The Eye and the Order were born from the same ashes – the fall of the Sanctum of Prostasia. However, opposing doctrines dictated their actions. The Eye sought to watch and guard the world at large, keeping the arcane world in check under one watchful gaze. The Order, by contrast, blended in with the aim to lead and guide. They believed humanity could not be trusted with its own progression and would fall into war, segregation, and unrest if left unattended.
The divide ran deep: one side wanted to keep peace; the other to create it. Where one aimed to end wars, the other predicted conflicts and struck pre-emptively. Where one allowed space for personal expression, the other condemned those who walked a different path.
And nowhere was this divide more evident than in their stance on Cults.
To the Eye, the Cults were unpredictable and dangerous, yes, but never an existential threat. Yet to the Order, Cults were abominations abhorred for being wild, corrupt, and ideologically offensive. The only reason a war had not been declared was because the Eye stood in their way.
But since their near-decade-long war against Ambris Ferrer, the Eye had not been so kind. Sanctions, travel restrictions, and heavy surveillance then shackled the Cults. Still, a few learned, adapted, and survived by playing the game well.
One of these was 'The Ravens' – a Cult of wizards and Ki-arts practicing masters of interrogation, psychological warfare, and complete obedience to the Eye's demands. They were loyal, sharp, and disturbingly efficient. Many called them ideal servants, while some saw them as mere pawns of the Seear. And in the dead of night, two of their finest had made their way to the Atramentum.
5th of August 2006 – an hour past midnight, a messenger sent by the Seear woke Zaatsu Master Hugo Baylis giving him the message that the interrogations were already underway and that the leaders of the Eye were waiting for him in the prison. Hugo rushed over and found Hedish Norma sitting at the prison entrance.
"You're late, kid," the Mystic said with a smile, getting up. "We waited for you for an hour before starting."
"I didn't know you guys were already going to go through with this," Hugo said, with a sheepish smile. "Did he give anything up?"
"Not much. They've been at it for nearly two hours now and he has just given them a name."
"What name?"
"Derek."
"Who's that?"
"A tongue-man."
In the underground circuits of the arcane world, tongue-men were buyers and sellers of information – one of the most expensive commodities there.
Hedish nodded and said, "Like I mentioned – they started questioning him around two hours ago and within the first 45 minutes, he gave them this name. He says he doesn't know much, but if we needed information about the underworld, he thinks we should contact him."
"Interesting."
"Isn't it?"
The Mystic took a deep breath. "Was out for fresh air," he said. "Shall we go in?"
Hugo nodded but waited for his senior to lead the way. The 62-year-old Mystic smiled, and in they went. They made their way through the reception area down to the Core and then continued downwards. Crossing the Crucible and the Vestibule and five different check posts, they finally arrived at the deepest level of the Atramentum – the Erebus Sanctum. This was a maximum security sector reserved only for threats deemed apocalyptic and irredeemable, or, in the case of the White Bolt, arcane anomalies beyond classification.
Cells were unmarked and the hallways drenched in darkness. Even the air felt thicker down here, like the walls were built to hold more than just bodies. With a lantern in hand, a guard led them through. There was light in front of a corner cell visible from afar. As they approached, Hugo saw a man and a woman leaning against the door with their arms crossed and eyes closed. There was a lantern sitting in front of them. As the Masters walked closer, they pushed themselves off the door and welcomed them with half bows.
"At ease, you two," said Hedish. He then relieved the guard dismissing him back upstairs.
"Carlisle, Layla," he said, "I want you to meet Master Baylis of the Zeta Squad. He is the one who captured the bounty hunter."
Taken aback by their peculiar appearance, Hugo stared in silence. 'That will always be bizarre…'
Carlisle had donned only a pair of knee-length cargo shorts, with two knives popping out of the pockets, while Layla was wearing a pair of harem pants and a tiny tube top. They stood with a permanent slouch, a loose and unbothered posture. Though thin, their bodies were all sinew and taut muscle – no fat, no waste, just stripped-down strength.
They once again half bowed. Carlisle said, "Yes. We've met the great Master Baylis."
"So nice of you to grace us with your presence," Layla added.
The Zaatsu nodded and said, "Pleasure."
To top it all off, the duo was bald as well and had thick lines of ink running from their necks to their temples. Their arms were also laced with tattoos.
"We are honoured." Carlisle extended a handshake.
Hugo shook his hand. "Apologies for being late…"
"No worries…"
They talked in a peculiarly stale manner, monotone and with an expressionless face and half-open eyes.
"Anything?" Hedish asked, looking at the interrogators who shook their heads in negation.
