The Grand Weave

Magnus stepped forward and bit down on the struggling woman's neck. Mana slipped through his teeth, and he started sucking it in. She began to fight it, but the woman stilled as Áine slid her skill into place. Teddy eased up, and I tried to process two information streams simultaneously.

Áine loosened the grip and undid the parasite's hooks while Magnus sucked away its strength. Together, they freed the woman from the mind control, and the creature turned to ash before it could fully exit her neck.

Two guards moved forward and helped drag her to the other side of the room, where they set up a makeshift cot.

The poor woman, disorientated from a headache that came after, had to suffer through a torrent of water that hosed the black dust off her body. She sputtered and tried to stand up, but her arms gave out, and she collapsed while another guard came in and sucked the water away and gelled it into an orb above her palm.

The black dust was separated and then stored, perfectly dry, in a glass container enchanted with runes.

It took nearly three hours, but this was the last guard inside the building. By now, everything operated smoothly, and the system in place ensured that nobody got hurt and was efficiently processed to bring in the next victim.

The awakening hadn't been kind to everyone, but Elanor guided them all into action. Gear was donned, teams were made, and she issued her orders. From scouting reports, the entire city was affected by the parasites.

The infrastructure was relatively unharmed, and nothing was destroyed or broken beyond repair. The first issue made clear was the fact that not everyone was present. Over forty civilians were nowhere to be found.

"Wh-what's happening? Why are you blasting me?!" the freshly freed guard yelled out.

"Ileena. Focus. Porter will fill you in. Stand up and listen to his instructions," Elanor commanded.

"Captain?" the guardswoman sounded confused, but she still stood and saluted the woman. "Yes, mam!"

As they left, I scooped up my familiars and collapsed to the floor, letting my mana settle as it retreated into my chest.

Damn, even with all the mana I gained recently, I'm still running low.

A guard approached and handed me a cup filled with steaming tea. I accepted and thanked her while closing my eyes and inhaling the strong brew.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's uh called dirty tea. It has root extracts from plants that help restore stamina and mana. I don't know its real name, sorry," the guardsman replied.

I shook my head and looked her directly in the eyes. "No. Thank you."

"Thank you. For removing this thing from us. If you need more, just ask."

The guard left, and I sipped at the tart-smelling drink. Warm liquid filled my chest, and I shut my eyes.

Not bad.

"How you holding up?" Teddy asked as he sat down beside me.

"Can you tell I'm dangerously close to manashock? Running really low, but it's fine." I exhaled. "She's the last one?"

"Yes. Once you recover, we'll head over to the adventurer's guild. Our first goal is to free the guild master and whoever else is tier two and up. We'll decide what to do afterward."

I gave him a thumbs-up and sipped more of the tea. Áine scooted to my hand and dipped her arm into the beverage while Magnus rolled onto his back.

"Master... need to release."

"Give me a minute. I'll ask for the one guard to help drain it."

Magnus grumbled, but he still purred under my fingers.

I sipped the last of the tea and set Áine inside so she could soak up the rest. Opening my eyes, I found Elanor tapping her desk.

"Hey, the guy who could create the mana stones? I need him."

"Ashton. Find Gedol," she ordered.

"Yes, mam!"

The rest of Broken Tower settled in, and Magnus managed to dump the last batch of mana into the mana stones. It was a strange skill for a guard, but it functioned like Magnus's skill. He created mana batteries out of stone that lasted for a couple of hours, depending on the mana stored inside. Apparently, he used to be an adventurer and would use the skill like a bomb to remotely detonate them when he slingshotted the stones at monsters.

Intuitive, but I preferred my cub.

Half an hour passed, and we got up and joined the others in the main hall. Serena waved, and I summoned a round of freshly cooked fries for everyone.

"Let's go, eat while walking. Elanor has already sent an emergency missive to the capital; cleansers should start arriving by tomorrow at the latest."

"Any sign of the monsters from before?" Celanae asked.

Isaac and Eodyne shook their heads. "Nothing. I scouted the walls, but the closest creature was a bird foraging for berries."

"Only a singular bird?"

"Yeah. Just one. I left it alone in case Isaac wanted to capture it."

"What side?" Isaac asked.

"East, near the road, facing the gate."

Isaac disappeared, and Celanae bit her lip. "Highly unlikely it's a coincidence."

"Most likely a spy."

"I hate intelligent monsters. Such a pain in the ass." Igas grumbled.

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time."

Igas snorted. "Won't be the last either."

------------------

We entered the guild building and found it... empty.

Unlike every other establishment inside the city, the entire building lacked people going about their day. Citizens could be seen outside talking and chatting as they moved from one place to the next, but this building, in particular, remained void of life.

"Isaac and the guards found nothing wrong?" Celanae asked.

"No. The guildhall, the side rooms, it's entirely empty."

"Then why are we here?" Sereza cut in.

"Because as good as they are, they don't have Magnus's skillset. You mentioned that in the rift, you could detect dimensional spaces; if we find one, we'll have a lead. If not, then we're back to zero."

"Magnus didn't sense it until it was right next to us. So we'll have to search every room," I said.

The main hall looked clean, the tables had their chairs on top, and the front desk looked perfectly organized with each pen and piece of paper stacked neatly away under the desk.

