Ghost And The Writer

Albus figured out why she was pulled along soon enough - Tiamat asked her various things about Ahea. About her family and how Fumus was doing, what sort of things some famous Aheals were doing, also - about some elder dragons. Even when Albus said she only knew rumors, Tiamat said those were plenty. In exchange, Albus learned how Tiamat had made friends with Aheals for all these years.

Aheals lost their immortality if they came to Urea even once and Tiamat herself was bound to Urea, so Albus had wondered how had they met. Turned out Big Purple had set up an odd thing called 'Boundary cafe' where it could invite the consciousness of beings from various dimensions. Accessing it turned out to be so easy Albus was dumbfounded how she had not heard of it. Although judging from Tiamat's questions it did not seem like Tiamat had met any unicorns there.

Big purple was one of the top odd items peddlers in both Ahea and Urea, you could always either find or summon a wisp (its familiar) to buy various goods or services. Even Albus had at times bought water and food in places with bad access or a teleportation service from them. Turned out you could buy 'a night at the cafe' for small magic crystal worth of aether either taken directly from your body or in the shape of the said crystal - not a cheap price, but not expensive enough to avoid trying.

The dubious part was that a wisp overtook your body while you were 'out' for protection purposes. Tiamat said that the only way purple uses the bodies of its clients, though, is to sleep, thus avoiding the need to sleep with its main body. In case of danger, the body teleports around unless the client has set up a different defense protocol in advance.

Tiamat was a regular there, saying she didn't have much to do in Urea now that all the dragons had left the nest. She did appear to be genuinely happy about having two eggs to take care of, saying it would get busy (in a cheerful sense) in a decade or less.

By the time more than an hour had passed, even Albus herself noticed that she no longer felt intimidated by Tiamat or her presence. At first, she guessed it was due to being a dryad's familiar, as nothing of the sort had happened with high standing Aheals regardless how long of a time she had spent around them.

Admiral was an exception to that rule, but, truth be told, it was hard to be intimidated by someone who sobbed about fictional characters when drunk and confused her with some character on top of it. Or perhaps the same applied to Tiamat. Albus hadn't expected Tiamat to laugh about the rumors regarding some friends or show a goofy face about her expected grandchildren.

When they got back to the hut, Marcus no longer seemed to be deep in thought, rather, he was waiting for them to come back with an expression of silent determination. August and Leum were still sleeping in the same position as before.

Veri silently got up on the terrace and tiptoed towards the two, but before she could kiss August awake, her lips were met by his hand.

"Stingy," Veri mumbled, disappointed.

August half-opened his eyes, yawning. "Good try," he replied and poked Leum's cheek to wake him up, before straightening himself out.

"What did I miss?" August asked.

"Not much," Veri replied. "Marcus didn't know how to become the Emperor of Hades and when Tiamat told him he became unresponsive from shock, so we left for a walk and Albus told us rumors about Tiamat's friends."

"Ok. How do you become emperor of Hades?" August asked.

"Eat your brother and father," Veri replied.

"Yes, that would shock someone," August replied as he yawned again. He didn't seem shocked one bit, though.

Leum yawned and looked towards Tiamat. "So, location and time for a gate to Hades?"

Tiamat nodded.

Leum summoned the same water orb , starting to shift it in his hands. The only one looking towards it in wonder was Marcus.

"June 25th, cape of good hope, the best I can explain it on the Hade's side would be--" Leum used fae language to explain the location. A scenery of a white field passed their eyes, but rather than it being snow, the ground was covered in salt and the skies were green. A planet with atmosphere but no life.

It was only a little more than two weeks away.

"You can stay here till then," Tiamat said to Marcus. "I'll arrange your way there."

Marcus startled, then nodded. "You have my gratitude." He hesitated, then asked. "What will happen to this body when I pass over."

Tiamat thought a bit looking his body over a few times. "Well, if a helpful dark alignment god happens to see you off, then it might be possible to keep this body as a host."

Albus peeped towards August to check if he knew what that was about. He looked confused so apparently not. But that said - the same applied to everyone in the room except Tiamat and Leum.

"That is?" Marcus asked.

