[Chapter Size: 3200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Novigrad.
...
...
They spotted the place some time later and immediately headed to the second floor. There was a dwarf inside, laughing, smoking a cigar, and counting gold coins while singing a strange song.
Madara and Ciri's arrival was so silent that the man didn't even notice. They stopped in the middle of the luxurious room, with paintings of the man himself in front of them, posing and flaunting money. This was strange because the person there was not Zoltan, but another unknown dwarf.
Even so, he looked like a copy of Zoltan, a sort of lookalike. Madara recognized that behavior very well. After all, Zoltan seemed to have planned this, placing a dwarf to do exactly the same things he used to do when he acted as the boss of that place.
The two simply watched him for a moment until Madara started taking a few steps forward. Only then did the dwarf realize there were other people in the room.
His eyes widened immediately. He turned toward the door, about to shout, but suddenly his mouth glowed before simply disappearing.
Ciri acted quickly and sealed it with human transfiguration.
"Good work," Madara said with satisfaction, watching the dwarf try to speak uselessly while clearly frightened.
Madara knew he would scream even if Ciri opened a space that prevented sound from leaving the room. But since he could already deal with this easily, his eyes turned into Sharingan
The dwarf soon fell into the genjutsu, while Madara's consciousness immediately entered the dwarf's mind, examining all the information.
"I see... It seems you're one of Zoltan's lackeys. He's also being hunted throughout the city right now and surviving through bribes. You're trustworthy enough to manage the brothel's profits and act as his replacement, but at the same time you're only a stand-in. Your payment is the luxurious life you currently enjoy, as long as you don't steal his share..."
Madara paused. "If they found this place, you'd be their target, while the real Zoltan remains hidden..." he said aloud for Ciri to hear.
"Where is the real Zoltan?" Ciri asked.
"You can probably guess." Madara laughed as he took Ciri's hand.
The next instant, the two teleported away using Hiraishin.
A little earlier, Madara had simply erased all of the dwarf's recent memories, as if he had never seen the two of them.
The dwarf merely blinked, feeling a slight headache. "What happened?" he asked, looking around in confusion.
"I think I drank too much and I'm imagining things... Let's get back to counting this money." he said in a tone full of greed.
At the same time, Madara and Ciri appeared somewhere else. "Wait... Is this the house where you and Triss used to stay?" Ciri murmured when she saw them teleport into the garden of the house, where a Hiraishin mark had been buried more than three years ago.
He confirmed with a nod. "Zoltan bought this property..." Madara informed her. "Anyway, let's go."
They approached the entrance and could already hear voices. And it wasn't just a few people; there were at least dozens of them.
They entered through the main entrance and soon saw as many people as they had already noticed, talking throughout the hall.
Most were humans, but there were dwarves and elves among them. Mattresses were scattered around the place, indicating that they were sleeping there while also eating and talking to one another.
This place was obviously being used as a shelter, a shelter against the witch hunts...
Just as Tissaia and Triss had said, they were gathering people in a single location. Madara simply hadn't imagined they would make that place both a shelter and their headquarters.
Even though the dwarf from the brothel didn't know where Zoltan was hiding, since he had concealed even that information from his lookalike, Madara managed to identify it through the clues left by the sorceresses and from Zoltan's conversations with that dwarf. The sorceresses could have told them as well when they met, but it seemed they knew he would find the place easily.
The arrival of the two was noticed immediately by the small crowd.
There were mages, herbalists, alchemists, and healers. Madara was somewhat surprised to find elves among them. After all, elves had already been banished from human society by that time, and thanks to the reputation of the Scoia'tael, they had suffered even more reprisals, including from dwarves.
Everyone's eyes turned toward the entrance as Madara observed them, and Ciri closed the door before joining him.
Looks of doubt and a few whispers immediately began to spread.
Who were those people?
What were they doing there?
Then one of the mages widened his eyes. "They..." he murmured, probably recognizing them from the meeting at Aretuza and all the chaos that had happened there.
Before most of the people present could begin to grow nervous, thinking they might be intruders or something similar, someone appeared at the top of the hall's staircase.
"You finally arrived. Please follow me." Triss said with a smile.
Madara and Ciri moved through the entrance and headed to the second floor, passing through the crowd of people who continued watching them until they disappeared up the stairs and into the corridors.
"It's good to see you back. I hope everything went well with Aren." Triss couldn't help but smile as she waited for an answer.
"It wasn't an ideal start. After all, Aren became cautious when his parents suddenly appeared, but we spent a day with him and he seemed to enjoy being with us very much..." Ciri smiled with a tender expression.
"I can say it was one of the happiest days of my life." She added, and Triss looked at her and felt genuinely happy for her.
"That's good. I'm happy for both of you and for the boy. I remember him from when he was just a little over a year old." She said, not failing to glance at Madara for a few seconds before turning back to Ciri.
"He's doing well. Talkative, playful, and curious." Ciri began talking about her son, sharing everything she had seen, without mentioning anything negative, which was quite obvious coming from her.
