Chapter 2: 1.01 The City of Petilius

Vel lay steady in his chair still breathing deeply. Temujin sits down on the bed to face him at eye level or rather considering his height just to rest.

Whatever just happened completely drained Vel, but they weren't left untouched.

"What do you mean Vel? What the hell just happened? And what in gods name is an augur?" They say.

Vell sighs weakly and with some effort moves his head towards the wastes. He stares at them as he contemplates what to say next.

After a few minutes, Temujin grows impatient and says "Earth to Vell, you in there?"

After another minute Vell replies in a breathless growl.

"The world is in a low magic period. This means that many things that I thought trivial back when I was still a student, are now utterly impossible. However, even during the high magic period when necromancers and witches ran free, there were certain powers that were taboo. The power of dreams was one of them."

Temujin sits up and eyes Vell.

"Wait, so I have the power of dreams?" they say, a smile forming on their face.

Vell doesn't respond. He seemed less apathetic and more utterly exhausted.

Temujin leans forward and waves their hand in front of Vel's eyes. Worry shoots through their mind. Were they responsible for Vel's current state? Were his parts of their dream some sort of spell they cast?

"Vell, please, Tell me what happened while I was asleep." they ask. 

Vell slowly turns his head to Temujin and frowns.

"This isn't your fault, more a result of my own hubris," he says.

Temujin replies almost automatically, "What?". Although they could understand him, his breathless whisper still required a second to decode.

"I found sound asleep when I returned here. I thought of leaving you be, but then I sensed something strange as you slept. A concentration of all your mana in your mind." 

"I did magic?" Temujin exclaims.

"No" he replies "You did sorcery."

"I thought it was fascinating so I probed it with my mind, but the damn thing was like a vortex and dragged me in. By the time I came to I was in a section of what I assumed to be your world." he continues.

"So the you's in my dream were actually you?" they ask

"Yes, well at least one of them."  he replies.

"But how did that lead to you becoming like this?"

"Well... while I was in there you reached out for a power to aid you. Being your master I saw fit to fulfil that role. What I didn't realise was that once I led my mana inside of you, it wouldn't stop flowing. I opened the flood gates as it were." he says

"And your bandages?"

"Being from a high magic period my body requires a higher density of mana in the air, and since that isn't available I built myself a little incubator."

"So... as long as you rest you'll be fine?"

Vell chuckles lightly. 

He goes on to say "I won't get off quite as easy. I'm gonna need you to make a trip to the city for me and ask around for a street vendor named Petina, I told him about you. Tell him that I need the crystal back and I'll get him a replacement later, then bring it back to me."

"W-wait, you want me to go to the city by myself?" Temujin stutters out, their earlier confidence vanishing at the prospect of having to deal with an entire city of aliens instead of just one.

Part of the reason they hadn't completely locked up was that Vel wasn't a human. There was a sort of a distance between everything happening to them and what their brain considered 'real', but a city was very very real.

Temujin grew up in a small town and rarely ever visited the city, but when she did it was always a nerve-racking experience.

The charm of a small town didn't lay in its people or location, but in its openness. You could throw a stone and hit a place to escape to.

The city however was infested with swarms of self-interested douches. 

"Isn't there like, a messenger you could send or like a delivery person." They ask hopefully. 

Vel just stares at them.

"Temujin, you are the messenger and delivery person," he says pointedly.

Temujin looks away embarrassed. Vel sighs.

"Look, you're gonna need to face this sooner or later," he says.

"I know..." Temujin clenches their clothes with their hands "I just... was hoping for later."

"Don't worry, you won't be going alone." Vel slowly turns his head back towards the waste.

He tries to yell, "Huliq!" but what comes out is more akin to a very harsh and loud whisper.

Huliq hears regardless and swims towards the room.

Temujin jumps back and grabs the knife in their hoodie, but doesn't take it out.

"Please, don't be afraid. Huliq did not realise you would be hurt, he hasn't met a human before."

Huliq peers out from behind his brother's head, his smaller tapered body perfectly able to hide behind his brothers. He hisses.

"See? He's apologising." a cocaughphony of coughs follow his words. His previously still body violently convulsed with the breakdown of his breathing.

"Please..." he manages to grumble, "Go..."

Temujin immediately rises and takes a step toward Huliq, but as they walk they remember what it is that they are going to do.

They freeze midstep and stare between the coughing Vel and the awaiting Huliq. Before they can think for a further second they run and jump onto Huliq's back, or at least try as they land just below Hul's head.

Huliq lets out a twin roar, somehow louder at Huliq's than Hul's. The amphista sinks rapidly much to the shrieking terror of Temujin, but as he does Huliq grabs Temujin and pulls them onto the saddle.

"AHHHH! PLEASE FUCK STOP!" they scream regret both immediate and intense, but Huliq does no such thing.

If not for the torrential winds flying by their ears they would have heard Huliqs quiet snickering.

Runes on the centre of the saddle light up momentarily and a sudden draining sensation rings throughout Temujin, but within the second their descent slows, halts and then reverses.

Huliq rapidly speeds up, Temujin grabbing the reins and holding on for sheer life due to the vertical positioning of Huls's body. Miraculously instead of falling to their certain death, they were showing no signs of slipping.

Temujin notices this and stops their screaming. Their heart threatens to jump out of their body, but they ignore it as they loosen the reigns.

Their body rises to be perpendicular to Huliq's and they look around at their surroundings. From their perspective, they're riding along a sandstone bridge to the stars.

The vibrance of the navy blue provides a stark difference to the late afternoon skies of home. The sun was nowhere setting, instead just dimming as an approximation of the moon forever watching the Jinns homeland.

Whimsy creeps into the adrenalin-numbed mind of Vel, letting them forget their earthly woes. Ironically only as they literally rose to the heavens could they, a materialist, let go of themselves.

They scream again, but this time characterised by excitement and release instead of terror.

As if sensing this Huliq tells Hul to change their course to spiral up the mesa instead of climbing it directly and Hul obliges. Thus giving Vel more time to enjoy the ride.

 

Vel's arrival in the city is welcomed by the red lanterns of the city watch. Huliq dutifully stops at the ports in front of the gigantic stone gates of the city's walls and awaits an inspection. 

