Sulphur and Augments
“I never understood it.”
Kei pointed out while playing with her long hair. She has grown it and let it fall on her shoulders. Sometimes she ponytails her hair. Or braid it and let it rest on one shoulder.
“This process. Ever thought of learning their way?”
“Never thought of it.”
I answered honestly. Watching the process of rituals was one of the few less interesting parts of anything. Like watching paint dry, but instead of pain, you’re watching an individual write a complicated magic circle or pentacle. Depending on the type of demon, the shape of the formation could vary.
“I always asked this, A. How come they don’t use tech?”
“They do. This person is a traditionalist.”
Traditionalist which means they do their formations with their heart and soul into the work. Nu-Diabolists and mages might as well be called Technomages because they use tech to shortcut their way through being masters, which displeases the demon involved.
“Uh. So what’s the matter? The result is the same. I just don’t get it, Akun. I really don’t.”
She questions as if she didn’t know despite having enough years in this city to understand how things work. Kei adjusted her belt and looked lazily at the creation of the formation.
“Which brings me to the question, Ma’am. Why are we here again?”
Kei jotted down something. I leaned forward to read. She wrote on her notes a rather detailed explanation she made based on her own level of expertise.
“Looks like you’re paying attention.”
“I have to. They’re nice enough to show us. Are you paying attention, Akun? I might quiz you and dock your pay if you answer wrongly.”
“All of this boils down to using tradition or tech.”
“Then you’re paying attention. How boring.”
Kei takes another note down and takes a picture of the ritual with her wreath. The Redmonds were rather gracious when showing their ritual-process. Most of their ritual-process however isn’t really that unfamiliar, however.
After Kei was done with the room. We moved to the next chamber where Victoria was waiting for us. Along the way there, Kei asked questions.
“So, this ‘Mage’ you know was actually a friend. I’m actually interested in who can make my assistant go wild.”
“Please contain yourself.”
“I will once I get my scoop.”
“Careful, Boss. You’re starting to sound and talk like a media person. At this rate, I’d find you in some show and podcast doing motivational speeches and bragging about your success while promoting your book.”
“How horrifying. Do you have so little faith you’d put that evil thought in my mind?”
She shooed me away. I slipped inside the doorway and saw cold blue eyes staring. Kei got in as well and whistled at the sight of the chamber.
“How about this? What a sight, isn’t it?”
She approached the operating table. Eyes on the newbie strapped down and magically induced to sleep. Victoria herself was deep in thought..
“Ah, it’s nice finally seeing the face.”
“Miss Kei Ma. It is a pleasure to meet the 'face' of Kei's office. I’ve heard great things, and your work history is impressive.”
“Victoria Florence. A pleasure to see you finally. I heard great things about you from my assistant here.”
Victoria turned to me.
“I hope he told great things.”
“Mostly.”
Kei smiled. Her attention went to the operation table. Victoria moved next to the table while the artificer in-charge of the surgery was waiting for her signal. She’s usually welcoming, polite, and professional. But when Victoria’s like this. She’s far from how I know her as ‘Cindy’.
“Lately, one of our mages has developed a sickness. We suspect this ‘sickness’ was based on an anomaly we’ve encountered.”
“Or bad surgery.”
“It’s possible.”
The artificer agreed. He took a data pad and handed it over to Kei. Scrolling down the contents, Kei whistled. She handed the pad to me and skimmed it. Vessels imploded, veins fried, and organs magically entangled.
“Nasty.”
“It is.”
The artificer was keeping the patient alive while the mage’s muscles and internal organs were showing.
Most of this Mage’s internals have turned blue. Thicker blood and you can smell this sulphuric stench on them. Sulphuric stench usually was a telltale sign of demonic interference, but as much as demons pride themselves in hexes and ambiguous contracts.
But damaging their product, their source of magical amusement, was something they rarely do. Most of the contractors usually have a mark that gives them the power.
“Correct me if I’m wrong. This is a warlock, no?”
“Yes.”
“Where is his mark?”
