Dust sprayed past the window of the two-level armor vehicle in which the team rode. Jack stared out of the window listlessly wondering what higher power delighted in his suffering. Alindal had attempted to hold an idle conversation with him while they waited to reach their destination but Jack had been determined to mope, so the elf busied himself with checking the Weaver’s Needle to ensure it was ready for use.

The only people on the second level with them were Renner and Ripper who were sleeping in the available bunks. It had been approximately three hours since they’d left Asylum via Weston’s gate. They had passed beyond the safe zone about an hour prior and were now officially in the Broken Lands. Currently, their vehicle powered through the Spire Wasteland, a mostly flat landscape of broken earth dotted by eerie crystal spires. The spires themselves were the result of a toxic chemical that spewed from the earth beneath the wasteland. During the flesh-stripping dust storms that frequented the Spire Wasteland, the toxic substance instantly crystalized which formed the spires that gave this piece of the Broken Lands its namesake. Jack didn’t know what exactly about the dust storms or the chemical caused the crystallization but he also didn’t care to find out.

He shifted his position in an attempt to get more comfortable on the worn padded seating then sighed when he couldn’t find a satisfying position. His nerves were still standing on end even though he’d managed to stop his freak out after meeting Ciel.

“Be calm, my friend,” Alindal said looking over at him. “We will be fine.”

Jack scowled at the elf though it did no good since his mask hid his expression. When he spoke, his voice was sharp and low. “You don’t know that. This entire situation could go south in an instant. There are so many ways this could go wrong that I honestly can’t believe you would say something as stupid as ‘We’ll be fine’.”

“I understand the dangers, but becoming upset will do us no good. Ciel seems to be fairly pleasant. Perhaps, you worry for nothing.”

“You can’t be serious. He a fucking—,” Jack said in exasperation but another voice stopped him mid-sentence and nearly did the same for his heart mid-beat.

“Oh, dear. I do hope my presence isn’t causing strife between companions.” Ciel said as he emerged from the stairs behind Jack and smiled at the two of them. Jack’s breath caught. He hadn’t heard the Celestial’s approach at all and, based on Alindal’s eyes, neither had he. As an elf, Alindal’s senses were twice as good as most humans and even while limited, Jack’s hearing was better than that. Yet, neither of them had sensed the Celestial come up the stairs.

Jack swallowed hard. Did Ciel have a stealth-based designation or a stealth-enhancing trait? No, it wasn’t a trait he thought after brief consideration. At a glance, the Celestial’s immaculate yellow robes and topaz jewelry made Jack think he was some kind of mage. A stealth-boosting trait wouldn’t help a mage with no way to boost Agility overcome Jack’s acute hearing so completely. He gritted his teeth under his mask as the obvious answer occurred to him; Ciel had more than one designation. Normally, individuals only had a single designation that they received upon arriving in Fracture; however, additional designations could be obtained through two different methods, Logos fragments, and hidden objectives. Logos fragments were artifact class Relics, meaning Relics of A-grade or higher. Such items were extremely rare even to the most powerful Relic Hunter crews and the wealthiest of corporations. Hidden objectives weren’t much better. They were objectives unlocked when one performed a specific set of actions and usually required an individual to complete strange or dangerous tasks in order to complete them.  Jack suspected Manticore had received his second designation from a hidden objective since he couldn’t see the Aberration leader getting his hands on an A-grade Relic. Such an acquisition wouldn’t very difficult for a Celestial though. Their long lives also meant most of them had, more than likely, discovered at least a few hidden objectives.

Ciel placed a hand casually on Jack’s shoulder making him instantly tense. Jack looked sidelong at the Celestial and responded, “No, uh, I’m just a little tense. Nerves, you know? I didn’t mean anything by it.”

He bowed his head slightly adopting a more submissive posture to make sure he didn’t offend the Celestial. He was also careful not to give the impression that he knew Ciel was a Celestial. Normally, people couldn’t tell a Celestial from a normal person. Sure, the ones Jack knew of all had distinctly supernatural appearances, but that wasn’t uncommon in Fracture. Ciel could’ve been from a world where people had golden pigment and cherub wings. In truth, Jack suspected only Roa truly knew how important their client was which made sense since Manticore would’ve been a fool to not inform the mission leader of the circumstances. It was Jack’s power core that granted him insight when a Celestial appeared. For some reason, it reacted to their presence. Ciel couldn’t know that.

“Well, I apologize if I’ve gotten you worked up,” Ciel said, chuckling. He slid in beside Jack like an old friend and leaned across the table to look at the Weaver’s Needle. “That is an impressive piece of sigilcraft you have there. Do you mind if I see it?”

Jack screamed internally. Why was this Celestial acting so amiable with them? The closer he got, the more Jack’s skin crawled as his paranoia ran rampant. Alindal hesitated for a moment then passed the sigil carved rod to Ciel. Half a minute of tense silence passed as Ciel carefully looked over the rod. Afterward, he handed it back to Alindal and tapped a finger against his chin. Perhaps eager to get his creation out of the Celestial’s view, Alindal rolled it back up into the cloth covering he’d used to transport it.

“I assume if you made that for yourself that you have a mage class designation?” Ciel asked though it sounded more like a statement. Alindal’s silver eyes flitted to Jack then back to Ciel before he nodded. “Hm, then you must be a Sorcerer or an Elementalist, I take it?” Once again, it came across as a declaration posed as a question. Alindal’s eyes widened in surprise and Ciel’s smile took on a self-satisfied bent.

“How did you…,” Alindal began to ask before trailing off. He met Ciel’s eyes and said, “The sigils?”

