Chapter 54 (1 of 2) The Institute of Nomological Augmentation. (Patreon)

-Last week of January-

“And… that should be the last of them.”

A sea-green-haired young man ticked off the name on a list as he shut the lid on the box he had been inspecting. Inside had been monster scales, ready to be shipped off to the crafters who made the weapons and equipment for the military.

With his list in hand, he walked up to the dark-haired man directing a few others in the warehouse. The man had a scowl on his face as he scrabbled down words on his clipboard.

“Sir.”

The man didn’t hear, his scowl intensifying.

“Officer Stanhope, sir.”

Ross looked up and saw him. “Oh, Wharifin. Is something the matter?”

“The inventory check for this row has been completed,” Caspian said with a salute.

Ross sighed and bumped the back of his head against the wall. “Thank goodness. That’s one load off my shoulders. Only five more rows to go.” He scowled at the other Officers checking the warehouse contents, who avoided eye contact. “If only everyone else could be as efficient at working as you.” Ross pulled back his sleeve to check his wristwatch. “You’ve finished your work early, so there’s nothing more for you to do. Enjoy the rest of the day.”

“Yes sir.” Caspian nodded and put down the list next to several other documents stacked up on a box nearby. He went to leave but before he could, Ross called out one last time.

“Oh, and you might want to head to the east recreation room in the main command building,” Ross commented offhandedly. “I heard someone’s been waiting for you.”

Caspian raised an eyebrow at the strange statement but nodded and walked through the warehouse’s double doors. He blinked and squinted as the sun beamed into his eyes, and then he headed in the direction of the ramps that would lead to the third layer of the fortress.

Someone has been waiting for me? Who could it be?

…

Caspian stretched as he walked through the corridors of the command building, views of the calm sea visible from the windows. They had returned to the fortress at the end of the second last week of January, and soon it would be time for him and Adrianna to become leaders of the Dawnlight’s crew. The crew would officially ‘form’ this week, however, with their sailing beginning in February.

He was quite curious about the members of the training camp Adrianna went to, as they sounded unique from what Ross and Adrianna said a few months ago.

Caspian paused slightly as he detected the presence of someone near the edge of the corner he was about to turn. He moved aside slightly so he wouldn’t bump into them when he turned the corner, but…

“Boo!”

He flinched as the person jumped out from behind the corner. He stared at the figure of a young woman with dark blue, shoulder-length wavy hair and dark blue eyes.

“Wait, Maeva?!” he asked, stunned.

The woman known as Maeva Winrich grinned and placed her hands on her hips. “It’s been a while, Squad Leader.”

Caspian smiled. “I’m no longer a Squad Leader now. It’s been a while.” He held out his arms to give her a quick hug which she returned and then pulled back. “Is it just you?” he asked curiously.

The woman smirked and grabbed his wrist. “Come and see for yourself.” She pulled him along the hallway and threw open the door in front of them. “Look who’s here!”

Opening the door revealed four other people, two men and two women. Leaning against the small recreational room’s wall was a young man with dark straight hair, his eyes a murky green and a smirk on his face. Blue-green demonic script wound its way up his arms and neck. Sitting in a chair was a lanky young man with grey hair that fell over his eyes. He nodded calmly to Caspian.

One of the women waved to Caspian. She had dirty-blonde hair plaited into a thick braid that went past her waist, while the fourth person, a woman with platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes beamed.

“Our new Vice Captain has finally shown up!” Maeva said, pushing Caspian forward with a light shove to his shoulder. She grinned as the others stood up to greet him.

“Congratulations on the promotion, Caspian,” the platinum blonde-haired woman told him.

Caspian gave her a nod. “Thank you, Charlene.”

The man with demonic script came forward and slung an arm across his shoulders. “You’ve risen so quickly, hm? And yet I see by your badge that you’re not our Captain.”

Caspian hesitated. “Ah… She won’t be back for another few hours yet. She’s on the Commander’s warship still.”

“Oh? She?” the half-demon next to him said with surprise.

The woman with the long braid clicked her tongue. “Don’t start up with the whole ‘I need to test her before I take a woman as my superior’ thing, Lynell. The last time you said something like that the only female Commander in the Distorted Depths happened to be in the fortress and beat you black and blue.”

‘Lynell’ scowled. “I’m not foolish. I would carefully observe her strength before suggesting a duel.”

