Multiversal Mercenary Chapter 5: The Seamstress's Union (Patreon)

Chapter 5: The Seamstress’s Union

Smashing up the BTL lab in the apartment complex’s lobby didn’t take very long, and wasn’t very hard. The Mage who’d fled Stevie’s penthouse had not bothered to grab some lads to avenge his boss.

Didn’t even warn Ryker, the lab’s boss, about us, so when we stormed the place, he was caught completely off guard. Even managed to save the kid, Zipper, from being tortured to death. We put holes in Ryker and Tickler, stole some recording software that’d be worth something to someone, and then left the Royale.

No idea what would happen now. Somebody else would probably move in, but that wasn’t our problem any more.

A taxi ride back to the Union later, and we stepped out in the cold drizzle and came face to face with the brickwork building that was one part bar, one part brothel, and one part secret Shadowrunner hideout.

“Come on in, I’ll show ya around,” Coyote declared, pep in her step as we approached her home and workplace.

It was currently early afternoon, just a bit after one p.m., and so the interior was rather empty. Just a handful of salarymen tourists slumming it in the safest part of the Barrens by the bar, and some people who were likely Shadowrunners further in the back, if the weapons and outfits were any indicator.

“Coyote!” a sinfully beautiful elf with red hair and pouty lips called out from the bar as we entered, and Coyote flashed her coworker a smile.

“I’m back, Cherry,” she grinned. “Delilah in?”

“In the back,” she replied, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in the vague direction, but her eyes lingered on me. “Is that…?”

“Yeah, this is the guy,” Coyote nodded.

“Mrs. Kubota wants to speak with him. And you,” Cherry Bomb, the Union’s sexy elf bartender, informed us, and Coyote grimaced before nodding.

“Right. Come on, Gav, let’s meet the mistress.”

“Should I be worried?” I wondered.

I knew that Mrs. Kubota, the owner of the place, was a woman of honor but also business. She treated everyone who came to her establishment, be they worker or runner, as family, and had more morals than most in the city.

Yet you don’t last long in the Barrens by being too kind. Not without power to back it up, and the half-Asian half-African woman clearly had enough strength to secure her position in Seattle for decades at this point.

“Nah… well, maybe a little,” Coyote admitted, before snorting. “Just don’t act like a drekhead and you should be fine.”

I nodded at that advice, and went into the back where the VIP seats were. Here, the bar transformed into something more classy. There were strippers here, yes, but the booths were larger and fancier, the bar stocked finer vintages, the décor cleaner and more upscale, and a piano in the corner added a sense of sophistication.

Watching over the place from the bar were two individuals. One was a troll, tall and strong and wearing a finely tailored suit. But it was the dark-skinned woman at his side that was clearly the more dangerous of the two.

“Welcome back, Coyote,” Mrs. Kubota said, her voice quite nice.

She was a slightly plump older woman who had her dark hair in a updo, and wore a black and violet dress with a high popped collar. Last but not least was the large silver necklace set with five large rubies. Something magical stirred within the gems, my senses could tell that much. But beyond that, she seemed harmless. Except for her eyes, which promised death and destruction to all who crossed her.

“I’m back, Ma’am,” the bartender said in greeting, dipping her head slightly.

Paco nervously bowed his head as well when her gaze drifted his way, and I followed along as well, giving her a bow as well.

“Indeed. And in one piece as well,” Mrs. Kubota said slowly. “Now, I have quite a few questions for you. But let’s start with an easy one. Who is this whom you’ve brought into my house?”

With eyes on me, I stepped forward and gave her a bow at the waist. “Gavin Lariat, formerly of San Francisco. Hotsauce if you want to talk runner biz.” I then gave the back of her hand a kiss, which had her giggle in amusement.

“Oh my, Coyote. You seem to have found quite the charmer,” she declared with a grin.

“I, uh, yeah, I suppose so,” Coyote muttered, side-eyeing me while Paco stared in awe like he was seeing me in a completely different light.

“Well, you seem to have some manners,” Mrs. Kubota hummed. “Perhaps you can tell me then why I am sheltering a Stuffer Shack worker under my roof?”

“That’s simple. She was going to be the Emerald City Ripper’s latest victim, had I not intervened,” I revealed, and Mrs. Kubota’s eyes widened while the troll’s eyes narrowed.

“Truly?” she asked, and I nodded.

“Allow me to explain,” I said, and I quickly told her about Sam’s deadman switch, my ‘future visions,’ and the fact that the Ripper was actually an elf and troll duo seeking out Melinda Watts’ missing organs.

