Midnight's Blood

Vines and roots snaked through the girl’s body and drank from her blood. The crucifixion of the victim reminded Ishtar of Nerium’s mother, lifeless and hanging. The moonlight further emphasized the scene, almost as if it was the same intention fourteen years ago. She knelt down, inspecting the ground. Her fingers slipped into the dirt at the base of the scene, digging into the earth with ease. It happened recently.

She dusted off her indigo skirt as she stood up, turning her attention to the tower on the other side of the island. It was a two day trip and several villages in between herself and the observation tower, without her partner.

Timothy emerged from the bushes of the forest around her, the mage broke branches in a hurry. Then he stopped, taking in the sight with terror. “I… We found the missing girl. Do you think –?”

Ishtar shook her head and answered. “No, a ritualist would confirm my thoughts.”

“And those are?”

“Her soul was ripped out.” Ishtar tore open the dress around the girl’s chest, revealing a black spot that stretched out in roots. It was like her mother’s chest, on a full moon, like today.

Timothy crossed his arms, facing her with a dark expression. “Impossible,” he mumbled. “Magic?”

Ishtar nodded while she pulled her witch’s hat further down. “Where is the next engraved Teathar?” A sort of crystal that allowed the gifted to use magic, she touched her crescent shaped chain earring. The eastern part of the island should have one, but it was supposed to be near the mountain town, not close to the shore. So how did someone take her soul apart? The more she looked at the corpse, the more it reminded her of Nerium’s mother. And yet she kept telling herself that there was no connection, it simply wasn’t possible. What happened to her mother was over a decade ago.

Timothy swung his gem-imbued scepter, casting two swirling light balls and rolling out the map. Then he pointed at the village at the feet of the mountains that split the island in three sections, the east, west, and north. “There.” His finger slid to the forest, east of the village. “No one could cast magic.”

“Except for –”

“A court mage.” He was perceptive to the point of being mistaken as a mind reader. “Do you think it is someone from the observatory?”

That could explain the use of magic without a crystal, but it also meant that the observatory housed two murderer now. She answered. “Could be.” But she couldn’t remove the possibility that, maybe, someone came onto this island without having their crystal removed to cast an intricate spell.

Timothy swirled his scepter, forming a portal with a white line which led back to the portal. “We have to report this to magistrate Simone.”

Ishtar’s shoulders dropped as she sighed. Simone led the observatory and the prison, this nameless island, and she alone was allowed to stay in contact with the kingdom of Vaviel. Every warden or mage that worked for the observatory, were either family members of astray gifteds or mages who sought out a mentor for a specialization. And Simone was very set on not respecting Ishtar’s wish to be mentored by Zil, a chronomancer.

“I – You will report it to her.” She hesitated to step into the portal, then gritted her teeth and returned to the observatory. Instead of going to the magistrate's office, she intended to seek out Zil again. But as the hallways of the observatory unfolded, like clouds freeing the night sky, she was dazzled by the chaos. Mages and wardens ran the floors up and down, some even flew.

The portal dispersed as Timothy went through, asking. “What is going on?”

One of the heavy armored wardens stopped by. “A prisoner escaped.” He hastened down the hallway, almost bumping into one of the white Teathar pillars that furnished the hallways at every corner and door.

“Someone left the island?” Ishtar asked. No one managed to escape the nameless island, tidecallers and stormbringers controlled the waters. So, any escapee ended up on the ocean’s bed.

Timothy furrowed his brows as he said. “No, we have a prison on the lower floors.”

[We have a prison?] Ishtar waved Timothy over to the wall to make space for the rushing people. “Should we help them?”

Timothy followed her and answered. “I shall help find the prisoner, you should report to Magistrate Simone.”

[Why do we have a prison?]

‘The entire island is a prison’ She wanted to ask him, but Timothy hurried into the stream of people. Then she mumbled to herself. “But where is Simone?”

A young passing mage answered. “Lower floors.”

