Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 219, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 36 –

Terry returned his crafting equipment to his dimensional storage. He raised his eyes to meet the gaze of the elven vampire. The elven vampire had never left his side and periodically taunted him with luxurious food and drinks.

That vampire had hounded Terry with threats and bribes after setting the trap. A trap that was custom tailored to Terry’s limitations and disposition. Information they could exploit because they had a single target while the defenders like Terry didn’t even know who their enemies might be. The defenders didn’t know who was a traitor. They didn’t know who the leader behind the invasion was either.

Terry could see how the Lich Kingdoms’ approaches were effective under normal circumstances. However, they had made a mistake this time. They had chosen a stalemate because they were used to having time work in their favor.

Perhaps they had put too much faith into the karmic rot.

Perhaps they had believed Terry to be of weaker character.

Perhaps they had thought it was already enough to keep Terry out of the war.

It did not matter what game they had wanted to play. Terry intended to flip the board soon enough. He did not fear the Hound or his lackeys, because they were unable to break his defenses. He did not worry about their ongoing stalemate, because it really wasn’t one. Not with his naturalized mana moving beyond the range of the stretched space.

The first group that entered Terry’s mana feelers included several mana signatures he knew, but he was wary of contacting them. All of them were Thanatos soldiers and Terry wasn’t sure yet what their endgame here could be. He reserved some mana to keep track of their movements but did not make contact.

Terry refrained from properly contacting the first city scout he felt as well. He believed that he had sensed the signature before in the city, but he could not be entirely certain. He did not use finger runes and instead opted for wrapping his mana around the scout in order to inflict a sensation of mana suppression. If the woman had been sent by the city to search for him, then she could report the anomaly. If it was instead a traitor, he would not have revealed too much to her.

When a group of three scouts arrived, Terry repeated his mana suppression sign and he heightened the mana concentration when they stepped closer into his direction until he allowed it to dissipate. Those scouts were no match for the vampire from what Terry could feel.

The fourth encounter was what Terry had been waiting for. It was a group of five. He recognized enough signatures to know it represented a mixture of factions that included a channeler of the Bright Lady. For the first time, Terry dared to shape his finger runes in front of the scouting party. [Three traitors killed the Believer of the Bright Lady.] He made sure that their bodies shielded the runes from the direction of the vampire and himself. He was taking no chances.

Terry observed the reactions with his mana touch and was glad to see no in-fighting breaking out. [Inform Edmund, Thiago, and Akemi.] He kept his information deliberately vague. He would like to warn Thiago that their enemies had set him as his target, but sharing the knowledge of the coming count was a risk he was not yet willing to take.

Even if Terry was the only one known for using ranged finger runes recently, there were plenty of people that knew finger runes. No one knew who might have observed the traitors’ actions.

Revealing a key piece of information that only Terry, the vampire, and the traitors knew, however? That was definitely revealing too much. He might as well point a giant mana arrow at himself if there was another traitor among the group.

Terry could feel some of the scouts moving their lips. Unfortunately, lip reading through mana touch was beyond his abilities. [Bring them.] The three people he had named were people he trusted to have the city’s best interests at heart. They were also powerful enough to put up a good fight even if there were other traitors.

Another idea entered Terry’s head and he added: [Thanatos knows.]

Several hours later another group arrived. This time, the search party counted a dozen individuals and it included Akemi from the Bright Lady’s Circle as well as Hector from the Whisperer’s hunters.

Terry figured that Edmund and Thiago suspected his finger runes could have been another trap and sent representatives instead. To Akemi, it had probably felt more personal since it had been her fellow faithful who had failed to return initially.

Terry took a deep breath, both to not show anything on his honest face – the vampire’s creepy gaze never left him – and to avoid frowning at Hector’s presence. Terry did not like the man for his part in the robbery of Brandon’s glove, but the man had the Whisperer’s trust and was rumored to be the foremost shadow expert in the city.

Even so.

Terry intentionally shaped his finger runes closer to Akemi than to Hector. [Hope you isolated the traitors. You’ll need to bring more if you want to catch the one responsible.]

Again, Terry felt their lips moving but didn’t know what they were saying. He could feel Hector shaping finger runes but it turned out, the rune suggestion only worked through mana sight and unfortunately not through mana touch.

