₦airaland Forum

@cassbeat that's too funny, lol! So you remember that song? You have officially earned the name 'cassbeat'. Btw, every time I see your username my mind just starts singing that old song 'whine for me'. I don't know if you know it, but it starts with "Cassbeats!" hahaha.

@Fazemood Thank you for seeing Musa's comedic side Lol, what real battle are you talking about

@Ultimategeneral You're mind is in the right place. So, no, Nebud has never used spectra, and yes it does have it. Does it mean it doesn't know how to use it...I won't spoil it. Let me just say that your question will be answered to. And also, soon, we'll definitely see spectra in action

@dragonstar14 thank you! That's a good question, and the answer will be shown soon in the story...

@Dranoid Are you back?! Where have you been? I've missed seeing your comments for so looooooooong. Please tell me you're back

As I had done so long ago, I reached for the uspec’s anger, yanked it all, and transferred the anger to the uspec-statue which Musa had just created. The uspec’s arm dropped, the tip of its sword grazing the floor as it gawked at me. With all of its anger gone, it was left stunned, wondering why it had sought to attack me in the first place.

Then I reached for all the pain I could feel in the room, and found a lot of it in the uspec which Musa had just struck a death blow to. Before the pain expired with the dying uspec, I yanked it, and sent it to the uspec whose tentacles were wrapped around my arms. That uspec wailed with polluted pain. Immediately, its tentacles fell away and it staggered backwards.

I pulled at the uspec to my right, swiping my cutlass through its neck as it came unbidden towards me. Its head fell off its body as I turned to my left to repeat the same action. Unfortunately, Musa had beaten me to it. Its sword had already lanced through the uspec’s heart. Its tentacles fell from around me and I was free.

Just at that moment, the uspec whose anger I had transferred out was beginning to return to consciousness of its surroundings, its previous stun gone. I did not give it the chance to realize how much danger it was in. I beheaded the uspec before it could gather enough motivation to attack.

With a smile on my face, I turned, my gaze taking note of the wreckage. There was now more red than black or brown on the floor. The only uspecs left were the ones whose form Musa had transferred, taking all of it from the goo to the statue, and the one who I had given artificial pain to. That one moaned, its loud wailing cries so shrilling I decided to put it out of its misery. I found my dagger and freed it from a lifeless green neck. Then I cut through the veins of the screaming uspec. It twitched as the life drained from it, its lips pulling together as its cries finally came to an end.

I turned back around.

Musa was standing by me, its gaze locked on the uspecs whose form it had manipulated. “What do I do master?” it asked. I heard the fear in its voice and understood the cause. Still, I was slightly offended that it would think so little of me, that it would think that I could let anyone have any reason to cause it harm.

“Return them to their normal states.” I ordered.

Musa’s shoulders hunched over, but it nodded. I knew that it feared the repercussions of its actions. If word got out that an imp with pansophy had attacked uspecs, the pious ones would not rest until the imp was gone.

It was a good thing that I had absolutely no intention of letting word get out.

Musa touched the both of them. They returned to their normal states, as the excess form was taking from the statue and returned to the goo. I tore through the one who had been goo first. As soon as it was standing, its sword held tightly in its hand, I drew the sharp end of my blade over the uspec’s neck.

The one that had been a statue made to run. I threw my dagger at its chest. My aim was to graze its heart, far enough that it would die, but not so deeply that its death would be instantaneous. I walked over to the uspec, pulled my dagger out of its back, and flipped it, so that it lay on its back.

“How many exits are there?” I asked.

The uspec coughed blood. It turned its head so that its gaze pointed to the curtains that we had walked in through. Then its forefinger twitched, just before it succumbed to its wounds and died. I nodded at the corpse, not exactly sure what its last signs had meant, but choosing to take my own meaning from them.

Standing to my full height, I turned to look at Musa, before gesturing to the set of thick red curtains which the young uspec had run through. Musa nodded, following behind me wordlessly as I made my way towards it.

As soon as we emerged through the curtains, the uspec gasped.

“Please!” It begged, immediately throwing the satchel bag onto the floor, and kicking it towards me. I kicked the bag away, shifting it towards Musa as I continued my advance on the uspec.

“Please!” It cried out, inching backwards, away from me. It tried to run, but I reached out with the dagger in my left hand before it could run by me. I stabbed the dagger into the uspec’s heart and watched it fall to the ground. I did not even wait to see if it was dead, before turning to pick up my bag.

That was when I saw the fog door. Unlike the last room, this room had a single wooden table with three wooden stools positioned in front of a wall of grey fog. That fog was hardened. It had tiny droplets suspended in it, just like the door to the resort in Lastmain.

I turned my attention back to my bag. The strap had been torn. That was most likely how it had been stolen. The uspec had probably cut off the strap to take it off me. I opened the bag and heaved a sigh of relief when I found it intact. I reached for a pouch of worth and opened the sachet. I pulled out several pieces just to ensure that the real thing hadn’t been swapped for fake, then I put the pieces back in, and returned the pouch.

It was with a wide smile on my face that I handed the bag to Musa. “Put it in the coffer.” I commanded.

Musa’s face had an answering smile. Then its smile turned into a smirk as it took the bag from me. “Now you want me to put it in the coffer.” It muttered. It said the words under its breath, but its tone was not so low that I could not hear every single word.

“What did you say?” I asked with feigned anger.

“Oh, nothing master. I was just talking to myself.” It replied, before letting the bag drop into the fog covering the coffer. There was enough space in the large box, that we both knew it wasn’t necessary to open the coffer and rearrange it to find space for the bag.

“What do you think is in there?” I asked, my curiosity piqued by the expensive hard fog entrance in this seemingly low-class hovel. “Considering the number of armed uspecs that were in this room, I’d say it is important, wouldn’t you?”

“I say it is none of our business. We have what we came here for master, we should go.”

“We should.” I agreed. Then I stretched out my blood-stained weapons. “Wipe these down for me.” I said, “I think I’ll take a peek.”

“Master…”

“Quiet. Just do as I say.”

“Master. Do you remember when I told you it was a bad idea to stay in the inn in Lastmain and you ignored me? What of when I said to stay out of the inn on the inter-port trail? Or perhaps more recently, when I advised you, repeatedly, to place your satchel bag in the coffer? Should I tell you what all these times have in common?”

I turned to frown at the imp. “You know, if I were you, I would not bring up this latest debacle. You were the one who allowed a thief to steal my fortune.”

“After you decided not to place your fortune in a secured coffer, which you spent an insane amount of money to get.”

I glared at the imp. After the successful fight which we’d just had, I could not summon the desire to be angry. Still, Musa did not have to know that. “You know,” I began, “I was just remembering how much I wanted to own a slave when I was younger. You know what I admired most about imp-owners?”

Musa frowned. “What?” it asked suspiciously.

“Their whips.” I stated.

Musa cringed. Heaving a sigh, it reached to take the weapons from me. “As you wish master.” It replied, once the cutlass and dagger where in its hands.

I chuckled, the smile returning to my face as I turned to approach the wall of fog. I walked up to it and then I placed my hand on the hard fog, remembering that this had been the key to gaining access in the Lastmain resort. As soon as my hand touched the wall, the fog softened, turning transparent, and revealing the room on the other side.

The noise was the last thing to register. First, I saw the cages. The wall to the furthest side of the room was lined with cages, each cage filled with a different type of creature. The lower cages were blocked by the uspecs yelling out bets at the top of their voices. Some uspecs moved, giving me just enough time to glimpse the fight taking place in the center of the room. Two kares – hounds with a head filled with horns – fought against each other. Also in the center of the room, I glimpsed another cage. It was only brief, but the sight of the pool of pink liquid and flashes of pure white skin spurred me on.

I pushed my way past a throng of commoners screaming in encouragement of the fighting hounds. I found it all distasteful. It reminded me a little too much of the pits and the uspecs who had derived pleasure from watching me fight. The sight of these uspecs doing the same to kares troubled me, but I had no right to interfere, and so I did not stop the hounds fighting.

I walked over to the center of the room, disrupting the spar. One of the hounds had stuck its horn into the others belly. It was an attack that had greatly wounded the hound and had led to an eruption of cheers. Those cheers quickly died down as I stood in the middle of both fighting kares, right next to the cage, the real reason why I had interrupted the fight.

The kare that was wounded hobbled away, whimpering, while the one that had attacked barked at me. Though the hound barked, it made no move to pounce, and so I ignored it.

“Who is in charge?” I asked, my bellow filling the room. When no answer came, I repeated the question. I found that my anger had returned at the sight of the caged creature.

A group of uspecs pushed their way to the front of the room. These uspecs were dressed in fine leather and had four of their outer eyes filled. These were not mere commoners. But, by the lack of golden bands on their arms, or silver sleeves on their features, I could tell that they also weren’t noble.

The uspec in front bowed to me. “Forgive me noble one,” it greeted, its soaru tongue sounding polished. “Are you here to watch the fight?”

I pointed at the cage and the creature within it. “Who would dare imprison a frosted beast? How dare you? By caging a swan, you are insulting every kute uspec in this existence. What do you have to say for yourself?” I demanded.

The uspec frowned in puzzlement. It turned to stare at the swan and then turned back to me. “You are mistaken noble one, it is not really a frosted beast. I would never dare to insult such a noble creature by confining it.”

I almost struck the uspec. “Do I look blind?” I asked.

“No, noble one,” it laughed. “Forgive me. You see, it only appears to look like a frosted beast because its identity has been changed. Really, it is just a kare.”

I couldn’t help wondering if the uspec was lying or if it truly believed its own words. The soaru eyes gave an uspec the power to change any creature’s identity. It could turn a jeja into a kare and a sea serpent into a sky fowl. But this was not the case with this creature. “Are you truly as unenlightened as you appear to be?” I asked, my voice dripping with condescension. “A swan produces okun. A creature made to appear like a swan would not produce an okun. Do you see?” I asked, pointing at the pool of pink liquid which had formed underneath the white creature.

Suddenly, I saw members of the uspec’s group reach for their swords. I wondered if these uspecs were crazy enough to take me on. I would relish the chance to make them pay for their insult to a sacred emblem of my spectrum. The uspec in front shook its head. It bent instead, to the level of the cage, and opened the lock. As soon as the cage was open, the swan flew out and perched itself on my right shoulder. There was something pleasingly familiar about the way the noble creature’s legs scraped against my body. It wrapped its long neck around mine, and I luxuriated in the beauty of its pain.

“Forgive us noble one. It was an honest mistake. We would never have taken the creature if we thought it was truly a frosted beast.” The uspec apologized.

I knew it was lying, so it was a struggle to resist the urge to beat it to a pulp and then throw it into one of its cages. I could sense the swan’s eagerness to leave this place, and so I acceded to the prodding I felt in its pain.

I walked out of that room, then out of the next and finally, out of the hovel as a whole.

Musa sighed in relief once we were out in the humid fog, gazing at patches of red cloud. The swan flew off my shoulder then. Its four legs dangled underneath it as it flew so high in the sky I did not know if it would return. It was a frosted beast, I had no right to detain it. If it left, it would return to its home, as it was supposed to. I was just happy that I had set it free. “We should go to the portals. I can’t wait to have a nice meal and take a nice long swim in an okun.”

Musa chuckled. “Perhaps we should find a common cleaning area first.” It suggested, beginning to walk. “It might be unusual if we show up to a reputable rental, stained with blood.”

“Oh.” I looked down at myself, realizing then that I truly was stained with blood. A sudden pang of fear crept up my spine at the thought of the bodies we had left in the hovel. Then I remembered that they had stolen my bag. Thieves probably would not report to the pious or the Kaiser. I was sure they would take care of the bodies.

We had just walked back into a maze of dwellings when the flapping of wings heralded the swan’s return. The swan landed on Musa’s shoulder. Musa jumped so forcefully that the swan was knocked off. Its flapping wings stabilized it in the air, and then it flew over to me. I ran my hand over the creature’s neck as I glared at Musa.

“What is wrong with you?” I scolded. “This is a noble creature, a sacred one. It is an honor for it to approach you.”

With a wary glance, Musa skirted around me, moving to stand on my other side, further away from the swan. “Frosted beasts make me…” it paused as if searching for the right word, “skittish.” It concluded. “I do not like them.”

I shook my head at the foolish imp. “Ignore it.” I said to the beautiful creature.

“I concur.” Musa mumbled.

Part 2
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With blood dripping from the cuts on its face and its broken nose, the uspec pointed at a curtained entrance to a secluded hovel at the edge of the commoner’s portion of the burg. Wrapping my fingers around the back of the uspec’s neck, I grabbed it, and pushed it headfirst into the curtain. I had told the uspec that if it led us to wherever the thief had taken my bag, I would not kill it. After a few well-placed blows the uspec was ready to confess, but I found that my anger still needed a great deal of assuaging, and so I took it out on the uspec’s face. By its confession it had earned the right to live, but if it did anything else to get in my way, I would cut its head off its body, I swore.

The uspec fell with a loud thud on the floor of the wooden room exposed by the curtain which was now parted by its sprawled body. With a jerk of my head, I ordered Musa to proceed me. I watched as it cautiously walked to the other side of the lying uspec, the side with the curtain still drawn. The coffer followed the imp. Unlike Musa, I took advantage of the uspec’s body, graciously holding the curtain open. I stepped over it, and walked into the room.

There was nothing particularly spectacular about the layout of this room. It was a small open area with three circular tables marking the perimeter of the room, and a leather tarp in the middle. I counted five uspecs seated in the room. None of those uspecs were the ones who had stolen my bag. These uspecs all had some bulk to them. From the swords hanging from the leather belts they wore, I could tell that they were fighters.

I felt my heart pound in anticipation as three of the five stood to their feet and placed their hands on the hilt of their swords. They each had two outer eyes, but none of those eyes were imp eyes, which meant that none of them had spectra. They were dressed in the two-piece leather costume I was coming to think of as indicative of the uspecs in this port. Each of the uspecs now standing, turned to stare at the young one now struggling to get to its feet at the entrance. With furrowed brows, they turned perplexed gazes from the young uspec to me, and then back to the uspec.

Following their lead, I placed my hand on the hilt of my cyan cutlass, just praying that they would give me a reason to use it. I had not had a good fight since I left the pits of Hakute. True, the fights with Musa had been more than adequate, but there was something so thrillingly different about the excitement which accompanied a fight to the death.

“Do you see it?” I asked, my anger now curbed by the promise of a battle.

With my side eye I could clearly see Musa nod. It gestured, its chin jutting out in the direction of a stool which my first cursory glance about the room had missed. It stood at the side of the room, beside a set of thick red curtains, different from the ones which we had walked into the room through.

I cleared my throat then, my attention turning to the uspecs standing as if poised for combat. “I came for my bag.” I stated, cursing the voice in my head which pleaded for diplomacy. I just wanted to kill them and get the bag myself. What was wrong with that? “Give it to me, and I will leave. Resist and…” I let the statement hang, my gaze darting to the bruised uspec who had led us to the hovel. The uspec was now standing, bent over so that it leaned on an unoccupied table.

“No place for noble.” One of the standing uspecs stated, its kute strained by the heavy soaru dialect. After it spoke, the uspecs who had been sitting stood, also placing their hands on the hilt of their swords.

I smiled, my heart racing. I took a step towards the bag. Three of the five uspecs rushed to block my path. The two standing closest to the stool, remained where they were. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me, do you not speak the soaru tongue?” I asked, continuing in the soaru tongue which I had been speaking with since I entered this port. From the tentacles which fell from their waists I could tell that they were all of the soaru spectrum.

“Of course I speak soaru.” The uspec replied, its tone sharp as if the uspec had been insulted by my words. “Go away noble, this is no place for your kind.”

Satisfied that the uspec had understood my initial demand, I pulled out my cutlass, the sound of the sharp blade drawing against the sheath adding to my excitement.

“Get the bag.” I ordered Musa right as the first uspec advanced towards me.

It thrust out with its sword, aiming the pointed end at my neck. I swerved, lunging my body to the left, as I lashed out with the cutlass in my right hand. Unceremoniously, I pushed the sharp rounded edge of the cutlass into the uspec’s chest. Blood filled the uspec’s mouth as its fingers unwrapped, releasing the sword in its hand. It spat the blood out, sputtering the crimson liquid onto my face as it reached for the blade of my cutlass, trying to pull the offending weapon out. I pulled the cutlass out myself, swiping the blade through the uspec’s neck as it fell to the ground. The head rolled to a stop at the foot of the uspec standing to the left of where the dead one had previously stood.

With the back of my right hand, I wiped at the blood which had been sprayed on my face. The uspecs left standing cast shocked gazes to the one that now lay dead on the floor, its headless neck spilling blood onto the wooden floor. For a second, I feared that the uspecs would relent and grant me access to the bag. Before that thought could completely form in my head, the two uspecs standing in front of me sprung forward, their swords outstretched.

My cutlass knocked away the sword of the uspec to the right, as I swept my left foot forward, tripping the one approaching from the left. That one struggled to rise to its feet as I faced off against the one to the right. This one was a slightly better fighter then the first. As our swords clashed, the sound of the collisions ringing through the air, I watched its tentacles rise from around its waist, and swipe at me. With my right hand engaged in combat with its sword, I pulled out the dagger from my belt with my left, and cut off each of the tentacles raised in the air.

The pain of the cut wrought a sharp cry from the uspec. It was a cry which was closely followed by another much different one. I turned, my head snapping to the side of the room, where Musa stood, blood dripping from its neck, as an uspec’s sword cut through it. The anger I felt at the sight of the imp just standing there, allowing the uspec to attack it, blinded me. My cutlass met the uspec’s sword with renewed vigor, the strength in my blow knocking the sword out of the uspec’s hand. I sliced through its abdomen, almost completely severing one half of its body from the other. Blood came gushing out of the wound, right as the uspec fell to the ground.

I noticed the uspec to my left advancing right as the uspec by the wall continued its actions of beheading my imp. I threw the dagger in my left hand at the uspec holding the sword to Musa’s neck. The dagger went straight into the uspec’s neck, forcing it to release its hold of the sword in Musa. Musa pulled the sword out, right as I caught sight of the tentacles reaching for me. With my attention focused on the imp, I had allowed the uspec’s tentacles to wrap around my legs. Though the uspec was relatively tall and had somewhat of a bulk to it, it did not have nearly enough strength to restrain me with its tentacles.

It had made a mistake grabbing onto me. Its eyes widened as it realized the extent of its error. It tried to release me, but I pulled my leg backward before it could, pulling the uspec towards me. I knocked the sword it aimed at me away with my cutlass, and wrapped my arm around its neck when it came close enough. I pushed my cutlass into its back, and then pulled it out. Its blood stained my abdomen before its tentacles came off from around my legs and it fell to the ground.

