For the third time in as many weeks, Arthur was standing in front of his superior’s desk, baffled, “Ma’am, I know that it is not my place to contradict your orders--”

“Inquisitor,” the Seeker woman said, holding up a hand, “I don’t care whether or not it’s your place to question me. I do, however, care whether it’s your place to question the higher ups.” She pushed the comslate forwards, enough that Arthur could easily read it, “This is the order from the higher ups, in full. This might even be from the top, wherever that is. As far as I’m concerned, you, nor I, have a choice in this. Just like what happened with your mentee,” she said, gesturing to the silent Kelish, “I don’t have any control over this, neither do you.”

Arthur sighed, rubbing his forehead, “So you’re saying that I need to teach… an ‘Auxiliary’ while also teaching Kel?” he asked, crossing his arms, “How do you expect me to do that?”

His superior just shrugged, “Dunno. You just have to. It can’t be that hard, can it?” she asked. Arthur scowled, and his superior rested her four hands onto her desk, “I know that you have not had a break in a while, so why don’t you take some time to relax? I can only let you do this if you are looking for an Auxiliary in the meantime, by the way, so you can’t just give your mentee homework the entire time.”

Kelish looked between the two, eyes showing confusion, “Aren’t we just bringing the brat along?” Kelish asked. The pair looked at her and she did not flinch, “What? If we can clear her for not being a morally-deficient bitch, then wouldn’t that mean we have a magical expert sitting around here, with nothing else to do?”

Arthur’s superior’s face contorted, as if turning into a frown, “That is… a possibility, but the girl has sparse records, and the barest amount of identification. I will have to send it up the chain of command to ensure that she is one hundred percent safe to add to your team. For now, though, look at these,” she said, tapping a few buttons on her keyboard, “These are all missions that have come in over the last day or so. Ah, first come first served, by the way, and the list is being updated in real time, so you probably won’t get the mission you want if you wait for more than an hour.” She then gave them one final look, nodding, “That is all. Dismissed.”

“Understood, Ma’am,” Arthur replied, saluting. Kelish followed barely a tenth of a second later, and they took their leave. Once out in the hallway, after another Inquisitor filed into the room behind them, Arthur sighed, “They really keep piling things onto my plate, huh?” Arthur muttered, “No offense, Kel.”

“All taken,” Kelish replied, a grin on her face, “Just kidding. But you’re right. Who’d you piss off to get this much attention? It feels like you’re being swamped with this stuff. Well, at least they trust you, right?” she chuckled.

“I suppose,” Arthur replied. As he spoke, an Archivist Unit Inquisitor entered the hallway they, along with twenty-odd other Inquisitors, were standing in. Holding her hand was a… strange creature. It was a bipedal lizard, no taller than the average human preteen, with claws for hands and paws for feet. It also had purple-red scales, with three sets of eyes. Two of those pairs, though, were like Kelish’s eyes, being smaller and black. It also happened to be wearing nothing but a patient’s gown.

Then, another lizard creature followed, a bit shorter and with royal purple scales. Then another pair followed. A moment later, the hallway was filled with lizard creatures, all wearing patient gowns and following the Archivist Unit Inquisitor. Arthur, Kelish, and every other Inquisitor watched the procession, until the Inquisitor leading the strange band paused, turning to them, “Stop staring,” she said, “It’s quite rude.”

The woman then continued on, leading the crowd towards the temporary holding area for anomalous beings. “That’s not something you see every day. Think they can use that ‘thaum’ stuff?” Kelish asked, turning to Arthur.

“I still can’t get used to the new name,” Arthur sighed. The use of the term ‘Thaumaturgy’ to describe the new anomalies, while making sense, also made Arthur a bit annoyed. The term conjured images of ‘magic,’ which was unacceptable to his scientifically-aligned mind. Perhaps there were some rules, but he needed to figure them out, “But I don’t have the slightest clue,” Arthur replied, “They might be able to, but not everything can use it.”

Kelish furrowed her brow as the last of the lizard creatures left their view, “One of them is able to,” Kelish said confidently, “Her eyes were glowing blue.” Arthur wanted to argue with that-- as not everything that glowed was thaumaturgically active-- but he decided against it. She had a point, after all, “Anyway, let’s get something to eat. I’m hungry after all that, you know?” Arthur just nodded as Kelish led the way to the mess hall.

 

*=====*

 

Jane wondered why she agreed to help the pair of Inquisitors in the first place. She could have easily said no to them, and opted towards doing more trade with Saltless. But, instead, she decided to go galavanting through a necromancer’s crypt with a pair of professional psychopaths.

That assessment was more than a little unfair, as she had a higher kill count than both of them likely had. Combined. But she still maintained that anything would have been better than sitting in a softly-lit, large room with nothing but a few rows of chairs. She was the only one there, as well, which she knew was a classical interrogation tactic. She thought that, at any rate, until the door at the far side of the room opened. She expected to see an armored figure walk through, which did indeed happen, but she did not expect the small army of mutant kobolds to follow a moment later.

The term ‘kobold’ was a contentious one, as it usually referred to dog-adjacent bipeds. When a similarly sized, lizard-adjacent creature turned up, they were usually called ‘lizardmen,’ or, more often, just called by whatever that species assigned to themselves.

Whatever she was calling them, the small army of lizardpeople walked through the door, all simultaneously staring at Jane. Jane, used to attention, simply straightened up as they looked at her. The Inquisitor escorting them, though, intensified her stare, something Jane could almost physically feel. A moment later, Jane felt yet another pulse of Sentient Energy, indicating that the woman was staring at her with soulsight. The Inquisitor, likely stunned by the natural, unhidden state of Jane’s soul, stared for a moment before ushering the small group of lizardpeople into the room. She tried to get them to sit in the seats, but they all ignored her vaguely communicative gestures.

Instead of sitting in the provided chairs, they all huddled into a group in the corner, with the largest of them staring at her, half-glaring. Jane narrowed her eyes at the defiant one, and that lizardperson lowered their ears, still glaring. Jane rolled her eyes, ignoring the creatures in favor of cycling mana through her body. She looked around with soulsight and knew that the cameras dotted around did not secretly contain psychic SI’s, which was nice. It let her practice some with her mana without fear of being noticed by some psychic prick.