Ishtar slowly went over to the teleportation platform to be in the less populated lower levels. The platform didn’t consume as much energy for anyone who wasn’t inherently gifted. Maybe she should practice teleportation more, but she had a knack for processing knowledge. After walking down the tedious hallways, the great magistrate stood in front of a blasted prison wall. The old lady, in a white coat and gray hair in a bun, grew even more wrinkles and hatred for Ishtar the moment she turned her attention to the younger mage.

Her lips stretched into a thin line. “What do you need?” And she grumbled at every syllable, like some growling wolves in the north.

Ishtar hesitated, scratched her neck and said in a low tone. “We found the girl and –” She disliked mentioning the spell used on the victim. Simone hated anything related to her. So a spell used on her island that was also used on Ishtar’s mother seemed like her past caught up.

“And what?” Her voice was broader and hoarse.

[You should tell her. There could be more victims.] “Her soul was taken.”

Simone massaged her forehead wrinkles that came from furrowing her brows too much. Ishtar thought to remind Timothy to stop furrowing at the sight of the wavy lines.

“Are you sure?”

Ishtar nodded and whispered. “Her chest had the same black roots as my mother.” She almost bit her lip, it was hard to say it was her mother, while it wasn’t. She wasn’t Nerium.

“Your past caught up.” She had a rather soft tone to Ishtar’s surprise. Her attention returned to the destroyed prison and even cracked crystal. “Now we have two problems. Help me catch the prisoner, as an astromancer, you can track him. Then we will deal with your case.”

The task was easy for her. Any apprentice astromancer learned clairvoyance within the first few months training. Ishtar fumbled with her earring again, concentrating on the starry sky and focusing on the guiding star of Dux. The bright blue star was the brightest of them all and had always sat to the north. Her mind swept. She watched her body from the outside as the night sky and stars stretched out around her, the prison was nowhere to be seen. She saw Nerium’s comforting soul, hugging and clinging to her own body as Ishtar was far above, attached to the body with the same astral string that connected her soul to a new life.

Then her spirit moved up her hand and her body mimicked, pointing at the guiding star. Disconnected from her body, Ishtar mustered enough strength to focus on her voice. “I am ready.” The tone was soft. Nerium had a rather soft and sweet voice, but with enough power it became intimidating, assertive and mocking, at times. Ishtar was anything but sweet and lovely.

Simone was nowhere to be seen, but her intense presence disrupted the stars of the hunters to the left of Dux. The magistrate described. “Tall, dirty blonde and quite wild. His hair.”

His hair – of course. Not a wild beast. But all of it wasn’t nearly enough to track him. “Tell me about him.” Anything would help, what kind of person, where he came from the island and why he was imprisoned.

“The face of an angel, scars on his arms.”

“And why is he here?” It was rough to talk in the scrying state.

Then Ishtar assumed Simone’s silence as a long pause for thought. After more than five minutes, the magistrate kept quiet and it unnerved her. Maybe she simply refused giving a simple mage more information than they needed to cast a spell. Or maybe she left and Ishtar wouldn’t know anymore. Or even worse, instead of thinking of a way to help her cast the spell, she thought of a way to even deny her more.

To Ishtar’s surprise the intensity grew and she answered. “He has sacrificed an entire village for power.”

That alone helped her imagine the escapee. She touched the Dux Star, enlightening a bright light. A crimson core painted the white and the further she gazed into the taint, the more it spread. Soon, the red reached her feet. It took her more power to find him, which was wrong. At that point she was supposed to see him, to find him. Many images should’ve spread across the blank page, but there was only red and one scene. A muscular man, in leather clothes and short wild hair, broke a mirror inside an office and if Ishtar had guessed right, then the place was in the mid floors offices, “Portal chamber office.” she said.

Footsteps sounded into the distance, leaving Ishtar all by herself as she left her clairvoyant state. [She could’ve waited for us.]