They proceeded to a large dining room that existed in the house. Madara used to use it together with Triss for meals.
Upon entering the place, he noticed it was quite different.
Triss smiled at him. "The dwarves ended up buying this house after they learned we used to stay here. They tried to use it as a hideout. After all, if we hid here, it had to be a very safe place."
Madara simply nodded, already understanding why Zoltan had acquired this place.
"And we use this room for our meetings now. We removed the chairs and use only the table to talk." She explained.
As they entered the room, they saw Tissaia and a group of people talking. Zoltan and other familiar faces were among them.
The dwarf's eyes widened when he saw them entering with Triss. "So it was true!"
He laughed as he approached, leaving the table behind. "To think I'd see you again. I almost didn't believe it when the sorceresses said they had found you." Zoltan walked up to them and, without any warning, went straight to Madara and hugged his legs.
"Hey, no need to be so affectionate. A handshake would be enough," Madara said with a strange look.
But the dwarf simply stepped back and laughed. "I can't do that after three years, can I? And how are you, Ciri? I'll say you found each other and did business in the south. How's that little brat?" Zoltan asked.
Obviously, he knew Ciri was pregnant back then, so he also knew about Aren's existence. But Ciri was quick enough to muffle the sound beyond the three of them, as she had predicted he would say that through her one-second glimpse into the future, which always alerted her whenever something surprising was about to happen.
"It was good. Our son is doing well. I just want to settle all of this so we can return to him." Ciri wasted no time answering within that space. "Now, please don't talk about our son in front of others..." she said in a more serious tone.
Realizing his mistake, Zoltan scratched his head. "That's true, sorry, sorry..."
Madara watched the space Ciri had created break apart and looked at the rest of the people in the room.
Besides Tissaia, there was Dudu in a corner, staring at them. He looked better than when they had met him the previous day, but he still carried a downcast expression.
There was also another sorceress observing them with great interest. She was an elf, and Madara knew exactly who she was, which made him narrow his eyes at her, even though she was wearing an Akatsuki cloak.
Besides her, there was a man wearing a hat and military clothing. Madara recognized him from The Witcher 3, and Dijkstra himself was standing beside him. He immediately guessed why those two people would be here together. After all, in the game, they shared a common goal.
To kill Radovid...
Neither of them had been expected.
Dijkstra had a calculating look in his eyes as he observed them, which was no surprise. But he seemed to be studying them after they had been missing for three years.
After Zoltan finished greeting them, he spoke. "So you were alive after all."
Dijkstra wasted no time and directed the statement straight at Madara, always evaluating him as the greatest threat present.
"You never confirmed we were dead either, so why are you so surprised?" Madara merely shrugged.
The corner of Dijkstra's mouth curled slightly into a smile as he nodded. "That's true." He paused.
"Well, in any case, I imagine you're here to better understand what's been happening across the Northern Continent. The sorceresses said you were so far away that there was no way for you to know much about the recent events of the past few years..."
Madara nodded. "Exactly."
Dijkstra continued, pointing to the person beside him. "Let me introduce someone. This is Vernon Roche, a soldier... or rather, a former officer of the Temerian army. Roche was the commander of the Blue Stripes, an elite Temerian special forces unit. Now, he's a rebel..."
"Why did you rebel?" Ciri asked, stepping closer as well.
"Well, the answer is rather obvious." The man spoke with a different accent.
"Radovid," Madara said.
Even in the original story, Roche had planned together with Dijkstra ways to eliminate Radovid, knowing the threat he posed to Redania itself. They sought out Geralt and later, during the assassination, Philippa.
It was ironic that Dijkstra, the king's former spymaster, had turned against Radovid. Even in the games, that was exactly what happened.
Not out of greed, but because he did not want to see his own kingdom transformed into what Radovid was creating during this era.
A kingdom of terror.
A kingdom that massacred non-humans everywhere.
Redania was descending into chaos.
And although Novigrad seemed to support all of that, not everyone thought the same way. Fear was beginning to spread throughout the rest of Redania among ordinary citizens.
With the shadow of war advancing across the continent, things were becoming increasingly intense.
Madara then turned his attention to the sorceress present in the room. She was none other than the elven sorceress, Ida Emean aep Sivney.
She seemed to be involved in all this chaos as well, since she was wearing that cloak, but what was one of Francesca's followers doing here?
"And you are...?" Ciri asked calmly, though she remembered her from shortly before the chaos in Aretuza. She had also fought against the Wild Hunt back then...
"Ida Emean," said the elf. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It seems we have much to discuss. After all, we couldn't talk about everything we wanted to in that cabin," Tissaia said this time.
Madara and Ciri moved to the side of the table. He crossed his arms. "Well, we're all ears. You can update us."
Madara said simply, and she nodded.
Everyone settled around the table as Tissaia began recounting everything in far greater detail than she had the previous day.
To begin with, the Lodge of Sorceresses had been formed. That group of sorceresses wanted to establish a magical kingdom and already had several members, though not as many as Madara had initially expected.
All those powerful sorceresses had split apart after the events of Aretuza.
