The next day I call the university where Iskir had been teaching before the accident. They are surprised to hear from me, but are willing to help in any way they can, even to accommodate a sudden visit. I then go ahead and drive downtown to the university.

  The university is the only center of higher education on Frontier. That being the case, one would think it would be quite busy, but that’s not the case. Frontier isn’t exactly a bastion of enlightened thinkers. It’s a planet only really known for being the home world of a faction of humans who broke away from the main human collective government a few hundred years back. It really is a rather sorry planet all things considered. There aren’t even any good paying jobs to be had really. With luck and the right connections, one could get a cushy government job. People smart enough for university, who also had enough money, are usually smart enough to get off Frontier as soon as they can.

  I park in the university’s nearly empty lot and meet one of the professors by the entrance of the main building. He is a non-human: an ivanni. The ivanni are fair and graceful beings said to live for about one thousand years. They are like the elves of old human folklore. When it came to magic, they are said to be both knowledgeable and powerful.

  This man, the professor, is tall, well-groomed, olive-skinned, and has an air of dignity about him. Dressed in white robes and adorned with all sorts of fanciful accessories, he places his hand to his heart and does a bow. “Ms. Vells, I presume?"

  I offer my hand, but he doesn’t seem too keen on shaking hands, so I respond with a slight bow of my own. "Yes, but please, call me Sakti."

  "Of course, Sakti. The President of the University told us you’d be coming by shortly and to help you in any way we could." The professor motions toward the path into the university courtyard. I walk along the stone path with him. "I’m a magus of the School of Magic Arts. It is quite a small department, but many of us have known Lord Iskir for decades. The president said you needed help with a personal matter and that you wanted to see Lord Iskir’s workspace, correct? Allow me to take you to Lord Iskir’s office and we can talk on the way."

  The professor leads me through the university. Classes apparently have just ended and the university is basically empty. A few students taking summer classes meander around, but not enough to make the place feel busy or even used. It is strange seeing such a massive, elaborate, and archaic architecture suffer from disuse. It is almost like walking around in an abandoned ruin from ages long past.

  The professor says, "To be honest, we were quite surprised when the President of the University told us you called. We didn’t think Lord Iskir had any close friends. He never really talked about his personal life. While he was cordial with the faculty here, I wouldn’t say he was particularly close to anyone. When we heard about what happened to him, we were unsure what to do with his things, so we just left his office undisturbed. Aside from the ministry of defense folks, who have gone through it several times, it has remained largely undisturbed." The professor pauses and glances at me from the corner of his eye. It is obvious he is trying not to stare. "The president was aware Lord Iskir had a human friend who was a young lady, but he didn’t know anything about you really. Had we known your contact information we would have given you a call to sort out his personal belongings."

  I give him a quick rundown of what I want to know as we walk. Namely, I want to know more about weapons capable of destroying magic. I leave out that I have such a weapon on hand though, it is probably better to keep possession of such a weapon secret.

  The professor puts his hand to his mouth as he takes in my questions. "It is shameful to admit this, but I’m not sure anyone here would really be able to help you with what you were looking for. You said you were looking for information regarding weapons capable of destroying magic? Unfortunately, there isn't much information to be given. Research into such things is almost all purely theoretical at this time. From what you’ve told me you seem to have about as much of a basic understanding of how such things work as we do." He pauses, looks over his shoulder, then to a nearby security camera, and then back at me. "...and even if we did have such information it is highly unlikely we would be allowed to speak to you openly about such a sensitive area of study... legally. You understand, right?"

  "Ah... yes, I understand." That's right, the officer we spoke to before mentioned something about keeping details about this investigation secret. The Ministry of Defense is probably keeping a close watch on the university researchers who helped them out with the hatchet.

  The professor says, "I believe Lord Iskir was looking into the subject of anti-magic weapons before he was attacked. We don’t really know the details of what he was researching though."

  "He didn’t share his research with anyone else?" I ask.

  "No. Lord Iskir didn’t teach magic. He taught history and would occasionally help us out with our research. It was a shame because he was a far superior magus compared to anyone else here. He always said his knowledge of magic wasn’t something that needed to be passed down to humans, or something to that effect." We reach an office door and stop in front of it. The professor grabs his key ring and flips through the keys. "Still, he often conducted his own research in his spare time. It was work he was rather intent on keeping to himself until his findings were complete." The door clicks open. "Well, this is Lord Iskir’s office. Feel free to look through his things and take anything you’d like."

  “Really? Is that okay?"

