The Ruby Magician

Wyn took a few breaths to steady himself. For all of his experience dealing with superiors and the ranks of the military, he still found himself nervous when needing to meet with any leaders above him. It was an old habit. Anxiety weighed on him, and he wasn’t a commanding officer long. Cedric, to his credit, seemed cool and collected, though Wyn wondered if it was a front.

If it was, he’d love to know how the Wizard pulled it off.

“Why are you so nervous?” Cedric asked. “We aren’t in trouble. We’re simply bringing some information to Aureus, at his own request. You need to center yourself.”

“I know,” Wyn said. “It’s just… I didn’t quite tell him the whole truth after we left the cave.”

Cedric’s eyes went wide. “What?! You didn’t tell him everything? Why not?”

Wyn had to refrain from wincing. “I told him most things. I just left out the part about the witch.”

Cedric smacked himself in the forehead. “Literally the most important part. If you go back on your word now -”

“I’ll discredit myself,” Wyn finished. “I know. I’m trying to choose my words carefully, here.”

Cedric sighed and shook his head. “Fair enough. It’s your information to tell, though I think you should come clean. It’s not some conspiracy, here. He’s always helped Climbers well.”

Wyn nodded. Cedric was right, of course. This entire experience was new and strange, and his uncertainties came back in full force. That first day was… rough, to say the least

“Oh, and I still need to give you my gift for saving my life,” Cedric said, reaching into a pouch in his robe.

“Gift? I don’t need a gift! You coming back to climb with us is gift enough!”

Cedric barked a laugh. “No, that was a decision I had made already - I just needed the push. This is for actually saving my life so I had that option to come back in the first place.” Cedric reached out and handed Wyn a thin but sturdy metal bracelet that hummed with magic. It had a blue shimmer to it, though it was simple without any type of gem or ornate feature. It was still impressively pure silver, though, and looked very well made.

The item felt warm in Wyn’s hand. It obviously radiated magic essence, and much more than any other item he’d encountered so far.

“That’s a relatively common item for mages but a helpful one,” Cedric said. “It’s a mana regeneration bracelet. I know your Lucidity skill can regenerate mana already, but that will improve the rate since it stacks with abilities or skills.”

Wyn placed it on his right wrist and it slowly morphed to become snug. He wiggled his hand around some and it didn’t budge.

“This is incredible,” Wyn said. “Thank you!”

Cedric waved a hand. “Like I said, it’s for saving my life. That is thanks enough.”

Wyn wondered how effective his mana regeneration would be now with the bracelet adding to his Lucidity skill. He’d need to test it, of course, but having a faster means of gaining mana without rest meant that he could use his spells more liberally. That would give him an obvious advantage since he leaned more towards direct combat supplemented by his spells. He could cast spells he needed without quite as much planning for mana conservation.

Suddenly the doorknob behind them turned, and both Climbers jumped in surprise. Three Climbers dressed in their climbing gear exited the room, all with sheepish looks on their face. It was a strange sight, seeing people dressed for magical warfare leaving an administrative office.

Behind them, a small, wiry woman looked at them with confusion, and she held a clipboard in her hand. Her hair was frizzy and unkempt.

"Are you here to see the Tower Master?" The woman asked, her voice mousy and quick, like a teacher's.

"Umm, yes," Wyn said, fumbling over his words after being startled. "We have information from our climb yesterday he'll likely want to hear."

The woman perked up after hearing Wyn's comment and ushered them in with a wave of her hand. She closed the door behind them in a rush and scrambled across the room to a small chair. Beside her stood Aureus, who was looking out the window, seemingly not paying them any attention. His hands were delicately placed behind his back in a thoughtful pose.

"Hello again, Ardwyn," the Tower Master said, without turning around. "It appears as though you have a knack for finding trouble."

Wyn was taken aback, unsure how the Tower Master was able to tell it was him. It was quite a feat to tell just from his voice in one sentence, but he wondered if the man had some sort of way to discern Climbers magically.

"Hello, sir,” Wyn said. “It would certainly appear that way."

Cedric and Wyn stood in the center of the room, waiting for any sort of instructions. They didn't have an appointment, and Wyn suddenly wondered if they needed one. Their group had only heard the rumor that Aureus was giving small rewards for information about the strange events in Alistair, and he inwardly cursed himself for not finding out more information before they came to see him.

The Tower Master turned around, a smile plastered on his face. "Please, sit down. No need to be so formal. Cedric, it’s a pleasure, once again. And Ardwyn, remember - no 'sirs' are necessary."

Wyn relaxed a bit at the man's informal greeting and invitation. He lucked out, at least, that there weren't additional channels he needed to navigate to bring the guild's leader their information. That was definitely not the case in the rank and file of the military, and he made a mental note to be better prepared in the future.

"So," Aereus continued, "let's get right to it. You have some information about what is going on in the tower?"

"Some, yes," Cedric said, looking at Wyn.

Wyn nodded for the Wizard to continue.

