22. Half Truths and Full Lies

“How?” Penelope asked, mouth hanging open. She kneeled over the mutated phaser’s corpse, fingers running over the scales. “This thing should’ve been too strong for the likes of you.”

“Your magic circle did all the work,” Lukas said, openly holding the Essence of Phasing. He didn’t want to be accused of hiding it. “We just played around the circle until it screwed up.”

“And then I tripped it—”

“And its forelegs just did this to themselves, did they?” Bastian asked, interrupting the clone. His feline nose twitched furiously, sniffing around the foreleg stump.

“No.” Lukas smiled, struggling to veil his pride. “That was all me. We figured out it was most vulnerable during its transitions. Elvis then got awfully brave and stupid, created me a window and I capitalized.”

“That thing with the light spell wasn’t a fluke, was it?” Penelope raised an eyebrow. “You got magic lessons.”

“I wouldn’t really call them genuine lessons. Esther the veterinarian. She healed me when we got to Iskander and Elvis overpaid her. She taught me a little bit of theory and a couple of fundamental techniques to make the most of the sword enchantments.”

“Either you’re incredibly talented or underselling the extent of this ‘little bit.’” Penelope stood, eyes glossing over the essence he held. She checked the magic circle’s edges. It was still intact but the luminosity had significantly faded. “Honestly, you’d have been better off underselling your capabilities and just waiting for us to get back. We’re going to push you even harder now. I hope you realize that.”

“We figured as much.” El-Two grinned. “As long as we get more essences and are compensated, neither of us sees any issue with that. Do we brother?”

“We do not.”

“What are your shard abilities again?” Bass asked.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Penelope quickly said.

“I’m going to get the squid.” Bass sounded annoyed as he descended the stairs and disappeared into the waterlogged tunnel. His grumbling echoed far. 

“Do you need a sample from this, too?” The clone asked.

Penelope stared at him long and hard before nodding. The clone took Lukas’s sword and got to work. She supervised for a moment, giving him directions on location, size of the cut, and what she precisely needed before turning her attention to Lukas.

“I don’t mind you keeping secrets from me but you shouldn’t sell yourself short. It feels like I’m underpaying you now.”

“So pay him more,” El-Two said without looking up from his work and went ignored.

“Elvis and I had planned on delving into the undercity as soon as we learned about it,” Lukas said, trying to figure out what would be most convincing. He worried the sorcerer was as insightful as Esther and would see right through him. It already seemed that she was far older and wiser than she appeared. He settled on sharing half-truths but keeping Arcane Clone under wraps. “You hiring us accelerated our plans. I joined the Shadow Seekers. He’s been working for a decent blacksmith’s and getting spear training from one of their clients. We didn’t just want to be people who carry your things and deliver your packages.” He nodded at the corpse. “I hope this proves that you can count on us.”

“Honestly? I’m as concerned as I’m impressed. You’re both first-tier sharded with only one awakened pillar.” Penelope waved at the corpse. “This is the work of someone experienced. I don’t need to know your abilities but this is too much. I’d get it if you had more serious injuries. You’re unmarked and your personal magic is barely depleted.” She nodded at El-Two. “Bumps. Bruises. A couple of scrapes. A few shallow cuts. It doesn’t make sense.

“I get that my magic circle did most of the work. But the pair of you identified a rare, mutated magical beast’s capabilities when most veteran delvers would be stumped. Then, not only did you survive, but overcame it and took off a limb.”

“When I say my Soul ability excels at intelligence gathering, I mean it,” Lukas said, pulling the knife out of his belt. “It lets me summon a book only I can see. It calls itself the Inspector’s Compendium. Thanks to it we don’t need scryers, diviners, or appraisers. It helped me identify the enchantments on the blade, Drain Magic, and Rip and Tear. The inspection power recognized the beast, and told me what it can do and how to counter it.”

