Published at 14th of April 2026 11:58 pm

Chapter 8. So, what now?

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

After Samuel had left, the cats filed back into the room. They were met with the sight of their leader sitting on his pillow like a statue, lost in thought. They knew better than to bother him when he was in that state. Around thirty minutes later, QShar finally exhaled loudly, announcing the end of his brooding, and started to make himself more comfortable in his spot.

The moment he settled in, one of the younger cats immediately asked, So, did he take the deal?

His question was met with raised eyebrows from QShar.

I apologize. If one of the elders would like to start... His voice became quieter and more subdued as he spoke, ending in barely a squeak.

Apologies accepted, young one. And yes, he did, said the Maine Coon.

That drew a mixture of reactions, not all of them happy.

That quickly?

I would be surprised if he tried to negotiate. Wizards rarely care about politics.

The cat saw another wave of questions coming, questions he had no interest in answering at the moment. Thats all, he said in a firm voice. Now stop lying around and get to work.

After a bit of hesitation, the cats went about their own business, leaving QShar alone with one more animal. He was an older orange cat with bite marks on his ear and a couple of scars on his face.

Are you sure about that move? he asked once they were alone.

Oh? Hori the scar-giver is getting cold paws? QShar asked, clearly amused.

Hori looked at him flatly. You know its never that easy.

It hopefully will be.

What abyssal mages are capable of could put us against the whole world. What if he decides to contact the Yith like his father? That can put a whole species on the road to extinction.

Hopefully, he wont be that stupid.

Thats not much of an assurance, Hori reminded him, gazing at his friend with raised eyebrows.

Well, it is all the assurance we have.

They both locked eyes for a second. Finally, Hori looked away.

Fine, so whats the actual plan?

What do you mean?

Dont sell me some bullshit about securing resources. You wouldn't do this little show just for that. So what's the plan?

QShar smiled. His old friend really knew him well.

Well, do you know the two main powers in Frumentarii are fighting over right now?

The information network and the auction and market houses. I might not be much of a negotiator, but Im not stupid.

Right. But there once was a third one, the exorcists, founded right after the war and disbanded during the age of the Inquisition. The remaining two have long-standing connections that are hard to dislodge. But if we can make a move to recreate the third one

The orange cat straightened up, realizing what his friend's plan was.

And then take control of the network. You want to enter the council as a third party?

Maybe.

You want to add to the coming chaos? I think the Alhazreds are rubbing off on you, Hori sighed.

This universe supposedly emerged from the primordial chaos, and so shall we. This should be fun.

They definitely rubbed off on you, Hori groaned.

The next couple of days were spent compiling intel about the case, with the help of my favorite fluffy network. It turned out the girl had been transported out of the country, beyond her father's sphere of influence, and had disappeared. Finding her would be a pain, even for me, but not impossible. First, I needed to locate her and obtain a photo or proof to use as leverage in negotiations.

It was time to get to work. There were many ways of locating someone, but most required enough mana to blanket the world or a strong connection to other planes.

But I had an idea. Excited for my first attempt at summoning magic and a judgment ritual, I made my way to the house where I had previously fought the spawn. The owner was selling it, but for now, I had permission to use it as much as I wanted. I went inside, placed the collection of tomes I had with me on a table, and began the first step of my plan.

Starting in the relative center of the building, I began drawing runes in a spiral-like pattern, with each subsequent rune at about 1.618 times the distance from the previous. Next, I placed an empty mana crystal at each runic node of the circle and activated them. Looking closely at the mana crystals, I could see a bit of energy seeping into them.

It worked.

Taking out finely crushed mana crystals, I scattered the mist-like powder around the house. It drifted along the flow of magic, and following it, I finally found the origin. Sure enough, it was in the hallway, probably right where the man died.

I drew a summoning circle, swearing at the number of crystals I had to use to summon a small bug with this low magic concentration. Taking a bunch of lunar powder, an alchemical ingredient made during a full moon, I knelt in front of the vein and started to chant in the arcane speech, tracing runic shapes in the air with one hand while pointing my staff at the opening with the other.

