Yutten Turse casting magic in the style of Gustave Moreau, as interpreted by DALL-E in January 2025.

  “Hi Yutten! Great to see you.” She responded in kind and sank into one of Chandrian’s office chairs like it was a refuge from a storm. They talked for quite a while about their families and mutual acquaintances. Except for the Blight and the threat of further attacks, everything was fine.

  “So, what can I help you with?”

  “I am working on a strange case. Very mysterious. Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone about what I have to tell you.”

  “Of course.”

  “But it’s more important than usual. There may be Protectors involved.”

  “Sounds intriguing.”

  “Apparently, they broke into the records at our office. And when we tried to Divine it, we triggered something and a voice chastised us for not leaving the situation alone. They slammed some kind of surveillance engram on Z?rgiebel.”

  “What?”

  “What I said. And Z?rgiebel has recordings from his videocameras. One person walking down the corridors like he owns the place. Blurred with exquisite skill.”

  Chandrian stared at her in silence. She looked back at him. “That’s some heavy shit,” he eventually offered, regressing back to the person she had known twenty years ago.

  “Both heavy and shitty, I’ll grant you that.”

  Another pause. “Obfuscation magics. You are sure?”

  “Impossible to pinpoint a single detail about what this person looked like. But in the sense that you wouldn’t notice it until you tried.”

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  “Protectors, then. And not hiding it.”

  “Yes. But they probably didn’t expect it to be recorded on videocamera.”

  “Old tech, so easily fooled that nobody’s using it anymore. They should have brought a Transmuter.”

  “Oh, they must have. Mechanical lock on the archive door.”

  “But just one person on the videocamera you said?”

  “This is what I wanted to ask you about. It seems there must have been at least three, maybe four or five. We had a constable on duty, who was apparently addled. Then there’s the lock and the obfuscation. And possibly a Diviner and a Conjoiner.”

  “They addled a constable on duty?”

  “They don’t seem to be playing by the book very much. Our constable is upset.”

  “I imagine. Everybody who has been exposed to it agrees that being addled feels like a violation. Not at the time, but afterwards.”

  “I know. One thing I’ve wondered about, though. Seems like an unlikely option, but maybe we can clear it off the table. What are the odds that there were two other people accompanying the person recorded on videocamera, but they were obfuscated to such an extent we can’t even see a trace of them?”

  “You’re asking if they can do that with obfuscation? I suppose it’s possible, although no one really knows the limits of such magics. Protectors are not exactly forthcoming with information on Abjuration.”

  “But it’s possible?”

  “Maybe. I guess it would have left traces of some kind. Not something you would notice in real time, perhaps, but on a recording it should be possible to see. Although I suppose the visual traces would be inversely correlated with the level of skill.”

  “So maybe if they are extremely high-skilled?”

  “Who knows. But, you know, why would they hide two people completely and leave the third observable but unrecognizable?”

  “Yeah. Why not just do the same thing on all three. Seems simpler. Unless, I don’t know, they wanted to deceive us with regard to their number?”

  “Mm. Although there were obviously several people involved, they went out of their way to make it look like it was only one person? What’s the point?”

  “I agree that it seems unlikely. But the only other possibility is that the Transmuter and the Invoker waited outside or something. Wouldn’t it be really hard to addle someone – and open a lock – you can’t see?”

  “Opening mechanical locks is not difficult for a skilled Transmuter, but they would have to see the lock. And you can’t addle someone without having a clear idea of exactly where they are. So yes, a Diviner seems necessary, and a Conjoiner so the others can see what the Diviner sees.”

  “At least five people, then.”

  “I think so. And your archives are probably shielded against Conveyance, right? Or they might have just jumped right in there or transported out whatever they wanted. Do you know what they were after?”

  “Don’t know yet. But probably shielded, yes. I don’t have any details, but Z?rgiebel is careful with such things.”

  The conversation went on for a while, but in the end they both agreed the whole thing was just mysterious. Before leaving, Yutten once again asked him not to tell anyone anything. Chandrian promised.

  She went back to Z?rgiebel to look at the recordings once more, not telling him why. There was not a trace of any other people. She spent the rest of the day thinking.