“The first house we visited belongs to a disheveled young man. Although he said he doesn’t interact with anyone, he mentioned that he sees the veteran spellcaster come home from time to time. Unfortunately, the last time he saw him come was last month…”

“The second house we visited, as we’re told, belongs to a drunkard. We didn’t get to meet him personally, but the one occupying the house next to it said that the drunkard doesn’t get along with everybody. He also told us about how the drunkard used to be an adventurer until one day, he came home to find his wife and kids dead. Though those were just rumors he had heard.”

“The one next to the drunkard is a short, dirty looking man. He mentioned that the man we’re looking for is probably somewhere in the mountains doing research as spellcasters usually do that kind of thing.” 

The young cleric reported.

“Wait, did you mention that you’re looking for a spellcaster?” The investigator mage asked.

“No, we told them the story you told us to. A father and daughter looking for my cousin.” The farmer replied.

“That’s strange.” The investigator mage commented.

“I know, how could they believe that I’m a father to someone who’s in their late teens…” The farmer shook his head in disbelief.

“I’m not even sure what to think about this.” The young cleric thought to herself.

“That’s not what I mean.” The investigator mage said.

“Contrary to how adventurers welcome spellcasters to their party, ordinary citizens do not like spellcasters living near them for fear that the spellcaster may conduct an experiment at their home and get involved with any accidents that may occur.”

“Of course it would be a different story if the said spellcaster is helping the community with his magicka like maintaining roads or fixing houses. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here…”

“It seems to me that that person already knows about the man being a spellcaster and is keeping it a secret for some reason… It could be that they’ve come into an agreement.” The investigator mage explained.

“What do we do then?” The young cleric asked.

 “I’ll enter through a back entrance while you two stall him in the front. I’ll disable him once I’m inside then we’ll interrogate him.” The investigator mage instructed.

“Wait, isn’t that considered an assault?” Just as the young cleric asked, the investigator mage seemingly didn’t hear her and just continued to walk, donning his invisibility-enchanted cloak in the process.

“Don’t worry, it’s not an assault if the person assaulted didn’t know about it.” The farmer tried to reassure the young cleric who looked even more troubled than before.

-Knock, knock-

“Excuse me!” The farmer called.

“Yes? Oh it’s you again? Any luck finding your cousin?” The short, dirty looking man opened the door slightly, with just his face peering through the gap between the door.  

“No not really, but I just want to ask some follow up questions…”The farmer said.

“You mentioned about him probably in the mountains right?” The farmer asked as the expression on the short, dirty looking man’s face seemed to change.

“Yes, what about it?” He asked with a slightly shaken tone in his voice.

“Well, we’re not really familiar with this place so I was hoping you could tell us where the closest mountain from here he might’ve gone…” The farmer explained. The short, dirty looking man opened the door wider.

“Oh!” He said.

“Actually, if you go to the south gate and follow the path to the capital, you’ll reach a side road to the west going to the mountains. Since the west gate is blocked due to the recent monster attacks coming from the west forest, the south is the safest way to go.” The short, dirty looking man narrated.

“Wait, monster attacks?” The farmer asked, pretending to be surprised. Despite not caring about the monster attacks, he pretended to be surprised to remain in character.

“Yes, apparently a few lumberjacks were attacked by an unknown monster.” The short, dirty looking man said.

“This monster, any other information about it?” The farmer asked, stalling him further.

“Hmmm… well–” Just as the short, dirty looking man was about to say anything, a jolt of lightning knocked him out, with the farmer catching him as he fell.

“Wait! What the–” The young cleric blurted.

“Shh!” The investigator mage, removing his cloak, hushed her to prevent the neighbors from looking at what happened.

“Bring him inside, quickly.” The investigator ordered, in a quiet voice.

“Bring that chair to the center.” The investigator ordered the young cleric while sealing the entire house with a barrier. He then casted a binding spell on the short, dirty looking man as soon as the farmer seats him to the chair.

“So, how are we going to interrogate him?” The farmer asked. The investigator mage walks up in front of the unconscious man then proceeds to remove his gloves.

“I’m sorry but I need you two to step out for a bit…” He requested.

“What? Why?” The young cleric questioned but the farmer was quick to pick up on what the investigator mage was about to do.

“Let’s go.” He said before heading to the front door, slightly nudging the young cleric to follow him.

“I thought we’re supposed to assist him?” She said while continuing to follow the farmer.

“We are, but… just trust me okay?” The farmer said. Although he doesn’t really know what the investigator mage was thinking, he could tell that it was something they, or at least the young cleric, should witness.

Back inside the house, the investigator mage placed his hands on both sides of the unconscious man’s head, near the temple.

“Through the dark veil and mist filled world of dreams, show me the records of your subconsciousness…” His palms start to glow from the dense mana forming on it.

“Mind tap” A forbidden magicka spell that, as the name of the spell suggests, taps into the mind of the target. It is considered as a forbidden magicka spell for two reasons:

The First is that it is considered an invasion of privacy to tap into someone’s subconsciousness, especially when done so without the consent of the targeted spell, or without the authority and supervision of the Kingdom’s court wizard.

