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[Lord of the Mysteries] For the Ones We Left Behind 8/15 (4438 words)
Title: For the Ones We Left Behind 8/15
Fandom: Lord of the Mysteries
Character/Pairing(s): Audrey Hall, Leonard Mitchell, Melissa Moretti, Benson Moretti, Klein Moretti, Xio Derecha, Fors Wall
Rating: PG-13
Warning: none?
Summary: MI9 catches Benson Moretti, and end up with more than they expect.
Hibbert Hall tapped his fingers impatiently against the damask armchair as he listened to the guards attempt to explain the situation.
“She wasn’t at the Foundation or MI9,” a fidgeting man said. “And no one has seen her along the way. We searched the church as well, but Miss Audrey doesn’t seem to be there, either.”
“So my sister just disappeared into thin air?” Hibbert asked tersely. He stilled his fingers and pushed himself up from the armchair, glad his mother wasn’t in the room to listen to this nonsense. “But you found her dog outside of MI9. Did you not search thoroughly?”
The men glanced at each other nervously.
“Sir, we don’t have the authority to search MI9…”
He raised a hand to silence their excuses, the other hand going up to his eyes to stave off a headache.
“It is dark out, and my sister is lost.” Hibbert said. “Continue your search. Report back to me when you find any clues of her whereabouts. I want to know immediately.”
As the men scurried off, Hibbert pressed his fingers to his eyes and thought about what he would tell his mother, and just how long he could keep this information from his father.
“Sir.”
He brought down the hand and stared at the nervous young man who lingered in the room after everyone was gone.
“What is it?” He asked irritably.
The man was a younger recruit, one with a keen eyesight whom Hibbert once brought along hunting just months before the war started.
“I,” the young guard swallowed. “I believe I have different information for you.”
Hibbert stilled. “Different, how?”
“I saw Miss Audrey at MI9,” the guard confessed. “I was the one sent out to search what path her dog came from, so I didn’t go with the group into the building, and I wasn’t with the ones guarding the door. I was just around the corner, see, when I heard the commotion. A group of folk rushed out the building, all running-like, and then they just disappeared! Like they ran through a portal of sorts. Miss Audrey was with them, and there was this strange thing wrapped around her.”
“And why would you be the only one to see this?” Hibbert asked, deceptively calm.
The guard shook his head. “I wouldn’t know, sir. They all saw them. There was yelling and stuff, but then right as the group disappeared, everyone stopped yelling and was calm. Like they hadn’t seen those people at all! By the time I reached them, everyone behaved like nothing happened!”
The guard’s voice grew low, nervous, “Sir, it was like witchcraft! I wouldn’t have believed it myself had the members of MI9 not charged out as well, looking like they were searching for people. When the captain spoke to them, they accused us of hiding Miss Audrey! They said something about the thing that was wrapped around her—”
“What was it?”
“Like a white tablecloth, sir,” the guard answered obediently. “Strange, though. It was moving like a thing alive, and just looking at it— I can’t describe it. Like words written on the fabric, except not in a proper language at all. Just words I could read even when the words weren’t there. It was like it had her name at the top, and who she was. And then under that, it said… manipulator. Spectator. Something about psychology and alchemists and something about tarot cards.”
Hibbert Hall felt his heart drop to his stomach.
“And you say that MI9 saw the same thing?”
“Yes, sir. Used the same words to call Miss Audrey. They seemed right angry about it, except no one in our group responded to them, we just walked away like we never went to confront them at all. I’ve never seen anything like it. I hope I never see anything like it again.”
Hibbert frowned and stayed silent.
—
“Alright, that’s amazing,” Mr. Star admitted when Fors opened a door straight into his house. It disappeared after they all stepped through, and Xio immediately made herself at home on the couch, trying to shake off the raindrops from her wet hair. “And it can go anywhere?”
“If I know the area,” Fors said, although Xio could tell by her tone of voice that she was preening. It made sense, Fors didn’t have that many opportunities to show off her pathway to the other Tarot Club members. “I can’t go too far yet, but later on I should be able to travel anywhere.”
“That would be so useful,” Mr. Star muttered as he went to light up the fireplace and turn on several gas lamps.
The house was spacious, more so than Xio would have thought a man living by himself would have. It was also orderly and sparse, likely due to him hiring a cleaning service and also rarely being home.
She looked around, too curious to pretend at nonchalance, and noted that there were very few personal touches in the house. Several books, papers on the tables, and some dishes and empty cups scattered around to prove this place lived in, but there was not much to indicate personal tastes.
There was a coat thrown over the back of the couch, and a ticking clock on the mantle, but otherwise…
Xio could see that Mr. Star didn’t spend much time at home.
“Make yourselves at home,” he told them as the room was lit and the fire started to warm the chilly air.
Fors sat next to Xio, and Miss Audrey hesitated a moment before she also sat with them, leaving Benson and Melissa the armchair and a dining chair that was pulled up by Mr. Star.
“Sorry,” he told them as he realised there weren’t enough seats. He scratched his cheek, “Heh, I don’t often host people here, so I never thought about seating before.”
“It’s spacious,” Benson commented politely. “Are we intruding on your family?”
“It’s my own place,” Mr. Star replied. “So you’re free to use whatever you need until we figure out this mess with MI9. Don’t worry, I don’t bring anything from work home.”
While Benson sat on the armchair, Melissa remained standing, her expression still rather blank.
“You sound like things will be the same again,” Melissa said tonelessly. “But won’t everything be different from now on? Benson was captured for something that we knew nothing about, and it will happen again. How are we supposed to ‘figure out this mess’?”
“Melissa,” Benson interjected gently, “they were going to let me go.”
