Chương 51: Chapter 50 - Jem

Atzi followed Jem into the back of the temple. Then they went through a door in the back and were outside once more, in a small walled garden. Most of the space was taken up by a cistern in the center.

"Should I jump in that?" Atzi asked. In response, Jem raised her claw. Water rose out of the cistern and into the air. Then she sprayed Atzi with it. Atzi was surprised at first, but quickly let the water wash over her as she closed her eyes. When the force of water subsided, she opened them. Jem was smiling.

"Thanks. Sorry about showing up like this," Atzi said. She knows Terra. This can work.

"Why were you down there?" Jem asked.

"You know the Sage, don't you? Terra?" Jem paused, tilting her head.

"Yes? I'm surprised you know about that. We don't really advertise our friendship with how busy she is these days."

"I guess I just had a hunch." Atzi shrugged.

"Anyway, her spellbook got stolen. She's pretty crazy about getting it back. Even put up a reward for it."

"I saw."

"I have a pretty good idea of where the people who stole it are stashing it. I overheard something and... well, I got lost in the sewers, but I know which part of them it's being kept in."

"You do?!" Jem's eyes sparkled.

"Yeah. Only, it's in the rich district and they wouldn't let me in, so I tried getting in from outside it and, uh, got lost. If I was in the district already, I'd know where to go to find it." Atzi moved closer and whispered.

"I need to be careful though, anyone who could pull off stealing that is pretty dangerous." Jem nodded.

"Have you tried telling the guards and have them take care of it?" Atzi shook her head "They paid off some of them. They'd know it was me, and then-" She mimed drawing a finger over her throat.

"Way, way safer to do this alone." Jem put a claw on Atzi's shoulder.

"I'll help you. This is a test from The Water."

"You... you will?" Wow, that's nice of her.

"Could you... get me into the rich district? Just past the guards, they won't let me through on my own." Jem smiled brightly.

"I shall accompany you on your holy pilgrimage to see your good deed done!" Based on how things had gone with Terra, Atzi was worried.

"Discretion is really, really, really important. So you can't say what we're there for. We don't know if any guard we talk to is... you know, dangerous to tell."

"Oh this is so exciting!" Jem shook her claws.

"Like those spy books!" Never read 'em.

"Yeah, like that." - The duo made their way towards the district. It was midway through the evening, and they happened to pass Alana and a group of other partygoers on their way. Somehow she's a little less scary after seeing Terra kill her. Then Atzi realized that the spell Terra had used to kill her, and the one used to kill Alana, were the same. Atzi was going to move on, as she didn't want to get involved with the psycho woman in any case, when suddenly Alana walked out of her group and towards them.

What the hells?! Alana smiled at Jem.

"Hi!" Atzi looked back and forth between them.

"O-oh hey, is this a friend of yours?" She asked Jem. Jem shook her head.

"I don't know her." Then she turned to Alana.

"Ah, I'm afraid we're busy, was there something you needed?"

"Oh! I thought you were here to party! You even have such fancy robes!" Alana stepped a bit closer.

"I bet they're fun to dance in!" Atzi realized, with horror, that Alana was hitting on Jem. Is she gonna resent it and try to kill us if I drag Jem away? She employed her full brainpower.

"Jem, do you wanna come back and join her for a dance when we're done?" Jem's eyes went wide. She turned to look at Atzi once more, a look of disbelief across her face. Atzi shrugged.

"Well, you don't get out of the temple to dance much, I figure." Jem frowned, and then seemed to think for a moment.

"Well, maybe." Alana smiled.

"No pressure! I'll be here if you want to!" Then she pranced off. Atzi let out a sigh of relief.

"Uh, let's continue on." Jem leaned a little closer.

"She seems nice," she said.

"Oh... yeah, she seems like she... really likes dancing, yeah." Atzi coughed. - When the two approached the entrance to the 'rich district', the guards took one look at Jem and let the two of them in. No words needed. Convenient. They headed over nearer to V's place, then Atzi stopped them a few blocks from V's manor.

"Can you wait for me here?" Atzi asked.

"It's not too far away now, but, um... a priestess standing around really sticks out, I don't want you being tied to this after you've helped me so much." Jem bowed slightly.

"I will wait patiently."

