The group head back to the Karthein Inn and sit down at one of the resident's only tables and chat. Krenn and Llamiral are sitting next to Heather and they really hit things off, becoming friends really quickly. Haider and Christopher preferred the more intellectual and gossip-like company of Thordis and Mizubi.
Zoey hastily walks up to them, with dishevelled hair, carrying a pencil and pad. "So what can I get for you guys?" she asks.
"Can we get three Tholvian Ales please? Wait, can you three old enough to drink alcohol yet?" Thordis says, turning to look at Haider and Christopher.
"Me and my sister can, Christopher is only 13." Haider says.
"Except we have never had alcohol before." Heather says.
"Well, I think it may be a good idea to try at least one in your life." Thordis says.
Haider stares at Heather and says, "alright, me and Heather will go with whatever you guys think we may like."
Zoey's face grows into a smile and down what she thought they may like. "Ok, I'll be back with your drinks." she says.
Zoey comes back a few moments later with three Tholvian ales and two shot glasses filled with clear liquid. As she put them on the table in front of them, she says, "In this shot glass is a Tisk vodka. They flavour it with ice magic, so I thought it would be perfect for Haider. For Heather, we have a Maranus tequila. This specific tequila is flavoured with Maranus' strawberries. Hard and sweet, just like you."
Christopher reaches into his cloak and pulls out a glass and an ice cold water skin. He opens the cap and pours the water into the glass.
"I assumed as much, that's why I didn't give you anything." Zoey says.
"I don't see why you needed to justify ignoring me but ok." Christopher sasses.
Zoey's frustration at Christopher grows visible on her face and Heather notices. "Just ignore him, me and Haider just ignore him most of the time."
Christopher glares at Heather's statement. "You and me both, I guess."
Zoey gets called by some of her customers and runs over to help them.
Heather and Haider cautiously pick up their shots and simultaneously down the shot in one go. They are both pleasantly surprised by the drinks they received, but only for a moment. Heather's tequila burns her throat and she coughs, shaking her head. Haider looks at her, confused.
"Fucking stone faced. Scary considering that's Tisk vodka. People usually can't stand how cold it is." Thordis says.
"I say this every time. I don't feel the cold. It tasted amazing, though." Haider says.
After the tequila finally settles down, Heather says, "Fuck me, hard and sweet was right. That was like getting hit in the face."
"Yeah, it do be like that. Most of the Kingdom of Maranus is populated by dragon news and other dragon species. They've got balls of steel when it comes to liquor." Mizubi says.
"I feel a little woozy." Heather says.
"Really? I feel phfine." Haider slurs.
"It doesn't surprise me they're both a little drunk." Christopher says.
"Considering that the first drink of alcohol they ever had was liquor, I agree." Llamiryl says.
"It's the late afternoon. I have things I need to do in the morning, so I'm just going to go to my room." Christopher says.
Christopher spends the rest of the day meditating before going to bed. Heather and Haider go to bed a few hours after him, just enough time for the both of them to sober up. We won't see the rest of the group for a little while. They headed out for a quest to kill some hostile wolves.
(Narrator) Wait a damn minute. I have some major déjà vu. Is this wolf thing still happening?
Christopher wakes up the morning after with someone knocking at the door. He groggily climbs off his temporary single bed and walks over to the door. He swings it open, and it's the captain of the guard.
"Oh, hay captain. Come in. I guess you can wait here till midday." Christopher says.
"It is midday Christopher. I'm guessing you overslept?" The captain asks.
"Oh shit, really? I did use a ton of mana yesterday, too much probably." Christopher replies. "Let me just get my cloak on and we can head out, I guess. Oh, and before we go, I need Heather to tell me how much mana I have." He continues.
"You can't tell on your own?" The captain asks, concerned.
"Usually I can, but I had so much of Her mana pumped through me that I think I could be numb to it for a while." Christopher says.
"Ah, that makes sense. So how long will you be?" The captain blinks and Christopher has already put on his cloak.
"Lets go do some torture." Christopher says.
As they walk down to Heather's room, the captain says, "I hate how comfortable you are saying that."
"Well, I'll tell you the truth. Ever since the Sister died, I've wanted revenge on all those who turned their back on her values. I know it's ironic, but it wouldn't be justice if it wasn't." Christopher says.
"You have some twisted ideals up there, huh? From what I've heard about the tragedy, she wouldn't have wanted you to become so hostile towards everyone." The captain says.
"I'm not hostile towards everyone. Just humans, what an evil race we are. I despise being born as one. It means that I have the same violent tendencies and I'm just embracing that and directing it towards humanity as a whole." Christopher says.
"Did you have to say that as I opened the door?" Heather asks.
"You know what I mean by it. If I know for sure someone is terrible, then I will treat them the same way!" Christopher replies.
"*sigh* Whatever, why are you here?" Heather asks.
"Can you see how much mana I have? I've gone numb to it." Christopher replies.
"I keep telling you, be careful. This will be the last time." Heather says, checking Christopher's mana reserves with mana sense. "Looks like you're at about 70%. Be sure to calculate the amount you use with each spell." She continues.
"Mana sense? At your age?" The captain asks.
"For some inexplicable reason, sense spells like mana and mage sight come easy to me. Doesn't take much study or practice." Heather replies.
"It could be because your mana is abnormally high. You have the capacity to waste a ton of mana. Unlike everyone else." Christopher explains.
"Alright, let's get to the barracks. Keep the torture to survivable levels. I don't want blood, ok?" the guard captain says.
(Narrator) Can we just know this fucker's name already!
"Oh, and you can call me Jake. it's going to get tiresome if you're going to be calling me captain all the time." Jake says.
(Narrator) I swear I didn't manifest that.
Now at the barracks, Christopher and Jake walk down the main cell hall and stop at one of the cells at the very end. The instant upon seeing the person in the cell, Christopher says, "This is not a criminal, it's a witness."
"Wait, how the hell do you know that?" Jake asks.
"He has the silence curse on him. There are literally words on his neck in the demon language." Christopher says.
"I don't see anything. What the hell?" Jake says, confused.
"I, uh. I don't know what to say. It's written in the victim's blood. Or at least I assume so." Christopher says.
The person in the cell breathes a sigh of relief and nods at Christopher.
"I honestly don't see anything. I don't understand how you could possibly see this stuff." Jake says.
"I may have an idea, but you need to leave this out of the records. There are two possibilities. Either I'm a demon, or it's because I'm a spatial mage." Christopher says.
"The spatial affinity, huh? Can you read it?" Jake asks.
"No, I've only seen this writing a few times. It's not like people want to study the language they speak." Christopher states.
"Do you know of any way to get rid of the curse?" Jake asks.
"The only way that I know of right now is holy water." Christopher says.
"Damn, so it's impossible to take it off?" Jake asks.
"It could be possible that curses work only on this plane of existence. It depends on how experienced this person is at curses." Christopher says.
"Alright, and how do we do that? Can we use your dimension?" Jake asks.
"No, I'm not experienced enough with it to make it complex enough. Judging by this, I'd say that we would need a gold level, maybe even a platinum." Christopher says, defeated. The prisoner bangs their head against the door.
"It could be possible to request holy water. How likely do you think it would be to get some?" Jake asks, hoping to catch a break.
"You would have a 0.01% chance or 1 in 10,000." Christopher says.