, but you need to get to Ariel’s level, if you want to stand a chance of using magic to control your own power.”

“I-I need to keep that many objects in mind?” she asked, aghast.

“Yes and no. Once you have the first basic shape,” he gestured and a glowing dodecahedron appeared above the table, “you can easily make copies.” Several more appeared at once. “You do need to layer them appropriately after that, but once you have mastered that and have gotten used to the new shape, you can deploy it within moments.”

Ria was really sceptical.

“Try it. Create one construct, then make a copy.” The elf smiled.

Ariel took her cup of tea again and leaned back, waiting.

With a sigh, Ria closed her eyes. She created a small version of the magical construct she’d been using so far and made a copy. Then she copied both and had no problems holding four of those images in mind. They all moved in lockstep, though. She frowned.

“It works, but I can’t do more then two independently.”

“You don't need to. For this it is of advantage to have exact copies. You just want to reinforce the base magic, after all.”

“It’s that easy?”

“For Elemental Avatars it is. You have enough magical power to brute force your magic like this.” Elan’drin waved his glowing constructs away.

“I see.” Ria sighed. “Then I am back to brute forcing magic.” Ria sighed.

“It’s a good start. Besides, how old are you really? Haven’t you just been summoned twenty years ago?”

Ria stopped for a moment. “I think so.”

“And how long have you been learning magic?”

“For four years …”

“It took me twenty years to master it to this degree, and I am still learning.” Elan’drin patted her shoulder. “Now, try it.”

Ria nodded and sat Rin back down on the table.

“May I?” Ariel reached for Rin. The slime didn’t protest.

“It doesn’t seem to mind,” Ria said and leaned back on the sofa. It took her several minutes to build the construct Ariel was using. Then she embedded meaning in it and … it held. Even when she stopped suppressing her own power, it held.

“Good. Now all you need to do is to try it with even more mana. But we should do that somewhere else.”

“I do have a special training chamber that Elan’drin has build for me. We can use that,” Ariel chimed in.

There was a knock on the door in the other room. Elan’drin took a deep breath and before he could answer, Auron stormed in. The dwarf walked immediately up to them.

“Evr’yone is currently making me their errand boy. Tell them that ah’m an important sea of wisdom, too.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ll try to make it clear to everyone else.” Elan’drin nodded and smiled a bit. “What has happened?”

Auron sighed. “President Thun told a guard that he should tell me to get you.” The dwarf shook his head. “A Mage Inquisitor has arrived.” He looked at Ria. “A real one.”

“I never said that I’m a Mage Inquisitor,” she protested weakly.

Elan’drin frowned. “I wonder what that Mage Inquisitor wants.”

“Ah have no idea. Ah haven’t even seen him.” Auron shrugged. “An’ I don’t care. Ah’m getting back ta my research.” Auron turned around and stormed off.

Elan’drin was quiet for several long moments, staring at the table. After a while, he leaned back on the sofa and sighed. “I can’t make heads or tails of this,” he sad while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He stopped and stood up. “Come. I think we should all see this Mage Inquisitor.”

“Y-You want me to meet the Mage Inquisitor, too?” Ria stared at Elan’drin with wide eyes.

“Yes. He might have questions for you, and it would be a hassle to hunt you down then. Besides, I’d like to see how he reacts, seeing you.” Elan’drin walked around the sofa to leave the room and Ariel followed him.

Ria sighed, picked Rin up from the table and got up herself. They left Elan’drin’s office, and the elf locked the door. They didn’t speak as they walked to the main lobby of the palace and up the stairs that ultimately led to the throne room, where Ria had first spoken to the president herself.

When they stepped through the double doors and into the central room of power of the city, Ria had to stop. President Thun sat on his seat, his head propped up by his right arm. He looked half bored, half annoyed. In front of him was the person that was most likely the Mage Inquisitor. The man was clad in black and stood on the stone path in front of the throne. He turned around when they entered, his arms crossed. Ria recognized him immediately.

His shirt still seemed to be slightly too large. He wore the same long wide pants and a cape. A belt with a golden badge at his belt that showed the six points of magic, together with a seventh in the center and all basic magic constructs combined into one symbol.

“Ah, welcome. You’re the ocean of wisdom, correct?” The Mage Inquisitor adressed Elan’drin. If he recognized her, he didn’t give any indication of it.

“Indeed, Mage Inquisitor.” The elf greeted the man with a flourish. “And this is Ariel, this city’s Elemental Avatar.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ariel bowed slightly.

“Just the person I wanted to see.” The Inquisitor smiled. “And who is the other lovely lady?”

Ria was taken aback by his question. Was he testing them or did he really not recognize her? Especially since he had greeted her very similarly to the way he had greeted her back then when he had visited Solstice.

“This is Ria. I think you can classify her as a lesser Elemental Avatar.” Elan’drin said.

“Hello.” Ria mirrored Ariel’s gesture.