The woman with a braid raised an eyebrow. “You still want to fight her?”

“Well, no ordinary person should be allowed to order around me, a member of the Sea Demon Baervad Clan-”

“Hey!” Maeva suddenly clapped her hands. “Everyone shut up and follow Silenis’s lead by sitting down. You’ll make him and Charlene feel left out if you keep sticking to your little circle.” Then she elbowed Caspian. “Although that doesn’t mean we’re letting you off talking about the person who is going to be our new Captain.”

Caspian smiled wryly as they all sat down in armchairs in the room. “Why don’t we begin with what you all did these last few months?”

“Us? Psh.” Maeva waved her hand. “Nothing grand happened to me. I had to deal with all the whiny noble brats that the Main Army Battalion sent down to the northern fortress for training. Good thing the Commander there put all those spoilt kids in their places quickly enough. If I had to pick my favourite Commander, it would probably be her, the Siren Wail Fortress Commander.”

“The one that beat Lynell black and blue?” the woman with a braid asked with a smirk.

Maeva grinned. “Yes Dais, that’s the one.”

“If we’re talking about new superiors, guess who’s going to be in charge of our tasks when Commander Arkenast is busy?” Caspian asked with a smile.

They all gave him curious looks. “It’s someone we know?” Charlene asked.

“Our very own resident complainer gets to be stuck with the people he had to deal with for all of October last year,” Caspian said with a chuckle.

Maeva laughed. “Ross? Him? Really? I can’t tell if this is more of a punishment for him or us.”

“I had heard he was promoted to Head Officer,” Silenis, the man with grey hair, said quietly.

“Yes, but what about this mysterious new Captain of ours?” Dais replied, leaning forward on her chair. “If she became the Squad Leader of her cohort and got promoted so quickly then she must be an amazing warrior, right?”

Caspian rubbed his neck. “Well… she’s an illusion mage.”

“No way…” Maeva shot him a sceptical look. “You’re telling me an illusion mage is who Commander Arkenast thinks is the best Captain for the Dawnlight? You know how high his standards are!”

“If it’s her ability you’re wondering about, there’s no problem there,” Caspian responded with a weak smile. “She has… very unique magic. She’ll no doubt be the strongest among our crewmates.”

Maeva’s smile dimmed slightly when she saw his expression but Dais’s interjection moved the conversation along before she could ask anything, which made him grateful.

“Oh, by the way, Caspian, have you met any of our new Captain’s cohort members?” Dais asked excitedly.

Caspian blinked. “I haven’t, no. I’ve been busy working with Ross to check all the warehouses. Have they begun to arrive?”

“Well, I saw a few young men and women who had their Elite Officer uniforms, but I know everyone in the fortress their age and rank, and I knew none of them,” Dais explained. “Three of them I spoke two, some people from the Heavenly Realm. The two guys seemed kind of snobbish but the girl had quite the outgoing personality. She seemed fun.”

“Wait, was that the Sect heir from the Vast Longevity Flowing Glacier Sect who’s going to be here temporarily?” Maeva said, looking at Dais. “I met her too. Her claims of defeating a King ranked monster during her time on the Dawnlight were hilarious to listen to, but she didn’t seem to care about the laughter of the people around her so I think she was playing it up on purpose.”

Caspian hesitated. “I… think that’s the girl that said Ross was more stubborn than Profound Blue Swallow’s constant bad luck.”

Dais broke into a laugh. “Alright, she’s my new favourite person.”

“This talk of new members may be interesting, but I am still interested to know more about our superior,” Lynell said, crossing his arms. “Surely you can at least tell us her name, can you not, Caspian?”

Caspian sighed but answered, “It’s Adrianna Riftmire.”

“Cool name,” Dais commented. “What does she look like?”

“Er… Well, she’s tall, has pale blue eyes, really curly hair…” He hesitated as he considered how to explain the hair. “And it’s… glowing hair. It’s mostly black but because of her illusion affinity it becomes purple and dark blue sometimes.”

“Oooh, fancy.” Maeva smirked. “Is she hot?”

Caspian shot her an odd look. “If you’re trying to get me to say something specific, then I can only say yes, she could be considered very pretty, but she’s taller than me.”

The blue-haired woman clicked her tongue. “Not interested in someone taller? And here I thought we’d have some gossip.”

“She also seems to like Commander Arkenast’s brand of cigars…” Caspian muttered. He shuddered. “The memory of the taste is bad enough for me.”