"If your astral link is tied off on both sides before severing, then rather than this body dying, you can partially descend upon it later on just how some Terreans and Soleans do with their hosts," Tiamat said. "But due to dimensional phase shift between Hades and Urea - you ought to be at least an emperor class to do so," Tiamat said with an amused smile. "This body will stay in a coma like state otherwise and will gradually deteriorate and perish. In Ureal time that would be - about three years."

Marcus pursed his lips and nodded, turning to look at August. "Could I ask you to?"

Tiamat's smile took a crescent shape and she looked to be close to laughing.

Albus was confused about what was going on, but then it hit her. Marcus had just casually implied that August was a 'helpful dark alignment god'. Looked like Veri and Leum had realized it right away - Leum didn't seem too bothered about it, but Veri was crunching her knuckles.

August squinted at Marcus in disbelief. "No."

"Why not?" Marcus asked seeming shocked by the plain refusal. Apparently he didn't even look towards Veri and her gesture and seemed to either not realize or not care about revealing August's identity.

August cast an incredulous look at Marcus, then sighed, rubbing his temple. "What can you give me in exchange?" August asked.

Marcus pursed his lips, thinking. "I can't offer anything right now, but when I succeed I will give you trade rights with Hades."

"As if I want something so troublesome," August replied.

"Then what do you want?" Marcus asked.

August squinted, then sighed. "Whatever, if you properly stay here and don't run off when someone takes your local family or girlfriend hostage, then I'll do it."

Marcus choked. "...Stephanie." August's words seemed to have hit a sore spot.

Albus felt like what August had said had been completely out of nowhere, but just like how he had been right on the mark about battle for succession, he seemed to have some uncanny ability to either deduce or guess at potential trouble. Again, she was impressed.

Tiamat cast a curious look towards August and turned towards Marcus. "How does Stephanie Burton look?"

Albus guessed that Tiamat could read Stephanie's surname in Marcus record. The sister of this body, huh? Not her looks, however.

"Similar to this body, but more attractive by Ureal standards," Marcus said. "Long hair, usually in ponytail."

"Follow me," Tiamat said to Marcus and got up from her seat. Marcus nodded and followed, leaving the room.

"How did you know his Ureal family might be taken hostage?" Albus asked.

"Because that's a basic novel plot," August replied. "It's obvious he is attached to someone in Urea, otherwise he wouldn't care about the body and Hadeans can eat memories. It's only a matter of time before they figure it out and play that card."

Albus nodded. It made sense if put that way, not the 'basic novel plot' part but everything following afterward.

"Alright, let's slip away now," August said, starting to get up, but before he could get anywhere Tiamat appeared right behind him.

"Can you hide my presence?" She asked, startling Albus in the process with her sudden appearance. Fae paths.

August clicked his tongue. Escape plan failed. He sighed and reached out his hand to Tiamat. As Tiamat put her hand into his, he entwined their fingers and her presence disappeared just like that.

"You mean to bring them here?" August asked.

"Yes, that would be safer, wouldn't it?" Tiamat asked. "I'd rather he doesn't rampage around Urea. I'll ask Willow or Sunshine to make them a cover story and, hmm, who could take out those Hadeans?" But as she asked she started smiling looking at August.

"No," August said.

"But you would be perfect for the job," Tiamat said.

"No." August repeated.

Tiamat sighed, then a realization passed over her eyes. "If you tag along I can take them out myself. Leum and Veri can protect the nest, Albus can help Marcus in fooling his family and I'll make you rich in exchange."

August tilted his head slightly. "... I only need to tag along?"

Tiamat nodded.

"How rich are we talking about?" August asked.

"How about a dungeon core your height in diameter?"

"Deal." August agreed so quickly like his previous reluctance had been a lie. "With an added bonus that you don't leak what I am."

Tiamat nodded and they both disappeared as Tiamat pulled August into a fae path, leaving Veri, Leum and Albus behind.

"Let's go loot mom's nest," Leum said getting up.

Loot? Leum did not misspoke, did he? Albus looked towards him - nope, he was serious.

Veri got up as well, equally serious.

And they both disappeared as well, leaving Albus behind. Albus let out a breath, coming to a silent decision that she would pretend she heard nothing. If Tiamat's nest got looted, then-- Tiamat was at fault for leaving it to those two.

