Chương 23: Tamorean Women

"You certainly took your time to pick up the commission," Roxina said as she casually sat on the counter of her shop.

"I have been rather… distracted as of late," Nolotl responded her, his eyes lingered on the glass enchantments he had commissioned her.

"Oh, can I hear about it?" The photomancer jumped out of the counter with a teasing tone.

"Is it a girl?"

"There have been women in my life as of late, but it has been a case of babysitting for both of them," he sighed tiredly.

"So you are into young ones?" She squinted and amusedly looked at him over the shoulder. The gnosiamancer shrugged.

"Considering one of them was a decade older than you, maybe our definition of 'young ones' differ, Roxina." Though he personally doubted Enala was that old.

"One, I told you to call me Roxy! And second," Roxina continued in a more relaxed tone, "why are you babysitting a middle-aged woman?"

"Did you just call a woman in her mid-thirties a middle-aged woman?" The Empyrean of Light shrugged at the Information's question.

"How curious that if I had been I, a man, who said that I would have been sucker-punched on the jaw."

"That's how the rules are~" The sun-kissed woman hummed melodiously.

"Anyhow, answer the question, Nolotl."

"Gnosiamancy business. There's basically this woman that is a bit too obsessed with research, and if I don't watch over her, it's likely that she will end up dead as her research will be the only thing in her mind."

"Oh, Nolotl, you are exaggerating," Roxina dismissed him with a sway of her hand.

"A gnosiamancer of her age wouldn't commit such a mistake." Oh, Roxina, if only you knew… He had seen Enala Pril die for the exact reasons he had listed after all. But she does have a point. How is it that Enala is constantly at the brink of insanity when she's not only a postgraduate but a well-established enchantress? Am I missing something? On that moment, a part of him whispered why he was even worrying about that woman. She had died.

If everything Enantyum had said about the time loop was true and he could remove him at any moment, then she would continue dying if he wasn't there. Or even if he was there too. That part of him, that logic side of him appealed to gnosiamancy, and he believed it was right, but at the same time… If deaths can be avoided, they should be avoided. It was no philosophical teaching, not a universal truth either, just a sentence that lingered on his mind over a decade ago, and he refused to let it go.

"Nolotl, you there?" The glassworker of bright pupils shook her hand in front of him.

"Yes, Roxina," he responded nonchalantly.

"But I'm afraid I was being serious. I want to help this woman not kill herself, which is difficult, because it takes a lot of my time."

"Hmm, I thought you were more pragmatic than that?" She said with an amused visage.

"Are you suggesting that I should let her die?" Nolotl asked with his arms crossed, bulging muscles piled on top of each other as he had come just after finishing exercising to reawaken his dulled mind. He was in Roxina's workshop exactly because of that; otherwise, it would have continued to escape his mind as the only thing he had inside it at the moment were the different printing presses.

"Not at all… It's just that… well, it's not a gnosiamancer thing to do."

"You are expressing yourself very poorly here, Roxina."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," she sighed and scratched her nape.

"How do I say this? Not wanting someone to die is more of a photomancer, biomancer, and necromancer thing, not a gnosiamancer thing."

"I think it's more a humane thing," Nolotl refuted.

"Well, that too, but we aren't on the Empyrean Academy nor are we Empyreans because we are exactly humane."

"I can't deny that," he grunted the words out of his mouth.

"Anyhow, I still want her to survive."

"Commendable," Roxina mused.

"But won't you be occupied with the total celestial alignment? It's coming in just a matter of days now and wasn't all of these enchantments for that?"

"Yes," the terian nodded.

"But I believe I can handle myself." Now that I think about it, Enala has survived well past the day of her initial death now. Enantyum mentioned the butterfly effect and I theorized that her death was what could have turned the Finil twins on the wrong path and into trying to kill me. Will this change now? Do I have to do something more? Question, questions. Scenarios, scenarios. Argh, I don't have enough computational power to just simulate the ramifications of every single one of my decisions.