“But they didn’t, did they? And then I charged in, and—” there was unmistakable guilt in her voice, “I asked Miss Audrey and Mr. Mitchell to help me. They asked Miss Xio and Miss Fors to help. I got us into this mess. Now we’re being chased by the government? Are we criminals now?”
She wrung her hands, twisting her shaking fingers together until her skin was white from tension.
“Magic and powers and people who can do things that’s not normal, and the government hunting them down? None of it makes sense. And it makes even less sense that we’re targeted for it!” She looked up, brown eyes piercing in a strangely familiar way. “The rest of you must have family, right? Friends? You seem so powerful— you can do so much! You said so yourself my necklace is just a simple thing— so why were we targeted?
“If this extraordinary world is so dangerous, then why us? We have no true connection to it, not anymore!”
Benson placed a calming hand on Melissa’s, and Fors took a deep breath.
“It’s because your charm still works,” the writer tried to explain in a soothing way, aware of Melissa’s anxiety. Her eyes darted to the metallic bits and gear components that stuck out from the top of Melissa’s worn bag. She thought for a moment, and then continued, “Miss Melissa, you understand how machines work, right? Do they need an energy source?”
“Of course,” Melissa’s tone calmed at the subject of something she knew about, although her fingers continued to fidget. “Gas or steam or kinetic energy. Like winding up a clock.”
“And once it’s filled, then it starts moving, right? But after a while, if you don’t refill it, it stops.”
Melissa nodded.
“Okay.” Fors took a breath and then raised her hands in explanation, mimicking a sphere. “Your charm is a wound up clock. The energy inside isn’t powerful, which means that your clock will stop moving in a year. That’s how all machines work. It’s easier to hide in single-use charms, but when it’s a protection spell like yours, despite the low energy, the longer you keep it, the more obvious it gets: your charm is still going. The clock that was wound up continued to tick long after the energy should have worn off.”
Xio raised a hand to her mouth, now also realising the consequences of such a discovery. She exchanged a glance with Miss Audrey, whose eyes were getting wider and wider.
“Just like with machines, there are rules in the world of Beyonders. One of the rules is…” Fors pursed her lips in thought, and then continued with a furrowed brow as she attempted to break down the explanation, “there are only so many Beyonder characteristics. A set amount of energy. It can’t be created, it can’t be destroyed. We haven’t gotten to the limit of that energy yet, so there are always new Beyonders, but many of the creatures hunted for potion ingredients are now endangered, and…
“Once we get to the limit, the only way for new Beyonders to come into existence will be the death of previous Beyonders.”
Xio nudged Fors on the knee, and her friend nudged back in acknowledgement. There was no need to break down how already many of the higher-sequence potions relied not on potion ingredients, but killing a Beyonder and consuming their characteristics as replacement in the potion.
She didn’t think that using the limited Beyonder characteristics was a good comparison, as Beyonders continued to stay Beyonders until they died or their characteristics were stolen, no loss of energy there, but Xio could see where Fors was coming from.
Luckily, Fors also seemed to realise that she had gotten off track, as she waved a hand in embarrassment to pull herself back on topic.
“I mean! What I mean to say is that what we know of this world, whether Beyonder or mundane, has solid rules. Laws. Energy is spent, and without renewal, it disperses.”
“The extant of decay.” Melissa whispered.
Fors brightened, “Yes! You can think of it like that. So your charm, the one that your brother made which should be small and weak, should have— decayed. But it’s still going, and there are two easy theories for why.”
“Contact with another Seer,” Benson surmised, realising what MI9 was accusing him of now.
“Yes!” Fors got more excited, nodding, “Someone else refills the charm— wind up the clock, so to speak. Normally, it’s easier to just create a new charm, but the possibility of ‘winding it up again’ exists. So if your charm still works, then MI9 thinks that you’re in regular contact with a Beyonder, as, hmmm.” She tilted her head in thought. “Because of ‘decay’, it will take more and more energy each time to refill the same charm. The effect and duration will be less and less. Better to melt the silver and recarve the runes.”
“They think we’re in regular contact with a Beyonder,” Benson said, a hand to his chin. “But… we’re not? Not to my knowledge. That’s why they asked me those questions…”
“Seers aren’t very common,” Mr. Star said thoughtfully. “Not in Loen, not outside of secret organizations. However, I’ve heard that they’re more prevalent in the Intis Empire…”
“And Intis joined Feysac in the war against us,” Xio said, the understanding coming in waves. Outside of Mr. World, the only Seers Xio heard of were from the Secret Order. And the Secret Order… was also from Intis.
“So MI9 thinks we have contact with a spy.” Melissa said.
Fors nodded energetically, and then paused a second, bringing up two fingers, “Of course, there’s a second option, but one that MI9 will hopefully not pursue.”
“Second? What is it?” Benson asked.
“If you’ve really had no contact with the Beyonder world in the past year,” Fors said, “then that charm of yours might have access to an outside power source. One without decay. Like a perpetual—”
“Perpetual energy machine.” Melissa spoke with her, eyes widening. Her hands relaxed in shock.
“It’s a reach,” Fors said. She shrugged. “It’s unheard of in the normal world, but in the Beyonder world, there’s more of a chance of finding an outside mystical source of power. And if MI9 can find it… then they will try to use it, especially in this war. But that’s very unlikely.”
Xio could understand why MI9 would be more intrigued by the idea of outside energy, especially with the way the war was slowly being backed into Backlund. The moment the capital went down, they would lose.
And then what would happen?
“It’s more likely they think you have contact with someone from Intis,” Fors concluded, “than you being sponsored by— some evil god! That’s usually what it is in the Beyonder world.”
Standing next to them, Mr. Star made a strangled noise.
