A Dangerous Game

the trio of individuals walked through the busy streets of the city, heading towards the golden palace which tall towers could be seen from where they were standing.

"Ok, i get it. You are not an average idiot, you are a very knowledgeable idiot. Now if er are goind to do that "Know each other better" kind of crap, i'm going to put some rules, get it?" Rita said, with her eyes always looking ahead and her seemly permanent face of bad mood.

"Got it" Darren answered, looking at her with a stupid grin on his face. He was feeling quite excited at the prospect of gathering new knowledge in not only one, but two of the many fields he enjoyed.

So he wasn't actually worried about the rules Rita wanted to impose. In any case that would be even more comfortable for him, since if he knew the rules beforehand, the chances of him messing things up would be thinner. That alone was a lot better than his previous social interactions to date.

"First, no personal questions. I don't care who your parents where nor if you have a girlfriend and it shouldn't care to you either. Second, no lies nor trick. Wen someone pretends to fool the other, there will be consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" Darren asked, feeling that it might have been a mistake. Rita stayed quiet for a moment, looking at the empty space where her legs should have been.

"The only thing you need to know, is that it won't be pleasant"

And there is where Darren's smile vanished. Now he was feeling legitimately worried about the whole affair. He hasn't anything to hide, but still, having that potential threat above his head couldn't be any good for his nerves.

"Wait a second. What if you try to fool me? I might know a lot about magic, but i have never made a single spell in my whole life. There's nothing i could do against you"

"Elias" Rita called to the old man by name, who let out a long a tired sigh before answering her.

"Isn't a bit early for this? The boy hasn't even made his first spell yet"

"Keep the lecture for yourself" Rita answered, stooping for a moment to take off her metallic arm and hand it to Elias, who closed his eyes to concentrate before touching it with the end of his cane.

"Mandacium puxis axio, penitenciagite erro veritas" Elias said casting the spell. While his voive pronounced the words of power, a dim light begin to shine from the end of his cane.

Soft and barely visible at first, the light glowed strongest with each word, enveloping and embracing Rita's arm emitting a buzzing sound as the light grew.

The light seemed to be contained around Rita's arm, as if Elias could control it with the same ease as any elemental could with their own power above matter.

The light grew brighter and brighter as it enclosed around Rita's arm, like if the reduction of it's area could augment it's density.

-Magic it's really beautiful- Darren thought to himself, watching who the light inclosed around Rita's arm so tightly that creates the illusion the arm itself was made of the light surrounding it.

Once the process was finished, Rita put her arm back on and take Darren's hand with it. Despite what have just happened, the arm was cold at the touch.

-So that light didn't have heat- Darren thought, thinking deeply about the meaning behind that phenomenon.

"That was a spell created by Elias, now my arm will detect wen one of us lie and will absorb the Mana out of the liar's body. Who knows what will happen to you wen you get assaulted by the compensation effect? Although i'm the one who has more to lose"

"Alright, and how do you plan to advance? we still have to arrive at palace."

Rita let her actions speak for themselves wen the chair began to move without any need to push the wheels manually. Darren noticed a weak shake in some of the pipes as some gears began to function.

Still, most of the pieces remained inert.

-I wonder, are those made for another function or as a mere decoy?- Darren thought.

"Don't you think this is a little extreme? we can have a cup of tea instead. I'm sure there's no need to risk our bodies for just a couple of questions." Darren said trying to slide off the whole affair.

"Listen here you pathetic excuse of a shitty mage. I don't care what you think of this, i won't let you slide off of it. You are intact, you have never sacrificed anything to learn what you know. We mages live with the constant fear of making a mistake in our search for answers"

Rita looked at the empty space of her absent legs, with her eyes lost in some distant place.

"And some of us have learned to carry the weight of those mistakes. Maybe i won't be able to make you comprehend the pain. But you will know the fear"

Darren swallowed hard wen he look at her seriousness. She was right after all, he couldn't fathom the pain and fear those mages went through just so he could learn.

-But, what can i do about it? how could i return what i have been given? is it even possible to put a price to knowledge?-

"By the way, if you take longer than five seconds to answer the arm will interpret it as a lie"

"wait, what?"

Darren didn't have time to grasp it before Rita make the first question.