I bent to pick up its sword as I marched towards Musa. Again, the imp had refused to defend itself. The last uspec left standing had thrust its sword into Musa’s chest. I was somewhat startled to see that its cut neck had been repaired. Then I remembered it had pansophy and could internally manipulate its lifeforces. It had probably just moved some of its growth to its neck to re-grow the cut portions. Now it stood, its arms hanging uselessly from its side, as it stared down at the sword poking out through its front.

Upon noting my arrival, the uspec struggled to pull its sword free from Musa’s stomach. Before it could dislodge the weapon, I walked up behind it and swiped the sharp end of my cutlass against its neck, tearing through the veins in its neck. Its blood sprayed onto the back of Musa’s head, and then the uspec dropped, falling to the wooden ground with a thud. I bent to pull my dagger out of the neck of the dead uspec who I’d thrown it at. When I rose, Musa had turned so that it stood with the tip of the uspec’s sword, still in its abdomen, facing me. Its face and the top of its shirt were stained with blood.

With my dagger and cutlass in my right hand, I threw the sword in my left at the imp’s feet. “Next time you defend yourself!” I snapped. The heat of the anger I’d felt had now cooled with the battle I’d won. None of the uspec’s had been particularly great fighters, but there was something thrilling about killing all of them.

Musa’s lips parted as if it meant to respond. Then, its brows furrowed.
It placed both of its hands on the tip of the sword sticking out of its body, and pulled the rest of the weapon out, through it. It all happened so fast I found my brain playing catch up. I watched with shocked eyes as the center of the imp’s body turned to goo, allowing the sword to be pulled out. I realized then that the imp had transferred the form in its body around the area the sword had been lodged in, to another part, just long enough to pull out the sword.

Then, with its bleeding right hand holding the sharp end of the sword, it flung the lengthy blade in the air. It was as if I was reacting in slow motion. The sword breezed by me, circulating in the air so close to me that I could hear it tear through the humid foggy air beside me. I turned in shock, following the circling sword until it hit its target.

There was an uspec standing behind me, the sword in its hand stretched out, barely inches from the back of my neck. Musa’s thrown sword landed in the uspec’s head. It had dug into the uspec’s head and lodged itself in its nose, dividing the upper part of its head into two. The uspec’s sword dropped, and then it fell on its back. A glance at the wound in its side told me that it was the last uspec I had fought before moving towards Musa. It was an uspec I had left for dead. Apparently, it had more life in it than I’d thought.

I turned back to face Musa and arched an eyebrow at the imp. “You would fight to defend me but not yourself?” I asked, my voice laden with shock, but also gratitude.

The imp shrugged. “I cannot die.” It replied with a smirk.

I chuckled. I was just about to respond to the imp when I saw the young uspec who had led us to the hovel, grab onto the bag still perched on the stool, and run in through the curtains behind the imp.

I was going to kill that uspec, I swore as I took a step towards the curtain.

A parade of armed uspecs walked out through those curtains before I could follow the foolish young uspec in.

“Master?” Musa asked, its voice breathy as it frowned in confusion at me. Noting the direction of my gaze, the imp turned around, and then lunged backwards when it saw the uspecs filing into the room through the curtains.

We inched backwards, both of us staring warily at the uspecs. We were standing in the center of the room when the flood of uspecs stopped. I counted eleven. The uspecs only had to take one look at the blood and gore littering the floor, to pull out their swords and attack.

“Musa…” I began.

The imp was way ahead of me. It bent to grab onto a discarded sword in the center of the room, and stood to its full height with its hand holding tightly to the hilt. We stood with our backs to each other, watching as the eleven uspecs moved around us, encircling the both of us.

Eleven against two, those were better odds than I had faced in some battles in the pits. I didn’t even bother reaching in for my emotions. It would have been easy to befuddle these uspecs by playing with their anger and pain as I had done countless times in the pits, but I found myself craving the joy of a simple battle. The emotions would always be there as a last resort if needed.

At once, the uspecs lurched towards us.

Musa and I fought as one. We fought with our backs to each other, fighting off five uspecs at a time. Soon, it all became a maze of thrusting metal and flying tentacles. Once they saw that fighting one-on-one against us wouldn’t work, a fact that was made clear by the three uspecs we’d killed, they tried to team up on us. Four of them went in on Musa, one of them approaching from its back. It did not have the field of view I did and so it could not see that uspec. I threw my dagger at the uspec instead, killing it with a well-aimed blow to its neck. Musa was left with more even odds of fighting the three in front of it.

I had allowed myself to get distracted with throwing the dagger at Musa’s assailant, and so I did not notice the tentacles in time. Three uspecs worked together, lashing out with their tentacles, to restrain my motion. Two of them I could have taken, but I found out that three was just enough to sufficiently restrain me. Another uspec ran towards me, its sword stretched out. Through my corner eye, I watched Musa’s face widen with shock as it noticed my plight. I shook my head, trying to tell it not to worry about me, but it did not seem to get the message, because it threw its weapon down, instead choosing to lay its hand flat against two of the uspec closest to it. One of those uspecs immediately turned to a mixture of green and black goo on the floor, while the other straightened immediately, its eyes moving, but the rest of its body stiff as a board. Musa turned to face the last uspec, just as I turned my attention to the uspec about to spear me with its sword.

Madosky112:
I love your works ObehiD,,,but what gift did MAXAD really give Nebud ,,"I have given you a gift return the favour, put me out of my misery"......hope is what am thinking.

Thank you...well, it depends on what you're thinking...I'll just let you keep thinking it

@dragonstar14 short I posted two whole parts instead of just one, lol, but I'm happy you're enjoying it enough to want more

@cassbeat Ah ah, I had to have suspense na, now you have something to look forward to for Wednesday

@Fazemood Lol, yeah, Nebud is harsh. Why do you dislike the uspecs? Maybe it's because we haven't seen a nice one yet...

@tunjilomo As in ehn, Nebud is feeling itself oh lol

@ayshow6102 Thank you! Wow, I'm soo happy you enjoyed Crimson Night that much, it really means a lot to me to hear you say that (more like see you type that ) So, all my other stuff (that's everything else in the Marked series) are actually unavailable now. Hopefully, the next Marked book will be officially published and released next year, so you should be able to read it then. I'll keep you informed. Till then, please just manage this story

@phoenixhcap Thank you! You're sooo right, I definitely need to proofread again. Believe it or not, I actually proofread about three times before I post, but there are still some things I miss, so thank you for pointing this out

@Botaflica Yeah, this is definitely another side of Nebud. Nebud is now literate, it now knows things and it's trying to pass off as the banneret it's claiming to be

@enamored1 Thank you, it's so great to have you back!

@popeshemoo lol! As in ehn, what Xavier would have done to that uspec, smh @Musa hahaha

