Foes and Allies (Narrated by Abel Lee)

"Congratulations, Mr. Lee, your ribs had healed."

I confirmed the doctor's word by given the said anatomy that was off-limits for these past three days a nudge. It was surely as good as before, since I felt no pain. I grinned to the old, nice doctor, passed him my gratitude, shook his chunky hand and then sashayed out of his office. I couldn't wait to be back on business!

Law Inc. building was 20 acres wide and 40 levels of minimalist structure. The skyscraper was divided into three sections. The business section(which included our basement office(was located in the middle, enclosed by the health and research section on its west wing, and development section on its east wing. Therefore, I needed to walk through the long corridors to arrive back to EOPID office. Not that I mind though, since the change of scenery surely was refreshing. I took my time to walk back and allowed my train of thought to take off. It had been three days since the two sorcerers joined our department. I complimented Miss B who accepted the two merely as to show her good intention for our joint mission. In fact, she barely entrusted them with any mission. In addition, they were teamed with Anthony and Hannah who were never really fond of action. I could not imagine if I was Anthony and for three dreading days, in fit condition, yet could only sit quietly in my cubical as a mere stationary. I shuddered only by the sheer thought of it. It got me thinking, could it be that our boss had predicted since beginning that Anthony and Hannah would volunteer to be teamed up with the two sorcerers, thus she agreed to McAllen's request? If she did, what a scary woman she was!

I stopped when I saw two of the five subjects that were dancing in my reverie embodied themselves in front of me. Anthony and Campbell stood in front of Pandora Room, the special room where we stored Balin corpses after we downloaded them from our gadget. The corpses then were stored in digital form and sealed inside small glass tubes. Next to Pandora Room was the morgue for civilian corpses from a case or patients who died at the Law Hospital. I would not be surprise if Anthony were there, because we had to pay a visit to that dreaded room in order to store the Balin corpse we killed and which had been autopsied by the Law's scientist. However, the sight of his sorcerer partner there was quite out of the ordinary.

That dirty-blonde sorcerer leaned leisurely on the cold aluminium wall with his slim, yet muscular hands crossed on his chest. He did not wear his purple coat today, but a white, cropped, sleeveless T-shirt and another black short-sleeve T-shirt beneath the white, giving them a striking contrast. His tops revealed both of his tattooed arms, from his shoulders down to the back of his hands. I heard that sorcerers like to tattoo their strongest spells on their body, so his tattoos must had been magical patterns, the said spells. Beside the tattoos on his arms, I saw another tattoo surrounding his neck like a choker, just slightly above his collarbone. Different with his other tattoos that formed wavy patterns like cursive hand-writings, this one had picture of a square Mandala that intertwined in the middle. The tattoo had threads of white lines and curve on it, another striking difference with other tattoos that had purple threads instead. I wonder if his neck tattoo were somewhat had different purpose from the other ones. For his bottom outfit, the sorcerer had a pair of tight denim and black combat boots, made his legs look even longer. Apparently, that man was quite fond of silver accessories, since his wrists and waist were fully decorated with them.

It seemed that Anthony and his new 'partner' were engrossed in their conversation and did not realize me walking approached. "Hey Tony, are you giving tour for the newbie?" I greeted, just to be replied with the sorcerer's nasty glare. I wonder why it was so easy to hit his button.

Anthony threw his thumbs toward the Pandora Room. "Miss B gave McAllen permission to retrieve his friend's remains."

"I see," I shifted my attention to the sorcerer. "You don't wear your long coat today?"

The man snorted. "It's hot in this country and it's not like we need to wear it 24/7. We only need to wear that coat on formal occasions or when we go to the battle."

"I see. So, the coat is like your magical wand, hmm?"

"If you say so," the sorcerer shrugged his shoulder, said airily.

"I thought it's more like an armour for you," Anthony chimed in. The warlock flashed a fond smile to him.

"I'm trying to level my explanation to your colleague," he cocked his head to me, talking to Anthony solely, as if I weren't there. "So, you're not only pretty face, but brain too, hmm?"

I frowned. Did he just hit on Tony? My colleague was also blushing, clearly took it as compliment. O…kay…, I rolled my eyes, whatever.

I shifted my attention again, now to the room on my left. Pandora Room's door, as well as other doors on this level was made of steel, with small peeking window on its left corner. I tried to peek through its stained glass and my eagle eyes caught a glimpse of two silhouettes inside the room.

"Hannah is in there too?"

Anthony nodded.

"If that little girl had to tag along him, I could understand. What I don't get is why he had to drag us too, and make us wait pointlessly here. With Cody it has always been a waste of time for meaningless activities," Campbell snorted.

This time he got my full attention. "Aren't you supposed to be his right hand? Why would you say things like that?"

Campbell spat in disgust, his handsome face scrunched into its middle, his trimmed eyebrow locked tight on his forehead. For the first time, his smugness left him, replaced by evident rage in his eyes. "I'll tell you something, Esper. If only that bastard Cody did not get my real name and use it to bound my loyalty to him, I'd rather die than to become his lap dog. I am a first class warlock of Russian's Vsevolod Order, nonetheless!"