“That. Explains. So. Much.” Penelope’s eyes widened as she emoted between each word. “You had Bass worrying about underworld ties or a powerful demonic patron. The runic sword, wealth of essences, rapid growth, it all makes sense now.” She held out her staff. “What does your compendium say about this?”

Was this a good idea?

Lukas summoned the journal and analyzed the weapon. “There isn’t a lot of information. The compendium notes two separate entities. First, there is the staff. It's well-made but mundane and inscribed with runes for channeling. It has a lot to say about the crystal.” He read directly from the journal. “Azure Dragon’s Focus. The crystal houses flames scooped directly from an Azure Dragon’s heart. They can burn hotter than any natural flame or manifest properties of coldfire, freezing everything they touch. Only one of an Azure Dragon’s bloodline can harness its full power.”

“Oh, wow!” El-Two exclaimed, looking up from his work. Working at the smithy and training with the Shadow Seekers had significantly improved their dexterity. The toughness and strength empowerment made his fingers thick and stubby in proportion to the rest of him. Yet they moved swiftly and carefully. The incisions weren’t perfect but precise and the angles appeared close to ninety degrees. “Your dad banged a dragon?”

“Grandmother,” Penelope stated. “Please don’t ask for details. I don’t want to relive her bedtime stories.” 

“This looking good?” El-Two asked, moving out of the way so the pair got a good look at what he was doing. He had cut a neat palm-sized square around the indicated spot.

“Yes. Go just as deep. I want a nice cube.” Penelope returned her attention to Lukas. “It might not be suited for combat but that’s blighted interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything of the sort. But Soul abilities tend to be like that. Unique. Esoteric. Unpredictable. Bass and I can use that. It will help a bunch with our investigation.”

“I hope you’ll keep this information between the three of us,” Lukas said.

“Three of us and Bass,” Penelope corrected. “We don’t know many personal connections in the city. It’s not like we have anyone to tell.” She paused for a moment, eyes drifting to the waterlogged tunnel below. Sloshing and splashing echoed from within. “Bass agrees. I’ll occasionally have you accompany me to the laboratory and you’ll get extra pay and magic lessons in return. Is that acceptable?”

“If the compensation is suitable lack of courier and guild training time won’t hurt.”

“I’m sure we can come up with something to suit your needs.”

“What about materials for fixing the cracked shard?” El-Two asked, beating Lukas to the subject. “Are we still getting that tonight?”

Penelope smiled. She reached within the light coat she wore over her dress and pulled out a hand-sized piece of crystal. It looked like a shard but was hollow. “Most mages would attempt to fix the old shard and make a cheap imitation of the original with significantly less potency.” Her smile grew into a grin. “Fortunately for you, I’m not just any other mage. We’re going to make a new shard.”

“That’s possible?” Lukas raised an eyebrow.

“Protected knowledge. High skill level. Challenging ritual. You need a hollow shard and three powerful reagents. We got the cracked shard and need two essences. Have you given much thought to what you’d like?”

“How difficult is it to find Essence of Lightning? I haven’t seen any in the market.”

“Guilds and artisans will scoop them up as soon as they appear on the market,” Penelope answered. “Big organizations and artisans tend to have deals with merchants and they often don’t even make it shops or displays. From what I understand they’re not the most popular when it comes to upgrading shard abilities. However, weapons enchanted with them are immensely popular.”

Makes sense why Stefan was so generous after his bribe.

If Lukas knew how Fracture’s magic system functioned, he would’ve offered the Essence of Change for the bribe instead. He didn’t feel too disappointed though, almost all of his opportunities since had come because he gave up the Essence of Lightning.

“I want to use this,” Lukas said, holding up the Essence of Phasing. “I don’t know which essence to combine with it. Repulsion or change. Which would you recommend?”

“The ritual uses a primary shard that grants a part of its nature to the shard,” Penelope explained. “The other is mostly fuel and doesn’t tend to offer much. It really depends on which you want to save for an upgrade. Change would go brilliantly with meta magic or body transformations. Repulsion would probably add incredible power to attacks.”