The man lifted the mage’s hair. Behind his left ear was the glaring mark. You can usually identify the mark by reverse-image searching it on the DB of the Bureau.
“Marbas, huh? Any word on the chief contractor?”
“None. We found the man through the Chief Contractor’s authority, but what happened was beyond their idea.”
Kei searched around the head.
“Personal link. Coprocessors or any neutral processors where we can retrieve brain footage?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
So a traditionalist. Most Mages are afraid of chrome, and those who aren’t are usually much more inclined to fail at their spell-casting. Being Bioware-enchanted or magically-enchanted was their usual choice since it doesn’t involve replacing themselves with metal.
“Any records that can help? I’m assuming you’re putting this man to sleep to revive him?”
Victoria sent another footage of the man in constant pain to the data pad. He was trying to take his skin off as if it bothered him.
“This isn’t a flayed one, I hope.”
“No, it isn’t. However, this sickness is causing the afflicted mages to have an overwhelming urge to take their skin off. The successful ones usually die from blood loss. We have put the ones we saved in a magically induced sleep.”
Kei crossed her arms and held her chin in thought.
“We are not magically proficient, Miss Florence.”
“But your insight into anomalies might prove adequate in helping us find the cause.”
Kei looked Victoria in the eye before planting her butt on a stool. She was about to fish out a cigarette from her dimenbag when she got glared at by the artificer.
Gearheads and Artificers are partially similar in what they do. Both grant an individual an enchantment. Difference is that the Artificer puts enchantment on you by carving through your bone through the use of magical items.
They’ll open you up, engrave the runes into your blood, flesh, and skin until you yourself can become augmented by the magical item used to enhance you.
Augmentation procedures vary depending on what kind of augmentation you want. Magical and Non-magical. In the Mage’s case, they do it by using this method to make their body attune to what source of their strength was.
If hardware implants have problems with EMP and Gearheads, who can fry their head processors and circuits, then you have the magically augmented beings susceptible to curses and have their own Achilles heel.
A Mage will undoubtedly have a weakness. It could be their heel, hair, and even their virginity sometimes. Most priests opt to remain chaste, believing it enhances their spiritual power. Their power usually comes from their faith, and the only difference was that you can’t fake faith. God will know your sincerity and thus give you power through your true faith.
Then there are deviants like techno-liches who have turned themselves into pure machines but somehow kept their ability to cast spells through some means. Techno-mages are usually being criticized by their traditionalist peers, but if they do become one who can use them, they treat them as aberrant who have fused tech and magic.
Bioware augmentation, although considered the safest and the most expensive, is also the pickiest kind of implant since sometimes the body itself naturally rejects the implants even if they were being configured to match the body. Bioware procedures sometimes create problems within the body and the implanted organs just die out of nowhere as if the implant themselves are rejecting the body. You’re walking around and suddenly your second heart just stops working.
But if it works out. Then you find yourself naturally enchanted with little drawbacks, but getting injured grievously means your medical needs have the same price tag as the procedure, making them expensive to maintain, especially for individuals who are on hazardous jobs. Gearhead clinics can change and maintain chrome, which is cheap on the streets.
Magical augmentations are great for those who use magic, but less sturdy than chrome.
True faith empowerment only works if you have a fanatical faith.
There are other ways to enhance yourself. You can become a vampire, gain their strength and speed, but lose the ability to walk under the sun naturally. You can become a werewolf and succumb to the bloodlust which leaves you at the mercy of your animal instincts.
There are other ways to make yourself strong. After we saw the evil in the moon, we seemed to have introduced everyone to the ways of protecting ourselves from the evil.
I wonder about it myself. Clearly, they want us to investigate this in hopes so they can learn from this for themselves after we’re done. I don’t understand, since trying to learn this means they are trying to cheat the demons in hell. Being empowered by a demon or a devil was also one way to enhance your abilities. But they take more than they give. They hate those who do not agree to their terms and they are secretive about the way they gather power.
And if The Church Union’s Diabolist Side hears about this. Then they’ll try to join or take all what they learn for themselves and erase all traces of this.
“Are you sure you want to investigate this?”
