Damnation: Dawn of The Apotheosis

LIBERTIES

“It is about time,” Kael said, belting on his Zeroszen blade as he spoke.

“Yeah,” answered Ashviel as he fastened his space pouch to his waist.

The two had agreed to join their master just the day after he left. Ashviel stood ready, all his belongings arranged in his pace pouch. He turned around, and he felt a little unhappy to be leaving the mountain. Just some months ago, he was unwilling to climb Hogan, but now, as he stood ready to descend, he felt some reluctance in him and knew that he was surely going to miss the mountain.

Without much ceremony, the two slipped through the small hole at a side of the mountain. Ashviel created a fireball, and they went down the stairs with the light, unbothered by their earlier fears. While their ascent had taken almost a whole day, their journey down only took a couple of hours.

Kael sighed as they got out through the heavy door. He had missed the outer terrain, and the moist smell of dew-damped flowers filled his nose. By sunrise, the two had left the mountain and headed straight for the farmer they had left with their ride.

The old man was delighted to see them, for he had considered them long dead. He offered them some milk and asked them about their adventures on the mountain. Kael neatly sidestepped his questions, and asked the man to provide the horses, which he gladly did.

They rode on horseback, though they could have been faster on foot, given the body-honing techniques they had acquired, and the terrain of Hogan village. The road to Blue Beard’s place required them to pass through Lilk city, and Kael saw this as an opportunity to relax. They changed into some of the best clothes Master Vauxall had stored in their space pouch as they moved on to the famous city. Coincidentally, a local festival was also taking place at Lilk at the time.

They arrived at Lilk at last, and the Zeroszen mage suggested that they pass some time at the Grand Hotel. Ashviel disagreed at first, preferring to lie low in some of the smaller inns. He finally gave in to his friend’s request and the two found themselves roaming around the hotel.

Not much has changed at the Grand Hotel since the last time they visited. Even though the weeks they had spent there were mostly passed at the backyard they used as a training ground, they were still familiar with the structure of the hotel.

There were the decorated walls; there the meandering stairs; there the table for the rich old men, there the table for the young gamesters; there the arena for the strippers, and there the chambers for their wealthy patrons.

Birdie, the bartender, spotted them as he was talking to a gentleman in fine attire. He was in stately attire himself, dressed like a spruce waiter. He rushed to meet them, leaving his earlier customer, as he knew they were from Master Vauxall, or Jean, the wealthy merchant.

“What can I have you, young masters?” he asked in a honeyed voice.

“A nice room to lie for a couple of days, and the usual entitlements,” Ashviel replied.

“40 gold heads should do,” answered Birdie.

“What? That’s a huge rip off!” cried Ashviel.

“We will be glad to receive your noble selves,” the bartender went on, pretending not to hear Ashviel’s protests.

“I won’t be paying that. For just a quarter of that, I’ll stay two whole weeks at the taverns.”

“Relax Ashviel,” said Kael, “40 gold heads should not cause us much loss.”

“A man of fine taste you are, gentleman, just like Master Jean had brought you up to be.”

While the whole bargaining and fawning was going own, the young strippers kept ogling Ashviel and his handsome companion. Ashviel however pretended not to notice their amorous stares and titillating giggles.

The bartender smiled lightly as he noticed Kael’s furtive glances. “You may choose from our gamut of chicks as you would love, for only a little more gold heads for me and of course, the girls.”

“We have not come here for merry making,” said Ashviel matter-of-factly.

The bartender made to talk, but a single baneful look from Ashviel was enough to send him scurrying off to other customers.

“Cool it man,” said Kael, “he was only suggesting. Besides, that wouldn’t be a bad idea after all.”

As Kael spoke, one of the giggling girls, a slender beauty of a brunette, about the same age as both young men, walked up to them.

“Young nobles, I suppose?” she asked in such a beguiling voice that tickled the two young men she was addressing.

“Carolos Zephyr and you?” said Kael, quick to introduce himself with a fake name. He extended a handshake to her, but Ashviel stopped it midair.

“My friend here and I will be pleased to just stay alone in our rooms for the period of our stay, alone,” he managed to say in the courtliest voice he could muster.

