3 - Black Market

            By the time that Nova was able to return to Alguru, it was early morning already but busy people had already filled the streets. It wasn’t that the people here were extraordinarily productive: it was because there was a festival going on. The lampposts were decorated with a wide array of floral ornaments, and the people were definitely a rowdy bunch as they had left no place for quietness and serenity. Of course, it was nothing more than a festival to celebrate the first harvest of the season and just another attraction for merchants and travelers alike to profit from but for some reason even the locals weren’t expecting this much people to come.

 

            Nova did her best to avoid the crowd and chose the least crowded streets on her way to her destination The closer she was to her destination the lesser people seemed to be until she noticed that she was alone in a narrow street in the darker part of the city.

 

            ‘Excuse me, but is this the White Willow?’, Nova asks to a disfigured man sitting on a barrel in front of a gloomy looking building. Although to be fair, the gloomy look and feeling was not exclusive to this particular shop as the entire street shared that same aura. She was of course, in a dirty back alley trying to buy black market products from people who she’s ninety-nine percent sure are wanted criminals.

 

            ‘You the lady the madam was tellin’ me about?’, the man replies in an aggressive tone, though it was due to his accent than anything else.

 

            ‘Y-Yes. She told me to come here today and give you this’, she says in a meek voice as she hands him a small glass marble. He takes it with his one good arm and puts it close to his eyes before looking at Nova then briefly saying: ‘Correct come in’, the thick metal door opened on its own seemingly in response to him. Inside the warehouse holds quite a number of materials that hailed from different parts of the world across different eras. She could definitely see herself lose track of time if she were to stay here to unearth any hidden treasures buried under all these rubbish. It could certainly use some fresh air as of now, but seeing all the windows barred shut she decided to just take out an inscribed glass jar from her satchel and whispers a short chant as she places it on the ground. Almost instantly a weak hum came from the small jar as it created a flat tornado on the ground sucking up all the dust which eventually lands inside the jar.

 

            ‘I see you’ve taken it upon yourself to make it easier to breath. Quite an interesting product I might say I’ve never seen one before’, a voice from a woman across the room spoke in a slightly muffled voice. ‘My most sincere apologies, Ms. Nova, from the letter I got from your sponsor I wasn’t expecting a magus’, she continued.

 

The middle-aged woman was quite stout, and rather short. Her eyes were large and sported a rich and deep brown that was quite unnatural for a human as she was actually a dwarf, her nose and ears were quite flat, though other than that she was very similar to a human. She bows to Nova quite deeply as she apologizes. There was an air of calmness and hardiness emanating from her.

 

            ‘There is no need for that, Madam Karak’, Nova responds a bit surprised by the other’s gesture. This was probably the norm for people here when they do business with dangerous people especially when proper law enforcements could not be depended on.

 

            ‘But this really is an interesting product. I’ve never seen one so little. Usually the specifications for the enchantment would require the jar to be half a meter tall at least’, she observes the small jar and notices the strange text even she could not identify.

 

            ‘Thank you for the praise. I had made it myself’, she meekly says with a slight bow, not expecting to be complimented.

 

            ‘Well, anyhow you’re a bit early, but thankfully I’ve practically slept in here the past few days’, Madam Karak says as she removes the cloth around her face. She pushes aside some crates and scattered wares to clear the path for her costumer as she leads her deeper into the warehouse till the end of it finally to her cluttered office. Inside the office was an ordinary human-size desk with piles and piles of books stacked on top of it and a number of small cabinets all filled to the brim.

 

            ‘Things have been hectic as of late, don’t you think?’, the madam says as she rummaged through her desk trying to make conversation. ‘Most of my workers have returned to their homes. Even Ir’ul, The Dwarven King has practically begged people like me to come back’, she goes off on a monologue as she takes a black metal box out and places it on top of her desk before she continues, ‘from what I’ve heard, lots and lots of job openings and the pay is abnormally high even!’. Very awkwardly, Nova kept her silence as she just silently nods to whatever Karak was saying. ‘You…, you’re not much of a talker are you?’, Madam Karak says as she laughs, still trying to find something in one of the many compartments in her desk.

‘I like you’, she adds. ‘you’re different from other magi’

 

            ‘H-How so?’, Nova stutters a bit. She was nervous that her cover was blown, but still she wanted to ask what was so different about her so she could better act in this situation next time.

 

             ‘Don’t “how so” me, dear. Anyone who has ever seen a magus knows how they act. They act brash and have an absolute air of confidence around them at all times. Most have no semblance of empathy and yet, they are very insecure about themselves.’, she looks at Nova with a calm but steadfast look in her eyes as if daring Nova to counter her statement.

 

            ‘That’s true. I can’t really counter any of what you’ve just said’, Nova was quick to give up on the argument if there was even one. She knew that was what she needed to act like, but it was difficult to maintain in front of someone friendly and uninvolved in her mission.