“Of course. And don’t worry. We already have made deals with the Diabolists of the TCU just in case. They agreed, in exchange, the information will be shared among those in agreement freely; albeit limited in some ways.”
I was hoping she’d do that. It was a good thing Cindy knows who she’s dealing with this and can understand their twisted minds.
Kei leaned on her knees and joined her fingers. Her face became stony and the dull way she presented herself vanished.
“That’s good and all. But you offer us no incentives. No reason to pursue this and honestly, it’s a magical phenomenon that your people and the church should investigate yourself.”
“It seems you are not fond of demons, Miss Kei.”
“I know that smell.”
Kei snorted and glared coldly.
“We’re not dealing with just a demon here. That stench from the deep hells means it’s a devil. You Mages should know best who not to deal with.”
You don’t wish with the help of a witch.
You don’t fight and steal from dragons.
You don’t make deals with gods and devils.
And never, ever trust otherworldly creatures from the void of the stars.
“So you won’t take this?”
Kei said nothing and remained silent. It took about a minute before she made her mind up.
“We’ll take it. Don’t expect instant results. Cases like this are best done slowly and carefully.”
“As expected of the woman who survived the Okinawan Devil.”
Kei shrugged and leaned on her teleforce cane while maintaining eye contact with Victoria.
“Send the details to my assistant here. We’ll try to find any leads on this and if you have information, you can add. Please don’t keep it from us.”
“We will.”
Kei got out first. Victoria stood next to me and watched the doorway where Kei went out. I then followed her out of the room and stood in the blue hallways. I could smell incense somewhere.
“It’s great you have an agreeable boss now.”
“Ci, can you not try to throw us into problems like this?”
She shook her head.
“It’s not my choice. And as she said herself. It’s best if you take this one slow. See you around.”
“Sure is busy lately, Ci.”
“That’s the unfortunate life of being an employee. See you around, okay?”
Cindy took her phone out and called someone immediately. All these talks about demons, devils, and magic didn’t seem as tiresome as the reality we still have work to do.
Sulphur and Augments
“I never understood it.”
Kei pointed out while playing with her long hair. She has grown it and let it fall on her shoulders. Sometimes she ponytails her hair. Or braid it and let it rest on one shoulder.
“This process. Ever thought of learning their way?”
“Never thought of it.”
I answered honestly. Watching the process of rituals was one of the few less interesting parts of anything. Like watching paint dry, but instead of pain, you’re watching an individual write a complicated magic circle or pentacle. Depending on the type of demon, the shape of the formation could vary.
“I always asked this, A. How come they don’t use tech?”
“They do. This person is a traditionalist.”
Traditionalist which means they do their formations with their heart and soul into the work. Nu-Diabolists and mages might as well be called Technomages because they use tech to shortcut their way through being masters, which displeases the demon involved.
“Uh. So what’s the matter? The result is the same. I just don’t get it, Akun. I really don’t.”
She questions as if she didn’t know despite having enough years in this city to understand how things work. Kei adjusted her belt and looked lazily at the creation of the formation.
“Which brings me to the question, Ma’am. Why are we here again?”
Kei jotted down something. I leaned forward to read. She wrote on her notes a rather detailed explanation she made based on her own level of expertise.
“Looks like you’re paying attention.”
“I have to. They’re nice enough to show us. Are you paying attention, Akun? I might quiz you and dock your pay if you answer wrongly.”
“All of this boils down to using tradition or tech.”
“Then you’re paying attention. How boring.”
Kei takes another note down and takes a picture of the ritual with her wreath. The Redmonds were rather gracious when showing their ritual-process. Most of their ritual-process however isn’t really that unfamiliar, however.
After Kei was done with the room. We moved to the next chamber where Victoria was waiting for us. Along the way there, Kei asked questions.
“So, this ‘Mage’ you know was actually a friend. I’m actually interested in who can make my assistant go wild.”
“Please contain yourself.”
“I will once I get my scoop.”
“Careful, Boss. You’re starting to sound and talk like a media person. At this rate, I’d find you in some show and podcast doing motivational speeches and bragging about your success while promoting your book.”
