Chương 49: Twisted Magic

Catriona led Evan through the maze of platforms, bridges, stairs, and walkways that made up the Forest Folk village. He learned that the village was called Whisperleaf Grove, named after the tribe that lived here: the Whisperleaf Tribe. While they made their way from platform to platform, they walked past many tribe members. They all looked like Tolkien-esque elves to Evan, sans the pointy ears.

Their long hair, their lithe stature, their elegant, earth-colored clothes, and the expertly crafted bows and spears they carried. Even the lofty attitude.

They glared at Evan and scrunched their noses in disdain, exactly like he would expect a hundreds-of-years-old, superior magical race would react to an ordinary human, but Catriona once again reassured him they weren't elves, had completely normal lifespans, and the same magical potential as every other human, except for advantage that the Old Forest produced more rare affinity crystals and ability gems.

"And this Lamont is your leader?" Evan asked, short of breath as they climbed up another set of spiral staircases.

"You need to put more attribute points into stamina if you're already winded. You know your stamina attribute is tied to your health and your mana, right?"

"Yes, I know," he wheezed. His thighs were burning, making every stair step feel like hard work, while Catriona basically danced up the stairs in front of him.

"Lamont is our Patriarch," she explained.

"Forest Folk tribes are always ruled by a Patriarch and a Matriarch."

"Will I meet her today, too? The Matriarch?"

"No, she's out on an expedition, with twenty of our finest warriors. They're taking care of a Nightmare Bat infestation further east. They're not expected back for at least another week." She stopped in front of a house, slightly larger than Grainne's, and with a lot more carved ornamentation and decorations. Just from the building alone, Evan could tell someone important lived here. Catriona stepped forward and raised her hand to knock on the door, but before she had the chance, the door opened.

A man appeared in the doorway. Tall and slender, like the rest of the tribe, with long, platinum-blond hair and steel-gray eyes. He wore a rich blue tunic and a thin wooden circlet on his head. Catriona took a step back and bowed her head.

"Patriarch."

"I sensed your coming," the tribe's patriarch said. He spoke to Catriona, but his gaze was fixed on Evan, studying him so intently that Evan's ears started to turn red. Catriona cleared her throat.

"I brought—""An outsider," Lamont interrupted coolly.

"Yes, Declan told me about him and his companions." She furrowed her brows.

"You disapprove?"

"No," Lamont said, "I don't share the same extremist views as my predecessor. You saw that someone needed help and acted in accordance with our values. Protecting life. All life. Even the lives of outsiders. Why have you brought that boy to me, though?" Evan did not enjoy being called "that boy," so he decided to speak for himself.

"My friends and I are following a group of criminals who abducted innocent people. Catriona thought you might know something about them and where they're going." Lamont nodded.

"I see. I'm afraid you won't like what I'm going to tell you, but if you're willing to hear it anyway, come inside."

"I'm willing to listen to anyone who can help us find the Beast's victims," Evan said. Lamont stepped aside, allowing him to enter his home. Catriona followed close behind. The interior of Lamont's home looked fancier than Grainne's as well, but not nearly as opulent or luxurious as the hotel Alexandra had resided in in Stormhaven. The furniture and decorations were mostly wood. High-quality, polished, intricately carved wood, but without any gold or sparkle.

Lamont invited him into a room with a low table, surrounded by cushions on the floor.

"Please sit." Evan picked one of the cushions and sat down, crossing his legs under him. Lamont and Catriona joined him at the table.

"Tea?" Lamont asked.

"No, thank you. With all due respect, Patriarch, I'd appreciate it if we could skip the niceties and go straight to the point. My friend is really sick, and I want to get back to him as soon as possible."

"I understand. But let me ask you a question first." Evan hesitated for a moment. He suspected, from the way Lamont looked at him and also from the general feeling of magic touching and probing him, that the patriarch had some kind of perception skill. How much had he already found out about Evan? He'd been advised to keep both his world traveler status and his affinity a secret.

On the other hand, the sophisticated, polite tribe leader did not look like the kind of guy who would murder him in the hope of looting a rare affinity crystal from his body. Evan gave a half-shrug.

"Sure."

"You and your friends are low-rankers," Lamont said. That wasn't a question, just a statement.

"How come your leaders haven't sent a stronger team to investigate these events? Many innocent lives are at stake. The lives of your people. Do your leaders not care about them?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Evan wasn't sure how to answer that question. It carried a certain judgmental attitude that made him slightly uncomfortable, but Lamont was right. The guilds should've sent a stronger team to investigate these mysterious disappearances.

Or any team at all. Instead, Alex had to take matters into her own hands, only to be forcibly stopped from intervening herself, having to rely on Evan and his friends.

"To be honest with you, Patriarch, I don't know. Someone told me the guild is currently experiencing some kind of internal strife that's keeping everyone in charge busy or distracted, but I'm not important enough to know what any of this is about. All I know is that the people of this region are being attacked and abducted and that I needed to do something to put a stop to this."

"And you think you can do that?" Lamont asked as he poured tea from a ceramic teapot into two cups.

"You're only rank 3. You have a rank 8 with you, but he has no combat skills, does he?"

"He does not," Evan admitted, "And no, I'm not sure we can beat th3 Beasts in a fight. In fact, I'm pretty certain we can't. We already tried, and it was a disaster we barely survived."

"Then what is your plan?" Catriona asked, brows furrowed, cradling the steaming hot teacup between her hands.