“That… that is quite the tale,” Mrs. Kubota muttered.

She wasn’t the only one giving me odd looks. Aside from Mr. Kluwe, her trusty troll bodyguard, a janitor in a far-too clean custodial uniform was also listening in with a poorly concealed look of shock.

“I don’t have proof right now, beyond my own claims,” I admitted. “But I can show off that my knowledge isn’t entirely hooey.”

I gestured towards her bodyguard. “Mr. Kluwe, you Goblinized in 2021, and it was Mrs. Kubota who helped you after the fact.”

I pointed towards the piano. “Your underground layer can be accessed by playing G-A-F-F-C on those ivory keys.”

Last but not least, I turned towards the janitor. “And Johnny Clean over there isn’t just a janitor, he’s a Decker and Shadowrunner. Damn good one, too.”

Eyes were now locked onto Coyote, and she quickly shook her head, silently denying giving any of this information away to me.

“Now, all of that is information I could have gained from elsewhere,” I said, conceding the fact. “But if you must have something that I could not possibly know just by asking around… well, how about a bit of information that could make you quite a bit of money to the right buyers?”

“Go on,” Mrs. Kubota urged.

“Kenneth Brackhaven, that very unpleasant local politician… is not actually Kenneth Brackhaven,” I revealed in a low voice. “The real Kenneth died in 2023 when he Goblinized… and his own father murdered him to cover it up.”

Mrs. Kubota hissed in a shocked breath while Mr. Kluwe stiffened, and I nodded grimly. “The current ‘Kenneth’ is a SINless orphan kidnapped and brainwashed to believe he was Charles Brackhaven’s son.”

“Brackhaven… A man who supposedly was ‘cured’ of Goblinization, a medical miracle that made the news,” Mrs. Kubota said slowly. “And yet, none of the doctors who supposedly worked this miracle were ever able to replicate it. So this is why…”

“That’s horrible,” Coyote spat, and I nodded.

“It’s disgusting. Assuming that is true,” Mrs. Kubota said.

“DNA tests would prove it,” I replied. “But you wanted some information that I could not possibly have found out about just by asking around, and that is what I have.”

For a moment, the club owner’s expression was a pensive one. Eventually, though, she nodded curtly at me.

“So be it,” she uttered. “I will investigate this information. Until I have confirmation, you may make use of the underground facilities. And if it is false? I will expect proper compensation.”

“And what about Lucy?” I asked.

“She will stay under my protection for now. Until you have caught the Ripper and put him six feet under, as I assume you intend to do.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully.

“Hmm. You are welcome,” Mrs. Kubota said. “If you wish to speak with her, she’s in Coyote’s room right now.”

“You put her in my room?” the wannabe runner uttered.

“Where else should I have let her stay? After all, it was your request that brought her here,” Mrs. Kubota pointed out, and Coyote just bowed her head.

“I should go see how she’s doing,” I said, standing up.

“Very good,” Mrs. Kubota nodded.

“I’ll show you the way…” Coyote began, but then paused and looked over to where a short and stocky human man in a leather coat and a shotgun slung across his back was sitting and watching her from behind dark shades.

“Err, actually, Paco will show you,” she said, changing her tune. “Got to hand in the goods to Delilah.”

“Got it,” I said, giving her a thumbs up before turning to the Cutter. “Lead on.”

He nodded, gave his girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek, and then brought me upstairs to the third floor. It and the floors above, according to Paco, were where the non-sex worker staff and the highrollers in the club lived, plus a number of rooms for rent for Shadowrunners.

The second floor was where Mrs. Kubota’s brothel was located. For a gangbanger, he had a very innocent blush on his face as he mentioned that.

“This is Coyote’s room,” he explained, showing me the door. I politely looked away as he put in the access code.

Though, when he opened the door, I heard a scream from inside, and winced.

“It’s okay!” I called out, recognizing the issue. “It’s okay! It’s safe! It’s just Gavin, and Paco. Remember?”

“O-oh. Y-yeah, come in,” a weak voice called out.

We entered the room, finding it a dark mess. The lights were off, and Lucy was curled up on the bed, wrapped in sheets. She had sat up when the door opened, and was nervously fidgeting with a dragonfly necklace.

“H-hello,” she murmured.

“Hey. Has Mrs. Kubota been treating you well?” I asked.

“She’s… yes, she was nice,” Lucy nodded.

“That’s good,” I nodded. “Are you feeling better?”

