A wave of chills crawled up and down Myuriem's spine as he became aware of the barrier encompassing both him and the woman sitting in front of him. To remain seated with a lax smile on her face, no weapon in sight and an absence of tension on her frame made his hands twitch, an air of anticipation settling in his shoulders.
Straining his ears and nose, it was clear that this barrier could dampen even the reach of his heightened senses. Glancing around his surroundings, everyone within the restaurant proceeded as normal. Clamouring, gossip, rushing to and fro from counter to kitchen, kitchen to lobby with some waiters and waitresses even passing them by without issue or even a brief second look.
'A sound dampening barrier mixed with a subtle perception reading barrier.' Myuriem hummed to himself, 'Both erected and intricately woven together without alerting me or anyone else in the building.'
Steadily placing his utensils down after finishing his meal, he looked up at the mage, eyes sharpening and his mana waiting at his beck and call.
"You're quite the mage if you're able to suddenly form a barrier mixed with two properties. Usually, the use of magic would alert even the most insensitive person yet you were able to cast a two in one barrier without so much as a shift in the air." Myuriem said, wiping his mouth with the handkerchief given.
The mage snickered, "You shouldn't praise me so much. In fact, I'm shocked that you were able to realise that I made this barrier that quickly. Besides..."
She opened her eyes, a dissecting glint passing through them.
"You're nothing to scoff at either. Actually, saying you're nothing to scoff at is quite the understatement from me whatnot with the huge crater sitting on the outskirts of this town."
A moment of silence went passed them by before the woman sighed and raised her hands in mock surrender.
"Why don't we start over, hm?" She suggested, "I know that this method of, shall we say, privacy isn't exactly the best way to start any worthwhile conversation without it seeming like a threat."
"Just realising that now? You're must not be very verse in talking with people then." Myuriem shot back.
That got a slight twitch of her brow, "Like you're one to talk. You definitely need more work than I do by just going off of what you did last night."
Myuriem leaned forward, his mana now ready to lash out at the mage before him. A glare settled in his face. The woman smiled.
"So you were there? Using this barrier I presume, hiding your presence within the base despite the amount of mana you have."
"You would be absolutely correct and let me say this, you're quite the ruthless one, aren't you?"
Another beat of silence. Another sigh of indignation.
"Once again, this isn't how we should be doing things." She mumbled to herself, "Let's start with names. Much as I may not be showing it right now, I'm not here to hurt you."
A snarl escaped him, "And I'm supposed to comfortably believe that?"
"Seeing as how I already made a terrible first impression, I can't ask for you to outright trust me from the get go. At least let's start properly to ease things at the very least."
Myuriem's frown deepened and looked deeper. Beneath the skin and the perciveable, directly at the flow and chain of mana.
A gift, a talent he had honed since his early childhood days. The base existence of all beings, mana, was free for him to read. The truth and lies of an individual, where else would such activities take place if not at the foundations of the self?
A chill passed through the woman. A bead of sweat dripped from her brow.
'What was that?' She thought to herself, her eyes squinting at him, 'What did he-'
Myuriem settled back, albeit slowly, into his seat, "Doesn't seem like you're lying about that part."
Her brow slightly shot up, "You can tell that by a look? What kind of spell allows you to do that?"
Myuriem huffed, "That's for me to know and you to never find out. You said we should start with introductions, yes? My name is Myuriem and you are?"
Quelling the slight sense of discomfort that passed through her and remained, she spoke, "My name is Racarra. I haven't been the best conversation partner in the time that we've been talking but it is a pleasure to meet you."
Hearing that, unintentional as it may be, a bit of tension lifted from Myuriem's frame and his shoulders slumped a bit. A sigh peeled itself out of him.
"Its way too early in the day for tension like this to find me."
Racarra chuckled, "Once again, I'm sorry about this. I must admit though, you were right in saying I'm not the best talker."
Though not completely trusting, the air of distrust that hung around them softened, if only for this moment.
"So," Myuriem said, "What exactly do you want from me?"
Racarra wagged her fingers playfully, "Ah ah ah, let's start with our separate appearances at the Dahlia base last night. We'll get to what I want later on."
"We could always go straight to-"
"My, starting to show how much you suck at conversations like me? How generous of you." Racarra interrupted, a glimmer of humour dancing on her face.
Myuriem scoffed yet felt his heart slightly lighten in jest, "I guess that's only fair in a situation like this. I suppose I must also go first?"
The red maned woman's smile widened, "I'm glad we're on the same page."
Rolling his eyes at this, he spoke, "Right, of course. At any rate, I invaded that place due to...personal grievances. I've been on their trail for a good amount of time."
Myuriem focused his eyes back on Racarra's, "That's the gist of it. A long string of obsession with it's foundation being a petty grievance placed against them. All in all, not a worthwhile enough reason to warrant any serious thoughts from a third person's perspective."