Temujin not knowing the customs of the city just disembarks and walks right up to the gates. They are immediately halted by a green giant that from their perception, appeared from nowhere.

"Await your turn, human." The giant mumbles, but its tremendous size gave the words enough force to be easily heard by all around.

Temujin freezes and stares up at the creature, mouth agape. They mumble a few random syllables before a hand is placed on their shoulder.

"Talos, please. You're scaring the young lad." 

Temujins head turns to see a woman with skin of charcoal standing behind them. Her skin was portioned into uneven pieces separated by molten red cracks that radiated heat and she wore what looked to be leather and bronze armour. On her torso lay an insignia of a single pure emerald on a backdrop of red cracked black.

Now that Temujin saw the symbol they turned around and saw it all across the port and gate. Hanging from flag poles, on uniforms and even the green giants otherwise baren bronze plate armour. It must be a city flag.

"So, human. What brings you to Petilius?" she asks.

Temujin turns to fully face her and gulps. What were they supposed to say, should they tell people about Vel's condition or was this city unsafe?

"Are you the Ragman's apprentice?" she asks.

Relief washes over Temujins body.

"Y-yes, I am. He sent me here," they reply.

The woman smirks "Then I'm guessing he didn't tell you of the mandatory inspections?"

"N-no?" sweat trickles down Temujins brow.

The woman just laughs and playfully slaps Temujin on the shoulder. Although it stung like a motherfucker.

"Of course, he didn't! The damn cotton-bound idiot always just flies over the walls. Huliq must have flown you here on his own."

Temujin nods, and the woman smirks.

"Go on through then. Whatever Vel maybe he's a trusted ally of the city." She says

"Welcome to the grandest city of the five islands, Petilius. Home of the mighty Ifrit!"

Talos clears his throat,

"Suck it up Talos. This is is an Ifrit city through and through and the occasional Marid doesn't change that." says the woman

Talos grumbles a bit, but eventually steps aside and disappears into a shadow. Temujin narrows their eyes and focuses on the spot Talos disappeared and they find a distinguishable line outlining his form.

He didn't disappear at all, he's just somehow turned quasi-invisible.

The woman notices Temujins scrutiny and chuckles.

"Curious huh? God knows why, but our Talos here is a high-level assassin."

Temujin's head flicks to the woman astonished. A ten-meter giant in full plate armour an assassin? 

"How?" they ask.

"By being stealthy I imagine." the woman answers gleefully.

Temujin sighs and looks back at Huliq, he'd be fine on his own, wouldn't he? They see many other amphista at the dock with their riders staying on. Pairs of Ifrit guards are making their way through each amphista and searching them.

So they werent searched thanks to their relation to Vel, but whats Vel's relationship with the city? Perhaps the merchant could answer that.

Temujin turns and finally enters the city.

A barrage of lights and sounds hit them as they crossed the threshold of the twenty-meter-thick gate. The exact thing she was so averse through.

They take a step back, dazed and the lights and sounds all disappear. They look down and notice an especially deep groove in the large pebble road.

Magic? Of course its magic. Everything is magic in this world, even the air around them as demonstrated by the amphista. The better question is why is it magic, why would the ifrit want to hide their activities and who exactly from. Temujin looked up at the sky and noticed a lone cloud floating by just barely floating past the city's Aurelian walls. How would an enemy even get here?

Temujin braced themselves and then stepped forward into the city once more. Insanely loud drummers were walking through the street surrounded by dancers and groups of vocalists. They sang in a strange tonation and manner. Their vocals sliding, stuttering and bouncing almost like a vocal dance.

The silk-draped ifrit worked to visualise the spectacle by twirling in between drummers, singers, the crowd and the large Palanquin at the centre of the parade.

"What the fuck" mumbles Temujin.

They had to go to the city exactly when there was a festival, of course they did. Not only that, but they had to go up to an alien stranger and ask for directions. They'd rather go back and punch Huliq in his face.

"I'm doing this so Vel doesn't die," they mumble as they steel themselves.

"Vel? You mean the ragmans gonna die?" a childs voice props up beside them.

"Argh!" Temujin yelps from suprise.

They jump from the sudden stranger and look back to see a kid completely bound in bandages, but instead of Vels green on black they had two red hot coals for eyes.

"W-who are you?" they yell over the noise. The kid tilts their head to side, studies them for a second and then smiles. They bring out a familiar emerald knife. 

A drummer's stick piercing their drum comes to Temujin's attention. The kid talks in a low growling tone, but is somehow perfectly audible even in the chaos of the parade.

"Y'know it's dangerous to carry around a knife without a holster, what would've you done if it went flying-" the kid stabs the knife forward at Temujin "into someone."

Temujin instinctively jumps back dodging the blade. The kid laughs sinisterly.

"Fun!" they exclaim as they walk forward with the knife at running speed.

Temujin follows their example and gets into a sprint running right forward right into the parade. They breathe heavily as panic infects their mind.

Why was a random kid attacking them, with their own knife! And why are they bandaged like Vel? Does he have a sibling whos out to get them? Possibilities race through Temujin's mind as they repeat please and thank yous pushing through the crowd.

The festival-goers pay them no mind as they carry on forth with the festivities, are stabbings one of their customs?

They dodge drummers, weave through dancers and rush through singers expecting someone to say something, but no one so much as bats an eye at the kid mummy slashing around a knife just behind Temujin.

Arent kids meant to have small legs? So how were they not only keeping up but walking as they do it. Each step they took magically took them much farther than usual, was it a skill? 

Maybe they were an assassin like Talos, but a much more normal size.

Temujin reaches the middle of the parade, the palanquin. A small retinue of guards marched before and after it, but instead of halting Temujin they opened a space for them to run through. Finally driven to madness through desperation Temujin asks for help.

"Help!" they yell as they appear next to the palanquin.

As they yell the palanquins door opens and they are pushed forward into it. They only see the force that did it for a moment, a dark draped red-eyed warrior. A propper-looking assassin.

They crumble into a pile after hitting the palanquin's other door and by the time they pick themselves up on their seat they notice the other people within it.

An ifrit woman draped in all shades of red, orange and yellow stares at Temujin. Her dress made of strips of silk coloured like fire itself contrasted with her abyssal black skin, though it matched the separating cracks of red.

