Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (9 page)

"Her Majesty stationed us here in case you tried to
force your way in," the man said. "You've grown too comfortable in
her castle."

I want to see you in person right now!

...Kas?

Yes, it’s Kas, I need y...No, it's not necessary,
mongrel....Please come right away! Don't listen! Stay away, you monster...Let
go! I'm sorry, Lunas—No! I'm not sorry! Eric! Help me!

Eric snarled and charged mana bolts in both hands. He
fired them from a spirit charged with a monster’s savageness, and both of them
were deflected into the sky. He roared and fired dual mana beams. The guards
raised their barriers, set their stances, and negated both of them. Neither of
them were straining or breathing hard.

“We can do this all night if you want,” the man said.

“We could use the entertainment,” the woman said.

“Now scamper away before we call the Justice Station and
have you arrested.”

 Eric considered attacking them again, perhaps with his
spear, but then he reconsidered. He didn’t attack again and that unnerved the
guards more than anything he’d done so far. Then he did something even scarier.
His monster's grimace shifted into a trickster's grin.

"You're absolutely right. Her Majesty is fortunate to
have such wonderful guards. I'll come back tomorrow morning and request an
appointment like everyone else."

His body became perfectly human. He turned his back on
them and then walked away. The guards didn't relax until he turned a corner.
Then one of them shuddered.

"I think I wet myself."

"Wuss."

Once out of sight, he contemplated ways to get inside. His
early ideas all boiled down to brute force: biting, charging, offensive spells.
He threw them all out with disgust.

 
Don’t think like a grendel! I’m human! What would I
have done before mutating?

He remembered sneaking around in Mr. 15’s lair, avoiding
fights when possible and befuddling his enemies when it wasn’t (he also
remembered killing the befuddled guards without remorse). He remembered the
indirect way he saved Zettai from the gallows. It
wasn’t
by killing
everyone but sneaking her out under their noses. He remembered the mix of
illusions and darkness he used to move unnoticed at a baseball game on Threa.

I used darkness most often, so I’ll go with that.

However, he couldn’t remember the chants. All the darkness
spells he’d ever learned were gone from his memory. Nor could he use the
wordless Shadow Cloak he acquired recently.

Illusions it is, then.

That, too, was a dead end. Illusions were light-based magic,
and for someone as drenched in darkness as himself, they were mere parlor
tricks. Royal soldiers weren’t going to fall for them. They likely had enchanted
armor to see through them anyway.

My magic’s not strong enough…No, it’s not power. That’s
the grendel talking. Eric Watley uses guile. What I am saying? I use guile,
because I’m Eric Watley. I don’t use third person.  

He sat down and began to meditate. By controlling his
breathing, venerating his personal idols, and focusing on their core tenants, he
could regain the Razor Spirit he used to defeat Mr. 15. A second time, he
created the spiritual fire necessary for the task. He reformed his spirit into
that of the archetypal mage as represented by Grey Dengel and the ideal
mercenary as represented by the Mother Dragon.

Knowledge came and, with it, understanding. He moved from
the primitive problem solving of the grendel and into a state of greater
critical thinking. This led to wisdom. He was about to plunge into the deeper
mysteries of magic when he heard a desperate cry.

ERIC! WHERE ARE YOU!?

His eyes snapped open and he stood up, empowered and
enlightened, to answer it.

Stay where you are. My soldiers will definitely attack
you. You’re a grendel and dangerous….be careful! I can’t keep him from… helping
me because I need his guidance. Asshole! Get the abyss out of….Filthy language.
I shouldn’t use it. Nor should I allow monsters in my castle. Lunas is the real
mons—

I’ll be there soon, Kas.

At the edge of the moat circling Royal Town, Eric did not
stop to create an Air Disk. He walked over the thin air without it. Thanks to
his meditation and Razor Spirit, he realized the truth. There was no moat and
there was no drop. The ground was the same mana as the air above it and the
water beneath it. He was tempted to do the
notice-the-lack-of-ground-and-run-back thing like in cartoons, but he had
something more important to do.

