"You seem to have a lot of bad memories," Das says telepathically to Drachen.
"When you live this long you are bound to seeing or experimenting with things that are not so pleasant" she replies, flying next to him.
They walk inside the palace, through one of the many corridors heading to the place where the new person in charge of Das stays. Now that Edel is officially recognized as regent, his responsibilities are far too many to deal with the Phantom anymore.
"And you remember all of them?"
"Well, no. I can look far into the past for a couple of hundred years, then a few thousand come and go as little bits of memory, droplets of how it was before...I guess my mind has a limit to how much it can remember, and its easier to recall bad memories"
"can you tell me more about the war of thunders then? How it was?"
"I was mostly in Grunland when it happened, there is a place there where fairies used to gather, it was the best place of them all, you just went there and fell asleep for a few dozen years" she smiles gleefully at him.
"So you missed the war?"
"Not in its entirety, I saw bits here and there, some really bad ones...but I didn't really have a reason to involve myself with humans back then. Since we are going to see Afzal I would ask HIM, he was part of the opposing side of mages that aided humans"
The conversation comes to an abrupt end when they reach the elaborated wooden door of the new supervisor, Das and Drachen nod at each other before entering, surprised by the mountain of scrolls, books, and a very bored Freund sitting behind a desk.
"Ah! Das and Drachen!" he says, a beaming smile immediately appearing on his face as he stands up from the chair and makes his way through the crowded room of documents.
"I thought you were leaving back to the borders!" Das is practically tackled and lifted by the giant of a man when hugged.
"So did I, but Edel wanted me to remain here and take his place as supervisor, with how messy everything has gotten, he sure needs all the help he can" he lets go of the young archmage and looks behind at the piles and towers of scrolls and books "I've got messages from every fortress, and every noble or important merchant demanding explanations about what happened at Dorfmeer. Always thought my death would come at the hands of a powerful foe to protect the Kingdom, not a pile of old parchments" he returns his attention to the pair "what can I help you with?"
"I'm leaving to see the Great Wisti, I hope he has some information that may help us deal with the Phantom"
"I see, well go then! make sure to not get a sunburn" he cheerfully pats him on the shoulder before turning around and tip-toeing his way to his desk.
"I was hoping you would return my staff"
"You need it to reach the Dominion?"
"Well, not really. But it makes using magic in general much easier"
"then I can't give it to you, orders from Edel, only he can grant you permission to use the staff," he says sitting behind his desk, fingers intertwined.
"Why? I need my staff"
"Can't you make an exception for our favorite cloaked boy?" Drachen says flying up to Freund's face.
"Even if I wanted I couldn't. The staff is not here, only Edel knows where is kept now" he answers Drachen first, then looks at Das "he doesn't trust you anymore, so he wants to make sure you are not a threat"
"I...I see"
"Just give it some time. Once things calm down a bit I will convince him of returning your staff"
With nothing else to say, Das says his goodbyes and departs with Drachen, leaving Freund to bore himself to death among piles of scrolls he must now read.
As Das walks to the palace grounds, he stops near one of the many corridors, this one he knows very well, and it would be difficult to confuse it. The absurd amount of guards makes it obvious it leads to the Kingdom's most valuable treasure.
"She hasn't awoken yet" Das whispers "I tried everything I knew, and all the priests have tried as well. Whatever spell it is, it can't be broken"
"Edel really gets on my nerves, taking away your staff, trying to kill you AND keeping you away from Lioth, what a bastard," Drachen says infuriated "If these walls didn't drain my energy when distance myself from you, I would leave bedbugs on his stupid armor," she says smiling devilishly.
One of the many guards turns its head towards them and begins approaching them.
"Great, and we just avoided execution," Das says with a sigh.
"With comments like those, there will be a trial every morning," the guard says in a friendly manner.
Das knows this voice "Petra" he says feeling more calm knowing who he was speaking to.
"At your service" she takes off her helmet and smiles gently at the archmage, bowing slightly causing Das to raise his hands.
"Please, refrain from bowing to me. I doubt it would look good to others"
"You are a strong mage and a good person, that's enough to earn my respect, and by saving my home town you earned my gratitude. This is the least I can do"
Unsure of how to react, Das clears his throat and bows in return "Thank, you?"
Petra chuckles "No, no. Thank you. Now I have to return to my guard duty or it will be my neck on the line tomorrow morning" she puts on the helmet and turns around "Have a good day, Das"
Das watches her go, his mind confused at the show of respect. Something he hasn't experienced much or almost at all. Then, Drachen slowly appears in his vision, sliding on mid-air with a sly smile and her eyebrows going up and down.
"Don't even think about it" Das shakes his head and continues walking through the palace.
"Oh come on, you are in your prime and I still haven't seen you courting at all! Besides, a mage and a knight? Now that's the type of tale that makes one's blood go to the right places!" Drachen giggles playfully while flying in circles around Das's head, like an annoying fly.
