"Be careful and mindful of what you say, this is one of the Council of Nine, remember we talked about them before?" Paul began to notify me of the situation making my hand uncontrollably shake a little. "Don't worry nothing will happen, just greet him and just stay impartial to anything he say's," Paul explained and went to hold my hand and pulled me behind him standing as a physical barrier between us but also not covering me enough to seem natural.
"Councilmember Vos'zuk if I'm not mistaken." Paul bowed to him a little.
"Black Dragon Slayer." He smiled bowing to Paul without even comprehending my existence. "Urghh that lingering smell is revolting." He replied in disgust and with a wave of a wand made a small gust of wind blow the 'smell' away. "Why Atlantis of you bother with such lowly things is beyond me." He questioned rhetorically like he was above the Free Folk which instantly angered me a little.
"So what brings one of the esteemed Council of Nine to Atlantis?" Paul questioned trying not to react to his obnoxious racist view.
"Well once word caught on, the Council decided it was best to witness the Legendary Black Dragon Slayer in action." He chuckled.
"Oh, well I do hope I meet yours and the council's expectations." Paul smiled.
"Oh Egwene and the rest of us are all very eager to watch your display of skill, although to be honest we do hope you're skill doesn't quite match up to your fame and accolades." He replied showing a very wicked and chilling smile. "Between us though, I really hope you wipe the floor with those annoying Eshians, what better way to embarrass The Demon himself than to defeat his last remaining son in such a grandiose manner and halt his return." He chuckled at his own imagination.
"So has anyone else from Zessia come personally to spectate me in action?" Paul questioned curiously.
"I believe Marya is scheduled to arrive later on tonight, I believe she like the rest of us is quite excited to see the Black Dragon Slayer in action." He answered Paul.
"Oh, if you see her before I do, please let her know I would like to meet her," Paul requested.
"Hmmm that I can do, I suppose." He answered like such a request was beneath him.
"Many thanks, apologies for asking such a trivial favour." Paul apologised noticing his reaction.
"So who is the young quiet girl behind you?" He questioned curiously and for the first time since he arrived and gave me a quick glance.
"Ah, this is Emilia, my mentee." Paul answered smiling but didn't step to the side like when we were talking to the Free Folk.
"Oh Emilia, isn't she the girl that you used your's and Atlantis' first pick on?" He questioned giving me a longer more inquisitive look.
"As always the Council of Nine are so knowledgeable, Yes she is," Paul answered.
"Hmmm, she must be quite the individual for you to break a contract and use the first pick on." He carried on talking to Paul but carried on looking at me. "From what I heard she was ranked quite low, I wonder what it is that made her so important to you or Atlantis...." He pondered trying to decipher Paul's actions.
"She was someone I met before, and helped me with information that saved my life, it was the very least I could do." Paul smiled lying to him.
"Ahhhh that famed kind heart of yours." He broke his gaze and began addressing Paul again. "Well, I'm sure all the other institutes owe you a small thanks for wasting your first pick." He smiled and went back to ignoring my existence.
"Oh being such a renowned practitioner of well, Necromancy. I was hoping you could enlighten me on something." Paul requested politely.
"Hmmm, I suppose," He answered like he was starting to become bored talking to Paul.
"Have you heard of a creature that resembles a giant baby, with a life-sapping aura and the ability to grow tendrils at will and a death stare?" Paul questioned describing the creature his team needs to deal with and the creature we encountered just before the burial ceremony.
"Oh? I do know what you are speaking of, but that privileged information comes at a cost." He looked at Paul with an excited confident smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Name your price," Paul answered his request.
"A small vial of your blood will do." He faked a friendly smile at Paul.
"You and I know that won't happen." Paul smiled back but sounded firm and serious.
"Damn, well can't blame a man for trying." He chuckled with a shrug.
"Maybe Emilia's blood?" He questioned with a cheeky smile.
"You know I can't do that either." Paul chuckled a little.
"Okay fine, as you may know, we've had a small werewolf problem recently that we would like you and your team to handle." He said looking at Paul seriously.
"Sure, but I won't be able to take care of that request for another month," Paul answered him.
"Sure I'll let the council know of our agreement." He smiled, "What you're describing is what we called an Anathopal, typically a failed experiment of an overzealous necromancer trying to obtain immortality by resurrecting a young dead God. Why do you ask?" He questioned curiously his interest in us reignited.
"We have reason to believe that there is one buried somewhere in the Underlands causing trouble to some races," Paul answered.
"Oh?" He suddenly changed from looking extremely curious to excited, "Well if you have the location Zessia would love to deal with the problem for you." He smiled making me instantly being to distrust his intentions with such a creature.
"As much as I would love to, sadly this commission I have to deal with personally, the individual doesn't want this thing to reappear or resurface." Paul smiled.