And so Albus played along with Marcus story about their family being potentially infected by some mysterious tropical bacteria that would die on it's own if they just stayed in this house and drank medicine (actually tea) for the following two weeks. Albus added that there was a low chance of falling into a temporary coma even if the treatment was successful and that the medicine had the side-effect of causing vivid life-like dreams and hallucinations, but that all would be well in the end.

Seemed like Stephanie figured out what was up quickly and played along as well. If they ignored the few explosions happening in the background (probably side-effect of looting), then all went as well as complete bullshit trickery could go.

Albus healed the father of the family from a limp to bluff how amazing the 'medicine' was and Marcus was lying with a clear vision about the brownie being a high-tech robotic hologram and much to Albus surprise - the prince had some high level scamming skills. Pressing when needed, pulling when needed, almost like he could sense their emotions. She was impressed.

***

Meanwhile, away from Albus sight.

***

August held Tiamat's hand as she led him through the forest and straight ahead towards the city. She seemed to be in a great mood.

"Won't those two try to loot your treasure?" August asked.

"They sure will," Tiamat replied, her mood not dropping at all. "Been a while since anyone broke in, so I have to test the traps."

August made a wry smile. Seemed like a part of him had been expecting that. "And what if they steal something?" He asked looking sideways.

"Then its my fault for not protecting my treasure properly," Tiamat smiled, peering over at August, till she met his eyes. "I'm not like Veri, I won't chase after thieves to murder them in a blazing hell, if that's what you are worried about."

"Then it's fine," August said with some relief.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Tiamat looked ahead.

"You can try, but I won't guarantee an answer," August said.

"How come you have a physical body?" Tiamat asked.

Looked like August had been expecting a question of this sort. "I can trade you that story for information on how to dissolve a dead zone without killing the dark dryad making it," August replied.

Tiamat made an amused smile. "Are you asking how to negotiate with another dryad or…"

"I made some by accident," August said.

"Accident huh," Tiamat tried not to laugh.

August squinted at her, some embarrassment present.

"That's simple," she said. "Dryad domains are not too different from dragon domains. To make one, you pour your aether into a space till it becomes a part of you, to dissolve one you absorb the aether back into your body,"

August frowned a bit. His expression said 'impossible'.

Tiamat noticed that much. "Another method is to groom a nature spirit that can consume your aether pattern, then have them eat it all up and set up your domain elsewhere."

"And how do you do that?" August asked.

Tiamat pondered for a bit. "From what I've seen - Gaius took some of his hair and filled it with a matching aether pattern to his own, then went to nature spirits and said--" Tiamat spoke the rest in fae.

'Will you become mine?' would be the short translation, a longer one would be a glorified housekeeper, almost wife, half-slave, but a master of a huge forest.

"How often did it work?" August asked, seeming uncertain. It didn't sound like a good deal to him.

"Every time," Tiamat said. "I can't tell how well it would work since you are hiding your presence, but you know--"

"Yeah," August agreed, getting the drift. Nature spirits had a thing for dryads.

"You can have that brownie if you want," Tiamat said.

August paused, then asked. "The elves won't mind?"

Tiamat made a feline smile. "You've never met elves, have you?"

August sighed. "How long would it take them to figure me out?"

"That's a good point," Tiamat agreed, then her expression turned more neutral. "No. They won't mind. They will take it as a compliment."

August squinted at the word 'compliment', then sighed. "... ok."

"Now, your turn," Tiamat said as they reached the town.

"I have a physical form because my sister kept it alive by possessing it after my astral link disappeared and the body didn't reject repossession when my mother brought me back. It's likely because only a few days had passed, so my astral form hadn't changed much shape wise. I still lack an astral link, but it seems fine even if I leave my body now."

She listened with an expression of surprise hinted curiosity. "What is your mother?" Tiamat asked as they walked through an alley.

"A muse."

"Now that's interesting," Tiamat noted. "They aren't usually family oriented, unless your father..."

"She was a ghost, she became a muse when something I wrote in childhood got published in an anthology," August said. "Dad doesn't, no, correction, he didn't make art back then."

Tiamat nodded at that, like noting to herself, then noticed a high rise nearby. "Can we enter that building?"

"Yes," August replied. While it was a hotel, the top floor was a restaurant/bar, so there wouldn't be a problem to go in.