They look to their right and see the kid sitting elegantly, the knife tucked under some bandages. As if they hadn't spent the past five minutes chasing Temujin down like some raving lunatic.

The woman gives a discerning look to Temujin and then shifts her attention to the kid.

"Faustus Petilius Fairbia." she says in a voice as smooth as silk.

"Yes, mummy dearest?" replies Fairbia, code switched to a perfect formal accent.

"I hear you have been consorting with the ragman." says her mother.

"Why no mummy, I was merely having a jaunt with my friend. As you know mummy these processions get oh so tiresome." Fairbia beams beams.

The mother turns her attention back to Temujin, and says.

"What is your name."

"Temujin." they reply without meaning. Their brow scrunches in confusion. They didn't even have a single thought nonetheless tried to speak, so why did they reply? A skill?

"Were you truly merely playing with my daughter?" she asks.

"No." Temujin again replies instantly.

Confusion is replaced with anger as they stare holes into the woman, but they dare not say speak their mind. This woman had an entire parade dedicated to her, who knows what power she held.

The woman turns her head to her daughter once again, her face remaining expressionless.

"The human does corroborate your story Fairbia."

Fairbia turns to Temujin and playfully slaps their shoulder. "Now now Temujin, enough of our games. Please go ahead and tell mummy the truth."

A vile fog spreads through Temujin's mind as they reminisce about the game they played earlier.

"Yes, we were playing through the streets as you said," they say without a hint of emotion.

The cloud clears and Temujins eyes are wide with surprise. Why did they say that? It's patently untrue! In actuality, the little gremlin chased them through the streets.

"See mummy? A mere game" says Fairbia with a toothy grin.

 Her mother smiles gently, the first emotion she'd shown in this interaction.

"Your influence has come a long way Fairbia, but our influence may never truly equate to mind control. If you keep trying to use it as such you will quickly find yourself stunted." She says.

Fairbia grimaces and groans.

"But mummy!" she complains.

"Now now, no buts dearest. You must learn to draw out lesser thoughts instead of attempting to summon new ones." Her mother reprimands.

"But daddy does it!" she complains.

Her mother presses her lips together, into nor a smile nor a frown.

"No deary, your father's influence although larger is significantly weaker than ours. A lady's place is manipulation and intrigue, a senators is in public service," she explains.

Fairbia harrumphs and crosses her arms. She looks out the window trying to find anything else to fill her mind. Her mother turns back to Temujin.

"I apologise for my daughter's behaviour. To be so rude to a traveller, especially one who has come as far as you, is a great insult to not only you but our fair city," she says.

Temujin was angry to be sure, but the sincere-sounding apology was very abrupt and straightforward. They blush not knowing what to say, forgetting their anger altogether as they say,

"Oh, n-no it's alright," when it absolutely wasn't.

"He's not a traveller, they're the ragman's apprentice." Fairbia says idly.

The lady's brows arch ever so slightly in surprise. She sighs and says

"The ragman? An apprentice? How disconcerting. Those of the elder blood already enjoy too many privileges here, and now there's two of you? At least you aren't a mutant like the ragman." 

"He's a mutant?" Temujin speaks up for the first time in the conversation, you could call it one.

The lady hesitates for a moment.

"Why of course, you didn't think humans with such a high concentration of eldarin blood were normal, did you? You are much more the norm." she says.

"Well, no. I don't even have any Eldarin blood." corrects Temujin.

This makes the lady smile. Temujin flushes, she was very beautiful even if she looked like molten obsidian, or perhaps that even added to her charm. She continues in a much friendlier tone.

"It is refreshing for a human to admit so. My name Faustus Petilius Thenisia, I am glad we have met. However, we must reach the senate before it begins, may we continue our conversation at a later date?" 

"U-uh... yeah, sure. Wait, do you know about a merchant called Petina? Vel wanted me to talk to him." says Temujin.

"Vel?" asks Thenisia.

"Uh, the ragman."

Thenisia laughs for a moment and says, "You know, in all these years I have never even gotten him to divulge his favourite food, nonetheless his name. You truly are his apprentice. As for Petina, I can easily have you escorted to him."

The carriage stops and the door to Temujin's left opens, Fairbia jumps to her feet.

"Mother-" she starts to say

"No." Thenisia cuts off.

"But-" Fairbia begins to beg.

"No," Thenisia cuts off. She waves away Temujin and they oblige.

As they leave the carriage the carriage door shuts behind them and the sound of the parade hits them like a truck. They stumble on their feet but are caught by a lone soldier.

He rights them and yells "Follow me!" over the music.

 

The soldier leads them out of the parade into and into a different street. Out of the parade, Temujin saw just how truly wide the streets were. Even the alleyways were more than wide enough to support a car going through comfortably.

Was it for giants like Talos, but if so why didn't they see any?

The soldier led them down dreary street after dreary street, all devoid of people. They guess that all the people were celebrating Thenisia and Fairbia's arrival.

But were they really so important to warrant it? They mentioned being a lady, so they were some sort of nobility? And if so how did the Ragman know them? Especially that murderous brat who wrapped herself like him. 

Temujin blinks and reaches into their hoodie's pocket. The brat kept it! And they were so overwhelmed that they didn't even notice!

Well to be honest an escort was more than a fair trade for a knife, but Temujin still held it against the twerp.

What kind of psycho chases someone down with a blade? The rich kind they assume.

They crash into the soldier lost in their thoughts. The soldier doesn't budge and instead grabs them with their free hand to stop them from falling.

Temujin rights themselves and blushes from embarrassment.

"Thank you." They mumble.

The solder grunts and says "We're here."

He points to a door sandwiched between two grand stores with glass displays. A crummy sign on the door says Petina's Wares.

"Are... you sure?" asks Temujin, the soldier just stares.

Temujin sighs and opens the door, the soldier trodds off. Inside, instead of a store, they find a rank tunnel.

They pinch their nose and enter, the door closing behind them. Hopefully, it was spring-loaded and not some evil spirit haunting the place. Though with the bare brick walling and exposed bronze pipes, they couldn't rule that out completely.