So, she began to cycle mana through her body, then through her soul, feeling the tickling pricks of the stuff trying-- and failing-- to eradicate her from existence. After removing the soul-poison from her soul, she began to play with it, making invisible shapes in the air while thinking of a new spell to impress her teacher.

She had been under Mor’fa’ath’s tutelage for nearly a century, and she had only managed to surprise the Greater Goddess a scant handful of times, one of those times by trying to profess her undying admiration for her teacher. That particular surprise had not been a good one, as Jane was lectured for hours about how she was as much a goddess as her teacher was.

But, nevertheless, Jane knew that if she made a spell that was both ingenious and useful, as well as incorporating the information she gathered from her time in the League of United Species, then she could impress her teacher. So, she got to work.

And hit an immediate roadblock. As she played with a glowing ball of mana in her palm, she pondered what she wanted her spell to do. If she just tried to throw mana types-- tinted mana, in other words-- together, then she was liable to cause a spatial distortion, or a necromantic resonance or any other of wide scale, unfortunate effects.

Before she could ponder the specific effects she wanted, she glanced at the lizardpeople all of whom were staring at her with wide eyes. She corrected herself, as they were staring at the ball of mana in her hand, looking at it as if it were a golden apple in the garden of gods. Jane smiled at seeing their excitement, and altered the ball just a bit, tossing it over to them. They immediately guarded against the perceived attack, but when they saw the ball bounce on the ground, they blinked in confusion. The ball bounced again, finally landing at the feet of the largest of the creatures.

The creature looked down at it, hesitantly picking it up before opening her maw and taking a massive bite from it. As if by magic-- because it was exactly that-- the lizardperson’s body grew immensely, filling out with bulky muscles. Jane just stared at the creature, sighing internally. She realized the error of her ways at that moment. Some creatures were what her teacher and parents called ‘thaumavores,’ meaning that they could survive off of mana alone. Her teacher, though, classified a subtype of thaumavores, calling them ‘thaumaforts.’ They grew stronger by devouring mana, even if they received diminishing returns.

To a certain extent, all beings with physical vessels were thaumaforts, as mana had the property of strengthening everything it touched and assimilated with, but thaumaforts always grew stronger with age, because they had more time to devour the mana suffusing space around them. And, since it had barely been half a month since the dimension’s awakening, they likely had little time to grow truly strong.

Which was why it was such a big deal to throw them what was essentially a highly condensed ball of steroids. She even drew mana from her internal dynamo, something she would not be sharing with the locals before they managed to make one themselves, to make it stronger.

Jane just stared at the lizardpeople as they began to share the ball of mana around, each member of their little tribe taking bites out of it until there was nothing left. The biggest of them, having grown almost half a foot, looked up to Jane with utter adoration. Jane, for her part, just tilted her head at the less-little lizard. It slowly walked up to her and pulled itself up to the chair beside her. Jane smiled, and the lizard reciprocated. Eventually, Jane just decided to forgo the body language and altered her soul to accommodate psychic abilities. It was, more specifically, the ability to manipulate Sentient Energy, the root of all purely soul-based powers. [Hey there,] Jane greeted, startling the little reptile, [Sorry, I forget that not everyone’s used to psychic Connections. So, what’s your name? I’m Jane Helvin, by the way.]

The little lizard shuffled in her seat a bit, [I’m Krakeet,] the lizard, a lizardwoman, replied, [Can all of you big-people talk in my mind?] she asked. Jane gave a smile, and shook her head, [You’re the second big-person that talked in my head and it’s kind of weird.]

Jane smiled, [Being psychic is pretty uncommon around here, actually. Only one in a thousand humans can do it, and only one in a million Seekers can, too.] Jane was happy to have looked up such statistics and facts. She did not want to be caught knowing more than she was supposedly supposed to by some stupid super technology.

[Oh,] Krakeet replied, looking down, [Is it possible for the Kin to be that?]

[Perhaps,] Jane replied, [Ask for a psychic aptitude test, if they allow it. And, if they ask where you learned that from, just tell them that you saw some shady people doing something like it and you had a weird feeling about it. Okay?] Krakeet immediately nodded up and down, a fire burning in her eyes.

Just as Jane modified her soul to remove her psychic powers-- taking extra care to leave as few markings as possible-- when the door opened. Yet another Inquisitor, one with the Archivist Unit Regalia and dull gray armor, walked through the door. He was obviously a Seeker, judging by his large, bulbous head, four arms, and battle skirt concealing his dozen legs. The Seeker walked into the room, then looked over the occupants, including the suddenly larger lizardpeople and Jane, “Jane Helvin,” the man said, “Please come with me.” Jane nodded and followed behind him. They left the room a moment later, entering the nicely decorated hallway for barely a moment before they entered the room across from the holding cell. The room was barren, nothing but a table and two chairs within it. “Please sit. This will be over before long,” the Inquisitor said.

Jane sat down, alarm bells ringing across her mind. She suddenly realized that, in a world without any way to resist psychics besides being one, soul diving would be almost ubiquitous. Jane slowly mustered her strength, just in case the man before her tried anything funny.

Much to her suspicion, though, the man merely sat down and pulled out his comslate, “Now, it seems that you have an inherent, uncontrollable perception to any and all psychic phenomenon, so I cannot trust anything taken from your Mind,” Jane just stared at him, unmoving and without changing her expression, “I understand that you are suspicious, but please understand, the files we have on record of you have shown no malevolence you may or not possess.

“Due to this, and Inquisitor Wan’s report of your unique psychic situation, Mind Diving will not be necessary. Now then, can you please tell me the first thing you remember?” the Inquisitor asked. His posture exuded authority, so much so that Jane was sure that he could intimidate a dragon with his confidence.

“I… remember blue,” she answered, putting on a facade of trying to remember something while silently letting her strength go, “Then… red? Maybe reddish black. Then… words? And a goal… And some basic knowledge.”