“How horrifying. Do you have so little faith you’d put that evil thought in my mind?”
She shooed me away. I slipped inside the doorway and saw cold blue eyes staring. Kei got in as well and whistled at the sight of the chamber.
“How about this? What a sight, isn’t it?”
She approached the operating table. Eyes on the newbie strapped down and magically induced to sleep. Victoria herself was deep in thought..
“Ah, it’s nice finally seeing the face.”
“Miss Kei Ma. It is a pleasure to meet the 'face' of Kei's office. I’ve heard great things, and your work history is impressive.”
“Victoria Florence. A pleasure to see you finally. I heard great things about you from my assistant here.”
Victoria turned to me.
“I hope he told great things.”
“Mostly.”
Kei smiled. Her attention went to the operation table. Victoria moved next to the table while the artificer in-charge of the surgery was waiting for her signal. She’s usually welcoming, polite, and professional. But when Victoria’s like this. She’s far from how I know her as ‘Cindy’.
“Lately, one of our mages has developed a sickness. We suspect this ‘sickness’ was based on an anomaly we’ve encountered.”
“Or bad surgery.”
“It’s possible.”
The artificer agreed. He took a data pad and handed it over to Kei. Scrolling down the contents, Kei whistled. She handed the pad to me and skimmed it. Vessels imploded, veins fried, and organs magically entangled.
“Nasty.”
“It is.”
The artificer was keeping the patient alive while the mage’s muscles and internal organs were showing.
Most of this Mage’s internals have turned blue. Thicker blood and you can smell this sulphuric stench on them. Sulphuric stench usually was a telltale sign of demonic interference, but as much as demons pride themselves in hexes and ambiguous contracts.
But damaging their product, their source of magical amusement, was something they rarely do. Most of the contractors usually have a mark that gives them the power.
“Correct me if I’m wrong. This is a warlock, no?”
“Yes.”
“Where is his mark?”
The man lifted the mage’s hair. Behind his left ear was the glaring mark. You can usually identify the mark by reverse-image searching it on the DB of the Bureau.
“Marbas, huh? Any word on the chief contractor?”
“None. We found the man through the Chief Contractor’s authority, but what happened was beyond their idea.”
Kei searched around the head.
“Personal link. Coprocessors or any neutral processors where we can retrieve brain footage?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
So a traditionalist. Most Mages are afraid of chrome, and those who aren’t are usually much more inclined to fail at their spell-casting. Being Bioware-enchanted or magically-enchanted was their usual choice since it doesn’t involve replacing themselves with metal.
“Any records that can help? I’m assuming you’re putting this man to sleep to revive him?”
Victoria sent another footage of the man in constant pain to the data pad. He was trying to take his skin off as if it bothered him.
“This isn’t a flayed one, I hope.”
“No, it isn’t. However, this sickness is causing the afflicted mages to have an overwhelming urge to take their skin off. The successful ones usually die from blood loss. We have put the ones we saved in a magically induced sleep.”
Kei crossed her arms and held her chin in thought.
“We are not magically proficient, Miss Florence.”
“But your insight into anomalies might prove adequate in helping us find the cause.”
Kei looked Victoria in the eye before planting her butt on a stool. She was about to fish out a cigarette from her dimenbag when she got glared at by the artificer.
Gearheads and Artificers are partially similar in what they do. Both grant an individual an enchantment. Difference is that the Artificer puts enchantment on you by carving through your bone through the use of magical items.
They’ll open you up, engrave the runes into your blood, flesh, and skin until you yourself can become augmented by the magical item used to enhance you.
Augmentation procedures vary depending on what kind of augmentation you want. Magical and Non-magical. In the Mage’s case, they do it by using this method to make their body attune to what source of their strength was.
If hardware implants have problems with EMP and Gearheads, who can fry their head processors and circuits, then you have the magically augmented beings susceptible to curses and have their own Achilles heel.