While Tiamat played it cool for the most part, it wasn't hard to tell her eyes were glimmering at the surroundings and she was rather excited about the elevator.

"Do you still write?" Tiamat asked, as they watched the numbers in the elevator change.

"Yes." August replied.

A mysterious smile settled on Tiamat's face, like she was looking forward to something, but she didn't say a thing and as the elevator stopped, she went out and right towards the window with a look over the city.

When a waiter noticed them, August had faint regrets of not masking their presence at a higher level. It would be awkward to wiggle out of this, so he ordered an espresso and Tiamat asked for the same thing another girl was having at a table further away. Rather than being disappointed, Tiamat seemed happy about the turn of events, as she looked over the city, her slit pupils narrowing at a certain spot at a distance a human wouldn't be able to see even with binoculars.

"Found them?" August asked.

"Yes. They are making it easy for me by gathering up," Tiamat said, she didn't seem to be in a rush to go after them and enjoyed her drink when it was brought over.

When Tiamat was partway through her drink, she sighed with a sad smile. "I'm envious of those kids. They will get to see the amusing things humans do up close like this."

August cast a longer look towards Tiamat, seeming to be in thought, but he didn't say anything.

Tiamat's complexion cleared up then. "Wait, there's no reason for me not to see it either with someone like you around."

August pursed his lips as he finished up his coffee.

"I'm pretty sure you'll need a lot of help from now on," Tiamat said with a smile. "How about I help you get Purple to take that reward off of you?"

That had August listening. "What are your terms?"

Tiamat finished up her drink as well. "Depends on how much you are willing to reveal to Purple. If you tell him the truth, then you'd probably get the reward and we'll need to see what he wants for silence. Knowing him - that will be cheap. He loves being 'in the know' while others are not."

August paid for their drinks as he considered this option and as they left, Tiamat continued.

"If you want him to back off without him knowing a thing, now that will be expensive and you won't be able to keep the secret for too long either way, so the price won't be worth it," Tiamat said.

August sighed, even he knew that eventually it will all come out, but that didn't make it a comforting thought.

"So I guess you will cover whatever is the price and in exchange I'll be taking you on dates?" August asked.

"Yes, regardless which option. With a bonus of Leum and Veri guarding my nest while we are out," Tiamat said, then added seeing August's wry smile at the word 'guarding'. "I'm most concerned about the eggs. Other dragons might eat them if they break in somehow."

"Do only dragons break in?" August asked.

Tiamat tilted her head slightly. "Only dragons have managed to break in, I don't even know who or how many die in the first trap line before the entrance."

A brief silence.

"Tiamat, mind telling me what is your plan for dealing with the Hadeans?" August switched the topic.

"Walk where they are and eat them," Tiamat started saying then became thoughtful. "No, there's a better way. I couldn't use it before due to my presence, so I don't know how to enter, though."

"Sea of consciousness?" August asked.

Tiamat nodded.

"We need a crowd for that," August said, turning to head in a direction where there would be one. "What kind of human emotional states can you get into easily?"

A look of realization passed Tiamat's eyes. That question was enough of a hint for her to understand the way to enter.

They spent around half an hour staring at the crowd till Tiamat managed to enter, after that it took Tiamat five minutes to chase all the Hadeans down, pull them into the space one after another, eat their astral bodies and push out the coma state human body out.

August was, meanwhile holding Tiamat's hand looking at the sight with a blank expression. It did look quite peculiar as Tiamat seemingly 'kissed' the people only to bite onto the astral body and tear it out before the Hadean even managed to let out a scream. Each hadean was in an increasingly worse emotional state than the previous one. Made sense given how it must look from the outside. People seemingly disappear only to return as empty husks. Tiamat would make a good horror flick monster without doubt.

Both August and Tiamat could tell that the scene was approached by some silver rank guild members, but they didn't manage to 'save' even a single Hadean and Tiamat went out in another crowd.

"I need meat," was the first thing Tiamat said when she came out.

August didn't argue and took her to a nearby steakhouse.

While it wasn't quite sufficient, after twelve steaks she had regained enough energy to go back to her own domain. Since they were holding hands, they ended up looking like a very lovey dovey couple with Tiamat cutting the meat and August feeding her with a fork.

