“You’ll need new identifications if you want to join the mercenary guild.” Taiga leaned against the post outside the stable while Mouse handled Sweet Bun’s reins to the stablehand. He waved her goodbye, even if Sweet Bun didn’t look back towards him. One day, she would, and he’d be ready.

  “I assume you still have your Monx ones. Let me see them.”

  “We have Lanrian ones, too.” Parin pulled four passbooks from his bag.

  Taiga took them, glancing through the details page. He sighed, pressing a finger to his brow. Mouse snuck a peak over his shoulder, reading four different names across the tops. He recognized Remy and Parin’s printed on Lanrian passbooks, but not the other two.

  “Which are your real names?” Taiga’s voice dragged beneath the tone.

  “Jule. My name is Jule.” Remy lowered her tone, glancing around them. “Ellio is my younger brother.”

  Those were the names on the Monx passbooks. So they’d already made fake identifications when they entered Lanria? Taiga’s expression, however, did not depict this information. His eyes narrowed at the two siblings.

  “Who’s passbooks did you steal, and then brand as criminals?”

  “We didn’t brand anyone as criminals. They were already dead.” Remy— Jule— commented, eyes not meeting Taiga’s.

  He put up a hand, interrupting her explanation. “You stole these off the dead? In Lanria?”

  “They were in Monx,” Ellio started when Jule didn’t reply, “they were traveling merchants with permission to cross the border. It looked like they’d been ambushed near the border in Monx. We were looking for a way to cross so…”

  “So you stole… from the dead? From Lanrian dead?” Taiga’s disgruntled tone matched his expression. Mouse knew where this was going, and stepped back. Taiga wouldn’t tolerate disrespect of those passed.

  Jule shifted her weight between her feet and tightened her jaw. “They were of no use to them anymore. And we needed to get to Lanria. I apologized to them when we came upon them. But the area was… is a warzone. Stealing there is how you survive.”

  “I don’t know how they do things in Monx,” Taiga’s voice snipped on every word, “but families aren’t able to put loved ones to rest unless they have absolute confirmation, such as their passbooks. And if families can’t put them to rest, then—”

  “They can’t take leave to ascend to the stars…” Jule finished, trailing off at her own realization. After a moment, she stammered, “their families can’t make a memorial once a certain amount of time passes?”

  Taiga shook his head, “it’s bad luck to wish death upon those unknown fates. Most people here believe it curses them to the same fate, to be forever lost on their journey to the stars.”

  Color drained from her face. “I didn’t know.”

  “Now you do,” Taiga snapped, handing their Monx passbooks back, and walking off.

  Mouse followed, keeping a couple paces behind him. Jule and Ellio silently did the same. Taiga stayed straight on the road, just past the guildhall. Then sped up, crossing the street and running up to two town guards. Mouse hung back with Jule and Ellio, who watched him.

  “That was dumb as fuck,” Mouse told her, as factly as he could.

  She shot him an unimpressive glare, harbored by guilt. “Yeah, I get it, okay?”

  He shrugged. Human superstitions and traditions were unimportant. But Taiga cared. “You better be real helpful.”

  Taiga walked back, running a hand through his hair and pausing to let a carriage pass before rejoining them. “I turned the passbooks in. Told them we were given them by a merchant group on the road who tried returning them to their families but couldn’t find them. They said they’ll get them where they need to go.”

  “Thank you,” Ellio spoke up when Jule said nothing. “We appreciate it.”

  Taiga nodded at the acknowledgement. “Now, before I help any further, you owe us information.”

  “We agreed that you’d help us get passbooks first.” Remy— ah damn, Jule— fuck it. Why’d they make things complicated with the names. He barely remembered them as it was. And now name changes? Mouse walked around Taiga to burn off rising annoyance.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “That was before I knew you’d pilfered dead Lanrians to sneak into the country. You're lucky I’m still keeping to the deal at all.”

  That shut her up for a few minutes longer, at least.

  “We’ll go upstairs. Mouse, lead them up? I’ll cash in the heart.” Taiga took the demon heart from him. He waited until Mouse made a reluctant nod, before walking into the guildhall and towards the commissioner’s desk.

  “This way.” Mouse didn’t look back at them before making his way through the arches, into the guildhall, and towards the stairs.

  “Hey, what’s the demon heart used for, anyways? Who’s buying them?” Jule came up beside him, looking around Mouse towards Taiga.

  He pulled back, not letting her brush against him. “Taiga said they use it for medicine. It’s used to treat corruption poisonings and stuff.”