“Essence of Change,” Lukas said. “Let’s use it.”

“Not Essence of Shadow?” Penelope raised an eyebrow. “It might grant you pseudo invisibility or a powerful stealth ability.”

Lukas shook his head. “I have other plans for it.”

“Fair enough. We’ll get on it as soon as we’re back at the inn and rested.”

It wasn’t long before Bass returned, dragging a charred and shredded mass. Lukas couldn’t begin to imagine what the entity once was or what it looked like. Given what he had read about the sorcerer’s staff, it surprised anything remained of the beast.

“Mutated Dream Eater,” Lukas read out loud as words appeared on the journal’s luminous pages. “Usually docile creatures. Dream Eaters live in and around civilization, giving people and creatures pleasant dreams. They feed on psychic energies, leaving their victims lethargic and with headaches. Unusually long, dreamless sleep followed by the aforementioned symptoms is often a sign of a dream eater. Never corner a dream eater without ample psychic defenses. When threatened they utilize illusions and ego constructs to lash out at attackers and then consume their brains.

“This specimen has mutated from exposure to draconic magic. It has gained physical might at the cost of its psychic abilities. The loss of potent dream-eating abilities has driven it mad and violent.”

“Dream Eaters tend to be child-sized,” Penelope said. “This thing was almost as big as Bass in his original form.” She pointed at a lump with tentacles hanging from it. “Take a cube out of its head for me, please.”

“Got it, boss,” Elvis said, rising with a chunk of the phaser. “What do you want me to do with this?”

Penelope flicked her fingers, and the flesh froze instantly. “Carry it until I say otherwise. It will stay frozen until I dispel the magic.”

“Got it.”

The dream eater was significantly easier to cut. Having developed a feel for it, El-Two didn’t take long to finish the assigned task. Penelope froze the second cube, and the clone stored it in the small satchel he carried. They had brought rags and butcher paper, expecting biological samples. The sight of them amused their employer.

The sorcerer had Lukas inspect a bunch of miscellaneous objects while the clone worked. She continued afterward as they retraced their steps through the undercity. His targets ranged from luminous crystals to fungi and ancient building materials. In the meantime, she explained how hollow shards came to be.

“Any powerful magical phenomena can birth an essence. It is the physical manifestation of an arcane concept, and it doesn’t take much for one to form naturally. Certain essence types are more common than others. Lightning. Repulsion. Shadow.” Penelope nodded at his belt. “Blood. Meanwhile—”

“What about the Essence of Change?”

“Not as rare as the others but still relatively uncommon,” Penelope answered before continuing. “Meanwhile, shards are born from natural magic users. I’m talking about dragons, dryads, powerful dream eaters, and similar magical entities. They start as hollow shards, and the contents are slowly formed over several decades, if not years. Lesser shards are generally not as well-aged or born from weaker entities or even natural magical phenomena.”

“Can people create shards, too?” the clone asked. “We saw one for blacksmithing in the market.”

“It’s more likely born from a living forge that gained sentience or an immortal who has long transcended humanity,” Penelope answered. “I’ve read literature claiming powerful confluence abilities also creating them under the right conditions but never seen it in practice. Might be idle musings or a forgotten craft.

“Our ritual might create a new shard. But it requires at least a hollow shard. The cracked shard will improve its quality, and potency, and give it body. Without it, we'd most likely end up with a basic shard or a mid-tier at best.”

“Could your ritual upgrade a basic shard into something more potent?”

“I—” Penelope frowned, looking between him in Bass. “I've never really tried. It is likely a waste of essence since the basic shard’s energy will overwhelm all other ingredients. Theoretically, at least. You'll probably just end up with a slightly more powerful version of the basic shard you had in the beginning.”