[Unknown to them, a guy a few tables down innocently shot a little video on his phone. A .gif of it soon starting to circulate the net under 'relationship goals'. While the common folk didn't even pay that much attention to the girl's pupils being slit taking that as either 'contacts' or play of light, those who knew the 'guy who lovingly feeds his gf with meat' spit out their drinks, soon narrowing down who that 'happy glutton babe' was.]

"So, what about Purple?" Tiamat asked on their way back.

"What benefits there are in each option?" August asked.

Tiamat smiled. "The main point is - Purple has more to lose than to gain if any major mess happens in Urea, so he isn't likely to consider selling you out to Soleans and Terreans, if that's what you are afraid off," Tiamat said. "We've been friends since chaos age, I can vouch for him."

August looked to be a bit shaken about her seeing through his concerns just like that.

"The only benefit in him drawing back without knowing would be less mysterious salamander attacks--"

August squinted. "Huh?"

Tiamat glanced over at August. "Mhm, Roy's been very eager to get that treasure so he keeps sending salamanders after you in case you reveal something interesting."

August let out a breath, resolute expression settling on his face. "Will this Roy be there in the solstice."

"Of course," Tiamat said. "I can introduce him to you, if you want."

August made a refreshing bright smile. "Thank you."

Tiamat looked at August for a while, then turned away. "I guess he deserves whatever is coming for him."

After a brief pause August said. "I'll take the option of Purple knowing."

"Alright, the negotiation fee will be five days in the second half of July," Tiamat said.

August thought a bit, then nodded, agreeing to those terms.

Soon enough they were back. Tiamat went to fetch the trapped 'kids' in her nest, while August headed over to where Albus was.

***

Albus went to sit on the terrace when the talks seemed to be more or less over and the family was settling in for their stay on the second floor. Just as she sighed thinking she'd love to have a drink, August appeared next to her.

Albus could sense him approaching due to their connection as a master and familiar, so she wasn't surprised. Tiamat wasn't next to him, though.

"Where's Tiamat?" Albus asked.

"She went to get Leum and Veri," August replied, then stepped into the house.

Almost like having waited for it, the brownie came out of a wall, she was smiling.

No matter how she looked at it, Albus found that smile suspicious. It would make perfect sense if August wasn't concealing his presence, but since he did… why would a nature spirit show preferential treatment towards him?

August reached up to his hair, pulling out a hair strand, but this time, rather than it being pure white - it turned into a lily that was patterned black and white, it had a soft glow and shadowy edges. It had the sort of beauty that hinted at the end and the beginning, the harmony of light and shadow, growth and decay.

The brownie's eyes widened seeing the flower and so did Albus'. Albus knew she had mixed alignment, but she didn't think it would look like this when concentrated into one spot. That rather than rejecting or contradicting, the aether would coexist in a beautiful manner like this. Differently to how Albus imagined it, it wasn't ugly or frightening and the brownie did not seem to feel so either. Her eyes were filled with awe.

August's ear tips turned red and he reached out the flower towards the brownie, then asked in fae if she would--

Albus turned bright red. The meaning of August's words left her speechless - he pretty much asked if the brownie would be his property in the most glorified description of housekeeper/housewife/houseslave possible. There was no way--

Yet the brownie took the flower with tears of happiness in her eyes and pressed it to her c.h.e.s.t, absorbing it and changing - her skin turned ashen gray and her hair changed from green to hay colored and rather than wearing leaves, she now wore white lace formed of aether.

For a moment, while change took place Albus caught a glimpse of the brownie's presence and her mouth opened without being able to close. What stood in front of her was no longer a brownie, but a being similar to a ruins elemental. An ancient god class being. Yet as soon as the change was complete, she had the same presence as August - or none, in other words.

Charged fog started forming around the ex-brownie. Sparks starting to shimmer and this house started feeling like home to Albus.

August looked… well, he had the same as expression as Albus. 'Holy crap' would describe it best.

"Oh, it worked out," Tiamat said, as she appeared along with two sour looking dragons.

August sighed. "Yet, but this place too turned into my domain."

"Of course it would if you steal its caretaker," Tiamat said, while she casually passed a small leather pouch over to August.

August took the pouch with no questions asked. Probably a spatial pouch with the promised dungeon core.