 

            After finally fishing out an antique looking key from the deepest part of her desk, she hands the keys to Nova while facing the box’s key hole towards her as well. She pushes the key and opens the box carefully as she takes a good look at its contents. Inside the box was what looked like four blue gemstones that emitted an ungodly aura, to be specific they were specter hearts. Crystals formed in an aged specter’s chest said to be made of decayed and rotting souls.

 

            ‘Quite beautiful, aren’t they? My husband gave me a pendant made of one a while back. It’s quite strange to know a few races find this gem grotesque.’, Madam Karak says as she stares at the hearts with a strange wonder, ‘The Lrukans, Elves, and Titans are probably the ones most appalled by these kinds of gems if I remember correctly.’ she adds.

 

            ‘They told me that they could hear the screams of the damned whenever they touched it.’, Nova says in an understanding tone.

 

            ‘Let me guess. You heard that from a lrukan, mm?’, Madam Karak replies as she grabs a thick leather glove from a drawer gently grabbing the crystal Nova was eyeing and wraps it in a white roll of fabric. ‘You would think for someone who lurks around mountains worshipping trees that they would stay away from those who deal with the dark arts.’, she continues while grimacing a bit only lately realizing she had said such words to a magus.

 

            ‘They behave very differently from us, though they find these to be ominous they hold these crystals and other taboo items at a high a value as a subject for research. Their souls also could not be corrupted so it wouldn’t be proper to call them a race of magi’, Nova says in a casual tone as she recalls meeting with an lrukan back in the gallows right before her mission had started. These dark green humanoid creatures have a single sensory organ in their face that resembles on orb, and they have muscular arms that resembled tentacles as each arm was split into six parts that acted as their fingers. They also couldn’t speak a human language, but they could still understand what was being said only replying through writing. Nova gave a slightly bemused smile as she reminisces the memory.

 

            ‘You’re thinking about something interesting aren’t cha? Do tell’, the madam nudged at Nova as she hands her the cloth-wrapped crystal. ‘I’d rather not. It’d be a lot more interesting to converse to one yourself.’, she teases at the madam.

 

            ‘Well, that’s probably not gonna happen anytime soon because...’, Madam Karak trails off with a bit of unease in her voice. ‘I’m moving back soon. That’s why everything’s a mess and why you were able to find specter hearts as cheap as a thousand units and speaking of units…’, making a small gesture with her fingers.

 

            ‘Ah, I’m sorry. Here it is.’, taking out a small red metallic cube from a pouch, she hands it over with a slight bow.  

 

            ‘I appreciate it, dear, now where was I?’

 

            ‘You were talking about moving.’

 

            ‘Of course. Well… this business carries a lot of risk. From getting caught and imprisoned to having a sour bout with some unpleasant customers it’s slowly becoming too much for me. So, I’m moving back to Antprio to work at a forge.’, she says with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

 

            There was an eerie silence that panned over the them, but this was quickly interrupted with a loud jeer from Karak.

 

            ‘Don’t look too gloomy it strangely doesn’t fit you. Also, I’m coming back with my husband. We’ve been writing to each other as much as we can, but in the end we haven’t seen the other in 6 years. My folks are there too, so even if work is grim, life wouldn’t be too bad.’, she says in a calm and comforting tone.

 

            ‘Well, that’s pretty much it. It’s nice to talk about some stuff like that once in a while. Those morons would never let me hear the end of it if they hear me talk about this sappy stuff.’, she muttered curses under her breath as she looks to recall a previous incident.

 

            ‘I see. Will the madam be here 5 days from now?’, Nova asks as she estimates that she’d need a new one in about seven days.

 

As for the reason why she needed one in the first place is to be able to disguise her aura as that of a magus. A magus’ soul greatly differs from a normal magic user as their tainted souls through malpractice gives an easily distinguishable presence. Through a lengthy process, auras of certain objects can be projected by a user without corrupting their own self. This was also the reason how despite her sheepish behavior Nova could blend in with other magi as long as she didn’t talk too much and as of today she was running dangerously low on it.

 

‘I’m not too sure, dear. It depends on if I could get rid of my inventory by then.’, the madam says as she starts to clean up her office, going back to where she left off.

 

‘Then, goodbye Madam Karak. Also, I would like to ask this transaction and our meeting to be kept a secret.’, Nova gently requests with a slight bow.

 

‘Of course, your letter had also asked that much so don’t worry too much about it’, there was a slight pause for her before she answered. She gives Nova a look of interest as she sees the other politely leave. ‘It was a very interesting meeting with a “magus” for sure’, she snickered at her thoughts.