  "Of course. Everything inside belongs to Lord Iskir and, well, I’m sure he would rather you have than it just sit and collect dust." The professor looks at the door, but does not open it himself. “While we would never dare to invade his personal space and read his research notes without his permission, I believe it is alright for someone he trusted enough to call his friend to do so. Perhaps you will find something in them that will help you. Take as long as you need. If you need anything I’ll be in my office. It’s down that way at the very end of the hall."

  "Okay, thank you." I bow my head to the professor as he steps away.

  I place my hand upon the door’s handle and hesitate. I have never seen Iskir’s workspace, his office, before. I’ve never even been to the university. It was a side of him I had never known and never really cared to know. Now it’s possible I will never know. I feel a flood of regret wash over me. When those feelings settle in my soul, I finally allow myself to enter.

  So, this is Iskir's office? It's kind of a mess. Iskir is usually much more organized than this. Still, I'm not sure what I expected considering it's an office that hasn't been used in over half a year. Plus, the professor said the police have been through it multiple times. The furniture looks to be moved out of place and the tabletops are covered in dozens of books, many of which appeared to be in mid-read. Piles of books are stacked all around the floor. There are also several odd artifacts scattered around the room, undisturbed in glass cases, among other things.

  I might as well check out everything I can. Perhaps something in here will give me some sort of clue about the hatchet or even about what happened to Iskir that night.

  I meander to a bookcase somewhat against the wall. The bookcase is packed with books and loose papers. It is in a state of disarray, as though someone had been aggressively rummaging through it or pulling things out at random. I, too, contribute to the chaos. I pull a few books and flip through them, but discover most of them are in other languages. The few that were in human language had nothing interesting or relevant to me. The loose papers strewn about the bottom shelves appear to be writings, again in other languages, but the writings did not belong to Iskir.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  I move on from the bookcase. There is a map on the wall hung to the right of the bookcase. It's a map of the planet Frontier. It seems like Iskir was using it for something. There are a bunch of markings on various locations around the world. It's kind of a strange map. None of the major cities are marked. Not to mention these markings seem to be at random locations. The map has a bunch of Iskir's notes all over it. His writing is so prim and proper, it's impossible to mistake. Unfortunately, the notations are in another language.

  I can't shake the feeling that this map is important, so I take it with me. At the very least I can ask the professor if he knows anything about it or if he can read this language.

  I resume my investigation and make my way toward the main desk, Iskir’s desk. Four large broadswords hanging on the wall above Iskir's desk catch my attention. These are Iskir’s swords. He always said they were strictly ceremonial. I don't think I've ever seen him actually use them. Still, he often carried them around, even when we were just walking around town.

  I don’t like looking at them. They make me uncomfortable.

  I'm not taking them with me. They look far too heavy for me to easily carry around anyway.

  There are various strange artifacts around the room in display cases. What are these things anyway? Maybe some sort of... art? They look like sculptures. Well, whatever they are, they're all in display cases anyway, so I'll just leave them. Besides, I can't say I think they even really look all that good as far as art goes. Iskir’s tastes always were a bit... antiquated.

  I come around the main desk and the piles of books scattered around. It is pretty much all left to look over. I hover my hand over the surface of the desk as if a familiar presence emanated from it. "Iskir..." I utter to myself. Everywhere I go I find traces of our memories scattered around. Thoughts of Iskir haunt my every waking moment. I look for him in all the places I go even though I know he couldn’t possibly be there. It feels like no matter how hard I try I can’t escape memories of him even if I wanted to.

  I see a picture frame with a picture of us together on the desk and place it facedown. It would probably be better not to take it.

  I check the desk drawers and find even more notes stuffed inside. Iskir must have been working like mad if he couldn’t even have been bothered to organize his notes. I certainly have my work cut out for me. Thankfully, most of these notes are in human language.

  I see some of the books splayed open are in human language too. Iskir has certain book passages marked. Maybe he was searching for something within these books? As for the notes, there are a lot of them scattered all over the place. They look complicated, but the professor said Iskir had been researching anti-magic weapons so they might have important clues. Still, there isn't enough time in the day to read through all these. I'll just have to pick and choose.

  I begin to read through the books.

  The books read: there are fifteen gods, one for each element in the canon of magic. These gods, also known as the elemental overlords, are supreme beings of pure magic.

  The book lists off the names of the fifteen elemental overlords. Some of the names have notes alongside them.

  -Zafir, Overlord of the Cosmos, (note: unknown, danger, last)

  -Tomok, Overlord of Time, (note: unknown, danger)

  -Seahih, Overlord of Sound, which had a note that read (note: unknown, Sakti?)