They follow the tunnel through to an opening where to their relief they find a pair of ifrit. Temujin shrugs off the fact that just a day ago they would have freaked out and ran at the site of them, but now they were glad?

A portly ifrit stood behind the counter arguing with the posh-looking man in front of him. Unlike others they had met this shopkeeper sported a bright blue flame in between splotches of dark blue. Was he a different kind, or maybe a mutant?

"2 gold denar is a more than fair price old man!" yells the posh man, taking two pieces from a sack and slamming them onto the wooden table.

The shopkeeper slides the coins back.

"2 gold denar? Perhaps in the east this price may be fair, but here no. What you do not understand is the rarity of mana crystals in the void." he says in a stern tone.

The posh man scoffs, "Bah!". "What you don't understand is who I am!" he replies arrogance practically dripping off every word.

"I am the scion of gens Primus, Primus Petilius Gallus!" with every word he increases in volume and confidence.

The shopkeeper grins and mutters "Yes, but I truly wonder for how much longer."

Although barely audible to Temujin, Gallus freezes from his words and takes a step back. Temujin takes a step forward without thinking, seeing their turn arrive. 

The shop keeps arches rising and he grins seeing them step into the fray.

"A human in the void sea? What a rare sight! You must be the ragmans apprentice, yes?" he probes.

Temujins turns to see Gallus' ever reddening face. His chalky grey splotches turn pink, matching the separating lines. 

"You!" he spits out, baring his teeth as a wolf would its fangs.

"How dare you interrupt my barter!" he yells.

The shopkeep chuckles and mutters under his breath "Barter? An interesting choice of words."

"Shut up Petina!" Gallus yells breaking his voice.

"A lord should rarely raise their voice, so once it may be needed it may retain its force." Tides Petina, "From the aptly named book, Lord. As a merchant I am quite privileged to have read it, as have you yes?" he continues.

Gallus stops and collects himself, though the colour doesn't leave his face. "Fine." he lets out.

"Now, human. Why have you come to see me?" asks Petina.

"U-uhm... Ve-" they stop and correct "the ragman. would like his crystal back. He said he'll replace it later."

Though revealing his name didn't seem to trip the contract between them, they don't think Vel would be very happy to have it out there.

Petina stares at them, "Did he know?" he says rhetorically.

"Y-yes. He also told me to get whatever I needed from here and to charge him." They continue.

"his crystal? The mana crystal was brought in by that lunatic? And you're his apprentice?" questions Gallus.

Temujin nods and looks away from the boy. They weren't afraid, but the intensity of his glare was certainly uncomfortable.

Gallus scoffs, "Of course, you would be. How else could you be so ill-mannered?" 

Before Gallus can continue Petina puts a small emerald box on the counter. "Here, what else do you need?" he says kindly.

"What?! You're actually giving it to him? He's not paying you, what if that lout just runs away with it?" Gallus says quizzically. 

Petina just shrugs, "A lout, most definitely, but a liar, no. Besides, he's a war hero! Can you imagine what the citizens would say if they heard I rejected the soother of waves?"

Temujin quietly pockets the box as Gallus turns his attention to the merchant.

"Him, a war hero? He's an interloper who convinced our people to surrender! It was my family that protected us all!" he yells for the first time with true conviction.

Petina shrugs again. "Maybe, but I don't really care. You should already know this by now young lordling, but the people's perception of your actions are far more important than the actions themselves."

Gallius steps forward and Temujin flinches back, remembering Faribia early. This makes him smirk "Well, at least you know your place." he says apparently forgetting earlier.

He grabs his gold denar, puts them back in his pouch and leaves, but not before saying one final thing "I will remember this human."

Worry shoots across Temujin's face, but internally they just sigh. An arrogant young lord who immediately picked a fight with them? That's gonna be annoying, but according to every novel they'd ever read, he's screwed in the long term and they take solace in that.

You are reading story GIST! at novel35.com

Although the room was large the portion the customers could walk in was a square closed off by three long counters against the entrance. Petina's wares lie behind the side counters glass and on the back walls shelves.

Petina smiles and brings over a tray from the side with a few cups and a kettle on it. 

"Please have some tea, it's freshly made! Even young master Gallus quite enjoyed his cup," he says pointing to an empty cup with some stray tea leaves.

He moves to pick it up, but Temujin snatches it first. They'd never do something so rude or so sudden usually, but something about the cup called to them. Something intrinsic to them, but still new. Like resurfacing memories from old family photos.

They looked into the cup, as Petina eyed them. "Curious," he mumbles as he turns to a shelf and rummages through it. Temujin focused on three distinct areas of the cup, the rim, the side and the bottom.

At the rim, they saw what looked to be a divining rod. One prong went out to two others, but as their eyes focused and their mind pulsated with a strange power its meaning started to change. 

Petina offers a small magnifying glass and Temujin takes it wordlessly. They hold up the cup and use the magnifying glass on the pattern. A smile breaks out as they figure it out.

"Butterfly knife" they mumble. Petina nods smiling brightly.

They move their attention to the side where they see a line with two offshoots. At first, they think of a wrench, maybe something mechanical? The knife signifies disaster so if this is the wrench it could be related to something like a car crash, but wait why did they know what they signified and since when have they been both able and willing to read tea leaves?

Their brow scrunches, but before they can put the cup down the cup they hear a muttered phrase from Petina, "Peace be unto you."

They calm down. Even if this wasn't something they'd usually do, flying, or rather swimming, on a winged duel-headed snake isn't something they'd do either, but they did here. Besides, isn't divination one of their skills?

As the word divination pops up in their mind a bunch more mental connections are made, like the owner of the cup whose tea leaves they were reading. This isn't just anyone's fortune, this is Gallus'. A real, living, breathing dick, but still worthy of avoiding whatever tragedy was about to befall them.

They pick the cup back up and continue reading. The side pattern wasn't a wrench at second glance, the top line was too straight for that. It looked more like a capital F. So something starting with F, or maybe someone? They could immediately think of a certain knife-wielding noble who'd certainly be inclined to do it again. "Fairbia." They mutter.

Petinas face turns quizical. A knife adorned with butterflies and young lady Fairbia? That sounded like more a fact of life than something an oracle would say. Was his hunch wrong? Impossible, he was the highest levelled merchant in the city, and he could literally smell the money-making potential from the human's skill.