Tiamat continued. "Isn't it good, though, now you can come here directly. Domains are connected to one another so you can jump home instantly and your new familiar can head over to dissolve that zone you were concerned about."

Concerned about? To Albus it looked like August and Tiamat had done some constructive talking on the task and that haughty slave bride contract then-- was probably something Tiamat had told August about.

August sighed again, giving up. "I'll call you Lily, call me August" he spoke to the ex-brownie in human tongue.

The girl smiled, nodding.

"Lily, can you go to the library and eat the aether I left there?" He asked.

The girl became thoughtful and asked about the location in fae, sending glimpses of the zone towards them with her words. It was a bog surrounded by ghastly trees, misshapen monsters lurking throughout the place. There were sword marks on the tree stumps left from a fierce battle.

Albus gulped. Now that was a textbook example of a dead zone - creepy, ominous and deadly.

Tiamat seemed to be close to laughing. "Accidentally made, huh?"

August was embarrassed. "Yes, that one," he said to Lily, then added. "When you see my sister and a church mongrel, tell them they lucked out."

"With p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e," the girl replied and disappeared. Her voice was soft, feminine and sensually low.

August looked towards Tiamat. "How do you jump between domains?"

"Wish to go to another one and a path appears," Tiamat said. "Wait a bit, though, don't you want to settle things with Purple first?"

"Right," August said, then tilted his head, looking up. "They passed out," he said.

They? Albus wasn't sure who was being talked about, but then she realized that there were no voices coming from above.

"My presence does that to humans," Tiamat said not seeming to care much.

August shrugged, brushing it over and since Tiamat was heading out, he followed and so did the rest of them. Leum and Veri were both crossing their arms and pouting, likely still about the missed-out-looting. There were some sounds coming from above, but those were more like bodies being moved.

'Best of luck, Marcus,' Albus thought to herself. He was probably putting his passed out family members on beds.

After a little while of walking along the edge of the lake, they came out at a meadow. Tiamat stopped and gathered aether on her finger, then drew a summoning circle in mid-air. A very familiar one at that - a circle with a simple triangle in the middle and lines coming out of each triangle's side, connecting to the circle - the summoning circle for Big purple's wisp. The only thing that was different about this circle was that it was fully infused with Aether and that was not common for summoning wisps. To summon a wisp a single drop of blood was enough.

Like usual, a wisp did come through the circle, but this one was five times the size of the regular, palm sized ones Albus had summoned in the past.

"Synchronize with purple," Tiamat requested.

The wisp first morphed into a humanoid shape - an attractive, yet expressionless male with purple eyes and hair, dressed similar to a waiter. "Authority level sufficient, synchronizing," the male said.

And a minute later, the eyes became lively and a friendly smile settled on the male's face. "What an unusual sight," he said looking over at Tiamat, then Leum and lastly settling his eyes on August, before introducing himself to them all. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Purple, a merchant."

"August Garold," August said "And these are my familiars Leum, Veri and Albus."

"How may I be of service?" Purple asked, glancing over at Tiamat.

"I'm just mediating," Tiamat said.

Hearing so, purple looked over at August.

"I hear you have issued a bounty on what I'm concealing," August said.

"That happens to be the case," Purple admitted politely, his expression unreadable.

"If I tell you, can you keep it a secret and notify those after the bounty that it's no longer available?" August asked.

Purple smiled. "That can be arranged, given that you also provide proof for your words."

"How will you insure that you won't leak the secret?" August asked.

"Would an oath work?" Purple asked.

August glanced over at Leum and Leum stepped closer to Purple, reaching out his hand.

"Is the secret still relevant in case you pass away?" Purple asked to August.

"No," August replied.

"Is the secret still relevant in case it becomes common knowledge?" Purple asked.

"No," August replied the same way.

Purple took Leum's hand, glow appearing over their wrists.

"I swear not to reveal what type of being August Galord is till it either becomes common knowledge or August Galord perishes."

An attached condition. The smart way to form an oath, but not the common one - like this the oath would dissolve in either of those cases.

After finishing so, Purple cast an expectant look towards August.

August let out a breath and reached up to his hair, pulling out a hair strand and it formed a huge Peony this time, like with the flower he gifted to Lily, this one too was formed from intermingling dark and light aether. He threw the flower towards Purple.