  “Interesting. I’ve never heard of such a use before,” she dropped back, whispering to Ellio. He would’ve listened in, but between the jumble of hypotheses and research, he decided against it.

  He led the way to the third floor. As usual, the sitting around the veranda was nearly empty, save for a couple sipping on some sort of beverage by the railing. He found a secluded rug without direct light. He slid his boots off and plopped down into the corner.

  Jule and Ellio slid their shoes off, approaching onto the rug with hesitance. Mouse moved a few cushions over for them and cleared a space beside himself for Taiga. After, he lit the lantern set in the center of the rug.

  The scent of sandalwood flared his nostrils at first burn. Once it settled, he leaned into the cushions against the wall. Jule fidgeted, moving the cushions around every few moments. Ellio watched her a minute before whispering, “calm down.”

  “You don’t use rugs and cushions in Monx?” Mouse didn’t know the differing customs abroad, and it piqued his interest.

  “In some traditional homes or restaurants, maybe. Not in modernized places. And northern Monx has its own subset of cultures.”

  Taiga always preferred cushions to chairs, so Mouse never considered it uncomfortable. He took slight joy in watching her unease. Ellio moved a cushion for her, and she finally relaxed.

  “So start talking.” Taiga came around them. He dropped his boots beside Mouse’s and walked around to slump down beside him. “You said before that there’s been issues all over the continent caused by a magical imbalance. What could cause this big of a magical imbalance?”

  “Jule pursed her lips a moment in thought. “Well, a lot and a little.”

  What the fuck did that even mean?

  “All magics are sourced from two types; purity and corruption. Most magics are made up of a combination of these two. So demons are highly concentrated with corruption, but also have a little purity. Sirens are about two thirds pure and one third corrupt. Ganakri are exactly half and half. You get me, right?”

  Taiga paused, “yeah, I know this already.”

  “Okay, but these can’t cause an imbalance. There isn’t a high enough concentration of one type of magic that’ll unbalance. Basically, corruption and purity keep each other and themselves in check this way. Demons, for example, feed on purity, but it’ll never overpower their innate corruption, because they’re bound by their own magic laws.”

  “Magic laws?” Mouse asked when Taiga considered the information.

  “Yesssss.” Jule frantically flipped open her bag, dug around until she found her red, leather-bound notebook. She pulled it out, and split it open.

  Jule shuffled through a few pages back and forth before turning it towards him. Mouse looked over her illegible scribbles and circular diagrams. What was he supposed to be looking at? Nonetheless, she smiled.

  “Our parent’s work. They developed the idea of magical laws in order for us humans to decipher the magical patterns occurring naturally in the world.”

  “So, you see. Only corruption and purity can cause an imbalance. An extreme amount of one of those when the other isn’t present.” Jule tapped some scribbles in her notebook as if they solved all their questions.

  “When is one not present?” Taiga asked, resting his chin in his palm. “The magics are always intertwined, everywhere. Every magic has its own signature, pattern, mixture, and permeates everything.”

  Jule and Ellio blinked at him for a moment. Mouse caught his eyes focused on something beyond them. He could see magics no one else could.

  “Well, that’s the little part of a lot,” Jule started, shrugging, “there’s not much which can cause an imbalance. At least, not in our realm.” She referred to the Beyond then, where demons were born. That realm, indeed, was made of intense concentrations of corruption.

  “The rip, then?” Mouse asked Taiga. Like the one that helped the demons blink in and out of the field and led them to an ambush.

  “A… what?” Jule leaned over towards him, eyes sparkling. “A rip??”

  “It’s a conjecture.” Taiga leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. “There’s been a large increase in demon sightings in the area. And we had an issue of one disappearing and reappearing. Unless you know of a possible cause for that?”

  “I don’t.” Jule checked with Ellio, who shook his head.

  “Then it’s my best guess.”

  Jule sat back, pursing her lips. Ellio waited a moment before asking, “do you know what can cause a rip?”

  “No.. I hoped the scholars here,” Taiga vaguely waving towards the two of them, “might know.”

  Ellio and Jule looked from Taiga to Mouse, then to each other. Jule’s eyebrows furrowed. “We don’t. Except maybe an imbalance.”

  “So,” Mouse started, making sure he kept up, “a rip to the Beyond is one of the few things that can cause an imbalance. But an imbalance is what causes a rip?”

  “There was already an imbalance then.” Taiga groaned, looking to Mouse.

  Mouse thought a moment longer while silence lingered. Ultimately, they were back to no leads. Great.