LOCATION: PORTAL TECHNOLOGY GROUP
AREA: ASHEN CITY, NOCTURNUS
STARDATE: 4205771x48 | TIME: MID-DAY
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System Message:
The following events occurred outside the area observed by the System. This historical Record was reconstructed from a memory archive voluntarily released after the subject Trevor Gant’s return.
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It took the full three weeks allotted to complete the various modules of the training manual. Trevor’s head was spinning with not only the information itself, but the sheer magnitude of it all.
“The Obsidian Empire is glorious, is it not?”
Magister Kallus noticed Trevor setting the tablet down at long last and walked over to his new student.
He had clearly seen the look of bewilderment on Trevor’s face. Even if the Magister had misunderstood the reason behind it.
Trevor, however, was not a fool. He was an infiltrator, and blending in was everything.
“Magister Kallus. It truly is glorious. I am honored to have this opportunity to be of service to the Empire.”
Kallus smiled.
“Please. Just call me Master. No need for such lofty formality between teacher and student.”
Trevor chuckled, but quickly realized Kallus was not joking.
“Ahem. Yes, Master.”
“Now, you can have the remainder of the day to rest. The manuals are a tedious but necessary part of the early training regimen. Tomorrow we will begin in earnest. You will help form your first stable field. I am fairly excited to see how your large mana pool holds up.”
He leaned in close and whispered the last bit.
Trevor nodded and stood to stretch. He was glad to go back to his home and release the Varris persona, even if it was only for half a day.
“By the way,” Kallus continued, “be sure to answer your door when you hear a knock. I’m sending you a little welcome gift as a reward for completing your first task.”
Trevor turned toward his new boss and teacher.
“I thought rewards were—”
“Rewards are to be determined by those with the resources to provide them,” Kallus said. “And as the Magister of Portal Tech, I have vast resources at my disposal. Now, accept your gift and be back here tomorrow at the second bell.”
The smile on Kallus’s face made Trevor cringe, but he knew he’d find out soon enough what was behind it.
He excused himself and walked briskly home.
A group of three Black Guard started to approach him on the way.
“What are you doing on the streets? You—”
The Guard noticed the sash on Trevor’s sleeve, identifying him as a member of Portal Tech.
“Oh, my apologies, sir. Please excuse our interruption.”
Trevor didn’t even acknowledge them. He just kept walking as if it never happened.
He was developing a reputation as an important new Aspirant at PTG, and the rumor was that he had the potential to surpass even the Magister himself one day.
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If it was true, his snippy attitude was well-earned. And the Black Guard ensured they never ended up on the wrong side of Varris’s mercurial personality.
Trevor opened his front door and entered his home.
The houses in Ashen City had no locks on them and only the one entrance door. However, there was nobody foolish enough to enter any of the homes in the Upper District without the resident’s permission.
The Black Guard may be the authority in most of Ashen City, but as with any bureaucracy, there was always a higher rung on the ladder.
Trevor opened a bottle of wine. It was imported from another world, as the dead lands on Nocturnus could not support any plant life.
He poured a generous glass and took it up the stairs to his bedroom. He took a long drink and set the glass on his nightstand, then fell onto the bed.
The silken sheets he had been provided wrapped around him and he breathed for just a few minutes, calming himself down and reveling in the quiet.
Trevor fell asleep for a time.
A knock sounded at the door, and he rose, walking down the stairs.
“Must be the gift Kallus had mentioned,” he mused.
Trevor turned the knob and pulled the door open.
A strikingly beautiful woman, for Nocturnus standards, stood under the awning on the porch.
She had jet-black hair, straight and several inches past her shoulders. She wore pants with a dress over them that actually showed a bit of cleavage. Which was unusual on the planet.
Her skin, as with everyone else Trevor had seen here, was pale, and her full lips curled into a forced smile.
She bowed, not daring to look Trevor in the eyes.
“I was sent here by Magister Kallus,” she said. Her voice was low and sultry, but Trevor could hear the stammer in it.
She was scared.
Trevor saw six Black Guard nearby, watching the interaction.
“Please, come in,” he said. He stepped to the side and let her pass by him into his house.
He waved to the Guard members, and they waved back.
Trevor shut the door and turned toward his guest.
“Can I get you some wine?” he asked.
She started to look up at him in shock, but quickly averted her gaze again.
“No, thank you,” she said. “One such as me is not worthy of such luxuries.”
Trevor dropped his voice to a whisper.
“Are we being observed in any way?”
“I… I don’t understand the question.”
“Are we being spied on?” he asked.
“N… No,” she answered. “I am expected to fulfill my duties. Your pleasure and comfort are my sole purposes for existing. I am to clean your home and maintain it as needed. And provide any other service you require.”
“Ah,” Trevor said. “So you are to stay?”
Her head bobbed up and down.
“Yes, sir. But only for as long as you will have me.”
“And what happens if I send you away?” Trevor asked.
Her head was still bowed, but even with the black background, Trevor saw several tears drop from her high cheekbones to the floor.
“If… If I do not please you, sir, I will be terminated.”
Trevor scoffed.
“Of course. Goddamned Empire…”
She jerked her head up in surprise, then caught herself and dropped it again.
He reached forward and placed a finger gently on her chin, raising her head up to meet his eyes.
“What is your name?”
She swallowed and Trevor heard the gulp as she did so.
“I am called Tin. Tin Shale.”
“Tin Shale,” Trevor repeated. “Did you know Rin?”
And for the first time since Tin had arrived, she actually smiled.
“I did, sir. She was my best friend. I miss her dearly.”
“I think we’re going to get along just fine, Tin. My name is Varris. But when we are alone, you may call me Trevor. It’s a nickname I use from time to time. But only with those closest to me.”
She smiled once again, a small bit of red lighting up her otherwise pale complexion.
“Yes, Trevor. Now, what do you require of me? Shall we have sex?”
“What?” Trevor took a full step backward.
“Am I not to your taste, sir? I can—”
“No, no, it’s not that,” Trevor said, laughing. “You just surprised me. How about if we just sit and talk tonight. I will require you to share my wine with me, however. So no more talk of it being wasted on one such as you.”
She nodded.
He reached for her chin again and made sure she was looking at him.
“I mean it. If this is to work, I need you to understand that you are important to me.”
Tin smiled once again.
“Shall I pour, then?”
They spent the evening drinking wine and talking quietly. Trevor learned much about life on Nocturnus that night.
But most importantly, he had used some of Varris’s tricks on her. He needed to ensure Tin was not a spy sent by Kallus or the Empire to report back on him.
At the end of the night, after Tin had consumed just enough alcohol to let her guard down, Trevor flared his Charismatic aura and asked her a question point blank.
Her eyes opened wide, and he knew she’d only be able to answer with the truth.
“Are you here to report on me?”
“Yes,” she said. Her eyes remained wide open.
“To whom will you send your reports?”
“To Magister Kallus,” she said.
He knew he had no choice at that moment.
It was risky, because Tin, true to her name, was just soft and malleable enough that Trevor could ensure that her loyalties would lie only with him.
He snapped his fingers and Tin’s eyes closed.
“Listen to me carefully,” Trevor said. “You work only for me, and you will keep my secrets. When you report to Kallus, we will write the reports together and you will share only what I allow. Is that clear?”
She nodded.
“In return for your loyalty, when I leave Nocturnus, I will take you with me, if you wish.”
She nodded once again.
“Good. Now, when is the first one due?”