Case 1: Candy Baas melt at 45 Degrees

Halloween was just a few days away and all but one of the rooms in the Magic Council’s Dormitories had been decorated with props on their doors. Two of the more eager soldiers had begun their own competition on the third floor, with flickering Jack-o-Lanterns and enchanted skeletons dancing in the hallways. Alternatively, some idiot had gone and thrown orange paint at a door and onto the carpet, oblivious that all decorations had to be removed after the 31st. It was dark and almost winter, yet tonight it was peculiarly warm, the heat reminding all the soldiers of a long-forgotten grandfather.

Outside the dormitory the guards saluted as a familiar breeze rolled through the field, a duo gently flying down to the ground from the dark night as opposed to free falling and crashing down-like their luggage. The one casting the Wind Magic was Soren Evans, one of the few people ever awarded the grand title of Arch-Sage. He stepped into the light first, tall and thin, dressed in his trademark cloak, a fantastic blend of white and gold with blue sleeves. His hair was immaculately clean, a light hazel and soft, his eyes were brown and with him he carried his Sceptre, a brilliant staff of the same color as his cloak. All things considered, he was rather graceful with his movements and his appearance, completely untouched and not a trace of dirt on him. One of his normal days.

Araseph stepped out of the dark behind him, slightly shorter and as different to Soren as their history was. She readjusted her beret and sniffed in displeasure at the warm air, wiping the blood and sweat from her cheeks. Several feet taller than when she had first been adopted into the Council, she briefly mused about how she could now see over the dormitory’s gate walls. Dressed in a simple black shirt and skirt, she threw her vest and equipment at the guards and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, pulling through the knots and hoping to wipe out a bit of blood as well. Covered in splashes of blood, cuts and bruises. Also one of her normal days. She shook off her hand and glancing at her superior, saw he was smirking.

“Stop it” she sighed “Stop what?” Soren replied in that patient, smooth voice of his. “Stop smiling. You’ve been doing it since we got a hold of the key. It’s annoying me” “Ah sorry, didn’t realize I was smiling. Are you annoyed?” “Yes I just said - ” “Is it because of the two extras we had?" “What? No its got nothing to do with them.” “Is it because I did better ‘detective-ing’ than you?” “Not at all, that’s not a word-“ “It can be” “and it’s annoying me because it’s you and it’s weird. Can you please stop?” He smirked even harder “Am I still smiling?” “Ew. Yes.” “Perfect.” Soren pulled out a sheaf of papers from his cloak and handed them to her “I’m going to go sign in to the Chairman, so you go read over the report. We have another mission tomorrow.”

Araseph rolled her eyes and put up a mock salute, “Yes sir” before heading off to the dormitory. Watching her scurry off to her room like a proud father, the Arch-Sage turned to the Council’s Tower and marched up the stairs.

At the grand doors, the main council’s secretary greeted him “You’re awfully eager to meet the Chairman tonight” Tall, well-groomed and dressed in a white-gold robe with a clipboard by her desk, Elincia Crimea gave a smile to Soren, one he returned with caution. For her extraordinarily gentle features Elincia was still a member of the Majestic Six, a group composed of the six strongest individuals within the Magic Council that was headed by the Chairman himself. And even among the powerful group, the Chairman’s secretary was known for her mastery over magic, specifically over fire like the Crimean family was commonly famous for. Often calm and patient, tonight Soren noted she had a pained expression, the slightest hints of distress floating in her eyes.

“I’ve already heard about my mission for tomorrow, so I’d rather get as much rest as possible”

“I see news travels fast” She replied “I can report to the chairman about your return in your stead if you’d like?”

Soren raised his eyebrows “That’s awfully kind of you. But I was hoping to also talk to him about something more than just the recent news” at Elincia’s blank frown he explained “The particular issue regarding Araseph’s status”

“Now?” Elincia said apprehensively “The Chairman is a bit tied up with an… “incident” right now. I can discuss the situation with him in your stead if that’s alright.”

