Aurelius flinched with every new round of distant explosions outside.

  The smell of smoke had made its way into the room in no time through the cracks of the windows, stabbing Aurelius’s nose with its putrid stench.

  He also noticed a strange surge of mana around the tower, it seemed like a whirlwind of mana had begun to circle and channel through the ignivite coating the tower.

  He could see the blue glow penetrating through the gaps in the curtains, increasing in intensity over the past few minutes.

  It seemed that the Commission was attempting to enact a ritualistic spell, using the tower as a conduit for channeling the mana.

  While Aurlius was unable to discern even the elemental affinity of the spell, the ritualistic spell at this scale created by commission mages would be massive enough to cover the entire city, and powerful enough to bring things under control.

  The thought of the Commission and its readiness did ease Aurelius’s mind a little. The Royal Knights were practically useless in disasters like this, after all.

  What Aurelius could not discern was the sporadic nature of the bombings.

  If their goal was to create mass casualties, it would be much more prudent to simply set all bombs off at the same time.

  However, the sporadic nature meant that the longer things went on, it would only damage a few properties at most. The Commission would already be working with all organisations available and coordinating evacuation efforts.

  80% of the city would be evacuated within the next 30 minutes, and the damage done would decrease exponentially over time.

  And who were the bombings for anyway? It felt so random for Aurelius. What kind of objective would such an unfocused bombing accomplish?

  Aurelius could honestly think of a single potential objective. And that was to sow chaos. By utilising the bombings as a distraction, perpetrators were likely to be able to pull the focus away from their primary objective.

  However, the Commission would be fools to fall for such stupid tactics. They were likely evacuating or locking down their artefacts, if not outright contracting high ranking spirits for short term protections…

  “Knock knock.”

  Aurelius almost jumped out of his skin at the knocking, interrupting his train of thought.

  Collecting himself, Aurelius was not sure if he should see who it was. Were they here to kick Aurelius out from the room onto the streets with all the bombs?

  Standing up gingerly, Aurelius tiptoed over to the door, pressing his ears against the door in a bid to make out what was being said beyond it.

  Through the cracks of the hinges, a familiar voice rang out the moment his ears made contact with the wooden surface of the door.

  “Aurelius Vennor, I know you’re inside. Open the door.” The voice called out.

  It was Mr. Tona.

  Aurelius complied hesitantly, unsure of why he was here.

  The old man stood against the harsh mana white mana lighting of the Commission corridors, his shadow reflected ominously against the glass railings overlooking the floors of the tower beyond.

  Aurelius could make out Commission employees bustling all around the floors of the towers, and some even squeezed past the old man in his trench coat, creating ripples in his clothes as they went.

  Wally Tona looked serious, just as he had been two weeks back when he had interrogated Aurelius in the tower cells. His face was devoid of emotion, and his usual air of humour was replaced with a gravity and professionalism that Aurelius struggled to superpose with the man that he was used to.

  “We need to evacuate you. It’s the fae. The bombings are meant to lure you out.” He said simply, reaching into his pocket to pull out a wooden stick engraved with geometric patterns.

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  Aurelius nearly fell to his knees at this statement.

  The fae? They would go to such lengths just to draw him out?

  “W-wait. Aren’t the fae nearly wiped out? They’ve been virtually silent for the last 300 years! There’s no way they can pull off something insane like this!” Aurelius yelled out, in denial as to what Mr. Tona was insinuating.

  “Hmm… Yes. That’s what the Commission believes. The Fae Queen had always been quite adamant about making her presence felt prior to the war.”

  “However, the casualties in the war had been significant enough to severely handicap the Queen, and their inactivity suggests that the Queen has yet to rebuild her forces to a decent size as of today.” Mr. Tona explained, stone faced, as if talking down to a child.

  “However, they are still more than capable of attacks at this scale. The Fae Queen Herself a deity permanently physically manifested within the plane of reality. And even the Commission is unable to confirm the number of successful liches created in that war.”

  “Their power is indeed significant enough to orchestrate such an attack successfully. At risk of exposing themselves, of course. And I’m sure that we can ward off their little… attacks.” Mr. Tona concluded, reaching out his hand to Aurelius from beyond the boundary of the door.

  “The room is warded.” He said simply, urging Aurelius to step out.

  Sensing Aurelius’s hesitation, the old man gave him a small smile, as if to reassure him that everything was going to be fine, and bringing back a little of the familiar man that Aurelius was used to.