“Correct,” Ciel responded, his ever-present smile gleaming. He held up a finger and traced a pattern of light into the air. It was a sigil, specifically one denoting the element of air. He traced three more for earth, fire, and water. “The array on your rod is designed specifically to interact with spells keying the four cardinal elements. Additionally, the configuration is also designed specifically to grant control over said spells giving the user more freedom over their size and shape at the cost of additional mana consumption. It was fairly easy to guess your designation from there since the intent of the design was clearly to overcome a weakness in your casting. Only the Sorcerer and the Elementalist designations wield spell skills powerful and large enough to require such an apparatus for casting and have no way of controlling the area of said skills. That said, it is a beautiful piece. You have my praise.”

Both Jack and Alindal said nothing. For his part, Jack couldn’t believe the Celestial had ascertained so much from a brief look at Alindal’s creation. Such a display of knowledge hinted at mastery that made him nauseous. His knowledge and the small display of magic led Jack to believe that one of Ciel’s designations was likely Sigilmaster, a rare mage-class designation with the power to imbue living sigils into objects, enemies, and allies alike. Years ago, Jack had met a Sigilmaster which is how he and Alindal had gotten their start in sigilcraft.

Eventually, Alindal found his voice and responded, “Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Ciel.”

“None of that, Ciel will do just fine,” the blonde-haired man said. “Besides, if my current pet project doesn’t work out as I expect, I might have an opportunity available for you should your magical skills be as impressive as your sigilcraft.”

“Pet project?” Jack asked despite himself. Perhaps it was irritation at the Celestial’s disarming charisma or assurance of his own power but the words had slipped through with enough venom to make him instantly regret speaking them. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice Jack’s tone.

Ciel shrugged, waving a hand dismissively as if the subject bored him. “I have a few, but I speak of the girl. I have it on good authority that there is something unique about her but I’ve seen nothing of note in the three days since I bought her. Her designation is generic and unsuited to her attributes; not to mention, I have reason to believe she suffers from a trauma that could impact her efficiency even further. I am hoping for a good showing from her at the Gate though, worst case scenario, I simply find a way to recoup my losses from her.” He leaned back and sighed, his facial expression making him appear as though his life were particularly difficult. "It's such a challenge to find noteworthy talent to invest in."

The more the Celestial talked. The angrier Jack got. The way Ciel spoke so casually about buying and discarding a person made Jack want to bash the pretty bastard’s skull in. “Recoup my losses” was code for forced labor. The fact that Ciel could speak about subjecting someone under his care to such a thing aggravated an old wound in Jack’s heart. He didn’t even care much for Raina so much as he remembered the people he had lost. Not all of them were killed by his pursuers, he knew that. Some were likely sold into servitude which was as good as a death sentence by Jack’s measure.  Labor camps like the Voidstar mines outside of Nortos and the Gigant lumber yards far beyond Guile’s Rest were not places people survived on Fracture. What's more, Jack recognized the Celestial's game as he spoke. He was putting out bait hoping that Alindal would bite at the opportunity even if it was at the cost of someone else.

The anger broke his focus and his hearing blossomed outward. Thankfully, the sensation wasn’t nearly as unpleasant out in the barren Spire Wasteland as it was in dense streets of Asylum. Before he could think to refocus his hearing, the sound of rumbling motors caught his ear. On a hunch, Jack peered out the window straining his eyes against the flurries of dust being whipped about by the vehicle and the wind. In the distance, several dark spots caught his eye. Dust clouds billowed across the shapes masking their presence for a moment.

“We’ve got company,” he said. Ciel looked up raising an eyebrow. Alindal moved over to the window. One look and he immediately started to unwrapped the Weaver’s Needle once again. It took Jack a moment to see the same thing his friend saw. The dust clouds shifted with the wind revealing twice the number of dark shapes rapidly approaching. He pounded his metallic fist against the wall which startled Renner and Ripper awake. Before either could say anything, he said much louder, “We’ve got company!”

Renner pushed Alindal to the side to glance out the window then turned to nod at Ripper who rushed down the stairs, sigiltech sword in hand. Renner moved over to a trunk at the base of his bunk. From inside, he pulled out pieces of a sigiltech rifle which he rapidly began assembling. Unlike normal sigil weaponry, sigiltech was designed to take mana-charged crystals to facilitate its use. The mana required to charge the crystals was greater than the requisite mana needed for a mage to activate the sigils personally which made them inefficient to use for anyone who could power the sigils by their own power. Although, sigiltech was a rapidly advancing industry so that might change in the coming years.

Ciel finally got to his feet brushing off his robe nonchalantly. He patted Jack on the shoulder. “Well done. You have good instincts.” He glanced out the window and his smile widened. “I do hope our guests are entertaining. This will be a good test-run before the Gate.”

Jack glared at Ciel beneath the mask. Entertaining? Of course, he could have such an easygoing outlook; he couldn’t die. Renner finished assembling his rifle and went to the stairs.

“Boss, I’m going topside,” the Aberrant said. He went over to the wall near the bunks then pulled down a ladder from the ceiling. He climbed the rungs quickly pushing open the hatch at the top.

Ciel beckoned to Alindal as he moved to follow Renner. “Come along, my friend. I’m eager to see how you wield that sigilcraft rod of yours.” With that, he climbed the ladder himself.

 Jack placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Take it easy, Al. He’s showing too much interest in you already, don’t give him more reason to pay attention.” Alindal nodded then made his way to the roof of the vehicle.

The sound of engines grew louder and louder in his ears as the dark shapes got closer. He counted ten vehicles. Unless all of those vehicles were filled with fodder, they were in for a fight.