Temujin concentrates on the bottom of the cup intently trying to figure out not the pattern, but its intended meaning. On the bottom of the cup lay a perfectly clear kettle. Was Fairbia once again brewing up trouble with a knife? No, fortunes couldn't be that stupidly self-referential, but what else could it mean?

They think about what a kettle does. It boils water, or can even brew tea. The fortune they were currently reading came from a cup of tea, so a kettle could bring a new fortune. Ending the previous one. "Death," they mumble."

Petina's jaw drops. He hated that Primus brat as much as anyone else, but he didn't wish for his death. If nothing else his father and grandfather would be devasted, and the most powerful warriors in the city being unstable was a very dangerous prospect.

"Are you sure of this?" he asks calmly.

Temujin's head flicks to him and they take a step back in surprise. They were so immersed in the tea reading that they had forgotten all about the merchant. A feeling of release flows through them as the buzzing activity in their mind subsides.

"What? Oh! Uh... yes?" they say uncertainly.

Petina grunts and says "I see. This information is very valuable, tell your master that we are even not only for the crystal but for anything else that you take from me today."

"W-what?" they stammer.

Petina smiles warmly and continues, "Please, don't be shy. What do you need?"

Temujin hesitates for about a millisecond before spluttering out "Clothes. And maybe some soap."

A blue glint flashes in Petina's eyes. He laughs and walks away saying "Give me a minute, I'll be right back."

"Wait! Don't you need my measurements?" call Temujin.

Petina laughs again as he walks into his back room, "Please young miss, I am no amateur."

Temujin stares at his disappearing form and flushes. How had he known? They swore he called them a boy earlier so why now?

They stare into a mirror and look at themselves. And beyond that, in a world of swords and sorcery, were they really defined by their sex?

Temujin only really ever told their close friends and parents, so about 6 people total in their previous world knew or really care and that was fine with them. They didn't really speak out when misgendered because it was a very personal thing and way too many people somehow got more offended at being corrected than anything else.

However here they'd been chased down and poisoned by an amphista, and then flew to a city of ifrit. They'd been chased by knife-wielding children and been chastised by a noble scion, but still, they were no longer afraid. Whilst yesterday's version of them would've had a fucking heart attack.

Petina comes back with a small cloth bag in hand, he tossed it to Temujin. They caught it with both hands and kinda just looked at it.

Petina chuckled, "It's alright human, all I want for it are two things. Your name and a promise you will return here for your future merchantile needs."

Temujin blinked and stammered "Y-yes, of course! My name is Temujin,". Petina beams and says "A fine name Temujin. I also included a few gifts in there. Something useful in case you wanted to help Gallus and something for yourself. Plus, keep the magnifying glass."

Temujin looked at the magnifying glass they'd put on the counter and picked it up, "T-thank you!"

They stood around looking at the merchant for a while until Petina waved his hand towards the door.

"O-oh yes!" Exclaimed Temujin as they turned to leave the store, but they stopped themselves. Instead, they turned around and faced the merchant. One brow rose in surprise.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh-Uhm, no. It's just that, I'm not a miss or a mister. I'm neither." They say with each word gaining confidence.

Petina's brow lowers and his lips curl into a sly smile. He chuckles and says "You truly are an oracle."

"Excuse me?" questioned Temujin.

"None, other than an oracle would be brave, or perhaps foolhardy enough, to claim the same status as the jann elders." He explained.

"The jann?" asked Temujin.

"I guess a human would not know much of them. They are a tribe of jinn that was created to guard the void ocean itself, not just the five islands that we inhabit. Their elders are known to be neither man nor woman, claiming them to be abstractions below themselves." explains Petina

"Uh... I wouldn't go that far, but I guess yes?" they reply.

Temujin turns to leave once again, but as they reach for the door handle Petina speaks up

"Then I hope you fair tithings, and the strength to prove your convictions."

"Strength?" They ask as they look back.

"Well yes, you will need to fight off any challengers to your claim as is the jann tradition," he explains.

"But... I don't follow jann tradition," says Temujin, confused. Being a-gender is a status symbol to them? They can't tell if that's super progressive or problematic.

"Maybe human, but we do," he replies with a smirk. Temujin sighs. Great, another thing to worry about.

The merchant waves a goodbye and Temujin waves back. They leave the shop and stand outside frozen in their thoughts.

That went... not that bad. It appears this world isn't that bad, apart from the whole no internet thing, but maybe that's just another bonus. They inspect the bag that was given to them.

"Why didn't I ask what it was?" Temujin chastises themselves.

It wasn't that serious though, because they think they know already. they loosen the rope around the bag and put their hand inside, and then their whole arm. They smile brightly after confirming their suspicions.

Petina had given them their own bag of holding! And for what, a single tea reading? Was their divination skill really that impressive, or was it just the person whose death they predicted that inflated the price?

They always wondered how characters could always get exactly what they wanted from up to a thousand cubic meters of storage space without jumping in themselves, but now they knew.

As they put their hand into the bag they immediately had a mental picture of everything inside, and could even drag objects up with their mind, but once in their hand, they had to use their own strength to pull it out. 

They remove their arm from the bag to check the box they picked up earlier and inside find a rough uncut red stone. Mana crystals look like gems? It made sense they guess, as both were crystals. They shut its lid and plop it into the bag.

Apart from the box they just added the bag contained a pair of adventuring clothes, a few bars of soap and two more stone boxes.

They grab the first box out of the bag and are immediately surprised by how light it is. The box is adorned by a circle with a house inside that has a line going through it. A warning against houses?

They open the box and immediately regret their action as a pungent blow stench pushes them back into the door behind them. inside they see a small black ball with a fuse coming out of it, a stink bomb and an extremely powerful one at that.

The warning must be not to use this inside closed areas, or any areas at all if it was up to them. If the stench was this bad unexploded who knew the pandemonium that could be created if a certain young ifrit got their hands on it, but is that really what Petina wanted?

They close the lid, and throw it back into the box. None too soon as well, as all the passing ifrit eye them. The procession must be over then.

They bring out the second box and it too was light, but unlike the other, it had no warning. That was either very good or very bad.

They open it expecting the worst, but inside they find pads. Pads? They blink and remember what Petina had said.

