Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 55 I Wasn’t Going To.

Isaac spent the next few hours reading for magical comprehension until his eyes went cross. The absolute worst part was that some of the things the books were telling him were simply wrong. They talked about how dark mana was only dark mana. There was no mention of sub elements or what ways mana could be broken down.

Isaac theorized that all mana types probably had at least two different forms that they could take. His was shadow and death but red mana might break down into ‘fire creation’ and ‘heat increase’. Then there was the topic of spell chants, sigils, and runes. Isaac could not understand why they worked. Most of the books weren’t very helpful on that front either. Most of them answered his barrage of questions with ‘because that is how it works’ or ‘it’s simple, just say the magic words and ta da, magic.’

Lenna on the other hand was pleasantly enjoying her book. When she had reached about the halfway point she set it down and looked at a frazzled Isaac. “Perhaps, you should take a break.” She told him.

He collapsed onto the open book in front of him. “I want to know why, not how it works.” He grumbled. “Three circles with a few lines carved into stone and then filled in with gold makes a force shield, okay cool, now why does it make a force shield?”

“Wizards and clerics have asked those same questions.” Lenna told him.

He turned his head so he could see her, his ear was still resting on the open book and his eyes were red from not blinking for too long. “Did they figure it out?” Isaac asked. He was hoping that maybe the books he had simply didn’t have the answers he seeked but perhaps somewhere else someone would have the answer. He also assumed that this was not the case.

“Not that I am aware.” Lenna replied. “That doesn’t mean their question was not answered, simply that I don’t know.”

“It would be nice for one of them to write a book if they did. Maybe title it something like; ‘The six questions of magic and their answers’ or something.” Isaac said with a groan. He pushed himself back up to a mostly upright sitting position.

“Six?” Lenna asked.

“Who, what, when, where, why, and how. I’m mostly stuck on the how. Mages are the who. Spells are the what. The when is all the time. The where is any place that has mana. The why is because I said the magic words and flipped somebody off to make him explode. And the how is currently ‘who the fuck knows’.” Isaac ranted and then let out a deep sigh.

Lenna couldn’t help but chuckle quietly to herself at him and his melodrama. “Well, let’s get something to eat. Then you get some sleep.”

Isaac nodded and stood up. “Can we leave the books here like this?” No one had entered or exited the library in the few hours that they had been there.

Lenna just shrugged. She marked her place with the ribbon that was the built in book marker for her book and set it down. “No idea.”

“I’ll put away the ones that I’ve already read and just stack the rest here on the table. After that…” He nodded and let her assume that her suggestion was what was to follow.

—

Half an hour after Isaac had given up on his heavy reading the two of them were back in the Celestial Dawn. “Three meals?” Celeste asked. “Did you two eat at all in the wilderness?”

“Not any good food.” Isaac replied. He was sitting at the bar talking to her while ordering because the tavern part of her inn was mostly empty.

Celeste shook her head. “You need to learn how to cook so you don’t go hungry out there.” She told him.

Isaac smiled. “If I did that then I wouldn’t have to stay so close to town, and that would mean I would spend less time paying you for good food.”

“Uh huh. Telling me not to be complaining for the business now I see.” She replied with a smile. Then her smile fell and she cocked her head while looking at him. “You are confusing mister, I mean Lord Wexler.”

“I get that a lot.” Isaac replied with a smirk.

“Somebody told me that a light skinned human man with black hair and silver eyes turned into a shadow elemental in the Guild Hall.” She looked at him intently, looking for some change in expression or something that she could read. “Was that you?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t turn into a shadow elemental.” Isaac replied.

“Are you trying to cause a scene everywhere you go or are you trying to lay low so no one from your secret past finds you?” She asked.

Isaac chuckled heartily. “No, it just kind of happens. I am a firm believer that if people know that you are stronger than them that they won’t go picking fights or causing trouble, so it tends to happen a lot.” He replied.

