XIII - Delving deeper

HYPERION

We returned to Iadica after the gruelling day long mission. After a day of resting and freshening up, we went to report to the headquarters with the corpse of Harlem.

"Good morning Mr Hyperion and Ms Ida", said Mr Wyatt as we got into his office. "Good work on your mission, although I noticed you brought the criminal back dead". "Well, he unfortunately had rune magic cast on him to keep his mouth shut, so we couldn't really do much about the dead part", Ida responded. "Hope you can probably find out something by running an autopsy on his corpse. There was only two of us, so we couldn't really bring back much except what we were asked, so you can send some enforcers to go sweep the town and gather any useful information we might have neglected. I'm sure none of the Orians would have touched anything", I stated.

"Rune magic huh, that's pretty serious", he replied. "You don't seem so surprised by the fact a band of criminals can use one of the most one of the most sophisticated and complex forms of magic in existence. This means you have might have known about this people. Would you mind enlightening is?", I demanded.

"Firstly, I never said we knew nothing about corvus aurum. We never told because you never asked. The corvus aurum have succeeded in completely shrouding themselves in mystery, so there isn't really much to tell. I'm even inclined to believe you know more about them than we do, but not withstanding, I'll tell you what I know about this people.

"The corvus aurum is a group we have more questions about than answers. All we know is that in the past five years, which has been calculated to be the time of their debut, crime has become way more discreet and orderly, especially in the octad cities. They seem to have a chokehold on criminals all around this continent. The name was first made known to us when we captured one of their members. I was led to believe the group was more like a cult than just a large band of criminals as that particular captive has used suicide magic before we could get anything from him, but not before dropping the name 'corvus aurum'. We figured they were responsible for the order in the criminal processes going on in the octad cities, but they were rather meticulous, so we never got substantial information on them.

We believe they blend themselves in with the surrounding, using a blend of legal and criminal processes to mask their activities. But whether they have a goal or are just good criminals is unknown. We suspected they were the ones who infested Or, and so, we sent you there and awaited an update". This is all we know about the corvus aurum, so please, if you wouldn't mind, enlighten us on what you've learnt about them during your mission", he concluded.

After about thirty minutes of narrating, I was through telling them what I knew. "That's a lot coming from what I believe to be the dispensable unit of this 'ravens'. It seems these people are a larger threat than I initially believed if they can use such powerful pawns uselessly. Anyway, that will be all for now, I'll be sure to contact you if something comes up", he concluded.

We left the headquarters and began to head back to the inn. "Hey, wanna go to the festival?", asked Ida. "What?", I asked . "There's a festival to celebrate the founding of Iadica a bunch of centuries ago, wanna come?", she asked. That question will make more sense if you weren't already dragging me there, and when did you get time to find out about this, we just returned". "A woman has her ways,and don't fret, it's gonna be fun".

After setting into a carriage and riding for an hour, we got to the center of the city. We stopped around a statue of a man who was barefoot, in a rather primitive outfit, holding a lantern. The place was filled with people who were wearing the same outfit; An ankle length robe with ancient embroidery and a mask that looked just like the statue. "What did you say this festival was about again?", I asked Ida. "Well, it's also about celebrating Quartus, the founder of Iadica", she replied. The place was filled with loud music and scents of strong perfume mixed with alcohol and people just raving like psychopaths. "Well, I'm ditching you to go have a little fun". "No wait", I couldn't finish my sentence before she ran off.

After a bunch of women pulled me to dance with them, I was fed up and headed for the edge of the festival ground. "Care for a dance", said a teenage looking girl as she held my hand and pulled me into a lock. "I guess asking and waiting for an answer isn't the theme of this festival", I thought inwardly.

"Is this your first time at the founders festival?", she asked. "Yes, it seems to be a rather zany festival", I replied. "Yeah, word is the founder Quartus was a rather zany person him..., she was interrupted as I swung her to the side. "Excuse me, something just came up, I said as I pulled her upright and walked away.