"Something for yourself."

Well, they hadn't thought about their period much since they came to this world, but they guess there was no magic cure for it. They wonder if people had to deal with this shit in the high magic period as well.

They stow it away and look around, where would they go next? Gallus' life was in danger, but so was Vel's. A spark of power ignites something in their mind and suddenly they know that they had time.

The knife on the lip was the danger in the present, a betrayal would happen in the present, but not so soon that they couldn't go help Vel first.

Fairbia was present on the side meaning they would be involved in the not-so-distant future. They don't know exactly what an auger is, but they're damn good at it.

Temujin looks around and finds two tall towers on either side of the giant gate. They start to walk down a random street towards it when they notice an empty side alley with two large boxes. The perfect size to hide them, if they used it to change.

They thought about if they'd do this back in Australia. The answer was decidedly yes, but they shrugged.

"When in fire demon Rome," they thought.

 

The adventurer's clothes featured a durable red cloth base reinforced with orange fabric padding, but no leather. It protected the chest, shoulders and arms whilst letting Temujin stretch without holding them back. They couldn't really complain, but were a bit disappointed by it, at least they looked the part now.

Whereas before they were rocking Kmart-chique, now they fit in with the vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and the occasional blues of the city folk.

For what Temujin assumed to be peasants the citizens were very well dressed and from what they could see the ifrit didn't have any homeless or lower class.

Temujin chose to believe that they were just that great, and not the much more nefarious thought of them hiding their exploited class under the rug. It wouldn't really surprise them, it'd even humanise them even more.

The wide streets of Petilius were filled with the chattering of its people, even though the night was upon them. Cities are cities no matter what world they guess.

The dimmed sun cast a warm red glow upon the large pebbled roads and as Temujin walked they felt as if they were in a fairy tale, they guess that they were in a way.

Their mother loved to tell them stories of myths from around the world as a kid to get them interested in reading. It worked, but web novels were probably not what she had in mind.

The ifrit and jinn, in general, were part of Arabian mythology, but Petilius sounded decidedly Latin, so roman. What was more pressing was that these myths, in a way, turned out to be true. 

The ifrit walked in and out of their townhouses, taverns and shops going through their daily routine like any human from their world, but in their world, the ifrit were thought to be aggressive spirits who hated humanity. Thankfully, apart from the occasional stare they couldn't really feel any animosity from them.

Temujin soon enough arrives at the unmissable gates and they cross its threshold, leaving the hustle and bustle of the city behind. They turn within its gargantuan cross-section and see the streets eerily empty. They sigh and turn to leave but crash into a guard.

They fall back and look up to see the guard from when they entered the city. The guard purses their lips and gives them a hand up.

"O-oh thank you..." Temujin trails off, not knowing her name. They probably shouldn't be the one apologising, but that's a matter for late at night when they can't sleep.

"Watch captain Velia." she says with an eye-roll.

"Y-yes... sorry." replies Temujin.

"I see you've changed out of those weirdly dreadful clothes into something much more normal," Velia remarks.

"Uh, yes. I went to Petina the merchant on behalf of the ragman." They reply.

Temujin only now notices the scimitar in her off-hand poised and ready for use. Another lay still in its sheath their hand whilst not reaching for it, close enough to draw it within an instance.

"I am well aware human. Your presence is required by the city watch, you will follow me," she says all warmth disappearing from her voice.

It's amazing how context changes your perception of your surroundings. The warm glow of the sun turns to crimson blood as the previous majesty of Petlius' city gates, turns to terror as they notice the sentries circling the top and towers of the surrounding walls.

Patrols of guards head in and out of the tower bases with clockwork efficiency, each individual foot timed with each other resulting in an entirely different rhythm than that of the earlier procession.

The clattering of weapons, the stomping of their marching and the low murmuring of their quick communications ring out like a symphony of war. 

Two blazing warm hands grab each of Temujins arms and practically left them up as they're moved forward and ushered to the western gate towers entrance. 

The large door is swung open and Temujin is plopped into the centre of the stone room. Although no lanterns or windows are present in the room, the combination of the gathered ifrits glowing patterns lit it in an orange glow.

A circle of ifrit guards decked in bronze armaments stand over Temujin like statues. Their discipline allowing them to nor tremble nor show emotion as they hold out their heavy spears against Temujin.

Terrified of the sudden development Temujin scours the room for anything that might help.

They see a crimson light peering through a staircase behind the guards. A window maybe? Although even if they could reach it, what were they meant to do, jump? 

Behind them watch captain Velia stood firm with both scimitars, blocking any chance of reusing the entrance.

The soldiers break into two lines as a lone chalk and pink ifrit walks forward from behind them, his dim pink not creating enough light to be visible past the guards.

Gallus smiles with glee as he sees Temujins panicked expression and ever-accelerating breaths.

"Now, now" he gloats, "I wouldn't want you to die... at least not of a heart attack."

The guards' expressions drooped as they heard Gallus's words, either from their cliche nature or for pity for the poor human.

"Did you really think I'd let you get away human? Though not putting up a fight is all but expected for the ragman apprentice."

Temujin looks around the room for objects. The guards' bronze helmets reflected their light to the ceiling. The ceiling held no patterns and was one solid piece of sandstone. The same sandstone made up the walls, floor and stairs. In fact, it was used everywhere they'd been. Gallus's clothing perfectly reflected his obnoxious personality. Each piece of flame-coloured clothing worked together to make the eyes look up towards his now contorted face. 

Temujin smiles as their panic dissipates and their breathing returns to a much more manageable level. They pick themselves off the ground and brush off their new clothes.

"What so funny human?!" screams Gallus, a familiar pink returning to his face.

Temujin jumps back, their heartbeat accelerating. Gallus sees this and calms down some.

He sighs and says "Aren't you gonna ask me why I called you here?"

Temujin nods. The guards all exchange looks, some deigning to lower their spears before Velia shoots them a glare and the weapons all rocket back up. 

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation just the three of us?" suggests Velia.

Gallus looks at Velia and then at Temujin, then puts a hand to his head exasperated. He sighs and says "Fine. Guards' you're dismissed."