"You keep spacing out today, huh." The blonde Tamorean booped his nose. Nolotl frowned at her and rubbed his nose like a cat cleaning his body.

"I just have a lot in my mind."

"Yeah, I can see that. Now take your things and get out, you are going to scare away my clientele with your antics." The Tezlan prince looked around the empty shop feeling himself funny.

"What clientele?" Instead of snapping at him, Roxina smiled.

"Exactly." Nolotl groaned and rolled his eyes backward.

"Pulsars, I walked into that one."

"Right you did, feather boy. Now shoo-shoo!" As curious as Nolotl was on the reason why Roxina was in such of a haste, his curiosity was mostly drowned out by his thoughts, so he simply obeyed and left the workshop after placing the expensive glass enchantments on his satchel. The Tezlan prince didn't normally visit the city of Descent during the day as he was rather nocturnal as most of his research, rituals, and power lay on the night and the stars, meaning he was more active during the night.

It was a curious sight seeing the city devoid of stars and instead covered by shy yet dark clouds. The sky on Origin wasn't as bright as the one back in Tezlan, which made the day a depressing moment rather than an invigorating one. I have this nagging feeling that I should do something in this city, but I can't tell what. Not even when checking my Perfect Recollection Boon.

The gnosiamancer lazily walked to the teleportation network trying to remember or put a name in that feeling he was having, but as he reached his destination, he decided to ignore it. There were more pressing matters. There always were more pressing matters. As swift and casual as the teleportation between the academy and the city had been, he still took a solid quarter of an hour before reaching his chamber. His legs protested at the treatment, but it was to be expected, especially with all the extra load.

Wordlessly, Nolotl set the enchanted glassware on the ground on a circle and activated the latent enchantments.

"All systems nominal, that's good," he mused as the pieces of glass lit up. He stood up from his kneeling position and tapped his skin. The moment he did so a ripple of light was sent from the contact point and enveloped all his body before disappearing.

"The barrier works too. It's not that strong, but it should stop a spell or two. The more leeway I have during the ambush, the better." The best option would be avoiding said ambush altogether, but it was impossible to do so with the time he had. If he could get inside of the Cahtuli biomancer's mind and if the time loop was real, then maybe he could work in completely dismantling it, but that were too many ifs for his liking. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Barrier, illusion magic buff, flashbang, and all the actual components of the Second Mind ritual. Roxina really outdid herself here," he commented with his hands on the hips.

"Base case scenario, I have now more tools to fight against the ambushers. Best case scenario, I have more tools to fight them and they are only half of the original force. Worst case scenario…" The gnosiamancer stopped for a second to think.

"I have messed up with the script too much and the butterfly has spawned a starless tornado." What that metaphorical tornado could be, Nolotl had no idea.

"The Finil twins aren't as present on the workshop as I initially though, which is a misplay, but I have gained enough familiarity to infiltrate their minds with more ease than before if they attack me." His tactics bordered illegality, but that was a compromise he was willing to make.

"I have no idea how to deal with Luminol nor the Cahtuli warrior. But maybe I still can do something with the akyromancer and the taximancer…" He had avoided it until now, but nothing was stopping him from going to the Void and Arcane Towers and check if those mages were members of the academy beyond the vague suspicion that may not be. With a crack of his neck, he set himself out to go to the Arcane Tower first. The akyromancer was more dangerous, and that was precisely why he should avoid them if possible.

He still didn't trust Enantyum's claim, so he had to work around his single life. And that mage had been the one who had killed him. The day of the ambush was a curious one on his memories as he had purposefully destroyed his mind—to a degree—to gain temporary power, so a Boon like Perfect Recollection that had 'Perfect' on its name, wasn't as reliable as it should be. Nolotl may not be able to recall the taximancer's mind, but he still remembered the man's appearance, as nondescript as it had been.

