Chapter 24: Ch 23 Soul Scarring

Mrs. Perdu had me sit at their kitchen table while she fidgeted and tried to go over what happened over the last few days. I want to listen, however, my eyes keep moving to the window that would normally show our smithy’s walls and instead I can see more of the night sky, the devourer taunting me due to my missing home.

“A couple of days after the three-sorry four of you left on that requisition, your dad was out at a bar drinking and came back to find that the Smithy was ransacked…”

I muttered under my breath that dad only ever went drinking on the day mom was taken from us. It seemed odd that he’d go drinking when it was not that awful day in winter yet.

“It was searched through, but no weapons were taken, even ‘Ness was left behind.”

“Wow, he’d not take that insult lightly.” I say while urging Mrs. Perdue to continue.

“I’m not sure if that upset your father more than the place being ransacked. Both of your rooms were torn upside down. He went to the guild to file a complaint and put in a requisition after spending the entire night putting your room back together.”

“Your father came back after placing the req when he found the place was torn up again in his absence. Your room, that he spent all night and morning putting back together was in shambles. Someone had gone and cut up your pillows and mattress searching the place.”

“Your father was livid, absolutely seething. He came over to discuss with Adam and then left to give the guild a piece of his mind. Adam tried to calm your father down some. Later that evening, your father had not come back and we went to go search for him. I had made him some home cooked food, but he was not at the smithy and Adam checked where he might go to get a drink. We went and checked with...”

I’m doing my best to pay attention to the story and now that I finally look at the Perdu couple I can see that they are both haggard, Mr. Perdu more so, their eyes dark with not having enough sleep and constant worry. I reach out with a mana tether, curious and see them more fully. They do not react but I see overlaid a dozen red scars on Mrs. Perdu and several dozen more on Mr Perdu. I reach out to Zoe and Jessica and they are absolutely pure, without a single mark on their souls. I realize wandering thoughts and return to paying attention to Mrs. Perdu.

“...we couldn’t find him and then we too went to the guild and once they confirmed that he had not returned, they became a bit anxious.”

“They were more concerned about a requisitioner going missing and how that would sully their reputation.” Mr. Perdu chimed in, interrupting his wife.

“Shush Adam. Anyways, now the guild was in a bad place and the guild master sent out captain Davis with us to see the smithy. However, when we got back, the place was surrounded by people that were desperately trying to put out a fire.”

“There was nothing left, just a fire tornado in the middle, having consumed everything. Captain Davis was not happy and summoned a bunch of sand to smother it out. Once Davis managed to smother it, he pushed all the sand into the backyard and we went in to see that the sand that smothered it out had turned to molten glass in the middle. A perfect ring and Davis started swearing like nobody I’ve seen.”

“Davis left back to the guild and later that night we got a knock on our door, someone young from the guild told us that there is a suspected dark guilder in the area and that we should take precautions.”

“Adam went to the guild to deliver some salves to mage Larse. Despite us three being bronzes, mage Larse is better connected. She mentioned that there were some silvers that were picking up some fire ointments and that she was just depleted of almost all of her burn salves. She was able to find out that your dad’s requisition is now posted as a silver and gold dark guilder requisition.”

“But since then, nothing else has happened. No other disappearances or any signs of a dark guilder since then.”

I just sit there, digesting what happened. My heart aches at hearing that dad went drinking and warms at the idea that he tried to put my room back together first. However, the more I sit and stew the angrier and angrier I get. I’m angry at whoever did this, I’m angry at my dad for going out drinking, I’m angry with the guild for being incompetent and not taking my dad’s request seriously. I’m mad at what Mr. Perdu said, how the guild seemed more concerned about their reputation.

I’m so mad at everything and I don’t want to lash out at any of my friends. I relax my jaw, not realizing that I had been grinding my teeth for a while now.

Should I go find an inn for us for the night? Should I start patrolling the streets with Akira in the shadows, waiting to see if someone will come to cause trouble? Should I go try and raise hell at the guild? The other guild seemed to want us badly. We could find Augustus and get back and involve the other guild, I’m sure they’d be happy for us to owe them a real big favor.

“Why don’t you go rest in Jessica’s bed for the night.” Mrs. Perdu interrupts my inner brooding and then hesitates as she looks at Akira and Zoe.

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“Zoe it is possibly not safe to head back home at night, why don’t you stay the night as well with the girls… As for you young man…” She turns to Akira, but Mr. Perdu pulls her away and doesn’t let her lay into Akira.

I make my way into Jessica’s room and just collapse on the bed, hugging a pillow, breathing in Jessica’s scent as I try to muffle my sobs. I can hear Mrs. Perdu wanting to know everything about our trip as I hear the door open and close behind me.

Taking a stabilizing breath as a weight sits down on the bed beside me, I don’t turn around but address them through a muffling pillow.

“Akira?”

“I’m here.”

“What do we do? What can we do?”

“We’ll do what your guild has failed to do, we’ll find those in question and we’ll find out what we can about your father.”

“But they said that a dark guilder is involved.” I whisper.

He scoffs before replying. “Huh. If they are stupid enough to use fire, then any of you three should be able to easily take care of them.”

“How!?”

“You’ve been using and experimenting with mana tether? Same thing. You just need to reach out and tip the scales. If they are able to cast this kind of spell away from themselves, then you’ll need to learn a defensive application of mana tether.”

“Defensive how?”

“You soak the area around you with mana. That way they cannot conjure fire within your lungs or stomach. To prevent an earth mage from using your bones against you, or to prevent a water mage from grabbing hold of your blood or to prevent a wind mage from summoning bubbles within your blood, or ripping the air out of your blood.”

“That sounds gruesome.”

“If the area around you is saturated with mana, let's say just five. Then they need to reach the distance costing however much it does, and then they need to increase their starting amount by fivefold so that they can pierce through your saturation. But that now six mana is needed to be doubled at every step in the journey, making the end cost too much for them to bear, and if you perceive them pushing or drilling through your mana, you just need to increase it and let them burn themselves out.”

“Akira… I know with the bandits, I told you to not kill anyone. I don’t want that anymore. Err… What I’m saying is that it is. No. I want whoever did this to pay. If I cannot do it myself can you help me?”

I struggle to get my thoughts in order and if it is even alright to ask such a thing. But deep down, I’m burning, I’m so angry and want to find the party responsible to vent. If it is a dark guilder, then they deserve it all the more and there’s even an open request. I’ve never wanted to hurt someone else as much as I do right now. I’m seething and livid with nobody to vent onto.

I thank Akira and he says that he’ll stay in the house and watch over us. I agree without really paying attention as I turn inwards, focusing on my mana and trying to flatten or stretch my mana tether out. At first, I can get it to coil around my hand, and still nothing happens until I hold my intent and start pushing more and more mana, it starts to flatten out after I push ten mana into it and it slowly coats my arm and then shoulder.

I hold my breath as I keep pushing and it covers my face and mouth. I take a hesitant testing breath and despite having it covering my mouth, I don’t feel any resistance as air fills my lungs. My mana is draining fast and once I am covered from head to toe, I feel the second skin jump off of me and extend out a meter in all directions. I feel something click and take a look inside my grimoire to see what I’ve achieved.

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