The guards all look to Velia and only move after she gives a slight nod. Gallus notices this, as he always does, but keeps it to himself. Better to be thought of as lesser than as capable.

Velia sheathes her scimitars and walks forward to allow the guards to file out. Once they all clear out she shuts the door behind them. With only one bright ifrit left and no open door to let light in, the room was entombed in darkness.

Gallus turns and drags two chairs to the centre of the room, Velia thinking in the same vein drags a table. Temujin can barely see what's happening and their heart flutters in panic in case they were up to something insidious.

Velia leads them to a seat and helps them sit down. She plops a lantern on the table and lights it to illuminate them.

Gallus sits arms and legs crossed. He looked closed off in every sense of the word.

"You have two things I want human, and it is within your interest to be as straightforward as possible," he says.

He stares at Temujin intently awaiting an answer, but when none comes he sighs.

"Well? Are you so out of your mind that you can't even mutter a single yes or no?" he says annoyed.

"N-no" stammers Temujin. A warm hand is placed on their shoulder and they jerk back.

Velia smiles reassuringly, "Please, don't be scared. The young master simply wished to... well, scare you. However, we have changed tactics. I assure you, you were never in any real harm."

This doesn't do much for them, but directly hearing they were always safe is at least a little reassuring. If they can be trusted that is.

Galus leans on the table, hand on chin. He looks to the side boredom written on his face. "Just give me the crystal already," he says exasperated.

"No," replies Temujin, their voice steady but not confident.

"You realise you are stuck in a room with a level 35 sword dancer, yes?" says Gallus.

Temujin looks at Velia in a new light. They're the single highest level person they'd seen in the world, but in games and the like level 35 wasn't even middling. Was this world's levelling system exceptionally harder than rpgs from home?

"Well if you didn't before, now you do. Hand it over," he says impatiently.

"But it's not mine to give... it's the ragman's." Temujin says meekly.

Gallus rubs the sides of their head with their fingers and groans. "Yes indeed, I was there. Just cough it up will you?" he says.

Velia's brows arch in surprise. She looks to Gallus and says "Young master, you didn't tell me the crystal was his."

Gallus sighs and looks up at Velia. "Does it matter?" he replies.

Velia grimaces and her eyes wander between Temujin and the stairs at the room back. "Can I suggest that you sort the second issue first?" she says.

Gallus harumphs but complies. He grabs a small golden brazier from his bag of holding and sits it on the table. Next, he brings out a knife and pricks his fingertip, allowing a few droplets of blood to fall into its ash-filled cup. The ashes combust into a haunting white flame.

"This is a flame of judgment. You may not have heard of it as they are seen as barbaric in the east, but we ifrit are not afraid of petty fire. Considering your soft fleshy exterior, I think you should be." He says deadly serious. 

From their two meetings, Temujin generally thought of Gallus as an ass, but from time to time in moments such as these, his eyes sparkled with conviction and fervour. It revealed a much more pure and tempered side of him. If only he would let it shine.

He puts his hand in the flame. Temujin jerks forward, their hand automatically reaching out to stop them. They stop when they notice that nothing happened. Gallus' hand stood firm in the flame unharmed.

Gallus is surprised by Temujin's care, but he quickly switches his face to cold stone.

"The flame of judgment does not harm those who it judges truthful. If however, you lie or attempt to deceive you shall be burnt with an intensity that even we would be harmed from," he explains.

He removes his hand from the flame and gestures for Temujin to put in theirs.

Temujin obviously hesitates, but Velia speaks up before Gallus has a chance. "The flame of judgement will not harm you human if you just answer truthfully. It is a method of confirmation, albeit a very traditional one." She says.

Temujin believes that fully, for what would be the point of just burning them. For a quick laugh? No. The thing was that even knowing they wouldn't be hurt putting your hand in a roaring flame is still, well, putting your hand in a roaring flame. Every self-preservation instinct in them screamed for dear life telling them not to.

Even still they shakily held out their hand towards the brazier. After a few too many moments of hesitation Velia grabs their arm and forcefully moves it into the flame. Temujin yelps, but as expected they're unharmed.

The flame felt warm, though not uncomfortably so. They assume that this is a magic object, the second or third one they had seen so far. For a world of sorcerers and wizard's they had seen surprisingly few of them. The only magic user they knew of was Vel and he was far from the norm.

Gallus begins the questioning. "What do you know of the news of an oracle arriving in petilius?" he asks.

An oracle? The same thing Petina had called them, had he told him? But how as it possible that Gallus found out so soon, it barely took them twenty minutes to get to the city gate.

If they answered yes the next question would probably be asking if they knew who it was, then they would get suspicious and ask if they were the oracle. They don't know how big news being an oracle was, but if Gallus had cornered them within the hour to confirm it, it probably wasn't anything they wanted to be involved in.

Although if push came to shove they were actually an augur, they were just labelled as an oracle. Would the flames agree?

They needed to steer the conversation away from that with the truth. Gallus frowns, but before he can speak up they reply "Y-yes, Petina told me."

He had in fact told them that they were an oracle, so a truth and the flames of judgment agreed.

Gallus looks annoyed that they were cut off by them. They were fine with Velia, were they just used to her?

"I see. What else did he tell you?" he asks.

"Well, what do you want to know?" they reply.

Gallus' eyes narrow. "Did they tell you about the identity of this oracle?" he asks.

This was the litmus test of the flames of judgement. Had Petina informed them of any part of their identity? They'd told them about the jann and how their elders were a-gender as well. Technically being similar to the jann was a part who they were now, but what would the flames decide.

Temujin was socially anxious yes, a coward no. 

"No, although he did get me to tell him about mine," they say with confidence.

Their eyes wince in anticipation of burning, but the flames don't harm them. A smile breaks out on their face as frown does on Gallus'.

He had noticed how the human winced as they answered, they had questioned their own answer and so what they said was most likely only technically correct. The smile they now held confirmed their suspicion. Gallus was rude, entitled and by all accounts a lecher, but an idiot he was not.

This human is weak-hearted, though strong-willed. He thinks for a moment and decides the best course of action is confrontation, let them answer before they can think.

"What did you tell him about yourself?" he asks.

"I told him that I'm neither a man nor a woman. I'm gender-less, like a jann elder."