No matter. Terry had already thought about this. [Get some wood and carve what you want to say.] He could feel Hector frowning, but Akemi immediately ordered some of the group to do what he had asked them.

Terry’s mouth opened slightly when he felt their first etching through mana touch.

‘Are you okay, Guardian?’

Of all the things they could have written, that was the first. Terry was sure that the question originated from Akemi rather than from Hector. He took a deep breath and refrained from confirming his identity just yet.

[Did you confirm with Thanatos?]

‘They were not very forthcoming, but they confirmed the identity of the traitors. Thiago is going to deal with them when the time comes. We don’t want to worsen your situation.’

[Thanatos knows more. Gather information on the vampire with the jaw mask.]

Terry could feel that his runes had caused a larger reaction among the group.

‘That mask. One of the Lich Kingdom’s Hounds. Be careful.’

[Always.] Terry believed he could feel Akemi roll her eyes, but maybe he was just imagining it. He suppressed the urge to clear his throat. [He’s dangerous. I can point the way, but you need to come prepared.]

Terry could feel messengers leaving for the city. He could feel new folks arriving. The more he recognized, the more assured he felt.

The more assured he felt, the more he shared about the battle with the traitors and the situation with the Hound.

‘I’d really like to know how you’re doing this, Arcanian.’

Terry felt a second etching and knew it came from the dwarven woman in crimson uniform. [Figure it out yourself. Don’t expect me to be forthcoming after you’ve played silent observer during everything that happened.]

‘We’re here to help now, aren’t we? No need to be a sourpuss, Arcanian.’

[Thanatos only helps themselves from what I’ve seen.]

‘One does not rule out the other. Life isn’t a zero-sum game, you know?’

Terry could not help but grumble slightly. When he could feel the cold red eyes react to his grumble, he had to do something he hated on more levels than one.

He allowed himself to slip in his imprinting and frowned. The imprint had turned slightly fuzzy. It was still near-perfect but not perfect anymore. Now, Terry really had a reason to grumble. His sincerely unsatisfied expression covered his irritation of having to deal with the Thanatos squad leader and her Thanatos personality.

‘Are you sure you want to rejoin the city?’

[What?]

‘When the Lich Kingdoms send a count, it is to crush the leaders of their enemies. You’re the face of the city’s defiant defense. If you’re still in the game, the count will definitely focus on you.’

Terry felt the others in the Hound hunting party stir.

‘Ready when you are,’ etched Intira, who was leading the group of elite forces for this mission.

Terry was about to sign his agreement when another sensation caught his attention. Another group of familiar mana signatures had entered the range of his mana touch. He hurriedly put his hands over his face and inhaled – a gesture meant to show tiredness – while he actually wanted to hide his honest face that was really showing a mixture of pleasant surprise and mischievous schadenfreude.

[Can you pick someone else up? They’re trustworthy. Kind of. They’re definitely not with the Lich Kingdoms. This way…]

Terry had been assured that Intira and the others carefully vetted everyone that joined the elite party, but it could not hurt to add additional insurance if it presented itself as an option. He had mixed feelings about the new arrivals, but as far as this mission was concerned, he trusted them completely.

Especially, since the masked felan was distrustful to the bone. Who better to work with when there was a risk of traitors running around their midst?

After Terry had coordinated them all to group up, he felt another etching.

‘That’s not a local sect. How did you summon them here? Did you use the same ability as with us? What kind of reach is that? If you can communicate that far, why didn’t you…?’

Terry had to suppress a chuckle when feeling the fluttery carving knife dancing over the wood through Ruby’s hands. It seemed like the people from Thanatos were so used to mind games that they were prone to overthinking and they somehow kept searching for a deeper explanation even when the answer was pure and boring coincidence.

***

The elven vampire cut slowly through a juicy and bloody steak served on a plate in front of him. He held the fork up for Terry to see. “Are you sure you don’t desire a share as well?” He gestured to a second plate that had been prepared with a piece of meat more cooked than the vampire’s own. “Mana can substitute for food but that is no way to live, is it? Tasteless and empty. A hollow lie, nothing more. Self-delusion and self-denial. Your stomach must be grumbling already.”

“How considerate of you.” Terry snorted with derision. “You’re underestimating me.” He slowly packed up his freshly imprinted batch of Immovable Object wands. “And you’re overestimating the appeal of your cooking.”

“You’re mistaken if you believe I cook,” replied the vampire flatly.