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VOLUME FIVE
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~~~
SOARU
(A Spectral existence word which represents one of the five spectrums in the spectral existence. This word refers to the people of this spectrum, that is the uspecs of the Soaru spectrum who have tentacles as their distinctive feature. The uspecs in the Soaru spectrum are sometimes called cloud people as they are so tightly bound to the clouds in the spectral existence. As such, soaru eyes give an uspec the magic of the clouds, which allows them to use the clouds to change the form of a person, turning them into a different creature. The uspecs in the Soaru spectrum are bound to the sorrow emotion.)
~~~

Part 1
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The First Metropolis of Katsoaru (the spectral port which coincides with Katsina State, Nigeria)
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There were certain things which my recent education had taught me, knowledge of aspects of life in a soaru port which I had gleamed from the tomes. However, nothing could have prepared me for the feel of the air which surrounded us. As kute uspecs are drawn to okuns, soarus are drawn to the clouds. This was a fact which I’d known even before I began reading the tomes. Still, it was one thing to know it, and another entirely to feel it.

Somehow, the soaru uspecs had found a way to lower the clouds. I shook my head, reminding myself of the extent of my own knowledge. Location was one of the lifeforces. It was the lifeforce which was manipulated by quicksand whenever a thing was teleported. It was a magic of the uspecs eyes, a lifeforce controlled by spectra and not pansophy. So, then, spectra must have been used to change the location of the clouds bringing them closer to the ground.

And thus, the air appeared to be a mix of patches of stationary red clouds and lightly drifting fog.

Luckily, the entire lower area was not fully covered by the red clouds. I noticed that light, a pansophic lifeforce, had been taken from the patches of clouds which filled the air, so that the clouds were not luminescent, like the ones above. The strangeness of the patches of clouds spotting the area quickly faded as we made our way down the windy streets. The feeling of them however, was a whole different matter.

The clouds filled the air with a term which Musa had helpfully described as ‘humidity’. It seemed impervious to the stickiness of the drops of pink liquid visibly floating in the air. I, however, could not stand them. I hated the way the liquid clung to my skin as I walked about, giving the feeling of wetness without the pleasure of immersion in okun. It was a feeling made even more disconcerting by the addition of the drying heat provided by the drifting fogs. I would take a step and find my green skin suddenly spotted with pink liquid, and in another step find myself partially dried, only to be dotted by the drops allover again.

We were in the Acropolis, the capital burg of the port of Katsoaru. I could not say with any certainty why I had chosen this burg over the others, save that I had been drawn to it in an inexplicable manner. Like Lastmain, this place was also clearly secluded. Unlike the walls which charted off the different areas of the burg, the parts of this city were cordoned off by hardened ‘chilled cloud’, the soaru equivalent to the lit okun.

Walking down the streets of the area filled by commoner’s dwellings, I was made aware of the stark differences between this burg and Lastmain. There was more of a structure to the array of dwellings. Though they were made of the same common materials of baked sludge and wood, the dwellings were arranged in pleasing rows with clusters of varyingly colored vegetation decorating the sides of the streets.

A cluster of uspecs passed by me. They bowed in greeting as they walked the faint greetings of ‘salutations noble one’ going unanswered as I plunged ahead on my path. I noticed that these commoners appeared much different from most that I had seen. In this burg, the commoners without eyes were few, far outnumbered by the vast majority having two eyes. There was something unique about the eyes they bore.

The purpose of collecting eyes was to gain spectra. To this end, imp eyes had to be collected first. However, of all the uspecs I saw, none of them had imp eyes. Their filled outer eye-sockets contained uspec eyes. Which meant that despite the eyes they had gained, they had no spectra, no magic. I wondered at this awing sight as I turned my attention to the second most distinguishing attribute of these uspecs.

They wore clothes.

I had seen uspecs were clothes in Hakute. Those uspecs had been few, restricted to the nobles, like Fajahromo and the members of the plenum. But here, in this Acropolis, the majority of the commoners and imps were clothed. The uspecs wore clothes, seemingly made of leather. The majority wore black leather trousers like the ones I had only seen imps wear, and leather shirts with holes cut out for their ailerons. So the only parts of their bodies visible, were their cyan tentacles, the soaru feature, which extended from their waists, the green ailerons which sprouted from their backs, and their heads and necks.

Upon entering this port and seeing the strangely garbed uspecs, Musa had suggested that I purchase leather clothes like they ones they wore. It explained that it helped to ease the discomfort of the humidity. My answering glare was so severe, it refrained from any further deliberations on the issue.

“How much further?”

Musa turned, “only a few more minutes till we reach a reputable portal, master.” I nodded, my gaze darting back to the street where two uspecs lumbered towards us. “If you are weary, master, perhaps you can heed my suggestion and place your satchel bag into the coffer.”

I cuffed the imp on the back of its head. “I told you not to bring that up again.” I chided, my lips quivering as I struggled to contain the laugh bubbling up in me at the affronted look on Musa’s face.

Rubbing the back of its head, it muttered, “it was only a suggestion.”

An uspec walking by the imp swayed heavily. It moved abruptly to the left, with so much force that Musa was knocked to the floor. Our moving coffer trailed Musa so closely that the imp’s side scraped against the corner of the object.

I lashed out with my right hand, pulling the imp to its feet. I made sure Musa was okay, before releasing it. I turned my fury on a much more deserving target, the uspec that had lumbered into us.

The uspec had almost walked past us. I struck out with my right hand, grateful in that moment for its length, and wrapped my fingers around the uspec’s throat. I squeezed with so much effort, I knew it would only be seconds before the uspec died.

“Master!” Musa cried out, the alarm in its voice palpable enough to make me lessen my grip on the uspec.

I turned to the imp, the eyebrow above my center eye rising in question.

With its left arm outstretched, it pointed at a spot behind me. “Your bag master!” Musa cried. “That uspec stole your bag!”

It wasn’t till Musa mentioned it, that I became aware of the loss of weight on my left shoulder. I stared dumbly at my left shoulder, my eyes widened in shock as I watched the offending appendage, waiting to see the strap which I had tasked its bearing to. When the satchel bag did not miraculously appear on my shoulder, my shock turned into fury.

Immediately, I turned to stare at the area which Musa had pointed at. If there had been an uspec standing there before, the uspec was gone.

With the entirety of my fortune.

All of the money was in that satchel bag. I had not had the foresight to divide it, perhaps put some in the coffer which I had spent a fortune on. What would become of my mission? I had no money, not even a single piece of value on me. Perhaps I could sell the coffer and the tomes which I had accumulated over the course of our trip on the inter-port trail. If I was able to sell them at the value which I had purchased them, I would be left with little over half a piece of worth.

That was simply inconceivable. I had to get my fortune back.

A slight pull on my right fingers told me that the uspec which I had captured for carelessly running into Musa was trying to extricate itself from my grasp. I turned the full strength of my wrath on that uspec. I squeezed, the anger I felt at the loss of my bag making me delirious. It was all this uspec’s fault. If it had not distracted me by bumping into my imp, I would not have been distracted enough to let another uspec steal my fortune.

The uspec’s fingers rose to its neck. It tried without success to pull my hand off it. It was so short, shorter even than Musa was, that when I grabbed it, its legs had lifted off the ground. Now those legs swung in the air as it struggled, fighting off its inevitable asphyxiation.

The uspec’s moving legs begun to slow and its fingers start to slip as it made the plunge towards the abyss. Its struggling stopped and its hands fell back to its sides, its head no longer thrashing from left to right.

I frowned, my eyes narrowing at its face. There was something slightly familiar about this uspec.

My hand jerked off the uspec’s neck once I realized why it appeared familiar. It was the uspec I had seen walking towards me with another, swaying as they walked, as if they were inebriated. The uspec fell from my hand and landed on the foam floor.

Its lips parted as it struggled to breathe. Its weakened state gave me time to think. Both uspecs had been walking towards us. I remembered them, because they happened to be part of the minority of uspecs with only a single center eye on their face. There had also been something strange about their dressing. Unlike the other uspecs who wore sleeves to cover their arms, the uspecs had worn shirts which stopped at the shoulders.

As soon as the uspec gathered enough strength to rise, it pushed itself up by its elbows, and tried to drag itself away. I kicked the uspec in its stomach, knocking the breath out of it, then I stepped on the uspec’s back, putting enough force in my leg to ensure that the uspec stayed down.

Then I turned to Musa. Musa’s head dropped immediately. “Forgive me master, by the time I noticed the bag was gone, the uspec was already running away. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You could have run after it.” I stated drily, somehow managing to keep the anger out of my voice.

“What could I have done when I found it?” it demanded. “Am I to attack an uspec?”

“In the protection of my possessions?” I asked, my voice raising to a yell as my barely restrained anger came frothing out of my mouth. “Of course!” I spat out.

“But master…”

“Shut up!” I cut the imp off as I noticed the uspec beginning to wiggle underneath me. I rose the leg on the uspec’s back off and brought it down with more force. The uspec let out a loud cry of pain. The tentacles around its waist lifted then, rising to grab onto my foot.

How had I not noticed that this uspec’s tentacles were not fully grown? It had only three outer eye sockets formed, and partially grown tentacles. A young then, I thought, as I bent, lowering myself to the uspec’s level. I pulled out my dagger from my belt, and cut off each of the tentacles which the uspec had wrapped around my ankle in its attempt to pry my foot off.

The uspec’s cry of pain grew even louder then.

“Please!” It begged, its shrieking voice pulling even more attention to us.

“Stay put!” I snapped at the uspec, stressing my point by driving the heel of my foot into its side with more force. When the uspec made another pathetic cry of pain, I put even more force on my foot. The uspec quickly got the message. It reduced its cries to sobs which were easier to tone out.

I stood back to my full height, wiping the blood off my dagger as I stared at the uspecs who had now stopped to watch us. With raised eyebrows, I dared the uspecs to interfere. None of them did. They simply cast pitying glances at the uspec beneath my foot and continued on their way.

I turned back to face Musa. “While you were watching a thief steal my bag, did you manage to see the clothes it wore?” I asked drily, my scathing tone extracting a shocked gasp from the imp.

I did not understand this imp. It could fight. A year spent fighting for three hours everyday told me this. Sure, in pugilism it could not match the strength of my blows, but what it lacked in brute strength, it made up for with cunning and quick movement. I had learned to move better from training with this imp, it had kept me, the greatest fighter in the pits of Hakute, on my toes. What chance then would a tiny drunk uspec have against it? None! And Musa knew that. It had probably chosen to stay by my side and point foolishly at the thief running away with my fortune, simply to prove its point about me carrying my satchel bag, as opposed to heeding its suggestions and placing it in the coffer. I had never been more angry with, or disappointed in, this imp.

“Answer my question Musa.”

“Yes master.” Its voice shook. It did not bow its head though, it looked me in the eye when it nodded with its response.

“What did the shirt it wore look like?”

“It looked normal.” The imp replied. “It was made of light brown leather. Perhaps slightly stained, like clothes would be if lain in sludge without properly washing.”

“Was the shirt sleeveless?” I asked. “Perhaps like the one this fool is wearing.” I gestured with a jerk of my head to the uspec laying on the floor underneath my foot. I felt the uspec shake lightly and so I put a bit more pressure on it.

The corners of Musa’s lips crept up, its mouth forming into what looked like the beginning of a smile.

“Don’t you dare smile!” I snapped, cutting that foolishness off before it could take root. I was just angry enough to truly hurt it. My previous inattention to the purchase of a master’s whip, suddenly seemed like folly. I would correct that as soon as I retrieved my wealth, I decided. The dark thought lessened some of the anger I felt.

Musa’s face returned to its previous solemnity. “Yes master,” the imp said, “the uspec’s shirt was without a sleeve. Just like that one.”

I nodded, turning around to face the uspec lying underneath my foot. Reaching down, I grabbed onto the uspec’s shoulders and flipped it so that it lay with its head up, its tear-filled eyes staring beseechingly at me.

With my body still bent, I lowered so that my right knee was on the uspec’s stomach. It cringed from the added weight, but from the way it pulled in its lips, I could tell that it was fighting to keep from crying out.

Staring into the uspec’s eyes, I contemplated all the ways that I could extract the knowledge I needed. There was the easiest of course, pansophy. Musa could go into the uspec’s head and pull out its memory. From that the imp would know where its friend had taking my fortune. For some reason, I found that option unpalatable. I was angry, and I was not yet willing to take that anger out on the imp who had simply watched my bag get stolen. Why not take the anger out on the uspec instead? The one who had set me up for the mugging. Yes, I thought, a malicious grin forming on my face, I would love to take my anger out on this uspec.

Without uttering a word, I punched the uspec once in its face. The sound of its nose breaking had the potency of a cooling ointment applied to my boiling anger. Blood seeped out of the uspec’s nose. Before it could part its lips to cry out in pain, I followed the first blow with another to its throat.

While the uspec was still gasping for air, I spoke. “I am only going to ask this once, so think carefully before you answer.” I paused to give my words time to sink in. “Where is my bag?”

A part of me hoped that the uspec would lie.

Part 7
-------

We veered off the straight path, taking a left onto a side trail. Unlike the path we had just been on, the one we detoured into was empty. Our newly purchased coffer moved beside us, chained by thought to the tag hanging off a string on Musa’s neck. The key to the coffer was also attached to that string.

I glanced at the coffer, noting the smooth black finish of the sides. This coffer had cost a fortune, five hundred pieces of merit – half a piece of worth – to be exact. There had been other ones of similar sizes. The cheapest ones were made out of wood, and had wheels attached to the bottom with a handle which had to be pulled. Those ran for a few hundred pieces of value. But this one, was a rare beauty. It was made completely of fog. Like all coffers, the top of the box was made of opaque fog which could only be removed with the key. Unlike those though, the rest of the box was made of solid fog, fog which had been given form. Motion and thought had also been added to the solid fog, so that the coffer moved on its own, following the tag which Musa wore. It was the most secure of all coffers, because solid fog was the only material which could not be broken, and the lid, well the lid was my favorite part. Like every other door, the lid had life and thought, which ensured that any part of the body which went into it without a key, would lose the ability to sustain life. So, if a hand went into the lid without a key, that hand would return lifeless to the owner. At that point, the hand would be just as useful if it was cut off.

I was really starting to like pansophy. While it was a form of magic which I could not possess, it was one that I had dedicated a lot of time to studying. We had spent fifteen months on the trail, three months longer than was necessary, because I found out that there was a rare pansophy tome available in only one market on the trail. It had taken us a month and half to reach that market, and the same amount of time to get back on the right trail. After reading through the tome twice, I could say with certainty that the detour was worth it.

I stopped, gesturing with a jerk of my head to the wall which we’d come onto this path in search of. After walking a few steps closer to the red wall, I scoured the surface searching for the slightly darker patch of red which I expected to see there. From the thought drop, I knew that the patch was the exit key which led to Katsoaru. After fifteen long months, we had finally reached our destination.

The patch of dark red was made in the shape of a handprint. I wondered, as I placed my left hand flat against the print, if it had actually been made from an uspec’s hand. From the way the outline far exceeded mine, I knew that if that was the case, it would have to have come from a large uspec.

A wall of dark grey fog, similar to the one in the room which had led us to the inter-port trail, appeared in the middle of the path, a few paces in front of me.

“This is the exit.” I said unnecessarily, fully aware that Musa would already know this.

“Yes master.” Musa replied with a smile on its face.

It remained as it had been, standing in front of the wall of fog, which completely took up the path, blocking off view of the rest of the walkway behind it. It watched me, the smile still on its face.

“Are we leaving master?” Musa prompted, its voice sounding a little more mocking than I would like.

I shook my head and chuckled. “I am suddenly feeling…”

“Sentimental?” Musa provided when I trailed off, suddenly finding myself short of words.

I turned to smile at the imp. “Foolish right?”

“Not at all master. The months we spent walking this trail were months of firsts for you. You learnt to read here, learnt fluency in one foreign tongue and competency in the others. Your first discovery of the pleasure of tomes was uncovered here. I think this was like a hiatus, a break from the real world. Now we must return. I feel sentimental too.”

I nodded. Taking a deep breath, I brought my hand down from the handprint in the wall, and walked towards the wall of fog. I paused, just a step away from it, and turned my back on it, to stare down the path of red. It was the middle of the day, so orange light streamed in, mixing its hue with that of the red from the clouds. I knew that down, back on the tropospheric region, the lighting would not be so pure, and the ground not so soft. Discounting the experiences in the inn, and the night when Xavier had broken into our dwelling, the journey on the trail had been peaceful. Musa and I had lived in our own world. We had gone from speaking soaru on the trail, to boga, then mejo and then hooni. Soaru and hooni were the foreign tongues I spoke best, but I could pass muster with the other two. Our sword-spars had morphed into dagger throwing exercises, and then finally to pugilism, when Musa had decided there was nothing more it could teach me about fighting with the cutlass. My own readings had revealed much about the world which I had not known before. I could pass as a noble now, I was certain of it. Yet, there was hesitation, the voices in my head whispering for me to take more time. A few more months, there were still tomes for me to read, lessons to absorb.

With a shake of my head, I pushed those thoughts away. Perfection was unattainable without practice. I had to live the lie before I could become it. Reading about it was not enough.

“You know what I’m looking forward to most?”

Chuckling, Musa replied. “A real okun, probably a canal with raining liquid, like the one in the resort.”

I frowned, wondering how the imp had known exactly what I was thinking.

Musa scoffed. “You are kute master, it is not so hard to guess.”

I walked into the wall of fog with a smile on my face.

The room we were taken to was one with sludge walls and the foam floor. We arrived at the back of the filled room. With the exception of the wall in the front of the room, which was broken into several narrow slots of fog, it was just as the room which had led us into the inter-port trail. I knew now that the rooms were called hangars. They were the only places linked to the inter-port trail; there was only one in every port.

In front of us, several lines formed, leading to a table manned by uspecs. Unlike the last time, I knew better than to stand at the back of a line, waiting my turn.

“Out of my way.” I ordered.

The commoner standing in front of me turned to regard me. As soon as its single center eye took in the silver on my body, it bowed slightly, stepped out of the way, and poked the uspec standing in front of it. One uspec at a time, a path was cleared from where I had been standing at the back of the room, to the front, with the table.

There was an uspec being attended to at the front of the line. As a noble, I had the right to cut the uspec off, and step in to take its place. But I decided against it.

“Salutations banneret.” A voice called from beside me, speaking in the soaru tongue.

I turned to my right to find an uspec with a silver headband on its head, and silver sleeves covering each of the tentacles springing out of its waist. From the headband, I knew that the uspec was an adherent, a made noble who received its position by serving as an advisor to the Kaiser. The sigil on the noble’s headband was that of the Kaiser of Katsoaru. This was no visiting uspec then.

“Salutations adherent.” I greeted in reply.

The uspec nodded at me, before walking around the table, into one of the slots of grey fog at the head of the room. Unlike me, the noble one would not need a visitors tag to move freely through the streets of Katsoaru, in fact, no soaru uspec would. Those tags were only required for uspecs of the other spectrums.

The commoner in front of me finished speaking to the uspec standing behind the table. It left, and I walked up to take its place.

“Salutations noble one.” The uspec behind the table bowed in greeting.
I nodded in response.

The uspec rose its head. “Where do you hale from noble one, and what is your business in this port?”

I knew that the questions were required, but I could not stifle my irritation. I glared at the uspec. It had one outer eye on its face, and all the other sockets formed. This uspec had the bulk of a fighter. A guard I decided, when I saw the sword hanging from a belt on its waist.

“Hakute.” I replied simply. “I am here to visit Katsoaru.”

The uspec nodded, accepting my lie.

“The visitors tag for a noble costs a piece of merit.” It stated.

I nodded. “And the imp?” I tipped my head back towards Musa.

The uspec did not even look at it. “Nobles can bring in up to five imps for free.”

Reaching downward, I slipped my hand into the satchel bag. More than a year of shopping at markets had taught me the difference in the feel of the different types of currency. I knew by touch that the piece I now felt was merit. I pulled it out of my bag, wondering for the hundredth time since I’d spent a fortune on the coffer, why I didn’t just put my wealth in there.

Once I began buying tomes, I realized that it was impractical to expect Musa to take on all the weight. We’d bought another sack bag for the tomes, but they soon became heavy enough that even I did not want the burden of carrying them as we walked each day. Musa had suggested an obvious solution, which was trading in the tomes which I had already read for new ones. But I found myself unwilling to part with any of them. Each tome told a different story which I found much to learn from, and I decided, each one would make a good reference in the future. I would not have wasted my money or my time reading it, if it was not in some way relevant. The other alternative was to let Musa take some form away from the tomes. Apparently, they could be lightened by removing some of the form. But as pansophy was a transfer magic, the form had to go somewhere. A single day of trying to walk and talk to a Musa with more form, showed that was also not a long-term solution.

And thus, the coffer was bought. It was large enough to take all of my tomes and all of our bags. Of course Musa had gasped at the price I was willing to pay, but then I considered it worth it. Perhaps, at the time, I had thought the coffer would carry my wealth. In that case, I wanted the best that existed. So then why was the satchel bag still hanging from my shoulders?

With a sigh, I pulled the piece of merit out of my bag and placed it on the table. The uspec picked up the piece and bent down to a compartment hidden on the other side of the table. When it rose to its full height, it placed two small slips of paper on the table. Those papers had markings on them, the marks of a Katsoaru visitor I guessed.