—
Above the grey fog, the so-called ‘evil god’ The Fool, put his head down in his arms on the stone table signifying his divine council, and silently screamed.
Oh, Klein made a mistake.
—
In that moment, dark shadows rose up from the floor of Mr. Star’s room, and Xio startled for a second before stiffening when no one else reacted strongly, with Fors and Miss Audrey tensing in response to the energy but not striking out.
Mr. Star subtly leaned toward the dark spirit, listening for a few moments before he grimaced. Xio tried hard not to look in his direction, but couldn’t help her curiosity.
As Miss Audrey struck up a more casual conversation on the heel of Fors’s revelation, Mr. Star leaned over to tap Fors on the shoulder, and she slipped Leymano's Travels to him under her palm. He straightened and left the room down the hallway for a moment, drawing Benson and Melissa’s gaze before Miss Audrey pulled them back into her conversation.
“In this case, it’s safest to establish contact with a Seer,” Miss Audrey said, laying out the solution calmly. “If we can set this up, and claim the charm is being renewed because they are the one keeping you safe, then MI9 can’t find fault with that. In the first place, Mr. Moretti has done nothing wrong. The rest of us coming to rescue him may be a bit more dubious, but understandable in the scale of what looks like an abduction.”
Xio nudged her with an elbow. “..And the two of us?”
Miss Audrey ducked her head and said seriously, “I’ll take care of that.”
Xio hadn’t been able to see her own information when she was wrapped in that sheet, but from what she saw on Audrey, Xio wasn’t worried about whether MI9 knew about family, especially her father.
Well, she wasn’t worried about anything other than information about the Tarot Club being exposed. Xio wasn’t sure how MI9 would use that information, how Miss Audrey was going to take care of things, or how Mr. Fool would react to the Tarot Club being exposed.
Xio shuddered.
In any case, it was good to take care of the situation as soon as possible!
“There’s another Seer?” Benson asked cautiously. His eyes were lost in thought. “Do you know someone else? Mr. Mitchell mentioned there weren’t many in Loen… is there one we can talk to?”
“Yes,” Miss Audrey said confidently. She splayed her gloved hands out over her lap. “There is someone who would agree to help you.”
Xio knew she was talking about Mr. World, yet there was a confidence in her voice that made both her and Fors look at her strangely.
Sure, Mr. World helped them escape MI9, but would he really come for such a small matter?
“It’s not a hopeless situation,” Miss Audrey said gently.
At her confidence, Melissa slowly loosened the grip she had on her skirt and nodded.
A few moments later, Mr. Star came back and handed Leymano’s Travels back to Fors. He had a thicker coat on this time, more suitable for the cooler temperature at night, and there was a frown on his handsome face.
“I have to leave,” he told them, “my co-workers have noticed that I’ve disappeared, and I’ve been recalled.”
Nighthawks, Xio thought. Red Gloves.
Since Mr. Star was a sequence five, he would be an upper rank of the church, and his absence would be noted.
“Would your absence be considered a problem, Mr. Mitchell?” Miss Audrey inquired.
“I’ll handle it,” Mr. Star responded vaguely, and then mustered up a smile for the siblings. “I’ll be back when I can, but… it might take a while. You’re free to use the house for however long you need, and Miss— Audrey, will know how to contact me if necessary.”
He must have been in a hurry, as after he got a nod from Miss Audrey, Mr. Star didn’t wait and instead his form sank down into the ground in the same manner as the dark shadow from before, leaving Melissa and Benson gaping at the dramatic exit.
“Now,” Miss Audrey said with a bright smile and everyone’s attention turned back to her. “Where were we?”
—
Leonard Mitchell emerged within the back rooms of the Evernight Church, well aware that he had done something wrong. He meant to gather his composure before reporting in more detail that he managed to convey earlier through use of a spirit, claiming a mostly-truth: that there were people who needed his immediate help, and he deemed that more important than a meeting when he could get the information later at any time.
What he hadn’t expected was for the Goddess’s Sword, Crestet Cesimir, to be waiting for him in the room he appeared in, sitting casually in a chair at the corner of the room with his legs crossed, observing Leonard.
“Reverend Cesimir,” Leonard greeted him nervously. “I didn’t expect you to be… here.”
Pallez was quieter than he usually was within the church, and Leonard thought that perhaps it was due to the unusual scrutiny the deacon gave him.
“At church?” Cesimir asked lightly, “or in this room?”
“In this room,” Leonard clarified, because of course everyone had been recalled to church today. “I was told I had a meeting with Archbishop Anthony.”
“He’s a bit busy calming down the masses. The all clear siren rang only half an hour ago, and many people chose to stay for a sermon to calm their spirit.”
Oh, right. The air raid. It was a good thing it hadn’t gotten too close.
“We’ve had quite the hectic night,” the Goddess’s Sword continued, “from the emergency meeting to the air raid, and the most peculiar visit from members of MI9 just minutes ago. They said a group of people broke into their headquarters within the past hour, and one of them managed to drag an entire lobby of people into a deep sleep.”
Ahh. Well, Leonard hadn’t exactly thought that one out besides trying to have the least amount of witnesses possible.
“I told them our Nighthawks were in a meeting, and also busy with guiding and placating people through the air raid. They asked if there was at least one person missing from their duties.”
Leonard huffed out a nervous laugh, feeling like a schoolboy caught in an act of mischief. “Sir, I really—”
Cesimir raised a hand to stall his excuse. “As much as I would like to know what happened, you don’t need to provide excuses. In the spirit of cooperation with the government, we have already told MI9 that there was indeed someone missing during the air raid.”
Leonard’s stomach sank.
