Chapter 2: Schools of Deceit

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Canteen
The Profaned Airship

Abigail and I were complemented with free meals as promised, but that's not what I came here for. I need to find information, but who do I ask? Everyone seemed to act normal, so my best bet is talk to a higher ranking personnel.

"Aren't you going to finish your meal?" asked Abigail, after she drank her tea. "You were just glancing around the past minutes while nibbling on that loaf of bread."

"I feel no hunger," I replied. Suddenly, a shady man wearing hooded robes caught my attention. "You know my priorities. I'll be back, Abigail."

I just left her sitting there, bringing my cup with me. Her eyes followed me for a while, but she stayed neutral, and went back to enjoying her meal.

I approached the hooded man and sat in front of him. He has a jug of mead and an empty glass, I poured drinks for both of us. Noticing that he was wearing a full face mask, I felt stupid, but kept a straight face.

"You're the bounty hunter eh?" he asked after I sat down and looked him in the eye of his mask. His voice is so rough it sounds like his throat is damaged. "I believe you're the one called Ron Arlon."

"Yes," I answered. "Can we talk for a while? I have a couple of questions. I assume you're a crew of the airship. What's your name? Where are you from? Tell me about this place."

"Whoa whoa easy there lad. I heard you're from the Enclave of Meka too, so it's a pleasure to meet you. Our territory is acknowledged as the birthplace of the greatest architects, engineers, and tinkers, but little did I know we have the finest bounty hunter in the Continent as well.

My name's Mather, been working here as an, uh, maintenance engineer for years. Hawkin's leadership created a good balance of work and unity amongst all the crew. A stable job with a friendly community. What else should I ask for? Everything has been running perfectly until the recent case. I hope you and your partner have been making progress on the search."

"It's a shame we're having difficulties at the moment. Can't find any good leads and Hawkin acts different from what I expect of a warden."

"No idea what you're talking about. Hawkin's task to manage this bastion is an exhausting job, and most likely he could be stressed on the current situation of the airship, just try to understand the old man for now."

"Sure sure," I said, narrowing my eyse, sipping from my cup.  "Say, have you seen Samantha Flynn before?"

"I have. We all have. One of our finest arcanists in the airship. She's the one in charge of guarding the Darkin Magus, the Crystal Sage, and lot of other pyromancers. Unfortunately, she left the night after the Darkin Magus went missing."

"Hawkin told me she left before the magus went missing," I said as I finished my drink, placing it down on the table.

"Before, during, or after, it doesn't matter. We cannot exactly date her time of leaving for a two week vacation."

Bells clanged in the distance

"Now if you would please, Hawkin made an announcement. The wardens are gathering at the deck. I heard you were the one who called for this assembly, catch ya there."

"Hang on, care to show the face behind that mask? As the hired bounty hunter, I have the... uhh... right... to-"

His silence, combined with the gaze from the disturbing patterns of the mask, halted my speaking. My vision became disoriented.

"To.. To get information. Sub... submit-- you... hnnggg"

I slammed my arms on the table, knocking off my cup.

My head suddenly hurt and triggered a flashback. I was staring at a wounded soldier, crying for help. Blood was running from his forehead down to his lips. His left eye was also missing. His entire body was also burned. The scenario was in my home village, the same battlefield where the Ember Seeker attacked.

"Something wrong, master bounty hunter?"

I stayed silent. He stood up and left without farewell, didn't even sip from his drink. I glared at him for a while as he left the canteen. My eyes started getting warm, so I thought I should just relax. I have my eye on you, Mather.

I went back to Abigail.

"Well that was fast," she said. "I didn't see where you went or whoever you spoke to, but what did you learn?"

"Nothing," I replied with a frown as I sat beside her. "Stories about Samantha's leave start sounding fishy to me. Don't get me started on the creepy masked man I talked to, who refused to show his face, says his name is Mather and works as an engineer here. His tone doesn't convince me."

The people in the canteen started leaving, heading to the exit that leads to the main deck.

"There there," she said in a soft voice, then offered her drink. "At least you got a lead. Don't stress yourself. We haven't even been here for a day. There's so much clues yet to be found.

Let's head to the deck. Hopefully, everyone's there."

Middle Deck
The Profaned Airship

The mages, guards, wardens, engineers, doctors, and other staff were assembled as expected, formed in organized seating arrangements. I stood up on the platform, which was set up in front of the crew. Hawkin and Abigail sat among them.

"Recap the leads you found," advised Hawkin.

"Listen everyone," I said, in a very audible voice. "I'm sure you know you all were gathered here for the sake of the Darkin Magus case. All I'd like to know is what every individual was doing during the night the illusionist escaped his cell.

Now hear me out, Abigail, Hawkin, and I checked his cell a while ago. It was in perfect condition, and the number XVII is seared on its walls. Magic is nulled here, there is no way he could escape by means of magic, so my first inference is that one of the crew helped him break out."

"That's not simple," said Hawkin. "He could have got out of the cell, but leaving the airship is no easy task. Mages here are practically powerless because of the null field, and we have their equipment and artifacts confiscated. None is stupid enough to jump off and fall to their death."

"Well then, now everyone has to state their roles and what they did around the time period of the Darkin Magus escape. Everyone will speak after each other. Be honest. If something sounds suspicious, someone has to react, else, this assembly is put to a waste. I'll start with you, you there at the front."

Everyone murmured

"Me?" asked the crew member. He looked at his seatmates and behind him before answering. "Oh I'm the airship's doctor. I was brewing herbs, reading books, and doing my job of maintaining order at the clinic."

"I'm the janitor," added the guy beside him. "I was on the crew's quarters that night."

"I was cooking the food."

"I was creating potions."