“Or perhaps I can just talk to you about it. Ms. Crimea, why were we assigned two extra soldiers for the last mission? It wasn’t a case where reinforcements were needed”

“I don’t see the problem with this? The assigned soldiers were organized to maintain the minimum numbers of a squadron. As an Arch-Sage you must be aware of the squadron rules, are you not? ’All missions are to be carried out in parties of 4 and no less, for reasons outlined in Section 157’. No exceptions Mr. Evans”

“Apart from those of rank Captain and above” At Elincia’s momentary silence Soren continued

“Was it because you still don’t trust Araseph even after the trial? Did you assign them to take over the case and see how she reacts?”

“Or perhaps they were assigned to fill out the 4-member threshold for any squadron’s overall safety.” She replied humorlessly. “You, especially you of all people, must be aware Seven is still recovering from the war. And as such, by the Chairman’s judgement, it is best to follow the standard procedures for maximum safety-regardless of the circumstances. Rules are in place and exist for a reason, Mr. Evans” Elincia turned her attention back to the desk “You mentioned you knew about your mission tomorrow did you not? I would heavily recommend you be getting ready for that”

Soren silently stared at her, unwilling to open his mouth in fear of how she would react, yet unwilling to simply drop his argument.

“Don’t worry” Elincia said coldly “I’ll make sure the Chairman is aware of your…"concerns"…and I’ll address them properly. That does remind me, I don’t see the two ‘extras’ assigned to your team with you. Where are they?”

“They took the long way back. Turns out not everybody is a fan of flying”

“Turns out not everybody is as eccentric as you are Mr. Evans.”

“Well, maybe everybody except for Araseph.”

The grand doors of the Chairman’s chamber swung open, and there stood the chairman of the Magic Council, Valmer Adelt in a black robe. Yet this time, Soren noted, he looked even more distressed than Elincia, a look that expressed something very, very bad had just happened.

Part 2
Araseph panted as she climbed the stairs, with every step her thighs groaned and her knees creaked. "Maybe running after the thief wasn’t such a good idea after all" she thought to herself. She sat down at the top to take a breather, marveling at the walls of orange and decorations that hadn’t been there when she had first left for her mission. The notion of “Halloween” was foreign to Araseph, for Pergrande had never sought to celebrate anything outside of a solid victory. Brilliant orbs of orange light danced in the air, wax statues of monsters stomped through the hallways and in all her joy and wonder, whispers of disgust floated to her ears.

''“Oh. That’s her isn’t it” “God she’s so filthy”  “You know she only got to be a Captain because of the Arch-Sage”''

Frowning she looked down at her silk shirt, torn and soaked in a stranger’s blood, her legs were covered in dirt and there was no doubt her face was just as bad. Maybe a quick shower would be the least she could do. Giving a quick sigh she quickly pasted a bright smile on her face and got up. Her muscles screeched in protest but it was fine, she could just rest it off in her room...three floors above where she was.

As she walked through the hallways she kept her eyes down on the report Soren had given her, eyes dancing over the words, the titles, yet not necessarily paying any attention to it. Everywhere she walked, the sounds of conversation would quickly die away, and she would feel the glares, the glances of fears from the other Council members. “It’s fine” she thought to herself, given they had likely grown up during the Light Burst War it was understandable they wouldn’t particularly like her. Turning the corner, she continued “I mean, I would hate me too if I wasn’t me...” did that even make any sense?

“But I didn’t do any of that. Well I did but it wasn’t me. Well…” ''“It was you though. Just because you don’t remember it doesn’t make you innocent” “How do I even apologize if I don’t know what I did though?” “They don’t want your apology. What makes you think you have the right to apologize?”'' “What do I do then?”

The voice cackled and floated away and Araseph paused, a staircase away from her room. Great, now she was talking to herself. Did that make her crazy? She read a book about a crazy person that talked to himself once, although in the end instead of seeking treatment he ended up sticking a sword through his pet rabbit. “Maybe I should talk to Soren about this” she mused. “Wouldn’t that give other people something else to talk about though?”. The voice in her head mocked “Well…they hate you enough anyway, like it’s going to make any difference”.