“...But he had a good reason for it.” Cesimir concluded. “We called you back because those MI9 members are still waiting here to hear that reason.”
Was it that easy? Was the church really going to give him an easy out if he just told them why he was there?
“Normally, I wouldn’t bother with indulging MI9 like this, as they have no right to church affairs. But in this case, they involved two demigods and claimed that it had to do with evil gods.”
…Okay, so maybe it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Leonard would have to be careful with what he said here. He doubted he could get away with lying, not to the Goddess’s Sword, who had a knack of seeing through people. However, if he said too much, that would implicate too many people.
“Right before the meeting,” Leonard admitted slowly, going over the words in his head. “I found a— friend. Or, a friend helping out someone I promised myself to help a long time ago. That person’s family had been captured by MI9, and she didn’t know why because they’ve done nothing wrong. She requested help— merely that I accompany her to her family member, and I agreed.”
Crestet Cesimir gave a thoughtful look. “Go on.”
It felt awkward to just stand there, in the spot he appeared in, but Leonard pressed on. “When the air raid started, she wouldn’t wait for help anymore. I couldn’t let her go alone, so I went along with her and didn’t attend the meeting.”
“You didn’t leave a message,” the deacon observed.
Leonard gave a nervous chuckle. “I didn’t… have the time?”
That wasn’t what was important here!
“It turned out MI9 really did abduct her brother with false accusations, and in the end we… broke him out.”
“You, along with a group of others, managed to escape the MI9 headquarters.” Cesimir summarised. “Under their noses.”
“Well,” Leonard drew the word out for several moments, “they knew we were there.”
“There was a claim that Gehrman Sparrow personally attacked the headquarters of MI9.”
“How could that be?” Leonard asked as nonchalantly as he could, if only his hands weren’t twitching as he tried to look anywhere but at Cesimir, “isn’t he supposed to be at sea?”
Cesimir sighed. “It’s a good thing you weren’t there when MI9 barged in. You’re a terrible liar, Leonard.”
I’m not! Leonard wanted to protest. He was good at lies, enough to keep secrets! He just wasn’t good at lying to the Goddess’s Sword! He just didn’t like to lie to the church! Wasn’t that normal?
“Did you find out why MI9 took away a civilian?” Cesimir asked calmly.
Leonard sombered at that. “He had an extraordinary item on him. It was merely a protection charm, but that was enough for MI9 to take him away for questioning.”
Cesimir frowned, hiding his mouth behind two fingers. “They sure are getting more and more paranoid…”
That was what Leonard initially thought, but with Miss Magician’s explanation, he wondered if it was paranoia at all.
“There is another thing,” the deacon said. “MI9 has also accused the group of stealing a Sealed Artefact in their possession. 2-214, a fabric screen with slight living characteristics.”
—
Klein examined the strange white sheet in Sefirah Castle, tempted to bring the Sealed Artefact down with him into the Land Forsaken by God as it continued to wiggle and struggle from his grasp until he impaled it into the table with a dagger, pinning it down.
He understood Miss Judgement’s actions when she sacrificed the sheet to The Fool, as the object was likely to attract the attention of MI9 like a beacon in the night, and the group wasn’t sure of the methods MI9 had of tracking their items. Despite Klein’s Blessing earlier, this could be an active Sealed Artefact trying to catch someone’s attention.
From what he could divine from the struggling sheet, it was created with the characteristics of a Mystery Pryer, and could transmit hidden information to anyone within visible distance. It would take a handful of people to manage its side effects: a strong paranoia toward those who keep secrets, with an addictive need to expose those secrets.
It wasn’t strong enough to pose a danger to the grey fog, and didn’t seem to hold any bugs that could pierce through Sefirah Castle, but Klein learned to be cautious when allowing even extraordinary objects here now.
Still, this item felt far less dangerous than the other Sealed Artefacts Klein had come across, as its danger lay mostly with a crowd of people.
It was, Klein mentally scoffed, a far inferior version of Arrodes. Actually, they couldn’t even be compared.
If nothing else, Klein felt that MI9 would come for this Sealed Artefact. Something that reveals the secrets of others, especially involuntarily, was invaluable for an organisation that prized successful interrogations. Not to mention them finding a currently hidden secret organisation.
He leaned to the side of the chair, watching the sheet struggle while resting his cheek on his fingers in thought.
Despite a successful escape, what mattered the most now was time— enough time for either side to regroup before attacking again. But the Tarot Club couldn’t attack MI9, not without good reason. The last time Klein had made a decision such as that was the assassination of George III.
MI9 wouldn’t take kindly to Gehrman Sparrow attacking again, not when they were already left with sour feelings from the last encounter. He was lucky enough that Admiral Amyrius hadn’t been at the fight last time, and also still had middling feelings about the existence of the bounty hunter.
In a situation like this, what would be the best course of action?
There were pros and cons to staying quiet, just as there were pros and cons to early action. The problem was the war, and it was because of the war that MI9 would strike hard and fast.
If they thought Benson was a spy or connected to a spy, or if they realised that the Moretti siblings actually had connection to an evil god…
Either way, it would only be a day before all of Backlund was on the hunt for them.
But Zhou Mingrui hadn’t been a keyboard warrior in the era of true crime podcasts and popular wuxia dramas to not learn his fair share of criminology.
The problem now was the involvement of too many people, but there was no problem in the world that didn’t have a solution.
It would all depend on who he wanted to involve.
A/N: ...A lot of mistakes in this chapter, but my brain felt scrambled so I gave up on trying to convey things better. What the heckies accent was that dude talking to Hibbert? I have no idea, my brain started British but for some reason every time it always turned into a Southern tang and this happened every time I tried to edit it.
Of course Fors understands science, she is a writer and a doctor.
