Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 9 | Enchanted Defenses

"Braunick has to have them," Agent 34 said. He was dumbfounded by the idea that his past was forever gone and refused to believe it. "There's no way he is evil enough to just–just destroy my memories like that,"

"I'm sorry, but you may be right. However, right now we need to find a way to get to him and beat him to get them back," The dwarf stated. "but we also need something to prevent Braunick from spying on us and entering our minds unknowingly and reading our recent memories. There's a way to do it but it'd be difficult to keep a spell up around your mental barrier for such a long time, and I think I know a way to make it permanent,"

The dwarf began walking down the hall, expecting 34 to follow. He did, despite his urge to just stay there and sulk about his memories. "Marque has been practicing cursebreaking for a while, right? We could have him take something inauspicious, like say, some glasses or a piece of cloth and embed an enchantment into it that prevents the wearer from being spied on and their minds being entered unwillingly,"

"But wouldn't that require a lot of power to keep the enchantment up?"

"No," Thad stated. "He's going to absorb a bunch of energy all at once into whatever we put it into and that can sustain it for a long time, enough time to take out Braunick. It will be a huge advantage for us, he will be blind and we will get another upper hand."

"He's still as powerful as a god. Even if we catch him off guard he can still pummel us with the snap of his fingers,"

Thad stopped and thought this over. "I'll take what we can get," He began walking and told 34 to fetch Marque and inform him of the plan. Thad said it would take Marque lots of energy and that it may take him several days to regain all the lost power he will use in these defenses.

However, Marque agreed and thought it was a great idea, but wanted to test it out first with someone before he put it on all of the Destigems. Agent 34 brought Marque to the top deck with Thad waiting to try out the idea.

Marque quickly grabbed his sleeve that was underneath his armor and ripped off a chunk. He held it up in his palm and shut his eyes, muttering a few words. Everyone was discouraged when nothing happened.

"Oops," Marque said. "I forgot I need a wand. Don't have my gem anymore, forgot I can't just cast spells whenever I want. We all need wands now. We aren't strong enough to cast spells as we please,"

Thad quickly ran downstairs and the pair waited above deck for a minute until the dwarf cane running back up with a wooden stick in hand, waving it around in the air.

Marque gladly accepted it, pointing the wand at the piece of cloth in his raised palm. He shut his eyes once again, muttering more words under his breath, only for him to hear them, Despite this, the wand somehow heard his spell and granted it quickly. The torn sleeve moved to the right slightly, then back to the left. It began to move all around Marque's palm until it raised into the air and fell back into his palm. The human lowered his wand and opened his eyes, closing his fingers down on the ripped fabric quickly and lowering his arm.

Marque tied the fabric around his lower arm, closer to his wrist. It illuminated bright blue for a minute and turned back to how it was before. "Enter my mind." He ordered Thad, crossing his arms and putting a grin on his face.

Thad nodded, shutting his eyes. His mental presence strayed from his own, leaving his consciousness. Thad tried to find Marque, but nothing was there. He couldn't find the human's mind anywhere, only saw Agent 34's mind but didn't want to enter it. That wasn't who he was looking for.

When Thad was about to give up, Marque opened up his mind. It was like magic to Thad, yet he had known of people who had done similar things like this to avoid detection. He had never seen it firsthand.

"See," Marque said out loud. "I can only let someone into my mind if I let them,"

Thad opened his eyes and his mind returned to his own. "Interesting," He said. "Think you can make some for all of the Destigems and everyone on the island?"

"I–I mean, give it a week and I could have them all done. But if we do get more survivors here then there is no way I can do one for all of them. We either need more cursebreakers or less survivors," The human explained. "And a lot of energy. We better have a lot of food for me to eat, the more energy I can get the better. As soon as I restore my previous power I will make another, Agent 34's preferably,"

"Yes, do him as quickly as possible," Thad said. "He's one Braunick looks after a lot. Even though they are sworn enemies, they are brothers. Braunick wouldn't kill him,"

"Not in his current state," Agent 34 piped in. "He's literally crazy. Those gems are getting to him, you saw the craze in his eyes. There's no way that man has control of himself,"

"Marque, I would like you to gather items to enchant. Do not make them obvious, at all. If you can, ask everyone what they want," Thad requested. "I have a special item I'd like you to enchant, Marque. An item I've held in the family for generations,"

He nodded at Thad's request. "And you, 34?"

"Oh," Agent 34 hadn't had much of an idea at all, not expecting him to get to choose what he wanted to wear. The elf simply reached under his armor and tore off his entire sleeve this time, making a very long cloth appear in his hand. He held it out to Marque, who grabbed the red cloth quickly and pocketing it.

"I would like a bandanna," Agent 34 requested. "Bandannas will make me look more like a survivor of the apocalypse. Right?"

Marque laughed as he turned on his heel and began to descend back into the ship. "This isn't really an apocalypse," He descended the steps, but before his head disappeared behind the wood, he looked back at the dwarf and the elf quickly. "Yet. We aren't in Renya anymore," He descended into the ship.