“You said you were getting your badges tomorrow. What coin?” Celeste questioned. It was really hard for her to get a feel for his power. She was Firestorm Sorcerer so she could sense mana pretty well even if she was retired from adventuring. She never felt anything from him. It was as if the mana just flowed through him and kept going but he was supposedly a really powerful mage.

“What do you mean?” Isaac asked.

“The guilds separate members by levels in brackets based on our coins. Copper, silver, electrum, gold, and platinum. There is even double platinum, but it really just feels like they panicked and had to come up with something the first time an adventurer hit level sixteen.” She explained.

“Whatever levels nine and ten are.” Isaac replied.

Celeste seemed taken aback. “I’ve been hearing stories from the guard all day about some crazed mage that the duke is letting run free with a, their words not mine, ‘pet drow’ in toe.”

Lenna sneered behind her faceplate at the word pet. Isaac ground his teeth, his eyes going hard. “Tell them not to use that word again. I can make their shadow strangle them while they sleep.” Isaac told her evenly.

Celeste’s eyes went wide before she schooled herself. “I think I understand. I’ll tell them.” She assured him.

Isaac relaxed his face and tone and brought himself back in line with both who he was talking to and the environment that they were in. “What do you understand?” He asked curiously after a moment.

“She may follow you around like she’s afraid you will turn to dust and float away but she is the reason why you don’t.” Celeste told him. Her wisdom and accuracy caught Isaac off guard.

“Um…” He cocked his head. “How?”

“Did I know?” Celeste finished his sentence. “I’ve been around a while Lord Wexler and I know your type.”

“Just Isaac is fine.” Isaac told her and thought for a moment. “What do you mean, my kind?”

“Let me tell you a story that happened about ten, maybe twelve, years ago.” Celeste began. “A middle aged man came into town, under an obviously fake name, with a young lady who was probably his daughter, or at the very least he treated her like she was. They fit in alright. He got a job working the bar at the tavern on the bad side of town.

A few months went by and there wasn’t a problem. The girl worked the tables for me and she was always nice to everybody. Well, one night she was nice to the wrong guy.” Her eyes grew distant. “He wanted more than she was willing to give and he didn’t like that answer.”

Isaac thought he knew where it was going and his fist clenched. Celeste took a deep breath and then continued once more. “He had taught her how to defend herself and she did. She killed the man and his friend who was with him.” Isaac’s fist loosened and his eyes raised to meet hers. “He was second in command of one of the gangs on the bad side of town.”

“They didn’t like that, did they?” Isaac asked.

Celeste shook her head. “No.” She took another deep breath. “They caught her heading home from my place on a night when her guardian was working late. They did awful things to her before killing her and leaving her body in a ditch downtown.”

“I take it they got what was coming to them.” Isaac said, more of a statement than a question. If he heard that they hadn’t then there was a possibility that they would. Quite soon in fact.

“Yeah.” Celeste said and nodded. “He tracked them all down. Killed them. Tortured them. It was a bloody mess. Afterwards he disappeared. A year later a man from the capital knocked on my door and asked about them. Apparently the man was an ex assassin who had found a little girl at the scene of one of his successful hits. He took her in and raised her as his own.”

“You are saying that I’m an ex assassin?” Isaac asked.

Celeste shrugged. “There was a mercenary that had the same thing happen to her more or less. Found some little boy with nobody. She retired, took him in, and wound up here. He pissed off the wrong guy. Got killed. She massacred the entire gang. This place is dangerous for the weak.”

“Then why live here?” Isaac questioned. He also questioned the people’s sanity, and if Izen was doing anything about it. “Why does anyone live here?”

“Many are tied to the gangs for life. Maybe in debt or they grew up in them. Many were born here and simply don’t want to leave where their loved ones are buried. Many reasons, none of them worth their life.” Celeste explained sadly.

“Lenna.” Isaac said.

Lenna straightened a bit and turned to look directly at him. “Yes my Lord?” She replied.

“Don’t leave my side.” He ordered her.

Lenna nodded. “I wasn’t going to.” She replied.