“I-I don’t… I nearly died today,” she whispered. “All because of my eyes…”

“Mm. Yeah, that was a stupid question,” I winced, Paco nodding in agreement.

“How long do I have to stay here?” Lucy asked after a moment.

“Just a few more days,” I promised. “No more than a week.”

“I’ll lose my job,” she whimpered.

“Yeah… but do you want to lose your life?” I replied. “The Emerald City Ripper knows who you are. Where you live. Where you work. Do you want to risk your family and co-workers?”

She winced and shuddered at that. “…No.”

“If you lose your job at Stuffer Shack because of this incident, I promise I will help you find a new one,” I said. “And hey, maybe Mrs. Kubota will let you help around the place if you want something to do while you’re stuck here.”

Lucy nodded slowly, not exactly enthused, but the opportunity was better than unemployment.

“…Thank you,” Lucy muttered.

“No problem,” I assured her, and Paco and I stepped out a moment later.

“Well, that went better than I hoped,” I commented as we walked back down to the first floor.

“Yeah… I gotta go,” Paco said, jerking a thumb to the door. “I want to stick around longer, but…”

“Gang stuff, I get it,” I nodded. “Say goodbye to Coyote first, though.”

He nodded and then walked off, leaving me alone. There was nothing else to do, so I strolled over to a nearby VIP booth and slipped into it, deciding to relax and catch my breath and figure out my next step.

Now that I’d fulfilled my goal to save Lucy Warden and keep Coyote from being tortured… what did I do now?

‘I didn’t expect to get this far,’ I realized as I sat in the booth, staring up at the ceiling.

The whole time, I’d been expecting to fail, to fuck it up, to just… not succeed. But I’d done it. I saved Lucy, kept her alive. I didn’t kill the Ripper, but I’d slowed him down, hopefully.

Well, I’d made it through my first day in Seattle, and accomplished some good. Yeah. I could live with that. But what did I do next?

‘I know who the Ripper is. I could just… go after him right now,’ I thought. ‘Hire some runners, shoot up the Mercy Mental Hospital out in… Snohomish? I think? And boom, problem solved. Well, part of the problem solved. There’s still those bugs to deal with.’

But was that the right plan?

‘The Ripper’s next victim after Lucy would have been Shannon’s brother,’ I thought to myself, thinking back to the events of the game. His lungs would be harvested, if I wasn’t mistaken.

‘What do I do?’ I wondered. ‘How can I stop the Emerald City Ripper from killing him?’

The problem was how could I possibly save him? I didn’t even know when it would happen, now. According to the game’s timeline, he died maybe a day after Lucy did. Possibly even the same day, given how quickly the Ripper seemed to home in on his victims.

‘But I shot up the troll,’ I thought. ‘Pietzel or whatever. Fixing him up will slow Silas – or Holmes – down a bit. Maybe give me another day.’

So. I had an unknown amount of time to find out about Shannon and her brother. I might even be able to go after the Emerald City Ripper and kill him in his nasty little hole, ending the threat right then and there.

And even if I did save him, the dude had a death sentence hanging over his head thanks to selling corpo secrets he recovered from crashed airplanes at the National Transportation Safety Board.

‘That’s his problem, though,’ I thought. ‘Keeping the Ripper from getting his hands on him is the goal.’

‘And I didn’t need to save Lucy, either. I could have just ignored her fate,’ I continued.

No, I’d already interfered. And I damn well would keep on doing so! I would save Shannon’s brother from his fate at the hands of the Emerald City Ripper, one way or another!

‘Though… what is his name?’ I thought with a frown. I don’t think he was ever given a name! Not even by his sister!

I could investigate the NTSB warehouse, see who works there and look for the Native American on staff. Though there could be more than just one… he had been the head of special investigations, I think?

‘Maybe I should try and find Shannon first,’ I mused. Tipping her off about her brother’s fate should potentially help.

And she’d be easier to find. She was a Bear Shaman, meaning she potentially was part of the Bear Doctor Society, a Seattle-based group of Bear Shamans who tended to the poor and downtrodden of the city for cheap.

‘That does fit her nature. Shannon did linger in the mental hospital to try and soothe the victims, both living and dead. She had the nurturing aspect down pat to fit right in with that group,’ I mused.

I nodded to myself. I would call Shannon and tell her that her brother was in danger. If that failed, well, I could take her with me to Mercy Mental to confront ‘Doctor Holmes.’

‘I’ll sell some of the loot, and look around. Also, should probably mention where Coyote’s cousin Gino is,’ I thought to myself.