Only like a thousand people currently on Arcane Tower, should be easy enough to check them. It was sarcasm, though he did keep a kernel of hope close to his heart. The public areas of each tower were public to everyone, regardless of their affiliation, but mages were classist beings to not say stronger words, so the passersby taximancers took dirty glances at Nolotl. The terian didn't mind it. What he did mind was how he wasn't finding his ambusher after having categorized one hundred different taximancers.

"You know that some people have reported you?" A melodious yet serious voice said behind him. Maybe the Starguided Blessing wasn't active inside the tower, but he had been checking the Cognition all this time to expand his search area, so he already knew who the speaker was long before she spoke.

"Is it a crime to take a seat, Nina?" The Empyrean of Information stood up before the Empyrean of Arcane. The salmon-haired woman was tall for a woman, barely towering over him in height by a finger or two even with his terian constitution. But as always, he had been short back in Tezlan, only celestials considered him tall and Nina was quite the woman. Certainly amongst the tallest of the empyreans.

"Not at all," she placed a hand before her lips to hide her smirk. The sight of Nina Metio gracefully hiding her visage was one worthy of a picture. The Empyrean of Arcane was a stunningly gorgeous woman, and as she wore today a traditional Tamorean dress with a ribbon of silk that casually levitated and twisted around her body, it gave her a heavenly presence. But of course, the piece of clothing that always highlighted in Nina's clothing was her own hair.

Today she used it as the belt for her dress as she had it combed into braids. With a sniff, Nolotl sensed the smell of jasmine, sake, and women. That didn't faze him at all. That was the paradox of Nina Metio, the most disciplined yet libertine of the empyreans.

"But when a man—a foreigner, we could say—remains sitting in the same spot for half a day without moving at all, it brings discomfort to people."

"It has been half a day?" Nolotl frowned and Nina nodded. I might have focused a bit too much.

"Still, it's no reason to report anyone."

"Perhaps elsewhere, but you should be well aware that we, taximancers, are creatures of routine, and you have been nonchalantly breaking it." To that, the gnosiamancer simply shrugged, which prompted a sigh from her.

"And what brings you here?"

"A demographics study?" He answered without even believing it himself.

"And what demographics might those be?" Nina squinted gracefully without making her skin wrinkle.

"A male taximancer around his early thirties that may or may not be desperate for money."

"That's a… very specific demography." She answered at a loss of words with a raised brow.

"Does that man owe you money?"

"Not exactly," he shrugged.

"Are you going to kill him?"

"Why would you even think that?"

"Call it woman's intuition," the taximancer responded stoically with her arms crossed.

"Right…" Nolotl smacked his lips.

"No, I'm not going to kill him. If he's even here. Maybe."

"Nolotl…" Nina squinted at him with her arms crossed.

"I don't really know the man, so I can't say anything for certain. As I have mentioned, I don't even know if he's a member of the academy. I just know his face and the fact that he's a taximancer."

"I am really curious about this subject now." The Empyrean of Arcane's eyes glinted in amethyst.

"How is it that you know the face of the person you are looking for but you do not know if he is even here?"

"Divination," he stated as a matter of fact. In a way, he wasn't lying. Living the future was just a very complex way of divination.

"Well, I guess I could help you find that person if you have an image of his face."

"Gimme a moment and I'll have one for you." Nolotl took out a pen and paper from his satchel and quickly started drafting the ambusher's face. His way of drawing was unnatural as he wasn't an artist but using his skills as a gnosiamancer and diviner to outright vomit the image on the paper. Of course, it required a certain degree of artistic skill to transform a memory—no matter how perfect it was—to an illustration.

"You draw quite nicely," Nina commented as she looked over his should.

"And fast."

"Well, you know how they call me."" Hai, the "Quickfingers". That I know." The word she had used was a common affirmation in Tamorean. More of an onomatopoeia than an actual word, like Roxina's oyah. It was common to hear small blips of other languages in the Empyrean Academy, especially amongst gnosiamancers as some didn't even notice they had changed their language mid-sentence. Cillin was especially at fault, but because he did speak some Tamorean too, he barely noticed most of the time.

"Your callsign is one of utmost sense, though I have never heard the story behind it," Nina said with utmost curiosity.