“So you are claiming that you were given knowledge by…whom exactly?” the Inquisitor asked, “Even a vague descriptor could help us immensely.”

Jane put her ‘thinking face’ on and began to frown, “It was an it,” she said with growing conviction as she spoke.

“An it?” the Inquisitor asked.

Jane nodded, “An it. It wasn’t… a human. Or a ‘normal’ being. It was… like multitudes in one person. Or one shell. I don’t know. But, after that, I remember waking up next to the wall where I found this little guy,” she said, holding out her little golem friend. Luckily, the little guy was not sapient, nor sentient, which meant that memory retention for it was quite reduced. The Inquisitor looked at the little golem, then back to Jane, “What?” she asked ‘innocently’ as she tilted her head.

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” the Inquisitor asked while doing all he could to keep the sigh from his voice. Jane could still hear it, though.

Jane just shrugged, “I can’t come up with anything else,” Jane said, “I helped a bunch of people around the forge planet, but nothing more than that.”

The Inquisitor stared at her for a few moments, then nodded slightly, “I see. If that is the case, then what can you tell me about your thaumaturgical powers? There have been many who have received such abilities, but none of them have been identical to each other.”

Jane came up with a rough set of powers on the spot, which was more of her choosing what she was willing to not use while she was around the Inquisition, “I can shape the blue stuff-- you guys are calling them ‘thaums’ now or something?-- into any type of shape I want. It’s harder to make really complicated things, and it’s all made of the same stuff, so I can’t make a gun or something since the bullets wouldn’t work, but basic mechanical devices are fine. Also… I think I can change it into other colors when I think about something too deeply, but I don’t know how that works.”

“I see,” the Inquisitor replied, tapping on his comslate, “Can you provide a demonstration?” Jane nodded, and summoned an ethereal, mana crowbar. The Inquisitor did not react at first, merely observing the glowing mana item. He then picked it up and began to examine it, “It weighs just as much as a normal crowbar, made of standard industrial steel, of course.” He turned it around in his hands, then slammed it into the table with great force, making the smallest of dents in the metal while cracking the glass-like crowbar, “And it is able to resist a heavy impact with a solid slab of titasteel.”

He handed the crowbar back to Jane, who took it with steady hands. She was silently congratulating herself for not adding much more mana to it than she could gather from the atmosphere. If she wanted to, she could have made a crowbar that could cleave through the table like butter, “Is there anything else?” she asked.

“There is,” the Inquisitor replied, “I have to ask, what are your interests?” the man asked, crossing his four arms.

Jane tilted her head, “Interests?” she parroted, “What do you mean?” She was intending for a specific effect when she asked what the man meant, and she achieved the effect perfectly. The man, though he schooled his movements to the smallest degree, recoiled by millimeters.

“Interests,” the Inquisitor repeated, “Things you enjoy doing in your free time. What, for example, did you do while you were being brought here? You had a week to enjoy doing nothing in particular, and you were in your room for a decent portion of that time. You must have been doing something, no?”

Jane pretended to think hard about it, then snapped her fingers, “Ah, I was playing with my little friend!” she said, pulling out her little golem and showing him off again. Despite his helmet obscuring his face, Jane had the distinct feeling that the Inquisitor was not amused.

“Is that all you did?” he asked. Jane simply nodded, and the Inquisitor tapped at his comslate again, “I see. If that is the case, then I suppose we will move on to the final part of our discussion.” He tapped at his comslate again, pausing for a long, drawn out moment, then set it down, “Now, I will be giving you a few hypothetical scenarios, and I want to know what you would do. Please assume that you cannot use your abilities in these examples.

“Now, the first scenario is this: you are walking down a dark and gloomy street, and you suddenly hear a kicked can bounce behind you. Turning around, you see a hooded figure, a Vikshe, with a knife aimed at you. They demand your wallet, and threaten to slash your throat if you don’t comply. The problem, though, is that you left your wallet in your friend’s bar, which is your destination. The bar is right around the corner as well, and you think you could sprint to it if you needed to. What do you do?”

Jane did not pretend to think about her reply, as she really began to ponder what she would do in such a scenario. If she were only a little bit smaller than the figure, she could likely disarm the figure and kill them. But she doubted that was what he wanted to hear. So, she said what sounded the most reasonable, “I tell the robber that I was going towards an entirely separate bar, far away, because I forgot my wallet there. I would let them check my pockets as well, just to prove that I didn't have it with me.” She was proud of her answer, but the Inquisitor did not show any reaction, merely tapping his comslate.

“You are working at a job, let’s say loading dropships, when one of your coworkers drops near you, coughing and hacking. You are about to rush to help them, when you hear rumors that said coworker has an extremely infectious disease. You could wait for medical teams to arrive, but you notice that said coworker is looking a bit worse for wear. What do you do?”

“I would get everyone else away,” Jane said without hesitation, “I would bring everyone else to an area far enough away from both the coworker and anyone who may not have been contaminated. In the worst case scenario, everyone who was around the coworker dies, but there is still a chance to prevent the disease from spreading further.” Jane knew that was what the Inquisitor wanted to hear, but if she were really in such a situation, she would have just burned the entire place to the ground if she detected anything deadly enough to threaten her.

“I see,” the Inquisitor replied, tapping at his comslate a couple of times, “This is the final scenario: You are down on your luck in such a catastrophic way that you are in the darkest time in your life. Suddenly, while you prowl the streets for one reason or another, a man stops you, and makes you an offer. He says that if you kill a random person, one that you would have never met otherwise, he would give you wealth, power, and prestige. What would you do, and why?”

Jane had a feeling that the scenario was a trick question, but it felt far too ‘generic’ to be something like that. It was a classical moral conundrum: do bad to someone you do not know to receive great benefit. She had debated similar moral questions before, with a whole host of different people, but there was always the question of what could be done with the power gained, and if the subject, herself in that case, would be corrupted by the power.