I clapped my hands together. That was the plan, then. Get into contact with Shannon. Warn her about her brother’s fate. Tell Coyote where her cousin is, and help her tear apart the BTL lab to get him back. And then, if all went well, grab some Shadowrunners to turn Mercy Mental into Mercy Morgue.

After all, the Emerald City Ripper’s location wasn’t going to change. I could track him down to his lair whenever I was ready to confront him.

I got up out of the booth and began to wander around. The problem with the Sixth World was the fact that the internet had crashed. Completely and utterly. Everything before 2029 was gone, the servers shattered and the very concept of easily accessible information dead and buried.

Now, there was a rudimentary internet that had been restored to some functionality, but it was barely better than what had been available in the 2000’s. No, the real information was all on the Matrix now, but to access it, you needed a cyberdeck, and that required a datajack to transmit your mind into the digital realm. Something a Mage like myself wasn’t likely going to get.

Because of this, there’d been a resurgence of physical media, like books and CDs to store data. Which included phonebooks.

“Hey, Mr. Kluwe, do you have any phonebooks?” I asked the troll, who glanced my way.

“What sort? Regular businesses, or something else?” he inquired.

“What would the Bear Doctor Society count as?” I wondered.

“Regular, then,” he said with a chuckle. He fetched a copy of Seattle’s yellow pages, and grabbed the object I’d requested from… somewhere.

“Let’s see,” I muttered as I went back to the booth to flip through the pages. “Ah. Here we are!”

Dialing the number I found in the phonebook into my commlink, I let it ring, and waited. And then, somebody picked up.

“Good day. Seattle chapter of the Bear Doctor Society, Rishan True-Moon speaking,” a soft, wispy voice greeted.

“Hello there. I’m looking for a Miss Shannon Half-Sky. Is she available?”

“She is. May I ask who is calling?”

“Gavin. I have a message for her about her brother. He works at the NTSB.”

“One moment please.”

I waited for a bit, and then a gruff, stocky voice spoke, “This is Shannon. What sort of message do you have about Simon?”

‘Oh, that’s his name,’ I thought, before clearing my throat. “Miss Half-Sky, I need to pass on a warning. Your brother may run into some trouble soon for his side business of selling corp secrets. Some runners are after a flight black box, and his head.”

“What.” Her tone was deadpan, and she clearly didn’t believe me.

“Yeah. Sorry you had to find out about this. Also! He may be targeted by the Emerald City Ripper soon due to acquiring a pair of lungs that belong to a murdered woman. Just FYI.”

“What?!” the Bear Shaman hissed.

“If you need any help hiding him, swing on by the Seamstress’s Union in the Barrens. Or you want to avenge him, come on by. Ask for Gavin. Or Hotsauce. Okay, bye!”

“Wait, don’t you dare-!” Shannon shouted, but I hung up on her, and smiled.

“Sure hope that doesn’t backfire on me,” I muttered before getting up and heading over to the bouncer with the yellow pages.

“Thanks for the book,” I said, handing it back to Mr. Kluwe.

“No problem. Anything else?” he inquired.

“Where’s Coyote? I need to tell her where her cousin is,” I said.

“She should be in the front, getting the bar ready for tonight,” he replied, giving me a raised eyebrow. “Is this another ‘future vision’ thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, so long as she doesn’t miss any of her shifts, I do not think Mrs. Kubota will mind much,” the troll bouncer chuckled.

I nodded, and headed towards the spot where she should be. I found her and Cherry Bomb chatting with each other as they organized the bar and cleaned the counter top and stools.

“Hey, Coyote,” I said, greeting her with a nod.

“Yo,” she drawled, looking up and leaning on the mop before glancing at the red-headed elf. “Cherry, this is the guy. Guy, this is Cherry Bomb.”

Coyote narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t go putting the moves on her like you did with the boss, alright?”

“Ooo, this is the mysterious mage with the future sight powers?” Cherry Bomb asked with a giggle. “He’s cute.”

The dark-skinned Shadowrunner stared at the elf in bewilderment before shaking her head. “Sure whatever.”

“I’ll take the compliment,” I said with a grin. “Gavin. Or Hotsauce. Nice to meet you.”

“Well, hot stuff, you have my thanks for keeping this girl out of trouble,” Cherry said with a smirk towards Coyote.

“I’d have handled it,” she scoffed.

“You forgot to pick up the zebra meat, that you paid for, in order to deal with the hellhounds you knew were going to be there,” I stressed, reminding her of her stupidity. “And you planned to go into the building alone.”