"Nor do you need to," Nolotl impassively responded with his gaze focused on the illustration.

"Oh, but you know mine, do you not think I deserve to know yours?" He wasn't even looking at her, but he didn't need to know she was smiling.

"Most people aren't proud of the embarrassing aspect of their callsign, "Chained Queen"," the gnosiamancer turned to face her with a smile, and sure enough, he had been right. By any possible subjective and objective metric, it was a beautiful smile. Not one erotic in nature by any means, truly just a pleasing beauty, almost natural in nature as the vast expanse of the Tezlan jungles or the snowcapped peaks of the Empyrean Mount were.

"Because I have nothing to be ashamed of," her eyes also smiled as they shone with amethyst. Empyrean callsigns were a tradition of the academy, and they had two components. One of prestige, and one of shame.

"Chained Queen" made reference to Nina's state as a taximancer with the many self-inflicted geass she wore and also to her royal status for her prestige side. But for the shame one… it just was a crude euphemism about her sexual predispositions. It wouldn't be wrong to say that these monikers could get as bad as insults sometimes.

"You are completely right," Nolotl said after turning back to the drawing.

"I'm not exactly an enthusiast of recreational sex, but I don't condemn it. And only the conservative Tamoreans and Originals would see same-gender relationships as a problem."

"More than nationality, the problem arises from taximancy itself." Nina responded.

"The Arcane demands rectitude, constancy, and no deviation from the norm. So when a person that clearly deviates from the norm becomes the zenith of the Arcane…"

"It makes people sour," he scoffed in understanding. Perhaps he wasn't a paragon of his faith when he was supposed to be the High Priest of Nochochenca, but he was still religious.

"At least it makes for a rather regal callsign."

"Yes, the more close-minded an individual is, the less they notice that they poor attempts at aggression may be actually beneficial," the Empyrean of Arcane giggled as she toyed with her hair-belt.

"Now, are you going to tell me your shameful past?"

"Already told you, nope," he put the pen aside and stood up.

"If you want to hear it, ask Mio. I have no proof of it, but I'm 100% sure she knows the origin of every callsign of the empyreans."

"Ah, yes. My loveable hellion surely knows of it. She has a nose for gossip," Nina's eyes shone when she talked about the Empyrean of Space. Those two had a curious relationship, and Nolotl couldn't care less about its true nature. It was also true that Paizon might know it too as the informal man—to not say worse about him—also had a nose and an interest for hearsay. But if he were to mention the ataxiamancer's name in front of the royal taximancer, he might get killed.

"Here's the man in question," the Tezlan shoved the picture in the Tamorean's face.

"Hmm~" The purple-eyed woman hummed melodiously as she snatched the paper.

"At first glance I do not recognize it, but maybe someone does. I will ask my paramours if they know about him." Paramours. Plural. Nolotl noticed. It was an infuriating mix. He respected Nina Metio as a mage and a fellow Empyrean more than most people in Lon, but at the same time, he was conflicted as he viewed carefree coitus as something… something. It reminded him of his primal side, but everyone knew that animals—in most cases—reproduced for necessity. An intent to create offspring rather than recreation.

That was why he hated the expression 'mating like animals' because only people were that feral during sex, not animals. And besides, it was degrading for a terian. Nochochenca also prioritized sex as an act of love, even if it didn't have reproductive intention, so any acts for the sake of entertainment or pleasure with strangers were poorly seen both by the faith and him, even if neither outright condemn it.

"I'll leave this matter to you then," Nolotl gave her a small bow, a Tamorean gesture of understanding.

"I will do my best to participate in your demographics study," Nina said with a laugh as she waved the paper around and bid goodbye. Three gnosiamancers. One taximancer. One biomancer. One akyromancer. The Empyrean of Information recited on his mind. Three located, one tentative, two unaccounted. Let's see if I can locate at less than one more. And he directed to the smallest of the towers of the Empyrean Academy, but the scariest of them all. The Void Tower.