When he reached the other side, he stopped only momentarily
at the curtain wall. It was no thicker than the air on either side of it
because all three of them were fundamentally mana. He placed his hands against
it, inhaled, and then stepped through it on the exhale.

By turning it back into mana as he moved through it, he
became like a stone dropped into a river.
The waterline breaks as the stone
touches its surface and then slips back into place when the stone is gone.
As all of reality is a river, so was he the stone.

He moved unseen in Royal Town proper. It was dark with
only the moon, stars, and occasional street lamps for light. The only people
awake were guards and only the most dedicated were not drowsy. Seeing these
less disciplined soldiers gave Eric an idea. Creeping next to one, he stuck his
staff out and tripped her. She stumbled and grabbed her partner’s arm.

“Finally succumb to my charms, have you?”

“In your dreams! I tripped on something.”

“We cleared the area this morning. You just can’t accept
that you’re crazy about me.”

“Patrolling with you is driving me crazy!”

Seeing their lovers’ spat, Eric realized that there was a
lot of petty mischief to be had at night. The opportunities were endless.

I could spoil the mort at the brewery so the alcohol
doesn’t develop right. I could sneak into a maiden’s room and give her a scare.
I could find a night owl and mislead him into some place dreadful. Even if they
notice an invisible person, they’ll think a trickster is responsible, and
they’d be correct; just not about which trickster.

Darkness gathered around him as a light bulb went off in
his head. He made no further attempts to sneak or hide because that would tell
others that he didn’t think he belonged here. By hiding in plain sight, no one
that glanced his way or saw him at a distance would think anything of him. He
deliberately crossed the path of another pair of guards and they paid him no
attention. His innate darkness convinced them he wasn’t worth paying attention
to.

Mental obfuscation that causes others to dismiss the user,
as long as they don’t look too closely. It doesn’t require mana or spiritual
presence, so it’ll be cost-effective. Since I’m human and not a grendel, no one
will see me as a threat. I’ll call it Concealing Cape
.

The castle gate was locked and all the windows within five
floors were closed, but that wasn't going to stop him. All the entrances and
indeed the castle itself were nothing but mana in the shape of stones, wood,
and other materials. It was no different from the curtain wall. He put his
hands against the main door, inhaled, and then stepped forward on the exhale.

He was inside.

There were nobles, servants, officials, and guards about and
none of them noticed him. They had their own business to attend to, possibly
something as secretive as he himself. They didn’t have time to pay heed to the
nondescript boy they saw out of the corner of their eyes. Given his age, it was
easy to encourage the idea that he was a new recruit on a lover’s tryst.

Would a grendel have such self-control? Of course not.

Two guards stood at attention at Kasile’s door. It was
here that Eric finally met an impasse. He was out of sight of the guards, but
there was no way to enter the hallway without revealing himself and no way to
distract them without making them suspicious.

These are her personal guards. The standards of discipline
they adhere to are tremendous. I don’t have enough practice to run through the
wall. I’ll need a few seconds at least….

To confirm his idea, he whispered the spell for Magic
Hearing.

"—bring in the necessary revenue without the need for
approval by either the Noble or Common Council."

"Thank you so much. The Knight of Taxes issued a
report of so much Gromece, I didn't know what to do. When you leave out how it
adversely affects civilians, it becomes much easier to understand. This must be
why you brainwashed your subjects."  

For a moment, the room was silent.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you. I appreciate
your advice and—”

Eric heard a feminine gasp.

"It's all right. I understand how hard it must be to
rule alone at such a young age. I'd be overwhelmed with emotion if my father
died before my twenties."

"I miss him, but I can manage..." Kasile's voice
broke on the last word.

"Go ahead and cry. You don't have to be so brave.
I'll always be here to keep you steady."

"I miss him so much!"

Lunas infringed on his territory! He should smash the door
down and rip his head off!