Looking at it from the perspective of a mortal, without anyone keeping them in balance with sheer force of magical might, it was understandable that such tempting offers would corrupt them in the end. But, from a mortal perspective, there was still a way to cheat the system, “I would take the offer,” Jane answered, “With the power and money and whatever else acquired, I would do my best to fix whatever the most pressing issue in the current society is. When my duty is done, though, I would take a moment to look at myself. If I had been corrupted by the power, I would remove myself from that position. Permanently if need be,” she answered. She was, again, not looking at the scenario from her divine viewpoint, but from a mortal one. One far more desperate, and malleable than her own. She believed that there was only one way such a conflict could end. And that would be with either death or obscurity.

The Inquisitor stared at her for a while, then nodded, “I see. If that is all you have to say, then we are done here. Please stay here for a while longer. I need to discuss something with my colleagues.” Jane simply nodded, closing her eyes and leaning back into the chair as the Inquisitor left the room. 

 

*=====*

 

Arthur and Kelish were both sitting at a table, staring at the screen in front of them, when the door at the side of the room opened, “Man, you two brought in quite the strange one,” Trinacht, the Seeker Archivist Unit Inquisitor they met an hour before, said, “She’s got the personality matrix of a born and bred leader.”

Arthur and Kelish turned away from the screen, looking at the Seeker, who sat down at their table with his file, “We could tell,” Kelish replied, leaning back in her chair as she leveled a stare at the screen. Arthur glanced over to the live security footage, seeing Jane stretching as she stood, “Took a while to answer some pretty tricky questions, so she’s probably got a good head on her shoulders.”

Arthur nodded in agreement, “Have you already sent the data to headquarters?” Arthur asked. Trinacht nodded just in time for a light red waveform to appear in the corner of the security monitor. Before any of the Inquisitors could speak, it produced a file icon, leaving it in the center of the screen, before disappearing. The three of them all stared at it for a long moment before Arthur sighed, “Exo, do you know who that was?”

“I do not, Arthur,” Exo replied, his reddish purple waveform moving over to the file, “This does appear to be an official Inquisition transmission, though. I will open it now.” They all nodded at once, and the file opened, revealing an official Inquisition document. Arthur quickly read through it, but its contents did not look like anything Arthur had ever seen before. Looking at Kelish and Trinacht-- who had removed his helmet-- they were in similar situations as he.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” Trinacht said, crossing his four arms, “This is no doubt an official Inquisition document, but I have never seen this before… Have you seen this before, E-X-Zero?”

There was a moment of silence from Exo before he suddenly spoke up again, “I have read them thoroughly, and can say that the existence of these documents cannot leave this room,”  he said, “I do not know why these have been sent here, to us, but none of us can speak about this. To anyone.”

The three Inquisitors of flesh and blood shared wary glances, “Exo, what’s going on? Why are you acting like this is a blank check for shady shit?” Kelish asked. Exo’s waveform did not reply, instead zooming into the document. There, where Exo highlighted, was a line stating that the recipient of the document, Jane Helvin as stated in the title, was ‘henceforth cleared of any breach in conduct as outlined by the Technology Regulation Committee.’ They all froze, staring at that line of text. Kelish, after a moment, blew air out of her mouth, “Well… Fuck.”

“Exo, you are sure that this is real?” Arthur asked urgently. If such a thing were randomly prepared for any random occasion, he had serious worries about the state of the Inquisition.

“They are, Arthur. There are also a few other clauses, such as being compelled to work with the Inquisition and a reaffirmation that the recipient does not break the rules set up by the Technology Regulation Committee again. There are a few other minor clauses as well, such as reparations needing to be paid to the victims of their acts and similar things, but that is most of it,” Exo explained.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief at that. Giving a criminal, one who played with forces that could bring about the deaths of millions if not billions, sat wrong with Arthur. “That’s good, then.” Trinacht nodded as Arthur spoke, while Kelish shrugged. She knew the damage that breaking the TRC’s rules could cause, but she had never seen it. He had not been there in the flesh at any point, but he had seen recordings. And those made his skin crawl, “Okay, so other than the obvious, why don’t you think we should share this, Exo?” Arthur asked.

In lieu of answering, Exo merely zoomed into another part of the document, one that read ‘If you are not the intended recipient, or part of the retinues of the Seats, then you are forbidden from speaking about this with any Inquisitor, civilian, League Guard, or other entity without explicit and ubiquitous affirmation by the Seats.’

“Okay, that’s a good reason,” Kelish stated, leaning forwards, “Exo, did you get anything else from that file? Do we have orders, or anything, really?”

Exo’s waveform bobbed up and down, “Indeed you do, Kelish,” he said, taking one final document from the file. It was a small document, with a single sentence, stating, ‘Inquisitor Arthur Wan and Inquisitor Kelish Balak are to attempt to recruit Jane Helvin as their Auxiliaries.’ “These events have been far too coordinated to not be the work of a single person or small group. It is likely that you have been on someone’s radar for a long time, Arthur.”

“I… know that,” Arthur replied, “But, for now, we have work to do. Hopefully it won’t be too hard.”

Kelish nodded, while Trinacht stood, stretching, “If there is nothing else you need me for, then I will return to my duties. I promise that my eye will be sealed. You have my word.”

“Thanks, Trinacht. You didn’t have to do this, you know,” Arthur replied, shaking hands with the man.

Trinacht laughed in a garbled voice, “I didn’t, but I did. Hey, someone has to do it, and if it gets me away from data validation for a few hours, I don’t mind it. No offense, Exo. I know you enjoy that sort of thing, but…”

“I understand, Trinacht. Few organics enjoy such tasks.” Trinacht nodded, shared a pair of firm nods towards Kelish, and left the room. Exo deleted every file on the screen as soon as the door opened, and when Trinacht left, he moved onto Arthur’s comslate, “I think it is time to attempt to recruit Jane, wouldn’t you say?” he asked. Arthur laughed, nodding, while Kelish strode out of the room. Arthur could tell that she had a plan, and he wanted to see what she came up with.

