Post by sion on Aug 4, 2008 4:16:40 GMT -5
Heres chapter 1 of J.E.M
With an almost inaudible gasp the man collapsed, dead. If anyone had cared to notice, they would have seen his hair and clothes being ruffled by a slight breeze. But as always, no one noticed.
The young lady lowered her hand from her mouth and once again covered the J.E.M crystal. The Jewel Element Manipulator crystal was the device that allowed B. Mages to manipulate and control their magic. The crystal was made of a rare crystal that was found high in the mountain regions. It was extremely dangerous to mine and even more dangerous to refine. Once they had been refined they were placed in specially made devices that were given to B. Mages. Every B. Mage had a unique device that was different to all the others. Hers’s was attached to her hand. The crystal fit snugly into her palm, the rest of the device snaking around her middle finger and around her wrist. Several years ago she’d had a pair of gloves specially made for her. The right glove had a flap that she could pull back to reveal the crystal, but looked normal enough to the casual observer.
She flipped the hood of her cloak over her head, covering her face in shadow. The long black cloak allowed her to slip around in the cover of darkness and shadows. A slight breeze encircled her, muffling any sound she might make. She shuffled backwards, silently cursing the architect of the building who had decided to make the overhead ducts so narrow. She cursed to herself again when a drop of water splashed onto her face. She froze, suddenly aware that something wasn’t right.
Only one person in the room below had any idea of how the man had died, had felt the breeze and had seen the figure hidden in shadows. The apparently simple scribe took a deep breath and concentrated on not blowing her cover. She took a few deep breaths then realised she had missed several crucial points in the discussion. The meeting of military and civilian leaders was a secret one and it was her job to take down ever single thing that was said and written. She noticed another scribe in a corner frantically writing in response to his leader’s words. She concentrated, feeling the vibrations as the boy wrote. She let the vibrations fill her mind and translated them mentally into words, then quickly wrote down what was being written on the other side of the room. She did this almost subconsciously, without drawing attention to herself. It was this ability that made Rozera the best Spy. Even when the other people in the room began to notice the dead man, Rozera kept quiet.
‘Alright, alright, calm down everyone!’ the only female military leader in the room called sharply as a nervous babble broke out as the other leaders suddenly realised what had happened. She was tired and irritable after the long trip to get to the meeting and the vigorous security checks she’d had to go through to be allowed in. She was sick and tired of the indecisiveness and bickering of the other leaders, and now this! The candles that lit the room flared as she spoke.
‘You can’t really be that surprised! I mean we all knew that this meeting would be a risk, let’s just get a move on, it’s not like this is the first time something like this has happened!’ Reiaka sat back in her seat with an irritated sigh as the other leaders exclaimed in shock at her cold attitude. She ignored them and glanced down at the man still lying where he had fallen. She hadn’t seen what had caused his death, she had been too busy trying to get the other idiots to listen to her, but she had felt someone else’s presence at that moment and it had reminded her of her days at school. She looked across the room, catching the eye of the scribe. She knew that the unassuming young lady was Rozera. She had seen her before the meeting and had managed to discreetly contact her. Reiaka raised her eyebrow in question, as a trained spy and B. Mage, Rozera saw and felt what others didn’t. Rozera didn’t outwardly respond but Reiaka felt the ground beneath her begin to vibrate slightly. The vibrations formed a code that was known by very few. Reiaka mentally translated the vibrations: Code sending. Ready to receive?
The code was a variation on the old Morse code. Each letter had a different pattern and strength of vibration and common words had their own patterns. Each element had a version of the code and each version was compatible with the other versions. Names weren’t very often used in the code, instead if there were two people in the conversation, the person who first sent the code was “Code Sending” and the person who was on the receiving end of the first send was “Code Receiving”. If there were more than two people then each new person to talk added a letter or number. Only B. Mages that could carefully control their elements could send the code.
Reiaka knew she was the only one in the room who knew the code so she didn’t have to worry about someone else feeling it. She glanced ‘round the room and decided that what the other leaders were talking about nothing important or interesting so she tapped a ring on her right hand. The ring was her J.E.M Device. The ring was quite elaborate and wound several times round her finger to support the J.E.M crystal. The candle closest to Rozera flared up and began to flicker in the fire version of the code: Code Receiving. Ready to receive. Outwardly neither girl looked like they were communicating, and that what was so important about the code. Reiaka felt the ground begin to vibrate again and mentally translated it: Code Sending. I saw the assassin, it was Shiriia.