"I was on guard duty for the Cryomancer cells."

So on, and so on, up until the last crew member. All of their roles and activities sounded mundane and didn't even help with the case.

"That's all of the crew," said Hawkin. "What else do you want?"

"But---.... Alright alright, follow up question. Where's Mather? He said he's coming to this assembly."

"There's no Mather here in the airship. Well, in fact, Mather was one of the soldiers that died from the flames of the Ember Seeker, at least what the records say. He's ash by now. Dead can't speak, not here in this airship."

"I spoke to a masked man at the canteen. Goes by the name Mather, claims he's an engineer here at the airship. Can I at least have the population count here?"

"You want a medium to contact the dead? Go back to Arcanum. There are 70 crew members, including Samantha, and 16 mage prisoners. We don't count dead people. Mather wasn't even a crew here."

"Oh.. I guess I-I, I was just seeing things, but I swear, it felt real. Sorry about that, the trauma from the burning village disturbs me at times. Can I follow up a question about the Ember Seeker. What do you know about him?"

The crowd murmured

"The sentinel pyromancer huh? I'm unsure if he is related to the Darkin Magus, but none knows his whereabouts. Stories say he's still wreaking havoc down there in the Continent, and no, we ain't going down there to get cooked. The airship is a safe haven for us."

"Not a safe place since there's a vile magus on the loose. I don't know much about sorcery but Dark Magic sounds dangerous. If only we can have access to the documents, that would be of great help."

Hawkin paused for a while

"Dismissed," he told the crew. "You all may go, we'll stay here for a while. Arlon, we have talked about this. No documents will be handed until you find good leads of the Darkin Magus."

The crew formed lines and went back to their jobs. Some remained to clean up the deck.

"Ugh... Here we go again. There could be some info there that we could decode! Why are you making this search too complicated?"

"Hey," interrupted Abigail. "If we can't find answers from the crew, how about we talk to the prisoners themselves?"

"Do as you wish," said Hawkin. "I'll have my crew members leash three of the most willing prisoners for you to talk to. Meet them at the canteen in a few minutes. Come visit me at the Captain's Quarters once you find clues towards the Darkin. Farewell for now."

He walked away.

"Your sightings of the dead can be useful info," said Abigail. "Let's have that noted."

"Abigail," I said in grimace. "I know this seems out of topic, but is it possible that the Ember Seeker is contained in the airship? What if he has some relevance to the Darkin?"

She stayed silent, staring at me with rested eyebrows.

"Look," I said,  "I know you've been noticing so I'll be honest with you. I'm a bounty hunter whose past has been scarred by fighting alongside my cousin against the Continent's deadliest pyromancer. I've had a longing for vengeance ever since. It was a dream, quite an impossible one, until I discovered the Profaned Airship.

I had to grasp the chance. Finding the Ember Seeker  here is my ulterior motive of taking the case in the first place, because this is the only prison that confines rogue magic."

"I was just waiting for you to say that," she replied, smiling. "You've been telling me stories ever since we were journeying to the camp at the Mutagen Desert. Now that you're no longer uncomfortable with hiding something, we can start focusing on the case, moving the Ember Seeker as a side quest because first of all, I've no assurance if the pyromancer is in here in the first place.

Now let's move to the real clues. A thought came to be; I learned from the college is that the greatest dark artists are able to imitate the looks and voices of people, but stealing one's personality is difficult. Only few dark mages can do that. As an illusionist, I know how to see through and detect works of dark arts, but with this null field I can't do anything else besides using my critical thinking and reason. Feels like I'm more of an investigator than a sorceress right now."

"You're saying the Darkin could be any of the crew? What about Samantha?"

"I doubt that one about her. She may have left at bad timing, but one's family is a priority above all else, at least, for her. Escape is impossible here in the airship. A rogue mage can break out of his cell, and after that, best he can do is blend in with everyone, looking for sanctions to safely descend, and gladly he'll never find one."

"Then the first culprit to find is the one who let out the Darkin. Is it still possible to cast any kind of spells here?"

"I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed, but the null field has varying intensities. I've been feeling changes as we go to different places in the airship. The intensity here seems low enough for a Grand Sorceress to try out something. Stay back."

She makes slow gestures with her fingers, and they started glowing violet. She tried to raise her hand, looking like she's struggling to lift them. Fortunately, she was able to cast a spell shield.

Her arms were vibrating. It only took five seconds before the shield shattered and she collapsed.

"Whoa there, that's great." I said upon immediately catching her. "Do you think a magus can do that?"

"I... believe so," she replied, breathing heavily. "It's just... This- nhhh... It's tiring to... To cast a spell on a null field."

She continued breathing heavily, gradually slowing down.

"Alright don't do that again, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

She stopped panting. I helped her stand up.

"Thanks. I don't know how the Darkin Magus pulls off his tricks, if he ever is."

"What's the difference between Dark Arts and the School of Illusion exactly?"

"Good question. Both schools may be similar in terms of their specialty: deception, but there's a dichotomy between them. Spells of the Dark Arts rely on imitation and stealth, and that's what the Darkin Magus is good at.

Illusionists, on the other hand, are naturally gifted with the wits and ability to see through deceit, which is why we are often hired to investigate cases of Darkins and Shadowmancers. We were trained to counter all forms of deceptive magic."

"That's scary. If only you can use your powers to their full extent to help us find the Darkin Magus.... sigh... Hold on, if you think he's not hiding, is he simply disguised as one of the crew?"

"Most probably----- yes."

**
(The null field originated from the School of Light Arts in the college, of course, with one purpose to fulfill: silence spells at all costs. This is almost impossible to bypass, and forcefully casting magic inside the field can lead to injuries.)

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