He just ignores her until they reach the stone circle on the palace grounds, Das struggles to make the teleporting spell work properly, but in time he manages to succeed.
Appearing in the same spot he did before he is immediately tackled by the noise of the busy city and the smell of both drugs and perfumes, so much so that he has to cover his nose.
The city looks different, with many people dressed even more extravagantly than before and music being played on the balconies.
"What's going on here?" Das asks as he steps out of the circle.
"It's Summer's End! It used to be a very boring celebration back when the Theocracy was in power, but now Afzal has control? Now this is a proper-"
The guards surround Das and point their right arms at him, from their forearms a large, energy blade appears, it is curved like a sickle and it shines with white mana.
"Whoa! We are friendly!" Drachen raises her arms, she hears the guards speak.
"What are they saying?"
"They want us to follow them, Afzal ordered our capture?!"
The guards then take Das to the tower. Once they enter the great library Das notices that it is much more messy and busy than the last time he went there.
"Afzal!" he shouts when he sees the Great Wisti giving orders to his subordinates who rush across the many floors.
"Das?" he asks looking confused at the guards, they exchange a few words, and the Braunner, upset, yells at his guards who make their weapons disappear and exit the building "My apologies, I ordered them to bring you to me as soon as you came, I suppose they misunderstood my intentions"
"Oh, well I'm glad I'm not a criminal in here as well," Das says with a nervous laugh.
"Criminal? Oh boy, what have YOU been up to?" Afzal asks leaning close to Das.
"You haven't heard? What happened in-"
"Of course I have!" Afzal interrupts the young archmage, leaning back and pointing at his busy library "Why do you think this place is like this?! Your sadistic king is LIVID, our entire alliance threatened if I don't provide something for the old dog to chew on!"
"I happen to be here for that precise reason, I was wondering if you found anything that may help us"
"No, I found NOTHING" Afzal shouts with exaggerated hand gestures "There is nothing in my library about necromancy and no clue about a Phantom King, whoever this guy is I have no idea of what is going on, and that makes me angry!" he pulls out a tiny object from his robes, squeezing it hard and making it produce a squeaky sound " I made this toy for stress relief, it provides a momentary rest to a busy head with its loud noise and soft texture, here have a try" he throws it to Das.
He catches it and quickly dismisses it passing it on to Drachen, who takes the toy that is her size and squeezes it, quickly having fun with it.
"I may actually be the one giving you information then," he says to the Braunner, who raises an eyebrow.
Das tells him about Ann, the story she has with the Phantom, and a little bit of the basics about necromancy. Afzal is enthralled by the tale.
"This Ann and I should have a few words, once she is done with serving old men for the church" he caresses his chin in a pensive state before looking at Das directly in the eyes " what do you plan to do now?"
"I will go to Magiberg, if not even the library has knowledge about this, then that is the place where I have the greatest chance of finding something"
"Magnificent!" Afzal shouts and then pulls out the same object he once had back when they first spoke, he says some words in his tongue at it and then stores it back inside his clothes "Tell me, boy, have you heard of my Artifact Seekers?" he asks placing his arm over Das's shoulders.
"A little, the adventurers that seek old and ancient knowledge from dangerous places"
"Indeed! Magiberg is an obvious hotspot for them, so what if you go there with a message written by me to make them help and guide you around"
"That would be a great help!"
"I know! It's settled then!" someone approaches them and Afzal releases Das to greet the scribe "Altamrir! Good you came, I have a new task for you to accomplish!"
Altamrir is a Braunner of roughly Das's height, a weird sight among their kind. Like everyone else, his skin is very tan, but his hair is an icy blue, with equally light blue eyes. He has a pair of goggles kept in place by a leather strap that makes his eyes look huge.
The scribe greets Afzal and both of them begin to speak, the Great Wisti at one point glances at Das, or better said past him, before lowering his voice and speaking in a more quiet tone at the young scribe.
Das looks back at where he was looking and sees Drachen childishly playing with the squeaky toy. Why would he look at her?
"Archmage" Das turns around and sees Altamrir now standing closer to him, his hand stretched "A pleasure to meet you and work with you, I'm Altamrir, a scribe for the Great Wisti. You can call me Altir for short"
"Work with me?" he asks looking at Afzal.
"Of course, the Artifact Seekers are mostly warriors with a few enginers, you will need some brainpower to support you properly" he pats the back of Altir " he is an expert on the field of mages and their technology"
"I see, thank you for the aid Afzal, and you for coming with us," he says to both of them.
"My pleasure! Now go! I have many things that require my immediate attention" Afzal says turning around and speaking with a small crowd of scribes carrying scrolls.
Das then exits the tower with Altir following close behind, while Drachen sits on top of his head playing with the toy.