Reiaka chocked in shock and hurriedly turned it into a cough as eyes turned to her. She glared at the other leaders until they looked away. She quickly tapped her ring, once again causing the candle to flare: Code receiving. Understood. That was the standard response for a message received and understood but Reiaka had to add more: You’re sure? How could it be her? The answer came back in seconds: Code Sending. Yes, Positive. Don’t ask me how, but I saw her. Reiaka suppressed a sigh: Code Receiving. Right. Sorry, I believe you. Code Receiving end.
‘General Reiaka please pay attention. This meeting is important and we don’t have time to be repeating things because you are not listening.’ Reiaka turned to the speaker and gave him a withering glare causing him to look away. Before she could respond however a massive gale blew into the room extinguishing all the candles. Reiaka’s body tingled as she recognised a magic wind. She also felt droplets of water, also tingling with magic, splash onto her face.
Before anyone could react the wind died down and there was a crashing noise followed by several thumps as something crashed through the ceiling and hit the floor. Several grunts and groans and unintelligible protests identified the “something” as a “someone”.
Reiaka tapped her ring and called up a strip of flame and sent it floating up to illuminate the room. The wind flared up again half putting out the flame but Reiaka strengthened it then when the wind died down again she pulled several sparks out of the strip of flame to relight the candles.
Rozera looked around the room as Reiaka’s flame lit the room. In the middle of the room two people were lying gasping for breath on the floor. One was a young lady wearing the uniform of an Infiltrator. Infiltrators were like spies, working their way into meetings. Unlike spies they were more used for longer terms. They got in and tried to influence decisions a certain way. They were also often used for security, as they were so got at getting around places where they shouldn’t they, were good at catching spies, assassins and other infiltrators. The uniform was what they wore while doing security work. The girl had long blue/black hair that was pulled back in a high ponytail and deep blue eyes that glared at the person in front of her. Reiaka blinked as she recognised the girl.
The other person was wearing a long black cloak with a hood that hid her face. She had black gloves and black knee-length leather boots could be seen under the cloak. The person’s figure was female and she moved with grace. As she stood up a long thick braid of extremely light blonde hair slipped out from under the hood, falling over the girl’s shoulder. Those in the room heard a sighed as she reached up to stuff the braid back under her hood.
The Infiltrator stood up and touched a small crystal that was in her belt buckle, as she did all the water droplets in the room spun towards her, spinning into the crystal. She straightened up and stared at the girl in front of her for a few moments, trying to see the face under the hood, finally she gave up and reached out to snatch the hood away from the other girls face.
Amaya jerked her hand back as the hood fell away. She stared in shock as the young lady in front of her shook her head slightly and refastened the pins that held her long fringe back from where the hood had knocked them askew. Memories came flooding back to her, memories of a time that now seemed lifetimes away, memories of the time that they had spent at the School for Battle Magic. She found herself caught up in the spiral as memories swirled through her mind. Her mind was full of memories for her three best friends, the ones who she hadn’t seen since they had parted at graduation. A gentle breeze against her face bought her back to reality and she stared into the face of one of the people she hadn’t seen in years. Her hair was floating behind her and the cloak swirled about her feet.
Amaya couldn’t believe it. She had almost expected her to look different, but she didn’t really. She was a bit taller, and from Amaya could tell, a bit more filled out, her light blonde hair was a bit longer and the braid it was held back in was a bit thicker but she was still almost the same. The only thing that had really changed was her eyes. Still unusually pale, her green eyes which had once been full of life and laugher, had been so innocent and loving, were now duller and clouded, and they spoke volumes of what she had endured, and to Amaya, they seemed curiously familiar. As she studied her eyes she realised why they seemed so familiar; they spoke of the same things that Amaya’s own eye’s spoke of when she looked in the mirror.