Purple startled at the gesture and Caught the flower by thickening air around his hands. He looked at the flower for a while, before looking up towards August. "Proof accepted."

It was faint, but Albus saw relief in Purple's expression, that made her wonder what had Purple been afraid off at a level of putting a bounty on information on August.

Meanwhile a black portal appeared next to August and a c.h.e.s.t slid out from it. The supposed reward, Albus figured.

"May I purchase this one?" Purple asked, marveling at the flower that seemed to float above his hands.

"What do you offer in exchange?" August asked.

Purple cast a look towards August, observing him, then looking over Veri, Leum and Albus, then thought a bit. "A set of 12 prime grade haste potions from Bergens. Effect is similar to having the world slow down five times, every miligram keeps the effect up for ten minutes, the set contains 12 vials of 6 grams each."

Bergens? Albus was impressed to hear that name dropped. Nothing less expected from Big Purple. One of the best Ahea's alchemists.

August seemed impressed. So impressed that it took him a minute to respond. "Are there haste potions that speed one up three times?"

"I can offer a set of 50 of those from Bergens," Purple said.

"Any side-effects?" August asked.

"You get tired and possibly age in proportion to your subjective time, other than that - none," Purple said. "As long as you do not overdose, of course."

"Deal," August said, his eyes sparkling.

Purple formed a square shape around the flower using Aether. A small portal appeared next to him and he placed the flower in, then another portal appeared next to August and on top of the treasure c.h.e.s.t, five little boxes piled up.

"Mr. August Galord, today you appear to be tired, but I'd be more than happy to make more personalized offers if you choose to summon me again. As long as you infuse aether into the formation and summon a mid-rank wisp it is possible to synchronize with my main consciousness."

"Just August would be a better address, thank you," August said in a good mood.

Purple smiled. "Well then, hope to meet you soon, August." After saying that and slightly nodding his head, purple disappeared as a portal appeared above his head and slid down to swallow him up.

This was Albus' first time meeting Purple's consciousness. Wisps were all parts of his (or its) body, but they all operated under a simple logic - sold what's asked for, bought at market prices, but no personalized offers of looking at someone, evaluating their needs and striking at it like Purple had done just now.

Albus had no clue why August was so tempted by haste potions, they were valuable, yes, but as far as Albus knew, only battle junkies were that eager for them and August didn't look like he could even lift a sword.

Tiamat made a satisfied smile. "See you all in solstice, then," she said and after receiving their nods (with the exception of still pouting dragons), she disappeared.

August took out his notebook, turned it into a suitcase and carefully placed the five small boxes in it like they were the most precious thing ever, turned the suitcase back into notebook and put it in his inner pocket.

"Veri, can you take this c.h.e.s.t?" August asked.

Looking at the two, Albus noticed that they no longer pouted now that Tiamat left.

"Sure," Veri said and picked it up like it weighed nothing. Like that they all headed back to the now fog filled house and when there, August closed his eyes, seemed to figure something out and without warning pushed Albus on the back.

"Eh?" Albus almost stumbled, but as she steadied herself she realized she had changed locations. There was an eyeshadow packet on the ground, there was an apple tree in the room, she was back home.

When she picked up the eyeshadow, first Leum then Veri, then August all appeared.

Leum and Veri grinned like mad and high fived each other.

"What did you get?" August asked, again not being surprised.

Get? Albus was lost for a moment, then it hit her-- that pouting… was that an act?

"Epic class artifacts," Leum said.

"And mid-grade rune stones," Veri added with a grin.

Albus sighed. She really needed to have a drink. But sleeping would do as well. Food would be nice, however. Hopefully Tiamat wouldn't try to kill Leum or Veri due to them stealing her treasure, but even if it came to that - what could she do even? Nothing.

"Aren't those too low-class for your tastes?" August asked.

Low-class-- Albus was too tired to be impressed. It would take ten years worth of her salary as a commander to buy either of those. Her boots had been the only epic class artifact she had owned.

"These are meant to be used up," she said, "High grade rune stones have side-effects."

Albus had heard that half of the high grade rune stones were cursed and there was no way to tell before using. A high grade rune stone was equivalent to a century or more worth of perfecting a spell, it could make an average mage into a genius overnight.

