86. Something Bad (Patreon)

“So? What is it?” Ike asked again.

Ket’s face turned serious. He put his hand on the rings again, and sent a huge pulse of mana into them. They all began to glow, then tremble. Abruptly, the first one lifted off the table, then another, then another. All the rings floated in the air, their crystals glowing. They hung there in an amorphous blob. He waved his hand again, and the rings spun around in the air, repositioning into a complex three-dimensional shape. “No, this is…these rings are part of an enormous array. I think it…”

He stepped back, putting a hand on his chin. His brows furrowed. “It might be…”

A burning smell came from the kitchen, followed seconds later by a dark smoke. Ket jolted and ran to the kitchen, quickly stirring a pot. Ike followed him to the door of the kitchen and stood there, waiting.

Ket worked on the pot, tossing in this herb and that liquid into the simmer. The black smoke turned pale again, and the burning scent faded. At last, he wiped his brow. “There. It should be stable for a while again. What were we talking about?”

“The formation,” Ike prompted him.

“Right! The formation!” Ket jogged back out into the kitchen. The rings still hung in the air, propelled on the mana he’d injected before. He looked it up and down, then scowled. “No, this is really bad. It is what I thought it was.” He flicked his fingers, and the rings rearranged. They formed a perfect circle and began to spin. Dark energy accumulated in the air. A cold wind blew. Silver streaked the dark energy, like cold metal.

Ike’s energy drained out of his body. The cold wind closed in around him. He trembled, then dropped to his knees. He staggered for the door. Ice accumulated on his skin. “Ket…”

Ket’s eyes widened. He clapped. A burst of fire flew from his hands and washed over the rings, knocking them out of the air. The draining cold vanished. The normal temperature filled the room once more. In the kitchen, Ket’s pot gently bubbled.

Ike shook his head. He slowly pushed to his feet. “What was that?”

“A soul-draining array,” Ket said.

Ike’s brows furrowed. “A soul-draining…”

Immediately, several things clicked in his head. The soul-draining array. The dolls, standing there motionlessly. Rosamund, her personality, and the way her father replicated her. And finally, the king of Abyssal, and his ambivalence toward the puppet army. Ike looked at Ket. “This—it’s for the dolls, isn’t it?”

Ket grimaced. He nodded.

“It’s an array that drains souls, and sends them into dolls. And there’s only one group of humans down here. One group of humans, whose king doesn’t seem to care about the ominous puppet army.”

Ket shook his head. “It certainly doesn’t look good.”

“I wonder if he’s been paid off, or promised safety, in return for handing over Abyssal’s citizens,” Ike mused.

“There’s no point in guessing. We don’t gain anything, even if we know,” Ket said. He shook his head, then looked over his shoulder.

Ike followed his gaze. Tana still practiced in the back garden, well out of earshot.

Ket put a hand on Ike’s shoulder drawing him in. He hunkered a bit. “Listen, Ike. Find as many of these rings as you can, and destroy them. I’ll destroy these. An array this complex can likely still activate with only a few rings, but the fact that he’s embedded it in monsters…” Ket gripped one of the rings, then snapped it open. He tore out the crystal. Crushing it, he rubbed the powder between his fingers, then shook his head. “No mana stored inside. The rings need to be in monsters to power the array. If you kill the monsters and remove the rings, that’s at least a fifty percent reduction in the array’s ability to activate.”

Ike tilted his head. He looked at the rings.

“What?” Ket asked.

“The rings…we can use those materials for something else? Another spell array later, for example?” Ike asked.

Ket blinked. He looked at the rings. “I suppose so. They’re low-quality mana crystals with very little attribute or element, but they’re still mana crystals. The metal is what we call spell-silver… a low-grade silver that’s only useful for spellcrafting. Are you sure?”

“Waste not, want not. Besides, I have no crystals and no silver. What if I want to make an array? And if I don’t, I can make a quick buck,” Ike pointed out.

Ket looked at the rings, then chuckled under his breath. He nodded at Ike. “When I destroy them, I’ll give you back the raw materials. I have no use for them.”

Ike nodded. “Thank you! And, um, I won’t accept anything from Violet in the future.”

“No… you probably should accept whatever Violet gives you. Someone ought to benefit from her crimes,” Ket said with a shrug.

Ike looked at Ket, then laughed. “I guess so!”

“But why did Wisp care about the rings?” Ket wondered aloud. “She doesn’t have a good relationship with anyone in Abyssal that I know of. Nor has she ever shown interest in Abyssal.”

“Maybe her soul gets drained, too?” Ike asked.

“Could be. Did she know what the rings were for?” Ket asked.

Ike frowned. She would have to know what the rings were for, if she wanted to prevent her soul from being drained. But she didn’t. “No, she asked me to figure it out.”

“So it wasn’t to save herself. So why…?” Ket murmured.

“She really doesn’t care about humans as much as you two seem to think. I think she was just curious about the rings,” Ike said.

Ket shook his head. “Monsters are always enigmatic.”

“I don’t know if she’s enigmatic. I think she’s just… bored,” Ike said.

“I’m not bored,” Tana said, walking into the dining room. She looked around. “What are all the rings for?”

Ket and Ike exchanged a look. With a wave of his hand, Ket collected the rings. “Ike didn’t bring any meat tonight, so no dinner.”

“What? Ike!” Tana admonished him.

Ike put his hands up. “We don’t have to eat.”

“Right, but I like eating!” Tana protested.

Ike chuckled. “Okay, okay. If I hunt something tasty tomorrow, I’ll bring the meat back. How’s that for a promise?”

Tana nodded. “You’d better!”

With a final laugh, Ike headed upstairs to his room. Loup followed behind him, shaking ice off her fur. Tana frowned after them. She kneeled, touching the ice. “What…?”