“A lesser elemental concept? I didn’t think that it was possible to create avatars for them …” He raised an eyebrow at her, then turned toward the man on the throne.

“Thank you for coming,” president Thun said. “Inquisitor Kal wanted to raise a few concerns with us.”

“A few concerns?” Elan’drin crossed his arms. “What are those concerns?”

“I heard rumors about mage enslavement and trafficking in this city,” the Inquisitor said. “Also about the misuse of magical resources. And there is one more thing: Have you noticed anything strange about your Elemental Avatar?”

“We already undertook steps to bust the mage trafficking ring with the help of Ria here.” Elan’drin walked past the Mage Inquisitor, with Ariel following behind. Ria took that as a hint and did the same. Though it was a very strange feeling, when she joined Elan’drin on the side of president Thun. Especially since it was a similar position to where she had been when King Astartin held court.

“She did? Maybe I should recruit her as a Mage Inquisitor.” He ran a finger over the badge that hung at his belt.

“I just stumbled on them.” It really had been a coincidence. She had just wanted a place to train.

The Inquisitor laughed. “Good luck is also important in this profession.”

Ria opened her mouth and closed it once more. Maybe he was right. He had left Solstice right before anything happened, so he had been very lucky.

“Since that has been sorted out, let’s get to your second point: You said that there were magical resources being misused in this city?” Elan’drin hid his hands in the opposite sleeve of his robes. She had never before seen him do that.

“Ah, yes. I heard that someone is distilling Agua Intelligencia in this city. And in large quantities to boot.” The Inquisitor walked to the side on the small stone path, and then onto the water. He didn’t sink into the relatively shallow pool. He actually walked on water. Casually.

En’rin once told her that mages often did casual displays of power to send other magical gifted people a subtle message.

“Ah, yes. We’re currently investigating that as well and we made progress just recently.” Elan’drin stepped onto the water as well. “But I noticed that you used a specific word when it comes to the production of Agua Intelligencia. Which means that the High Mage Council knows how that potion is made. That information would help us determine where it is made.” He stopped halfway to the door, opposite of the Mage Inquisitor and off the intended path, using the same message.

Inquisitor Kal turned around. It felt as if they’d start a duel at any moment now.

“Ah, yes, distillation.” The Inquisitor was silent for a long method. “The High Council decided unfortunately, that we’re not allowed to share that information. But I am allowed to give you a hint: This city is the only one that’s suitable to mass produce Agua Intelligencia.”

Elan’drin nodded. “Thank you. That information does indeed point me in a suitable direction.”

Kal raised an eyebrow for a moment. “No need to thank me. I’m just interested in enforcing the council’s rules.” He bowed slightly. “You wouldn’t mind, if I accompanied your people once you have found the production facilities in the city and start to enforce the rules, do you?”

“Of course not.” Elan’drin bowed slightly as well.

“Then there shouldn’t be any problem.” Kal smiled and turned to the president. “But I am still concerned about your Elemental Avatar. As you certainly know already, considering the refugee camps outside the city, the Elemental Avatar in Solstice disintegrated recently. She took the whole city with her. Sadly, the same happened to Eirendria. The city and the whole island crashed down and buried the Emerald Sea below it.” He shook his head. “Sadly, there were no survivors.”

Something about Elan’drin changed. He seemed to have frozen all of a sudden. “Which part of the Emerald Sea?”

“The southern part. The elven settlement of Al’dria was mostly unscathed. Though I heard that the elves did have a few casualties, when the avatar disintegrated and exploded into a new mountain. I sadly do not know, who has perished in that catastrophe.” He turned back to the president. “I’d like to prevent another tragedy, if possible.”

“Thank you for your consideration.” President Thun sat up straight. “I can assure you that Ariel is the same as always. Should we notice any change about her, I’ll contact the High Mage Council immediately.”

“Thank you.” Kal walked back to the path in the pool. “A fault in their basic magical construct could spell doom for the other big cities as well.”

“Could it have been a fault in their control collar?” Ria asked, thinking back at the moment when hers failed.

“All control collars have been vetted by all of the high mages. It’s inconceivable that they could fail.” The Inquisitor answered sharply. It sent shivers down her spine.

“But …”

“There might have been an assasin,” Elan’drin cut into her rebuttal. “We should probably post additional guards for Ariel’s safety.”

“If there are assasins who are ready to throw their lives away to remove Elemental Avatars, we should be careful. Please, do post those guards.” Kal nodded. “Thank you. I will stay in the city, until the Agua Intelligencia problem is solved. I trust that you have a room for me?” The Inquisitor looked at the president.

“But of course. We do have a guest suite available.” President Thun raised his voice. “Guards! Escort the Mage Inquisitor to the guest chambers.” Then he stood. “This meeting is now adjourned.”

Kal turned around and walked to the doors. He didn’t look back and didn’t say another word. Ria looked to Elan’drin. She had a few questions for the elf, but didn’t feel comfortable asking while Ariel or the president were present. She’d have to wait until they were alone once more.