"Yesterday our group was finishing our climb of the third floor, when a black portal emerged at the boss room. Two large monsters exited the portal, along with a masked person."

The woman abruptly stopped writing on her clipboard, her feathered quill still in the air. She looked at the Climbers with a squinted face, wrinkles forming on her skin.

Aureus nodded slowly, forming his fingers in a temple on his desk. He didn't respond, but kept his lips tight and face unreadable.

"We believe that person was Lionel," Wyn added, “the Climber who betrayed us and stabbed our teammate, John, in the back during the rookie climb at the end of last season."

"Why do you believe it was him?" The Tower Master asked, his expression still blank.

Wyn straightened up in his chair, habitually correcting his posture in the presence of his superiors. "The man carried the same sword that Lionel stole from John. We could see the runes along the sheath and hilt, and it projected a large flaming spell just like John's sword."

"There are many swords able to cast flaming spells that have runes along their sheath and hilt," the Tower Master countered.

"His build was also similar," Wyn continued. "Tall and stocky."

Aureus nodded his head and leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the desk. "There is no definitive proof, of course, even if the sword you saw was the exact same. Did he speak? Or remove his mask?"

Wyn deflated some, but stayed resolute with his gaze. "No, unfortunately. He watched us fight the two monsters before escaping through the portal. Nothing more, nothing less."

"That's not entirely true," Cedric said.

Wyn shot his head to the side, creasing his eyebrows. Fear swelled up inside him that Cedric was going to sell him out about the witch. He'd have an impossible time trying to explain why he didn't mention it before.

"The man - Lionel - somehow commanded the two monsters to attack us," Cedric said.

Aureus sat up and leaned forward, his curiosity evident. "You're sure of this?"

"I am. The three of them stood outside the portal waiting, which is very strange for monsters to not attack when having sight of a Climber. At least monsters on the lower floors. They didn't budge until he raised a hand and pointed at us, at which point they moved to attack, as though following an order."

Aureus sighed deeply and sat back into his chair again. "Now that is certainly troubling."

The four sat in silence for a few moments. Wyn wasn’t sure if they should continue speaking or not, though they really didn’t have anything else to say. He certainly didn’t want to bring up the witch from before, and Cedric told him the entire experience for this season.

Aureus stood up and turned around, looking out his window again. The woman sat in her chair and stared at her clipboard, eagerly waiting for the Tower Master to speak so she could record whatever was said.

“Thank you for the information,” Aureus said, not turning around. “As you can see, we’re taking these matters very seriously, and any kinds of information about this mysterious group of people is helpful so we can form a plan of action to protect our Climbers and the sanctity of climbing as a whole.”

Wyn glanced at Cedric, who only shrugged his shoulders.

“So what happened to the group of Climbers yesterday did have something to do with these people,” Wyn said.

The Tower Master chuckled and turned around with another smile. “Yes. No sense beating around the bush. This season will be particularly harder than before, I’m afraid. Nothing has been decided yet, but plan for word to get back about protective measures to be taken sometime this week. Betty, if you will, please give these Climbers a reward for providing this information. I do hope these make your climbing efforts easier and your return smoother.”

Betty reached behind the desk and pulled out several small vials, frantically handing them to Wyn and Cedric. They each received a corked blue and red vial, swirling with magic.

“A healing and mana potion each,” Betty said, smiling wide and making her wrinkles present again. “Off you go, now.”

Wyn and Cedric took that as their cue to leave, both standing abruptly to exit. On their way out, they saw another pair of Climbers, looking as startled as they did.

This was obviously a reoccurring situation, which was not a good sign. If this many Climbers had strange encounters, it didn’t bode well for the rest of the season.

*****

Wyn pulled Windcutter out of the dead Lacert, not bothering to watch its lifeless body fall to the stone floor. He breathed a sigh of relief as John killed the last monster, sheathing his sword with finality.

“Does it seem to anyone else like there are more monsters this time?” John asked. He wiped his hands on his pants, and a small streak of blue blood was left on his clothes.

“There definitely are,” Marcy said. “The traps are basically the same, but we’ve already met more monsters than the last times we’ve been here and we’re just nearing the final stretch.”

“Too bad Cal isn’t here,” Tasha said. She wiped sweat off her forehead, flicking it away from her. “We had to backtrack more than before.”

Wyn held a hand over his eyes, trying to block the sun’s rays. Their group stood just before the entrance to the third portion of the second floor, where the ruins became more intact leading into the temple’s entrance on the third floor. They were more tired than usual, though they fought nearly twice as many groups of monsters on average. Marcy was obviously being modest, as Wyn was actually getting a bit tired from the fighting, and he was normally feeling fine after a couple of floors.

Tasha sat against the short stone wall, taking a long drink from her water skin. She sighed out a gasp of relief the refreshing water brought, though didn’t budge from the ground. “I bet our reward will be better after killing this many monsters, though. We may not even need to go to the third floor today.”