 

Of course in this busy week of hers it didn’t take long for another customer to enter the warehouse. Though, this time a quite sinister and familiar air approached in the halls. For someone as experienced as Karak in dealing with a wide variety of customers, she already knew what kind of person she’d expect to meet. She looks at a to-do list to find this time empty, her only other business with a magus should be later this evening.

 

‘Greetings, welcome to this small house of wares, I am Karak. What might bring this gentleman here?’, she asks in a polite tone.

 

 ‘Don’t bother with the formalities’, he states in a deep and calm voice. He stood 7-feet tall and wore a rugged dark brown coat and underneath it was a tunic under black chainmail mysteriously it did not make a sound when he moved.

 

‘Desmion’, she says in response. ‘As chilling as ever, my dear, what would your business here be at this early hour?’, she now asks; her tone a little less polite after recognizing the other party.

 

‘Somehow this place is even more cluttered than normal’

 

‘Oh, I haven’t told you then. I’m moving back. It seems that there will be a-…’, she pauses a bit unsure whether she should continue her sentence.

 

‘War’, he finishes her sentence for her. ‘The Giants of the South have finally escaped after the death of the Warden of Izulla. The labyrinth at Ollyad’s gates has opened for the first time. On top of that, multiple cities in the far east have also seemingly vanished.’, he states rather uncaringly despite the weight of the subject.

 

‘but, worry not. I do not see the dwarves actively seeking chaos. The location of Antprio is also conveniently far from any threat you are worried of’, what was spoken was words of comfort but because of the speaker it seemed more of an announcement.

 

‘Well, I truly hope so’, she ends that topic with a sigh. ‘It is impossible not to worry about the world these days. But going back, what was it that you came here for?’

 

‘A jar of twisted fungus spores and as much red iron wood bark you can procure’

 

‘I see. I see’, Karak responds only with that as she writes his order on a sheet of paper. ‘Would you like it to be dropped off at the usual spot?’, she turns to him before she finishes the note.

 

‘No’, he answers. ‘Transport all of it to the mouth of Spire Cave before midday tomorrow.’

 

‘The one southeast of the city? I’ve heard that area has been closed… for unknown reasons.’, she shot him a suspicious look as her hands continued to write.

 

A single dry laugh escaped his throat, ‘I’ll pay triple for the transport due to the inconvenience’. It interested Karak yet she knew it would be better to not pry any further. Even if she was on good terms with him there was a limit to how she should act, but despite that she does tend to try to push it to the limit and beyond.

 

‘A lot of people seem to have taken interest in you these days, though they barely know anything about you’, she says with a nonchalant look. ‘Ever since you moved here about a month ago the city has been slowly spiraling out of control yet you haven’t done anything that I know of’

 

‘It matters not to me what you think or accuse me of, so stop wasting our time and state what you seek.’, his face still unchanging as he speaks these words; already having figured out her intentions for the most part.

 

‘You have bought from me a particular list of ingredients not just today but all the many other days you’ve come here for. Judging from today’s grocery list you’re just about done in making whatever elixir you are brewing’, she states with confidence. ‘I want a vial of whatever you are making. In exchange, I’ll sell you anything for a tenth of its price’

 

‘You speak as if you have an idea of what I am creating, there is to wonder what guesses you might have about my work’, he shoots her a look of interest.

 

‘The best guess I have is an elixir of regeneration. Though, even if that is wrong I believe anything you’d be making will be a lot more interesting than anything I’ll ever own’, she answers him while acknowledging her desires to be less about the utility of the elixir but more of the exclusivity of such an elixir.

 

‘What I’m making is far and beyond what you have imagined. I also have high doubts whether you’ll be able to make use of it through your lifetime’, he tells her in a commanding tone. ‘but, I accept on one condition’, he turns around and starts to walk out of her office and into the main storage area.

 

The small smile on Karak’s face slightly lowered as she hears the last part of his statement. ‘Sigh…, Oh well, I’m already satisfied with the deal that as long as you don’t ask of anything absurd I’ll accept’, she instinctively followed him even though she wasn’t really sure at what was happening.

 

‘Very few things have taken my interest this decade. Even in this spectacle of a shop of yours nothing has taken my interest until now’, he speaks as he slowly picks up a small glass jar from the ground.

 

Karak froze for a moment as she watched Desmion’s eyes almost pierce through the jar with his stare alone.

 

He turns to Karak and says to her in a low voice barely containing his anger, ‘Tell me where did you get this’

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Thanks for giving it a read again! I would love to hear your thoughts on it as well.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I liked the story and please send me read request. I work night shift and I read every one, sooner or later. A interesting story with great possibilities.
Coyote

[MantaStyle]

What is a read request? I'm new to this site.

[Coyote Poetry]

On the upper right side. You touch read request and your subscribed people show-up. Just touch and they will receive a read request.

[MantaStyle]

Ah I see. I'll definitely send you one when other chapters come out!

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you and I would like this.