"I'll be back as fast as I can." With that, Atzi slinked off to find the nearest sewer entrance, being careful to not be seen in the process.. Then, remembering what Terra said about the hiding spot among the bricks, she headed towards the mansion. This close, it was much easier for her to avoid getting lost. Finally, she found what must have been the spot. Not only was it in the right direction, but in the dim lanternlight, she could see a wall where the bricks had clearly been recently replaced.

It would have just looked like recent maintenance if Atzi hadn't known exactly what she was looking for. Atzi took out her dagger and stabbed into the mortar between the bricks, trying to pry them loose. However, it was too tough, and if she applied any more force then her dagger might break. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She considered the problem. The bricks can't be in that tight, V still needs a way of pulling out the book on demand...

She next tried randomly pressing on the bricks, to see if there was any way of shifting them. Still, no luck. There has to be something. A tool, maybe? Atzi searched around in the garbage on the walkway. She didn't find anything. Finally, she glanced at the sewer water moving slowly by. Did they… Atzi steeled herself, and closed her mouth tightly as she got near. She got down closer, turning her head away as she plunged her arm in.

It took only a moment, but still far longer than Atzi wanted, before her claws clinked against something hooked at the bottom. Atzi had to shift it to get it out, but after a moment, she pulled out a crowbar covered in muck. Yes! Now to get the bricks out. With the crowbar's help, and a bit of smashing and wriggling, she managed to pry a few bricks out. She remembered that the book was hidden in a brick, so she kept throwing them against the floor, smashing them. Finally, deeper in, her hard work paid off.

She shattered another brick, revealing a bag. Inside was Terra's book. Yes! Atzi checked very carefully that she wasn't being watched, before she exited the sewers, crowbar abandoned and bag in hand. - She climbed out and headed back to Jem quickly.

"It was there!" she said quietly but triumphantly.

"You got it! Good job! Here." She concentrated some water from the air and used it to clean Atzi's arm.

"Thanks. Let's go find Terra, she'll be pretty happy when she gets this back." Try not to think about her killing you, Atzi. An evil artifact drove her nuts. That's what happened. They walked together.

"So, do you really think I should dance with that woman?" Jem asked.

"Oh. Um." Atzi thought for a moment.

"Do you want to?"

"Kind of. I really don't get to do much outside my temple duties often. I love it! I really do. But if I'm not going to have fun this week, then when?" Hm, but if I don't bring her along, seeing Terra might be too hard… Then again, if I'm carrying her book, the asshole butler will let me see her.

"Why don't I go bring the book over to Terra, and you 'cut loose' a li'l? It's festival week, after all."

"Oh, I didn't mean right now! Of course I'm going to see Terra with you. It's not often I get to say one of my friends found my other's lost magic book. I wouldn't pass that up."

"True, true." Wait, did she call me a friend? I don't have the heart to correct her, so I'll just assume she's being nice. - As soon as the pair were in the academy, Atzi flashed the butler the book. He snapped to duty instantly, running off to fetch Terra. Atzi grinned, reveling in the fact she was important. Terra came down soon after and, upon seeing her book, rushed up. Atzi didn't try to stop her as she snatched the book from her claws. Terra opened it, then smiled softly.

"It's real."

"Of course!"

"Thank you-" Terra stopped, then blinked and looked at Jem.

"Oh, Jem? You were part of getting it back?" Jem shook her head.

"I barely did anything. Atzi here did all the real work." Atzi gave a satisfied laugh.

"Thank you, Atzi," Terra said.

"I'll make sure you get the reward."

"Ah, wait, there's something more important." Atzi held up a claw.

"Not that the gold doesn't help, but I went and grabbed the book so we could talk. I've got something pretty unbelievable to tell you." Terra blinked.

"I owe you, so certainly, follow me." She went over to the desk and fished out a guest token for Atzi.

"You didn't mention that, Atzi." Jem looked confused.

"What's going on?" Atzi paused.

"It's something that's very hard to get people to believe." Jem nodded.

"Well, it's probably none of my business then. I'll talk to you two later." Then she slowly turned around to leave.

"Maybe go dance…" I guess I won't explain it to her this time around. Easier without her, probably, as callous as that is to say. With Terra I have ways of convincing people.

