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308. Deeper Still
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 15:00:03 +0000 UTCThis staircase wasn’t a tunnel through the earth, but instead a winding spiral staircase in wrought iron. For the first few twists, it pierced through the earth, but then it opened up into a massive cavern. Ten of the first room could fit in this space. In fact, if Ike took the entire first room and stood it on its head, it would easily fit in the space between the floor of the cavern and its roof. Mages bustled around this space, hundreds, if not thousands of them. A puff of smoke flew up with a bang. In another area, a female mage sat atop a broom, coaching a cadre of young mages on their first broom flight. Two mages sparred in midair, trading spells and sword blows in a friendly exchange. Somewhere in the near distance, the familiar scent of a tannery polluted the air.
Ike frowned. Are they really puppets? They looked so real. Acted so… human. Why teach children flight, if the children couldn’t learn?
A second later, he shook his head. He couldn’t forget how exquisite Brightbriar’s puppets were. They could all be puppets. It was even possible they were puppets, and weren’t aware of it. There was no visual difference, nor difference in their mana fluctuation. Their memories would be intact, and as far as he knew, based on the existence of Brightbriar’s daughter, Rosamund, they could even grow and mature like real people.
In other words, it’s entirely possible that all these people are puppets, and none of them know it. The thought chilled him to the core. He ran a hand over the back of his neck. If not for the fact that he’d bled, broken bones, and been charred to the core recently, he might have started to doubt himself.
Though, in that case, it raises the question: why didn’t Brightbriar replace everyone in my hometown? There was no reason not to, if he could replace them all with exquisite puppets. Was it just that he hadn’t yet, but intended to? Or was he deliberately holding back for some reason?
The stairs wound down. Ike continued to mull over the questions, to no avail, as he descended. As they reached the level of the top of the highest buildings, he sighed and put the thoughts to the back of his head. It wasn’t good to dwell on it too long. He didn’t know. Until he found out more evidence, he’d just run around in circles in his mind, while accomplishing nothing.
Cold swept past him, oddly familiar. Ike frowned and looked up.
A dark-robed figure with white, soft, shapeless limbs flew by, flying as if drifting on a breeze, yet speeding faster than Ike could run without Lightning Dash. It reached out a pale hand for Ike’s face.
Ike swung backward, barely dodging the strange, formless hand. Three fingers split from its arm without a wrist, grasping without knuckles. Dank hair dripped out from under a deep hood, and a broad, snakelike maw split an otherwise featureless face. He stared, more taken aback than anything. The strange being drifted on, and Ike watched it go.
Wall wraiths?
“Watch out!” A mage rushed by a moment later. He nodded to Ike. “Sorry about that. Got away from me. Good dodge!”
Without another word of explanation, he chased after the wraith.
Ike kept walking, putting up a show of not being bothered, but internally, he reeled. Wall wraiths. The mysterious creatures he’d encountered just outside the walls of his home city when he’d been carrying the Salamander’s tail home, the ones that stole mana at a touch and couldn’t’ be harmed by physical attacks. He hadn’t encountered them since, and hadn’t given them another moment’s thought. And yet, here they were. What were they doing here?
Two cities controlled by Brightbriar. The only two cities where I’ve encountered wall wraiths. He thought back. He hadn’t encountered them in Clarina’s city, but when he’d been there, it had been a case of a local uprising that Lord Brightbriar had chosen to provide puppets to, not a city fully controlled by Brightbriar. Likewise, Shopkeep’s city was full of puppets, but fully controlled by Shopkeep, to the point he could fully control every puppet within its bounds, thanks to his Mage Tower skill. His brows furrowed. What are they? And what’s their connection to Lord Brightbriar?
The city rapidly approached. Wisp hopped off the side of the staircase and landed directly on the ground. Ike sighed, then followed her lead. He could’ve jumped down a long time ago, but it was polite to use the stairs. Then again, spiral staircases sucked, so why bother? If they weren’t trying to blend in, he would’ve been the first to jump.
Then again, that one guy thinks we’re a bunch of punk kids in it for the pranks, so why not act the part?
Mag hopped up to the railing and perched there. He looked down, tipping his head to the side.
Ike’s heart jumped into his throat. Oh, shit! He’d forgotten: Mag was a bird. It was normal for a human and a spider to jump down, but if Mag did, wouldn’t he instinctively use his wings, without even thinking? Ike made eye contact with Mag and shook his head hard. Don’t do it. Don’t use your wings! You’ll give us away! They could pass as punk kids as long as they could pass as humans. If Mag pulled out his wings, all eyes would instantly be on them. They’d be sunk.
Mag frowned. He tilted his head back the other way. “Why not?”
“You can jump down, just… don’t…” Ike flapped his arms.
“Why not?” Mag asked, even more confused than he’d started out.
“Because we’re normal people,” Ike emphasized.
“Yeah, we aren’t bird brains,” Wisp chipped in, getting what Ike was putting down.
Mag pursed his lips. He hesitated another moment, then hopped. His arms instinctively spread to catch the wind, but the only thing that caught were his oversized coat sleeves. He landed beside the other two. “I’m not stupid. I’ve been in cities before.”
“Have you?” Ike asked, startled.
“Once.”
Ike nodded. Yep. I was right to be afraid. But he did great! He gestured Mag on and took the lead. “Come on. Let’s go check things out.”
“You mean, wander around our hometown,” Wisp replied with a grin.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ike muttered. We don’t need to be obvious about it, you know. Shaking his head, he left the spiral stairs behind and headed toward the bustling thoroughfares.