The young man gestured to Racarra, "I'd say I've been somewhat honest with my intentions and goals. Now it's your turn. What were you doing at the Dahlia base? You don't seem like the type to aimlessly travel to and fro like me."
Racarra let a smirk play on her lips and shrugged, "I may not mindlessly scurry about to find the next victim to sink my teeth into like you do, but I can be just as susceptible to vendettas and grudges if my own."
The smirk fell off her face and her face blank. Her eyes clouding over as irritation settled in her heart.
"The Dahlia Garden has been hunting me. For reasons I wish to keep confidential, they have been searching for me in the last seven years. Not only that, but they have recently been raiding my little hideouts I scattered all over and taking some of my sample spells to use to their advantage. I was at the base to ascertain who could be giving them the locations of me and my hideouts. I even have a reliable map of their base of operations, both underground and public. How they know where they are and why they even know of my research to begin with is beyond me."
A memory flashed back in Myuriem's mind. Wicken, the head of the branch he had destroyed, had used a certain form of magic alien to Myuriem. A very volatile form of manipulating mana that was clearly unmastered at the hands of that man.
"One of said spells wouldn't happen to be a consecutive beam of explosions would it?" Myuriem asked.
Racarra clicked her tongue with anger, "Unfortunately, it is. Yet from how you describe it, there seems to have been multiple kinks and issues with the spell itself. Say, I don't know, said beam only travelling one way or perhaps the explosions being too uncontrollable for even the caster or even the explosions not being precise?"
A sense of unease returned to Myuriem's frame, "I had faint sense that someone else was there. Of course it would have been you. That concealment spell of yours is quite the work."
A hoarse laugh peeled out of her, "Thanks for the compliment. I must say though, surrounding you and that idiot in a dome of water that continuously fizzled out the explosions was genius. The reckless kind, of course, it still did blow up around four to five times after all."
Myuriem sighed, "At any rate, if what you say is true I can see why you'd be hunting them down. However, while all of your intentions last night are clear, it still doesn't explain why you sought me out like this."
Racarra frowned and groaned, "With how well you've been doing in our little chat, I thought it'd be obvious. I want your help. The spells that this organisation steal aren't just powerful in their own right, they are able to somewhat replicate it, albeit shoddily. This is so that the other recruits can use such spells without the barrier of talent and knowledge being in place. Those spells aren't meant for the likes of folk like them to have at their finger tips."
The young man raised a hand to stop her, " All that is well and good. In fact, it's perfectly understandable. The issue I have with this is that ordinarily, I would be the one seeking you out."
Her shoulders slumped ever so slightly, "What do you mean?"
"Like you and I had said before, I'm merely wondering about. Going to and fro in a directionless pattern of destruction. You said that you're able to find the bases with a map that you made. I would need you to help me find these bases to eliminate them. However..."
Myuriem leaned forward, his eyes squinting at her, "Why would you need my help? Surely not power, you seem plenty strong yourself. The spells that they steal are watered down, imperfect, shoddy and incomparable to the real thing which you possess. I would need you for information and guidance but me? What exactly can I even offer to you in the long term for you to not down along the line consider me a nuisance to discard?"
Silence settled between the two. Unease and a palpable tension rested on their shoulders.
Racarra's frame sagged and her eyes glazed over with...an unknown emotion.
Myuriem closed his eyes and took a deep breathe in, later slowly breathing out to ease his nerves.
A sigh of resignation called his attention. At that moment, an oppresive air weighed him down. Mana tinged with maliciousness filled not just the space between them, but even affected those outside of this barrier.
The restaurant fell silent, it's customers and staff looking to and fro with apprehensive expressions on their faces and sweat dripping down their brows.
As the air grew thick with danger, the agitation of the entire building reached a new peak as all of them rushed out, slamming into and tripping over themselves to clear the vicinity.
"You may have realised a little bit during our little conversation here," Racarra continued without a care, "I'd like to consider myself a very powerful mage, one whom has researched magic and even created my own slew of dangerous spells."
A wild grin split the calm visage that she had kept till now, a fire dancing in her eyes that were dull mere moments ago.
"Can you imagine the frustration I feel at hearing and finding out my stalkers have been ransacking my little safe spaces, taking my spells and even having the gall to dumb down my work to use for convenient usage? I must ask, what do you think I would have done if you weren't there?"
Myuriem calmly stared at the woman before him. Her mana wasn't just mischievous but also shook with rage and indignation. Careful as she may be to not have sought him out recklessly, such caution would be meaningless drivel once anger such as this spirals out of control.
"That base wouldn't have been the only thing destroyed if you had taken care of it," Myuriem replied, a frown settling on his face, "This entire town would have been decimated as simple collateral. Lives, both guilty and innocent, wouldn't be spared."
Perhaps Myuriem imagined it, but a downcast expression flashed by on her face before returning to the face splitting grin it had before.
Racarra clapped softly, a grating snicker ringing through the now empty establishment.
