Chương 30: Chapter 29 - Sage

"No wonder that book's so valuable," Atzi said.

"What's in it, anyway?"

"Everything. Every spell I know, and every spell I was researching," Terra replied.

"So if someone had it, and they were trying to become a sage themselves?"

"Then they would have every piece of information they would need to do so." The Sage of Sostra looked Atzi directly in her eyes.

"Have you seen my book in your vision?" Atzi groaned. She hadn't meant to reveal that. She laughed awkwardly.

"Funny story there. Can we talk inside before I go into details?" Terra's eyes became bright, no longer unfocused.

"Absolutely." She took out a key and opened her door. The room was large, and unlike anything Atzi expected. Directly in the middle was an entire fountain, spouting crystal clear water that cascaded from its tip into its basin. She could have sworn it sparkled. A large bookshelf took up one wall. Another wall had various display cases full of odd looking items sitting on cushions; a small bird carved from stone, a creepy looking straw doll, some sort of boots made out of fish scales, and more.

Suspended from the ceiling with wire were two skeletons. One was human. The other looked mostly human, but also strange in a way she couldn't quite pin down, and was covered in vines wrapping around its bones. A large desk sat on the wall opposite the bookshelves. The desk was covered in unfurled scrolls, various papers, and a pile of red powder. It extended not just along the wall, but had two side sections as well. Three leather armchairs sat in the gulf of the desk. Atzi gawped.

"Please do not touch anything without my permission."

"I'm not gonna!" Atzi objected, discarding her plan to touch the water in the fountain.

"You may take a seat," Terra says, motioning to an armchair. If anyone could explain the time repeating stuff, it would be a sage, right?

"Okay, I lied about the visions thing." Terra raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, it's sort of true but sort of not true. They're not visions," Atzi said, sitting down.

"They happened. They all really happened. And then I die, and wake up at the same time in the same place. Every time."

"Interesting. Some sort of time-based phenomenon? But how would" - Terra muttered to herself - "unless… I wish I had my book."

"I thought you were just some regular mage, or whatever, I was mostly just trying to find out more about the city blowing up stuff. But maybe you might know more. So, please, please promise me you won't say a thing to anyone about any of this, alright? Or we both might die." Terra sat across from Atzi.

"I cannot."

"Why?!"

"I must occasionally submit reports to the academy administration. If there is a danger to the city, then I must share it."

"Can you leave me out of it? Or at least promise to hide certain details? I know about something where Malus will kill me on sight if she knows that I know."

"Malus?" Terra looked interested.

"But why would she bother killing you?"

"You see why I'm paranoid? She killed me last time! Burned me to death in the street!" Atzi shuddered.

"It really, really, really hurts to burn to death, you know that?" Terra nodded.

"Oh, yes, actually. I did particular research on- nevermind." Atzi whined.

"W-well experiencing it's pretty bad!"

"Malus is an interesting mage," Terra said.

"I have never even heard of a more powerful fire magic user, in either circle or rank. Oh, that reminds me-" And then Terra's entire body ignited into flames. Atzi flung herself from her seat. She rushed towards the sparkling fountain, nearly tripping over her clawed feet. How did Malus know I was here? Is she listening?! She leapt, intent to get into the water before she too could be set on fire. A jet of water emerged from the fountain, pushing her back. Atzi's head struck against the floor. She groaned in pain.

"I told you to not touch anything," Terra said, standing over her. She was not on fire, nor burnt. Even her robes and hat appeared untouched.

"Huh- what? But you…?"

"It was a spell to burn away the remaining toxins in my body." Atzi noticed Terra did look sober now.

"Why didn't you warn me?" Atzi asked, standing up. She rubbed the back of her head.

"I did, in fact, warn you to not touch anything," Terra said.

"That's not-" Atzi whined.

"Whatever. Uh, I'm wet now, do you have a towel?" Terra flipped her hand and a warm gust of wind blew over Atzi, drying her out. Atzi blinked.

"Hey, that actually feels pretty good. Can you do that again?"

"No. Take a seat." Terra walked back to her desk. Why's she being so stingy about doing it again? Atzi slinked over and plopped down again. She focused back on the reason she was here.