 

*=====*

 

Kelish nearly skipped down the corridor, ready to put her plan into motion. That ‘plan’ though was still a bit undercooked, as it were, and needed a bit of revisionism. In the brief minutes she and the brat had interacted, she found it fun to banter with the girl. Sure, she realized that she was cutting to the chase a bit, but it was fun either way.

Since they needed to recruit the brat anyway, she decided to make a game out of it. Just as she reached the door to the questioning room, she finished making her plans. Waiting for Arthur to catch up with her-- something that she was not left waiting long for-- she ran through the plan again. She wanted to poke at the girl, see what made her tick, and then make an offer based on what she wanted. Kelish had been reading up on that, especially with what Arthur had been giving her to read as of late, and wanted to test it out.

When Arthur caught up with Kelish, she gave him a smile, “I have a plan,” she said.

“I can tell,” Arthur replied, “I’ll just trust you for now. Alright?” Kelish nodded, “Good. I’ll just watch from out here, then. That good?”

“Very,” Kelish replied, turning and opening the door to the questioning room. She stepped inside with confidence. She was still wearing her armor, but had left her helmet in her station, “Well, nice to finally meet you face to face,” Kelish greeted, looking at the unaffected girl. She figured that she did not know the tendencies of Inquisitors to avoid revealing their faces to those outside of the Inquisition, but that was fine.

“It’s nice meeting you as well,” Jane replied, giving a small, smooth smile. Kelish suddenly realized that her little game might be harder than she had anticipated. Nevertheless, she continued on regardless.

“So, I’m assuming Inquisitor Trinacht didn’t give you too much grief?” she asked, relaxing her speech a bit. If Arthur was right about anything, then that was how their speech was able to reinforce their reputation among the common people-- making kafkaesque nightmares of utter bureaucracy into walks in the park. But relaxing her speech definitely threw people off guard.

Or it should have. Jane just tilted her head a bit, but replied without issue, “Not really, but the scenarios were kind of silly. I mean, what kind of deity or whatnot would just offer fame, fortune, and power to some random person on the side of the street?”

Kelish gave a chuckle at that, “I suppose those ones can be a bit strange. For now, though, I heard what he had to say about you. He said you were kind of… off?” she said with a curious inflection in her voice.

Jane shrugged, “I suppose I am a bit strange. What about you? I doubt you’re the most normal person around if you’re working here.” Jane leaned forwards, her smile growing ever so slightly sly.

Kelish shrugged in response, mirroring Jane, “So what if I’m not? The people around here are normally quite extraordinary. But that's enough of that. I know you said that you reached the stars because you had a feeling that you needed to, but what do you really want to find up here?” she asked. She could have gone about asking in a more subtle way, but Jane felt far too… insightful for such a thing to work.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, only that I’ll find it eventually. What’s wrong with that?” Jane asked.

Kelish shook her head, “Nothing. But, how were you planning on getting around? Following Saltless?” Jane simply nodded, and Kelish had her pretext, “Well, I have some good… ish news. You’ve been invited to the Inquisition as the first member of the Auxiliary Unit. So, do you want to join?” she asked.

“Yes,” Jane said immediately, to Kelish’s poorly-hidden shock. Jane laughed hard at Kelish’s shock, “Of course I do! I mean, imagine everything I could see and learn ane experience with you guys. Well, maybe not you specifically, but you get my point.”

“I do. I guess you’re with us, then. I thought it would have been harder. Well, whatever. Oh yeah, you’re also part of our team. Right now, Arthur’s kind of the test Inquisitor around. I’m his mentee, and now you’re demoing the Auxiliary Unit with him. Come on, let’s get going. We’ve got missions lined up for years at this rate,” Kelish said, standing. Jane followed behind her as they left the room, finding Arthur looking at his comslate, “Arthur, do you have a mission for us?”

Arthur looked up at Kelish, then at Jane, “You convinced her fast,” he stated, “But I do. Looks like some madman is letting loose some robots on a large astrodock. We’re going after them, though, because they’re made using those… ‘thaums’ to create a Mind. As you know, that makes it our problem. It’s about a half-day’s travel away. Are you alright with that, Jane?” Arthur asked.

“I’m ready to see if those things are like my little friend, and to fight them if they’re just randomly killing people. So yes, I’m fine with that.” Arthur simply nodded, and they were off. Arthur led them to the Foundry, where the Quartermaster provided Jane with an undersuit with an Inquisition Regalia on the biceps. The man was so busy that he barely spoke to them apart from hearing what they needed. Not that Kelish lamented that. She did not want to get chewed out for getting thrown around like a ragdoll by some wizard.

Once everything was settled with Jane’s membership within the Inquisition, the three boarded the Love Muffin and embarked on their journey.

 

*=====*

 

Jane grimaced as the three Inquisitors-- though her inclusion into that group was a bit debatable-- gathered around the all purpose terminal, looking at the video feeds. Videos of League Guards battling the robots, trading shots, and evacuating civilians from the areas of danger filled the screen. Jane had seen those robots, or rather golems, before. They were originally creations of the Gunsmiths, and they were simplicity turned into an object. They could be assembled from practically anything, with only a few special materials needed for certain mana types to work. They were deadly, but not so deadly that those who employed them feared any of them suddenly becoming sapient and trying to slay their masters.

What made those golems so simple and easy to produce, though, made them ripe for plagiarization. There were so many groups in the Rift, many knowing nothing of the others, but most of them knew of the F-S Golem. And those very golems were attacking the League Guard. The battle was even, but just barely. Only with the help of many civilian volunteers, and those with magically mutated powers, could the Guard stand their ground against the golem tide.

“It appears that the situation is at a standstill. It is still undetermined where the combatants are arriving from, but it is suspected that some form of spatial manipulation is occurring,” Exo explained, “Extreme caution is suggested. High level firepower is being brought to the astrodock, and all Inquisitors have full access to those supplies.”

“I got it, Exo,” Arthur replied, tapping at the terminal for a few moments, “Alright, Exo, I need you to drop us into the docking bay, let us out, and then leave as soon as possible. We can’t clog up the evacuation stations.”