She got to the top of the staircase and stopped in her tracks. Some idiot had gone and splashed orange paint all over her door and carpet, and by the looks of it, the paint was all dried up. She cringed as she got to the previously soft orange carpet and it crunched under her foot. Taking a deep breath in she let out an even bigger breath out and opened the door, noting optimistically that at least they hadn’t vandalized her own room.

Peeling the clothes off her skin she glanced at the empty bed next to hers “So Liza’s still out on her mission huh…or maybe she’s with somebody else now” She stepped into the shower and turned the tap, washing away the blood and dirt, suddenly feeling refreshed...apart from her god-awful legs. Someone knocked on her door, and the simple fact that they had chosen to knock rather than barge in was enough for her to trust them “Come in” she yelled out.

The familiar sound of a lock clicking open accompanied by the new sound of crunching carpet reached her ears. “Have you looked over the papers yet?” A voice asked. “Soren” she mentally registered.

“I was going to do it after this shower” “Lovely” he called out from the room “I was going to tell you there’s been a slight change of plans. Bad news actually” “Are we getting another random person on our team again?” Araseph said. “Nope, this time it’s just us two” Araseph smiled to herself under the hot water “That’s great!” Then she frowned “wait then what’s the bad news?”

Even if she couldn’t see him, the unusual pause made Araseph feel uneasy. After what felt like an eternity of Araseph looking down at her feet, Soren’s voice finally answered her “Lucian Crimea is dead.”

“WHAT?”

Araseph shut off the water and stuck her head out the doorframe, water from her hair splashing all over the carpet “THE Lucian Crimea is dead?”

“Araseph please. Clothes.” “Wait no this is huge. Like, what? How? How could he die? Isn’t he one of the heroes of Seven?” “Dammit Araseph! Clothes!”

“Fine fine…” she rolled her eyes and stuck her head back inside the bathroom “such a prude…” she muttered under her breath. While drying her hair she asked “So what happened?”

“Nobody really knows. The initial detectives are saying it was a murder-suicide” “Oh? Who died? Wait so somebody killed Lucian then killed themselves?” “Ah…” Soren hesitated “Actually, from what I’ve heard, Lucian was the one who did the suicide. As for the murder…well…” “What, did more than one person die or something” “Estimated to be about eight hundred victims”

“WHAT?”

Araseph stuck her head out again, this time her hair dried but still shirtless. Although this time Soren had turned around and gone about cleaning up Araseph’s room for her. “People are saying Lucian strode into town and just started killing people left and right” he picked up a book from the floor and put it on her nightstand “and after roughly twenty minutes he went and shot himself”

“A gun? That doesn’t sound like him at all” Araseph said frowning.

“Neither does the killing part. But I’m glad the gun is what you decided to point out first. It also apparently happened in Port Tara”

She put on her shirt “Alright that definitely doesn’t sound like him. Isn’t QuadDracoras on the other side of Seven? Are you sure it’s really Lucian and not some other random fire mage”

“Who knows. And it’s our job to figure it out now. Our original mission apparently got passed off to...ah...your lovely roommate” Soren finished brightly. “You forgot Liza’s name didn’t you” “Not at all. It just escaped my mind for a second” “You realize that’s the very definition of forgetting, right?” “Hmm? What’s the definition of what?”

Araseph groaned and finished dressing “So when do we leave” she hopped out of the bathroom, proudly showing off her new night shirt, a drawing of a fluffy pink bunny with a wand and wizard hat. Soren looked at the shirt, back to her and simply said “Well, I was going to say right now but...if you’d like, I can wait for you to change into something else.”

“You say it like there’s something wrong with my shirt.” “Well what do you think?” He asked patiently. “I think for only 400 charms it was a great deal” “Araseph, we’re going to a place where eight hundred people just died” She stopped. Thought about it for a second and sighed “I’ll go get my vest.”


 * Chapter 3: Case 1: A Toadally bad situation