Terry began stretching to warm himself up, which naturally piqued the curiosity of the watching Hound. Knowing the eyes of the vampire on himself, Terry grinned like a vicious beast.

A single moment of distracting this watchdog was already sufficient.

“Tell your masters that you’ve failed just like they will fail too.” Terry thought a good old martialist-style taunt might help their plan. “See you in hell, little doggie.” He disappeared into the shadows.

Red irises flashed brightly from mana use when the elven vampire peered into the shadow plane. Eyelids and eyebrows crawled upwards when no sign of his captive was to be seen.

None of the mage’s reported items or abilities would allow him to perform such a feat. Furthermore, if there had been such a hidden trump card, then why would his captive have hesitated to use it?

They had cleared the shadows and no beast could have taken him. They had isolated the location with stretched space and muffled shadows.

Every Hound was trained to treat the shadows as their ally and to pursue their targets until the end of the unknown. With cold and unfeeling resolve, the elven vampire followed Terry into the shadows. Whatever trick his target had played, he would see through it and pursue. This was nothing but an insignificant delay of the inevitable.

Certain that there could only be one outcome for his hunt, the Hound stepped into the shadows.

For a brief moment, there was silence while red glowing eyes wandered over the darkness of the shadow plane. The first warning that something remained amiss was the complete absence of life signatures even though the scent of flowing blood still lingered faintly.

A warning that had come too late. In an instant, the shadows were driven away by the raging lights of holy fury. From high up in the sky of shadows, a radiating figure dared to defy the darkness with the channeled wrath of the Bright Lady.

The goddess might be merciful but Akemi was feeling enough fury for the both of them. A faithful of her circle had been murdered and the murderer would burn.

The Hound ignored the agonizing assault of holy light. His skin was burning and dark flakes were peeling off and evaporating until he ripped his elongated canines over his arms to allow the blood to escape his veins and then reshaped it into a crimson suit. The cultist’s unnatural light did not allow any shadows to help him.

The shadows might have abandoned him, but he had other means.

Every Hound was trained for survival.

The shadow plane offered few elements to work with but the Hound had a variety of spells to support himself. The magic-disturbing effects from the holy aspect were a nuisance, but he was a better mage than that.

With his own blood as his protective armor, he leaped to the side while slowly setting up death spears from all around the shining cultist. A simple feint but it should be sufficient for those not trained in battling the shadow plane. Meanwhile, he covertly unraveled his Shadow Sanctuary.

The Hound’s spell centers were eviscerated by rotating spell slicers, which immediately caught his attention because this was an ability of his prey who still remained hidden from his senses.

Someone was helping both his prey and the holy cultist to hide their life signatures and even mask their scent.

Someone allowed his prey to walk the shadows.

As if to confirm the Hound’s suspicion, Terry revealed his mana signature in another location right before appearing on top of the window-like ground further away. His body was not covered by shadow fabric, but he still walked the plane. His allies had helped him anchor himself to fight properly.

The Hound did not fall for the bait that was Terry revealing himself. He chose the exact opposite direction to dash towards and cast Haste on himself. At this point it was painfully evident that he was facing a whole party of skilled opponents.

A whole pack of wolves to contest his prey.

The shadows were refusing his step, which was not brought on by the cultist’s assault of holy light. Even though he had torn down his own Shadow Sanctuary, the local beasts had not arrived to tear the offending cultist apart, which meant that someone was manipulating the shadows directly. Someone nearly as skilled as himself.

This was the time to flee. As long as he managed to escape, he could continue the hunt at a better time.

The Hound dashed through the cover of blinding light while cloaking his presence, mana signature, and life signature one after the other. He was already soulless, which should make him completely undetectable.

Should.

To his immense chagrin, his enemies still managed to somehow pinpoint his exact location and he was soon caught in a crossfire of ranged attacks.

Ranged attacks that were well-aimed but something felt off. His prey was known for placing immovable objects during combat and yet, none had met him during his evasive maneuvers. With his suspicions raised, the Hound realized that despite the crossfire coming from multiple directions, his evasive movements were slowly taking him into a specific direction.

The Hound’s realization had come too late.

The mana resonance of a gigantic white wolf howled and charged at him. The vampire attempted to dodge and accelerated with a frantic dash of blood, but the white wolf matched him step for step while closing in relentlessly.