“Understood. Please prepare to the best of your ability. I’m going to have to stop simulating gravity to allow quick deployment. Is that alright?” Kelish merely nodded, “Thank you, Inquisitor Balak. Disabling simulated gravity in three. Two. One. Spin disabled.” Inertia seemed to consciously conspire against the three, throwing them towards the ground and/or wall and/or ceiling. Arthur managed to stop himself without so much as a sound, Kelish broke the force of the impact with a ‘roll,’ as much as she could call it that, and Jane almost face planted before she caught herself with a bendable pole made from mana.

She pole vaulted off of the walls and skidded to a stop on one of the barren ‘walkways’ of the station. She looked at the pair of Inquisitors, who were giving her strange looks, and pouted, “You try not having years of combat training,” she said, ignoring the fact that she had not years, but decades of combat experience, training, and skill under her belt.

“Yeah, but you don’t need combat training to avoid smashing your face into the station hull,” Kelish replied, floating over to the airlock, “Come on, we’re out in a flash, and we can’t waste time. How close are we to docking, Exo?”

“A few moments, Inquisitor Balak. Auxiliary Helvin and Inquisitor Wan, please follow Inquisitor Balak,” Exo said. Jane gave an internal smile at Exo’s statement. He seemed to be so formal during missions, but she knew that he was quite friendly outside of those. Nevertheless, she followed his instructions, and waited by the airlock with Kelish. “We are exiting the wormhole now. I will be forgoing proper docking procedures in favor of a faster exit. Please be ready.”

As soon as reality seemed to correct itself, Jane was swept up in exiting the station. She did not know what exactly happened, but when she got ahold of herself, she was floating outside of the station, holding the station’s handholds as Arthur slid out of the back of the dropship without a muscle out of place. He made the normally clumsy and unintuitive maneuver look natural and even, to a point, stylish. Jane internally rolled her eyes and floated over to Kelish, who was looking around the chaotic docking bay with interest unapparent through her helmet.

Jane, too, looked around the docking bay and found it all endlessly fascinating. There were sick beds for the wounded, all of whom needed to be strapped down to prevent them from floating off. Guards were clustered around elevators, waiting for any more F-S golems from approach. A few stations were around, but they were all being loaded with people, mostly the injured, children, and elderly before anyone else, but two of those groups were scarcely existent in the docking bay.

Suddenly, as Arthur was just dropping down beside them, Kelish’s station opened a wormhole and moved into it. After a few moments of travel, the station disappeared and the three-- more like two and an intern-- Inquisitors were the center of everyone’s attention. Jane shot one glance towards the two Inquisitors and conjured her armor. She decided against a faceplate, as her face had already been seen. Besides, it made it clear that she was different from the two Inquisitors. Sure, she may have been a part of the group, but she was no real Inquisitor.

A League Guard, a Ukalan woman and the Captain of the astrodock, propelled herself over to the three, relief drawn over his face, “Oh thank god,” the woman said, “We’re getting torn apart over here. Can you please lend a hand, sir, ma’am?” She gave the titles to the two obviously-armored Inquisitors, shooting a cautious glance towards Jane. Jane, herself, understood the caution; she was an unknown, and Inquisitors seemed to be the most powerful person a person would normally meet. Two of such people, with a strange, unorthodox member of such a group was obviously worrisome. Jane did not take it to heart, and watched what the two Inquisitors would do.

“That is why we were called out here,” Arthur replied, “When did the attack start?” Arthur asked. Just as he did, Jane felt something… sinister gaze over the station. She quickly threw up an obfuscating barrier, covering both she and the pair of Inquisitors, to prevent whatever it was from seeing her. It barely spared anyone in the docking bay a glance, thankfully, which was to her benefit. After a moment, the gaze left, and Jane kept her barrier up.

“Exo,” she whispered, tapping the comslate slotted into an arm holster, “Something just looked at us. Something really, really bad.”

“Auxiliary Helvin, I understand what you are saying, but not what you mean. What do you mean by something ‘bad’?” Exo asked, “I need more than a gut feeling.”

“Call it magic mumbo jumbo if you need to, I’m just telling you that there’s more to this than just some lunatic letting loose a bunch of magic robots--”

“Thaumaturgical, Auxiliary Helvin,” Exo corrected, “Please use the proper terminology, Auxiliary.”

“Whatever,” Jane hissed, making sure she was quiet enough to avoid notice from the other two, “Just make some preparations. If you lose connection with us, or we get shunted to the other end of the universe, anything to prepare for the unexpected.”

There was a pause on the other side of the comms for a moment, “Have you been hiding something, Auxiliary Helvin?” Exo asked. She wanted very desperately to roll her eyes at his question. She thought it was obvious, but she did not know how much faith the Inquisitors had in their tests and systems. Judging by the accusatory tone in his voice, Jane had severely underestimated the entire organization’s confidence.

“Exo, if I was, it wouldn’t be anything too important,” she whispered. A bold-faced lie if she ever spoke one, but she had gotten more used to lying over the previous few weeks, “All I can tell you, even though I want to tell you more, is that something’s off.”

Another moment of silence passed, “Understood. Your concerns are noted. I will prepare a few contingencies. Otherwise, please continue with the mission,” Exo answered. Again, Jane wanted to roll her eyes, but managed to school her expression. Her whispering had not been noticed by the Guard Captain, who had been animatedly talking with Arthur while Jane voiced her concerns to Exo.

“I see. In that case, we will get moving immediately. Hold the line while we clear the area out, kill any stragglers, and ensure that none of them have the chance to kill any wounded,” Arthur ordered. The Ukalan woman saluted and rushed off to spread the orders. Once the woman had left, Arthur began to float towards a certain elevator, at which point Jane and Kelish followed behind behind, “Jane,” Arthur said over their comms, “What were you and Exo discussing? I heard some of it, but I need to know the full picture.”

Jane gave a small sigh, “I felt something watching us for a split moment,” she explained, “I wanted Exo to know about it.”

“Understood. Please wear a full helmet next time, then. I know that you positioned yourself well and that no one noticed your conversation, but risks like that are not ones we should bear.” Jane held back rolling her eyes until she conjured a face mask for her helmet. After that, she rolled her eyes with might only a god could muster, “Thank you. Did you catch everything I spoke about with the commander?”