“What is her temperament?” Silenis asked in a low voice.

Caspian gained a strange expression as he considered how to answer. “Well, she’s very good at commanding attention… and she works efficiently…” He thought about it for a bit longer and then decided to take the easy path. “I’ll let you guys decide what to think of her yourself.”

They all clicked their tongues or gave him annoyed looks but he just shrugged. Then the grey-haired Silenis looked at Charlene. “I believe I saw someone with gold eyes among the new Officers.”

Charlene blinked, and her eyes widened. “Someone else with a light affinity is joining the crew? But I would’ve heard if someone else from the Citadel was coming.”

Silenis shook his head. “I don’t think he was from the Citadel.”

Maeva looked at them all and grinned. “How about we go find these new crew members and introduce ourselves? Time to show them all what real Officers of the Distorted Depths are like!”

They traded glances. Caspian couldn’t deny he felt curious. “Well, Ross said he’d call us later to discuss the crew, but it can’t hurt to introduce ourselves now.”

Maeva got up from her chair. “It’s settled then. Time to go find our cute junior Officers and see what they’re like.”

—————————————————————————————

A young man with brown hair a gold eyes took a deep breath of the salty sea air. Following behind him were two young women, one with short, fiery red hair and another with long dark brown hair.

“I guess now we find out what our groups are and split up…” Catherine said with a sigh. “I doubt they’d put us in the same group together. But I’ll make sure to keep in contact with you, Conlan.”

“Let’s just wait and see what squads we’ve been placed in,” Conlan replied calmly, a smile on his face. “Who knows? Maybe we’re in a squad together.”

“I hope that will be the case,” Liliana said, following close behind. “It will be far easier to work with those we know.”

“Huh? Oh, hey! Everyone’s over there!” Catherine said, pointing to all the people gathered in front of the main command building.

They could see Ruel Deirvetch, Palin Zoc’uraghets, Wilden Leutia, Drew Baxtimer, Noirel Arventiel, Zhang Meng, Liao Tengfei and Zhang Mingxia all loitering around the front.

“Who are they with?” Liliana asked curiously.

Conlan studied the group and realised there were more people than just their cohort members. But… he recognised them all. They were his past crewmates.

One individual with sea-green hair stuck out to him and Conlan’s steps slowed. He watched the young man chatting with the others cautiously.

…Caspian Wharifin. He… was always Adrianna’s closest companion…

Conlan clenched his fists as they walked towards the group.

I know there’s nothing between them, but her trust in him and his constant position by her side will become an issue. I need to ensure I become who she relies on during this time in the Navy and not him…

His abilities are useful though, so I can’t get rid of him. Neither am I willing to take up a position as her second in command. I don’t want to be her ‘subordinate’. Caspian will need to stay for now. I’ll work on slowly increasing my importance in the crew.

The others noticed Conlan’s group of three as they approached. “Hey, guys. I see we’ve all returned from our holiday. But who are these new people?” he asked brightly.

A man with straight black hair and demonic script smirked and stepped forward to block Conlan’s path. “We’re you’re new Senior Officers, cadet. I’m sure we’ll enjoy working together these next few years.”

Conlan narrowed his eyes at the antagonistic half-demon, but before anything could happen Maeva Winrich ran out from behind him to grab Liliana’s hands in her own.

“Yes! Another water affinity manipulator!” she exclaimed, looking unusually enthusiastic for some reason. “Caspian doesn’t count because he cheats with his bloodline, so I’m glad I have a junior who uses my affinity now! And a girl too!”

“Ah… um… hi?” Liliana asked hesitantly. “Who might you be?”

“I’m Maeva, a healer,” Maeva said with a smirk. She turned back to pull Charlene forward as well. “Along with Charlene here, who's a healer-in-training of the Citadel.”

Catherine came up beside Liliana with wide eyes. “Citadel?”

“There are many of us trainees in the realms, so please don’t treat me as someone special,” Charlene said with a smile. “I’m not even considered a professional healer by the Citadel yet.” Charlene then looked at Conlan and walked up to him. “But sir, I can tell you have an affinity for light like me. Do you have any connections to the Citadel?”

It was good Charlene was showing interest in his affinity. He could use her connections to the Supreme Institution to gain the support of the Citadel… although he’d have to ensure she didn’t end up wasting her life in an attempt to ‘save’ him in this timeline before he could use her…

“I don’t,” Conlan replied with a smile. “My world is small and doesn’t know much about the Supreme Institutions.”