  Taking Mr. Tona’s hand, Aurelius stepped out of the room, and the world whirred all around him as the sage teleported the two of them away from the bustle of the Tower.

  Aurelius stepped out onto the carpets of a luxurious, 2 room hotel room. It had warm yellow lighting, with a beautifully carved bookshelf with a larger, expensive radio set taking up the entirety of its second shelf.

  Aurelius could make out a typewriter and stacks of manuscripts in one of the two rooms, presumably a study room, complete with a beautiful oak table and cushioned leather chair.

  There was a record player fitted with a sound amplification charm on the coffee table next to the comfortable cushioned couch, complete with a decent catalogue of music records.

  And seated on the snug couch at the centre of it all sat a cross legged woman, exuding all the confidence of the world.

  She was clearly up there in age, yet her face exuded a youthful radiance that clearly shone past the wrinkles of age, and her eyes retained the clarity of a much younger woman.

  Mr. Tona stood next to Aurelius, stone faced, staring intently at the woman. His expression never strayed a single millimeter, yet Aurelius felt that there was a complicated torrent of emotions that swirled beneath the stoic facade.

  Sipping on a glass of wine, the woman closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat in satisfaction, giving Aurelius a chill down his spine. She was clearly relaxed, and completely ignoring the two entrants to the room. Yet, she gave off a familiar aura that Aurelius could not help but feel intimidated by.

  “Boom.”

  The explosion snapped Aurelius back to reality. Were they still in the city? And in the Tonas’ hotel room?

  “Boom.”

  The woman that Aurelius presumed to be Mrs. Tona broke the silence, her eyes opening back up leisurely with another explosion.

  She snapped her fingers, summoning a charm carved with intricate patterns, crafted from a reddish metallic substance.

  As Aurelius stared in confusion, the lady proceeded to send the metal hurtling towards her husband.

  The former sage’s expression remained unchanged, his eyes giving off the slightest hint of pain as he stared at his wife as the charm burnt itself against Wally Tona’s forehead with a sizzle, and diffusing the fatty aroma of cooked meat all around the room.

  Aurelius proceeded to run towards the door to the exit. He was not dealing with… whatever this was!

  “Welcome, Aurelius Vennor. Tona has told me much about you…” The woman started, ignoring Aurlius’s desperate attempt to flee.

  It would be pointless. After all, she was in control…

  ???

  “Survey.” Archsage Livia commanded Archsage Andrew impatiently.

  The two archsages were currently standing atop the windy and unnecessarily cold roof of one of the city’s high rise buildings. This was honestly so unwelcome for someone afraid of height such as Archsage Andrew.

  With a small wince, the man snapped his fingers, summoning thousands of mice onto the platform, each escaping over one another like a warm, fleshy liquid through the geometric lines being sketched against the air.

  They were confined by an invisible force, held by Archsage Andrew’s control over their little mice souls.

  They crawled against each other, building up a cubic mess of flesh and fur up and reaching into the sky.

  Sighing slightly, the man braced himself, as he snapped his fingers again.

  This time, he summoned his own eyeball to his outstretched hand, creating a spurt of blood to splatter out onto the stone gray floor that they were standing atop of.

  The man crushed his eyeball in his hands, mana spiraling inwards in the process, to create an intense, golden light.

  The mice army and their squeaking ceased immediately.

  With a snap of the Archsage’s fingers, all 50,000 mice were scattered all around the city, teleported randomly to become his eyes.

  “You could have managed another 50,000.” Archsage Livia commented sarcastically, her smile making Archsage Andrew’s skin crawl a little once more.

  “Eh, it’s not necessary! 50,000 is enough for the city for now.” He complained, as his eye grew back slowly, leaking blood and fluid as the wound reformed into a new eyeball.

  With a wave of Archsage Livia’s wrists, the blood and fluids burned up, cleaning up the mess that the self-inflicted injury had created.

  “What do you see?” Archsage Livia asked, a slight bit of concern creeping into her words.

  Sage Yeltz had just communicated to them the perpetrators of the incident. And the fae were not a foe that they could afford to take lightly.

  Her colleague’s face underwent all 5 stages of grief, as he carefully considered his words, collecting information through his 50,000 pairs of eyes.

  “...Well… It’s not good.” He responded simply, his face balking at his impending contract termination.