Shiriia grabbed the braid that had once again been flung over her shoulder by the breeze and flung it over her shoulder again. The breeze caught it again and it fluttered behind her for a few moments before falling over her shoulder again. She sighed irritably, pulling the flap on her glove away from her palm and tapped the J.E.M crystal. The breezed died down and flowed back into the crystal. She shook her head slightly as her hearing returned to normal. She spent so much time with the breeze flowing around her that her hearing adapted to the slight deadening. She glanced ‘round the room and visibly started when she saw Amaya. She jumped again when she saw Rozera leaning against the wall one side of room and Reiaka standing on the other side of the room.
‘A-Amaya, Rozera, Reiaka, what are you all doing here?’
‘What are we doing here? I think the more important and relevant question right at the moment is what are you doing here?’ Reiaka asked, her voice tight as she took a step forward.
‘Ah, going by the fact that you seem really quite angry and you just glanced that him,’ Shiriia waved towards the man lying dead on the floor, ‘I’m guessing that you already know the answer to that.’
Reiaka couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she felt her fists clench into fists as she took another step forward. ‘Yeah actually Shiriia,’ she spat out the name as though it was something unpleasant and Shirria flinched as though she had been struck. Amaya’s eyes were narrowed as she glanced from one to the other. Rozera was unreadable as ever but those who knew her could see a tightening of her lips that indicated her tension. ‘I do know why you’re here, after all the evidence is kind of sprawled all over the floor. You killed him, in cold blood! What did he do to deserve this? What about his family? What about them? How many families have you broken apart? Do you enjoy it? Do you kill for pleasure? Is it something you look forward to, to kill? Answer me, ANSWER ME SHIRIIA!’ Reiaka screamed and the candles once again flared up. The strip of flame that still floated by the ceiling, spat and crackled, sparks falling like rain.
‘Calm down Reiaka, let her explain,’ Amaya said, ducking as a spark fell near her. Her enraged friend appeared not to hear. She glanced over at Rozera and saw that she was barely even reacting to the sparks. Her body was full of tension although her face was still carefully blank. She had always been the most affected whenever any of the friends fought. She was always balanced so and her friends fighting was one of the few things that could upset that balance. Amaya carefully stepped over to her, dodging several other sparks as Reiaka glared at Shiriia, who was staring back at her. Amaya put a gentle hand on Rozera’s shoulder and the other girl turned her head slightly to smile, but the smile was strained.
Suddenly the fire strip flared and sent sparks flying around the room. They rained down and things began to catch on fire; clothes, hair, furniture, anything that was flammable went up.
Almost without thinking Amaya, Rozera and Shiriia spun around, tapping and activating their J.E.M crystals. Their elements flew around the room, putting out the fire. Within seconds all the fires were out and Reiaka had called the fire strip back. Soon it was silent again, except for slight whimpering noises coming from the corner where the other leaders were cowering.
The four girls stared at each other before something strange began to happen; they began to laugh. It started with Amaya who couldn’t smother her giggles, Rozera gave her an odd look before she too began to giggle. Shiriia and Reiaka started at each other incredulously for a moment before Shiriia began to shake, Reiaka too was shaking with the effort of suppressing her amusement. The two girls broke down at the same moment and soon all four girls were howling with laughter.
After a minute or two they slowly began to calm down, gasping for breath as their laughter died down. Reiaka had collapsed onto a chair and she glanced down at where her three oldest friends lay gasping and still giggling on the floor. She looked longest at Shiriia, seeing the same changes as Amaya had, how her eyes were filled with suffering even as she laughed. She could still feel the anger at the knowledge the Shiriia was a killer but she realised that she hadn’t been fair. Her shock at seeing her after so long and knowing what she had done had boiled up, causing her to explode. She knew that it wasn’t Shiriia’s fault that she had to kill and she knew that she didn’t kill without purpose. It was probably a good thing that she had lost her temper though; if she hadn’t, such a silly moment wouldn’t have erupted, which had neatly broken the tension.
‘Hehe looks like some things never change, even after six years.’ Rozera sighed with a smile. Amaya smiled back and nodded, glancing at the other two who were once again staring at each other; but this time without hostility. Reiaka was smiling slightly as she stood up. She held out her hand to Shiriia who took it, allowing Reiaka to pull her to her feet. They stood for a moment before embracing each other tightly. Amaya and Rozera grinned at each other.
