Mind, Body, Spirit - these are all topics for heated debate at Beor's 1,125th SoulCon. But when attendee Prince Ampersand is kidnapped, it will take all the unusual talents of newly resurrected Dave Mortes and the Teenmagers to find out who the rea...
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Soul, Interrupted
*5 months ago*
Memnos Ignatius Eladden, aka Kwan Dooley, and currently dressed as Daniel DeGemme or Mister DG, was fuming. Dave was late. Not very late, mind you; but late can mean losing an opportunity to spot an unexpected meeting, or missing the arrival of a person you should be tailing. For a spy-in-training, there was only one word for tardiness.
Hearing the feather-light tread of his apprentice, he spoke clearly, timing his words and his turning around just as he sensed that the teen was about to speak.
"Unacceptable."
Dave frowned. "You haven't even..."
"...given you a chance to explain." Memnos glowered back at him. "I'm not interested in your reasons. Stop," he warned, raising his hand, "...before I lose my temper and strike you. Yes, strike you. My teachers had no hesitation to punish me that way. Be quiet and listen carefully." He watched Dave struggle, and then go still. Good, he thought – Miss Evershadow's training seems to have taken hold.
"Being late for a meeting always results in loss: someone's life, an association, an alliance, someone's trust, a job, a business deal, a war treaty, a treasure, a fortune, a discovery, a promise; and a thousand more things that will happen or not happen, most of them bad, and all because you are...what?"
"Late."
"Yes, Dave Mortes. Tempus, the Guardian Dragon of Time, and I had a long discussion about actions and consequences about a year or so ago, at the Old Priest & Rat. Quiet! He said that every decision, every action causes a ripple in Time, that echoes on and on for millennia. A very few ripples travel uninterrupted to their death. But most ripples interact in countless ways with others, causing changes minor and major." Memnos pauses and stares at Dave, to make certain the young man's attention has not wandered. Satisfied, he ends his lecture.
"Who knows what will be changed by your being late today? I'll tell you one thing which has – my faith in you to be on time."
"I stopped a dwarf from being run over by a cart. If I hadn't been there to pull him back, he'd have been seriously injured."
Memnos froze. It was not meant to be a challenge to my authority, he quickly told himself. Dave was not being disrespectful, not as he had been at his age.
"Perhaps he was meant to die, and you foolishly intervened in Fate's weaving. Perhaps..."
"I am sorry I was late, Mister DG. What is today's lesson to be?" asked Dave, without a trace of guile.
"I want you to stand by Vida Kedad's Shop today and examine the first person who enters. Use your stealth training to prevent him from noticing you. I want you to find out everything you can about him – listen to him talk, watch him as he shops, note his attire, his stance, the weapons he chooses to pick up, his accent, how he interacts with the shopkeep, how he reacts to other customers. Come to me when you've gleaned all you can, or when he leaves the shop. Let's see what you've learned."