"The time stuff is linked to a god. I think it's one the Saintess doesn't like. That's why nothing shows up when I get tested for magic, by the way."

"Ah, that is why you wish to know about any books we have on gods?"

"Yeah. Old ones, really old. Something old enough that even the Ancestor didn't seem to know. Or maybe he was just lying." Atzi tapped her clawed foot.

"Last time I tried asking the new prophet of the Ancestor for help. She went to Malus, and then the rest happened." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"For anything that old, I would need to access the academy vaults. I could, but I am busy trying to make up for my lost spellbook. If you can return it to me, or otherwise assist in that, I would have the time to do so."

"... Shit. I know where it is, but..." Atzi looked panicked.

"Look, bear with me. I don't think I'm gonna completely solve the mystery of why Sostra blows up in a few days, alright? I'm a nobody!" She pointed to herself.

"So I need someone like you to help me." Terra nodded.

"A sensible plan. But about my book...?" Stop focusing on your book and help me!

"Your book is kind of a problem. The person who has it is... well, they'll kill me if I mess with it, and there's someone else who really wants it and she did kill me when I helped her steal it, so… If I die, I can't find out why the city blows up, can I?" Terra blinked. Slowly.

"If you had the location, I could inform the guard. Or go there myself."

"That maybe could work?" Atzi thought a little.

"They don't know that I know about it. I mean, they can't, yet. I find out about it tomorrow."

"There's also the reward of one hundred gold if you give information pertaining directly to its return," Terra added. Atzi's eyes lit up. Then she frowned as she realized the issue.

"... they'll definitely kill me if I'm mentioned. Also" - Atzi waved her claw - "technically there's a warrant on me anyway, so I'd go to jail if I ever met anyone in the guards."

"Whoever it is you are so afraid of, I can assure you I am stronger than them," Terra said.

"You need only inform me and I will take care of everything. I won't mention you. And I'm paying the reward."

"And when you get it back, you'll help me out?" Atzi curled her tail.

"You live here too, you probably don't want the city blown up."

"Yes. The book is my everything. Everything I've worked on." Terra nodded.

"I would rather the city blow up than be without it."

"Great! But I only ever held it personally tomorrow. It's possible it's not where I think it'll be, today. Possible. But I know for a fact where it'll be tomorrow." Atzi waved a claw.

"You know V?" Terra shook her head.

"Oh, you don't? They're pretty rich, they live in a mansion in that fancy district." Atzi described the house, so Terra would know where it was.

"I'll be there tonight but I have no idea if the book will be there. Tomorrow, though, it has to be, because, um… me and a mage working for V... she asks me to help steal the book for her..."

"I see," Terra said. Atzi couldn't tell if she cared at all.

"It succeeds, so the book is definitely there." Terra frowned.

"I cannot act rashly unless I can confirm they have it." She steepled her fingers.

"Could you repeat your feat of stealing it and bring it to me?"

"You want me to piss off V so bad they wanna kill me, then co-piss off another powerful mage with really scary friends?"

"Ah, you are unwilling?" Terra looked disappointed.

"If time is repeating for you, it shouldn't be a large risk."

"Why can't you just appear there and take it back yourself?" Atzi asked.

"You said you're strong enough to."

"If you can show me indisputable evidence they have it, yes."

"Beyond that I've seen the thing and held it?"

"I am entertaining your talk of repeating time as Jem asked me to, and I have no reason to disbelieve it outright, but it is not enough evidence."

"Great…" Atzi scratched her scales as she thought.

"How about this, then? It's not super suspicious if you just show up nearby, at the right time, right?" Atzi stood up.

"If you appear at the right time, I'll be holding the book then, and even if... even if V or that other mage are mad at me, you could just take it back off me? Then you could get me out of there alive. Please?"

"That could work." Terra said.

"I am more than strong enough to defeat them, so long as they are not powerful mages themselves. What do you know of their capabilities?"

"Is making a tidal wave of blood that holds people in place a powerful spell?"

"I have never heard of such a spell." Not even the sage? Weird.

"Well, she can cast it! She has scary friends, too." Terra looked deep in thought.