‘So we know why you are here, but what’s going on Shiriia, why did you assassinate him?’ Reiaka asked letting go of her friend. She gestured to the man on the floor.
‘Oh yeah, that reminds me. He was a plant, someone where on his body is a magic run communicator. I could sense it, I was supposed to take him out after the meeting to avoid causing a disturbance,’ Reiaka raised her eyes at this and Shiriia grinned, ‘well as little disturbance as possible. But when I sensed the communicator I realised that didn’t have time to wait.’
‘Wait a second,’ Rozera interrupted, ‘you said you sensed the communicator, but I’ve been in the room the entire time, so has Reiaka, and neither of us sensed anything.’
‘Yeah good point,’ Reiaka nodded, ‘I would have thought we would have sensed it.’
Amaya was frowning slightly,‘I was patrolling around this meeting since it began and the only magic I sensed was your kill magic.’ She said, ‘one of the reasons why I’m here and not on an assignment is because there were going to be several secret high profile meetings and because I’m so good at sensing magic they wanted me patrolling.’
‘Yeah I do remember that you were the best at sensing magic out of the four of us. Hmm and I think I was the worst!’ Shiriia smiled slightly but her eyes had lost all their laughter and amusement as she stared down at the man she had killed. ‘I think the only reason why you wouldn’t have sensed it was that it was being covered. A Subduing Magic had been woven into the Operating Magic so it wasn’t obvious and almost completely undetectable. The Subduing Magic was worked into the Protector Magic I think, not into the communicator or the Communication Magic…which would actually make more sense when you think about it’
‘You know, I’m good with technical magic but even I have no idea what you just meant.’ Rozera said, a puzzled look on her face.
‘Hmm? Oh I’m sorry, I guess I’m not really used to people listening to me when I’m rambling on. Anyway it just so happens to be that the subduing magic is Wind, so I was easily able to sense it. Once I’d sensed that, it wasn’t hard to sense the rest of the magic.’ Shiriia crouched down next to the man and peered at him intently, ‘now, let us see what we can find.’
With an almost inaudible gasp the man collapsed, dead. If anyone had cared to notice, they would have seen his hair and clothes being ruffled by a slight breeze. But as always, no one noticed.
The young lady lowered her hand from her mouth and once again covered the J.E.M crystal. The Jewel Element Manipulator crystal was the device that allowed B. Mages to manipulate and control their magic. The crystal was made of a rare crystal that was found high in the mountain regions. It was extremely dangerous to mine and even more dangerous to refine. Once they had been refined they were placed in specially made devices that were given to B. Mages. Every B. Mage had a unique device that was different to all the others. Hers’s was attached to her hand. The crystal fit snugly into her palm, the rest of the device snaking around her middle finger and around her wrist. Several years ago she’d had a pair of gloves specially made for her. The right glove had a flap that she could pull back to reveal the crystal, but looked normal enough to the casual observer.
She flipped the hood of her cloak over her head, covering her face in shadow. The long black cloak allowed her to slip around in the cover of darkness and shadows. A slight breeze encircled her, muffling any sound she might make. She shuffled backwards, silently cursing the architect of the building who had decided to make the overhead ducts so narrow. She cursed to herself again when a drop of water splashed onto her face. She froze, suddenly aware that something wasn’t right.
Only one person in the room below had any idea of how the man had died, had felt the breeze and had seen the figure hidden in shadows. The apparently simple scribe took a deep breath and concentrated on not blowing her cover. She took a few deep breaths then realised she had missed several crucial points in the discussion. The meeting of military and civilian leaders was a secret one and it was her job to take down ever single thing that was said and written. She noticed another scribe in a corner frantically writing in response to his leader’s words. She concentrated, feeling the vibrations as the boy wrote. She let the vibrations fill her mind and translated them mentally into words, then quickly wrote down what was being written on the other side of the room. She did this almost subconsciously, without drawing attention to herself. It was this ability that made Rozera the best Spy. Even when the other people in the room began to notice the dead man, Rozera kept quiet.
