Chapter 75: Truth

"Hey Lumi, what surprise have you got planned for me today?" Syryn called out as he crossed the kitchen door. The avian's gloomy stare put a smile on the alchemist's face. "Heat some food for us will you? And try not to poison it."

"What's that about?" Sebastian asked after a while.

"Just a friendly exchange between housemates." Syryn entered the workroom expecting to find Salem but the blonde was absent.

"Here it is," the alchemist held up a thumb-sized phial. It was one of their most popular products so there was always some in stock. Neither having any inclination towards sales, their rapidly growing shop was manned by a very capable employee who managed every aspect of the business including the inventory, accounting, and sales. Veena's pay reflected just how much her employers valued her work.

"Tastes good," Sebastian commented after draining the potion.

"I don't know about you but I'm starving. Let's check what's for breakfast."

Alka had been in charge of breakfast that morning and it was obvious from the delicious spread that was on the kitchen counter. Although it was nearly noon, the food was still fresh. Flavoured boiled eggs, thick slices of warm garlic butter bread topped with cream cheese, a light vegetable soup, and a jug of creamy milk awaited the hungry mages. Lumi was gone from the kitchen but he had surprisingly done as Syryn asked.

After filling themselves, Sebastian's hangover had been cured completely. He was an idle mage with nothing but time on his hands. The mage gave Syryn company while the latter began work on Artemus' cold cure. Unexpectedly, they had a delivery that day.

"Someone's at the door asking for you," Lumi told Syryn from the door. After the incident with the boiling water, a tremulous truce hung between them.

"Who? I'm not expecting anyone."

"He says it's mage hunter business."

Syryn wiped his hands on a towel and left Sebastian to watch the cauldron. "If you see it start to boil, throw in a cup of this," he instructed before heading out of the room.

"Lumi, are you crushing on Salem or Magnus?" The alchemist grinned at Lumi as they were walking in the same direction.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please refrain from creating misunderstandings against me." His answer was as boring as Syryn had expected.

"Fine, fine, just stop fucking with me and you can have the both of them." The alchemist didn't stop to look at the avian's wide-eyed expression. A mage hunter was waiting at the door and he had a packet in his hand.

"Syryn Nigh'hart?" The man had brown hair shorn close to his scalp.

"Yeah, how can I help you?" Syryn pleasantly asked the man.

The mage hunter held out the packet in his hands to Syryn. "Artemus told me to deliver this to you under advice against letting anyone else see the contents of the package."

"Oh. Thank you!"

The man nodded, "I'll be taking my leave then, Syryn. Have a nice day."

Syryn tore off the top of his paper package. There was a thin stack of sheets bound together with twine. The lettering on the first sheet stood out in bold red. 'Rum district/1267-S/Leighton Rani.'

"What's that?" Sebastian asked. The mage was leisurely pouring in a cup of moon water inside Syryn's bubbling cauldron.

"Artemus did us a favour and sent in the autopsy reports of every single mage that was killed at Rum district. I think we owe him a drink, Seb."

"More than that actually. This isn't in his jurisdiction so Artemus must've thrown his weight around to get us access to it. Hunters are notorious for their secrecy."

Syryn and Sebastian sat side by side looking through the documents while the cauldron bubbled happily. The alchemist kept one eye on his work and another on the reports.

"All of them suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after their mana cores were brutally shredded," Sebastian read out to the alchemist who was measuring out his ingredients.

"Shredded? Like it was in pieces?"

"Not exactly. It looks more like someone took a knife to it."

"Let me see."

The artistic sketch depicted a heart surrounded by pieces of tissue that were ivory white. "The lacerations are all vertical. This looks like a physical injury. Magical attacks don't make such cuts. What else does the report say?"

"They suspect the same. A spell capable of damaging the mana core won't leave it in this condition. It's rare but there have been cases of illegal curses causing the core to explode. The heart could never stay intact like this."

"So no entry wounds of any kind?"

"Hold on."

Sebastian quickly read through the summary of the first victim. He was found with defensive wounds to his hands and face.

"None of them shows any signs of entry wounds but there's the first victim, the only one bearin' signs of an attack. More lacerations on his hands and face. It looks like he put up a fight and the attacker learnt somethin' from it."