Klein's part was meant to be longer, but my brain blanked.
Previous || Next
Fandom: Lord of the Mysteries
Character/Pairing(s): Audrey Hall, Leonard Mitchell, Melissa Moretti, Benson Moretti, Klein Moretti, Xio Derecha, Fors Wall
Rating: PG-13
Warning: none?
Summary: MI9 catches Benson Moretti, and end up with more than they expect.
Hibbert Hall tapped his fingers impatiently against the damask armchair as he listened to the guards attempt to explain the situation.
“She wasn’t at the Foundation or MI9,” a fidgeting man said. “And no one has seen her along the way. We searched the church as well, but Miss Audrey doesn’t seem to be there, either.”
“So my sister just disappeared into thin air?” Hibbert asked tersely. He stilled his fingers and pushed himself up from the armchair, glad his mother wasn’t in the room to listen to this nonsense. “But you found her dog outside of MI9. Did you not search thoroughly?”
The men glanced at each other nervously.
“Sir, we don’t have the authority to search MI9…”
He raised a hand to silence their excuses, the other hand going up to his eyes to stave off a headache.
“It is dark out, and my sister is lost.” Hibbert said. “Continue your search. Report back to me when you find any clues of her whereabouts. I want to know immediately.”
As the men scurried off, Hibbert pressed his fingers to his eyes and thought about what he would tell his mother, and just how long he could keep this information from his father.
“Sir.”
He brought down the hand and stared at the nervous young man who lingered in the room after everyone was gone.
“What is it?” He asked irritably.
The man was a younger recruit, one with a keen eyesight whom Hibbert once brought along hunting just months before the war started.
“I,” the young guard swallowed. “I believe I have different information for you.”
Hibbert stilled. “Different, how?”
“I saw Miss Audrey at MI9,” the guard confessed. “I was the one sent out to search what path her dog came from, so I didn’t go with the group into the building, and I wasn’t with the ones guarding the door. I was just around the corner, see, when I heard the commotion. A group of folk rushed out the building, all running-like, and then they just disappeared! Like they ran through a portal of sorts. Miss Audrey was with them, and there was this strange thing wrapped around her.”
“And why would you be the only one to see this?” Hibbert asked, deceptively calm.
The guard shook his head. “I wouldn’t know, sir. They all saw them. There was yelling and stuff, but then right as the group disappeared, everyone stopped yelling and was calm. Like they hadn’t seen those people at all! By the time I reached them, everyone behaved like nothing happened!”
The guard’s voice grew low, nervous, “Sir, it was like witchcraft! I wouldn’t have believed it myself had the members of MI9 not charged out as well, looking like they were searching for people. When the captain spoke to them, they accused us of hiding Miss Audrey! They said something about the thing that was wrapped around her—”
“What was it?”
“Like a white tablecloth, sir,” the guard answered obediently. “Strange, though. It was moving like a thing alive, and just looking at it— I can’t describe it. Like words written on the fabric, except not in a proper language at all. Just words I could read even when the words weren’t there. It was like it had her name at the top, and who she was. And then under that, it said… manipulator. Spectator. Something about psychology and alchemists and something about tarot cards.”
Hibbert Hall felt his heart drop to his stomach.
“And you say that MI9 saw the same thing?”
“Yes, sir. Used the same words to call Miss Audrey. They seemed right angry about it, except no one in our group responded to them, we just walked away like we never went to confront them at all. I’ve never seen anything like it. I hope I never see anything like it again.”
Hibbert frowned and stayed silent.
—
“Alright, that’s amazing,” Mr. Star admitted when Fors opened a door straight into his house. It disappeared after they all stepped through, and Xio immediately made herself at home on the couch, trying to shake off the raindrops from her wet hair. “And it can go anywhere?”
“If I know the area,” Fors said, although Xio could tell by her tone of voice that she was preening. It made sense, Fors didn’t have that many opportunities to show off her pathway to the other Tarot Club members. “I can’t go too far yet, but later on I should be able to travel anywhere.”
“That would be so useful,” Mr. Star muttered as he went to light up the fireplace and turn on several gas lamps.
The house was spacious, more so than Xio would have thought a man living by himself would have. It was also orderly and sparse, likely due to him hiring a cleaning service and also rarely being home.
She looked around, too curious to pretend at nonchalance, and noted that there were very few personal touches in the house. Several books, papers on the tables, and some dishes and empty cups scattered around to prove this place lived in, but there was not much to indicate personal tastes.
There was a coat thrown over the back of the couch, and a ticking clock on the mantle, but otherwise…
Xio could see that Mr. Star didn’t spend much time at home.
“Make yourselves at home,” he told them as the room was lit and the fire started to warm the chilly air.
Fors sat next to Xio, and Miss Audrey hesitated a moment before she also sat with them, leaving Benson and Melissa the armchair and a dining chair that was pulled up by Mr. Star.
“Sorry,” he told them as he realised there weren’t enough seats. He scratched his cheek, “Heh, I don’t often host people here, so I never thought about seating before.”
“It’s spacious,” Benson commented politely. “Are we intruding on your family?”
“It’s my own place,” Mr. Star replied. “So you’re free to use whatever you need until we figure out this mess with MI9. Don’t worry, I don’t bring anything from work home.”
While Benson sat on the armchair, Melissa remained standing, her expression still rather blank.
“You sound like things will be the same again,” Melissa said tonelessly. “But won’t everything be different from now on? Benson was captured for something that we knew nothing about, and it will happen again. How are we supposed to ‘figure out this mess’?”
“Melissa,” Benson interjected gently, “they were going to let me go.”
