Домагой Курмаич - Mother of Learning

"Do you seriously think you can trust Zach, knowing all you do now?" Silverlake called out.

"More than I can trust you," Zorian responded without turning back.

The raven on the nearby roof suddenly took flight and disappeared into the horizon.

Behind him, Silverlake shapeshifted into a raven before flying off herself, this time in the opposite direction her familiar went.

Well, Zorian actually strongly suspected that the Silverlake he spoke to was her raven familiar, whereas the raven on the roof had been the real Silverlake. As much as she tried to pretend she didn’t fear him attacking her, he felt she wouldn’t risk herself so easily.

He sped up his pace, putting some distance between himself and the people that were commenting on the spectacle of an attractive woman suddenly shapeshifting into a bird and flying off, before deliberately entering a dark, isolated alley devoid of people.

He kept walking for a while before suddenly stopping and turning around.

"Are you really going to keep following me all the way to Imaya’s place like this?" he asked.

Only silence greeted him. The alley was dark and still, and there was no trace of anyone here beside him. He was stubborn, however, and kept staring at one particular patch of darkness without making any moves.

After a full minute of this, he was just about to start throwing magic missiles at the spot when the familiar figure of Zach stepped out of the shadows.

"Took you long enough," Zorian said, relaxing a little. But only a little. "You’ve been following me ever since I left the Noveda estate, didn’t you?"

"Err, yes," Zach admitted. "Sorry. I just… I don’t know. I had a bad feeling and decided to shadow you in secret. I figured that if I was right, I get to save the day, and if I was just being paranoid, you’d never even know. I guess I overestimated my stealth skills a little."

"Honestly, if Silverlake didn’t put me on guard, it’s entirely possible I could have missed you," Zorian admitted. He paused for a second. "You heard my conversation with her, didn’t you?"

Zach’s shoulders slumped a little.

"So it’s true," Zorian said, getting a little angry. "Why the hell didn’t you tell me?"

"I didn’t know the details," Zach said defensively. "I didn’t know I’d made a deal with angels, or even that it was a deal. All I knew was that I have these… instincts… that tell me things. I can’t really talk about them…"

"Can’t or won’t?" Zorian asked.

"Can’t," Zach said. "I get tongue-tied whenever I try."

"And if I read your mind to find out?" Zorian asked.

"I will have to kill you," Zach told him seriously.

"Oh," Zorian said, swallowing heavily. He didn’t think he had any chance against Zach, even now. He did have that one trump card that nobody except him knew about, but he needed proper timing to use that, and Zach would probably kill him before he could set it up… "Err, good thing I never tried to forcibly read your mind while you were sleeping or something…"

"Yes, very good thing," Zach agreed.

A short, uncomfortable silence descended on the scene.

"You already decided to die at the end of the month, didn’t you?" Zorian asked him. "That’s why you had gotten so weird and philosophical lately…"

"I don’t intend to murder you once this is all done, if that’s what you’re asking," Zach told him. "Silverlake is just a black-hearted witch with no understanding of things like basic human decency and personal integrity. If I wanted to survive at all costs, I would have gotten rid of you while we were still in the time loop."

"I can’t believe this…" Zorian muttered. "If I had known about this earlier, maybe we could have–"

"It’s divine magic," Zach said. "We wouldn’t have been able to do shit. Just like Silverlake can’t get rid of her death pact no matter how hard she tries. She’s a witch. They’re known for being skilled with geas. You just know she used every trick in the book to try and get out of contract, but she still failed."

"So you’re okay with just dying at the end of the month?" Zorian asked.

"Of course I’m not fine with it!" Zach said. "It’s just… if I have to murder my friends to survive, then what’s the point of all this power and knowledge? It’s not… it’s not how I want to live my life, okay? Damn it… what the hell was my old self thinking to agree to this?"

Zach slumped against the nearby alley and lightly thumped his head against the wall.

What a horrible, convoluted mess, Zorian thought.

As if outmaneuvering Red Robe and Silverlake was not enough, he now had to figure out how to keep Zach alive when the end of the month came calling.

Sometimes, he thought the gods were still out there, watching him and laughing at his misfortune.

Before the time loop, Zorian had never frequented the taverns, restaurants and other establishments that were so common in Cyoria. They were a waste of time and money in his opinion, and it wasn’t like he had any real friends to go drinking with. It didn’t help that he had seen more than one of his classmates succumb to the lure of big city life in his two years of education. Rural teenagers like him were especially vulnerable, since they had little to no parental supervision and were unaccustomed to the luxuries and opportunities that existed in Cyoria. Zorian did not want to follow their example, especially after it became obvious that his brother Fortov had fallen into the exact same trap as they had.

Amusingly, the time loop had pretty much made him worse in this regard, and he was now familiar with virtually every alcohol-serving establishment in Cyoria. This was mostly Zach’s fault – his fellow time traveler loved drinking and despised the static nature of the time loop, which meant he dragged off Zorian to a different place every time they had to meet or talk.

The situation was similar at the moment. Once they’d both had a chance to gather their thoughts, Zorian tried to pursue the topic of Zach’s angelic contract and the restrictions he was laboring under, only for his fellow time traveler to insist he needed a drink. Zorian himself had never understood the appeal of alcohol, but he also knew it was pointless to argue about things like that with Zach. He just let his friend lead him to a small but lively tavern, where they claimed a table and erected simple privacy wards to ensure some privacy. Still not the safest location for this kind of thing, but it would do.

"Ahh…" said Zach in satisfaction, slamming a beer glass on the table before wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Zorian’s mouth twitched at the sight, but he said nothing. He was already used to that kind of behavior from Zach, really. "I really needed that."

"So. Can I spoil the mood now and dig a little more into this whole angelic contract thing?" Zorian asked him, folding his fingers together in a thoughtful gesture.

"I guess," Zach shrugged. "Though I really don’t think I’ll be able to tell you much."

"I just need some things confirmed," Zorian said. "You said you can’t talk about the contract thing… that it physically stops you from saying the words… but would it stop me from picking it up from your thoughts through telepathy?"

Zach looked uncomfortable for a moment, his eyebrows twisted into a thoughtful frown.

"It shouldn’t," he eventually decided. "I mean, we communicated through telepathy quite a few times in the past. You read my surface thoughts more than once, and I never felt any urge to attack you. Let’s try it."

Zorian felt Zach lowering his mental berries and immediately started looking through his surface thoughts. Which… appeared to be completely empty.

Blank, even.