I picked up both slips, passed one back to Musa, and placed the other on my chest. I knew that the moment the thought in the slip of paper sensed the life in me, the appearance of the marking would be transferred from the slip, to my skin. It would stay on my skin until I left Katsoaru.

Done with transferring the markings, Musa and I placed the blank slips of paper on the table.

The uspec scooped them up into its hand.

With a bow, and a gesture towards the side of the long table, it said, “Welcome to Katsoaru, noble one. I hope you enjoy your stay.”

With a nod, I dismissed the uspec’s greetings. We walked around the table, to the open space between the end of the table and the sludge wall. As I stepped into the grey fog, the uspec’s words echoed through my head,

‘Welcome to Katsoaru.’

At long last, I was finally here. The words in my mind seemed to prompt another response.

‘Marcinus’s eye.’

The voice in my head said as the fog swallowed me up, reminding me of my true purpose for coming to this port.

phoenixchap:
ObehiD we are waiting on you.

I'm here, come and read!

@Botaflica Thank you I agree something big is about to happen

@popeshemoo I like that, Xavier is more like a thug. Xavier vs Musa...should I say who I'll pick? No, I'll keep it to myself so that I don't spoil anything

@Fazemood Hahaha, it could definitely be interesting if the imps decided to rise up against the uspecs. I don't know how that will go though. The imps may be more, but uspecs have spectra which imps have to siphon. And spectra is not a contact magic so they can attack the imps before the imps could even use pansophy on them. But imps could make themselves invisible (the ones with pansophy at least)...yeah, that would be interesting lol. So, yes, it is possible for imps to exist without uspecs. They just won't have a very good quality of life, without spectra.

@phoenixchap thank you. I agree that there are secrets that Xavier is keeping, hopefully Nebud learns to protect itself and not rely so much on Musa...

“What?”

“Six months ago, you were in an inn with two nobles, one of those nobles died.” I nodded. “Well, Tantan is the one who was seated beside you, the one that died was Reynard.”

I shrugged, remembering the occurrence. Even the names seemed vaguely familiar. “What does any of that have to do with me?” With a frown I added, “or with you.”

“Tantan, the noble from the inn, is a friend of the wrath. Reynard, on the other hand, is an enemy. It is skilled in spectra, and so Tantan helped us lure Reynard into the inter-port trail, the one place in the spectral existence where spectra does not work. It was built to give the ultimate power to the pious, the ones with pansophy. We just used that to our advantage. After I killed Reynard, I had to make sure that Tantan was not caught and questioned, so I took its appearance and transferred it to a lifelike doll of it, making it easier for Tantan to escape. I thought I had the doll in my hand. But, in the shock of the escape, I must have dropped it. It has taken me a long time, but I have gone back and checked with every single person who could have come across the doll, none of them have it. You are the last.”

“Why would I help you?” I asked. “Why would I help an uspec who teams up with imps against its own kind?”

“Don’t you remember anything from that day? The murder was not meant to happen in that inn. Tantan was meant to negotiate for Reynard to come to a more discreet location, but it gave off the sign for me to kill Reynard in that inn, because it did not want you to answer the question that Reynard asked. That is the kind of person Tantan is, it cares for all, imps and uspecs alike.”

“It did not care for the uspec it helped you kill.”

“Reynard was not a good person.” I shrugged, showing how little I cared for the imp’s predicament. Xavier sighed. “Tantan saved you from having to publicly declare a side in this war. It did you a favor, I am only asking that you return its kindness.” Xavier pleaded.

I exhaled, relaxing my grip on the hilt of the cutlass, but not pulling it out. “I did not see any doll.” I stated. “I do not have this Tantan’s appearance.”

“Please Nebud. Without its appearance Tantan cannot return to its life.”

I glared at the imp. “I just told you that I do not have it. Are you calling me a liar?”

Xavier’s head drooped slightly, almost making it appear as if it was bowing to me. Knowing the imp, I knew that was not the case. “No Nebud, I am not.” Its head rose back up. Staring into my center eye it said, “but I need to make sure. For the sake of the history we share, for your offspring we both cared for, please, let me make sure.”

‘For your offspring we both cared for’

A hot wave of anger coursed through me, rocking me with its virulence. I was furious. I was enraged that Xavier would dare bring up the offspring that I had lost, the one that Fajahromo had taken from me.

“Put the bag down and get out of my dwelling, before I decide that your head would look better on the floor than it does on your neck.” I growled, somehow managing to keep the words audible despite my anger.

“Let me touch you, let me into your memory. Just one glimpse into your head. That’s all I ask for. Please. I have been in your head before, we both know it.”

I could not believe the gall of the imp!

“You owe me!” it spat the words out, as if it had read my mind and knew that I planned to sever its head from its body. “I saved your life Nebud. If it wasn’t for me, you would still be in the pits of Hakute. No, actually, you would have died in the pits of Hakute. You owe me.”

“I owe you nothing.” I snapped. “We had a bargain. You set me free and in exchange I freed you of the polluted emotions which plagued you. We both held up our end of the deal. No one received any favors.” I stopped to inhale and then I stated coldly, “drop the bag, and get out of my dwelling. I will not say it again.”

Xavier’s mouth opened.

I pushed the cutlass even deeper into its neck. I knew imps could not die, a fact that was made even more evident by the amount of blood which now pooled on the ground by the imp’s feet. But I also now knew, that when the imp’s were given sight, the pious ones ensured that the sight stayed in their eye sockets. If they lost their head, they would go blind. They would have to wait for their head to grow back and then find away to gain more sight, in order to see. Not a delightful prospect.

It took a deep breath and then it exhaled. “Okay.” It acquiesced.

I took the cutlass out of its neck, and moved back, far away that it could take the bag off, but not so far that I wouldn’t have the cutlass back on it, if it tried to run away with my wealth.

I watched the imp as it bent to pull the dagger out of its hand. It dropped the dagger onto the floor and then, with its bleeding right hand, it took my satchel bag off. It extended the bag to me.

I pointed with my cutlass to a spot on the floor which wasn’t filled with imp blood.

Xavier smiled. “I had to try.” It said, referring to the fact that if it had gotten me to take the bag from it, it would have been able to touch me, which was why I had refused. The imp dropped the bag on its left, away from the entrance. “You have changed Nebud.” After saying the words, its gaze drifted to Musa again, as if it knew that Musa was somehow responsible for this change. Again, I had that tingling feeling that it knew my imp. “Not for the better,” it said, as it took a step towards the curtained entrance, “but also not for the worst.” Then it slipped behind the curtain and it was gone.

I brought my cutlass down and turned to face Musa. It quickly averted its gaze, its eye sockets turning from me to the bag on the floor. “You had an offspring?” it asked, its voice filled with pity.

“No.” I replied.

Musa’s head turned, its gaze snapping back to me.

“How do you know Xavier?” I demanded.

Musa’s eyelids dropped, partially covering the sockets. “It is a member of the wrath.”

“The wrath?” I asked flatly, hoping that the imp could tell from my tone that I was in no mood for equivocation.

“Yes master. The wrath of Sada, it is an imp resistance group.”

“Resisting what?”

I heard the shock in its voice as it replied, “slavery master.”

“Again, how do you know Xavier?”

Musa’s shoulders sagged. “He tried to recruit me for the wrath. They like to get imps with pansophy. Their main aim is to revive all the sapped imps by giving them a boost of growth. They have a growth cache, so they have been successful in the past, in helping sapped imps, but they need imps with pansophy, and experience in fighting and strategy, to help break into yielder camps and get the sapped imps out.”

“Why aren’t you with them?” I asked carefully. “Why would you not help your own kind?”

“They came to me when I served the Kaisers of Lahooni. The Kaisers were my family, I thought of them as my own kind.”

“And now?”

Musa looked at me, but it did not respond. A little voice in my head told me to prod it, I wanted to hear it say that it would choose me over the imps, just as it had done for my ancestors. “The wrath of Sada.” I said instead, committing the name to memory. “What is Sada?”

“The god of the fourth existence. The imps choose that god as our own.”

I understood why imps would not want to serve Chuspecip, but, “what of the god of the umanis? The god you served in your previous life?”

“We choose to serve the one god that is yet to fail us.”

Musa’s words, and the tone in which it had proclaimed them, was disconcerting. It considered being sent to this existence a betrayal by its god? I looked at the imp’s face and decided not to press the matter. “We should go back to bed.” I stated instead.

“I’ll clean up the blood and your weapons first master.”

I shook my head. “They can wait till the morning.”

“It’s easier while it’s still wet.” Musa pushed.

I shrugged. “Do as you will. I am going back to bed.” I walked over to the wall, picked up my bloodstained dagger, and then I placed the strap of the satchel bag on my shoulder. I walked back towards my room, feeling more exhausted than I’d been before Xavier had broken in.

I still couldn’t believe it. Of all the imps in the spectral existence, it had to be Xavier. I should have cut off the imp’s head, I thought, as I walked into my room.

I placed my cutlass and dagger on the bed, and prepared to climb onto it, when I heard a tentative call of “master” from the door. I turned back around, my eyebrow raised up in question.

Musa walked into the room. It had its hands behind its back. I could sense its hesitation, before it pulled its hands out from behind it, revealing a green figurine. It extended its hand, offering the object to me.

“What is it?” I asked, a frown forming on my face as I picked it up. It did not take me long to figure it out for myself.

Tantan’s appearance.

The figurine was an exact replica of the uspec, down to the furrows on its body. It was more real than any painting could be.

“Tantan’s appearance.” Musa confessed. “I found it on the floor and took it.”

Anger boiled in me as I turned my stunned gaze from the imp to the doll in my hand.

Musa rushed to explain. “It was only insurance master. I thought, if we had the appearance, and were questioned by the pious, then we could bargain the uspec’s appearance for our safety.” It fell silent then. It’s head dropped. “I should have told you. Please forgive me.”

My hand formed into a fist around the doll.

“Musa.” I said, once I felt calm enough to speak.

“Yes master.” It replied, its head still bent in a bow.

“Don’t ever keep anything like this from me again. Do you understand me?”

“Yes master.”

Part 6
--------

Pictures floated in my mind as I pondered on the tale of the annexation of Aboga, another Uspecipyte port which had been turned into a forgotten kingdom by a Kuworyte port. There were still portions of the story that I found troubling. The tome which I’d read had been written by a halcyon serving the conquering Kuworyte port. It had read more like fiction than fact. There were a number of battle feats the halcyon claimed glory for, which were just impossible. Like the second battle in the tome which had been fought in the main hamlet of the last burg of the second metropolis. The halcyon claimed that it led a troop of thirty green uspecs surrounded by fog with liquid suspended in it, a flow fog. Not just that, the halcyon also claimed that there were three hundred well-seasoned Aboga fighters on the other side of the flow fog. Yet somehow, this halcyon had managed to cross a flow fog and defeat the three hundred expert fighters with its thirty raw recruits.

What rubbish! The flow fog were to boga spectrums what the lit okun was to the kute. It was the origination point for the frosted beasts, and like the lit okun, it was lethal to walk into. Yet this halcyon, a noble whose position was bought not earned, one who had never fought a day in its life before the wars in Aboga, claimed that it had walked into a flow fog and survived. Now, I had walked into a lit okun, and so I knew that it was possible to survive it, but the lit okun, like a flow fog, was selective. In all my readings, there had never been a case where a group walked in and all walked out alive. Yet this halcyon had somehow managed it. Not just that, but without any superior military tactics, it claimed to have killed three hundred expert warriors, fighting in their own terrain, with only thirty soldiers, all as green as the halcyon who commanded them. And people believed this?

A creaking sound pulled me out of my silent ruminations. I lay still, unmoving in my bed, my eyes shut as they were before I heard the sound. I waited, listening to see if I had just imagined the sounds I had heard. The creaking sound was followed by a shuffling sound, as if something was being dragged across a surface…or out of a closet. As soon as I realized that I was not alone in my room, I stretched out my hand for the dagger which I had taken to sleeping with.

I sat up, opened my eyes, and threw the dagger towards the open cupboard, all at the same time.

I hadn’t stopped to look at the target of my dagger, if not, I would have noticed my satchel bag floating in mid-air. I frowned, my confused gaze locked on the bag which now appeared to be hanging unsupported in the air, and the dagger which also seemed to be floating in the air. I blinked, wondering all of a sudden if I was imagining what I was seeing.

Seconds ticked by in which nothing happened. The cupboard door remained slightly parted, the bag rested in the air, and the dagger remained as it was, hovering in the air.

Then, with a loud clang, the dagger fell onto the floor. The strap of the satchel bag lifted up, all by itself, and then hung, as if from a support. Then the bag began moving, away from the cupboard, to the center of the room, and then towards the door.

My confusion grew, as my mind struggled to provide explanations for what I had seen.

Then the answer hit me at once. Pansophy, I thought, jumping off my bed. I pulled the cyan cutlass out of the sheath in the belt which hung from a post in the bed, and ran towards the cupboard, where the dagger was. I picked up the dagger, a cyan marvel which I had acquired four months into our travel in the trail, and ran out of my room.

“Master?” Musa called out, running out of its room. The four tier dwellings had so many rooms that I saw no need to share one with the imp. But it always slept in the room closest to mine. “What is it master?” it asked, blinking repeatedly, as if trying to get its bearing. A quick glance in its direction was enough to tell me that the imp had just woken up. Unlike me, it’d had no difficulties falling asleep.

“A thief.” I replied, whispering as I ran towards the entrance. These dwelling were like mazes of identical rooms. It had taken a whole week of sleeping in identical ones, before I was able to get to the entrance to the dwelling, from my room, in one try. With any luck, the thief would have just as much difficulty as I used to.

I got to the entrance, just in time to see my satchel bag moving in the air, by the wall. I could see the bag scraping against the wall, but I could not hear it. The thief must have taken the bag’s sound then, making any noise it would normally make inaudible.

With my left hand, I threw my dagger at the wall, aiming for the thief’s arm. A sharp intake of breath told me that I had hit my target. I grinned, running towards it. The dagger was stuck to a spot in the wall, by the bag. I assumed that was where the thief’s hand was, but as the thief was without its appearance, I could not tell exactly. A thief with pansophy. I contemplated that as I rushed to a stop in front of the wall.

I got there just in time to see the dagger being pulled out of the wall. I heard nothing coming from the thief and wondered if that was because it was enduring the pain, or because it had decided to transfer its sound from its vocal cords to another part of its body. I did not spend to much time contemplating the cause of the imp’s muteness. I struck out with my cutlass, aiming the sharp end right above the highest point of the bag strap. If the strap was hanging from the invisible thief’s shoulder, which from the way the bag rested in the air, I assumed it was, then, my target was the thief’s neck. I put a bit of force into the swinging blade. It was enough to make sure that the blade got into the thief’s neck, but not enough to cut the head clean off the shoulders. I wanted to see the thief before I killed it.

I knew that my cutlass had struck true, when the thief let out a pained cry. The dagger was no longer moving. Instead, I felt resistance on the cutlass, and saw blood on two spots in the blade. From the spilled blood now staining my cyan cutlass, I could tell that one end of the cutlass was nudged in the thief’s neck, and the thief had grabbed onto the blade on the other end. It had probably hoped that the cutlass was made out of pansophic metal.

It wasn’t. Luckily Musa had made sure of that before buying the weapon.

“Show yourself.” I ordered.

There was silence. The resistance which I had felt on the cutlass went away, as if the thief’s invisible hand had been removed. I put more pressure on the hilt, pushing the blade even deeper into the thief’s neck. “Don’t make me repeat myself.” I warned, when the silence persisted. “Right now I’m curious, in five seconds I won’t be, and your head won’t be on your body.”

“Put down your weapon, I command you in the name of the Order of Adjudication.” The thief said. There was something familiar about its voice. I frowned wondering if perhaps it was one of the arbiters which I had heard on that day, six months ago, when the noble had died, and I had been questioned.

I was almost fooled, and perhaps, six months ago, before I had started reading my tomes, I would have been. A month after the run-in with the pious ones in that inn, Musa had declared me literate enough to educate myself on the finer points of society by reading tomes. I had started with the smaller ones, and found that I was thirsty for the knowledge. In the early days, I had especially loved the ones with pictures. Now, I read tomes containing the epics of made nobles. I learned the tales of courage and daring that preceded the appointing of some of the greatest bannerets. I learned the feats of brilliance which had led to the designation of some of the smartest adherents. And I learned the amounts of wealth merchants had paid to have their status lifted from commoner to halcyon, the last type of made noble. In all these tomes, I had come across offhand references made from the pious of the order of adjudication. And in all of the outcalls which arbiters made, they always began with the same words, ‘in the name of the Order of Adjudication…’, the order was always named before the command, not after it.

This thief was no arbiter.

I smirked at the thief. Although, since it was without its appearance, I could not see its face, I knew that it could see mine. “Nice try.” I mocked. “Reveal yourself, imposter, or lose your head.” Then I pushed the cutlass deeper into the thief’s neck for emphasis.

The tremor was so slight, it shocked me that I had caught it. But I had, and so I could tell that the thief had taken a step forward. I took a step back and moved the cutlass so far into its neck that half of the blade was now stained with blood. The blood dripped from the blade onto the floor of the dwelling.

“Take another step towards me and I’ll cut.” I would not let this thief close enough to touch me, and then use its pansophy on me.

The thief sighed. “I did not bring my appearance with me, so even if I wanted to comply with your demands, I could not.”

“Too bad.” I replied, deciding that I had run out of patience. I pushed the cutlass in, preparing to cut the head off, take my bag, and return to my bed to get what little sleep I could.

“Wait!” the thief yelled.

Bit by bit, the thief’s form was revealed. My first shock was seeing that the thief was actually an imp, not an uspec as I had thought. My second shock, I thought with a scowl on my face, was that I knew this imp.

“Xavier.”

The imp’s empty eye-sockets widened. Its eyebrows pulled together in shock, its left blood-stained hand scratching its forehead. Its other hand was pinned to the wall by the cyan dagger I’d thrown. I hadn’t even noticed the blood dripping from that dagger onto the floor.

“Irira.” The imp’s voice was filled with shock. I pushed the cutlass even deeper into its neck until it said, “Nebud.” Even that, I did not appreciate. But knowing this imp, and the aversion it had to the title ‘domina’, I knew it would rather lose its head than call me that. “My god!” it exclaimed. “What…How…” its words trailed off, and a friendly smile lit its face. “It is good to see you my friend.”

A spark of anger ignited in me at hearing the imp’s words. I was so angry that I almost missed the look which it had given to my imp. Something about that look, left me with the odd feeling that this was not the first time that both imps had met. “I am no friend of yours.” I spat the words out. “Why are you here?”

The smile on Xavier’s face fell away. It cleared its throat. “I am here for Tantan’s appearance.” It replied solemnly, all of its previous joviality now gone.

phoenixchap:
This my ObehiD u keep getting better with time like fine wine... The Chasm was a nicely crafted piece and see how u unraveled it, good job why do I get the feeling that this Nebud will really be a big trouble in the write up, I hope Katsaoura does it for him

Thank you so much!!! I'm happy you're enjoying it like fine wine .

@popeshemoo Lol, I'm blushing here

@Fazemood Thank you . yeah, so you and popeshemoo are right, Osezele could not kill Musa in a fight with her skill set. It was actually one of the St. Luke's students that died in the Awakening, with the commune magic. So, the In between ended with the twins saying that they are going to confront Nebud about the imp. But we haven't seen the imp yet in Nebud's life. You have to remember that this story is the story of how Nebud came to be what it is. Right now we're still in the past, nowhere near the time that the other Marked books are based in. But we may or may not see that imp Osezele fought in this book (no spoilers )

@Dathypebruv hahaha, that is too funny. I haven't even started messing with your mind yet

@popeshemoo and Fazemood yes! It was the girl in Osezele's class that was killed during the attack. Exactly!

@ayshow6102 I'm so happy you caught up. Six hours to read the whole thing? Nice!!! So, I try to keep the updates regular at two updates per week. One chapter on Wednesday and the other on Saturday (both in the morning). You can read the first book set in the Marked Universe (Crimson Night) on okadabooks for free. The link is: https://okadabooks.com/book/about/Crimson_Night/25954. However, the other books in the series are not yet available. I've started the process of getting the series published, so I had to take down the last two books which I'd posted previously. I'm afraid you won't be able to read those ones until they're published. Soooo, glad that you're enjoying reading this.

@decoderdgenius thank you

@popeshemoo So sight is a lifeforce that is given to the imps, it is not siphoned and so it does not depend on any uspec. So yeah, the imps keep their sight forever.

@tunjilomo Hahaha, real stubborn, lol. Yes, you have, nice catch! Sada was mentioned in the last book in reference to an imp and the fourth existence. But mainly in the fourth existence. You are so right about the pansophy you got exactly what happened! Please borrow Nebud your understanding

@cassbeat lol

@Fazemood Yes, I'm smiling wickedly too...though I don't know how funky it will get though

“Salutations banneret!” A buoyant voice called out from behind me. The voice spoke the soaru tongue. I turned around to find a soaru uspec with a belt around its waist and one golden band around each of its arms.

I bowed to the uspec. “Salutations noble one.” I replied.

“May I share your table?” it asked, pointing at the bench I sat on. I was just about to reply, when it proceeded to sit without waiting for a response. It sat comfortably and then turned to smile at me. I was suddenly filled with distrust, no good had ever come to me from an uspec who smiled. “It is good to hear the soaru tongue.” It said.

One glance at Musa, showed that it was not comfortable.

“I am happy to share my table noble one.” I replied.

“Very good.” It replied with the smile on its face. It wasn’t till that moment that I realized just how young the noble was. It turned its back to me, and I saw its scantily filled ailerons. It rose its skinny hand in the air, and a much bigger and much older looking uspec walked towards our table.

Musa’s level of discomfort doubled at the sight of the uspec. I could not blame the imp, this uspec did not look friendly. It also had one golden band on its arm. It sat on my table, and then proceeded to glare at me, as if I was the one intruding. I was almost tempted to punch the noble uspec in its face. While the younger noble sitting by me had only one of its outer eyes filled, the older one seated by Musa had three.

“I do not share tables with imps.” The older noble spat out. “Send it away.” It directed the order to the younger noble.