‘Alright, alright, calm down everyone!’ the only female military leader in the room called sharply as a nervous babble broke out as the other leaders suddenly realised what had happened. She was tired and irritable after the long trip to get to the meeting and the vigorous security checks she’d had to go through to be allowed in. She was sick and tired of the indecisiveness and bickering of the other leaders, and now this! The candles that lit the room flared as she spoke.
‘You can’t really be that surprised! I mean we all knew that this meeting would be a risk, let’s just get a move on, it’s not like this is the first time something like this has happened!’ Reiaka sat back in her seat with an irritated sigh as the other leaders exclaimed in shock at her cold attitude. She ignored them and glanced down at the man still lying where he had fallen. She hadn’t seen what had caused his death, she had been too busy trying to get the other idiots to listen to her, but she had felt someone else’s presence at that moment and it had reminded her of her days at school. She looked across the room, catching the eye of the scribe. She knew that the unassuming young lady was Rozera. She had seen her before the meeting and had managed to discreetly contact her. Reiaka raised her eyebrow in question, as a trained spy and B. Mage, Rozera saw and felt what others didn’t. Rozera didn’t outwardly respond but Reiaka felt the ground beneath her begin to vibrate slightly. The vibrations formed a code that was known by very few. Reiaka mentally translated the vibrations: Code sending. Ready to receive?
The code was a variation on the old Morse code. Each letter had a different pattern and strength of vibration and common words had their own patterns. Each element had a version of the code and each version was compatible with the other versions. Names weren’t very often used in the code, instead if there were two people in the conversation, the person who first sent the code was “Code Sending” and the person who was on the receiving end of the first send was “Code Receiving”. If there were more than two people then each new person to talk added a letter or number. Only B. Mages that could carefully control their elements could send the code.
Reiaka knew she was the only one in the room who knew the code so she didn’t have to worry about someone else feeling it. She glanced ‘round the room and decided that what the other leaders were talking about nothing important or interesting so she tapped a ring on her right hand. The ring was her J.E.M Device. The ring was quite elaborate and wound several times round her finger to support the J.E.M crystal. The candle closest to Rozera flared up and began to flicker in the fire version of the code: Code Receiving. Ready to receive. Outwardly neither girl looked like they were communicating, and that what was so important about the code. Reiaka felt the ground begin to vibrate again and mentally translated it: Code Sending. I saw the assassin, it was Shiriia.
Reiaka chocked in shock and hurriedly turned it into a cough as eyes turned to her. She glared at the other leaders until they looked away. She quickly tapped her ring, once again causing the candle to flare: Code receiving. Understood. That was the standard response for a message received and understood but Reiaka had to add more: You’re sure? How could it be her? The answer came back in seconds: Code Sending. Yes, Positive. Don’t ask me how, but I saw her. Reiaka suppressed a sigh: Code Receiving. Right. Sorry, I believe you. Code Receiving end.
‘General Reiaka please pay attention. This meeting is important and we don’t have time to be repeating things because you are not listening.’ Reiaka turned to the speaker and gave him a withering glare causing him to look away. Before she could respond however a massive gale blew into the room extinguishing all the candles. Reiaka’s body tingled as she recognised a magic wind. She also felt droplets of water, also tingling with magic, splash onto her face.
Before anyone could react the wind died down and there was a crashing noise followed by several thumps as something crashed through the ceiling and hit the floor. Several grunts and groans and unintelligible protests identified the “something” as a “someone”.
Reiaka tapped her ring and called up a strip of flame and sent it floating up to illuminate the room. The wind flared up again half putting out the flame but Reiaka strengthened it then when the wind died down again she pulled several sparks out of the strip of flame to relight the candles.
Rozera looked around the room as Reiaka’s flame lit the room. In the middle of the room two people were lying gasping for breath on the floor. One was a young lady wearing the uniform of an Infiltrator. Infiltrators were like spies, working their way into meetings. Unlike spies they were more used for longer terms. They got in and tried to influence decisions a certain way. They were also often used for security, as they were so got at getting around places where they shouldn’t they, were good at catching spies, assassins and other infiltrators. The uniform was what they wore while doing security work. The girl had long blue/black hair that was pulled back in a high ponytail and deep blue eyes that glared at the person in front of her. Reiaka blinked as she recognised the girl.