“Not a single thing apart from what we’re doing,” Jane replied. Kelish snickered over their comms, but Jane could tell that she was not laughing at Jane in particular, “All I need to know is that they are killing people, and that I need to destroy them. That’s it.”

Arthur glanced behind them as they arrived at the elevator, all of them floating into it without hesitation, “Information is power, Jane. Giving up an advantage like that is not a good idea.”

“Okay, then what do I need to know?” Jane asked, conjuring a sling and ball and readying it. The two stared at her archaic weaponry and she just shrugged, “What? I can’t make a gun, and a sling’s pretty easy to use.”

“Wouldn’t a bow be better?” Kelish asked.

“Technically, yeah, but it’d take too much focus. I’d need to alter the properties of the m- ‘thaum’ too much. It’d be too draining on my mind while I’m trying not to die.” The pair took out their weapons as they approached the ground level, “Besides, it’s easy to use it as an improvised mace if I need to,” she added as the elevator doors opened. Immediately, a loud screech erupted from the other side of the lobby-like room they found themselves in.

The source was their opponents. The F-S golem. It was, as she knew before, not a complicated thing, like a mechanical facsimile of human form. More than that, though, it was a weapon meant to kill. Its head, like a wooden modeling doll’s, snapped to them. A singular, yellow glow emerged from its face, and it charged, fist drawn back for a punch. All at once, beams, shotgun pellets, and a single mana pellet buried into the golem. It was thrown back, but not turned into a heaping mess like most other things would have been.

It staggered forwards, but finally fell after Jane put another mana ball through its metal head. It clanged on the ground, dead but not broken, and Kelish whistled, “That’s one hell of a robot.”

“I don’t think it’s a robot,” Jane replied, stepping towards it, “I’m pretty sure robots have SI’s controlling them…”

“And these don’t,” Arthur finished, walking up to it and kicking it in the head, probably to make sure that it was dead, “Either way, we have plenty more to kill. We’re sticking together until we can figure out an efficient way of dealing with these things.”

“No problem,” Kelish replied, reloading her shotgun as they moved towards the entrance of the building, “I wonder how strong of a punch they have,” she said aloud. Just as she spoke, the door they were about to open was punched clean through. On the other side, an F-S golem stood, quickly snaking its other fist into the crack of the door and ripping the cerasteel door wide open, “Ah,” Kelish said as she leveled her gun at the golem, “That strong, then. I don’t think getting hit by that is a good idea,” she stated, blasting the golem in the head with her gun. The golem staggered back, but threw another punch at the metal door, only to be blasted back by Kelish once more. The second shot put enough holes into the golem’s head to stop it dead, and it finally died.

Jane, from seeing the two golems in action, was able to make a few conclusions about the golems. The first was that whoever was employing them made a series of alterations to the golems’ souls, runic programing, and physical bodies. The golems were meant to be disposable, but the ones she was about to face were strong, tough, and fast enough to be a serious threat. Normally, she could have scrambled the runes on the golems-- though it would not be easy-- to render the golems ineffective, but she did not have the luxury of using all of her abilities. Nevertheless, she could deal with the stronger, faster, and harider golems even with her limited tool set.

She was just a bit worried that the two Inquisitors would be able to say the same.

“Okay, I don’t think there actually is an efficient way to kill these things,” Kelish said, opening the door and poking her head out of the building, “And there are a lot of them. I’m seeing over a dozen on this street alone. They don’t seem to have noticed us, though, which is pretty surprising.” Jane would have agreed were she not to have known that the only sense that the golems had were sight and touch. When she was playing around with those golems herself-- because everyone who had heard of them did at some point-- she had learned that they were so tightly designed that, even if someone wanted to add hearing into them, it would be nearly impossible.

Arthur merely nodded, “I wasn’t trained for this sort of thing…” he muttered before turning back into the building and walking up to the shattered golem lying on the ground, “I don’t have any robotics skills, but I am sure that I can find some sort of weak spot.”

Jane doubted that, since the F-S golems were mostly made out of a single thing, but she said nothing. For all she knew, the golems were modified in such a way that they had an extremely exploitable weak spot. Instead of helping Arthur, Jane put her focus into keeping them hidden. While the golems were hard of hearing to the highest degree, they were not stupid. Not stupid by the standards of golems, at any rate. No, they would be able to make the connection between an intruder and a dead comrade, so, after looking around to see that no golems were looking at her, she snuck out of the building and pulled the dead golem into the room quickly.

When she returned, she placed the golem in the corner and sighed, turning to see Kelish giving her a look indiscernible through the opaque helmet, “What was that all about?” she asked, leaning to look through the door’s fist-made hole.

“I don’t know what those things do to find us, but I doubt leaving a body of one of their own in the middle of the street would be a good idea,” Jane replied, “It’ll give us the initiative, anyway. In any case, since they won’t know we’re here even if they notice that their friend’s not coming back, we can ambush them and take them down one by one.” She glanced over to Arthur, “If he can’t find a good weak point,” she added.

Arthur glanced up at them, then went back to precisely pulling and prodding at the golem in front of him, relying on the other two living people to defend him. “Hmm,” Kelish replied, “I guess that works… Actually, yeah, that works. So, you notice anything interesting about these things? You’ve got the better eye for the thaumaturgical, you know?”

“Sure, I guess. But if you want my opinion? I guess they’re forbidden?” she half-asked, “I mean, they’ve got the… what do you call them? ‘Minds?’ Yeah, they have those, since they’re moving around and doing stuff, but they’re made from ma- thaum, so it’s forbidden.” Kelish gave the girl a look and Jane shrugged in turn, “What do you want from me? I’m not omnipotent. I could probably slice through here without a problem,” she said, pointing at the golem’s neck, the thinnest part of the entire construct, “But I don’t know if that’ll do much to slow it down, or if it’ll kill them.” It would, but she could not just make that claim without any actual basis for it.