Liliana and Catherine exchanged knowing looks behind him, but Charlene blinked in surprise. “I see… many people choose to use elixirs to gain the light affinity, but you must have it naturally. I assume you’re a warrior, judging by the sword?”

Conlan looked down at his new Epic blade he had gained from a Dungeon and smiled. “Yes. Technically I’m a warrior manipulator but my strengths lean more to the physical aspects.”

Charlene nodded. “I’ll be interested to see how you use your abilities during our time as fellow Officers.”

“Who are these guys, Charlene?”

Conlan, Catherine and Liliana looked up as a new voice was heard. Caspian Wharifin was walking over, looking at them curiously.

“Oh, right.” Maeva turned to them. “We haven’t heard your names yet.”

Conlan gestured to himself. “I’m Conlan Griffin, and these two are Liliana Mason and Catherine Sherwood.”

The two girls waved. Caspian glanced between them. “Did you all come from the elite training camp last year?”

They nodded. Caspian placed his hands on his hips with a smile. “Well then, I’m glad to meet you all. My name is Caspian Wharifin and…” He glanced over his shoulder to look at the others and turned back to them. “I won’t say too much yet, but you can expect to see a lot more of me in the future.”

The girls behind Conlan looked curious but everyone became distracted when a dark-haired man stepped out of the main command building. Officer Stanhope, their instructor during the training camp, looked around with a slight frown on his face but sighed and cupped his hands to his mouth. “Members of the elite training camp last year, get in line and follow me!”

Noirel Arventiel, Zhang Mingxia, and the others quickly came over. Conlan and the two girls moved over as well, but Officer Stanhope narrowed his eyes when he spotted Caspian and his companions. “What are you people doing here?”

“We wanted to see our new juniors!” Maeva replied with a grin.

Officer Stanhope eyed them suspiciously but sighed and gestured to them to follow. “You five should come too. I would’ve sent for you anyway.” Then he suddenly pointed at Caspian. “Wharifin, go fetch your stuff.”

The sea-green-haired man blinked. “My stuff? Oh!” He quickly walked off, disappearing into the building.

The elite training camp members gave Caspian and his group curious looks but Conlan ignored them. Officer Stanhope marched onward to lead them through the main command building.

He took everyone through the building out to a small training ground outside the building. Then Officer Stanhope checked his watch. “Wharifin will be back soon when I will expect you all to be in orderly lines.” He pointed at Maeva and the other Officers. “You guys form your own line. Until then, you may all talk amongst yourselves.”

The Officer retreated to the side, hands held behind his back. They began to talk amongst themselves.

“Is this Caspian Wharifin guy important?” Catherine asked in hushed whispers. “He seems around our age though. Maybe he’s a Squad Leader of one of the squads some people here are going to enter?”

“Adrianna was going to become a Squad Leader too, wasn’t she?” Liliana looked around. “The only person from the training camp who’s not here is her.”

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Yeah well, nobody misses her. Hopefully it stays that way.”

Conlan watched Catherine carefully for a moment.

If she keeps being so hostile to Adrianna, she might be an issue for my plans. But she doesn’t seem to like making me angry, so if I show her that I dislike defiance towards Adrianna then she’ll probably listen. That will make her even more antagonistic towards Adrianna and ensure she will be willing to leave the Navy with me when the time comes…

A few minutes later, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Caspian Wharifin walked into the training ground, only this time, he was wearing a silver-trimmed navy blue coat. A silver plaque shone on his coat chest pocket. He walked up to stand beside Officer Stanhope.

The dark-haired former instructor stepped forward to face them all. They got into lines.

“Once every fifty years, a special crew is formed with Elite Officers that have come from the elite cadet training camps,” Officer Stanhope announced. “Instead of splitting the former cadets into different squads across the region, you will instead be the crew of a special ship called the M.W.S. Dawnlight that is stationed here at White Squall Fortress.”

Officer Stanhope walked towards them. “The members of this crew from the most recent training camp are as follows: Noirel Arventiel. Drew Baxtimer. Ruel Deirvetch. Conlan Griffin.”

He walked past their lines. “Liao Tengfei. Wilden Leutia. Liliana Mason. Catherine Sherwood.” He came up to the last three in their line. “Zhang Meng. Zhang Mingxia. Palin Zoc’uraghets.”

