Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 12 Quality Of Life

After their meeting with Duke Izen Arbencroft the V’Nova Wexler duo moved slightly down the street to the incognito paired wizard towers. Alexander’s tower rose high into the air inside its invisibility shield and illusory base that made it look like a plain stone building nestled between the high end manors of the noble quarter. Alexander was not who the pair were there to see however, no, they were there for the inverted tower under the Court Mage’s. Around the back of the disguised base of Alexander’s tower there was a small set of stairs that led down to a solid oaken door. Just inside the door were a pair of guards who had the incredibly boring, and sometimes unnerving, job of making sure no one tried to sneak into Jala L’Vore’s inverted tower.

The wizardess was an alchemist first, a necromancer second, and rune master third. Recently she had been too focused on her alchemy and the study of some of the more exotic underground lifeforms that had been delivered to her laboratory. Now, however, she had finished cataloging everything she could before her test subjects deteriorated beyond usefulness. Now that she had nothing that she considered fun to do, and her upstairs neighbor wasn’t asking her questions or debating with her about the ‘nature of magic, the universe, and everything’, she was burning her meager budget on gold paint.

Jala hummed to herself as she finished the one hundred and seventy fifth line of her grand, stone shattering, world remaking, magic ritual. Her husband handed her a mug of water as she sat back on her haunches. “Thank you.” She said and took a long pull before the sound of familiar footsteps drew her attention. She looked back over her shoulder just in time to see the owner of those footsteps, and her silent mate, emerge from the stairwell that led up to the second floor. She sighed deeply as she saw the look in her niece’s eyes. “It’s done then? Thirty two hours ago by my count.”

“Yes, auntie.” Lenna replied. “How are you holding up?”

“Me? I’m fine.” Jala replied casually. “Why?” She asked with what almost came across as genuine confusion. It wasn’t sarcastic but an attempt to appear to not know why she was asking.

“Jala.” Her mate, Fen, said admonishingly. “She’s doing what we do. Let it go.” He told the pair. “Is there any other reason you are here?”

Lenna shook her head. “No. I just wanted you to know, if you didn’t already, and I wanted to check up on you.” She explained.

“Well, be a dear and get my other bucket of gold-dust paint from the second cabinet on the left just outside the stairwell.” Jala told her. “I am almost done with this and the sooner it is done the sooner I can get a bed so Fen stops pestering me.”

Fen scoffed and then chuckled. “I need somewhere to put you when you pass out.” He chastised her. He then shifted his attention to Isaac as Lenna nodded and walked back up the stairs to get what Jala had asked for. “When are you going to remove these?” He asked the mage. Fen still wore anti-magic cuffs, collar, and belt. “I feel like a cripple and it’s not like there is a reason to leave here at this point.”

Isaac searched Fen’s face for an ulterior motive but honestly couldn’t find one. “I’ll talk to Michael about it when I see him later. As much as I would like to say that I have free reign over the city, and I more or less do, it wouldn’t do me any favors to go pissing off those in power unnecessarily.” Isaac told him.

Fen nodded in understanding. “Still not officially running the city then?” He asked as Lenna returned with the can of paint. “Lenna, keep my mate company while I speak with yours.” He told his niece and gestured for Isaac to follow as they headed back up to the second floor from the third. Lenna didn’t object but his tone grated on her and Isaac’s nerves. It was clear that his status as a grandmaster shadow sorcerer still inflated his ego beyond its healthy limits, even though he was completely sealed out of his magic.

Isaac and Fen moved to a small sitting area on the second floor where Jala had a huge pile of research texts piled up. The two chairs were perfect for Fen and Jala who hardly spoke but were always in each other's presences. “I take it this is about Jallen?” Isaac asked as he took a seat across from Fen.

Fen nodded. “Who killed him and how?” Fen asked. “I can’t imagine the bastard dying and I want to make sure it was real.”

“We had the body Identified because Lenna wanted to be sure as well.” Isaac explained. “I killed him. I had to kill him nine-ten times. All of those medals he had on under his armor worked as extra lives like in a vi-” Isaac winced. “Never mind.” He said after a short moment. “What’s important is that he was almost impossible to put down. I had to use a Ten Men potion to do it.”

Fen raised an eyebrow. “What is a Ten Men potion?” He asked.

“A potion that burns up your body and mana pathways, if your pathways are too weak, for incredible strength. That on top of my boosting skill, I created with my death flames, made me easily the physically strongest human on the planet, who isn’t a demigod of strength or something.” Isaac explained. “Even then it took the full duration of the potion to kill him.”

Fen nodded at the summary and explanation. “Good. Then he really is dead.” He said. “Where is his body?”

“Sanctified and then cremated.” Isaac replied.

Fen nodded again. “Good.” He sighed deeply. “I am serious about us not having a reason to leave now. Without her twin there isn’t a reason to go back. My family is probably feeling the political hit that comes from a sudden lack of a real powerhouse but they always sneered at Jala’s work. Jallen funded her eccentricities, but now you do it, though not as well, and Jallen is dead.” He explained.

“I was serious about talking to Michael too. I’m sure you will need to keep a tracker on you that will alert them all if it is tampered with but I’m sure I can spin something to allow you to at least lose the cuffs. Honestly your collar is what is keeping your power down the most.” Isaac replied. “Everyone is afraid of Words of Power. No one likes having their heart get crushed under the magical weight of your mana pool.”

Fen smirked. He knew Isaac was talking from experience. “I’m sure it is harder to do now that you have leveled up.” He commented with a taunting look in his eyes.

“You aren’t helping your case.” Isaac replied coldly.

Fen waved him off. “Even just one hand would be nice. I can’t even use quality of life spells like this, and relying on Jala for simple things is awful.” He complained.

Isaac nodded and was about to say something when everything started shaking. “What is happening?” He questioned while looking around. He could feel a massive amount of mana being pulled into the ritual below them.

“Jala got tired of waiting. She’s adding another five floors with the entirety of our budget.” Fen explained casually as he held up a mug of cold tea so it wouldn’t spill. He took a sip and frowned down at it. “See, this is why I need some of my magic back.” He complained while the doors on the cabinets continued to rattle and shake. A moment later Alexander materialized in the middle of the room.

“What is happening?” Alexander demanded. He had bags under his emerald eyes and his black hair was an absolute mess. Even his robes hadn’t escaped the exhaustion as they were dirty and disheveled with use.

“Wait a moment.” Fen said casually and held up a finger towards the court mage while he took another sip of the tea he clearly didn’t enjoy drinking cold. A moment later the shaking stopped. “There it is.” He continued. “Go down and have a look yourself.” He told the young wizard.

“I’m curious too.” Isaac said and rose to his feet.

Fen sighed. “I’ll be down in a moment. I need to find a burner to reheat this tea.”

—

“Jala!” Lenna called while staggering under the shaking floor. “This is going to cause an uproar.” Lenna finally couldn’t maintain her stance and dropped onto her knees to join her aunt on the floor.

Jala shrugged. “It’s fine.” She assured her niece. She pointed towards a wall and they watched as a doorway of stone appeared and then a wall rose up out of the ground to hide a stairwell that was forming down to the fourth floor. “It’ll be over soon.”

Lenna huffed indignantly before a grin spread out across her face. She started chuckling at the normalcy of her aunt doing something without considering the consequences or how anyone else would react to it. It made her feel good. It made her feel like she could trust that her aunt would be alright. Maybe not right then, maybe not soon, but Jala would recover. Afterall, there was only one Queen of Chimeras.