"The amount of essence that would be needed…" She hummed.

"And it traps people, you say?"

"Yeah, holds them in place. I remember it pretty well. Worked on a load of guards." Terra snapped her fingers.

"It is likely a spell of the third or fourth circle evoking first or second rank blood essence which is used to create the effect." Atzi blinked. Terra muttered to herself.

"Fascinating. I'll need to research the possibility later..."

"Oh!" An idea occured to Atzi.

"One thing. This might go wrong, but... you want your book back at all costs, right?"

"Yes? Are you going to propose something incredibly risky?"

"Oh, no, the opposite. I'm sick of trying to convince people, it's such a pain in the tail. Let's say what I'm saying is true, even if you don't know for sure yet. What would I need to tell you for you to believe me? Like, a password or something that you'd hear and know that the only way I could have heard it is from you. So that next time I don't have to spend so long convincing you and can just tell you where the book is."

"I presume you haven't read my book, or you would have mentioned its contents to convince me. Is that correct?"

"... I didn't check. I was kinda running for my life."

"Then when we get it back, I'll show you the inscription inside the front cover of my book. And if you repeat it to me in the past, I'll at least believe you've seen my book." Atzi slowly nodded.

"Alright. Just make sure to be there tomorrow or I'll have to flee the city again. Which doesn't end well either. Pomaria gets attacked by an army of the dead. Other places too. No idea why."

"Concerning. The dead do not typically" - Terra interrupted herself, looking down - "unless there was a force controlling- but then there is also the unexplained- but what about- and the Pomarian council members here recently-" Atzi snapped her clawed fingers.

"Oh! Yeah, I have no idea where they are. We were searching for them when, well, uh... Malus found me. Tried that creepy death cult temple, no luck. Probably not in the Water temple, either. Do you have any idea where they are?" Terra's attention turned back to Atzi.

"I do not know." Atzi racked her brain. Then she remembered something she saw a long time ago, when she was doing the cups job.

"Wait! Maybe the Saintess' temple. I saw a thing for the guards saying to let them go wherever they like. Per Malus's orders."

"That would be a likely explanation." A horrible thought occurred to Atzi, an echo of V's words.

"Could... Malus be strong enough a mage to do what happened to Novae? Hypothetically?"

"I've analyzed the explosion, and while I do not know that much about high rank fire magic, if anyone could, it would be her. That, or a large quantity of fire gems were detonated," Terra said. That's pretty much what V said. Argh.

"It's just... all those skeletons showed up right after Sostra blew up. Just a few hours after it. And if there's a plot like that, it'd be weird if the best necromancers in the empire weren't involved at all, and if she's working with them..."

"Are you suggesting this involves divine politics?" Terra asked.

"I hate politics."

"I don't wanna be involved in this stuff either." Atzi groaned.

"But I dont wanna keep dying over and over! Maybe I really should just get out of the empire entirely..." Terra's eyes lit up, and she looked incredibly excited.

"Could I kill you at some point? For research? And then you tell me the results after?" Atzi nearly fell out of her chair.

"Wh-wh-what?"

"I just realized, but it's such an opportunity! There's so many things I don't know about magic from a first hand experience..." Terra grinned. This woman is fucking insane. Atzi wondered if she could use that to her advantage.

"When I die, things get reset. So first you'd need to trust me completely about what I'm saying, right?" Terra nodded.

"So maybe we should figure that out first. Then, uh... nothing too painful, alright? We'll... work something out."

"I'll give the matter some additional thought after I have my book back." Time repeating means I could do this once, then any time I want, I have a way of getting her to do stuff for me... But no matter how many times she died, Atzi couldn't get used to it. It sucked! But if I'm going to die anyway, maybe it's worth a shot? Or I could just keep stringing her along with that idea every time. Atzi thought about time resetting. The way she could use it to get whatever she wanted. The idea excited her.

Wow, this really lets me manipulate people, even when I'm being truthful. Hey... what happens when all this comes to an end and I still know all these secrets about the rich and powerful? I could do a lot with that! This is great!

"Then do we have a plan?" Atzi asked.

"We do. I will be there tomorrow night," Terra said.