The other person was wearing a long black cloak with a hood that hid her face. She had black gloves and black knee-length leather boots could be seen under the cloak. The person’s figure was female and she moved with grace. As she stood up a long thick braid of extremely light blonde hair slipped out from under the hood, falling over the girl’s shoulder. Those in the room heard a sighed as she reached up to stuff the braid back under her hood.
The Infiltrator stood up and touched a small crystal that was in her belt buckle, as she did all the water droplets in the room spun towards her, spinning into the crystal. She straightened up and stared at the girl in front of her for a few moments, trying to see the face under the hood, finally she gave up and reached out to snatch the hood away from the other girls face.
Amaya jerked her hand back as the hood fell away. She stared in shock as the young lady in front of her shook her head slightly and refastened the pins that held her long fringe back from where the hood had knocked them askew. Memories came flooding back to her, memories of a time that now seemed lifetimes away, memories of the time that they had spent at the School for Battle Magic. She found herself caught up in the spiral as memories swirled through her mind. Her mind was full of memories for her three best friends, the ones who she hadn’t seen since they had parted at graduation. A gentle breeze against her face bought her back to reality and she stared into the face of one of the people she hadn’t seen in years. Her hair was floating behind her and the cloak swirled about her feet.
Amaya couldn’t believe it. She had almost expected her to look different, but she didn’t really. She was a bit taller, and from Amaya could tell, a bit more filled out, her light blonde hair was a bit longer and the braid it was held back in was a bit thicker but she was still almost the same. The only thing that had really changed was her eyes. Still unusually pale, her green eyes which had once been full of life and laugher, had been so innocent and loving, were now duller and clouded, and they spoke volumes of what she had endured, and to Amaya, they seemed curiously familiar. As she studied her eyes she realised why they seemed so familiar; they spoke of the same things that Amaya’s own eye’s spoke of when she looked in the mirror.
Shiriia grabbed the braid that had once again been flung over her shoulder by the breeze and flung it over her shoulder again. The breeze caught it again and it fluttered behind her for a few moments before falling over her shoulder again. She sighed irritably, pulling the flap on her glove away from her palm and tapped the J.E.M crystal. The breezed died down and flowed back into the crystal. She shook her head slightly as her hearing returned to normal. She spent so much time with the breeze flowing around her that her hearing adapted to the slight deadening. She glanced ‘round the room and visibly started when she saw Amaya. She jumped again when she saw Rozera leaning against the wall one side of room and Reiaka standing on the other side of the room.
‘A-Amaya, Rozera, Reiaka, what are you all doing here?’
‘What are we doing here? I think the more important and relevant question right at the moment is what are you doing here?’ Reiaka asked, her voice tight as she took a step forward.
‘Ah, going by the fact that you seem really quite angry and you just glanced that him,’ Shiriia waved towards the man lying dead on the floor, ‘I’m guessing that you already know the answer to that.’
Reiaka couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she felt her fists clench into fists as she took another step forward. ‘Yeah actually Shiriia,’ she spat out the name as though it was something unpleasant and Shirria flinched as though she had been struck. Amaya’s eyes were narrowed as she glanced from one to the other. Rozera was unreadable as ever but those who knew her could see a tightening of her lips that indicated her tension. ‘I do know why you’re here, after all the evidence is kind of sprawled all over the floor. You killed him, in cold blood! What did he do to deserve this? What about his family? What about them? How many families have you broken apart? Do you enjoy it? Do you kill for pleasure? Is it something you look forward to, to kill? Answer me, ANSWER ME SHIRIIA!’ Reiaka screamed and the candles once again flared up. The strip of flame that still floated by the ceiling, spat and crackled, sparks falling like rain.
‘Calm down Reiaka, let her explain,’ Amaya said, ducking as a spark fell near her. Her enraged friend appeared not to hear. She glanced over at Rozera and saw that she was barely even reacting to the sparks. Her body was full of tension although her face was still carefully blank. She had always been the most affected whenever any of the friends fought. She was always balanced so and her friends fighting was one of the few things that could upset that balance. Amaya carefully stepped over to her, dodging several other sparks as Reiaka glared at Shiriia, who was staring back at her. Amaya put a gentle hand on Rozera’s shoulder and the other girl turned her head slightly to smile, but the smile was strained.
