Magician's Blood

4-Lyric

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-4/Lyric

Magician's Blood-Kisho

*

July 17th, 3094 GSC—10:37 Standard Time—01:53 Local Time

Aris—System TT9VM—Moza Sector

Goman Tower—Upper Levels

The tower was empty.

Every room the two of them checked was empty. Too empty: no bodies, no blood, no sign of combat. Elicia led Renault up the tower, one floor at a time, one room after another-break open a door, step inside, flash a light. Nothing. It was as if everyone had just up and left at the same time, rather than an attack.

"You think it's strange, don't you, Raven?" Renault asked at one point, as Elicia paced another empty room, a launching port for one of the small hovercraft used to navigate the main pit. The hovercraft was absent, though, and the gate open into the main pit. An icy chill swept in through the opening, too dark to see anything beyond.

"I'm not unaccustomed to strange," Elicia said wryly. "What are your thoughts on the situation, Renault?"

Renault had been holding up his rifle, aiming through the gateway ready for whatever might come through, but he relaxed when Elicia asked him. He rested the butt of the rifle on the floor, stared into the darkness with a contemplative expression. "It seems more like an internal coup... or even that the tower was never in any danger. More like the workers here had some other motive for leaving."

Elicia nodded sharply. "I was thinking the same. The only issue is that there are valuables left over here. This colony's main exports were—what? Do you know?"

"Carnibus alloy and unrefined plutonium, according to the ship database."

"Plutonium is priceless to the kilo, but there are whole crates of it left here. Isn't it strange?"

Renault smiled just a little. "And not entirely safe, either. But, maybe they happened upon something much more valuable."

Elicia looked back out into the main pit. She pointed her sword tip out—her magic channeled through the blade, shining into the darkness off the tip. The central pillar, the enormous mining apparatus that plunged down He-only-knows how far, was completely disabled. It was impossible to tell how long it had been offline. Below, the pit stretched down forever, it seemed like.

Something much more valuable? What on earth could they have found that would have had them abandon a project like this? A low-caste miner like the ones on Aris couldn't just up and leave their land, not under any normal circumstances. If they had found something, it would have to be the most valuable thing you could find... something priceless to the Church.

Something moved.

Elicia ducked behind a crate and gestured furiously for Renault to do the same, but he'd already dropped to one knee behind a crate and readied his rifle as soon as he'd seen Elicia move.

Listening. Empty. Nothing.

She paused a breath. When she glanced back out into the pit, it was just as dark as it had been. Just as empty.

"Something moved," she whispered to Renault.

"I didn't see anything," he answered. "I was watching."

She understood what he meant in a beat, and bit her lip. There was something in the outpost. She hadn't seen movement—she'd felt it, moving on the edge of her consciousness, somewhere in the tower. A magic presence.