That one simply smiled. “Our banneret friend was gracious enough to share its table. Let us not make demands.” The younger one turned to smile and then nod at me. It then turned to Musa, and even smiled at the imp. It was a thing I had never seen done before.

The older noble’s scowl deepened. “Away!” it snapped at Musa.

Musa flinched. It jumped up, rose from its bench, and came over to stand behind me.

“This is my table.” I spat the words out through clenched teeth. “My imp eats with me.”

The older noble put its hand flat on the table making as if to push itself up. The younger one stretched out its hand to stop it. That one turned to me and chuckled. With a smile it said, “What you mean to say is, ‘my imp eats with me’, not ‘my imp and I ate’.”

“I am still learning the soaru tongue.” I spat out.

“I almost couldn’t tell. Very good banneret.” It praised.

The older noble started talking then. It spoke so quickly that I found it hard to keep up with its words. I could only catch phrases like, ‘made noble’, and ‘born noble’, and then ‘line tied to Kaisers’.

The younger noble simply laughed. It rose its hand again, cutting the older one off. “Forgive my friend,” it said, turning to face me, “it really is very particular about customs.” Then the younger noble changed to the kute tongue. “I am Tantan.” It said. “What is your name banneret?”

I glanced at the older noble, confused by the younger’s change in tongues.

“It does not speak the kute tongue.” It reassured me.

“Nebud.” I replied.

“I hale from Arusoaru. My progenitor was a banneret, a made noble, such as yourself. My friend is…how do I say this…entitled, angry, all of the above. Its line is descended from a made noble, but it was so long ago, they don’t even remember what position the made noble held. It thinks that it should wear two golden bands instead of one, and so it acts particularly crudely to those it considers beneath it. It would be safer for your imp, and yourself, if you did not anger it.”

I stared down my nose at the arrogant young uspec. “This is my table.”

“I agree. But the golden bands around our arms say that we outrank you.”

I moved to rise.

The young noble stopped me with its words. “Nebud, listen to reason, please. I will make it up to you, I will pay for your meal, and have your imp’s meal packed away in a box. My friend and I…we have business to finish. Once I am done, you will have your table back.”

“Please master.” Musa whispered imploringly. “Please listen to the noble.”

The younger noble turned again to smile at Musa. It nodded to the imp and turned back to face me. Reluctantly, I nodded. The noble smiled widely.

“All is settled.” It said, reverting back to the soaru tongue, as it turned to face the older noble.

“What did you say?” it demanded angrily.

I glared at the older noble.

“No respect!” it yelled, pointing at me. “Where do you hale from?” It asked. “What Kaiser gave you that neckcloth?”

Musa and I had already worked out an answer to this question, but I felt no need to share it with this ungrateful uspec. I simply stared at it.

“What side do you belong to?” Its voice rose as it continued its questions.

“This is not just unnecessary, it is discourteous.” The younger noble spoke placatingly to its friend. “I must insist that you stop it.”

“Answer me!” the older noble yelled.

“Stop!” the younger noble yelled back. “Don’t…”

“Tiyoseriwosin?” It demanded. “Tiyoseriwosin?!”

The younger noble sighed. It slumped back into its bench. “Don’t answer.” It said to me, speaking now in the kute tongue. As it spoke to me, it tapped its fingers on the table. I found that odd. “Forgive me Nebud, you were not supposed to be involved in this.”

After saying the perplexing words, the younger noble stopped tapping the table and lay its hand flat, its fingers spread out.

While my gaze was focused on the younger noble, my side eyes increased my field of view, and so I could see the glint of a cyan dagger appear from my right. All of the instincts I had gained in the pits had me turning to face the older noble, my heart pounding as I prepared for the assault.

Then my eyes widened. The cyan blade was not being wielded by the noble, it was against the noble’s neck. No one held this dagger. It moved of its own accord, tearing into the older noble’s flesh. The noble’s head dropped onto the table and a pool of blood came out of it. I watched, my mind completely boggled as an invisible finger wrote the words ‘Beware the wrath of Sada’ into the blood on the table and then drew two horizontal ellipses in the blood, under the words it had written.

My mind was still reeling from the sight of a dagger floating in the air and killing an uspec in front of me, when the younger noble that had been seated beside me disappeared. I heard the sound of an object hitting the floor right after the noble disappeared. I had seen uspecs and imps leave before, I had seen them teleport out of sight. But always, there had been quicksand underneath them, quicksand to pull them in and take them away. No quicksand had appeared underneath the noble one. It had simply vanished into thin air.

I heard voices begin to rise around the room, as focusses shifted from conversations to look at the dead uspec seated on my table.

“We should go master.” I heard Musa say. “We cannot be held responsible for taking life on the inter-port trail.” I heard the panic in its voice, even as my mind continued to reel, trying to make sense of everything which I had just seen.

The pious ones rose from the table they had taken at the back of the room and turned to stare at the dead uspec. It wasn’t till their gazes turned to me, that I agreed with the imp. I stood up, pushing my bench down in the process. Musa came around to stand in front of me. It bent down, righting the bench I had toppled, and then rose.

We walked to the curtains together, an awful sense of déjà vu filling me as we left. I was starting to think that inns were a source of bad luck for me.

“Wait there!” I heard a voice yell from behind me.

“Master?” Musa turned to stare at me.

I continued walking. I walked fast, not running, but walking fast enough that we would be close to the market in a few minutes if I kept up the pace.

“Banneret, in the name of the Order of Adjudication, I command you to halt.” A deep voice called out from behind. The voice sounded louder than was possible, as if it had somehow been amplified.

“What do we do master?” Musa’s voice was breathy. It panted as it ran, trying to keep up with me.

Part 3
-------

For the first time in two months, I felt clean. My feathers were polished, my skin scoured clean by the salts in the public okun. Unlike the resort, the cleaning spot in the common area did not have multiple ponds. It had only one pond, one half filled with cleaning salts, the other filled with a pure okun to rinse it off. That combined with Musa’s polishing, made me feel like a brand new person. It was interesting how I had gone so many years without knowing the pleasantness of cleanliness, now that I had discovered it, well, I was already looking forward to the next common area. No doubt that would be another two months away.

“Why did you not join me in the pond?” I asked the imp walking beside me.

Musa scoffed. “With the uspecs? It’s not allowed master. Besides, I do not like being naked in public.”

The imp’s words confused me. It did not like being unclothed? I knew that a number of imps wore clothes, but I had seen far more naked imps than I had seen clothed ones. What did Musa find so unappealing about it? I was just about to ask that, when I felt Musa grab unto my upper arm.

Frowning, I bent my head to stare down at it. “What is wrong?”

A group of uspecs walked by Musa, one of them shoved it aside roughly. “Apologies domina.” Musa said to the passing uspec. I watched it as it walked with its group towards the inn I had been headed for.

“Can you read what is on the board master?” Musa asked.

I stifled my irritation at its desire to turn this into a learning opportunity. With a sigh, I turned to the board fixed to a post several paces in front of the inn. The inn, like every other structure on the inter-port trail, was made out of baked sludge. It had the curtains, and in front of the curtains, there were two uspecs standing, both of them had swords hanging from belts on their waists. They both had a warrior’s bearing. They had height and bulk, and outer sockets partially filled. The intriguing thing about them, was that they also had fraise around their necks. I could tell from those cloths that they were pious, but I was too far away to see what order they belonged to. Pious guards? I had never seen such before.

As the group of uspecs drew closer to the inn, I recalled Musa’s question. With narrowed eyes, I could read the word, but it was one that held no meaning to me. R-A-B-U. I spelled the letters out to myself. “Rabu?” I guessed at a pronunciation. “What does it mean?” I asked after Musa nodded.

“Tiyoseriwosin?” The loud call from one of the pious guards in front of the inn, cut off Musa’s response. The reply from the uspec in the groups was too faint for me to hear. The guard nodded and said, “stay to the right.” It’s voice booming.

I turned back to Musa, a tingle of nervousness climbing up my spine at the question the guard had asked. “What does it mean?” I repeated.

“Rabu means divided, segregated master.”

“Segregated?” I repeated its words, my confusion growing. “Separating what? Separating uspecs by spectrum?”

“Separating uspecs by faction. It is the chasm master. Most ports now purely belong to one of the two factions. The chasm has grown so bad now that belonging to the wrong faction in the wrong port is a death sentence. The inter-port trail is different. It is run by the pious, and all places run by the pious must remain neutral, above the chasm. So, Rabu inns have the uspecs divided by factions. One faction stays on one side of the room and the other, on the other side.”

Neutral, above the chasm. There was something shockingly familiar about those words. And the state that Musa described, the one with people separated into two groups, reminded me a lot of the pits. A death sentence to belong to the wrong faction, I suddenly had a chilling feeling that I had seen this in action before. Like when I had arrived at that first docks and seen an uspec’s head cut off because it had answered the question, ‘Tiyoseriwosin?’ wrongly. “What are the factions?” I demanded, my voice now a whisper.

“Uspecipyte and Kuworyte.” Musa replied, its voice having lowered to match mine.

I cleared my throat, standing straighter, as if the act itself could force away the fear I felt. “What do they mean? What are these factions?” My voice had returned to the normal tone.

“Not now master.” Musa replied, looking around warily. “Not here.”

I nodded. “Very well. But if those inns are protected by the pious, as you say, then there is no harm in being part of either faction in there, now is there?”

“What faction would you choose?”

“Uspecipyte.” The word just came out. I did not know what it meant, but I remembered the song from the pits, the one that linked being irira with the ‘uspecipyte’ faction.

Musa’s lips twitched. “And what if you were to go into a Kuworyte port? The Rabu inns are divided, but each uspec in the room can see the others clearly. No one would dare kill on the inter-port trail, not when the pious are in charge of safety, but after we leave the trail. What happens if a Kuworyte sees you seated with the Uspecipytes, and you run into that uspec in a Kuworyte port? It’ll kill you master. It’ll kill you, and in this current climate, the kill would be justified.”

I nodded, acknowledging the wisdom in Musa’s words. “What if I refuse to claim a faction?”

“The only thing worse than belonging to the wrong faction, is not belonging to any faction at all. The pious themselves will kill you for that.”

I sighed. “So, what do we do?”

“We leave this place and go to a resting place instead. We don’t need other uspecs to test out your soaru tongue. We can just continue as we have been doing.”

“No.” I shook my head. Not only had I been looking forward to trying out my new knowledge with people who wouldn’t be so mindful of my skill set, I was salivating for a fresh meal. “I want the food, Musa. I need a break from your cooking.”

Musa inhaled sharply. “Well then, master, maybe you can try cooking from now on.” It replied, its tone sounding affronted.

I stared at the imp with a smile on my face. “I am not insulting your cooking Musa, you are quite good, with what you have. I’m just tired of dried fruits and dried meats. I want something fresh.” I turned away from the imp, to stare in the direction of the other inn. There were just two inns in each common area, I knew that from the thought drop I had taken. There was a market, which had been the first place we’d visited, a cleaning area, which we’d gone to next, and two inns. The second inn appeared to be free of any boards posted in front of it. “Why don’t we go there?” I tipped my head towards the other inn.

“Master, that inn is not Rabu.” Musa replied.

I nodded. “That is the point is it not?”

“It is more dangerous, master. Fights break out in inns like that all the time.”

“Perfect.” I said, my heart pounding at the thought of a fight. While it was true that I fought with Musa everyday, I was starting to miss the exhilaration of fighting with my fists. The sword-spars went a long way to suppress my desire for action, but a good inn fight? Now that was something I could get behind. It would be like the pits all over again.

“What is it?” I turned to the mumbling imp trudging along beside me.

“Nothing master, just don’t say you weren’t warned. Like in the inn on Lastmain, you remember that don’t you master? I had a bad feeling then too, and you remember what happened don’t you master? Fresh food is not worth the risk.”

“Well, seeing as I am master, and you are slave, I think I’ll decide what risks are worth taking.”

Musa just shook its head. “Of course you will master.”

I ignored it, choosing instead to increase my pace. Now that I was so close to the inn, I could almost taste the freshly baked pastries and the succulent fresh meals. I paid no attention to the imp shaking its head and muttering beside me.

I pushed the curtains aside, once we got to the inn, and walked in through the entrance. Unlike the last time I had walked into an inn, this time there was no silence to mark my entrance. The conversations continued. The inn was a lot larger than the last one I had been in, but unlike the last one, it had no stairs, no higher level but the one I stood in. There were a large number of tables in the room, and a variety of uspecs occupying them.

Walking along the trail, I had become used to the sight of several uspecs all from different spectrums. The pits had prepared me for that. In the pits the fighters had all been of different spectrums. I was the only fighter in the pits who’d had a tail. Now, there were more kute uspecs, with tails, but there were also uspecs with other features in the inn. There were boga uspecs who had iron spikes covering their chests and backs. The sight of the spikes reminded me of Fajahromo, the irira like me, the one that had forced me to procreate and then stolen my offspring from me, the one I tried hard not to think of. There were also mejo uspecs who had the horns on their heads. Those horns reminded me of my slum, of Junte, the friend who’d turned to my persecutor at the first sign of my neck scales. The horns also reminded me of Killman, the second upsec I had killed in the pits. My survey of the room also revealed a scattering of hooni uspecs, ones with scales on their necks, like the ones that I used the banneret neckcloth to hide. But as far as I could see, there were no soaru uspecs. Soaru uspecs had the tentacles which fell from their waists and extended to the floor like a skirt covering their legs. I acknowledged that it would be hardest to see those features while they sat, but from the quick study I had done, there were none in the room.

That defeated the purpose of coming to a common area to practice the soaru tongue with a soaru uspec. It was good that that wasn’t my only reason for coming here then, I thought with a smile on my face.

Only two tables were empty. One of those tables was at the back of the room, farthest from the entrance, the other was closer to the entrance. Previous experience in inns told me that it was smarter to stay closer to the exit. And so I walked towards the empty table by the curtains.

I sat on one bench, and Musa sat on the bench opposite mine. It looked nervously around the room, before its gaze came back to rest on my face. “There are no soarus here.” It stated. It spoke slowly now, as it shifted from the kute tongue to the soaru tongue.

I nodded. “Why soaru?” I asked, choosing to speak in the soaru tongue as Musa did.

“That is why we are here. We might as well practice it.” It replied. It spoke very slowly, and it was careful to use words that it knew I was familiar with. That was one of the many reasons why I wanted to listen to the conversation by native speakers. Ones that would not be so careful around me. But in their absence, I capitulated, accepting that this was as good a time as any to practice the tongue.

“There is no need to be so sour. We are here now, we might as well enjoy it.” I stated.

It wasn’t till I waited moments for a reply that did not come, that I thought to study Musa. It sat frozen, its gaze fixated on something behind me. I turned to the object of its stare and watched five pious ones walk into the room. They all had the same markings on the fraise around their necks. I could tell from the difficulty I was having with placing those markings, that they did not belong to one of the more common orders. As the pious ones walked by our table, I noticed that they all had tentacles, they were all of the soaru spectrum. The last pious one to walk by us, stopped beside our table and pointedly stared at Musa. With my side eye, I watched Musa move in on itself, shrinking back, away from the pious one’s gaze. I had never seen Musa that terrified.

I cleared my throat, annoyed at the pious one’s daring. Slowly, it took its gaze from Musa, and turned to face me. Its eyes moved from the silver neckcloth around my neck to the sheath covering my tail.

“Salutations banneret.” It greeted in the soaru tongue.

I was almost tempted to ignore it, but then I thought better of that course of action. Instead I nodded. “Salutations pious one.” I replied, grateful that the words, ‘pious’, and ‘one’, were the same in all tongues.

It cast one last withering look at my imp, before continuing on its way. Musa watched the pious one until it seated, and then it exhaled, but I could still sense its fear.

“What is it?” I demanded. “Why are you so scared?”

“They are yielders.” It whispered in reply. “Pious ones of the order of annihilation.”

Ah, I thought, finally understanding Musa’s fears. They were the ones who sapped imps, the ones who drained them of all the lifeforces they could take.

popeshemoo:
ERM.. Quick question
What happens to an imp if the uspec it is siphoning magic from dies ?

Nothing too bad, the imp just loses the magic, so it can no longer siphon from the dead uspec, and so it has no one to siphon from unless it finds another uspec willing to let it

@cassbeat hahaha, just one more day away

@Peaceyw It's not really Nebud's fault that it doesn't know all these things. The majority of uspecs wouldn't either. But it is a good thing that Musa is loyal

@Fazemood Yes, pansophy is definitely not an easy magic. Pansophy will definitely be explained in more detail as we go further. We'll see more examples of it being used in action as we keep going

@Tuhndhay Actually yes, the combination of all of those would be amazing to see in a fighter. To be honest though, we're probably not going to see that with Nebud because it doesn't have pansophy and as we've learned, pansophy is not easy to get. HAHAHA! I need a Musa in my life too. You're beginning to hear whispers in your head too? This is serious . It is very possible that something bad happened to Musa when it was being trained on pansophy, I mean, it scares me too...it also excites me sha, I would love to have pansophy. The way the spectral existence is structured prevents that from happening (head of yielders being a dictator). The pious ones have power but not that much power. And uspecs, in this time, cannot live forever, because... anyway, just know there are checks and balances and they can't live forever. So, only lifeforces can be controlled with pansophy, and lifeforces are not magic. So if someone sapped an uspec they could get its lifeforces but not its magic

@enamored1 It is possible...but I won't say anything else. No, they can't absorb the lifeforces, they transfer them to materials that can store them. Like the form card for example, it's just a card that has a lot of form stored in it. So the pansophy cache would be filled with materials like that, containing different lifeforces. Definitely, pansophy is one scary magic. If you have it and you're good at it, well, you can walk around without fear, but if you don't have it...that's when you have to start being worried about everyone around you because you don't know who has it and who doesn't. Our old friend Fajahromo, I'm sure it is back in Hakute doing what it usually does. We won't see Fajahromo for some time, but trust me, Nebud will not forget Fajahromo. That one's day is coming.

“No master, not at all. It is effortless for me, because I have had it for millennia. But pious ones spend their entire lives struggling to master the transfer of specific types of lifeforces. No single pious one can master all the lifeforces. It is impossible.”

“How many are there?”

“Too many for me to list all now, but I will try to list the common ones. There is form, which I just showed you. It gives everything that possesses it structure. If all of your form where to be taken, you will turn into goo, just like the paper had.”

“Are you trying to scare me?” I smirked at the imp.

It wasn’t smiling when it replied. “Pansophy is scary master, it scares me.”

I scoffed. “What do you have to be afraid of? Imps cannot die.”

“No,” it shook its head, “we can’t. But have you ever wondered why there aren’t more imps in this existence? Think about it. For millennia, thousands of years, umanis have been dying and coming here. How is it that this existence is not overrun by imps?”

I frowned, suddenly realizing the merit of that question. “How is it?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, as I found myself pulled in by the web the imp’s words spun.

“Pansophy. The pious ones use some of us as a source of lifeforces. There are only two naturally occurring sources which have all the lifeforces: uspecs and imps. It is illegal to do to an uspec what they do to the imps.” It trailed off.

“What do they do to the imps?”

Musa remained silent.

“What?” I demanded, suddenly feeling as if I had to know.

“When an umani bound for the spectral existence dies, it awakes in a fugue world. The world it wakes in resembles the world it left. It sees the living umanis, watches them, but the umanis cannot see it. Though it lives in the spectral existence, its eyes see the standard. It is essentially blind to the true world it inhabits. Imagine that. Imagine being in a room, surrounded by ten uspecs all clamoring for a chance to take your eyes, you hear the sounds, you hear them, but you don’t see them. What you see is an umani family sitting to have dinner. You see their lips moving, but you cannot hear them speak. Instead you hear voices speaking in a strange language. And when the uspecs reach you, when they wrap their hands around your throat, you feel them, even though you can’t see them. The loss of the eyes become a blessing. You lose your sight, and so now you are aware of this lack. You do not see the world you left and hear the one you are in. All you have is darkness. If you’re lucky, the uspecs who find you and take your eyes, do what they are required by law to. They take you to the pious ones. And if you are lucky the pious ones decide that you will make a good slave and they give you sight, then they either keep you, or they sell you. If you are lucky.”

“And if you are not?”

Musa exhaled. “If you are not, the uspecs take your eyes and leave you blind. That is not necessarily the worst fate. I have met blind imps, but they are few. Eventually, most eyeless imps are taken to the pious. And if you are unlucky and the pious decide that you do not have the temperament to serve, well, then you are sapped.”

“Sapped?”

“Drained of all your lifeforces. This is the difference between an uspec and an imp. Uspecs can be fully drained. Not all lifeforces are pansophic, that is, not all lifeforces can be transferred by pansophy. The lifeforces which are controlled by the other forms of magic, spectra and emotions, cannot be transferred with pansophy. But the yielders, the pious ones who perform the sapping, they have spectra and pansophy, and so they have access to all the lifeforces which are not pansophic, but are controlled by spectra, the most important of which is life. Now, if life is taken from an uspec, then the uspec dies. That is because all of the uspecs lifeforces can be transferred out. But it is different for imps. A sliver of our lifeforces cling to us. And so we cannot be killed, because a sliver of life remains within us, a sliver of the lifeforce which cannot be removed. So, when an imp is sapped, every bit of the lifeforces which can be taken from the imp is taken. Every single bit. When an imp is sapped, all that remains of it, is a tiny piece, a subatomic part that is left locked in a box. A part so tiny it cannot be seen, one that contains nothing but a sliver of each lifeforce. Our lifeforces grow back. And so, eventually, the life will grow into more. Eventually, the sliver of thought will grow into a mind which can reason again. But it takes thousands of years for that growth to complete. Sapped imps are monitored by the pious ones of the order of annihilation, the yielders. They make sure that the imp never recovers. Once the imp is grown large enough to sap again, the process is repeated.”

