Chapter 16
'Quick! Do not miss this chance to follow him! This may even be the chance for you to see the outside world again!' Daise had convinced Seven to enter the teleporter before it was gone entirely. It was exactly what she sought weeks ago, but not now.
Feeling nauseous from the sudden teleportation, she saw that Sachin had gone to what looked to be a plaza with only a few people. 'Why did he come here?' Seven thought. Standing beside Sachin, he was waiting for someone to meet him. The small girl, invisible to any creature's eye, was like magic—or rather, like she disappeared from the face of the earth.
"Sorry, I'm late!" She saw the same young mage she had seen at the auction at that time. \
She looked closer to see that he was a bear with green fur. 'Does he have an issue or something? Or is he some kind of tardy student for this huge lion?' Seven always kept those words to herself. He's a young mage and beast kin as well, so maybe I can learn more about what has been happening to them. Is he smaller than an average bear, though?' She thought.
"Hurry up. We cannot miss this chance. This has been going on for too long. After almost three weeks, we need to get to the bottom of this." Sachin started to walk ahead, with Seven following him while the young mage was behind them. Seeing them, both pull up their hood, hiding their beast features away.
"Where are we going?" The young mage had asked, seeing how Sachin was quiet now. 'Is this finally going to be the end of the case?' The young mage knew that they had always been behind on it, and the emperor had been hanging by a thread to help them.
"We are going to find Laonn's disciple." Sachin figured that if no one knew where Laonn was, the only one who would know would be his young disciple, who had trained under him. Sachin only had a serious expression on his face; he did not want to miss this chance.
"Isn't he known as some crazy man?" The young mage did not understand why the Archmage would want to go and find out from Laonn's disciple. 'Did he not hear that the man has not been in the most clear state of mind?'
"We need more clues and answers. He is the only one left who can tell us the answers we need." Sachin knew that they had no other traces besides looking for a man named Uther Van Opho. "Uther Van Opho, he is the only person who can help us break the case. You know already that the girl I took in has not spoken a word and cannot interact well with others." Sachin had often informed the young mage since he did not understand the serious situation with the little girl in his home.
"Is she that hard to talk to? Did you not use any form of food or candy? Not even toys? You do know that children love those types of things." The young mage explained to Sachin.
"Ernest, she is not that type of girl who is like other children." Sachin did not know how he was going to explain it to the young mage. "She has no emotion or attitude like other children her age. It is like she has completely been ridden of it." Once Sachin said that to Ernest, he only slightly dropped his jaw and nodded.
'Isn't this a hard-working archmage? Honest, but it is true from what I have seen in your eyes. You are not like other children your age.' Daise said, seeing how Sachin was a man who was quite well known for bringing justice to the wrong.
Seven only continued to follow after Sachin, who turned into an alleyway and entered into an old-looking small house. She did not care if they were talking behind her back. It became a normal thing. Seven hated the air around her, though. It was pretty tense, as if powerful dark magic had been cast only onto that part of the slums. 'Something here does not feel right.' She hated the air, which made her think about Laonn, who had the same feeling. 'Something here is just making me feel disgusted.'
*Knock Knock*
Seeing them knock on the door, Seven looked to Sachin, who stood and waited for what would come from the other side of the door. "What brings the Archmage here?" The door opened a crack to reveal a man wearing a mage's cloak and hood. The scent on them was strong; they had the same scent as Laonn, but it was still very much different.
'I do not have a good feeling about this man.' Seven knew that something would happen since this man was related to Laonn Garfanini as a student. 'If he was the student of Laonn, then he could be worse than him. The chances of him experimenting like him are very high.'
'You're telling me.' Daise had about the same suspicion that rose in her as well. 'He does not seem to be the brightest either.'
"Uther Van Opho, we need to talk." Sachin would ensure he at least gave out any information regarding Uther Van Opho. It might involve a bargain or a gamble, but he was willing to give it any chance to find information.
The door was still only cracked a bit. "It seems as though you are here to find my master. Why does an Archmage like yourself need my help when you can find him on your own?" Uther grinned behind the cracked door, wondering how a simple mage like himself would have to help such a great mage.
"If you do, then we will release the charges that have been put on you, such as attempted murder. You will, however, forever be banned from being in contact with your experiments." Sachin offered Uther a chance to erase his criminal record without leaving a trace behind, but it was never always guaranteed. Uther just smirked, allowing them all inside—swinging the door open. Seven followed after so that she could find out what their conversation would be—slipping right through the door before it got slammed in her face.
"So, what do you wish to ask me?" Uther sat down in a wooden chair, looking at the two men who had entered his home. Not a single fire was lit inside when it was in the middle of the winter season. Most people would be holding a fire to keep themselves warm.
"When did you last meet up with your master?" Sachin started first.
"Hm… how long has it been since he lost his position as the teacher at the Mage Tower?" Uther was rather amused that the great archmage was asking him for help out of all the others.
"What was the last thing that he told you?" Sachin furrowed his eyebrows, staring at Uther, who seemed to enjoy this conversation.
"Well… to simply make sure that I will pass along his teachings." Uther was not afraid of the archmage, as if he had nothing to lose.
The young mage hated this man, seeing how he made it seem like a joke to question him about Laonn Garfanini. He let out a growl, hating how all of the questions asked were just to avoid talking so much. 'Why did the Archmage wish to ask this man for help?' Ernest did not understand why. Perhaps he was still too young to understand all of it.
Sachin had just about enough of all this nonsense going nowhere; he knew they were getting nowhere as he had chains from onto Uther, who still held his smirk. "You know where he is, don't you?" Sachin could see from this man that he would be the type to remain loyal to their masters, thinking that their master's teachings were correct. They would continue with their master's training and theory, and even if they were to lose full contact with them, they would never stop using their master's way of teaching.
"What if I told you that I do? What else will you offer me?" Uther grinned, wondering what this Archmage could offer him other than letting his single charge be removed. Other mages monitored Uther daily, so he truly wanted to get back to experimentation.
'Hey! This isn't right!' Daise's panicked tone made Seven unsure about what was going on. However, it did make both Seven and Daise more alert to their surroundings. 'He is a mage but has an aura that tells more. 'Why would he wait all this time here alone? Was this perhaps his plan the whole time to get this archmage alone?'
Seven looked over to Uther, seeing something come out from under his cloak—not human. She rushed over with her claws and swiftly cut the cloak. 'What is he?!' She saw how the man looked from under the mage's cloak that he wore; it was evident that he either did it to himself or Laonn did. Uther did not have any human legs; he had what looked to be half a spider's body with the spider legs that had been hidden under the cloak.
"What are you doing here?!"
Seven looked to see that Sachin met eye-to-eye with her, seeing how her invisibility must have worn off by now.
'I'm Sorry. I should have told you, but once you try to attack or make such a quick move, your invisibility will stop. You will be visible again to everyone,' Daise said.
'Great, thanks for telling me so late.' Seven knew it was too late to go back and would likely get locked up after this ordeal. 'What has happened already happened, so there is no point now.' She was quite upset that she was informed late, but there was no helping it now.
Uther could sense the girl, neither human nor beast now. This familiar aura lingered on her, and he knew so well about it. Only one mage was able to succeed so much in all of her experiments—Loann Garfanini. "So, you must be one of father's failed experiments. That makes you… my younger sister." Uther looked to Seven, who growled, looking at him with her eyes dilating into a beast's pair of eyes. It disgusted her to hear him refer to her as 'his younger sister.' "Our father gave me a name for being a successful experiment. You probably only have a number for a name." Uther wanted to get closer to see Seven, seeing how she only had a beast's eyes, teeth, and claws.