Chapter IV.XXVI (4.26) - Locating Beacons

  It took several hours before Kizu finally got through the custom reports. Every time he finished one, it would be replaced by another. Often requesting near the exact same details as the form just completed. Vincent had dismissed himself very early on when he realized nothing more interesting would happen and left Kizu to his endless endeavor. It was maddening. But he did eventually rip himself free of the bureaucracy.

  Once complete, Kizu took a minute to flip through some brochures while Albert reviewed his documents. Port Kallis appeared to be a cultural hub. Puppet shows, art exhibits, museums, acrobatic shows, orchestra concerts. This city had it all and more. He was looking at a brochure for a sports game that involved teams racing on the backs of massive dragonflies when Albert finished.

  “Very good,” Albert said, stamping his final paper and filing it into a cabinet beside him. “From this moment forward, you are now clear to enter and exit the nation with only the minimal customs documentation. Congratulations.”

  Apparently the paperwork would have been cut to a fraction if he hadn’t accidentally entered illegally. But it was now all behind him.

  “So, just so I understand right, this beacon has a unique signature?” Kizu asked.

  “Correct. Every beacon pulses with a specific rhythm to help travelers locate and differentiate them. Identifying that rhythm is essential when traveling between cities.”

  Kizu focused on his spellsense, taking a minute to absorb the beat of the beacon here. Two long beats, four rapid. Then a long pause. Now that he knew what to look for, he could tell it was undoubtedly a different beacon from the one at the academy which seemed to thrum with magic.

  “I’ve contacted your academy,” Albert continued. “They’ll be here shortly to retrieve you.”

  Nearly the moment he spoke, the door to his office opened to reveal Roba’s hunched form and signature scowl. She reminded Kizu greatly of the crone in that moment.

  “Good. You’re here. You realize the worry your disappearance caused? Out all of all the beacons, I don’t know why this is the one to snare you. ”

  “Likely has to do with an innate resonance with this particular beacon. Some people are inherently more likely to latch onto certain rhythms,” Albert explained.

  Roba’s face soured, clearly that had been meant to be a rhetorical question. But she schooled herself and thanked him.

  “Now, back to the academy.” Roba gripped his arm and he felt the familiar churn of them jumping.

  A second later they stood in Shinzou Academy’s receiving room, the school’s beacon overhead.

  Kizu closed his eyes and focused his spellsense on the beacon. He’d detected it hundreds of times before, constantly needing to defy its omnipresent pull. Aware of what to look for, Kizu felt confident he would be able to jump back to this beacon whenever he needed to.

  “With that out of the way, now you can finally be put to work,” Roba said. “With your most recent ranking improvements you’ve proven your capacity to grow this last half a year. Let’s see if that growth extends to reliability.”

  “What sort of work?” Kizu asked carefully.

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  “In exchange for my time tutoring you, you originally agreed to run me errands. You now have an opportunity to redeem your previous failure. You’ll be my go between for Tross. At least for Port Kallis, where you now have entry paperwork completed for. From there you can complete the majority of what I will need done. This mistake can be turned into a prime opportunity. Assuming you believe yourself capable of returning to Port Kallis’ beacon?”

  Kizu agreed readily. Running occasional errands in a new city while giving him an excuse to practice his long distance jumping? This sounded great to him. Way more appealing than blood disposal duty down in the World Dungeon. Especially after reading those brochures about all the activities going on in Port Kallis.

  Just to be sure, he extended his spellsense out again. The beacon beside him thrummed loudly in his mind but he pushed beyond it. It took a moment, but then he sensed the emission of Port Kallis’ beacon like a lighthouse’s light on the horizon of his senses. Yes, he could definitely jump there again.

  “When do you need work done?”

  Roba considered. “I’ll send a message via your scrying orb or inform you at our weekly meetings. Most of the time you’ll receive at least two days' notice ahead of time.”

  After that, Roba dismissed him and jumped away, probably returning back to her office.

  Kizu, with a few hours of free time on hand, decided to try his hand at the numerology homework Knoff had assigned them. Needing a few books he didn’t have on hand, he headed off to the library. He was even lucky enough to find a quiet corner before he dived into the mathematical problems.

  Unlike how he spent hours on hours disenchanting scraps last semester to improve his enchanting ranking, numerology wasn’t a subject where he could brute force his way forward. He needed to fully comprehend the subject material if he wanted to advance.

  He entered a zone as his mind flickered from one problem to the next. The equations built off of one another. Once he fully understood one, the next in his path would take what he learned and push it off in a different direction.

  Anna had taught him basic arithmetic as a child and he’d gleaned the rest of what he knew from the scrying locations placed around the schoolhouse at the town near the crone’s hut. Not a complete education by any definition, but enough of a foundation that he could build off it. Which was more than could be said for Krimpit’s subjects.

  Mind buzzing with information, Kizu decided it was time to switch subjects. But first, he leaned back in his chair and let his mind wander over to Mort.

  The owl monkey had recently fallen asleep in Taroe’s home. Before that though, he’d been watching Anata and her friends. He prodded at his familiar through their bond and the monkey opened an eye to look down from his perch on a cabinet at the children. They’d spread out a massive map onto the kitchen table and were pointing at different points of Shinzou Island. Some sort of study session. Kizu supposed that made sense, Anata had spent years wandering the island in astral form. She probably was telling them about it. If they wanted to study geography, that was more than fine with Kizu. That was far better than them seeking out trouble.

  He stood to return the textbooks he’d been using to their respective shelves. As he walked through the library he couldn’t help but be surprised by how vacant it felt. Most of the Tainted students from Edgeland had yet to arrive on campus, but that hardly fully accounted for its abandonment. Last semester this place had been so bustling it had been a fight to find a spot to study without reserving a table ahead of time.

  “Is something happening today?” Kizu asked the librarian as he exited. “Where is everyone?”

  The girl blinked her long lashes at him. “The entire campus was invited. Did you not hear?”

  “Um. Nope. Invited to what?”

  “The party! Even some of the professors will be participating.” She sighed dramatically. “We held a raffle earlier today to decide who’d end up on duty during it. I drew the bad chip.”

  “The…party.” Kizu’s eyes widened. She didn’t mean…but of course she did. Shit. It was today. He glanced at the ticking clock behind the librarian. The party was scheduled to start twenty minutes ago.

  No time to replace the book of enchanting glyphs he’d been intending to study next. He quickly set it down on the librarian’s counter with a thud. “I’ve really got to go. Can you return this for me? So sorry! Thanks!”

  Without waiting for a response, Kizu dashed off.

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