Again the Hound could not shake the feeling of being herded into a specific direction. He tried to summon barriers to block the martialist attack, but all of them were ripped apart instantly by the white wolf. The attack was powerful and the magic disturbing holy aspect around his barriers certainly didn’t increase their durability.

Gigantic arms of ironbark wood emerged from the blinding holy light to suddenly slap at the vampire. While in the air, a divine hammer smashed into him and finished the direction change.

When the Hound touched the window-like ground, golden chains infused with the holy aspect wrapped around him. The radiating light retreated around him and the returning shadows bound him further. Even his blood refused his control when another magic activated.

His eyes could see a dwarf dressed in crimson emerge from the shadows further away. He recognized the uniform of the Mad Empire known to interfere where it shouldn’t.

The Hound resolved himself. He had chosen his life. He would escape or die.

“He’s not trying to kill himself yet,” said Intira while stepping out of the shadows. “Which means he still harbors hope. Tread carefully.”

Next to the hunter, Terry dropped from further up.

“You might want to tell your cultist friend to return to the regular plane,” said Intira. “This plane does not like her presence and even Hector won’t keep it at bay forever.”

“I don’t think this will take long,” said Terry.

“Edmund said we should get all the information we can get,” reminded Intira. “He’s also making progress on the other side.”

“My sect has dealt with one like him before.” An elven martialist in green-golden robes walked towards them. Guillermo addressed Terry. “The Hounds of the dead don’t talk, no matter the torture. Even if you can keep him from killing himself, you won’t get information this way.”

A masked felan stepped next to Guillermo. Rafael looked at the bound elven vampire. “Creepy bastard.” He looked at Terry. “You really prepare the strangest gifts. No need to wrap up another smoothskin for me.” He removed his mask.

“Thanks for coming anyway,” said Terry.

“We’re battle brothers,” said Guillermo as if this was all there was to be said.

“I wouldn’t miss whatever you’re cooking here,” added Rafael. “But I would really like to return to a plane where the sunlight doesn’t tickle my feet. It’s bloody weird. Makes my neck fur stand up.”

Terry looked at Intira. “Do it.”

“Are you sure?” interjected a dwarven soldier dressed in crimson. “You could at least try to interrogate him.” Ruby observed Terry carefully.

“No need.” Terry turned to face the Thanatos squad leader. “Because we have you.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow.

“You evidently know more than you’ve shared,” said Terry with cold eyes. “And I’m certain that Thanatos knows about how the Lich Kingdoms operate including what the arrival of a count signifies. You’re going to tell me.”

“You’re not as charming as you think you are,” retorted Ruby with a scoff.

“I don’t think of myself as charming, but I can be persuasive if I have to be,” retorted Terry and the irritation he felt with Thanatos antics seeped into his tone. “You’re evidently looking for something. You’re watching me for a reason. I think I’ve shown that I can find you even if you want to remain hidden. If I ask the city to treat you as an enemy, you’ll have a tough time watching the spectacle.”

“You can’t afford another enemy,” stressed Ruby.

“Hasn’t stopped me before,” retorted Terry without missing a beat. Behind him, both Guillermo and Rafael grinned.

“Thanatos doesn’t bow to threats,” growled Ruby.

Terry rolled his eyes. “It’s only a threat if you feel threatened. I would call it mutually beneficial cooperation. You want something. I want something. Indulge me.”

“Can you continue this on the other side?” interjected Intira. She had lifted one hand to her head and a bird made of shadows was chirping into her ear. “Edmund needs my assistance on the other side.”

“Do it.” Terry looked coldly at the Hound that was bound at a specific location. He could see that the vampire had realized the significance of the location, but even now, there was not the slightest emotion in the red elven eyes.

Intira finished her casting and the shadows flipped for the Hound. The vampire was forced back to the regular plane where he was instantly torn apart by volcanic thunder. Neither the Hound’s vampiric nature nor his training was sufficient to survive the out-of-control magic in the forbidden zone.

When they were back in the regular plane, Terry pulled Rafael aside. “What do you see when you look at me?”

Rafael tilted his head. “A crazy smoothskin?”

Terry ignored the jab and clarified: “I meant with soulsight.”

“Buddy, I already told you that you’re soulless. It’s no big deal, so—” Rafael’s eyes opened wide and his face cramped up. “What the furry fuck is THAT?!”

***