After a few minutes, I finally threw the powder into the circle, finished the chant, and waited.

For a minute, I thought that I might have messed up. But then I could feel something akin to a reverberation, a wave traveling through the vein, like a string being plucked and then released, and thenpop.

A weird creature showed upa Moonhunter dragonfly. Dragonfly-like, it was all white, with a black head and two large eyes like twin moons. The craters and shading of those moon-eyes didnt match the moon in our orbit.

The creature hovered over the circle, looking curiously around, only to stiffen a bit when it noticed the pale glow visible through the open window. I whistled at it, at a loss for what else to do, and the creature turned to me. I took out more of the powder from my pocket, and it darted for it as I quickly pulled my hand back like yanking a dogs bone from under its nose.

The bug froze in the air now, with a hint of hostility in its strange eyes. The feisty little thing was probably judging whether it could take me on. I locked eyes with it, rising slightly from my knees, making myself look hostile, and the bug moved back.

Now it was time to bargain.

I took out a photo of the CEO's daughter and set it aside, with a bit of the powder next to it. The creature moved back without thinking.

I added a little more powder. It was still a reasonable offer, but the thing moved back again. Now I started pulling the photo to myself as the bug moved toward the offering, but kept its distance.

I sweetened the pile with a pinch, and the summon landed on the photo. The bargain was made.

I could see it turn its head towards the night sky, and the bugs moon-like eyes began to spin faster and faster. I waited with bated breath.

If I could find the girl on the first try, it would be a fantastic, quick job. But the catch was that the fly could hunt anything that was currently lit up by the moon, so if my target was inside during the night and away from windowslike a kidnapping victim in a hideout, for exampleit wouldnt do anything. I was hoping that at least one of the people on the list was currently by an open window.

The eyes stopped spinning, and the summon started to gorge on the powder. There was no reaction.

I sighed.

Once it finished, I laid out the next photo with the same amount of powder. It was one of the possible so-called cleaners working for a corporation that seemed to disappear after the kidnapping. Nothing again. I repeated the process with a few more photos, swearing at my dwindling supply of powder, and finally, on the third photo, of a man named Henry, the creature froze.

I locked onto the bugs eyes and felt a tug on my subconscious, similar to the one from the spawn, bu not hostile. I focused on it, let it enter my mind, and concentrated as hard as I could. I saw the world as if from the moon, with an almost 360-degree vision, as if I were looking through some weird camera. The unnatural way of seeing was fed straight into my brain, and I could feel a headache coming on.

The vision accelerated as I rode the moonlight down, everything turning to a blur as I gritted my teeth to avoid puking from the ride. Finally, I could see a man. He was apparently on the job, dressed in black, in the garden of an apartment complex. I assumed someone was about to suffer an accident.

But now came the hardest part. I needed to get the address. I could see everything around me, but making out the warped letters was a pain. I desperately scanned my surroundings as the vision began to slip away.

There was a number44, I thought.

But 44, what street?

The number was big enough to read, but making out the warped letters was another thing. The vision was ending, and the image was becoming blurry. Now, I couldnt even make out the letters. I strained my mind to get something, to cling to the image with all the mental strength I could. However, no such luck. The distortion was worsening.

Finally, with my last thought, I looked up towards the horizon, and there it was. This had to be Manhattan, and the thing in the distance would be the Freedom Tower, so this was an apartment complex on the east side.

The vision ended, and a sharp headache assaulted me.

I looked at the bug, weighing whether to risk trying the vision again to get more info, pain be damned. But the summon, now visibly rounder, was apparently full, the creature slowly made its way towards the vein.

I chuckled a bit as it got stuck at the entrance. Finally, after giving it a bit of a push, the summon was gone, and I fired up the Maps app to look through the Street View. After a few moments, I localized the apartment complex. Whatever job the man had would happen late, after most lights were out. I had maybe three hours before he disappeared, and it took only one to get there.

Plenty of time to run a judgment ritual first.

Share