"A shame, well if you ever change your mind Zessia will be very interested in taking that commission for you, we will even let you reap the rewards and fame from it." He smiled.
"If any complications arise, I'll be sure to seek Zessia for help," Paul replied to him. "Is there anything more you can tell me about them?" Paul questioned.
"Well sadly even we don't have much information on them which obviously explains our own interest in it ourselves, we don't even know what sort of spell or procedures were used or even where whoever created it managed to obtain a specimen of a young dead God." He explained.
"Has Zessia encountered any before?" Paul questioned.
"Unfortunately we have not, we only known of them through very old books." He answered.
"Hmm well, it's great that I have a name for it now, thank you." Paul smiled.
"I also have a small piece of information you may be interested in." He offered Paul, I assume he's getting desperate in trying to beat Paul to the Anathopal.
"Oh?" Paul replied curiously interested in his offer.
"So as you know Zessia is the place to go when needing some materials that would otherwise be illegal in other regions." He began to explain when he suddenly stopped to peak Paul's interest.
"Okay name a price." Paul offered.
"I want five vials of blood and a sizeable piece of the Anathopal if you're successful in defeating it." He requested.
"Hmmm, that's a huge ask, especially from such a dangerous monster, the piece of information must be worth the risk," Paul replied.
"Trust me, it's worth the price." He smiled.
"Then sure, but if it's of no worth to me I won't complete your task," Paul answered.
"Well, a certain vendor in Zessia has brought to our attention some new faces buying materials that are linked to Demon rituals, especially the summoning kind of ritual." He began to explain.
"Why would that concern Atlantis?" Paul questioned clearly holding back what's happened within Atlantis thus far.
"Well we do have certain tracking spells on contraband, especially for reasons just like this. We've tracked them heading towards Atlantis with said materials." He spoke in a way to best peak Paul's interest.
"Okay, I'll bring back what you requested tell me everything you know." Paul began to speak with a serious demeanour.
"I'm glad we have come to an agreement," He smiled, "So our trackers have their party number to at least eight, they have a very big budget so we assume they are being funded by someone or some big entity." He began to explain.
"Are the tracked materials on Atlantis grounds currently?" Paul questioned hastily.
"Yes, but I've lost tracking of the bulk of them for some odd reason, but a small amount is on that person over there." He answered pointing at a well put together human with blond short blond hair donning very ornate plate armour making Paul look at him in complete shock.
"Commander Tarric? are you sure?" Paul asked him again to make sure.
"Yes, a shock to myself too, we thought the City of Rivenskies were allies and friends of yours." He answered Paul looking at Commander Tarric.
"Is he a Demon?" Paul questioned.
"As far as we know he should be human, maybe a possession perhaps?" He suggested.
"Hmmm, this one is free." He smiled and pulled out some powder and waved his wand over it casting a spell. "Black Dragonslayer." He called out causing both of us to look at him, without warning he threw the dust into our eyes causing us both to step back in shock and a weird sensation pulsed through my eyeballs down to the back of my skull. "Oh, apologies it was only meant for Paul." He apologised to me as I began to rub my eyes trying to rehydrate them.
"Some bloody warning would have been nice." Paul cursed.
"Ah but that wouldn't have been as fun, well good luck." He said as the sound of his footstep began to walk away.
"What in the hell was that?" I cursed once his steps couldn't be heard.
"Ah," Paul said making me look at him once my eyes recovered and looked in the same direction he was.
"What the....." I uttered in shock as the trippiest thing I ever saw began to come into my vision, somehow the air around us was visibly sparkling like small hints of glitter everywhere some ghostly fishes and other alien things were floating in the air passing through people and solid objects. "What the heck is doing on?" I questioned Paul in utter confusion.
"Well I think he cast a spell on us I guess, this seems to let us see through some planes and perhaps invisible things," Paul answered, "Look, those are Imps," Paul said pointing at Commander Tarric who had a weird ugly little demon thing on his shoulder with tiny wings.
"What does that mean?" I questioned in wonder still looking at everything around us. "what are those red strings on everyone's ankles?" I questioned noticing that everyone had a red string on their ankles that sprawled out and intertwined shooting off into the distance and on some occasions connected two people together.
"I don't see that." Paul answered, do you see the imps?" He questioned.
"Yeah, I do," I answered.
"Hmm that might suggest they may be under the influence of a Demon, Imps normally act as a 3rd party messenger for their masters, so I presume they are communicating in one way or another." Paul began to explain. "Come we should go and question them," Paul said as he began walking forward.
"Sure," I agreed but before I began walking I quickly check my ankle for the red string and as Paul walked the string attached to my ankle began to move as well, "What the....." I uttered under my breath as I followed the string which eventually lead to Paul's ankle.
"Something wrong?" Paul questioned as he stopped the movement of my red thread stopped as well, it was irrefutable, this strange red string meant me and Paul were connected in some way or another.