Interlude - Wall of Fog
"Is it done… were-"
He was cut off, by another, his voice cloaked by dozens of different signatures, such that each and every signal made by his mouth moving or his voice speaking. None of them could ever be traced.
"Yes, the preparations have been made. All that is left is assembling the pieces."
Soon he thought, turning towards the door, grabbing the handle and leaving.
What greeted him was not the hustle and bustle of the city metropolis, nor the rowdy tavern that he had come from.
No, it was a whole world, filled with the faces of despair. Of death and war.
Blood ran through the streets, like some sort of eldritch spell was cast. And even then, he did not flee, merely trailing his finger over the wall.
Picking with it a trail of blood. One that he quickly analyzed, finding the signature within. And with that found signature, created one more mask.
He placed it over his face, replacing the current one. Once again, he sighed, once again he was freed from the confines of that gaze.
He turned towards the palace, walking along the streets of blood. The frosty air battered at his neck, but it did not affect him at all.
And neither did the monstrosities, echoes of the past, of the dead that had come to haunt the future.
They tried to touch him and to suck the life from his very being. But within his hand was another mask.
One he placed over the back of his head. And with a glow of those fake eyes, they were blown into the wind.
He took off, and even as he grew closer to the palace, paradoxically, he grew even further. Further and further until he was sent to the beginning of the tower.
"Another failure." He muttered to himself. Watching those of lesser strength climb through the gates and into the guild. Waiting for comrades that would never come.
"Was it that time of year already?" He questioned to himself, noticing the students that had just exited the building.
Strangely enough there were two missing. Not that it mattered to him at all. No, he turned to the floor and tapped his finger in a rhythmic pattern.
It opened a door and created a path to his office, where those that needed him were waiting. But before that…
He coughed into his hand, taking his mask off as he did so. Feeling the red blood -his own- fall into his hand.
It was poisoned and so he took a pill, one created by the greatest doctors and alchemists. And even that could only suppress it.
He once again opened the door, feeling the wood roughly chafe against his hand.
"Dammit" He cursed to himself, slamming the door to his office open.
"Well… Well… Well… if it isn't the vice-guildmaster."
"This is my office, of course I'm here."
He looked up, watching the girl skulk around the room. Playing with the object in her hand.
"I guess, but you were gone an awful long time. Was there something you needed to do. Some objective you needed to confirm?"
"The better que- no, What needs to be asked, is how you got in here?" He glared at the girl and she just leaned back in his chair.
HIS CHAIR.
He had paid good money for that, custom made to be the best and most comfortable in the world.
And that damned girl was breaking it in before him.
So he stomped over and threw her from his chair. Sighing as he sat down in it.
For some reason that girl, Lindell, she just seemed to get on his nerves for some reason. It wasn't rational. It wasn't rational at all but she just did.
"Heh" She laughed before springing up onto his desk. Placing an object in front of his eyes.
"I think I have a solution. Or a future one at that."
"What is this?" He asked, even as his mind started to calculate the possibilities, "Is that… yes it was artificially made. But how? That's supposed to be impossible."
"I guess it's not, and I know who did it. Or a likely suspect."
"WHO!" He yelled.
"Ah- Ah- Ah-" She shook her head, twisting herself out of the way of his grab.
"All in due time… all in due time."
But he couldn't, he needed to know… needed.
Another bout of pain, another bout of blood. But it was suppressed by the medicine.
Lindell left, closing the office door, as if she knew exactly what was happening. And knowing her that was exactly what it was.
So he could only sigh, switching his mask over to one that dealt with politics a bit better. Waiting for the meeting to start.
…
…
…
"Welcome" Yossef said, greeting the leaders of the various guilds.
Various greetings came, all in different languages, all translated to english. A little quirk of magic. One that I had made, without any help.
Others would say different, but it was my work that had helped make it. And that was what I was going to say.
"Now, if there isn't anything to urg-"
"I'm going to have to cut you off there." I said, pulling at my mask, "I think I have a lead on conquering the fiftieth floor."
Various gasps broke out, their usual self control left forgotten.
"Truly." One spoke, "Past that fog."
"Yes" I spoke once again, "It is currently not viable but with some work I believe we may be able to pass through the fog. However, that is yet to be seen."
I paused for a minute.
"That is why…" I looked at each and every one of them, "I wanted to propose something, a little competition between the towers. Of the new students. Not of prowess but of knowledge."
"And this will help how?" one asked.
"It will help because the problem we have is not one that can be brute forced. We need to be able to deconstruct the fog, that was the solution we came up with, one you all have no doubt already considered and discarded."
"Get to the point."
"What I was trying to say is that the genius's of this generation may be able to come up with some insight if we were to hold a competition. Naming say… a hundred or two thousand as a prize pool. With some exotic items."
"But why just the younger generation, why not open it to the public."
"Because it still needs to be sort of secret. The question will be seen as just that… a question and any insight we get can be used."
Another stroked his beard, quite skeptical.
"And you believe the students will be able to help, no offense but they don't have the required background or knowledge to even grasp the problem, let alone try to solve it."
I smirked and held my hands out.
"That's just it… they don't."