That makes both Gallus and Velia pause. 

"That..." Gallus searches for the right words "It is quite rare to find a human who knows of such an obscure jinn custom. It's practically unheard of one invoking it."

Temujin stares at Gallus unperturbed.

"Do you know the identity of the oracle?" He continues.

"As much as one can," they reply.

"What do you mean by that?" he questions.

Temujin pauses, they think about what to say next but before they get anywhere Gallus interjects, "The flames of judgment are not an invitation to demonstrate your wits, they are an opportunity to prove your sincerity. If however, I deem it unfruitful I can resort to... other methods."

He slams his knife into the stone table, it pierces into it as a normal knife would wood.

Temujin's heart beats rapidly and they start to sweat. Gallus wouldn't resort to anything like that, would he? As far as Temujin could speculate the fact was that they didn't really know the boy, nor did they fully understand the aristocracy. Of which they think he was quite powerful.

"Do you know the identity of the oracle?" he asks again.

Temujin stumbles over their words, but after only a few seconds Gallus yells "I did not ask you to think human!"

"Do you, or do you not know the identity of the oracle?!" he yells louder still.

A lord should rarely raise their voice, so once it may be needed it may retain its force. He had never read lord, it was not an opportunity afforded to him not that anyone would know. Petina was wise although decidedly out of his place, he wouldn't be allowed to continue his comeuppance soon enough.

"Yes!" squirms Temujin. Gallus grins.

"Are you, the oracle?" he continues in a calmer voice

Temujin's hand trembles and they try to remove it from the flame, Gallus' grin grows to a smile. 

"The flame of judgement will never let you go until you have answered its igniter's question. Answer me, now," he says, confidence oozing.

He had got them, he knew it. He had no doubts of course as if he didn't believe in himself, who would? However it was satisfying to catch them, all on his own.

Temujin's eyes shut as their face scrunches in preparation for what might be coming. Sweat drips down their brow successfully avoiding their eyes, but dripping down onto the table.

Velia stood silent expressionless, though one of her hands strayed towards her belt's healing potion compartment. She was charged to answer to gens Primus, but that didn't mean she was happy about this situation.

Gallus and Velia focused on the flame whilst Temujin focused on its warmth, how much would it hurt a stray thought plagues their mind. 

They think of their dream from earlier in the day and a connection is made. Just like how Vel described it, it feels as if the flood gates were opened and their entire being is poured into a formless message in their mind. They weren't religious, but they sent out a silent prayer.

"Please, save me." they think with a conviction they'd never normally be able to muster. 

Finally, with bated breath, they squeal "No."

The flame flickers but does not react. Temujin immediately pulls their hand from the flame and Gallus is left staring at their still pure white splendour.

Velia's hand returns to their side and clenches into a fist. A single bead of sweat flows down their face. They curse the unruly bastard for running away.

They all hear a faint twin roar from outside. Both Gallus and Velia ignore it thinking it some mischievous amphista, only Temujin considering which amphista it was.

Now of all times Temujin's feet felt like weighted irons, was it an effect of the flames of judgment or a weakness of their own making?

They get up from their chair and with nary a word nor hesitation, they stumble through the dimly lit stone room to the light at the stairs.

Following a light at the end of a dark path is normally seen as a sign of death, but here it was their only hope. Besides, thinking of the knife they were threatened with and not being able to forget the entire regiment who bared their spears at them, they knew that the darkness too meant their end.

They fall onto their hands at the stairs, hitting the bottom step with their foot. Not used to these situations they looked back to check on the other two. Gallus was turning his head to face them and terrifyingly had blurred behind them with both scimitars out, leaving a trail of after images.

They only caught a glimpse of Velias face before scrambling up the stairs on all fours, but it wasn't that of a stern warrior but that of a conflicted bystander.

They reached the window next to the top of the staircase. There appeared to be many but only one was displaying a large amount of the bloody light, the one without a cannon shoved in its space. This room seemed to be some sort of anti-air defence. Why the hell did a city a thousand meters in the sky need so much obviously new equipment, what happened here?

Normally one would feel some trepidation at jumping out of a city to their certain deaths, but a familiar comforting sensation in their head told them otherwise. Temujin puts their trust in the feeling and jumps right into the bloody light. They look back one final time to see Velia right next to them, her hands a centimetre from their body, following it as it left the building.

At any moment she could have stopped them, but they didn't. Temujin suddenly liked the watch captain a lot more.

They fell from the tower out into the air and immediately regretted it. They screamed for a few seconds before bashing head first into Huliqs saddle in the air.

Hul roars as Huliq helps Temujin onto the saddle propper, their screams reserved for when their now hammering heart eventually gives out.

The runes on the saddle glow and dark spots appear in Temujin's vision. This excursion had taken a lot out from them, but it wasn't so bad for a fetch quest. They hope they hadn't disturbed Huliq's sleep too bad, but how did they know it was sleeping?

They look to their side as they droop forward, noticing Huliqs wings had no feathers nor scaley replacement. Instead, they sported a membrane bridging out from a scaley bone.

Their eyes finally close and they silently pray that Gallus shits himself on his way home.

[Level up. Augur Level 5 -> Augur Level 6]

 

Velia walks back down the stairs head lowered. Gallus eyes the watch-captain but more importantly eyes the certain lack of a person with them.

"Well?" he asks, "Where are they?"

Velina looks back at Gallus and shakes their head.

"They got away," she mutters as if him hearing her less would make it less true.

"What!? What do you mean they got away?!" he shrieks. Completely forgeting his earlier demonstration of restraint.

"They got away," solemnly repeats Velia.

"Impossible! You're a level 35 sword dancer, you could've disabled them in an instant!" he yells.

Velia just shrinks back taking the abuse. Normally they would've handed the lordling his ass, but he was only speaking the truth. She had let the human get away.

"Did you even try!?" he yells.

Anger overtakes her shame and she stomps forward. The rustling of her leather and bronze armour was suddenly much more audible without the heavy breathing of the human.

Gallus hesitates and takes a step back before she uses a dazzling step to appear mere inches from his face. She puts her hand into the flame of judgment and snarls at him, "I tried."

She walks away and leaves the tower. Leaving behind not a scion of gens Primus, but a scared child who had overstepped.