In Arn-Dul was an association named Gilded Runemaster Guild. Their history was shallow as it was one of the newer guilds in the city, however… Who cares?
"Hmm?" A dwarf with wild black hair and an unattended beard raised his eyes from his work. The rune on the hammer flickered, so he turned his attention back on it to stabilize it. The hammer shimmered with blue rays of refined mana, and the rune stabilized completely. He closely examined it and hurled it into the trash barrel nearby.
"Dornus dammit… Trash. The engraving was successful, but the refined mana flowed wrongly. Sell it to the second-hand grocer."
"Master Baelgin won't be happy, master." His apprentice, a youngling with trimmed beard according to the latest fashion, with brown eyes and clothed in brown robe engraved with dark runes, replied. He wore a little badge with a rune showing that he was 2nd rank runemaster on his chest. Also, he was so similar to Dafur, one could even say they appeared the same.
"Hmpf! He won't know if you won't tell him," the master replied with a small, playful grin. The master closed eyes, his natural frown deepening.
"What is it, master Therdreag?" His apprentice asked, worried. When his master frowned like this, there was always some kind of problem.
"Laboratory number two was activated, but the signal was delayed. Go and prepare my teleportation circle," master Therdreag commanded him after opening his eyes.
"Yea, master. When shoulda it be done?"
"In an hour. I need to finish this order. You know what, stay here and watch, you deserve it anyway, my little genius Tafur."
"Thank ya, master, for this opportunity," Tafur slightly bowed.
"Servant!"
"Yea, master?" A dwarven servant replied from outside of the door.
"Go and take three outer disciples to prepare my teleportation circle to laboratory number two."
"Yea, master."
"Now, my little genius, hand me another hammer, this time from mithril and seven high-grade crystals. I want to show you a neat trick I learned back in the days," master Therdreag grinned and focused his mana on the new tool handed to him.
☁☁☁☁☁☁
In an undisclosed area, during the process of blightification of Stone's company, something else was happening too.
An elven man, clothed in exquisitely crafted white robe, jogged through a long hallway. He gracefully evaded several people, mostly servants, slaves, golems and elementals waiting for orders or completing their duties. In the corner of his eyes, he saw many rooms; laboratories with holding pens filled with exotic animals and Monsters, alchemy workshops with bubbling apparatuses and resting rooms with talking people of many colourful races.
At the end of the hallway, he leapt down the stairway directly to the underground level. It was a fairly long fall, but he conjured a gust of air that slowed him down to comfortable speed. He softly landed and continued his jog.
A few left and right turns, a little bit more of running and he stood before white, wooden doors, slightly glowing blue with refined mana.
He took a deep breath and conjured a weak shield with streaks of blue rays around his hand and banged on the doors. After ten minutes of waiting, the glow dulled and the door opened.
In the reception room were two simple chairs, crafted from rare beautiful white wood and a matching table. The white walls and ground were covered in glowing golden runes, made by a runemaster of at least 5th rank. There was also a metallic, white door leading to the inner area, where everyone was forbidden to enter.
The metallic doors opened to the side and a beautiful human female, who wore a red dress with golden lining that emanated a protective barrier, copying her curvy lines, entered while yelling, "you idiot! I was in the middle of an important experiment! This better is important, or I swear to Conjurarum, I will castrate you on the spot!"
He gulped, knowing the threat was not plain, and went straight to the point, "madam Tia! We lost contact with one of our Partners!"
She halted in the middle of swearing and creased her eyebrow. Her long red hairs, bonded in a simple ponytail, slightly flickered with mana. She was a known beauty. Her red eyes bore into his, cleaving through all of his mental defenses.
The man who watched her almost as if hypnotized blushed like a schoolgirl who met her idol in person.
After a moment of silence, she asked, "and? Which one, you moron?"
"Number 666, madam Tia."
"My favourite comedian got lost? That won't do… Can you track him?"
"No, madam. It was all too strange. He was going towards his target, Orifog Blackbeard, but the target died before he could even make contact. What was strange was that instead of returning, he embedded himself somewhere else," he stopped his report while pondering what to say next. He gulped several times, not able to find the right words as he was immersed in the woman's beauty.
"Well? Where is he?" Madam Tia inquired impatiently, clearly starting to be angered.
"Ehm… I am sorry, madam!" He bowed, finally awake and continued, "we don't know! The connection is completely broken. We don't even know if he was destroyed."
"When and why did that happen?" She questioned. A dangerous undertone was apparent to anyone who wasn't a complete moron. And the elf was not a moron.
"Ehm… we didn't notice until more than three…," he mumbled the last words, but she heard him properly.
"Three months!? FUCKING THREE MONTHS!?" She screamed like a banshee and picked him up with a big hand made of refined mana.
"I… aaargh… am… auch!… sorry… It hurts!… madam Tia," he said while his bones are being crushed.
"Divination school?"
"Doesn't work… auieee! Please, madam! You are breaking my bones!" He cried out, but the hand was still slowly tightening.
"So, for more than three months, you did not notice that one of the Partners was missing. And what's more, you lost my favourite. I was hoping to see a nice show tonight!" She hissed with a not-so-hidden threat and clenched her raised fist.
'Splash!'
The man exploded in chunks of blood, meat and bones.
"Take this as punishment! And your payment is lowered by thirty percent for a year!" She stated and cast a spell over the splattered body. Green motes of light enveloped his remains.
"Thank you, madam, for your generosity," a voice echoed over the red-and-white room as the blood, meat and bones slowly connected back to themselves. After he was wholly regenerated, he deeply bowed again and shot her a last glance. She exploded his eyes with simple [Mana Point]s and hissed, "take that dirty look to the brothel, pig."
The man smiled and backed out of the door. He regenerated his eyes with a potion he always had in his pouch for these occasions and sighed in relief, "Thanks Conjurarum, she had a great mood…"
"And write him off… Partner number 666 is considered missing, presumably dead!" He heard as the door shut behind him, slowly enveloped by the blue glow again, this time much more intense.
Inside the room, madam Tia deeply frowned, but with a devilish smile quietly said, "So… in the end, you were able to run away… Hehe, this hunt will be fun. I can feel it. I wonder where you ended up. I will give you a headstart… Naaah… Too bothersome. But how to find you? Hmm… dwarfs will help..."
The poor soul of an unknown creature, laying on the metal table engraved with magic circles written in the golden celestian language, writhed, silently screaming in terrible pain.
"Now, where were we? Oh yes…" She held her hand over the soul and many strings of pure blue mana poked into it.