"Split up, Sereza, Celanae, join Cyrus. I'll take Igas, Eodyne, and Isaac. If it attacks, don't hesitate."

We formed two groups of three and went downstairs while Teddy's group took up.

Before we stepped into the stairwell, I held up a hand and channeled mana into Resplendent Inferno and Storm King's Tempest.

Sturmrorex appeared without the added special effects and looped around my neck while Zharia gripped my shoulder.

"Ready."

Magnus took point, and we waited as he sniffed the first door on the right. He shook his head, and I opened it on three.

Empty.

The room had some crates and boxes stacked near the far wall, but that was all.

Each room we came upon, we'd repeat the process to no avail.

"Last room. I can't tell if I prefer something being in there or not," Sereza commented.

I snorted. "Same."

Celanae raised her staff, and I counted to three.

Three...

Two...

One...

I turned the knob and pulled and brandished my spear.

Sereza slumped. "Damn... empty again."

We examined the inside, and I saw a large desk in the corner. Sereza and Celanae split up and scoured the wardrobe and tables stacked with items.

The desk in the back called to me, and I skimmed the surface, seeing official-looking documents.

A lot of it looked like approval papers and inventory management, so I ignored them and started rifling through the drawers.

I opened the last drawer, and a surprisingly pink notebook came into view. Colourful doodles covered its surface, and two giant initials took up the most space on the cover.

P must stand for Panasia.

I flipped the first page and found it blank.

Okay, I am strangely disappointed.

I skipped to the next and found a personal entry that detailed the guildmaster's arrival in Helio.

It was clearly her journal, so I skipped to the last entry and found it half-written. A long trail of ink dipped from the last written letter to the bottom corner.

"Hey, Celanae. Take a look at this. I think the guildmaster kept a journal," I called out. I flipped to a few pages back. "Each entry is three days apart."

"Let me see," she said.

She took the journal and began scanning the pages, flipping to a new entry every minute. As she kept reading her frown deepened.

"Does it explain anything?"

"Not really," she sighed as she closed the journal. "She documents the increased discord and anger flare-ups. They continue to increase until a proper investigation was set, Apparently there was a long pause where nothing happened, the creature supposedly vanished."

"That's obviously not true. I guess it really is intelligent? Smart enough to stop and ambush the city once they thought the threat was gone."

"That's terrifying, to be honest. If it's a monster, it's either a new species or there is a breach somewhere spewing out monsters," Sereza added.

"Like a dungeon break? I vaguely remember reading about that."

"Possibly. Dungeon monsters never last long enough; their bodies can't handle the lack of dungeon mana and die off. If it was a breach from a rift or a dungeon break, it wouldn't explain how they managed to keep the city enthralled for this long," Celanae explained.

"There's no way for a monster to adapt and live?"

She pursed her lips and tapped the desk. "There shouldn't be, but it's not impossible. Until we know more, it'll be useless to dive down that rabbit hole."

Zharia simmered on my shoulder, and I reached up to soothe her as feathers lit up with brilliant golden fire. "What's wrong?"

"Don't like mind control... bad memories," Zharia chirped.

Memories flashed of cuddling a hurt little phoenix in the aftermath of a blood demon's rage.

"You're right; bad memories indeed."

Sturmrorex tightened around my neck, and I rubbed between his horns.

"Something wrong?" Celanae asked.

"Sorry, I'm good. If there's nothing down here, should we head back up and meet with the others?"

Celanae looked at me suspiciously, worry on her face but she nodded and made the journal vanish. "Yes, let's hope they found something."

Magnus did one last sweep around the room, and while he did pick up some mana from a few enchantments, none of it was dimensional-related.

As we neared the stairs leading up, Isaac appeared halfway out of the wall and pointed toward me. "We have something for Magnus to check out. Did you find anything down here?"

"Celanae shook her head. "Some diary entries, but nothing that changes anything. Still no clue what happened to Panasia or all the adventurers."

It was hard to tell by the mask he wore, but Isaac was angry.

"Hurry up here, then. There's some dried blood," he said before disappearing.

The three of us shared a look, and I shrugged and continued to head toward the stairs.

It'd be nice to get some answers finally.

We met up with Igas and Isaac at the top of the steps; they led us to Teddy, who scraped some blood off the floor. The stain was nearly black, with only hints of brown showing through the lamp nearby.

"It's old," Teddy said as he rubbed the particles between his gauntleted fingers. "More than a day, at least."

Celanae bent down and started examining the blood stain while I kept my focus on Magnus, who started sniffing around.

He approached the bloodstain and wrinkled his nose, but when Celanae glanced over he shook his head.

Magnus continued and slid between Teddy's legs to enter the open room.

He got about halfway into the room and stopped. His fur rose and crystallized as he started to growl.

"Here!"

Teddy and Igas activated their skills while Isaac and Eodyne got into position. Celanae moved beside me and held out her staff as she focused on the tiger cub.

Teddy conjured a timer in the air, and I raised my spear as Sereza's daggers started to drip acid.

Three...

Two...

One...

"Ready, Magnus."

Space twisted and fractured in a rush of energy that forced the others back.

Magnus swallowed the spatial mana with a mental roar, and the room expanded in an explosion of sounds.