"A killer that learns from its mistakes," Syryn said to the mage.

"A smart squid. I wonder why it attacks only mages though. It's obvious that the goal is the mana core." Sebastian leaned back against his seat and thumbed through more pages.

"There's a note about why the squid only picks drunk mages. The inquester has theorized that intoxicated victims are less likely to fight back or even put up a good fight if they decide to retaliate."

"What other reason could there be? The simplest explanation always holds doesn't it?"

"Yeah, ya can't get a simpler explanation than that. But the real question is, how did it attack the core? It's as if the squid- okay," Sebastian grinned at Syryn and it was a smug thing that broadcasted just how confident the mage felt. On anyone else, it would have annoyed Syryn.

"Hear me out S'ryn, this proves what I saw last night. That damn squid has the ability to go through a wall so why not a human body right?! I'm calling it. Squid stuck his sticky tentacles into the mages and ripped up their cores. Case closed."

Sebastian's argument seemed airtight but Syryn still had questions. "Right, let's say the squid can phase through solid objects. Following your theory, the next natural assumption that comes up is that it is able to solidify parts of its body while the rest remains transparent to matter. That is why the squid left no damage to the flesh but still managed to tear up the core."

The mage mulled over Syryn's words. "What if the squid can't phase through mana core? Magic is unpredictable and makes everything more complicated. Your explanation is more likely but we can't discount the role that mana plays when the core is filled with it."

Syryn grabbed a ball wrapped in twine and struck it with fire. While it burned, he set the stove to its highest flame. "Then we have to consider why the squid attacks the core. It might lead us to an explanation of its abilities." He dumped the ball inside the cauldron and slammed the lid down. After a few seconds, there was a loud boom from inside and it caused the lid to fly off. Syryn was holding down the cauldron so it wouldn't suffer the same fate as the lid.

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"S'ryn what the hell was that?" A startled Sebastian asked.

The younger mage inspected the mess that was at the bottom of the cauldron. Flash evaporation had taken out all the liquid inside.

"Don't worry, that was supposed to happen."

Sebastian had never seen exploding potions that weren't a product of someone's mistake. "What are you making?"

"Hmm?" Syryn was focused on scrapping the dry mess into a deep bowl.

"Nevermind. I desperately need a nap right now. Got a spare bed?"

Riha was occupying their clean guest room. It was his now. The other rooms hadn't been dusted or renovated.

"You can nap in my room. I'll take you to it if you just give me a moment to put this in."

Leaving Sebastian in his room, Syryn found he had some spare time while the blood cake in the bowl was left to oxidate. He tracked down Lumi to the garden where the avian was admiring Alka's red Cardinals. The reason they were flourishing magnificently was because of the plant mage's excessive love and care, and not due to corpse fertiliser.

"Lumi, it's time we had an honest conversation about you." The alchemist was leaning against a trellis on which pink roses were in bloom.

Lumi shot him an unfriendly look. "What do you want, Syryn? Are you here to douse me in hot water again?"

"Na, that got boring real fast. Why don't we talk about why you're so adamant to drive a wedge between me and Magnus?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Heh!" Syryn laughed. "I'm trying to understand what your problem is Lumi. Cut the crap already. My patience has evacuated and I'm this close to eviscerating you on the spot." Syryn held up his thumb and forefinger. "And that may cause a fight to break out between me and Magnus but you'll already have died. So who's the bigger loser?"

Lumi seemed to have understood that his life was in danger. The avian curled his lips and finally spat out a few honest words. "I really dislike you, Syryn!"

"Yes, we've established that fact. The feelings are mutual. Tell me why though? Is it because you like Salem and I'm in the way?"

"I don't like Salem!" Lumi's anger lashed at Syryn. "You don't know what you're talking about so stop making assumptions! Why are you even here talking to me as if you care?!"

"I don't care about you, Lumi. I care about the problems that you're causing in this house. Help me help you so that one of us doesn't end up buried in the garden, and we both know it won't be me."

Lumi tilted between fear and bravado. Syryn could see the cogs turning in his mind. "I don't understand why everyone likes you. You're rude, disrespectful, and cocky. All you do is boss us all around the house and act like you're entitled to everyone's attention. I'm nice, I work hard, I try not to get in anybody's way. I respect people and-"

"Hold it right there!" Syryn interrupted. "I can't believe it. You're just a big old ball of jealousy. Is that what this is about??"