"Huh, it seems someone is out for me". Whoever it was shot at me again, but I neutralised it with a beam of my own. I began to search for whoever it was, but I guess whoever it was, was using a weapon, because I couldn't sense any signature from the magical bullet. He shot at me again, but I neutralised it. Following the origin of the blast, I was able to track the shooter, and not only was he holding a weapon, but his body itself didn't have a magical signature. After noticing that I was on to him, he ran off and I immediately lost sight of him. "This crowd let the idiot escape from me", I spat. I followed him through to the crowd trying to keep my eyes on him. We soon ran out of the crowd where he truly began to run off.

He escaped into the maze of buildings, and since I couldn't track any magical signature from him, I gave up chase, but then I was alarmed by a loud thud. After getting to the source of the noise, I saw Ida standing on the body of what I believe to be the shooter.

"You knew what was happening?", I asked. "Of course, you didn't really think I'd take my eyes off you, so I noticed this guy. I followed him and managed to get my magical signature on him before he ran off". "Well, thank you", I said and immediately regretted as she gave me a pompous look.

"Please, please you can't leave me like this, I need to kill the golden haired guy and bring proof to him, or I'll die. Please, please, I don't wanna die", the guy said weeping. I bent down and grabbed him by the neck; "who sent you, who is the him you're talking about?", I asked the disoriented guy, but it was rather too late. His eye became bloodred as he began to bleed from his mouth and nose. his skin began to rot and in a matter of seconds, he ceased. "Please don't let this become a regular thing in my life right now", mourned Ida.

After I called the headquarters, they got to the site in a couple of minutes, and we went home. "Wanna come to the spring right outside the inn with me", asked Ida. "Isn't that place a little too public, and I don't think it's legal to swim there anyway", I replied. "Aw that's sad, it looked really refreshing. Anyway", she said as she got on my bed and lay on my lap.

"This is about to become a whole thing. They've sent an assassin to get you, doesn't that bother you?", she asked. "That guy was too sloppy to be called an assassin, he could barely faze me even though he hid his signature. And it does bother me, just not much. Also, what's it to you, are you scared", I teased. "Of course not", she retorted. "Well, it is actually fun, plus they seem to know a lot about magic. But that's not your problem. This is just an excuse to lay on my lap and act like all those girls from those cheesy novels, isn't it?". "Don't be like that", she said as she grabbed my face and pulled me close, "this little roleplay is needed once in a while to liven the mood". "Please get to your bed, I need some sleep. It's been a long day".

The next day, we got a call from Mr Wyatt's office. We got there and were seated eight hours into the day. "Thank you for your time this fine morning. We've run an autopsy on both Harlem and the boy from yesterday. Nothing was pulled from Harlem, as there was no recorded place of birth or any information infact, about him. His body itself had no clues about anything. The boy on the other hand is a different case", he dropped a bunch of papers on the desk. "His name is Derek Wilkinson. A noble blooded citizen of Sapphiri. He is, or rather was, sixteen years old and schooled in Zenith academy. One of the most prestigious academies in the octad and the best in Sapphiri. What makes his situation more interesting is the fact that due to the mass amount of rivalry and bad blood against his house, he was raised a shut in, which would point any influence in your assassination attempt to some form of coercion by some entity on school grounds. As for his COD; He was killed due to a lethal dosage of poison in his body that led to his death and a rapid decay of his corpse. Unless we're dealing with a different organisation that also possesses advanced magic at their disposal, I'd like to believe it this was also caused by the corvus aurum, as he was also seen to have a magical artifact known as 'mist', that prevented the users susceptibility to detection by means of range art.

Based on his final words that you provided to us, we can deduce that this poison was introduced by someone or something and was used to leverage him into the assassination attempt, but was then activated due to his failure.

In other news, with the help of the Wilkinson house and some pulled strings by the Huntsmen organisation, we have succeeded in getting some of our members to get in and do an on ground investigation on whatever is happening at Zenith academy. This investigation has no statue of limitation, so they will be there indefinitely. So, a question for our most qualified candidates; do you want to go to school?".