A Mage will undoubtedly have a weakness. It could be their heel, hair, and even their virginity sometimes. Most priests opt to remain chaste, believing it enhances their spiritual power. Their power usually comes from their faith, and the only difference was that you can’t fake faith. God will know your sincerity and thus give you power through your true faith.
Then there are deviants like techno-liches who have turned themselves into pure machines but somehow kept their ability to cast spells through some means. Techno-mages are usually being criticized by their traditionalist peers, but if they do become one who can use them, they treat them as aberrant who have fused tech and magic.
Bioware augmentation, although considered the safest and the most expensive, is also the pickiest kind of implant since sometimes the body itself naturally rejects the implants even if they were being configured to match the body. Bioware procedures sometimes create problems within the body and the implanted organs just die out of nowhere as if the implant themselves are rejecting the body. You’re walking around and suddenly your second heart just stops working.
But if it works out. Then you find yourself naturally enchanted with little drawbacks, but getting injured grievously means your medical needs have the same price tag as the procedure, making them expensive to maintain, especially for individuals who are on hazardous jobs. Gearhead clinics can change and maintain chrome, which is cheap on the streets.
Magical augmentations are great for those who use magic, but less sturdy than chrome.
True faith empowerment only works if you have a fanatical faith.
There are other ways to enhance yourself. You can become a vampire, gain their strength and speed, but lose the ability to walk under the sun naturally. You can become a werewolf and succumb to the bloodlust which leaves you at the mercy of your animal instincts.
There are other ways to make yourself strong. After we saw the evil in the moon, we seemed to have introduced everyone to the ways of protecting ourselves from the evil.
I wonder about it myself. Clearly, they want us to investigate this in hopes so they can learn from this for themselves after we’re done. I don’t understand, since trying to learn this means they are trying to cheat the demons in hell. Being empowered by a demon or a devil was also one way to enhance your abilities. But they take more than they give. They hate those who do not agree to their terms and they are secretive about the way they gather power.
And if The Church Union’s Diabolist Side hears about this. Then they’ll try to join or take all what they learn for themselves and erase all traces of this.
“Are you sure you want to investigate this?”
“Of course. And don’t worry. We already have made deals with the Diabolists of the TCU just in case. They agreed, in exchange, the information will be shared among those in agreement freely; albeit limited in some ways.”
I was hoping she’d do that. It was a good thing Cindy knows who she’s dealing with this and can understand their twisted minds.
Kei leaned on her knees and joined her fingers. Her face became stony and the dull way she presented herself vanished.
“That’s good and all. But you offer us no incentives. No reason to pursue this and honestly, it’s a magical phenomenon that your people and the church should investigate yourself.”
“It seems you are not fond of demons, Miss Kei.”
“I know that smell.”
Kei snorted and glared coldly.
“We’re not dealing with just a demon here. That stench from the deep hells means it’s a devil. You Mages should know best who not to deal with.”
You don’t wish with the help of a witch.
You don’t fight and steal from dragons.
You don’t make deals with gods and devils.
And never, ever trust otherworldly creatures from the void of the stars.
“So you won’t take this?”
Kei said nothing and remained silent. It took about a minute before she made her mind up.
“We’ll take it. Don’t expect instant results. Cases like this are best done slowly and carefully.”
“As expected of the woman who survived the Okinawan Devil.”
Kei shrugged and leaned on her teleforce cane while maintaining eye contact with Victoria.
“Send the details to my assistant here. We’ll try to find any leads on this and if you have information, you can add. Please don’t keep it from us.”
“We will.”
Kei got out first. Victoria stood next to me and watched the doorway where Kei went out. I then followed her out of the room and stood in the blue hallways. I could smell incense somewhere.
“It’s great you have an agreeable boss now.”
“Ci, can you not try to throw us into problems like this?”
She shook her head.
“It’s not my choice. And as she said herself. It’s best if you take this one slow. See you around.”
“Sure is busy lately, Ci.”
“That’s the unfortunate life of being an employee. See you around, okay?”
Cindy took her phone out and called someone immediately. All these talks about demons, devils, and magic didn’t seem as tiresome as the reality we still have work to do.