The dark-haired man placed his hands behind his back. “You will all be the crew of the M.W.S. Dawnlight, and unlike the times this ship had a crew in earlier years, you will be placed under the command of a Captain instead of a Squad Leader.”

Conlan’s eyes widened and he traded glances with the cohort members but then Officer Stanhope walked over to the line formed by five other people. “Lynell Baervad. Charlene Junem. Dais Twyla. Silenis Vima. Maeva Winrich.”

They all saluted. Officer Stanhope turned to face Conlan’s row again. “These five Elite Officers from elite training camps in prior years will be joining the crew. As those with more experience than you, I expect you to listen to their advice and guidance and learn from them.”

Everyone watched as the dark-haired man walked back up to the front and placed a hand on the shoulder of the sea-green-haired young man up there. “And this person here is your new Vice Captain, Caspian Wharifin.”

Caspian nodded seriously and stepped forward. “As you have heard, my name is Caspian Wharifin and I am the new Vice Captain of the M.W.S. Dawnlight. I’m a water elementalist who specialises in information and reconnaissance due to being a Demi-Atlantean.” He placed a hand on his chest to perform an Empire salute. “I will do my best to lead you as my new subordinates.”

Officer Stanhope nodded. “And I will be responsible for managing your operations and tasks on behalf of Commander Arkenast.” He checked his wristwatch. “The Commander’s warship has only just returned so your new Captain might only become available tomorrow, but-”

“Have I arrived late?” an indifferent female voice interrupted.

Officer Stanhope blinked when he saw the speaker and then shook his head. “No, you’ve arrived just in time.”

“Good.”

Everyone including Conlan stared at the tall woman who made her appearance, wearing a gold-trimmed navy blue coat and hat with a staff gripped in her hand. She walked forward to stand at the front.

“The Commander requested your presence, Head Officer Stanhope. I can take it from here,” she stated coolly.

The dark-haired man nodded and walked off the training grounds as the woman with pale blue eyes faced them. Her wild glowing hair moved in the wind as she placed her free hand behind her back.

“Most of you know who I am, but for those who don’t, my name is Adrianna Riftmire, and I am the new Captain of the M.W.S. Dawnlight,” she announced. She calmly gazed at the stunned faces of the elite training camp’s former cadets and the surprised looks of Caspian Wharifin’s fellow Officers.

“There will be time for introductions and familiarising ourselves with each other later, but…” She narrowed her eyes for a brief second and then placed her staff in front of her. “A hierarchy is best formed when a clear difference in power is established. As your new Captain, it is my responsibility to know the abilities and powers of my subordinates so I can best lead you on the battlefield.”

All the former cadets quickly stepped back and got into combat-ready positions as illusion mana rushed out of her and pooled together. They stared with wide eyes as a ghastly construct of grey slimy flesh and distorted limbs appeared, three times larger than the one she had used at the training camp. Caspian Wharifin grimaced and stepped off the training grounds.

Adrianna slammed her staff down and an overbearing presence descended on them through the monster as indigo radiance shone from the staff’s powerful stone. A cold smirk formed on her lips.

“Everyone must’ve been working hard to become stronger in the three months I haven’t seen you all, so how about we see how much your abilities have improved?”

—————————————————————————————

In a dark, dim room, a brown-haired young man was snickering to himself. He was kneeling as he searched through a large open chest, pocketing objects here and there. The only light to be found was the light seeping through the edge of the door behind him, and the small blue flame crackling in the antique mana lamp sitting in an alcove on the opposite side of the room.

The door slammed open and he flinched. He sprang up and spun around to see a woman with black hair gazing at him with narrowed eyes.

“Garthe Barbosas…” she said in a low, threatening voice. “So, here you were…”

Garthe slowly stepped back and drew his spear, standing in front of the chest as if to protect it. “Larena, you shouldn’t be here.”

Her eyes narrowed further and she took a step, but Garthe aimed his spear tip at her chest.

“Stay back, vixen!”

Larena stared at him, her mouth open. “Vixen?!” she exclaimed angrily.

“What else could you be, besides a vixen?” Garthe announced, crossing his arms. “You’ve come to steal my bounty, harassing your brother for his chest of goods all so you can become the winner of the bet! You said you’d take the north corridor, not the west!”