A chill ran up my spine from the imp’s dark words. Sapping. I was suddenly very grateful that I was an uspec. I could never be sapped. If anyone tried to take all of my lifeforces, well then I would just die, and that was better than spending a thousand years with a weakened mind.

I felt the table shake lightly. My gaze lowered to Musa’s trembling hands resting on the table. I put my hands over the imps. “I will never let that happen to you.” I swore.

Musa looked up at me. There was a sadness in its face that I could not understand. It smiled and bowed its head. “Thank you.” It replied. It didn’t say anything else, but I suddenly felt as if the air was thick with the imp’s unspoken doubts. What could I do if a pious one tried to sap Musa? I was suddenly aware of just how little power I had. The more I learnt about pansophy, the more I discovered about the pious ones power and how little I knew.

“Motion.” Musa said.

“What?” My head jerked up, my gaze snapping back onto Musa’s face.

“I was listing the lifeforces. Motion. It allows us to walk, to move our hands, uspecs to fly. Without motion, a person is paralyzed. Sight allows us to see, without it we are blind. Thought, is the lifeforce which controls the workings of our mind, it is were we do our active learning, and if it is taken away, we become unable to think. Memory is where we store our learned knowledge. Appearance defines what we look like, what the world sees us as. If all of your appearance is taken away, you become invisible. Con…”

“Not all imps with eyes cannot see the spectral existence.” I said suddenly, cutting the imp off.

“Master?”

“You said that imps with eyes live in the spectral existence but see the standard. But the first imp I met had eyes, and could see the spectral existence.”

“Some imps are special.” It replied shrugging. “It all depends on who an imp is first taken to. Some uspecs want the imps to keep their eyes. Never pious ones though, that is usually done by nobles. If the noble has enough wealth or influence, then it can have sight given to the imp. In that case, the imp will be able to see both worlds, the spectral and the standard. I don’t know why an imp would want that; I have heard that it takes a very long time before the imp is able to adjust to seeing both realities.”

“Do all imps with magic have pansophy then? Is that the siphoned magic?”

Musa laughed. “No. The pious keep a very close count of imps that have pansophy. It is not a gift that they like to give out. Siphoned magic is different. When the pious give imps without eyes sight, they also give us the ability to siphon our master’s magic. The master decides the amount of magic that the imp can take. If an imp tries to take to much, the master can cut it off completely. Not many masters choose to share their magic with imps. Sometimes, imps are linked to pious ones, so that they can siphon pansophy from the pious ones. It is necessary for a lot of the magic that keeps the ports running. Like turning the sludge ground to hardened clouds. For an uspec to do that, the uspec would have to have pansophy, and the pious are very selfish with that particular form of magic.”

“I can imagine.” I stated drily.

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“Perhaps we can return to the lessons for today? If memory serves, there is a common area about a month’s walk away from here. If we’ve advanced far enough in our lessons by then, then perhaps we could stop for a day and try out your knowledge of the soaru tongue with any soaru uspecs we might run across there.”

I nodded, my anticipation growing as I recalled the knowledge I had gained from the thought drop. The thought drop, now I truly understood what it was. It was someone’s thoughts stored in an edible capsule. How was it fair that the pious and the Kaisers were in sole possession of magic like this? “Last question.” I said, before acquiescing to Musa’s plea that we continue our lesson.

Smiling, Musa nodded.

“Can lifeforces be put into anything? In the resort you said that pansophy was a contact magic, that you had to be in direct contact with me for you to use it one me?”

Musa nodded. “Yes master, I have to touch you to use it on you. I also said that I could use the magic if we both touched a pansophy conduit.”

“Yes,” I nodded, remembering that. “What is that?”

“A pansophy conduit is a pansophic metal. It is a lot more common now than it once was. Pansophic metals are the only naturally occurring things which can host all of the pansophic lifeforces which exist. Pious ones who carry weapons, usually have the weapons made out of pansophic metals. All nobles know about pansophy, but few know that pansophic metals can be used as a conduit to transfer lifeforces. Nobles tend to be shy of people touching them, because of pansophy. Pious ones use the metal to get around this.”

“So, only metals?”

“Only one specific type of metal. Though, the last I heard, pious ones are now doing their best to make sure that traces of that metal occur in regular materials.”

“Of course they are.” Why didn’t that surprise me?

Musa smiled. “You must be careful around the pious master. Once they get into your head, there’s no telling what they’ll leave behind.”

Something about Musa’s words made a chill run up my spine. I was suddenly aware of how stupid I had been. Maxad, Gerangi, even the pious healer from the pits. They had all been in my head. Had any of them left something behind?

Part 2
--------

We fell into a routine on the trail. Each day began with a two-hour sword spar. I soon came to realize just how good Musa was with the blade. When it fought, its body flowed in a graceful manner that reminded me of the imps who had slaughtered the guards in the pits. There was a beauty to its movement, one that was starkly contrasted by my clumsiness. I learned very quickly, that pugilism was very different from sword-skill. There was footwork to learn and tactics to consider. By the end of the two-hour bout, I found myself dripping with sweat, panting from the exertions, yet ready to begin the day of walking ahead of us. We decided that we could maximize on our time by having two large sit-down meals, and one walking one. So, we had the first meal of the day after the sword training. Then, we packed up, what little we had unpacked, and began our walk for the day. We woke at the time of the morning when the red illumination from the clouds was untainted by the orange from the daylight dots. Then we walked until orange light streamed in through the walls of clouds, adding its color to the ever-present gleam of the red rays. When the light from the orange dots reached its peak, we pulled out dried cakes and munched on them while we walked. We continued our journey until the orange glow receded, the red threatening to overpower it. That was when we would go into the closest resting place and withdraw for the night. While we walked, Musa maintained a constant stream of words in the soaru tongue. And so, I learnt this new tongue for hours every day, and when we retired for the night, I learnt to write in the common tongue. The first three hours in the dwelling off the trail, was spent on my lessons on reading and writing in the common tongue. We had dinner after that, then ended the day with an hour-long sword spar. After all that, I found that I was asleep within minutes of my ailerons hitting the bed.

Three weeks into our journey, I broke the routine that we had come to rely on. It was an hour into my writing time, and I was reproducing a message which Musa had written on another sheet of paper. It was a simple message. It was one so simple in fact, that I had already mastered it. And so, as I sat, staring at the message I had completed in record time, I was suddenly made aware of a sound which I had not heard since we’d left the resort. It was the sound of running okun.

Drawn to it, I rose up from my stool, and walked towards the source of the sound. Our temporary dwelling was just the same as all the others. It was a house made completely of baked sludge. There were curtain barriers delineating each of the rooms in the dwelling. And in each room, there were beds with soft covering, but even these soft coverings were made of sludge. Musa had informed me that it was all sludge, just sludge with varying degrees of ‘form’. A larger curtain blocked the main entrance to the dwelling. I walked out through that entrance and turned to find an astonishing feat of magic.

Musa stood by a brown hollow rod extruding from the inner wall of the sludge fence which surrounded our compound. There was a narrow channel on the ground by Musa’s feet, and that channel led to the small okun reservoir behind the dwelling. Over the last weeks, I had simply emerged from my lessons to find the reservoir filled up. The small okun well had been filled and so I had thought that it was just one more mystery surrounding these sludge houses erected by form cards. Now, I knew different.

The well was not deep enough for a cleaning, and so I filled one of the sludge buckets with the pink liquid and wiped myself clean using one of the cloths Musa had had the foresight to purchase before the journey. As it was the same well we drew our drinking and cooking liquid from, we were careful to discard the liquid in other parts of the compound.

Musa’s head snapped up. “Master.” It said, sounding surprised. “What are you doing here? You should be working on your common tongue.”

“I finished.” I stated. “What is that?” I asked, staring at the short pipe sticking out of the fence.

“A faucet master.” Musa replied. Apparently, the contraption was more complicated than I thought, because Musa was able to twist the front part of it, and by that action, make the liquid stop running out of the pipe.

“Pansophy?” I asked, assuming that this, like every other marvel I had seen, was the result of pansophy.

“The okun is given extra motion and thought, and the faucet is made of two pipes put together. Spikes poke out of the outer rim of the inner pipe, and there are matching holes on the insides of the outer pipe. When the holes match up with the spikes, the thought in the okun knows to switch states. So, if the liquid was stagnant in the pipe, it moves forward and flows out, and if it was flowing, it becomes stagnant, and halts in the pipe.”

“Did the Kaisers of Lahooni design this too?” I asked.

“In some ways, I suppose. They began discoveries like this, they showed how pansophy could be used to such ends, and they advocated for the creation of the order of Fabrication, whose job it is to create designs such as this.”

My fingers rose of their own accord, to stroke the outer surface of the faucet. “I want to know more.” I heard myself say the words, before I had fully processed my own desires. I had spoken in a somber tone, one that I thought would be too low for the imp to hear.

“Master?” It called out, asking with its tone for clarification.

Taking my fingers off the pipe, I stood to my full height and turned to stare down at the imp, whose head immediately tilted back so that its empty eye sockets met my eyes. “I want to know more.” I said the words louder this time, and with more certainty.

Musa frowned. “Know more about what?” It turned to stare speculatively at the pipes. “About the faucet?” It asked.

I shook my head. “Pansophy.” I replied.

“Master,” Musa began in a placating tone which I had come to associate with denial.

I rose my hand up in the air, cutting it off. “I want to know Musa,” even I could hear the pleading note in my voice.

Musa sighed. “You are supposed to be learning the common tongue.” It scolded.

With a smirk, I crossed my arms over my chest and bent, leaning my upper arm against the sludge wall behind me. “I finished.” I stated calmly, observing the imp.

“Well then we can move onto something more challenging. The sooner we get done with teaching you how to read, the faster we can get to you actually putting that knowledge into practice. There are so many tomes it would be advisable for you to read before we reach Katsoaru.”

“We have plenty time for that.”

“Not if you keep on dismissing your lessons.”

“This is the first lesson that I have ‘dismissed’.”

“Master…”

“Oh, I am? That’s good to know. I had begun to think that I had only imagined myself as master and you as slave.” I interrupted it.

Musa shook its head, and then it shrugged. “As you wish.”

“Good.” I pushed myself off the wall and walked back into the dwelling. Musa was at my heel when I walked through the curtained entrance and went to sit on my stool. The imp picked up the piece of paper on my table. I tried to stifle my irritation as I watched it examine my written words carefully.

“Musa.” I warned, as the imp took much more time than was necessary, going over the simple message.

With a heavy sigh, the imp placed the piece of paper back onto the table, saying, “it will do.”

I scoffed. “Sit and talk.” I ordered, jutting my chin towards the stool on the other side of the table.

“Very well master.” It replied. Musa sat down on the stool. “Pansophy is a big topic master, I don’t know if I can tell you everything there is to know about it, in one night.”

“Just tell me as much as you can.”

Musa nodded. “At the beginning of the study of pansophy is one fundamental knowledge, and that is lifeforces. Pansophy is the control of lifeforces. With pansophy, a person can transfer lifeforces. That is very important master, pansophy is the transfer of lifeforces. It cannot be used to create lifeforces where none exist, and it cannot put a lifeforce into a host, without taking it from somewhere else. For example.” It stopped speaking and picked up the piece of paper which I had written my message on. “Let’s start with form. Form is a lifeforce which exists in everything that is solid. Take the piece of paper for example, it has form.” It flapped the paper as it spoke, before placing it back on the table. “Now, if I wanted to take that form away, I could.” As soon as it was done saying that, the white paper turned into white goo with black streaks.

I stared speechlessly at it, my eyes bulging.

“Now, what you will not see, is where the form has gone. Remember, lifeforces must be transferred, and so by taking the form from the paper, I had to put it somewhere. In this case, I put it in myself, and since it was such a small, flimsy, piece of paper, taking that much form in, did not have much of an effect on me. But if I had taken all the form from something that has much of it…”

“Like the form card?” I guessed.

Musa smiled. “Yes.” It nodded, “Like the form card. If I had taken all the form from the form card, I would not be able to move, I would become like a statue. I will still have motion, which is the lifeforce which allows me to move, but the form will dominate the motion, robbing it of its power. That is the very first lesson that novices are taught. Pansophy is a transfer of lifeforces, not a creation or destruction. That which is needed must come from somewhere, and that which is not, must be given to something else.” After saying that, Musa placed the tip of its finger onto the white goo, and it turned back into paper.

“Is it really so effortless?” I asked.

Tuhndhay:
Obehid..... Hahahahahahahaha
Don't let me be in your mind biko not sure i will be able to cope for now am contended with the occasional peek. Unless Musa takes me through a pansophy lesson.

I think we are on a long ride with this story, it looks to be an evolving one I mean with each twist it adapts itself and keeps unfolding, I won't want to put you under any physiological pressure. Take your time, the beauty in the story is the suspense and the shape it is taking while the complexity is where you would tie it up.

"Wealth is power" as in see the level of respect it generated but what would be the combination of wealth with pansophy and fighting skills......(let me not imagine it)

"You already have magic master, TWO FORMS OF MAGIC IS PLENTY. ” But Nebud hasn't used it yet or did I miss out on it

“I thirst for more Musa.”??(that was what drove Alexander the Great) .... This thirst is similar to the pit's own.
The name of a pious comes to mind should I say or should I not...... Let me not act as a spoiler...

Obehid, Obehid, kneel, By the power of the fourth existence, the guiding light of menoba, the fervent love of the Ehizokhae, the strength of Eroms..I hereby pronounce you Knight of the Standard Existence.

You making me High like High, am addicted

Nebud has emotions and spectra. Emotions is the magic that it used in the pits when it was transferring peoples emotions. Remember the first few times it fought it would play with its opponents' anger and pain which allowed it to win. That magic it got from being irira. The spectra it has is the magic of the kute eyes. It gained the ability to use this magic by taking the imp's eyes in the swamp, but it hasn't used this magic yet. I love how much you're enjoying the story. Thank you

@cassbeat haha, thank you!!! It would definitely be interesting to see this as a movie, though, it could be pretty had to replicate some of the craziness that I have inflicted on some settings lol.

@enamored1 LOL! In my head? I don't think you want to live in my head oh, it's only interesting for a few hours every week . YAY! I LOVE pansophy too. I think pansophy might, arguably, be one of the best things to come out of this book. I want to ask a favor though, please let me know how you feel about pansophy after the next update

“Gratitude noble one.” The uspec said with a bow. “Hope you have a pleasant trip to Katsoaru.” It stretched out its hand towards the wall of fog behind it.

I responded with a nod, before picking up the blue can from the table, and walking to the fog. I walked through the fog, and stopped dead in my tracks.

We were somehow standing in the middle of a red fogless road. I turned around and found no wall of fog behind me. My confusion increased as my eyes took in the walls marking the boundaries of the straight road. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. There had been no pictures of a place like this in any of the passing traders’ books, and no startling pictorial descriptions in any of their tales. I was standing in a place that appeared, to my shocked gaze, to be literally out of this world.

It was a straight road. The lighting appeared to be a mixture of orange and red, as if the light from the clouds and dots had been combined. The ground, walls, and ceiling all appeared to be made of the same material. It was a material that I had become used to, one that I had even looked down on, while standing on it in the room we had just left. But this ground was different. For starters, it was red. It was all red, the ground, the ceiling and the walls. Yet, the more startling difference was in its softness. In some ways it was exactly like the ground I had come to think of as a second flooring, in other ways, it was much different. This one was softer, it was much smoother, and it somehow swallowed my feet. On the ground I was used to, when I stepped on it, I could see the tops of my feet, but this ground covered all of my feet, leaving me with nothing but the view of the bottom of my legs.

It took me a while to realize what this new material was, but when I did, I was stunned speechless, my mouth hanging open as I stared like a fool at this impossible place.

“Master.” Musa prompted, “people will stare.” Its head moved around, its gaze darting at the uspecs walking around us.

“Musa,” I began, my voice dry, “my mind may be playing tricks on me, but could it be that we are in the clouds.”

Musa smiled. “Very good observation master, most people never realize exactly where this is. Yes master, the inter-port trail is in the clouds.” Musa paused. “Perhaps you would like to take the thought drop now master.”

It took me a while to take my devouring gaze from my surroundings, to the imp. “What?”

“The thought drop master.” It replied, inclining its head towards the tiny blue can pinched between my thumb and forefinger.

“Oh. What is it?”

“It is an edible drop master. Once you ingest it, your mind fills with the direction to our destination, Katsoaru.”

“How?”

“Pansophy, master. A person with pansophy memorizes the directions and then transfers the thought from their head, to the drop.”

Wow. I thought it, but I was too stunned to say the word. Carefully, I took off the blue lid, and stared at the white drop in the can. Then I turned the bottom over, tossing the white drop into my mouth. The white solid dissolved as soon as I closed my mouth. I swallowed, and my mind was instantly filled with the directions to Katsoaru. I knew how much longer we would have to follow this straight road, and when we would have to bend away from it. This was a magic that I could not have imagined. The passing traders had only told us of spectra, and so when I thought of magic, I thought of the magic of uspec eyes, but not this. This was the real wonder.

I started walking. “Clouds.” I stated bemused. “This is what the foam floor is made of, isn’t it?”

“Yes master.” Musa replied, walking beside me. “The only difference is that more form is put into the clouds on the ground.”

“Form. Pansophy.” I stated.

“Yes master.”

“I want to know that. I want to know how it is done, how a solid trail can be built in the clouds, how fog can be turned hard and then softened with a key, how directions can be put into an edible pill. I want to know how pansophy works. I want to know how to get it.” It wasn’t till the words were out of my mouth, that I realized how ardently I desired this new form of magic. Musa had said that it had taught others pansophy, it could teach me too.

Musa shook its head. “I can teach you how it’s used, how all of these things are made. I can even show you, but I cannot give it to you. Only a pious one can give the gift of pansophy, only they have the materials.”

I frowned at the imp. “But you told me that anyone with a strong mind could possess it.” Did it think that I would have forgotten?

“There is a special substance which must be ingested first. That substance is controlled by the pious. It is not something that can be bought, only the pious can give it, only they have access to it.”

“And that is where their true power lies, isn’t it?” I asked. I did not wait for the imp to speak before I continued. “I always wondered how pious ones could have so much power, why they garnered so much respect. It is the Kaisers that own the armies and wealth, it is the noble ones who own land. Why then do even the nobles respect the pious? This is the answer. This world of magic and mystique where the impossible is made possible. A city in the clouds, how? Through pansophy. And pansophy is controlled by the pious, and so the pious have a power that the nobles do not.”

“Very good master.” Musa complimented.

I could only manage a distracted smile in response to its praise. A sadness took root in me as I pondered once more at a world that only magic could create. Magic that I could not fathom. Magic which would never be mine.

“This is only one of two compartments of the trail. The second has the mobiles. Oh master, I cannot wait until you ride in a mobile. It is unbelievable, motion, at its peak!” I suspected Musa sensed me withdraw into myself and only spoke to break through to me. When its words did not tempt me into speech, it fell back into silence.

We walked for hours before we reached the first resting place. Every uspec on the trail walked. There were no lanes, just an open trail where uspecs could walk in either direction. I noticed some uspecs travelling in groups. Some of them had contraptions which reminded me of the wheel-stool, I had travelled from the pits on. But these contraptions were different. They looked like boxes on wheels. Wheel-boxes, then? I wondered.

It was strange how, after taking the thought drop, I instantly knew what a resting place was. I did not know how it was created, but I knew how to access it. We had walked past junctions in the trail, past bends, but through it all, there had only been red surrounding us. Now, to the right of where I stood, the red cloud wall had a large strip of brown. I knew that we could walk through that brown even though we could not walk through the red. It was the same way I knew that yellow strips led to social areas with the markets, Musa had spoken about, inns which provided dining, but no accommodation, and small ponds for cleaning.

We walked through the brown strip and were led to an area, much different from the trail. The first thing I saw, was a wooden post, with a placard hanging from it.

“First Tier.” Musa read the words written on the placard out. “Are we stopping for the day master?”

I nodded. “I may not be able to learn pansophy, but I can learn the common tongue. We will spend the rest of the day on that.”

“Master,” Musa’s voice was cautious, “the knowledge of pansophy is not one to thirst for. You already have magic master, two forms of magic is plenty.”

I sighed. “I thirst for more Musa.” Was my weary reply.

Musa did not reply. We walked on the narrow strip of land between the two lots on both sides. The common lots had pools of brown sludge on them. There were no houses, nothing but pools of sludge. But, with my thought drop, I knew what those pools of liquid would become.

We walked through the next two tier spaces, before reaching the last tier. In this space the pools of liquid sludge were much larger than any of the previous three. A thin ring formed around the pools of sludge. I walked into the first pool of sludge. Then, with a feverish excitement I could not contain, I pulled out a form card from the satchel bag, and let it drop into the pool of sludge.

As soon as the card met the sludge, a house formed around us. The ring of sludge which had surrounded the pool, rose as well, forming a wall to enclose the rising house.

I did not want to ask, but I could not stifle the thirst to know. “How?” I asked.

Musa sighed. Even the imp’s voice was not as excited as it usually was when it explained these things. “Pansophy master. The houses are built from baked sludge, then the form is taken out of the solid structures and put into the form card. The form card also has thought, so the house only stays erect for one day, and when it rises, it shifts the design so that it is built around the things standing in the formless sludge.”

I nodded, studying the now-built dwelling.

===============
VOLUME FOUR
===============

