Arcana Chapter 1

The Imperial City was nice this time of year. It was spring and the city showed it as if it was a thriving world of its own. People were everywhere going about their daily tasks, mingling with their neighbors, getting ready for one festivity or another. The air was alive with the smells of flowers, meals being prepared, and just a faint hint of dirt. That last bit might have been because of the horse kicking it up in front of me, but I'd like to think that it was just due to the season.

The Imperial City is the largest city in the kingdom. It is where the throne resides, where a great deal of trading hubs exist, and it happens to be an excellent place to keep a good farm, at least as long as the farm is outside the city. It was founded by the current King, known only as The Sage, nearly a century ago. Long life for a human if you ask me. I might know a thing or two about that, being half human myself. The city is split up into districts, surprisingly well planned from the beginning. In the center, there is the Imperial District, you can imagine this might hold some of the more important buildings dealing with government, including the palace. The districts are in rings around this, so you must walk through every district to reach the Imperial District when entering the city. Before the Imperial district is the warehouse district, followed by the Merchant district which has just about anything you would ever want to buy if you look hard enough. Then you have the housing and entertainment district(called so for the smattering of taverns and parlors) followed by the city walls, then the farming district.

I was currently in the Merchant District looking for something to remind me that I belonged to this city after being away for so long. I finally found it in the form of a good meal at my favorite dining spot, the Split Side. I had made it a habit to try and stop by before and after each mission, and today was no exception. After being gone for nearly a month and a half I was ready for something familiar. I ordered the special for the day, some mead, and then waited and watched. It was a very busy day in the market district, people were hustling their latest wares all about, trying to raise their voices over the countless others in an attempt to sell more and make a name for themselves. Most of the best places to shop were closer to the warehouses, for good reason, as those were the shops that owned the warehouses. When my food arrived, so did a short messenger with a scroll addressed to me. I took the scroll, signed his parchment signifying that it was indeed me that received, and he went on his merry way.

The scroll was sealed with the signet of the Imperial Assassins, a seal that officially doesn't exist. With a sigh, I broke the seal and opened the scroll, sighed again and put it away in my cloak. I went ahead and ate the food that I had already paid for, figuring that this would likely be fulfilling both my after I return meal and my before I leave as well. I inhaled the refreshing scent of the city a few more times, then got up and walked inward toward the Barracks to see my commanding officer.

Belgair is an older gentleman, in his late forties. His dark brown hair is peppered with graying spots, starting to show signs of aging. He has a serious air about him, and a sense of authority that would be completely necessary for his line of work. Monitoring and assigning assassins in his division takes up more time than he admits, and requires a lot of patience.

The captains desk was in total disarray as usual. He had a least 6 stacks of papers about a foot and a half tall scattered across his desk and work table. It was obvious he had been working diligently on organizing. Much to his dismay, his organizational capabilities were quite lacking.

"Captain! So great to see you again! How are the kids?"

"Nerius! Glad you're alive and well. The kids are fine. Wife too, not that it makes much of a difference. I've got a new assignment for you."

"Already? What about my leave? I've been working for a month and a half straight, sir!" I wasn't terribly surprised at this, but a bit disappointed. Hardly get any breaks, saving the kingdom and all.

Belgair started to sift through the days paperwork searching for something important.

"I understand Nerius, but they requested the best of my division, and in light of the past six months work you've put in, and the fact that Lena blew her cover in the last mission, you're the best that I have right now."

Lena was still the best, her cover was blown because of poor planning by the corps. There was someone there that knew her as another alias, needless to say, things got out of hand quickly.

"Who are ‘they’? Normally these missions come from the Sage himself, not from a group."

"The Arcana Family Council. When they put their weight into the Sage, he tends to buckle a bit to make an exception. They think that they may have found a possible lead into a series of traitors."

"The Arcana Family eh? I can't believe that they would even stick their noses into political business at all. They tend only to care about their bloodline ability and getting it to awaken. A good 90 percent of them have their heads so far into books, I'm surprised they haven't all gone the way of the dinosaurs."

The Arcana family has a bloodline power known as a Gift. This Gift is called Grand Arcanum and is unique to their family, except no one has been able to use the ability for nearly a thousand years.

With a befuddled look on his face Belgair starts looking through different stack of papers.

"Well, this concerns their Gift as well. Apparently they believe that one amongst them is a traitor. They believe that he is working with their heretic outcast family members. Even better than that, they think that the outcasts are working either closely with, or are the leaders of the Northern Kingdom."

"That's a bit far-fetched. Given this information, it would probably still take me months to investigate this enough. It may be a year or more before anything pertinent comes up. How am I supposed to go about this?"

It was becoming clear to Belgair that he needed to adopt a better solution to prepare for these meetings ahead of time, but no matter how many papers he went through, the desk seemed to generate more. He almost had his finger on the paper.

"They have agreed to help plant you within their household as an assistant to the target. This should put you close enough for the job to take much less time. There would be little suspicion as it's common place for them to go through many assistants. You will need time to prepare for being his assistant, so we have set up an agreement with the family to introduce you to your target as his assistant in four weeks time."

"So I am to spend the next few weeks studying whatever it is that I would be helping him with... Does my inability put a hamper on this?" I generally ask whether or not my inability to use magic will cause problems, he generally says something like: “Of course it will, better be prepared for it!” It was not so this time.

I reached into one of the stacks before it came crashing down like one of the giant fur trees of the great forest. While straightening the pile, a page clearly labeled with my name was pulled out slightly, as if wanting to escape. I reached in and plucked the file it was in careful not to incite a paper revolution and handed the file to Belgair. His face lit up, he leafed through it a bit and then handed it back.

"No, all of their assistants are really there just to pamper the family member running the experiments. They will rely more on general knowledge than actual practical skill. Here is your packet, study it closely over the next few weeks. In about three weeks we will get in contact with you again, and you will be given more information on the mission."

"Yes, sir. May I take my 'leave'?"

"You are dismissed"

A family divided. How cliche.