"Yes," the avian admitted through gritted teeth. "You don't deserve all of this, Syryn. What did you do to deserve it?"

Frankly, Syryn didn't think he deserved it. It was Magnus and Alka who had been nobler than he could ever be. They'd tried to save his life at the expense of theirs. Artemus didn't owe him goodwill and a mansion for his medical treatment but here it was. Red could have killed Syryn in the puzzle box but he hadn't, and he'd gone on to become the closest thing Syryn had to a brother. Salem with his talents could have become a powerful player in the alchemist's guild but here he was, gaining infamy by rejecting their offers, and slumming it with an uncertified alchemist - who was being shunned by the snooty guild. Syryn was aware of his negative reputation amongst Elysium's elite alchemists. His booming potion business had worked to put his name out there alongside Salem's. And if it wasn't for the co-ownership with the half-elf, Syryn was sure that the guild would have taken every opportunity to bad mouth his business.

"You're right, I don't really deserve it," he slowly said to the avian, realising bits of truth he had never thought about. "Is that what you want? Wealth, a home and attention from people? Because you're going about it the wrong way." The alchemist was feeling soft after he realised how fortunate he was to have met his friends.

"It's so easy for you to say that. You don't know what it's like to crave for the attention you'll never get."

Syryn rolled his eyes at the avian. "You don't understand me, blah blah, self-pity blah, just shut the fuck up Lumi. If you think that scheming and driving a wedge between people will get you anywhere but on their shit list, you deserve whatever it is you're getting."

"Says the person who had everything handed over to him on a silver platter! You don't even do the bare minimum to be liked. You're so rude!" Syryn liked it better when Lumi was angry. The honesty was preferable to his crooked behaviour.

"Boo hoo Lumi the victim! Have you not been listening to me? This isn't about what I have. Why don't you focus on doing you and trying to better your situation without harassing others?"

"Will I get the love and attention I want then?? Will Salem and Magnus care about me like they do you??"

Syryn was done talking to Lumi. The bird could not separate his happiness from Syryn. Why couldn't he understand that comparing himself to someone else was just going to keep getting him hurt? If Syryn wasn't there, he would just find another villain to blame, maybe Alka or Lucien. Lumi had to realise that his happiness was not contingent on what others had.

"I feel sorry for you Lumi. I won't come for you but if you fuck with me again, I'll make it my personal mission to have everyone hate you. That's what hurts you the most, doesn't it? Despite all you've done, Magnus still likes me more than you. One day he'll realise just how ugly you are in there." Syryn tapped at Lumi's chest. "So while you're ahead, give up and try to be the person that Magnus thinks you are."

The avian stared murderously at Syryn, no doubt seething from the truth that he wasn't special to Magnus after everything he had done.

"I've said what I had to. Bye, Lumi. Don't kill yourself." Syryn grinned maliciously and left the bird behind.

"Sebastian you lazy fuck. How long are you planning to sleep?" Syryn shook the mage who was peacefully dozing on his bed.

The mage blearily opened his eyes and yawned. Sleepy eyed, the sandy-haired man smiled. Syryn resisted the impulse to answer the come hither look that wasn't intentional on Sebastian's part.

"Not all of us are war machines that can get by on two hours of sleep after a night of drinkin'. What the hell are you made of, S'ryn?"

"Youth, Seb. It's your age showing. Get yourself cleaned up, we're going out for another night of alcohol."

The mage raised his brows but laughed at what Syryn had said. "What? We're goin' out for more alcohol after last night's disaster?"

"Yeah, we've got a squid to catch don't we?" The younger mage smiled conspiratorially.

"Only if you prove it to me that you can drink a barrel of Demon's Kiss and stay on your feet."

"Done."

"Yer not gonna get alcohol poisonin' are ya? Because I'd rather ya didn't if yer just bluffin', S'ryn."

"I'm a healer, Seb. I know my body's limits."

"Yer not a healer, ya said so yourself."

"Damn it, Seb, you didn't have to hurt me like that."

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