And second, this magicka spell is dangerous both to the target and the user. Using mana as a conduit, the user can extract the memories of the target. When used by someone inexperienced with the spell, it may result in a psychological ailment called “Memory merging” wherein either the user, the target, or both of them cannot distinguish their memories. In order to prevent such things from happening, the user needs to be experienced with a magicka technique called “Multi-layered spell”. By multi-layering a spell, the mage can cast the spell “Mind tap” with a second layered spell “Mind protect” to protect both his and the target’s memory, lessening the risk of any psychological ailments.

With a multi-layered spell “Mind tap” and “Mind protect”, the investigator mage has successfully entered the subconscious of the unconscious man, but with two high-level magicka spells at the same time, his mana is draining rapidly; He knew that he can only maintain the spells for a couple of seconds, a minute at best.

Inside the subconsciousness of another person is like being inside the dreamworld; dark, blurry, with the atmosphere so heavy. Mustering any strength inside the dreamworld is exhausting, making it impossible to force the target into revealing any information.

“Hey, do you know a spellcaster?” The investigator mage whispered. Though he can’t force the unconscious man, he can influence his subconsciousness into revealing any memory he has that he associates with the word “spellcaster”. Suddenly, the darkness enveloping them starts to clear out, revealing a forest somewhere near the city. He starts to hear a faint sound of someone panting, his heart starts to beat rapidly, fatigue starts to build up…

“No!, this is not me!” The investigator mage said to himself. Clearly differentiating whose memories is a must in order for the spell Mind protect to function properly. 

“This is that man’s memories!” He said.

“Awuk!”

A sound of a wolf getting hurt echoed through the forest, calling the man’s attention. He then hurried to where he thought the sound was coming from and saw a familiar man dressed in a robe killing a wolf with a lightning magicka. He walked slowly to him and just as he approached the man, the environment quickly shifted back to the low-cost housing district, in front of the spellcaster’s house.

“I knew it! That was you killing the wolf in the forest using lightning magic!” The man loudly exclaimed with the spellcaster quickly turning his gaze towards the man.

“Shhh! Keep it down! I don’t want the others to chase me out here…” The spellcaster looked horrified as his cover was blown.

“Okay, then teach me a magic spell and I’ll keep your secret.” The man bargained. The investigator mage felt disgusted at how the man is using blackmail to a fellow mage but kept his emotions in check, suppressing the urge to attack the man mentally.

“Okay okay, I get it, but I can only teach you at night” The spellcaster negotiated, with the man agreeing before the environment shifted again now to the forest at the west gate.

“Shit! I didn’t think the wagon would be late. Now I’m gonna be late as well for my first magic lesson!” The man said to himself with an irritated tone while walking through the forest, making his way towards the west gate.

“Wait, isn’t that…” The visage of a man walking carefully at the otherside of the road, towards the woods, prompted him. From the man’s height and how he walked, he could tell that it was the spellcaster, trying to hide, possibly from him.

“What the hell?! I thought he was going to teach me magic today!” The man angrily said before following him quietly deeper into the woods, crossing a stream through a makeshift bridge made out of an old log, almost slipping from the moss partially covering it.

“Where is he planning to go?! Is he that powerful to not care about the dangers of the forest at night?” The man wondered.

-Kshhrrrhhh!- “Awuukk!”

A faint sound of thunder followed by a wolf’s grunt echoed a few meters from the man. Although he had lost the spellcaster as darkness fell in the forest, the faint lightning from the thunder spell gave him an idea of the location the spellcaster is currently in.

It was a few meters from the stream where he saw a rundown shack, and a small bolt of lightning flashed near it, following the sound of a dying wolf. He slowly walked near it, circling around behind the shrubs and the trees surrounding the shack, carefully navigating as to not make a sound that may attract whoever was killing the wolves he heard. 

It was the veteran spellcaster with the corpse of a wolf at his feet.

“What’s teacher doing here at this time of the night?” The investigator mage heard the man’s voice wondering aloud. The spellcaster then grabs the wolf’s hind legs then pulls the corpse inside his shack. The spellcaster’s actions bothered the investigator mage as, had he wanted to harvest the wolf’s corpse for any materials then cleaning the corpse outside would be more efficient; assuming that the spellcaster has the prior knowledge of dismantling a corpse.

“What is he planning?” The investigator mage wondered to himself.

Just as the man walks up to the shack to take a peek at what the spellcaster was doing inside, the whole environment slowly shifted back inside the man’s house, with the investigator mage now in front of the man bound to the chair.

“Shit, time out huh?” The investigator mage uttered, realizing his mana was almost at the danger level. He leans on the wall as he starts to feel the fatigue setting into him, trying to recall everything he had witnessed. 

 “I guess finding the shack is the next thing to do… but I’m gonna need to rest first.” The investigator mage said to himself before walking towards the front door.