"Quite right. I'm honestly flattered at how much you know me, Myuriem. If I went around, destroying towns willy nilly without a shred of care, the authorities of even more nations will be on the lookout for me. Not only would that make sneaking even more necessary and difficult, it would further justify the relevance of those bastards as a form of security. They'd be even bolder in their efforts to find me and my hideouts, stealing my precious work a d defacing it. Think if yourself like, I don't know, a leash to restrain me. With all that being said, I can tell we'll be-"
A wave of mana erupted, clashing with her's. Myuriem glared at her, his mixed pale blue-purple eyes slightly glowing.
"With that on the table, what stops me from killing you and getting rid of the threat once and for all. If I'm your leash, why shouldn't I be the noose that'll hang you from a tree before you go biting anyone else?"
Racarra turned her face away slightly, a now uncharacteristically soft smile settling on her lips.
Myuriem's hearing dampened but could make out a few words,"Spoken...like....hero."
At that, Myuriem squinted in confusion.
Racarra faced him once more, "But of course. That would be a rational solution, you wouldn't be wrong at all following that line of logic. Two issues with that little plan though."
An odd glimmer of mirth melded with her mana, as though she were enjoying this back and forth threats and maliciousness.
"To begin with, the map only responds to my mana. If it were anyone else, it would be a blank piece of parchment. You'd have no luck on that front," Racarra said with a smirk.
"However, the next issue is where your logic falls apart completely," that face splitting grin returning, "While I don't doubt that you can kill me, in fact I know full well that you can even if I were to use all of my spells. Although, do you think that you will win and go scot free with your life? With how similar we are in power, wouldn't it be natural for one to follow the other to the grave soon after killing them? I think that's more of a possibility than you'd like to admit. Besides, what about all the people here in this town? They'd be mere canon fodder in a serious bout between us. Both of us know that for a fact."
As Racarra finished, a cold sweat ran down Myuriem's brow. His hands clenched into fists, knuckles popping to the tension. He could feel his palm bleed as his nails sunk into them.
Flashes of a burning house in the dark of night, stars absent as though to hide themselves the tragedy before them. A mangled corpse of a man laid on the grass, staining the patch with a deep redness and a stinging sensation burning all over his face with blood oozing from the wounds.
Standing over him, a woman with a blank stare yet tears ran down her face.
Myuriem gritted his teeth, 'Not now, not when I still have so much to do. Not when I haven't found her yet.'
Pale blue purple eyes stared with a persistent and willful blaze into cream coloured eyes that churned with a rabid spiral of power. An understanding passed between them both, their released mana receding back into them.
Racarra stood up and stretched forth her gloved hand, a soft smiling aimed at Myuriem, "Should I assume we are in agreement then?"
The young man stood up and looked at the woman. A dangerous mage that was a walking calamity waiting to go off, if enough irritation is achieved. A disaster that can result in the end of life around her.
A familiar yet unwanted feeling invaded his being. The weight of responsibility pushed down on him even further. He felt that he should buckle, complain or even deny the whole thing. No such thing occurred though, only an unconscious steeling of resolve.
He clasped her hand, blood staining her glove and dripping down into the table as though a blood pact had been settled.
"I will be in your care Racarra. Guide me well and don't cause too much trouble on my end." He said solemnly.
Her eyes crinkled with amusement, "I will be in your care as well Myuriem. Please don't allow me to snuff out any innocent life."
He had expected some sort of haughty response, a show of maliciousness, maybe even a hint of sadistic glee hidden behind a that smile. Yet it was genuine, her mana utterly calm and lax as though a burden had been lightened.
A cool sensation filled his hand. Upon ending the handshake, his palm had been healed without a scar in sight.
Racarra winked at him while waving her hand, "Can't let my noose start to wear itself out, can I?"
"You're a strange one, I'll give you that.", Myuriem replied, an accidental making of a smile on his face, "I hope you don't plan on going to the next base just yet. There is one final thing I need to do before leaving this town."
Racarra shrugged, "I'll go wherever you go until you're ready. Let's meet down here after packing. Which reminds me..."
Racarra reached for his hands. Upon them, a large circle encompassing multiple smaller ones appeared on his palms.
Myuriem quirked an eyebrow in response.
"I noticed you lug your weaponry around. With your aptitude in magic, a storage spell, specifically a storage marking on your hands can not only make things easier for you to carry them but also that much easier to summon said weaponry at a simple thought and the slightest pulse of your mana instead of fumbling around with it, even if you're a quick drawerer. You wore gloves under those bracers of yours. Wear those and it'll get the markings too. Grab anything you want and direct your mana into it to send it into a subspace of your own. Also, don't worry about your weapons being lost, rest assured I've tweaked this elementary spell to not allow such things to happen."
A childish light radiated from her eyes as she spoke about a mere storage spell. One thing remained on Myuriem's mind.
'I'm going to have my work cut out for me with this woman.'