Philippa, Francesca, and other sorceresses created the group known as the Lodge of Sorceresses, which was no surprise to Madara.
Even Ciri knew that part of the original story. She merely nodded, not seeming impressed.
She knew that was exactly the kind of place where they would have tried to use her in the original timeline had she never met Madara, if she had only been able to control a fraction of her magical abilities... Even though her power had always been in her blood, that other Ciri could never have reached this Ciri's level of power.
Even so, it was frustrating for Ciri herself to know about her other self and the path she would have followed without his presence in her life.
After all, in the end, they had tried to use her as a political tool. That Ciri had even been suggested as a lover for the crown prince of Kovir and Poviss. Through her, they intended to place an heir on the throne whom the sorceresses could control or influence in order to build the kingdom they desired...
That Ciri ultimately refused, and this Ciri could understand her better than anyone. She would never accept being a political tool.
Ciri also remembered very well what happened after those events, as a series of terrible situations unfolded.
That other Ciri saw Geralt die, and Yennefer also died while trying to save him, using the very last drop of power in her body. After all, in this world, if you use more magic than you can handle, you die. And Ciri had left that world before the events of The Witcher 3 began... In the end, Geralt and Yennefer did not die in the games, although even in the books there was never a definitive confirmation as to whether they lived or died.
Furthermore, the Lodge of Sorceresses seemed to have followed a different path in this world influenced by Madara's existence.
To begin with, Tissaia should have been dead, but she wasn't.
That was because Madara had foreseen that possibility before going after Ciri in another world. He left behind a clone to speak with her in case she tried to take her own life after what had happened in Aretuza.
Tissaia had certainly been shocked to see mages killing one another. Even though she had known in advance that it would happen, she only remained steadfast because she had to fight against the Wild Hunt. But as soon as she woke up after the unicorn had put her to sleep, the weight of those deaths fell upon her.
Friends, students, colleagues, killing each other—it was like a blade piercing her heart. After all, she might have been considered a mage who had lived for hundreds of years, but she was still a human woman.
Somehow, the clone managed to convince her to keep living. She embraced the ideals of the group Madara had created and stepped down as the rector of Aretuza, especially since her name had started to be hunted.
Triss also had a different future. In the books, she eventually became someone who betrayed Geralt, Yennefer, and even Ciri herself by supporting the interests of the Lodge of Sorceresses.
While Yennefer tried to kill herself rather than give away information about her daughter, knowing that Ciri would be used by those women as a tool, Triss had been willing to hand Ciri over to the group. Madara had never liked that Triss from the books, and it seemed that he had somehow influenced her not to follow that path.
He had always been somewhat wary of Triss at the beginning precisely because of that, but after everything that had happened, she had never given him any reason to doubt her.
"I understand... but I'm still doubtful about one thing..." Madara listened to everything and looked directly at the elf.
"You were one of Francesca's apprentices, yet you're simply here after what happened in Aretuza, while your former mistress is far more attached to the ideals of the Lodge..." He let the words settle over the table, and the atmosphere immediately became somewhat tense.
Madara simply stared at her. "You're not doing this out of conviction." He said it plainly, making the atmosphere even heavier as the elf immediately took a step back.
Madara was certain that she wasn't there merely because she believed in the cause. He was also almost certain that Francesca had divided her pieces on the board and made her own bets.
"What are you..." She tried to speak, but Madara shook his head, interrupting her.
"I imagine you've contributed quite a lot to everyone here, based on what Tissaia said. But I still need to know your true intentions." He paused.
"Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you. I just want you to tell the truth."
The gazes around the room began shifting between the two of them.
Ciri also narrowed her eyes. She would be able to tell if the woman lied in her next words.
"I..." the sorceress tried.
But Ciri raised her voice first.
"She's going to keep stalling until she can come up with something..." Everyone looked at her.
"And then you're simply going to enter her mind. But I don't think that would be ideal." Ciri said as her eyes began to glow, catching everyone by surprise.
"What is she doing?" Tissaia involuntarily leaned forward when she saw Ciri's glowing eyes staring at seemingly nothing in the room.
"She's looking into the future," Madara answered calmly beside her.
It wasn't the first time he had seen it. In fact, he had witnessed it many times before. It was a good way to avoid wasting time and find faster solutions.
Ciri could observe future possibilities.
For a few seconds, she remained motionless, then blinked. Quickly, her eyes focused on the room once again.
It wasn't an ability she had dared to use with Aren when she reunited with him.
She only used it when she wanted to discover something important. She would never use that power to gain her own son's affection. That would be a way of manipulating him for her own sake...
She didn't want to create an artificial family, and Madara himself had told her that. The two of them should limit their own powers somewhat while traveling from Skellige to the Continent.
They had even discussed this during the ship voyage. After all, they could have simply teleported, but they chose to travel by ship precisely to decide how they should act from that point onward.
Ciri turned her eyes toward the sorceress.
"She's here under Francesca's orders," Ciri answered calmly, while everyone present turned their gazes toward the elf.
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