Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

I nodded. “Like Katashi’s attack. Would they have known the location of the weather shield’s generators? Is that information public?”

Lyras pursed her lips, contemplating for a moment before answering. “An automotive mechanic does potentially have the skill set to sabotage a generator, so you have an interesting idea. If Caelford had decided to side with Edria in a conflict, they could have sent agents to take down our shield… But I don’t think they would have been able to locate all the generators. I’ll check with my contacts to see if they can determine where Aloras was during the attack. It’s an interesting hypothesis.”

I felt vindicated by the idea having some merit, at least, and sat back down.

But, on a hunch, I sat down on an empty space rather than my chair. Another chair appeared to catch me!

This place was amazing.

I needed to figure out how it worked at some point.

Orden didn’t look nearly as excited about the chair manifestation room as I did. Instead, she turned toward Teft for the next part of her explanation. “The other prisoner that Corin freed was Keras Selyrian. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about what he did in Dalenos.”

Teft nodded and Jin tensed.

Interesting. Does Jin know more about Keras? I assumed that the crystal he showed me was the only thing he found in the Divinatory, but he certainly could have found something else that he kept to himself.

Teft replied, “I saw the memory crystal. I’m not sure the children are supposed to hear about this.”

“Oh, please, Jonathan. That’s hardly a secret. It was in the newspapers.” She turned back to me. “Have you learned anything more recent, Corin?”

I shook my head. “Nothing much. I heard he was sighted heading toward the Edrian border.”

Orden frowned. “How’d you come upon that information?”

“I spoke to my mother, as you suggested, but only briefly.”

The professor nodded. “Good. Have you followed up on anything more recent?”

I shook my head. “Nothing since then, unfortunately. I tried to find you again, but you’d headed into the tower at that point.”

Orden frowned. “You can’t always expect me to answer everything for you, Corin. If you wanted information, you should have broken into the restricted archives in the Divinatory.”

“You expected me…to break in…”

She chuckled. “Whisper candidates are expected to be… resourceful. You’ve proven that way in other areas, but I suppose you’re still not much for trespassing. I’m sure we could work with that, if you end up joining us — but no matter. That’s not the issue right now. I hadn’t actually heard the report about Keras heading toward Edria. That’s something we need to investigate further. I’ll give you a key to the archives. Ask the Researcher for anything regarding Keras within the last few months.”

I nodded. “I’ll do that, but have you found any more information on your side to indicate if Keras is involved?”

“Very little pertaining to him, I’m afraid,” she admitted. “Prior to your mention of Aloras as a suspect, I was considering the possibility that he had been the one to destroy the shield generators. That’s still possible, but Aloras actually seems to fit better. I find it more likely that Keras is the one who is responsible for Tenjin’s disappearance. If he could fight one visage, it’s possible he could have harmed another one.”

No one seemed very comfortable with that statement. It was sacrilege to think a mortal could harm a visage. They were, after all, supposedly aspects of the goddess herself.

At least locally.

I knew that in Caelford, the Mortalists sect believed that the visages were actually heroes who had managed to climb all the way to the top of the towers and ascended to divinity.

Pantheonists, a prominent religion that was primarily in Edria, believed that each of the visages was a god in their own right and biological children of Selys.

While that viewpoint wasn’t popular here, I remembered Katashi’s words. He’d called Tenjin his brother. That definitely sounded more like they were independent entities that were biologically related. Of course, that also could have worked with the Mortalist view. Maybe two brothers had simply made it to the top of a tower together.

Or maybe the visages all really were bits of the same Goddess, like our own Aspectist priests preached, and Katashi was just putting things into terms that I’d understand.

I broke the silence after a few moments. “Seems possible. It’d certainly explain why Katashi wanted to fight him.”

Orden nodded. “Did Katashi mention Keras to you?”

I shook my head. “Not a word on that subject.”

Moment of truth… I supposed that telling Orden the information at this point probably wasn’t going to hurt.

Probably.

I rubbed the burn on my hand. It still hurt just a bit, but not as much as a true brand from an iron would have. Well, as far as I knew. Fortunately, a branding iron had not been one of the tools used to discipline me as a child. “Katashi wanted me to bring Vera to him inside the tower. Within the next week; otherwise he’s going to send a much larger attack.”

“Ah.” Orden sighed. “That explains a few things at least.”

I frowned. “Such as?”

“When the school year started, no one was able to leave the tower. I believe that was because Katashi sealed it almost immediately after his encounter with you, in order to prevent Vera and Keras from leaving the tower.”

I nodded, and she continued explaining.

“Weeks later, when the monsters were scouting the skies — that probably meant whoever he was looking for had managed to get out of the tower somehow. Either they left before Katashi sealed the exits, or perhaps they found some way around the seal. In either case, Katashi didn’t find them, but he did talk to someone who convinced him to leave. Maybe one of our chancellors, perhaps someone in the government.”

That all made sense. “I’d thought you might have been involved in getting the monsters to leave.”

Orden shook her head. “Can’t take credit for that, sadly. I did, however, learn that people were starting to exit the tower again. That’s when I went inside and spoke to the Voice. He confirmed, among other things, that neither Keras nor Vera was still in the tower. I didn’t find out how Keras managed to escape. The Voice might have known, but he doesn’t always tell me everything. It was shortly after that event that I tracked down her location.”

I scratched my chin. “Okay. So, she’s in an obvious enough spot that we can easily find her, but no one has turned her over to Katashi yet. Why?”

“Presumably because whoever spoke to Katashi the first time and gave him assurances was either incompetent or working directly with Vera.”

I balled my hands into fists. “And that inaction just cost lives.”

Professor Orden nodded. “Yes. I will investigate who spoke to Katashi the first time. If they deliberately delayed giving him information, that is a crime that must be answered for. In the meantime, if Katashi’s demand is for us to deliver Vera to him, we would be wise to do so.”

I nodded. “If we know where she is, perhaps we should go as soon as we’ve rested. I see no reason to wait a full week, especially if there are potential enemies who may act before we do.”

Orden glanced at Teft, then back to me. “I concur, but with a few minor adjustments. First, if you are planning to head into the Climber’s Gate, you must be properly prepared. Only six can enter that gate together. Jonathan, I assume you will be going?”

Teft grunted and stood up. “I wasn’t particularly effective against Mizuchi, but I can handle a few floors of the tower. Let’s hope the visage decides to meet us at the entrance, though.”