"The plan is to track them down and find the victims, then call in help." Lamont tilted his head.

"And you think help will come?" The question gave Evan pause. Alex had promised, but she'd also promised to accompany them and help the abducted villagers herself. Instead, she'd sent them off alone, with only Jasper, who was a fantastic tracker but not really fit to protect them or the villagers. How likely was it that she could free herself from the restrictions the guild had put upon her and gather enough support for this mission? And even if she succeeded, would she arrive in time? Evan let out a long breath.

"I'm not sure. Maybe not. Maybe we're on our own." Catriona and Lamont exchanged a glance Evan failed to interpret. They looked a little like they felt sorry for him.

"The fact that you're trying honors you," Lamont said, taking a sip from his cup.

"I will share our knowledge about these events to help you."

"Thank you, Patriarch."

"Our scouts first noted the presence of these men you call Beasts about three months ago. At first, they did not cause any trouble, and it's rare but not unheard of for outsiders to travel through our forest."

"Did your scouts find out where they were going?"

"We did. They went to the Vason Estate." Evan narrowed his eyes in thought. He was surprised to hear the criminals lived in some kind of estate. He would've expected them to have a lair in a cave, mine, or maybe a dungeon. Something dark and sinister. The name Vason rang a bell, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before. Catriona picked up on his confusion.

"You of course know the history of the Vason Estate?"

"Uh… I'm not from this region," Evan excused himself.

"I'm not familiar with the local history." Lamont let out a small chuckle.

"Not from this region is an understatement." Evan tensed. Catriona looked at Lamont with a puzzled expression, then her eyes focused on Evan. Her gaze bore into him as intensely as if she were trying to take an X-ray of him with just the naked eye. Evan tried not to squirm and instead turned to Lamont.

"You know?"

"Know what?" Catriona asked sharply. Lamont ignored her question and gave Evan a small smile.

"I hope you can forgive my intrusion. My skills are perception-focused, and it can be hard to tune out the information that comes in. Especially if it's broadcast as loudly as yours."

"I'm broadcasting something?" Evan asked.

"Not just you. It's inherent to low-rankers. High-rankers are much harder for me to read, but you and your friends are more or less an open book." Catriona looked from Evan to Lamont, then back to Evan.

"What are you talking about? Patriarch, who is this man?" Evan answered instead of Lamont. It was his secret to tell, after all.

"A world traveler," he said.

"A world traveler who's apparently very bad at subterfuge, even though people keep telling me I need to be careful who I share my origins with." Catriona set her teacup down so hard a bit of tea spilled on the table.

"You're from another world? Which one? How did you get here? When did you—" Lamont quietly raised his hand, and Catriona instantly fell silent, although the way she pressed her lips together told Evan she had many more questions, and holding them back cost her great effort.

"Catriona, be polite. These are very probing questions and not the topic of this conversation." Catriona's shoulders slumped.

"I apologize for my transgressions," she mumbled, eyes downcast. Evan waved away her apology.

"It's fine. I'd be curious too if our roles were reversed. I promise you, I'll answer any question you can think of later, but now I need to hear what Patriarch Lamont has to say first. Patriarch, please continue." Lamont nodded.

"The Vason Estate belonged to Lord Vason and his family. It was abandoned when their feud with the guilds wiped out the entire family, including the Lord." That explanation brought back some memories. Hadn't Reynold the Innkeeper had told him a very similar story?

"Wait… a feud with the guilds? Is this the guy who had a thing for the plague affinity?"

"Yes, correct. Lord Vason sponsored an expedition to one of the Old Forest underground ruins, and they unearthed several crates filled with plague affinity crystals. Vason took a liking to them and made every unbound family member take one."

"Underground ruins?" Evan asked.

"There are underground ruins? Celestial ruins?"

"Yes. In fact, the majority of celestial ruins are underground. Many are still unexplored because of this." Evan's mind quickly drifted, thinking about what kind of loot one might find in those unexplored ruins. He gave himself a little shake. There were more important issues than finding riches right now.

"The innkeeper in Silvercreek told me about that Lord and his family. But if they're all dead and the estate is abandoned, what are the Beasts doing there? Why are they bringing all those abducted villagers there?" Catriona shifted on her floor cushion, and Lamont's face darkened.

"We don't think these criminals are the only new occupants of the Vason Estate," he said.

"We believe someone far more sinister has taken residence there."

"Who?" Evan asked, worried by Lamont's ominous tone.

"I think I heard the Beasts mention someone they called The Professor. Is that who you're talking about?" Lamont made a thoughtful face.

"The Professor… we don't know the person's identity, but if those criminals mentioned the name, then probably. Our people stay away from the Estate, but we found the… results of whatever twisted magic they're doing there."

"Results?" Evan asked.

"Results of twisted magic? Is this person doing something to the villagers? What?" Lamont took a long sip from his teacup, staring into space, before he continued talking.

"We don't know."

"Can't you ask them?" Evan asked, growing impatient with the older man. Now was not the time to be vague and mysterious. He needed answers.

"No, we cannot ask them, Evan, because all we found were bodies." Evan's stomach dropped.

"Dead? All of them?" Lamont nodded solemnly.

"All the ones we found. Around twenty so far." Catriona shuddered.

"They weren't just dead. Those bodies… it's hard to describe… they looked barely human anymore." Evan swallowed, fighting against his tightening throat.

"Do you mean he… mutilated them? Tortured them?"

"No," she said grimly.

"Worse than that."