~~~
BANNERET
(An English word which describes a knighthood given on the battlefield for courage)
~~~

Part 1
-------

--------------------------
On the Inter-port Trail
--------------------------

“You are doing it again master.” Musa whispered.

I glared at the side of the imp’s head. It stared straight ahead, but by the smile which had now formed on its face, I knew that it was aware of my answering look. I did not respond to it. Instead, I followed the advice it had given me while we stood in the resort’s portal room, and tried to stop staring down at myself. I rose my head and forced my gaze to rest on the back of the tallest uspec standing in the line in front of us. Still, I could not help but see the image of myself in my mind.

I looked like a stranger. The dazzled silver sleeve covering my tail, the silver belt around my waist, and the silver hilt of the cyan cutlass in my sheath combined with the silver neckcloth to give me the imposing appearance of a wealthy noble. It was a look which was amplified by the now polished feathers on my ailerons. It had been so long since I’d had a full look at my ailerons, that when I had seen them for the first time since my departure from the pits, I had been stunned. Feathers had grown to cover more than half of my ailerons. Soon, I would have as much feathers as the uspecs who had flown into my slum, which meant that I would soon be able to fly as they had. I could not hide my excitement at the thought.

The line moved slowly.

I looked around the room, feeling slightly jaded by how unimpressive I deemed it to be. Had it really only been a few days ago that I had been stunned by the view of a tent on the road to Lastmain? Now I stood in a room which was much more spectacular than any that I had seen for the majority of my life, and I found it mediocre. I took note of the light fog which drifted around the room, and found myself comparing it to the room in the resort which had been free of fog. There were no windows on the walls in this room, nothing to provide a glimpse of the outside world. I found fault with that lack as well. The ground was made of the soft material which I had come to think of as the common, higher quality, alternative to sludge. It was the foam-like material which formed around my feet as I walked. Yet even as the comfort of the material enfolded me, providing cushioning to my feet, I could not help but compare it to the richer ground in the resort with the okun trapped beneath it. In my estimation, everything in this room was suddenly subpar.

The lined moved again, and I turned my gaze to the front of the room. I counted six uspecs standing behind a long wooden table, and eight imps standing behind them. Six lines formed in the room so that each line was attended to by one of the uspecs. Behind the uspecs, there was the single most distinguishing characteristic of the room, a translucent wall of dark grey fog. The wall of fog was so dense that I could see nothing behind it, but dark, amorphous blobs. White light sources hung from the corners of the walls, to the side of the room, providing lighting to the completely enclosed area.

As we moved further ahead in the line, drawing closer to the wooden table, and the uspecs standing behind it, I studied the other uspecs in the room. I was the only noble standing in the room. It was a fact that had become painstakingly obvious the moment the portal from the resort brought us here. We arrived and the entire room turned around to regard us. Whispers of ‘noble’ and ‘banneret’ had filled the room almost instantly. It was only after the shocked murmurs died down, that we had joined a line. The other uspecs appeared to be commoners. A few of them had up to four outer eye sockets formed, and of those, even fewer had one filled. None of them had nearly as much feathers on their ailerons as I did. But then, from their lean body structures, it was clear that very few of them had known any form of intense physical exertion.

These were the travelers, I thought, as my eyes scanned over them. I counted six other imps in the room, each of those six, carrying at least four obviously heavy and filled bags. Turning my attention to my own imp, I glanced over the two sack bags it had, one hanging from each shoulder. It had returned from its shopping spree with an extra sack bag which it had said contained foodstuff for the trip. I had remarked on the size of the new bag, and shared my doubt that it could contain nearly enough food for an entire year of travelling. Musa had cleared up my confusion by informing me that there were markets on the inter-port trail, and that the food we’d bought would be sufficient for sustenance until we reached a point where we could procure more.

“Salutations noble one.” A deep voice called out, pulling my attention from my haphazard exploration of the room. I turned to find that we had reached the front of our line. The uspec gazed up at me, its single center eye filled with respect, as it bowed slightly. This respect, the one evident in the uspec’s face as it studied me, was new. I had seen flashes of it, from the uspecs who had stared at me the moment I appeared in the room. It was respect which I had not been accorded when I had nothing more than the neckcloth to proclaim my nobility. Now that I was fully garbed in the banneret regalia, I was treated to a whole new degree of respect, one that was embellished by the faint traces of fear in the uspecs’ eyes.

I nodded imperiously at the bowed uspec, my gaze darting to the objects on the table. There were four rows of stacks of paper-like objects lining the front of the table. The back of the table was raised higher than the front. From the actions of an uspec standing farther off, I could tell that the raised portion of the table, contained drawers which opened towards the uspecs standing behind them.

“Where is your destination noble one?” the uspec asked.

“Katsoaru.” I replied.

The uspec nodded. It pulled out one of the drawers which extended from the raised portion of the table. Then, it stuck its hand into the drawer, and brought out the smallest blue can that I had ever seen. It placed the tin on the empty part of the table, in front of us, and said, “this is the thought drop to guide you to Katsoaru, noble one. Will you need a form card during this trip?”

Even though the uspec clearly spoke the kute tongue, I could not have been more confused if it had spoken a foreign one. I turned to Musa, my face a mask of the befuddlement I felt.

“The form cards are for resting places on the trail master. I think we should get some.” Musa stated.

I nodded and turned back to face the uspec. If it thought it startling that I had to consult my imp for this information, it did not let its shock appear on its face.

“We have four tiers of cards. The first and second tier both provide housing in lots with other houses. The third and fourth tier are both secluded houses with gates surrounding them. The fourth tier is the highest quality housing that we have available on the inter port trail. It costs a piece of merit per card, and each card provides shelter for one full day and night.”

“How much is the first tier housing?” I asked immediately.

“First tier noble one?” the uspec spat the question out as if my suggestion of residing in a place like that was offensive.

“Master,” Musa began, speaking slowly, his voice barely above a whisper, “the first and second tier housing are lots, for commoners. They are nowhere near as comfortable as the upper tier, noble, houses.”

I couldn’t help smirking at the strain that Musa put on the word ‘noble’. “Are you suggesting those houses for my status or your comfort?” I mocked.

“I would never make such a suggestion solely for my comfort.” Musa replied with feigned outrage. My lips twitched as it repeated, “Never.”

I turned my gaze back to the uspec and found it regarding me differently than it had when I’d first walked up to the table. The respect was no longer in its gaze. I found myself contemplating the highest tier housing for no other reason than to put that look of respect back into the uspec’s eyes. A piece of merit per day, it had said. It did not take me too long to do the math. According to Musa, walking on the trail, it could take at least a year to reach Katsoaru, so at least four hundred days. If we spent a piece of merit per night, that would be four hundred pieces of merit. I knew enough about money to know that a thousand pieces of value made up a piece of merit, and a thousand pieces of merit, made up a piece of worth. So, four hundred pieces of merit was less than half a piece of worth. I decided then that it would be worth it to buy the highest tier, if for no other reason than to reclaim my credibility as a noble.

I reached for my satchel bag and placed my fingers into the sachet of worth. I pulled out a single gold-fringed piece and let it drop onto the table. Perhaps I imagined it, but as soon as the piece of worth landed on the table, the entire room fell into silence, and every uspec in it, stopped to stare at the fortune. The uspec standing in front of me gulped, staring avariciously at the piece. The respect was back in its eye when it looked up at me.

“The thought drop for the journey from Hakute to Katsoaru costs two hundred pieces of value noble one. However, it is given at no charge when over a hundred pieces of merit is spent on form cards. Which form cards would you like to buy noble one, and how many?”

“Fourth tier.” I stated. “Five hundred cards.”

The uspec made a gesture that appeared to be a combination of a nod and a bow. It reached for the piece of worth on the table, and I could not help but notice the slight tremor in its hand as it picked it up. It gestured with its fingers towards one of the imps standing behind the row of uspecs. An imp came forward. The uspec handed the money to the imp, and the imp went down on its knees on the floor. The table cut off my view of the imp. Moments later, the imp rose. It handed over a stack of cards to the uspec, who proceeded to place it on the table. Then the imp placed ten pouches on the table, before withdrawing.

“Five hundred fourth tier form cards, noble one.” The uspec stated gesturing to the stack of cards the imp had retrieved. I took the cards from the table and placed them in my satchel bag. “Five hundred pieces of merit, noble one, fifty pieces in each pouch.” It added, gesturing to the pouches. I retrieved the white silver-fringed sachet bags from the table, and placed them into my bag, all too aware of the fact that I had not counted the pieces of merit in any one of them. Honest payment, I assumed, was a thing that nobles expected.

@Tuhndhay hahaha, I like that, 'pansophy sounds like psychology'! Pansophy is definitely a lot of things, but I won't spoil the surprise WOW!!! You are asking ALL the right questions! It's like you're in my mind. Maybe by the time I post the coming parts of the story you'll be able to guess what's going to happen at the end. I hope not though...if not, there won't be anymore suspense for you

@dragonstar14 thank you! Hope you had a great birthday

@cassbeat I'm soo happy to hear this (I'm taking your comment as positive of course)

@tunjilomo You already want it to end? And here I was thinking I was trying small . Anyway, you're right, it has moved past a novella. In my defense though, I said at the start that the story was going to be longer than I thought. Even now, I think it's going to be much much longer than I thought. But I like what I'm thinking, so I hope it will still be good, and maybe then you will forget what it's supposed to be

@enamored1 Welcome! I'm always so happy to see new commenters. Thank you so much, I am very happy that you like it. Ermm...that is a good question oh! Hopefully Nebud hears you before it gets itself into real trouble

@RealLordZeus Nonsense romance two words that just shouldn't go together lol. I've never been called underrated before...I think I like it I'm very happy to see that the story gets a tick mark for all those points. Thank you very much!

@Fazemood Chai, I'm happy you like it oh! I was afraid that because of the details you wouldn't like it. Thank you! I like where your mind is going with Musa's fighting skills... 4k screen for 4D view, well, I'm going to do my best not to disappoint

@Botaflica Welcome back! Yes, I think the writing has some similarities with the ancestry days because of the period it's set in. I can't believe you called me a crazy writer :') (emoticon for tears of joy) Thank you! I've been waiting for someone to appreciate the depths of insanity required for this book. It really means a lot to me that you see it

The imp continued as if I had not spoken. “You say you are headed to Katsoaru, but can you speak the soaru tongue? How will you communicate when you get there? What do you know of nobles? Do you know the orders? You claim to be a banneret, but you do not even dress like one. When asked for your weapon what will you say? What is your epic, your story of how you came to be a banneret? You do not even know what sigil you wear. So, when you are asked what line of Kaisers you served in order to earn your noble status, what will you say? If you hesitate, they will strip you of your cloth and they will kill you. These are very dangerous times to be an irira.”

The imp stopped speaking then. I stared, shocked at its boldness. “And you have all the answers to those questions?”

“Some, and the ones I do not know, I know enough to make up a convincing tale which no one will ever suspect.”

“And you will do this for me?”

It nodded. “If you let me.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Why would you offer to release me and give me part of your fortune?” It asked in reply.

I had an answer for the imp, but I was certain at this point that it knew what that answer was. If it had used pansophy on me, I corrected myself, since it had used pansophy on me, it must already know my ties to the Kaisers it had served. Was that why it wanted to serve me too? Did it feel obligated? “No.” I replied. “I cannot live with you.”

“Why?” It asked. “How have I wronged you?”

“I cannot live with an imp with pansophy.”

“But you always knew that I had pansophy. I did not try to hide it from you.”

“I did not know that you would dare to use it on me!” I yelled back at the imp.

The imp’s mouth hung open. Its eyelids lifted all the way up, and it stared at me in shock, as if my words were crazy. “I would never use pansophy on you against your will.”

“Liar!” I snapped at the imp. “I am offering you a fortune, but if you lie to me, I will keep the money and leave you with nothing but your sack bag. You used pansophy on me! You used it to make me care about your feelings. You used it to find out that I had decided to sell you while we rode on the canoe.”

“I am not lying. Don’t you know anything about pansophy?” It demanded. The blunt question angered me, but it did not stop speaking long enough for me to dwell on my anger. “Pansophy is a contact magic. I cannot use pansophy on you unless I am directly in contact with you, or unless we are both touching a material which serves as a pansophy conduit. I have not touched you before the cleaning today, when I polished your feathers. How could I have used pansophy on you before then?”

The imp’s words forced me to stop and think. I tried to remember what I knew of pansophy, but I realized all I knew was what Gerangi had told me. It had told me that pansophy was a magic only possessed by the pious, but I had seen two imps with an uncanny mastery of it, so I knew that was not true. But it had not told me that it was a contact magic. Why would it not tell me that? The answer was so plain it was as if someone had slapped me upside the head with it.

It did not want me to know.

If I had known that pansophy was a contact magic, I would not have let it touch me. I tried to think back to all the times I was certain that pansophy had been used on me. I believed my first experience with it was in the sickroom in the pits, when the pious one had made me sleep. It had touched me first, I remember thinking that the touch was strange. And when Gerangi put its thoughts in my head in that same room? It had also touched me. One by one, I began to recall every time that pansophy had been used on me. It had always followed the person touching me. With Xavier, the imp from the pits, it was even more clear. It had told me exactly what it had done every time it used pansophy on or around me, and each time it had touched me, or touched the subject of its magic. All of my memories piled up, like evidence in support of Musa’s innocence. One thing in particular stood out, its honesty. It could have been like Gerangi, and kept the truth from me. It would have, if it wanted to keep using its pansophy on me, but it hadn’t. If perhaps I was wrong and it had not used its pansophy to make me care for it, then there was still one point that it had to answer for.

“How did you know I was going to sell you?”

Musa shook its head. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It happened when we were sitting in the canoe. I had just seen you strangle that imp, and I had seen the amount of rage you possessed in that moment. So, I had studied you, wanting to know why you did it. Before that I had thought that you were kind, a good uspec, but then you did that and I was startled. I kept asking myself why you would lash out at that imp like that, and then I heard your voice in my head. I heard you saying that I had to go, that you would sell me the first chance you got. But that was all I heard. I did not hear why you wanted to sell me. I swear it was no magic of mine. It just happened.”

“I don’t know why, but I just don’t want to leave the master. Why does it want to sell me? How did I fail it?”

Musa’s words from earlier returned to me. I realized then that I had experienced something similar to what it claimed. I had been asking myself questions about it, wondering why it had acted with so much disrespect and then its thoughts filled my head. I did not have pansophy, and so I could not have used the magic to read its mind. Neither of us were in contact, so it could not have used its magic to put the thoughts there. So, then, what was the explanation?

“Please say you believe me.” Its voice shook slightly. “I did not use pansophy, I swear it. I would never do that to you.”

“I believe you.” I replied. “I believe you.”

The smile returned to its face. “Then will you keep me? I can teach you everything you need to know. I can teach you how to read and write in the common tongue. I can teach you how to speak the soaru tongue, I can teach you how to speak all the tongues! I know whose sigil you wear, and I can help you form a story as to how you were honored with it. I can tell you everything you need to know about money, and magic, and how the world of nobles and commoners work. I spent two millennia teaching imperial ones. It would be my honor to teach you too.”

“I spent two millennia teaching imperial ones. It would be my honor to teach you too.”

If the imp had not used pansophy on me, then it probably did not know of my lineage. Yet it wanted to teach me, me. The feeling of fate returned. It was as if I had been destined to meet this imp, as if whoever it was that had taken me from the green room Gerangi had led me to, and left me in the swamp with a bag of wealth, had set me on this course to meet this imp. Suddenly, all of its previous questions returned to me, and I knew that I did not know nearly enough to pass as a noble. Without this imp’s help, what chance did I have? And it wanted to serve me. It had served my ancestors, and without knowing my lineage, it had found something in me worth turning down freedom and a fortune to help.

“Yes.” I stated. “Yes, I will keep you.”

Musa jumped to its feet with so much energy I was taken aback. “There is so much to do before we leave master!” It spoke loudly in its excitement. I realized I was smiling wider than any self-respecting uspec should at the sight of an imp’s happiness. But I did not care. Whatever bond I felt with this imp, it was now obvious that it felt it as well. “We must start with the adornments. Bannerets are made nobles, so you do not wear golden bands, but you are supposed to wear a silver sleeve over your tail, to match the silver neckcloth. You are also meant to have a silver belt with a sheath for the banneret’s weapon, a cyan cutlass. Don’t worry master, I will teach you how to wield it. You are already a gifted fighter, learning a new weapon shouldn’t be too hard.”

The imp stopped speaking for a moment and then it met my gaze and it smiled. “I will need money master. Shall I go and buy them now?”

I gestured with my head to the cupboard which had my satchel bag. “Take what you need, but we will eat first.”

The imp nodded excitedly. “The walk to Katsoaru will take at least a year. That should be enough time for me to teach you all you need to know to pass muster in a soaru port.” It said as it walked over to the table.

“What?” I stopped in my tracks. “A year?” It had to be joking.

“Yes master.”

“Is there no faster way?”

“Of course master. There are mobiles we could rent. The journey can be done in hours.”

“Then we will rent.”

Musa chuckled. “You will need more than hours to learn everything you need to know before you present yourself in Katsoaru. Can you imagine walking into a port where you can’t speak the language? If we walk the trail, it will take longer, but by the time we arrive, you will make a very convincing noble, master. I promise, the travel time is necessary.”

I nodded grudgingly in acceptance. A whole year walking on an inter-port trail. I could not imagine a less appealing prospect. But, if Musa said it was necessary, I believed it.

Part 13
---------

I found myself pacing around the room as I awaited the imp’s return. A million thoughts flooded my mind, but the most insistent was the imp’s brazen behavior. First, it had dared to bring up the slave market. It was true that I meant to take the slave there to sell it, but it was no right of the imp’s to bring it up. Not only had it done that, but then it had compounded on its wrongdoings by telling me, telling me, that I meant to sell it. Then when that was all done, it had run away. It had walked out of the room without my permission, denying me the opportunity to vent my anger on it. Now the imp was gone, and I found that my anger was gone with it.

I sighed. The sooner I was rid of the slave, the better it would be. I had thought to get directions to Katsoaru from it before selling it, but now, now I just wanted the whole act to be done with.

Resigned to the inevitability of our parting, I walked back to the bed, and sat on it. I was in this position when the imp walked into the room. It placed the key back on the hoop by the door, and stretched its hand out, extending it towards the table.

Two imps dressed in the resort’s brown livery walked in. One of them pushed a cart into the room, the other walked behind the imp with the cart. They walked over to the side of the room with the table in it.