“That’s the fatigue talking,” John said, alternating between stretching his arms and legs. “You just need some more endurance, little lady!”

“Little lady?!” Tasha said, disgust evident in her voice. “You’d be flogged if you said that outside Alestead!”

“Ehhh,” John said, waving his hand in the air, “I’d be fine! Plus, I’m a family friend, now. I can get away saying that in jest.”

Tasha laughed sarcastically. “Let’s try it out and see, then.”

Wyn looked at his mark and saw he was completely full of mana. He hadn’t used a spell in awhile or checked his progress, despite saying he would test his mana regeneration. He suddenly remembered that his skill was listed on his parchment with a description and timeframe. Mentally smacking himself, he pulled out his parchment to check his skill.

Lucidity: Allows passive recovery of mana. Your mark will show the current status of mana and is a guide to your expected amount of recovery time from empty to full. When your mark fully glows you are empty and currently recovering. When your mark is dull and grey you are full. Current time to fully recover: 2 hours.

Wyn couldn’t help but smile reading the skill. The bracelet Cedric gave him cut his regeneration time by an entire hour! It may not have seemed like much, but that meant he could recover enough mana for most of his spells in an hour or less, not needing it to be full to cast them in a pinch. He’d be able to use them more often and more liberally.

Marcy walked over to Wyn and looked at his parchment over his shoulder. “Interesting stuff?” She asked, a smirk forming on her face.

Wyn snorted. “Just checking an updated skill. But hey, I’ve been meaning to give you something for awhile.”

Wyn set his pack down and fished through it. The ranger waited patiently with her arms crossed, unsure of what to expect. Wyn pulled out the bundle he received back from Benedict and handed it to her.

“I’m sorry this took so long. Honestly, I’ve been overthinking when to give it to you but now is as good a time as any. It’s for helping save my life in the caves. I owe you and Cedric my life, even though he thinks it’s the other way around.”

Marcy untied the string and pulled the wrappings off. She held up half a dozen dark, pristine arrows that emitted a faint green glow. They were fletched with bright white feathers, a stark contrast to the nearly blackened wooden shaft. She lightly tapped the wide broad head, and nodded her head in satisfaction.

“I had Benedict make those from the materials on our first climb,” Wyn said. “When we fought the champions in the forest. I hope they’re worth using.”

Marcy looked at Wyn with a straight face, her expression hard to read. “Wyn, anything from a friend is worth using. They’re a wonderful gift. Thank you.” She pulled her quiver off her back and gently placed the arrows inside. The white fletchings were easy to distinguish from the other arrows, but otherwise they looked the same as the rest.

“Magic arrows are very useful, and not as common as you might think,” Marcy said. “It’s easy to put spells on arrows but it uses mana, and sometimes a magical arrow is all that’s needed. Plus they won’t use my mana. Thank you for these.”

Wyn smiled. He was glad Marcy accepted them without any major push back and that they could be useful. Her quiver of tricks was still a mystery, but hopefully the arrows added some more variety to her abilities.

“Come on,” Marcy said, patting Wyn on the back. “We’re almost done with the floor.”

The others readied themselves before stepping into the covered section of the ruins. The torches lit the area again, and they weren’t startled this time when the large stone blocked off the archway behind them.

“Another horde?” Tasha asked.

“I wouldn’t doubt it with all the monsters we’ve seen,” Wyn said. “I don’t hear anything, though.”

Over a minute passed as the Climbers anxiously waited, though no monsters showed. Marcy prowled ahead silently, then peeked around the lone path ahead of them. She turned back and shrugged.

“Nothing. I guess we’re alone this time.”

Everyone relaxed a bit before starting to push forward. Wyn stopped, curious to try something. There were no symbols on the wall, but he was curious now if the magical light from his mushroom lantern showed anything.

He activated the item with a quick shake. An eerie green glow filled the smaller chamber, dim light covering the torches’ brighter shine.

Wyn stood, awestruck. “Guys,” he said, not taking his eyes off the wall.

“What is it?” Cedric asked.

“Woah,” John said, now standing beside Wyn.

Slowly the Climbers all stared at the left wall, which had a new, dark path open that was only visible under Wyn’s green light. There was identical stone flooring ahead, though the darkness was thick and pitch black outside the edge of the lantern’s green light.

“Ever heard of this before?” Wyn asked, still inspecting the new space. “It’s a completely new path!”

“Not at all,” Cedric said. “But it could be incredibly dangerous.”

Marcy pulled out a portal key from a pouch. “We have a way out, at least. Should we check it out?”

“Absolutely,” John said, his lips curling into a smile. “A hidden passage? Who knows what treasure is inside!”

“Or enemies,” Wyn said. “But I’d lie if I said I wasn’t curious.”

Tasha sighed. “We all know we’re going.” She tapped her staff against the ground and activated her Torchlight spell. The light showed more of the passage ahead, which revealed it to be a large room. “Let’s just go already.”