“But they didn’t, did they? And then I charged in, and—” there was unmistakable guilt in her voice, “I asked Miss Audrey and Mr. Mitchell to help me. They asked Miss Xio and Miss Fors to help. I got us into this mess. Now we’re being chased by the government? Are we criminals now?”
She wrung her hands, twisting her shaking fingers together until her skin was white from tension.
“Magic and powers and people who can do things that’s not normal, and the government hunting them down? None of it makes sense. And it makes even less sense that we’re targeted for it!” She looked up, brown eyes piercing in a strangely familiar way. “The rest of you must have family, right? Friends? You seem so powerful— you can do so much! You said so yourself my necklace is just a simple thing— so why were we targeted?
“If this extraordinary world is so dangerous, then why us? We have no true connection to it, not anymore!”
Benson placed a calming hand on Melissa’s, and Fors took a deep breath.
“It’s because your charm still works,” the writer tried to explain in a soothing way, aware of Melissa’s anxiety. Her eyes darted to the metallic bits and gear components that stuck out from the top of Melissa’s worn bag. She thought for a moment, and then continued, “Miss Melissa, you understand how machines work, right? Do they need an energy source?”
“Of course,” Melissa’s tone calmed at the subject of something she knew about, although her fingers continued to fidget. “Gas or steam or kinetic energy. Like winding up a clock.”
“And once it’s filled, then it starts moving, right? But after a while, if you don’t refill it, it stops.”
Melissa nodded.
“Okay.” Fors took a breath and then raised her hands in explanation, mimicking a sphere. “Your charm is a wound up clock. The energy inside isn’t powerful, which means that your clock will stop moving in a year. That’s how all machines work. It’s easier to hide in single-use charms, but when it’s a protection spell like yours, despite the low energy, the longer you keep it, the more obvious it gets: your charm is still going. The clock that was wound up continued to tick long after the energy should have worn off.”
Xio raised a hand to her mouth, now also realising the consequences of such a discovery. She exchanged a glance with Miss Audrey, whose eyes were getting wider and wider.
“Just like with machines, there are rules in the world of Beyonders. One of the rules is…” Fors pursed her lips in thought, and then continued with a furrowed brow as she attempted to break down the explanation, “there are only so many Beyonder characteristics. A set amount of energy. It can’t be created, it can’t be destroyed. We haven’t gotten to the limit of that energy yet, so there are always new Beyonders, but many of the creatures hunted for potion ingredients are now endangered, and…
“Once we get to the limit, the only way for new Beyonders to come into existence will be the death of previous Beyonders.”
Xio nudged Fors on the knee, and her friend nudged back in acknowledgement. There was no need to break down how already many of the higher-sequence potions relied not on potion ingredients, but killing a Beyonder and consuming their characteristics as replacement in the potion.
She didn’t think that using the limited Beyonder characteristics was a good comparison, as Beyonders continued to stay Beyonders until they died or their characteristics were stolen, no loss of energy there, but Xio could see where Fors was coming from.
Luckily, Fors also seemed to realise that she had gotten off track, as she waved a hand in embarrassment to pull herself back on topic.
“I mean! What I mean to say is that what we know of this world, whether Beyonder or mundane, has solid rules. Laws. Energy is spent, and without renewal, it disperses.”
“The extant of decay.” Melissa whispered.
Fors brightened, “Yes! You can think of it like that. So your charm, the one that your brother made which should be small and weak, should have— decayed. But it’s still going, and there are two easy theories for why.”
“Contact with another Seer,” Benson surmised, realising what MI9 was accusing him of now.
“Yes!” Fors got more excited, nodding, “Someone else refills the charm— wind up the clock, so to speak. Normally, it’s easier to just create a new charm, but the possibility of ‘winding it up again’ exists. So if your charm still works, then MI9 thinks that you’re in regular contact with a Beyonder, as, hmmm.” She tilted her head in thought. “Because of ‘decay’, it will take more and more energy each time to refill the same charm. The effect and duration will be less and less. Better to melt the silver and recarve the runes.”
“They think we’re in regular contact with a Beyonder,” Benson said, a hand to his chin. “But… we’re not? Not to my knowledge. That’s why they asked me those questions…”
“Seers aren’t very common,” Mr. Star said thoughtfully. “Not in Loen, not outside of secret organizations. However, I’ve heard that they’re more prevalent in the Intis Empire…”
“And Intis joined Feysac in the war against us,” Xio said, the understanding coming in waves. Outside of Mr. World, the only Seers Xio heard of were from the Secret Order. And the Secret Order… was also from Intis.
“So MI9 thinks we have contact with a spy.” Melissa said.
Fors nodded energetically, and then paused a second, bringing up two fingers, “Of course, there’s a second option, but one that MI9 will hopefully not pursue.”
“Second? What is it?” Benson asked.
“If you’ve really had no contact with the Beyonder world in the past year,” Fors said, “then that charm of yours might have access to an outside power source. One without decay. Like a perpetual—”
“Perpetual energy machine.” Melissa spoke with her, eyes widening. Her hands relaxed in shock.
“It’s a reach,” Fors said. She shrugged. “It’s unheard of in the normal world, but in the Beyonder world, there’s more of a chance of finding an outside mystical source of power. And if MI9 can find it… then they will try to use it, especially in this war. But that’s very unlikely.”
Xio could understand why MI9 would be more intrigued by the idea of outside energy, especially with the way the war was slowly being backed into Backlund. The moment the capital went down, they would lose.
And then what would happen?
“It’s more likely they think you have contact with someone from Intis,” Fors concluded, “than you being sponsored by— some evil god! That’s usually what it is in the Beyonder world.”
Standing next to them, Mr. Star made a strangled noise.