Coyote blushed and looked away with a huff while Cherry giggled at her.

“Thanks again for keeping her safe,” Cherry told me a moment later. “That’s worth a drink on me.”

“Hey, Gav, before I forget! Drop off your share of the loot downstairs with Raul, near Castle’s place,” Coyote told me. “I put Paco and mine down there already. They’ll look through it and figure out what it’s worth.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a nod. “Ah! And the reason I came to find you is that I have a lead on where your cousin Gino is.”

She went stiff and stared at me incredulously. “Are you serious?”

“Very. Don’t have an exact location. But it’s in an old and abandoned public housing project, guarded by a one-eyed ork named Charlie. Gino's on the top floor, part of a BTL den run by Yakuza,” I informed her. “If you figure out where exactly it is, I suggest grabbing a Decker to help out and counter the chipheads that they can whip up into a frenzy.”

Coyote stared at me for a bit longer, and Cherry Bomb let out an impressed whistle. “Huh. He does know his stuff!”

She then leaned over the counter, showing off her scandalous cleavage. “Hey, do me, next!”

I snorted at the phrasing but nodded. “Well, I don’t have much. Just that you’re getting a PhD in neuroprosthetics from UW.”

Cherry Bomb nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. What else?”

“Well…” I began, only for my vision to… glitch for a moment.

There was fire surrounding her, dancing in her hair. It did not burn, but it signaled change. There was a stinging scent of antiseptics in my nose, and I watched as a yellow wire attached to some sort of machine was drenched in betrayal.

“You okay?” Coyote asked, concerned, and Cherry was shooting me a worried look. I blinked, everything snapping back to normal.

“Y-yeah, just… vision hit me,” I muttered, and now Cherry looked intrigued.

“What did you see?” she asked, voice almost in a whisper.

“You need to look out for the yellow wire,” I replied, rubbing my forehead. Okay, first I get this ‘Karma System’ (that I really needed to look into!) and now I was getting actual visions?!

‘Magic is influenced by emotions as much as actions and willpower,’ I thought. ‘Did pretending I could actually see the future somehow make it actually happen?’

“Yellow wire?” she murmured, confused.

“Yeah. Yellow wire. Not much else other than that,” I replied. “Uh, it’ll be a place that’s some sort of medical site, though. And it will be due to betrayal.”

“That’s… I see,” Cherry said with a slow nod. “Thank you, hot stuff. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, I’m off to the basement,” I said, wanting to avoid thinking about whatever the hell that was just now, and I hurried off towards the piano in the VIP lounge.

I played the notes with only half of my mind on it. The rest was unable to forget what had just happened with Cherry Bomb.

‘Strange,’ I thought to myself as the secret door opened, allowing me to descend. ‘I can’t remember if there was anything like that being able to see the future in Shadowrun in the first place.’

I needed to look into this. And I had a feeling there might be somebody in the underground base that could help with that.

Entering the Shadowrunner hideout, I couldn’t help but whistle in surprise. In the games, it was just a few vendors and rooms. Here? It was significantly bigger. Over three dozen Shadowrunners at a single time could rent bunks down here as well as private rooms, and there were showers and gym facilities, as well as a gun range and other places to train. There was even a mini-theatre and bowling alley!

Then, there were far more vendors than just the ones in the game. Groups of people trading and selling everything, as well as Fixers and Dealers discussing business with each other and runners. It was a bazaar of the underworld, but clean and tidy and kept in check by Mrs. Kubota’s long arm.

Raul turned out to be a very slender Native American man with dreadlocks and a sleepy expression on his face. He ran an appraisal shop, sorting and categorizing loot. According to the sign at his stall, he’d either sell the goods for the runner (for a 5% finder fee) or he’d give an itemized list of what was worth what, and who’d buy it if the runner didn’t want him to do the selling.

“Yo. You the Mage Coyote talked about?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Yup. Got some good I’d like you to check out,” I said, dropping the two backpacks down in front of him. I kept the cred-sticks and a couple other items (as well as my original backpack) with me when I was done dumping out the loot.

“Hefty haul,” Raul noted, his sleepy expression changing little even as he began to look through the contents. “Give me your comm number and I’ll text you when I’m done.”

“Appreciate it,” I said, giving him a nod before wandering off to find the man – or rather, elf – I was looking for.

And I found him after just a bit of looking.

An African-American elf was staring at me from a stall full of arcane and esoteric objects as I walked through the underground base, and I did my best not to react to his scrutiny.