Kelish looked down at the golem, then up at Jane, “You know I blasted this thing’s head in, right?” Kelish asked, “I’d assume that means that they need them to survive. So, if you’re confident in taking them out with a single hit…”

Jane understood what Kelish was getting at, and nodded her head a bit, then faster as she ‘realized’ that Kelish was entirely right, “Yeah…” she trailed off, “You’re right. Arthur, do you think the neck’s a half-decent weak point?”

Arthur, after hearing Jane’s question, glanced over and saw what the goddess-in-disguise was asking for. He stood, aimed his carbine, and shot a beam at the golem’s neck. The golem’s metal head rolled only after a few shots, “It looks like it’s better than half-decent,” he replied, “We have a decent weak point, so let’s test this out in the field. Jane, you go out first. Decapitate any that come too close. Kelish, you support her and keep enough off her to deal with a couple at a time. I’ll be behind you, taking care of any that try and bring backup or flank you two.” The two women nodded their heads, Jane standing in front of the door and-- with a mournful, internal sigh-- dispelled her sling. In its place, she conjured a longsword without a handguard. The golems used punches, so she had little use for locking nonexistent blades with the constructs.

Kelish stepped behind Jane and showed her skill in the art of group combat, aiming her gun towards the ceiling to avoid misfires hitting Jane. The pair looked at each other and Jane swore Kelish winked at her. Arthur either did not notice the pair’s interaction or did not care enough to, as he filed in behind Kelish and raised his carbine at the door. “Is everyone ready?” Jane asked.

“I’m ready,” Kelish replied. Arthur just nodded. Jane did not respond, pushing the door open as her answer. In the street, there was a single golem, standing near a building while looking up. Its eyeless head gave little indication of where it was focused on, but Jane was in no mood to debate the issue. She crept up behind the golem, superficially careful of her movements, and drew her sword back. With a single, fluid motion, the golem’s head fell to the ground, along with the rest of its body a moment later. Jane spent a moment pulling the golem’s body beside the building they left a moment before. It would not keep the trio’s movements hidden forever, but it was better than just leaving the body in the middle of the street.

The pair of Inquisitors helped her pull the body into the shade before they all returned to their previous formation. Jane moved forwards and kept her eyes peeled for any sign of a wandering golem. What she found instead was the site of a massacre. People, unarmed and otherwise, littered the street. Mose were killed via a heavy, blunt force slamming into the backs of their heads. A few, though, were unfortunate enough to have had their heads torn from their bodies. Blood covered the street, and Jane doubted that she could live the sight down for the rest of her likely-infinite days.

She nearly trembled with anger at the perpetrator of such atrocities. No matter what the person on the other end wanted, there were better, more efficient, and likely more humane ways of getting it. On the outside, though, she ignored the bodies, like the pair of Inquisitors, and continued forwards.

Navigating the area turned out to be a hassle, as streets would go by without a single golem on them. Other times, duos or trios of golems would appear, amounting to nothing more than another kill for the team. After a while, though, Arthur spoke, “Exo, are you sure the Guard Captain wasn’t lying? She claimed that there were hundreds around, but I’m not seeing too many.”

“I’m looking into it now,” Exo replied, pausing for a split moment, “Odd. It appears that the majority of the documented golems disappeared. Despite the number of cameras, I cannot find any more than two dozen. They are on the hunt, though. One group one hundred feet in front of you, twenty feet left. Three members.” The trio waited for the opposing trio of golems to appear, Jane reconjuring her sling as they did.

A moment later, the trio of golems appeared, stalking like predators. Upon seeing the trio of Inquisitors, though, the golems began a wild, reckless charge. Arthur shot thrice, cleaving through the leading golem’s neck with pinpoint precision. Jane let loose a ball with her sling and crushed the left golem’s neck easily, killing it. The last one lunged towards the Inquisitors, only to be decapitated by Kelish’s shotgun blast. Before it could land on any of them, the Vikshe caught the body and threw it off to the side. “That was easy,” Kelish exclaimed, rolling her shoulders, “So, where’re the next ones, Exo?”

Before the AI answered, Jane felt it again. The sinister feeling washed over the area again, but it was more fervent. Curious. Fascinated. Jane held her face from making a scowl as she threw up another obfuscating barrier fooling the thing’s sight into believing that the trio were just ordinary League Guards.

As with the previous time, the gaze left as soon as it appeared, but it only heralded worse news, “Inquisitors, I-” Exo said before cutting out. They waited for a moment, but the AI’s voice did not return. 

Instead, a voice erupted from the walls, ground, and everything around them, “The preliminary is now officially over!” an annoying voice shouted, “For all of those who have left, may your lives be long and prosperous! For those who remain, however, I welcome you to the Game of Survival!” As the voice spoke, a mana-made projection appeared far away, in the depths of space. It was, to Jane’s heart-sinking frustration, a scoreboard. There were three columns, the first being rank, the second being the name, and the third being the number of kills. Arthur had the number ‘20.67’ beside his name in big, blocky text. Below his name was Kelish’s with a kill count of ‘18.33’ beside her name in similar text. In the third row was Jane’s name-- luckily it was her faux name-- with a kill count of ‘18.’ Below them, the number of kills were in the single digits, and after the twentieth name, the number of kills dipped below whole numbers.

“Would you look at this!? A few of the contestants reached double digits! An interesting achievement indeed! But even such an achievement won’t be enough to make this game trivial! Now then, let’s get this second round set up!” A snap thundered through the air, and, almost in an instant, the space around the astrodock glowed blue. 

A moment later, the voice returned, “The rules of the real game are simple! There are seven bombs hidden throughout this space station! If a contestant helps disarm the bomb, either by doing it themselves or by protecting the ones doing the heavy lifting, they receive points! The top ten contestants at the end of the round will receive a prize! The bottom ten contestants, however, will be disposed of! Contestants are allowed to interfere with each other, and nothing is off the table! Oh, and before anyone tries to ignore the bombs, they will detonate twelve hours after the beginning of the real game!

“Now then, with all of the rules said…” There was a pause, then a visible wave of mana that filtered through the astrodock, “Let the games begin!”