I whistled at the fact that Cody McAllen was that powerful to be able to keep one of the Vsevolod Order's first class warlocks on his toe. From numerous researches I conducted in three days of deskbound duty due to my cracked ribs, I understood that the said Russian Order was well known as the Order that bred many eccentric, yet powerful ronin sorcerers. Ronin as in the type of Samurai that wandered alone and heeded to no master. I remembered one information said that in this world there were five strongest Orders in sorcery community. These five orders were The Magellinian, The Vsevolod, The Yarhaci, The Trevelyan, and The Aruoyan. The Magellinian and The Aruoyan were often acknowledged as two of the most powerful Orders of five, although Magellinian triumphed more since Aruoyan Order destroyed. Everyone, however, also silently recognized that The Vsevolod Order was no less powerful than the former two. The Vsevolod Order's sorcerers were well known to be extremely individualistic, thus, their Order's power was not entirely unified and, rather, scattered. It was because of this reason too that their Order's fame fell behind the other four.

"That must've been quite a stunt that McAllen pulled to be able to get your real name," I praised.

Campbell snorted again. "It wasn't him. He was merely lucky that he had an Esper girlfriend, like your kind, who was a schemer. That insolent woman had the ability to steal any kind of information from anyone's mind by eye contact. I was naively stared back at her, and she stole my name just like that. Afterward, she gave it to Cody. That was my sole regret in my life."

Now, that was interesting. A first class Warlock of the strongest Order, a hegemony leader of sorcery community, on top of that, had a relationship with an Esper girl? As far as I knew, the sorcerers were very exclusive. Even in their community, they rarely had romantic relationship trans-Orders, except for political marriages.

"Well, sorry for that," I commented, airily.

Campbell raised one eyebrow. "Pass your condolence to Cody instead, since I made him witness how I turned his girlfriend to dust. That's why, he hated me to the bone and made me as his lap dog to insult me, instead of killing me on spot. He even dragged me here to show me off to you guys. If I knew it would be like this, I'd torture that woman longer before I turned her to dust. At the very least, I won't be as depressed as I am now."

That was the expected reaction coming from the notorious Vsevolod Order's member, but still, the viciousness of his words stunned me. He even said it with straight face and sealed his words with a sweet smile. I could sense the corner of my lips tugged up to crack a forced smile. When I glanced at Anthony, I saw that he also tensed up. I couldn't help myself not to feel like one of the three pigs in the face of the scary wolf. Apparently, the lap dog was even more malicious than his master. I had to watch him closely, making sure that he would not have any chance to turn any of us to dust like he'd done to McAllen's lover.

Thanks to Campbell's last words, the conversation halted and heavy silence hung around us. I did not know what else to say to the sorcerer, and the other party also made no effort to establish any conversation with us. When I was about to excuse myself to return to the office, the steel door on my left opened. Cody McAllen walked out, Hannah followed dutifully behind him. Today, like his second, The Magellinian warlock did not wear his white coat. Instead, he wore pastel blue polo shirt and white trousers with a pair of white Oxford shoes. Behind him, I saw Hannah was wearing checker, turquoise midi-dress with a pair of tan Chelsea boots. Their outfits were hilariously complementing each other. It was like seeing Wendy and Peter Pan walking side-by-side in real life.

McAllen did not surprise to see me there. He passed a courtesy smile and extending his hand to show us a piece of crystal.

"Did they plant it in Aramanth's chest?" Campbell asked, answered by a nod.

"Were you allowed to take it out from Pandora?" I asked.

"Miss Law gave me full access to retrieve all of Ivan's remains and belongings. She thought I could shed light on this case. What can you make out of this stone, Campbell?"

Cody's right hand took the stone and observed it for a while. "This is a perfect catalyst, made from the best crystal. The maker was a talented Alchemist, but I can say that the said Alchemist is somewhat lack of experience. However, whoever filled this stone with magical power was not as strong as Aramanth when he was alive and certainly did not comprehend Aramanth's ability. If it were you who fill this stone, Cody, there's no way Aramanth could be defeated only by the four of them."

I smirked, tried to accept such insult with every ounce of humbleness I could pull from myself. Even though I had not seen McAllen using his magic, but judging from his high status in such young age, I did believe that he was very strong. True, it was lucky for us that McAllen had nothing to do with the crystal. If he did, I guessed even if I broke my neck instead of a couple of ribs, there would be no certainty that we could beat Aramanth.

McAllen nodded in approval with his right hand's comment. "You're right, this was that lower class' sorcerers' misdeed. Do you know which alchemist could've made the catalyst?"

Campbell raised one of his eyebrows. He played the stone by tossing it mid-air and catching it back. "Is this the test for my raise, Code?"

Anthony and I could not hold ourselves from giggling, while McAllen only gave out a faint smile.

"Well, you'd guessed anyway, but I'll say this information out loud for the Espers' sake. Your family have one Master Alchemist that could make such catalyst, yet I dare to bet it wasn't hers."