Am I a sapient or a monster? Hope or despair? What have
I done; what will I do? The Trickster grins. The Trickster grins. The Trickster
grins.

Eric reined in his temper and considered other options.
The first one that jumped out at him was
Eat them!
He shook his head.
Kill
them!
He clenched his fists and took deep breaths.
Crush their throats
and cripple them!
He hit himself on the head.
That’s not how Eric…how I
do things. I’m sneaky and clever. Based on my memories, I would look for other
applications of my power. Like that time I used a spell meant to light up a
tunnel to blind monsters. Let’s see…if Concealing Cape makes people ignore me,
can I project a given image onto them?

He focused on the Concealing Cape portraying a mildly
attractive and harmless maid. As long as it would get past their guard long
enough for him to slip through the wall, then the details wouldn’t matter.
After thinking it through further, he put extra focus on the “harmless” part.
Knowing Kasile, she would only allow servants within fifty feet of her room
during specific periods of the day to prevent precisely this sort of thing.

It would be easier to just kill them…
He hit himself
on the head several times.

Putting all his faith into his magic (
not
his
grendel strength) he stepped forward and into the hall. The guards noticed him
instantly, but only one followed his movements. The other watched for anyone
else in case this one was a distraction from the real threat. Eric walked by
them, shyly and slowly, until he was against the wall separating him from his
little sister. Only then did he register enough as a threat for them to ask,

“Halt! What are you doing here?”

In the time it took them to say that, Eric passed through
the wall. Out of sight is out of mind. As soon as he was on the other side, he
concealed himself behind a dresser.

Inside the royal room, Kasile sat at the table in the
center. She wore a less cumbersome version of her royal splendor along with two
differences. The first was that she wasn't wearing a crown of any kind and,
instead, a plain headband that kept her hair out of her face. The second was a non-Ataidar
piece of jewelry. It was a silver silk choker that enclosed her throat
completely. Set within was a ruby. Three bars ran across the top and sides to
hold it in place.

Sitting opposite from her was a boy of similar age. His
eyes were a violet shade of purple but greyness formed a circle in each iris.
Surrounding them was a regal face further surrounded by purple-grey hair, which
was in turn surrounded by an orichalcum circlet. His clothing was simple, like
hers, but still opulent enough for a prince. On the middle finger of his right
hand was a metal ring. It displayed Order’s crest, the Piercing Eye, with a
pair of hands flanking a single eye. He carried no weapon, but Eric knew this
was because he didn’t need a handheld weapon. A silver tongue and ordercrafter
were more than sufficient for Lunas Latrot.

"Please tell me if Your Majesty wishes to discuss
anything else."

Kasile leaned back and played with a hair braid. “I...I
don't want to trouble you..."

Lunas leaned forward and grasped her hand, taking it away
from her hair and pulling her forward. "It's no trouble. I want you to
tell me, right now, what is on your mind."

“It...It's about the Mana Mutation Summit."

"Yes?"

Kasile averted her eyes in embarrassment. "I believe
that...No, you'll think it's stupid."

Lunas grabbed her chin lightly with his other hand and
used it as a handle to direct her head and resume eye contact. It reminded Eric
of Evil Eye.

“The Queen of Ataidar saying something stupid? Now
that
is stupid.”

Every word out of his mouth was a steel cable noose
covered in velvet and Eric imagined him cinching it on Kasile's neck. The fear
in every inch of her face was more than he could bear.

Eat him. Eat him. Eat him. Eat him. Eat him.

"I believe we can do more than reverse the
conditions. We could help so many more people if we could harness the process
and finally create Medical Mana Mutation."

"What!?"

Kasile winced.

Eat him!

The right and left hands of the grendel formed and he
envisioned tearing Lunas apart, but then the poem repeated itself in his mind.

Am I a sapient or a monster? Hope or despair? What have
I done; what will I do? The Trickster grins. The Trickster grins. The Trickster
Grins.

Reluctantly, he remained hidden.