She ignored his statements, moving even closer to Kael, who was grinning meekly the whole time. “It will just be this one night,” he said, “we have more than enough money to spare.”

Ashviel stomped his feet and left the Hotel angrily. As he stepped out the gate, he noticed that the festivals outside was going on merrily.

He walked across the busy streets, among men and women who were in a joyous mood, eating and drinking as they celebrated whatever it was that they were having. Some kids ran before him, running around the circles and playing with small firecrackers.

Ashviel smiled at the spectacle. The sight of Lilk kids gamboling filled him with reminiscence. The children in Tvinn did not have rich parents, but everyday to them was a day of celebration.

Among a combination of festive sounds rose a loud cry from a trader who kept calling customers to himself. Out of curiosity, Ashviel walked closer and discovered that the man was no trader. He was, as the tag above his stall stated, Maga-Maga, The Money Doubling Mage.

Ashviel’s curiosity doubled over as he saw the description. As he walked towards the Maga- Maga, another man stepped between them.

“Greetings, enlightened customer,” said Maga-Maga in a singsong voice.

He opened a bowl and told the man to put any amount of coin in it. The man dropped a single gold coin and Maga-Maga closed the bowl, rolled it back and forth, opening and closing it several times as he performed his display. Finally, he opened the bowl and left it on the table. Ashviel peered into the bowl and saw that the coin had tripled in number. Maga-Maga took one of the coins and gave two to his customer.

Ashviel understood the system; apparently, the man tripled the coins, and then took one as his pay while he doubled it for his customer.

‘Fair enough,’ he thought.

The first customer made to play again with two coins, but Maga-Maga declined, telling him that customers could only play once a week.

Ashviel studied Maga-Maga well. He could sense no Rek from him, so he wondered how he was able to double the coins. Then again, if he was not able to sense Maga-Maga’s Rek, does that not mean that the man was a skilled shadow Rek user?

He sighed as he stepped forward with a bag of coins. Maga-Maga greeted him in the same singsong manner, before telling him to drop the coins he wished to double. Not to err on the side of caution, he decided to drop only platinum coins, instead of the more valuable silver and gold heads. On second thought he decided to give it his all, since he had only one chance per week, and there was no telling if the man would be there the following day.

He damned all the negative thoughts that came to his mind, and in one swift move, he dropped the bag of coins. The eyes of Maga-Maga and the first customer glistened with avarice as they opened the bag. Even the innocent onlookers bore a mixture of shock and pity on their faces, and Ashviel mistook the looks for envy.

Maga-Maga shook on his seat and his singsong voice gave way to his natural voice. “This is quite a large sum,” he said, “so I’ll need some room for this.”

“Absolutely,” said Ashviel.

Maga-Maga went into his stall, and the first customer left in an opposite direction, leaving a trusting Ashviel by the stall. As he sat on the small wooden in the stall, he thought of Kael must feel when he sees him walking in with so much money. “While that blond goes about wasting time and money on girls, I’m here doubling our little fortune. Who knows? I might even introduce Maga-Maga to Master Vauxall,” he thought to himself.

He waited for an hour and Maga-Maga was still nowhere to be found. He decided to look for him in the stall, but was surprised to find the place empty, no trace of the man that has just taken his money. He had considered that the man could be a fraudster, but then, Master Vauxall had always let him know that gold was of little value to strong mages. What he had not considered was whether Maga-Maga was a mage at all.

He hurriedly ransacked the stall, kicking the whole shed down in the process. Refusing to admit he was a dupe, he went back to the Grand Hotel, where Kael sat in high life in one of the inner chambers, with a cup of foaming ale in his shaky hands.

Ashviel walked up to him and had a little trouble extricating him from the six coquettes that had clustered around him, listening with admiration as their mesmerizing young noble fabricated accounts of events that never happened.

“Where have you been?” Kael asked as soon as they got out of earshot.

“As you were busy sousing yourself in ale and frolicking with girls, I went on to double our coins,” he said the last part in a way that made him unsure of himself.

He went on to narrate his dangerous undertaking, from the appearance and disappearance of Maga-Maga. When he finished his story, Kael simply gave him a blank stare, all traces of lager instantly vanishing from his sapphire eyes.

“Friend,” he said, “You’ve been swindled.”