That was none other than Aljernon Half-Dream, a reoccurring side character in the Shadowrun games. And, while not confirmed, there was a lot of evidence and lore pointing to him being one of the Immortals, those rare few who did not, in fact, lose their magic when the Fifth Age began and the mystical essence dried up.

He ran shops all over the world, likely possessed some sort of teleportation or astral projection skill to let him be in multiple places at once, and was a helpful fellow to the player characters in the video games.

Right now, I needed Aljernon’s expertise in some matters, and I wanted to ask him a few questions about certain happenings around me.

“Afternoon,” I said in greeting.

“What are you?” he whispered, glowing eyes never leaving me, and I frowned.

“Human?” I replied hesitantly.

“You are charcoal,” Aljernon replied in a half-dreamy, half-horrified tone. “Burnt out and empty, now filled with new purpose.”

“I see,” I said slowly. “Well, that’s… lovely. But I was hoping for some help.”

“Ah. Yes. Help, I might be able to provide,” he murmured. “What is it you seek?”

“Do you have any Street Grimoires for illusion spells?” I inquired. “Or ‘sleep’ spells?”

“A few,” he confirmed. “Some advanced, some for beginners. Which are you?”

“I’d say I’m a beginner with plans for more,” I replied. “May I see your offerings?”

Without a word, Aljernon waved a hand, and several scrolls and pamphlets flew out from behind him.

I looked over the offerings. For so-called ‘sleep’ spells, he only had Stunball available, which knocked targets unconscious. It had higher level versions, but this was the lowest level, the starter, so to speak.

As for illusions, there were Agony, Chaos, Mask, and Ventriloquist available. Agony did what it said. It created pure pain within the target. Just an illusion of it, though. Useful for dealing non-lethal damage to a target for interrogation, and a favorite of corps and gangs alike.

Chaos was different, as it assaulted multiple senses at once, creating disorienting sensations by messing with two or more senses, like taste and sight, or hearing and smell. Great way to make things ‘chaotic’ but it wasn’t good for much beyond that. I already had two spells that overwhelmed senses.

Mask was interesting. With a touch, a Mage could grant an object a different appearance, sound, scent, and even feel. Great way to disguise yourself, and it could also be used at higher levels to disguise the magical signatures of items of potence or protect against scrying.

Last but not least was Ventriloquist. It was a spell that created a quiet sentence in a target’s ear. Great way to distract somebody, or pass on a message if radios weren’t working. With study and skill, the volume could be vastly increased, deafening somebody, or the range altered so it was coming from different places at once.

Of them, Stunball, Mask, and Ventriloquist interested me the most. I didn’t need more sensory disruption spells, or a way to cause extreme pain. But these? I could make use of them.

‘Problem is the price tag,’ I thought with a frown.

Stunball was the cheapest at a mere hundred Nuyen, but Mask and Ventriloquist were both a thousand.

I had the money thanks to my recent run, even without counting the loot Raul was currently looking for, so I bit my tongue and bought all three.

Aljernon simply nodded and accepted the cred-sticks. “Anything else I may help you with, Burnt One?”

“What do you know about… divination?” I inquired.

“Ah. Many are those who wish to know the future. Mage and mundane alike,” Aljernon said slowly. “But it is rare that any can actually make sense of the infinite tangled threads. All life creates waves in the Weave, disrupting and distorting what may be, so beyond a

“I see,” I muttered slowly. “So, no way to know for sure if I have the talent, then?”

Aljernon stared at me for a moment before reaching for a few items. He didn’t use his telekinesis this time, and laid out three objects. A crystal ball, a deck of tarot cards, and a bag of carved bones.

“What do you see?” he asked, urging me to test them, and I picked up the crystal ball first.

I saw smoke inside. Thick and impossible to see through, and I put it down as it began to heat up in my hands.

The cards were next. When I drew them, nothing of note seemed to happen. I could shuffle and draw, and I’d always get different cards. Nothing supernatural there.

Finally, the bones. I took a handful and rolled them across the table, watching as the runes did absolutely nothing. No glow, nor did the bones crack or grow warm. Although I was able to smell the scent of burning meat whenever I held one.

“Come back later. I will have different methods for you to try,” he informed me as he swept the items off the table.

I nodded, still confused, but feeling hopeful that I’d figure out what was going on with my sudden burst of insight back with Cherry Bomb.

‘Might as well learn these new spells,’ I thought as I wandered away. ‘And I should also figure out this Karma System while I am at it.’

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Author's Note: Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Hope you all have the luck of the Irish today!