In the age of gods there were many such examples, yet the side-effect was also there. In best cases the person using the stone ended up inheriting a bit of the original mage's personality - some turned more reclusive, some only picked up smoking. In worst cases the user was completely overridden and nothing of the original personality remained intact.

So Veri, or Riveria, who hoarded high grade rune stones as her treasure items was both hated and most feared by esteemed mages and skill users, unless they got on her good side. She was known to attack the strong to 'test them' and if they got old and weak they were often killed and Veri could claim their rune stone if it happened to form. Some formed deals with her - that they would come to her on their own if they felt their time running out - those too found place in her collection.

Going by that, Albus glanced over at August. Wasn't August someone Veri would try to 'test' 10/10 due to that presence concealment? Was that how they met? Albus didn't think there was even a need to ask.

"When it comes to artifacts," Leum added. "Anything above epic grade is picky about their user."

"Would your collection reject you?" August asked.

Leum smiled. "Would you like me to wield Durandal in one hand and Excalibur in the other?"

"Fair point," August replied, recognizing the issue.

Leum's humanoid form was unknown, but there was one dead give-away Leum had. No weapon would reject him. Even weapons that were dead set on being 'the only one' could easily accept 'buddies' if it was Leum who held it. Or the one who was made to be wielded by only one person, could easily go unfaithful for Leum.

But even without that, even with using 'only' epic grade weapons or artifacts, there was no person out there who had perfect mastery of them all. With a decent opponent it might take just a single fight for them to get a sense that 'something about this light elf look-alike is fishy'.

Albus then had a feeling that… this whole being undercover deal was plain impossible, there were already way too many who knew - Ian, Marcus, Tiamat and Big Purple were added on that list today. Two of them didn't even have oaths binding their ability to speak.

Albus sighed and resolved to do her best, turning to head over to where Mandy was, aiming to ask for some food.

***

At the very same time, in Ahea, high up on a floating city, a girl with long red hair and feathers sprouting out from under her arms was twisting a fire orb in the air, as she lay on the floor.

Ahea had experienced its biggest causality in many millennia, more than two thousand dead, ship went up in a blast and there were rumors going around that Ahea might go into war with Hades. Oracles all around Ahea had been commissioned to divine anything and everything they could get to, but searching for each individual name had only lead to 'they no longer exist'.

No Oracle could divine more than ten questions a day and Ustrina, who could make these ten questions, was among the very top. She had done her part, but that didn't help her fall asleep.

It made no sense for Hadeans to just appear, take down a support vessel that carried half-healers, half-engineers, then disappear. It was not their style.

And how was it possible for the ship to have enough time to raise the barriers, but not 'enough time' to activate teleportation artifacts? Now that was not Florentine's style. He would go with a bang, but he would sure as hell evacuate and survive, then next month he would call her to discuss the latest volume of little faeries series and spazz about his second in command who was 'just like the frost faerie' character and 'needed to be protected'.

There was no way that idiot wouldn't at least try to protect that junior of his with some hard to resist misleading request half-quoting some novel line.

She knew the answer, but even so, she whispered to the fire. "Did Florentine's precious junior survive?"

And her eyes widened in shock at the flames that gave her 'yes'.

Wait. What?!!

"Did Albusflores fon Plaustribus survive?"

'No'.

That matched the records from other Oracles.

Ustrina tried to calm her breathing, trying to recall whatever specific details Florentine had dropped about his Junior.

She ended up skipping three days of work and narrowed down that Albusflores had survived, but his identity was different. He had not betrayed Ahea or Florentine. He had gone into the boundary and while Ustria could not divine his current location, out of a lucky guess she narrowed down that the missing unicorn would be in Tiamat's solstice celebration.

If the unicorn really was like the frost faerie character, then there was a reason why he couldn't openly solve things. Approaching the military or the Plaustribus clan might be a mistake, it was best to talk face to face and see what's up with her own two eyes.

A safe round trip would cost a fortune, but Ustrina didn't mind skipping out on another vacation house if she could solve the mystery behind her idiot best friend's death.

Revenge didn't suit her, but she did want to know what bullshit line Florentine said to this 'frost faerie' so she could engrave it on the bottom of the limited edition frost faerie figurine she won't be able to gift him now. She hoped it would make her laugh, at least. Thinking so she started preparing for her journey.