—
Above the grey fog, the so-called ‘evil god’ The Fool, put his head down in his arms on the stone table signifying his divine council, and silently screamed.
Oh, Klein made a mistake.
—
In that moment, dark shadows rose up from the floor of Mr. Star’s room, and Xio startled for a second before stiffening when no one else reacted strongly, with Fors and Miss Audrey tensing in response to the energy but not striking out.
Mr. Star subtly leaned toward the dark spirit, listening for a few moments before he grimaced. Xio tried hard not to look in his direction, but couldn’t help her curiosity.
As Miss Audrey struck up a more casual conversation on the heel of Fors’s revelation, Mr. Star leaned over to tap Fors on the shoulder, and she slipped Leymano's Travels to him under her palm. He straightened and left the room down the hallway for a moment, drawing Benson and Melissa’s gaze before Miss Audrey pulled them back into her conversation.
“In this case, it’s safest to establish contact with a Seer,” Miss Audrey said, laying out the solution calmly. “If we can set this up, and claim the charm is being renewed because they are the one keeping you safe, then MI9 can’t find fault with that. In the first place, Mr. Moretti has done nothing wrong. The rest of us coming to rescue him may be a bit more dubious, but understandable in the scale of what looks like an abduction.”
Xio nudged her with an elbow. “..And the two of us?”
Miss Audrey ducked her head and said seriously, “I’ll take care of that.”
Xio hadn’t been able to see her own information when she was wrapped in that sheet, but from what she saw on Audrey, Xio wasn’t worried about whether MI9 knew about family, especially her father.
Well, she wasn’t worried about anything other than information about the Tarot Club being exposed. Xio wasn’t sure how MI9 would use that information, how Miss Audrey was going to take care of things, or how Mr. Fool would react to the Tarot Club being exposed.
Xio shuddered.
In any case, it was good to take care of the situation as soon as possible!
“There’s another Seer?” Benson asked cautiously. His eyes were lost in thought. “Do you know someone else? Mr. Mitchell mentioned there weren’t many in Loen… is there one we can talk to?”
“Yes,” Miss Audrey said confidently. She splayed her gloved hands out over her lap. “There is someone who would agree to help you.”
Xio knew she was talking about Mr. World, yet there was a confidence in her voice that made both her and Fors look at her strangely.
Sure, Mr. World helped them escape MI9, but would he really come for such a small matter?
“It’s not a hopeless situation,” Miss Audrey said gently.
At her confidence, Melissa slowly loosened the grip she had on her skirt and nodded.
A few moments later, Mr. Star came back and handed Leymano’s Travels back to Fors. He had a thicker coat on this time, more suitable for the cooler temperature at night, and there was a frown on his handsome face.
“I have to leave,” he told them, “my co-workers have noticed that I’ve disappeared, and I’ve been recalled.”
Nighthawks, Xio thought. Red Gloves.
Since Mr. Star was a sequence five, he would be an upper rank of the church, and his absence would be noted.
“Would your absence be considered a problem, Mr. Mitchell?” Miss Audrey inquired.
“I’ll handle it,” Mr. Star responded vaguely, and then mustered up a smile for the siblings. “I’ll be back when I can, but… it might take a while. You’re free to use the house for however long you need, and Miss— Audrey, will know how to contact me if necessary.”
He must have been in a hurry, as after he got a nod from Miss Audrey, Mr. Star didn’t wait and instead his form sank down into the ground in the same manner as the dark shadow from before, leaving Melissa and Benson gaping at the dramatic exit.
“Now,” Miss Audrey said with a bright smile and everyone’s attention turned back to her. “Where were we?”
—
Leonard Mitchell emerged within the back rooms of the Evernight Church, well aware that he had done something wrong. He meant to gather his composure before reporting in more detail that he managed to convey earlier through use of a spirit, claiming a mostly-truth: that there were people who needed his immediate help, and he deemed that more important than a meeting when he could get the information later at any time.
What he hadn’t expected was for the Goddess’s Sword, Crestet Cesimir, to be waiting for him in the room he appeared in, sitting casually in a chair at the corner of the room with his legs crossed, observing Leonard.
“Reverend Cesimir,” Leonard greeted him nervously. “I didn’t expect you to be… here.”
Pallez was quieter than he usually was within the church, and Leonard thought that perhaps it was due to the unusual scrutiny the deacon gave him.
“At church?” Cesimir asked lightly, “or in this room?”
“In this room,” Leonard clarified, because of course everyone had been recalled to church today. “I was told I had a meeting with Archbishop Anthony.”
“He’s a bit busy calming down the masses. The all clear siren rang only half an hour ago, and many people chose to stay for a sermon to calm their spirit.”
Oh, right. The air raid. It was a good thing it hadn’t gotten too close.
“We’ve had quite the hectic night,” the Goddess’s Sword continued, “from the emergency meeting to the air raid, and the most peculiar visit from members of MI9 just minutes ago. They said a group of people broke into their headquarters within the past hour, and one of them managed to drag an entire lobby of people into a deep sleep.”
Ahh. Well, Leonard hadn’t exactly thought that one out besides trying to have the least amount of witnesses possible.
“I told them our Nighthawks were in a meeting, and also busy with guiding and placating people through the air raid. They asked if there was at least one person missing from their duties.”
Leonard huffed out a nervous laugh, feeling like a schoolboy caught in an act of mischief. “Sir, I really—”
Cesimir raised a hand to stall his excuse. “As much as I would like to know what happened, you don’t need to provide excuses. In the spirit of cooperation with the government, we have already told MI9 that there was indeed someone missing during the air raid.”
Leonard’s stomach sank.
“...But he had a good reason for it.” Cesimir concluded. “We called you back because those MI9 members are still waiting here to hear that reason.”