"So, all we know is there's a guy named Derek who can give us something," Hugo commented looking down. He then looked at them and said, "If it's not too much trouble, can you just briefly explain what's been going on with him in there?"
"We have been using magic, weapons and enchanted accessories," Layla replied, speaking slowly in that same fashion, enunciating every syllable almost separately. "By this time, he should have given us something, but he is unlike anyone we have ever encountered before."
"What do you mean?"
"An immunity to pain."
"What?" Hugo smiled. "That's impossible."
The duo did not reply.
"Tell him what you told us," Hedish said.
"Masters," Carlisle said. "The man is resisting every magic we have used which included potions and mixtures to exaggerate every little pinch and every little insertion and he remains unmoved while although we have tried spells to break through directly, but his mental palace appears to be empty with no memories or information kept inside and yet he has created a maze of extra-spatial rooms and corridors for just such a situation where a person may try to extract from him a piece of information he may or may not have."
Wide-eyed, the Zaatsu stared at him for a few moments before asking, "Don't you people have a spell to just simply read someone's mind?"
"Simple spells, master, are for simple situations and as such are simple and powerless, and they are so common that defending against them is not so hard, for they are so common that a ton of methods exist to repel them."
After waiting for a few moments, Layla said, "He is a man not displaying a human spirituality and his aura, perplexing at best, is unreadable."
"Hey Hugo," Hedish said with a hand on the young man's shoulder. "You had your sister chat with him. She is a Spotter, right?"
"She is, sir," he nodded. "But she gave pretty similar reads."
"What do you mean?"
"He seems to be emotionless, without feelings. She couldn't break through. It's tough to put a handle on his base."
Silence befell the quartet for nearly the next two minutes before Hugo dropped his head and chuckled.
"Master Warren used to sit me inside busy marketplaces in different cities," he said then looked up. "He would ask me to read people just from their physical appearance. Not Ki patterns or anything… just body language and facial features and expressions. Then he would ask me to predict where they were going, what they were looking for, what they were thinking, their mood, and their general demeanour." Looking at Hedish, he added, "I could see no indicative natural features. No go-to expressions, no consistent speech patterns, nothing. His voice changes from time to time, but he shows no emotions, just utter contempt. It's insane."
"There can be one explanation," Layla said and crossed her arms. "He may have gone through severe torture in the past."
'Fuck me…' Hugo blinked once, masking the realization. He asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that he may well have been very badly tortured, an out-of-body torture experience…"
"Like a mental torture?"
"No, Master. There are rumoured torture methods where the victim's soul is trapped and his body is subjected to pain beyond human endurance, beyond tolerable, and he may have since used those levels of pain stored in his muscle memory, stimulated them mentally, and raised his pain threshold to a level where it can no longer be upstaged by any method physically applicable."
"Say what?" Hedish whispered, wide-eyed, slowly turning towards Hugo.
The Zaatsu too crossed his arms and said, "I've heard of these methods from Himalayan Cultists. They force the soul to remain trapped within the body and its individual parts. Then, they undergo experimentations on their subjects – experimentations that would otherwise kill them many times over."
"Yes," Layla said as both the Ravens nodded. "Further supporting my suspicion is his faded white hair and the complete absence of melanocytes in the follicles which is evidence that may point to Marie Antoinette Syndrome, the sudden whitening of hair following extreme psychological or physical trauma."
Hedish asked, "Following extreme torture, huh?"
"Yes. A French Queen named Marie was captured and severely tortured and her hair turned white."
"I thought that was hypothetical."
"Our ancestors kept journals and wrote diaries, religiously… we would love to fetch them for you."
Hugo looked at Hedish who chuckled with a raised eyebrow.
Looking back at Layla, the Mystic asked, "Alright. Let's believe all of what you are saying. He is unbreakable. There is no way of cracking him. Then why did he give you that name?"
"We only provide information while its analysis, very respectfully, is not our job, Masters."
The Zaatsu and the Mystic shared a look. "He might want us to go on a wild goose chase," Hedish said.
"Nah." Hugo shook his head dismissively. "He's not that simple. That man's cooking something."
"Well, we can't know for sure until we break him."
"The fact that he has nothing to lose has been bugging me from the start." Hugo took a deep breath. "Although this seems beyond anything I could have predicted, but he always seemed a hard nut to crack."
"And we need to make inroads fast," Hedish said as he scratched his eyes.
"Yes… time is of the essence."
The duo then looked at Layla who smiled.
"A human body can only take so much, masters," she said. "We are not taking a break but he is actually taking one until the Game begins again in just ten more minutes."