"Oh. Sure, see you later." Only then, as if she'd been waiting for Atzi's words, did Jem head out. - Terra led Atzi to her office, same as it ever was. Papers messy on the desk. Skeleton. Skeleton with vines. Cabinet with magical trinkets and no lock. Fountain. Bookshelves, too, of course.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?" Terra asked as she put her spellbook back floating into its frame on the wall.

"Time is repeating for me. Just me, I think, no-one else I've found acts any differently. I die, and I go back to yesterday morning. Again, and again." Atzi pointed to the frame.

"That book took me several tries to figure out where it was."

"I see."

"It's the only way you'll believe me. You got me to prove I even had a guess at where it was by saying what's inside it, the note from your mom. Before, you walked in and tore the place up, and found the exact spot. So now, this time around, I could find it. I can find it any time I want, from now on."

"I believe you have an aspect wrong," Terra said, raising a finger.

"What?"

"I don't believe you, just because you obtained my book. Rather, I am willing to listen to you, and trust you a great deal more than if you hadn't. Hence, I am willing to entertain your concept, and treat it as true. I'm as certain as I can be that the previous me felt the same, if real." Atzi rolled her eyes.

"Right. Look, this is always the difficult part, I don't have the big flashy proof I usually do. Which is that the city is fucked. It gets attacked, and wiped out. And the university wards aren't enough, either. Not for this."

"Attacked by what?" Terra asked.

"Undead. Thousands. Maybe millions, it just... never ends, more and more of them. Across the entire empire, in five days time. Malus tries to blow up the city to stop them. And it's not enough." Then Atzi remembered she did have proof.

".. Oh shit, right, I have something that can prove it! We left the city, last time, and you were doing readings on top of a mountain. It was heaven absorbing more magic than normal." Terra nodded.

"That is a phenomenon I am interested in."

"You were researching it and got me to memorize a bunch of figures. Uh, can I get some paper and something to write with?" Terra made her way to her desk, and grabbed paper and quill. Atzi joined her, sitting down at the desk. She began faithfully copying down the numbers and their associated meanings, utilizing all the instruction Terra had given her last loop. She managed to get down about five. The rest were too uncertain for her to remember.

"Sorry, I," Atzi sighed, "I'm not good at academic stuff. Never was. Those are the only ones I know for sure. The rest are... fuzzy." She handed the paper to Terra. Terra glanced at the sheet.

"I see. If you could remember all of them, it would still be hard to tell how accurate they are without checking, but if I could, I could verify enough of your story to say I believe you."

"Uh, about the last loop - that was the term you came up with for them - I think we found the one responsible for unleashing the undead. Or someone involved, anyway. They're in Cthy. Not working for them, though, they really freaked out when they found out about this stuff. We found an artifact. And, uh… It's a magic tome covered in skin and fur and bones... You went insane after touching it." She dropped her voice to a whisper.

"And you... you.... killed me." For her part, Terra looked absolutely fascinated. Atzi wrapped her claws together and begged, "You can't touch it. Ever. Please."

"What an interesting book. I'm sure it will be fine. I just need to encounter it with the proper magical precautions."

"No! No no no no, I'm not getting disintegrated again!" Atzi shouted.

"A-and the point is, the person with it, they only died recently. But that was the eighteenth, see? So right now, they're alive, and that spell isn't cast. Which means we can stop them from casting it."

"Ah. Yes, I suppose that would be more important." Terra looked slightly disappointed. Atzi reminded herself that it was the artifact that had driven her crazy, and the general dangerous vibes she always gave off weren't a sign she would kill her normally. Non-consensually, anyway.

"We'd have to get into Cthy of course, but... I know someone from there. She can help, I think. She helped last time."

"Very well, I'm willing to entertain you for retrieving my book. We should leave tomorrow." Atzi nodded.

"Sure. First I've gotta take care of something so I don't get killed before we leave. It'll be easy, though. When should I meet you here tomorrow?"

"I will meet you at the college's city gate in the afternoon." Atzi nodded. With that, she headed out from the office, all the way down the steps to the first floor, and out the building. It was there she saw a familiar face.

"Greetings. Atzi, correct? I would like to speak with you," Regent said. Her father's cousin stood tall and straight, affixing his unblinking eye upon her. Despite his flat tone, it was clear the spy master wouldn't take no for an answer.