"Why not, Cam?"

"If she ever made a stone with such quality, I would've seen it when we trash her room as we spent a hot night together. That time, it was literally a mess on every corner we touched."

The answer earned a frown from Cody, so deep on his marble, paled forehead. Anthony and I giggled once more. This Campbell knew that with the loyalty magic McAllen put on him, he could not harm or kill The Magellinian warlock. So, as compensation, The Vsevolod warlock grasped each opportunity he'd have to humiliate McAllen, and apparently made it as his life mission to defame his 'master'.

"Second master alchemist," he continued, "...is from my order. But I could bet dollars to doughnuts that it wasn't that gramps who made this catalyst. He'd rather die than to allow his masterpiece to be used by the inexperienced sorcerers. Not to mention, such shape and colour isn't really his style, nor it is Laurey's. Hers is more sophisticated. The only one who could make such design and colour is that girl..."

McAllen frowned deeper. His blue eyes shed rage.

"Who is it?"

A sneering smile spread wide on Campbell's face. "Aramanth's sister herself. Megan Aramanth."

"Were you saying that Aramanth's sister created the catalyst to turn her own brother as Balin? How could she do such cruel thing?" Hannah asked in disbelieved.

"You're wrong, Doll. Megan Aramanth would never do such thing. You Espers must've heard that The Trevelyan Order initially was one of the weakest Orders. Do you know why they could be that weak?"

The three of us shook our head in sync, made Campbell grin smugly.

"They are peace-loving creatures and always stay away from conflict. They've lost significant territories and fame just because they did not want to contend with other orders. It had been like that until one of The Trevelyan sorceress married to the head of Magellinian Order. After that day onward, they are under Magellinian's protection, raising their position as one of the strongest Orders. When their strongest leader, Claudius Markelli prospered the order significantly, their fame and influence were soaring high and wide. They probably would take over the Hegemony chieftain if only Claudius did not suddenly go to seclusion. At the end, their peace-loving character never changed."

"Ivan was the next successor of Trevelyan's chieftainship after Claudius Markelli. However, with his demised, Trevelyan Order became weak and has fallen as an easy prey for the other Orders," McAllen carried on. His face was as dark as the sky before the storm. "I've tried my best to protect that Order, but Balin problem distracted me. When I wanted to shift my focus back to The Trevelyan, the Order had lost four out of their seven core covens. Even worse, one day after Ivan's funeral, Megan Aramanth was nowhere to be found."

"And up-to-date, even the magnificent Cody McAllen has not yet able to trace the little girl's track, nor to track down the other two covens of Trevelyan's whereabout; the Markelli and Nimra. Aramanth's sister is a precious asset for her talents in making crystals and orbs. If the Balin creators got their hand on her, it would be harder to stop them. The girl's creations would be more than adequate to supply their Balins with strong powers. However, we are quite confident that she is under the protection of the two covens: The Markellis and Nimras. Because, if she'd been taken as prisoner already, the Markellis surely had come to ask for Cody's help. I suspected the crystal used in Aramanth was one of the stolen crystals that they got when they rampaged Trevelyan's castle."

"So, if we could trace the two covens' whereabouts, then we would know which sorcerers were responsible for these whole mess," I concluded.

"Talking is easy, thee Esper!"

I slapped the back of Campbell's extended hand when he pointed my nose with his black nail-polish coated finger. How impolite!

The guy's mouth plastered a mocking smile, did not get offended with my reaction.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you heard about the Markellis?"

"I didn't have many opportunities to hang out with your kind, I'm afraid."

Campbell shrugged.

"The head of the Markelli coven is Jasmine Markelli, aka 'The Princess". She is Claudius Markelli's daughter. Like I said before, Claudius is one of the legendary strongest warlocks ever exist. Princess herself is a powerful first-class witch who had been chosen to replace Ivan as the new leader of Trevelyan Order," McAllen explained, as he gave cue for us to continue the conversation while walking back to the EOPID office. "Her strongest spell is the absenteeism, which enable her to abolish one's aura or power, similar with Hannah's power. If she used that spell on Megan Aramanth, then our chance to trace that girl is close to none."

"Not to mention her brother, Seth Markelli," Campbell supplied. "He isn't from our kind, but yours. He is a Schemer who has ability to read other's wish, hope or plan, and able to scheme out chains of events to make that wish or hope or plan come true. As long as that Aramanth girl is planning for not being found, that Markelli boy will be able to make it came true."

Those were very useful information. I was quite astounded at the fact that these two sorcerers were so generous to give out information about their community. We had no intention in eliminating their kind, but still, war against Balin was almost equal with war against the sorcerers.

"I still don't get it," Anthony said. "Why do the Markellis and Megan Aramanth also hiding from you? Isn't your Order their ally, McAllen?"

McAllen's icy-blue eyes shed a glimpse of bitterness. "That's what've been haunting me too and has become my greatest inquiry, Mr. Lotsano. This wasn't The Princess' usual style. I also don't understand why she decided to hide from us."