Chapter 25: The Confrontation
Elad of Telius Arc 2
Image by Rochak Shukla on Magnific
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The concealed passage descended in a narrow slope, the air cooling with each step. Elad moved first, his pace steady, his senses tuned to the faint shifts in sound and pressure that illusion could not mask. Pruitt followed with two officers, each holding a lantern that cast controlled circles of light along the stone walls. The Valcorin guards remained at the entrance, sealing the corridor behind them.
The passage opened into a chamber beneath the eastern wing. It was larger than the hidden study, but not by much. The walls were bare stone. The floor was marked with chalk lines forming an incomplete ritual circle. A single lantern burned on a low table, its flame steady despite the stillness of the air.
S’Gumbbu stood at the center of the room.
He appeared as a man of indeterminate age, dressed in plain robes, his posture relaxed, his hands folded behind his back. His presence was quiet, almost unremarkable, but the air around him carried a subtle distortion, as if the space itself resisted acknowledging him.
Elad stopped three paces from the circle. Pruitt and the officers held their positions behind him.
“You have come earlier than expected,” S’Gumbbu said. His voice was calm, almost conversational. “I had hoped to complete my work before you arrived.”
Elad kept his tone neutral. “Your work ends now.”
S’Gumbbu smiled faintly. “You speak with confidence. That is admirable. But you misunderstand the situation. I have already taken what I need.”
Elad did not react. “You manipulated Leth Valcorin. You used him to gain access to the house. You used him to move your cargo. You used him to hide your presence.”
S’Gumbbu tilted his head. “Manipulation is a strong word. I offered knowledge. He accepted. Ambition is not a crime.”
“Necromancy is,” Elad said.
S’Gumbbu’s smile widened. “Only in cities that fear what they do not understand.”
Pruitt stepped forward. “You will surrender yourself.”
S’Gumbbu looked at him with mild curiosity. “Constable, you are brave. But bravery is not protection.”
He raised one hand. The lantern flame flickered. The air shifted. A faint ripple passed across the room, like heat rising from stone.
Elad recognized the distortion. Illusion. A veil forming.
“Hold your ground,” Elad said quietly.
S’Gumbbu lowered his hand. “You are perceptive. That is why you have been a nuisance.”
He stepped back from the circle. The chalk lines glowed faintly, reacting to his presence.
“I do not need to fight you,” S’Gumbbu said. “I only need to leave.”
“You will not leave this estate,” Elad said.
S’Gumbbu regarded him with a calm, almost pitying expression. “Investigator, you follow order. I follow opportunity. You cannot stop what you cannot see.”
He stepped into the circle. The glow intensified.
Elad spoke quickly. “Illusion cannot change structure. It cannot silence movement. It cannot erase sound.”
S’Gumbbu paused. “True. But it can redirect attention.”
The lantern flame extinguished.
For a moment, the chamber was silent.
Then the officers’ lanterns flared, revealing the circle empty.
S’Gumbbu was gone.
Pruitt swore under his breath. “Where did he go.”
Elad stepped into the circle, examining the chalk lines. “He did not teleport. He used the illusion to mask his exit. There is another passage.”
He scanned the walls, listening for the faint vibration of air moving through stone. He found it near the far corner, behind a stack of crates.
“Here,” Elad said.
Pruitt signaled the officers. They moved the crates aside, revealing a narrow opening leading upward.
“He is heading for the surface,” Pruitt said.
Elad nodded. “We can still intercept him.”
They ascended the passage, emerging into a small storage room near the outer courtyard. The door was ajar. The air carried a faint trace of cold.
“He is close,” Elad said.
They stepped into the courtyard. The night air was still. The guards at the perimeter stood alert, but none had seen movement.
Elad scanned the shadows. The estate was too controlled for S’Gumbbu to vanish completely. He would need a moment to reorient himself.
A faint distortion shimmered near the garden wall.
“There,” Elad said.
Pruitt raised his hand. “Officers, close in.”
They moved with disciplined precision, forming a semicircle around the distortion.
S’Gumbbu materialized, his expression calm but his posture tense.
“You are persistent,” he said.
Elad stepped forward. “You are finished.”
S’Gumbbu looked at the wall behind him. “Perhaps. But not today.”
He raised his hand again. The air rippled. The distortion expanded.
Pruitt shouted, “Hold your ground.”
Elad focused on the sound. The ripple was not silent. It carried a faint whisper, wind through a narrow gap.
He stepped toward the distortion and struck the air with his open hand.
The illusion shattered.
S’Gumbbu staggered, his composure breaking for the first time.
Pruitt moved. The officers followed. They closed in, surrounding him.
S’Gumbbu looked at Elad with a mixture of irritation and respect.
“You are more troublesome than I expected.”
Elad met his gaze. “You are under arrest.”
S’Gumbbu did not resist. He simply lowered his hands.
“For now,” he said.
Pruitt signaled the officers. They secured him with reinforced restraints designed for arcane offenders.
The confrontation was over.
But the resolution had only begun.
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