Suddenly the fire strip flared and sent sparks flying around the room. They rained down and things began to catch on fire; clothes, hair, furniture, anything that was flammable went up.
Almost without thinking Amaya, Rozera and Shiriia spun around, tapping and activating their J.E.M crystals. Their elements flew around the room, putting out the fire. Within seconds all the fires were out and Reiaka had called the fire strip back. Soon it was silent again, except for slight whimpering noises coming from the corner where the other leaders were cowering.
The four girls stared at each other before something strange began to happen; they began to laugh. It started with Amaya who couldn’t smother her giggles, Rozera gave her an odd look before she too began to giggle. Shiriia and Reiaka started at each other incredulously for a moment before Shiriia began to shake, Reiaka too was shaking with the effort of suppressing her amusement. The two girls broke down at the same moment and soon all four girls were howling with laughter.
After a minute or two they slowly began to calm down, gasping for breath as their laughter died down. Reiaka had collapsed onto a chair and she glanced down at where her three oldest friends lay gasping and still giggling on the floor. She looked longest at Shiriia, seeing the same changes as Amaya had, how her eyes were filled with suffering even as she laughed. She could still feel the anger at the knowledge the Shiriia was a killer but she realised that she hadn’t been fair. Her shock at seeing her after so long and knowing what she had done had boiled up, causing her to explode. She knew that it wasn’t Shiriia’s fault that she had to kill and she knew that she didn’t kill without purpose. It was probably a good thing that she had lost her temper though; if she hadn’t, such a silly moment wouldn’t have erupted, which had neatly broken the tension.
‘Hehe looks like some things never change, even after six years.’ Rozera sighed with a smile. Amaya smiled back and nodded, glancing at the other two who were once again staring at each other; but this time without hostility. Reiaka was smiling slightly as she stood up. She held out her hand to Shiriia who took it, allowing Reiaka to pull her to her feet. They stood for a moment before embracing each other tightly. Amaya and Rozera grinned at each other.
‘So we know why you are here, but what’s going on Shiriia, why did you assassinate him?’ Reiaka asked letting go of her friend. She gestured to the man on the floor.
‘Oh yeah, that reminds me. He was a plant, someone where on his body is a magic run communicator. I could sense it, I was supposed to take him out after the meeting to avoid causing a disturbance,’ Reiaka raised her eyes at this and Shiriia grinned, ‘well as little disturbance as possible. But when I sensed the communicator I realised that didn’t have time to wait.’
‘Wait a second,’ Rozera interrupted, ‘you said you sensed the communicator, but I’ve been in the room the entire time, so has Reiaka, and neither of us sensed anything.’
‘Yeah good point,’ Reiaka nodded, ‘I would have thought we would have sensed it.’
Amaya was frowning slightly,‘I was patrolling around this meeting since it began and the only magic I sensed was your kill magic.’ She said, ‘one of the reasons why I’m here and not on an assignment is because there were going to be several secret high profile meetings and because I’m so good at sensing magic they wanted me patrolling.’
‘Yeah I do remember that you were the best at sensing magic out of the four of us. Hmm and I think I was the worst!’ Shiriia smiled slightly but her eyes had lost all their laughter and amusement as she stared down at the man she had killed. ‘I think the only reason why you wouldn’t have sensed it was that it was being covered. A Subduing Magic had been woven into the Operating Magic so it wasn’t obvious and almost completely undetectable. The Subduing Magic was worked into the Protector Magic I think, not into the communicator or the Communication Magic…which would actually make more sense when you think about it’
‘You know, I’m good with technical magic but even I have no idea what you just meant.’ Rozera said, a puzzled look on her face.
‘Hmm? Oh I’m sorry, I guess I’m not really used to people listening to me when I’m rambling on. Anyway it just so happens to be that the subduing magic is Wind, so I was easily able to sense it. Once I’d sensed that, it wasn’t hard to sense the rest of the magic.’ Shiriia crouched down next to the man and peered at him intently, ‘now, let us see what we can find.’