It didn’t take the party long to find their way back to the cavern. Penelope triggered a hidden rune panel near the elevator shaft while Lukas and ‘Elvis’ packed all the valuable bits they’d picked off the corpses. Much to their surprise, the bodies had disappeared. There was no trace of anyone moving them or them being dragged away. They were just gone. Penelope seemed unbothered and unsurprised. Lukas didn’t question it. Either undercity dwellers had dragged them away, or the after-effects of the spiral runes had disintegrated their bodies. 

A school of merman—fishy heads and torso, human-like limbs—launched a probing attack while the party waited for the elevator. Penelope and Bass stayed back, letting the Zauns fend them off. Support and barrier spells made their life easier, but it was still hard work. Things got out of hand toward the end when a crude spear found Lukas’s right calf. An ice barrier sprouted from the ground, breaking the shaft and knocking the beast away.

Bass took it out and his full form encouraged a retreat. The elevator appeared soon after and Lukas was glad for the break. He used the enchanted belt buckle to fix the wound.

“That’s a tidy bit of healing magic,” Penelope stated. “The vet’s work, I presume?”

Lukas nodded. “She made it for me since I don’t have Elvis’s freakish healing abilities.”

“I can see how you improved so rapidly.” Her eyes glowed, focused on his calf. “Simple, but effective and potent. She’s a wizard, I’m guessing.”

No one checked their luggage. The guards didn’t question the group about their activities. In fact, none of them looked directly at Bass or Penelope. The man who had protested Lukas and the clone heading into the undercity shot them a surprised look and nodded at both. He seemed hesitant when Penelope flagged him down but rushed over, shoulders stiff and back straight.

“Did anyone follow us down?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered.

“Did anyone go down to the same level before us?” 

“No, ma’am.” The guard checked his clipboard. “No one has been down that deep in a few days. The closest was two-levels up.”

“We were ambushed on arrival.” Penelope had Lukas hand over all the minor guild logos they had collected. “They all bore a curse seal and were equipped with antimage weapons. We, of course, took them out and the corpses were gone by the time we finished.”

“Oh.” He struggled to get out any other words, eyes wide as he checked all the individual pieces. “I’ll report it to Captain Santana,” the man said. “I apologize, my lady. This was a security failure on our part. My men and I will take full responsibility.”

“That won’t be necessary. However, I’d like you to send patrols down next time we notify you of an upcoming delve. They need to scan for ambushes, traps, and the like.” Penelope paused, eyes cold as she stared the man down. “You know what I’m doing in Iskander, yes? You understand why my work is so important?”

“Yes, ma’am. Of course, ma’am.”

“Good. I hope there won’t be a repeat of what just happened. Have you added Lukas and Elvis Zaun to the registry?”

“Yes, ma’am. The word has been sent up through Iskander command. All our men will be informed during shift changes. I’m not sure if they’ll be allowed to avoid exit inspections unless you’re with them.”

“I understand you have no say on the matter,” Penelope said. “However, inform your superiors that they’re capable and working for me, and might need to extract samples. Your people are awful gossips and we can’t have intelligence leaks. I doubt your superiors want the civilian population panicking.”

“No, they don’t,” the guard replied. He made swift notes and held the clipboard out for Penelope. She burned a blue thumbprint onto the parchment just as she had when they entered.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“Beautiful and terrifying,” El-Two whispered as they worked their way up tunnels and stairs out of the guard house’s lower levels. “That’s just your type, Lukey.”

“I heard that,” Bass said, without looking back at the ‘twins.’

“I thought you might’ve. Nothing escapes those cute kitty ears.”

“No, they don’t. I’ll eat your fingers if you even think about touching Penny.”

Penelope appeared amused but didn’t directly look at Lukas or the clone. Her eyes remained focused ahead. She didn’t join them for dinner when they reached the inn. Instead, she took the cracked shard and essences, ordered the landlady to prepare a bath and retired to the room. El-Two recieved a sharp shin kick once Penelope and her familiar were out of sight and hearing range. The clone only grinned before flagging the barmaid down for a stein of mead.