My gaze was fixed on Musa as the imp’s worked. With my outer eyes, I could clearly see them unload the cart and place several large plates, a bowl, a pitcher and a number of glass cups onto the table. Musa stood with its head bowed, its shoulders stooped, and its body turned to face the area of the room where the resort imps worked. It remained at its position, standing just barely inside the room, by the fog door. I couldn’t help wondering what was in its mind. I found myself focusing on the imp. I had thought that it was good, a good slave, one that would never disrespect me. It didn’t matter how much I grew, it seemed like I would always be that de trop, the one that even imps felt they had the right to look down on. But I was uspec, I deserved the respect, didn’t I? And why did it bother me so much more when this imp disrespected me than any other? Again, I felt that strange bond. It was the one that made me want to care about another’s feelings towards me. An imp’s feelings towards me. It could not be countenanced, it would not be. But still, I could not fight it. I could not stop my own reactions to this imp’s disrespect.

Why? I asked myself. Why did it have to bring up the slave market? Why had it so brashly spoken to me, announcing that it knew my intentions? Why had it run out of the room before I could vent my frustrations at it, as was my right? Why had it disrespected me? Why? I wanted to know, I wanted to know what the imp was thinking. I glared at the imp and wanted so badly to be inside its head.

“I don’t know why, but I just don’t want to leave the master. Why does it want to sell me? How did I fail it?”

Musa’s desolate words floated in my head. Startled, I stared at the imp, wondering if it had used its pansophy to hear my thoughts, and had spoken in return. But I knew that was not the case. The imp’s lips had not moved. Had it used pansophy to put its thoughts into my head then? That seemed likely, but even I knew that if a person were to use magic to convey thoughts, it would not be the ones that I heard. So then how had I heard it? I was still reeling from the shock of hearing Musa’s thoughts in my mind, when the resort imps left, rolling the cart with them.

Musa moved from the door and came to kneel in front of me. It leaned back so that it sat on the heel of its feet. Its head remained bowed.

“You left without my command.” I stated.

“Forgive me master…I…forgive me.”

I decided then that it was time to end with this charade. I did not like how this imp made me feel, I did not like the way it used magic to force me to care for it, and I certainly did not like the fact that I cared for the hurt I heard in its voice. The imp was too much of a mystery. I did not need it. “You are right, I am going to sell you.” I pretended not to feel the sinking in my chest. It was insane to think that I cared enough about anybody else to not want to part with them.

“Why?” Musa’s head rose and its empty eye sockets met my gaze. It stayed as it was, staring me in the eye. Its lips formed into a straight line and its shoulders squared. I remembered the imp’s statement in the inn the night before, when it had said it knew how to fight. Now looking at the defiant expression on its face, I was tempted to believe it. I should have been insulted that the imp would dare to question me as forthrightly as it did, but all I felt was respect.

It was that feeling of respect which incensed me. “Why?” I yelled the imp’s question out so loudly that I expected it to flinch, but it did not. This was a version of the imp I had never seen before. I could imagine this imp as an advisor to Kaisers. That thought rose a twinge of guilt in me. This imp that had cried for my sire and progenitor. This imp that I had initially thought it was my duty to protect. Before I could allow myself to doubt my decision to sell it, I reminded myself that the imp had also used pansophy on me. It had as much as confessed it when it had spewed its knowledge of my desire to sell it. I did not care what it had done for my ancestors. I could not trust an imp that would try to control me, and I would not live with an imp that I could not trust. But it had served and wept for my sire and my progenitor. It had served my ancestry for two millennia. Did it really deserve to end up with another owner who treated it like its last two had? Where did this guilt, this sudden desire to rethink my own decisions, arise from? Pansophy.

I took a deep breath, let it out, and then stared sadly at the imp. “Why?” I repeated its question, but this time, even the anger of its use of pansophy on me had faded. I would not forgive any other imp for that crime, but this one, this one that had served my ancestors for so long? “I will not sell you.” I said at last. It had earned at least that much for its centuries of faithful service.

I pretended not to be affected by the imp’s sudden look of joy. It exhaled, as if a weight had been lifted off its shoulders, and then it smiled. I imagined its smile would get larger after I was done telling it what its fate would be.

“You are free.” I said to the imp. I kept talking, ignoring the changes I saw come across its face. “I cannot live with you Musa, but I see now that I cannot risk you going to a place where you will be mistreated. So, you are free. I will give you a bag of worth, fifty pieces at least, to start your own life. You have pansophy, and with my payment, you will have wealth. Make of your life whatever you will.” I gestured then with my hand for the imp to rise.

It remained on its knees. For some reason, its face was not filled with the joy I expected to see there. Instead, its previous smile had faded. “I have only known you for two days master, yet you would set me free and give me fifty pieces of worth as a parting gift?” Its skepticism made me smile.

“Yes Musa. I think you have served long enough.” I did not add that it was only because it had served my ancestry.

“I see.” Was Musa’s only response. Seconds ticked away as the imp remained on its knees, peering at me as though to see into my soul…or into my head. Pansophy, I realized with a sigh, it was using its magic to check if I meant what I had said. Even that thought did not feel me with the rage it should have. “Why?” Musa asked again.

For a moment I was dumbfounded. “Why? Why question it? Why not just take your fortune and leave? Have you been a slave for so long that you have no knowledge of what to do with freedom? Just go!”

“And how will you survive without me?” It replied stubbornly.

“I am a banneret, a noble, I do not need an imp.” I lied.

Musa scoffed. “You are no more banneret than I am, irira.”

For a moment everything froze. I heard the imp call me irira and my first thought was to make it pay. It was a testament to how much magic the imp had used on me, that I did not give into that urge. “What did you call me?” I spat the words out through clenched teeth.

“Irira.” Musa replied unperturbed. “The great fighter of the pits of Hakute. I know who you are.”

“How?” The question came out of me before I recognized its futility. Pansophy. I answered my own question. How else? It was the same way it had known that I wanted to sell it.

“The moment you told me that you would rather sleep on sludge than walk further to find a comfortable resting place, I had my suspicions that you were not the noble you claimed. But when you asked me what a spoon was, I became certain of it. I knew then that you were an imposter. I just did not know exactly who you were, until this morning, in the cleaning room. I was there watching during your first fight. I still belonged to the Custodian of Lahooni at that point and it had taken a few of us with it to observe the match. It was the only time I ever saw you fight, but I could never forget the sight of your feathers and your scales. A majestic one, Fajahromo the offspring of Fajahr, was hosting my master, Salin, as well as some other uspecs, in the upper lodges of the pits. It told them all that it had discovered you, it told them that you had come from a slum, that you were de trop. But I had never seen a de trop with such features, and so I could never forget it. I watched what you did to that imp. I remember Fajahromo laughing when it said that you, like every other barbaric de trop, hated imps. When I cleaned your feathers and saw your scales in the cleaning room, I put that together with the way you treated the runner imp on the shore. That was when I knew who you were.”

Not pansophy, a traitorous voice in the back of my mind said. I shut the voice down, choosing to ignore it. It may not have used pansophy to gain the knowledge of my past, but it had certainly used it to manipulate my emotions, to make me care for it, to learn that I intended to sell it.

“You needn’t worry about my survival. I can take care of myself. I always have.” I replied sourly.

“Perhaps in the pits where all that was required of you was fighting. But how will you survive out here, in a world that would kill you if they ever found out what you really were? You must keep that neckcloth on to cover your scales, but that neckcloth announces you as a noble, and you have no idea how to be that. You cannot even read the common tongue.”

“That is enough.” I warned.

One at a time, the uspecs seemed to appear in different locations in the room. Two of them swam in the canal along the perimeter of the room. Five appeared huddled together in the dark pink pond to my right. I could barely make out a few green heads through the fog over the pond to my left, and the beds were suddenly filled with lounging uspecs. I realized then that I had phased them out in my eagerness to peruse the room. I heard the voices then. I heard the gentle laughter of the five uspecs in the dark pond. I heard the splashing of the swimming uspecs’ hands as they slapped against the liquid in the canal. Imps also became visible. I caught sight of a few naked ones standing in the ponds. About six of them decked in the brown livery of the resort, stood at various locations in the room.

“Master.” I heard the concern in Musa’s voice and wondered how long it had been trying to get my attention.

I turned to face the imp and my eyes locked on a counter filled with towels, an assortment of corked bottles, stone-like round objects, and various types of long objects, some with sharp ends, the others having bristles. Suddenly, I became overwhelmed by my ignorance. How could I pretend to be a noble if I did not know what to do? Would these uspecs not immediately see through my charade? My heart pounded as I noticed a pair of knowing eyes turn from a pond to stare at me. Would I be asked the question which exposed me to the commoners? I decided then, that it would probably be for the best if I left. I could get clean enough in the canal in my room.

“Master.” Musa prompted again. “I don’t know how you like to clean master, but my old masters were very ordered in their cleaning. They would all start with the heated pond, that pond has bath salts which are best for washing. The salts get into your skin and wash off all the dirt you may have accumulated. Then they would come out and lay on the bed so that I could thoroughly clean and polish their feathers. After that was done, they would go to the long rectangular pond, the one with scented bars, and swim in it, to wash off any remaining salts from the first pond. When they are satisfied, they would go to the last pond, the dark one master, and soak there for long enough for the dark salts to attach to their skin. Those salts prevent dirt from accumulating on the skin. When they are done in the dark pond, they may or may not go for a long swim in the canal or stand under the falling liquid. Then they would come out, and I would dry them with heated towels. Does master clean in a different order?”

I exhaled in relief. “Thank you.” I said in reply. The imp inhaled in shock, its eyelids pulling upwards. I stared at the surprised expression on its face and admitted to myself that I was shocked too. I could count on my fingers the number of times I had ever said those words and meant it. But the imp had saved me from embarrassment, and in the moment after it had described the purpose of each of the ponds, all I had felt was relief. I had not really thought of its status as my slave. I nodded gruffly at the imp and then walked towards the first pond.

“If you’ve never been in it before master, the salts in the heated pool can be very hard to bear.” Musa warned in a whisper.

I nodded without turning around to face it. Then, I walked over to the pool of liquid with the fog floating over it, and stepped in. I regretted my decision as soon as my body was in the liquid. I could not tell which was worse, the burning heat of the liquid in the pond, or the biting sting I assumed came from the salts. The fog made it hard to see, but I could tell that there were at least three other uspecs in the pond, each of which appeared to be perfectly relaxed in this liquid hell. I thought I would look ridiculous if I jumped out of the pond as soon as I had climbed in, and so I tried to distract myself by focusing on other things. I inhaled the strange scents emanating from the pool, and tried to break it down into its sources. When my lack of knowledge of scents turned that into a pointless exercise, I turned my focus to studying the uspecs. Two of them were too far away for me to see, but I could study the one that was closest. I noticed that it had all four of its filled eyes closed. It lay with its back against the side of the pond, and it had enough of its left aileron exposed for me to see that it was almost half-way filled. I wondered if this uspec could fly. I tried to recall the uspecs who’d flown into my slum and how filled their ailerons had been, but then the burning, stinging, pain of the hot liquid and the salts became too much to bear.

I tried swimming then. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with air, before going to a squat in the liquid. I decided that if I was going to endure the pain of this bath, I might as well make sure that all of me got cleaned. So, I swam the few strokes to the other end of the pond, with all of my body submerged in the liquid. Keeping my attention on moving my body in the okun actually worked in distracting me from the unpleasant sensations for a while. I was able to complete six laps in the small pond, before my mind began to drift. I decided then that I had endured enough. I pulled myself out of the pond.

I sighed, a smile of relief on my face, as the cool air of the cleaning room enveloped me. Unperturbed by the onlookers I assumed watched me with fascination, I simply stood in my spot with my eyes closed and enjoyed the sensations of not feeling as if my skin was being flayed. It wasn’t till I opened my eyes that I noticed Musa standing in front of me. It stretched its hand towards a bed on the far left of the room. I nodded and it began walking.

When we reached the bed, I noticed the basket on the floor by it. The basket was filled with several bottles and a number of the objects I hadn’t been able to place from the counter. I lay on my stomach on the bed, noting the lack of slots in this one. The bed was also much narrower than the bed in my room, but it was wide enough for my ailerons to rest on it.

I felt it when Musa sat on the bed. A cool liquid was spurted onto the back of my ailerons and then I felt Musa rubbing it in. I found it strangely soothing. It started with its fingers, massaging the liquid into the parts of my aileron which were still bare and then finally, onto the feathers in my aileron. Once it was done with its hands, I felt the scrape of a hard object against the rims of my aileron. It worked so gently that I never once felt the object scraping unpleasantly against me. In no time, the hard object was gone and replaced with something strange. I only had to feel it brush against my feathers a few times before I matched it with the object with bristles which I had seen on the counter.

Musa gasped, and then everything stopped.

With a frown, I placed my elbows onto the bed and pushed myself up. Then I turned to face Musa. Its face had contorted into a mask of anguish. It stared at my feathers as if they had somehow brought pain to it. “Musa?” I called, startled by the imp’s reaction.

Musa jumped at the call of its name. It blinked a few times before raising its head up to meet my gaze with its empty sockets. “Forgive me master.” It said. “Your feathers are…” it seemed to hesitate, as if it couldn’t find the right words, and then it said, “exceptional.” Then it bent back to its work of brushing my feathers.

Relaxing my elbows, I couldn’t help but marvel at the imp’s reaction to the feathers. It was true that the first time I had seen them I had also been surprised, but this imp had been with me for days now. Had it not seen my feathers in that time? It wasn’t till Musa begun working on the second aileron that I understood. Years spent cleaning with only a swim must not have been sufficient to wash off the grime which must have accumulated on them.

It took a few moments for me to realize what Musa’s new actions meant, and then a few more moments to react. Immediately, I struck out with my right hand and grasped the ends of the neckcloth which Musa had undone. I rose to a sitting position on the bed, and then I fastened the ends of the cloth, restoring it, before Musa had made the unforgiveable error of taking it off, and exposing the truth of my abomination to this room full of uspecs.

With the neckcloth back in place, I stood to my full height and stared down at Musa who was also now standing. “What was the meaning of that?” I demanded, my eyes searching the imp’s face to see if it had seen the scales.

It still appeared slightly shaken, but that, I decided, could be attributed to its earlier shock at seeing my feathers. If this imp had seen my scales, I had no doubt it would have yelled out, or made some sort of verbal sound to make its shock known.

“Forgive me master.” Musa bowed. “I thought perhaps you would like to clean your neck.”

“Never touch my neckcloth again.” I ordered.

“Yes master.” Musa replied.

I turned around and headed straight for the long rectangular pond. I jumped into this one, and swam the full length of it submerged in the liquid. I only swam a few laps before walking out and going over to the last pond. I realized as I stepped into the dark pond, that I was no longer in the mood for an in-depth exploration of the ponds and the uspecs in them. I did not stop to listen to the group of five huddled in the pool and laughing to themselves. If I wasn’t still shaken by how close Musa had come to exposing my irira identity, I would probably have stopped to stare at the five youths, only one of which had a single outer eye formed, and wonder why they spent so much time in this one pond. I might even have stopped to listen in on their conversation and then decide if it was engaging enough to keep any sane person in a single spot for so much time. Then, I might have hazarded a guess as to their identity, and how they came to have so much money to spend on a resort like this. But I didn’t. I simply swam a few laps in the dark pool of liquid, and then climbed out of it, indifferent to their raised voices and occasional snickers.

I should have left then. Musa stood by the counter, a towel in its hand, ready to dry the bath liquid off me, but I couldn’t resist the urge to swim at least one lap in the canal. I was a kute after all, we were okun people. How could I resist the rain of pink liquid? I decided I could not. So, I walked between the beds to the canal at the edge of the room. While it was much narrower than the other ponds, I discovered when I climbed in, that it was much deeper. In the other ponds I had been able to stand with the surface of the liquid only reaching the middle of my chest. In the canal, the liquid rose all the way to my neck. The liquid was also cool, cooler even than the canal in my room. I walked over to the middle of the canal, where the falling liquid rained down, and found that the bottom of the pool was raised there. After climbing onto the raised platform, the surface of the liquid now reached midway down my chest, the same depth as the other ponds.

I had never felt anything like the streaming liquid falling onto my body. The stream of falling liquid was not wide enough to touch every part of my body. I decided then, that after everything was done, when it was time for me to settle, I would build a canal just like this one in my dwelling. But the stream of falling liquid would be thicker. I decided it would be as thick as the width of the canal. With that decision made, I bent and began swimming in the center of the canal. Instead of submerging myself fully in the liquid, I swam with my head above it, so that I could feel the pounding of the falling liquid against my head and my ailerons.

When I climbed out of the canal, it was with a smile of contentment on my face. Gone was my anger at Musa for its careless attempt at removing my neckcloth. Gone were the feelings of fear at my ineptness and the worry that at any moment an uspec would question me and realize I was not what I claimed to be. All I felt now was relaxed. Musa walked over to me and it began to pat me down with a soft towel. I was so relaxed that I did not even question the uncanny ability the towel had to pull at the wetness. It was most noticeable when it dried the cloth on my neck. The cloth went from wet to dry in a matter of seconds, as if the towel had taken the liquid from the cloth. I had washed with the cloth twice before this, and in those times, it had taken minutes, not seconds, for the cloth to dry.

But I did not focus on this.

We walked out through the green fog, and I could feel my cleanness. It felt as if layers of my skin had been exposed in ways that I had never experienced before. I realized, as the hardened quicksand became soft and sucked us in, that I had never been as clean as I currently was, in my entire life. I recognized the portal room that we were teleported to, and the green curtain which Musa pulled back so that I could walk through. I did not know how Musa was able to tell ours apart from all the other brown fog doors, but it led us to a particular fog door, and it walked through without hesitation. The opaque fog turned translucent and I followed behind.

I had a smile of contentment on my face as I sat on my bed.

“Shall I go and get breakfast for you now master? After you are done eating, I can show you to the slave market.”

Musa’s words appeared so strange, and its tone so much different, that I had to stop and think on its words. “Slave market?” I asked repeating its last words.

“So that you can sell me master.” It replied flatly.

My previous contentment evaporated as all my suspicions of the slave returned. With a severe frown on my face, I stood up from the bed and walked determinedly towards the imp.

“I will get your breakfast now master.” It said with a bow, and then it ran out of the room. It was gone through the fog door before I could get my hands on it.

“So that you can sell me master.”

The imp’s words repeated in my head. It had used pansophy on me! How else would it have known my thoughts? Its own words were the only proof I needed. I would not, NOT, abide my own slave using pansophy on me. Perhaps it was best that the imp had gone before I reached it. I did not know what I would have done to it. But one thing was clear, the slave had to go.