Was it that easy? Was the church really going to give him an easy out if he just told them why he was there?
“Normally, I wouldn’t bother with indulging MI9 like this, as they have no right to church affairs. But in this case, they involved two demigods and claimed that it had to do with evil gods.”
…Okay, so maybe it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Leonard would have to be careful with what he said here. He doubted he could get away with lying, not to the Goddess’s Sword, who had a knack of seeing through people. However, if he said too much, that would implicate too many people.
“Right before the meeting,” Leonard admitted slowly, going over the words in his head. “I found a— friend. Or, a friend helping out someone I promised myself to help a long time ago. That person’s family had been captured by MI9, and she didn’t know why because they’ve done nothing wrong. She requested help— merely that I accompany her to her family member, and I agreed.”
Crestet Cesimir gave a thoughtful look. “Go on.”
It felt awkward to just stand there, in the spot he appeared in, but Leonard pressed on. “When the air raid started, she wouldn’t wait for help anymore. I couldn’t let her go alone, so I went along with her and didn’t attend the meeting.”
“You didn’t leave a message,” the deacon observed.
Leonard gave a nervous chuckle. “I didn’t… have the time?”
That wasn’t what was important here!
“It turned out MI9 really did abduct her brother with false accusations, and in the end we… broke him out.”
“You, along with a group of others, managed to escape the MI9 headquarters.” Cesimir summarised. “Under their noses.”
“Well,” Leonard drew the word out for several moments, “they knew we were there.”
“There was a claim that Gehrman Sparrow personally attacked the headquarters of MI9.”
“How could that be?” Leonard asked as nonchalantly as he could, if only his hands weren’t twitching as he tried to look anywhere but at Cesimir, “isn’t he supposed to be at sea?”
Cesimir sighed. “It’s a good thing you weren’t there when MI9 barged in. You’re a terrible liar, Leonard.”
I’m not! Leonard wanted to protest. He was good at lies, enough to keep secrets! He just wasn’t good at lying to the Goddess’s Sword! He just didn’t like to lie to the church! Wasn’t that normal?
“Did you find out why MI9 took away a civilian?” Cesimir asked calmly.
Leonard sombered at that. “He had an extraordinary item on him. It was merely a protection charm, but that was enough for MI9 to take him away for questioning.”
Cesimir frowned, hiding his mouth behind two fingers. “They sure are getting more and more paranoid…”
That was what Leonard initially thought, but with Miss Magician’s explanation, he wondered if it was paranoia at all.
“There is another thing,” the deacon said. “MI9 has also accused the group of stealing a Sealed Artefact in their possession. 2-214, a fabric screen with slight living characteristics.”
—
Klein examined the strange white sheet in Sefirah Castle, tempted to bring the Sealed Artefact down with him into the Land Forsaken by God as it continued to wiggle and struggle from his grasp until he impaled it into the table with a dagger, pinning it down.
He understood Miss Judgement’s actions when she sacrificed the sheet to The Fool, as the object was likely to attract the attention of MI9 like a beacon in the night, and the group wasn’t sure of the methods MI9 had of tracking their items. Despite Klein’s Blessing earlier, this could be an active Sealed Artefact trying to catch someone’s attention.
From what he could divine from the struggling sheet, it was created with the characteristics of a Mystery Pryer, and could transmit hidden information to anyone within visible distance. It would take a handful of people to manage its side effects: a strong paranoia toward those who keep secrets, with an addictive need to expose those secrets.
It wasn’t strong enough to pose a danger to the grey fog, and didn’t seem to hold any bugs that could pierce through Sefirah Castle, but Klein learned to be cautious when allowing even extraordinary objects here now.
Still, this item felt far less dangerous than the other Sealed Artefacts Klein had come across, as its danger lay mostly with a crowd of people.
It was, Klein mentally scoffed, a far inferior version of Arrodes. Actually, they couldn’t even be compared.
If nothing else, Klein felt that MI9 would come for this Sealed Artefact. Something that reveals the secrets of others, especially involuntarily, was invaluable for an organisation that prized successful interrogations. Not to mention them finding a currently hidden secret organisation.
He leaned to the side of the chair, watching the sheet struggle while resting his cheek on his fingers in thought.
Despite a successful escape, what mattered the most now was time— enough time for either side to regroup before attacking again. But the Tarot Club couldn’t attack MI9, not without good reason. The last time Klein had made a decision such as that was the assassination of George III.
MI9 wouldn’t take kindly to Gehrman Sparrow attacking again, not when they were already left with sour feelings from the last encounter. He was lucky enough that Admiral Amyrius hadn’t been at the fight last time, and also still had middling feelings about the existence of the bounty hunter.
In a situation like this, what would be the best course of action?
There were pros and cons to staying quiet, just as there were pros and cons to early action. The problem was the war, and it was because of the war that MI9 would strike hard and fast.
If they thought Benson was a spy or connected to a spy, or if they realised that the Moretti siblings actually had connection to an evil god…
Either way, it would only be a day before all of Backlund was on the hunt for them.
But Zhou Mingrui hadn’t been a keyboard warrior in the era of true crime podcasts and popular wuxia dramas to not learn his fair share of criminology.
The problem now was the involvement of too many people, but there was no problem in the world that didn’t have a solution.
It would all depend on who he wanted to involve.
A/N: ...A lot of mistakes in this chapter, but my brain felt scrambled so I gave up on trying to convey things better. What the heckies accent was that dude talking to Hibbert? I have no idea, my brain started British but for some reason every time it always turned into a Southern tang and this happened every time I tried to edit it.
Of course Fors understands science, she is a writer and a doctor.
Klein's part was meant to be longer, but my brain blanked.