She looked away. “There were no rules that prevented one of us from heading to another person’s corridor once our own are cleared out.”

“Just admit that you couldn’t find anything!”

She scowled and tried to take a step forward, but Garthe pointed his spear at her again. “Halt! You shall not take another step! These treasures are mine, and mine alone!”

“I’m your sister!”

“So?” Garthe said with contempt. “Noble siblings fight over treasure all the time. That’s no reason to share my stuff with you.”

Larena clicked her tongue. “The chest is huge. There should be enough to give me a few items and still have plenty left over.”

“I’d sooner be judged by the Death Monarch’s Ninety-Nine than hand my artifacts over to you!” Garthe stated with his hands on his hips.

“What artifacts could be so precious that you’d sooner die than give me any?!”

“Ah, here you both are.”

The two siblings stopped arguing as a snow-elf stopped in front of the open door. In her arms were five dimensional bags, all of them bulging. “We informed Marellen that we would be back before the hour. We need to head back to camp.”

Larena and Garthe looked at what Roa held in her arms, traded glances, and then sighed in synchronised disappointment.

“I’ll just pack up the rest of these artifacts first,” Garthe said, kneeling again.

Once all the chest’s contents were stored away, they followed the path back through the many corridors of the underground research facility to their campsite. Roa held out her hand to open a gap in the protective barrier set up by an artifact, and the three of them stepped through. The gap closed behind them, sealing the perception of monsters outside but unfortunately sealing the perception of them inside as well, and they walked up to the largest tent in the camp.

Sitting on the ground with all sorts of metallic tools whirring with glowing runes was a navy-haired mage, stacks of research papers and scattered sketched diagrams around him. His gold-framed glasses were slightly crooked as he muttered to himself, rapidly writing down notes and randomly selecting different items to activate and test, “If I could just find a water element phenomenon to study, then it would allow me to complete the final formula to compute this frame and certify my natural harmony theorem… but inside this facility, there are no phenomena as they’re all above the surface of the plane…”

“Hey! Magic addict! We’re back!” Garthe said.

Marellen flinched and looked up. He shifted his glasses and blinked in surprise. “You’re back soon.”

“Marellen, it has been over 55 minutes since we had left,” Roa informed him.

Marellen looked down at a clock magical item near him. “Ah… it seems I lost track of time…”

“So we could’ve continued looking for artifacts?” Larena asked sourly, planting her hands on her hips.

Garthe smirked, making her glare at him, but Roa walked forward to deposit the dimensional bags with the rest of their collection in Marellen’s research tent. “It wouldn’t do for us to spend additional time separated.” She walked over to Marellen. “It just so happens that I discovered a peculiar underground lake while exploring the facility’s east. The mana was quite strong and I didn’t want to accidentally cross paths with a Dungeon so I didn’t investigate further, but the room around the lake was of artificial design.”

“Sounds cool. Maybe we can head there eventually,” Garthe commented. He stored his artifact collection with the rest of them and stretched his arms above his head. “I’m ready for a nice stew though, so let’s think about this later.”

“…underground lake?” Marellen murmured.

Larena and Roa followed Garthe to the centre of the camp where a large mana-powered stove was lit. Larena sat down on a small stool to stretch her legs before the heated stove. “I’m feeling quite hungry myself.” She looked over her shoulder. “Hey Marellen, are you coming over?”

“Er… yeah, in a bit,” he replied, sounding distracted.

Larena shrugged and looked at Roa. “You seemed to come back with quite the bounty. Those dimensional bags must’ve had at least a hundred artifacts in each one.”

“I came across the magical material and elixir storehouse for the facility,” Roa said with a faint smile. “None of them were particularly rare elixirs or materials, but their mana densities were very high.”

Garthe let out a whistle. “So not artifacts, but still great stuff. Maybe Marellen will be able to brew us up something fancy with his alchemist skills. What do you say to that, Marellen?”

There was no response. Garthe frowned and looked over his shoulder. “Marellen?”

Silence. Garthe traded unsure looks with the others and stood up. “Just wait a moment. I’m sure he’s just caught up in his magic stuff again.”

He walked into the tent. “Hey Marellen, Roa was just saying that she found… nice… materials……”

Garthe stopped speaking. After a few moments, he walked back out to look at the others. His face was pale as he gave them an awkward smile. “Do… either of you know where Marellen is?”

Marellen was no longer at the campsite.