  -Malfil, Overlord of Darkness

  -Naara, Overlord of Light (note: danger)

  -Nuosh, Overlord of Earth, (note: close)

  -Musol, Overlord of Metal

  -Runin, Overlord of Water (note: first)

  -Keron, Overlord of Heat

  -Carah, Overlord of Cold

  -Arlel, Overlord of Energy

  -Wohl, Overlord of Air

  -Vusus, Overlord of Flesh

  -Zor, Overlord of Nature

  -Selil, Overlord of Mind (note: unknown)

  The elemental overlords, what do they have to do with Iskir's research? More importantly, why is my name in Iskir's books? He wrote my name next to Seahih, Overlord of Sound, what does that mean?

  I continue to read through some of Iskir's notes I picked out. They are so hard to understand. There are passages in human language but there are a bunch of words I don't understand. Not to mention the notes will jump between human and non-human language seemingly at random. There are a bunch of strange sketches and diagrams, but they don't mean anything to me. Perhaps they are magic spell circles? I think I've seen Iskir draw one before.

  I look around for anything about the hatchet in my possession but don’t find anything. I guess that would be too convenient. I pick a passage that's mostly in human language and read what little I can make sense out of Iskir's notes.

  It reads like Iskir foresaw some sort of... threat? I’m not exactly sure what kind of threat, but it sounds serious. He calls the threat emptiness - something that could endanger his life. This emptiness he writes about sounds like the hatchet. Does that mean this hatchet really is an anti-magic weapon? If so, I still don't know how to reverse the effects..."

  He writes about theories as to how to combat emptiness. There is a lot of magic jargon here. He theorizes something called a spell of perfect eternity may be able to negate the effects of emptiness, but he hasn't been able to create such a spell for numerous reasons. He mentions collaborating with the researchers here at the university a few times to create this spell of perfect eternity, but with no success. He also mentions contacting a close confidant off-world for help. Someone named Harvest on the planet Nexus.

  A sudden sadness comes over me as what felt like distant memories creep back into my mind. The Nexus was Iskir's home world. He mentioned he had planned to move back in a few years. I kept pestering him to take me with him, but he always said he would rather I stayed behind.

  I sit in silence for a moment before returning to my reading.

  My eyes dart through the passages I just read. Maybe this spell of perfect eternity he writes about is the answer? He does write that it is a spell meant to counteract emptiness, which is the hatchet… I think… but I can't use magic. If Iskir wasn't able to conjure such a power, there's no way I'd be able to.

  Wait... here he writes the elemental overlords are the key... what could that mean?

  I continue to read for several hours until darkness falls and I decide to head home. I might as well take some of these books and writings with me. I'll stuff as many as I can in my bag. I can read more later and come back if I think I need more.

  I leave Iskir’s office and close the door behind me. The professor from earlier walks toward me.

  The professor says, "Oh, I was just about to check up on you. We’re about to lock up for the day. You’ve been in there for quite some time. Did you find anything useful?"

  "I took a few of his books and notes regarding his research. I don’t really get them all that much but I think they might have the answers I need. I hope you don’t mind."

  "Not at all. Take whatever you need."

  I reach into my bag. "By the way, would you be able to read any of these notes by chance? They’re in another language I can’t read. Or perhaps you know the significance of any of these locations?" I show the professor the map from Iskir’s office with the markings.

  The professor nods as he takes a glance. "Ah, those notes are in an ancient arenkan script. Lord Iskir once said he wrote some of his notes in an ancient language because he was afraid of his research getting stolen. It only ever happened once, a long time ago, but ever since he’s been very paranoid about it. I’m afraid the only ones capable of reading such notes would be Lord Iskir or another arenka." The professor leans back and folds his arms. "As for those locations marked by those pins, I’m sorry, but nothing immediately comes to mind."

  "I see... I know you mentioned Iskir didn’t really speak of his work, but why do you think Iskir was researching anti-magic weaponry? Did it have to do with the threat he foresaw?"

  "Threat?” the professor grimaces and puts his hand to his chin. “I'm not sure he ever said anything about a threat, but now that you mention it, he did say something about needing to start preparing countermeasures for... something." The professor thinks for a moment. “He said he needed to... what was it? Assemble powers or something? We weren’t sure what he meant by that, but he was adamant about keeping his work to himself for the time being. He was being unusually secretive about the whole thing. He had been acting strange for a while and his demeanor only got more bizarre after he got back from Faraway.”

  "Faraway?” I repeat. “The port city to the east? What was he doing all the way out there?"

  "He said he needed to go to Faraway to see the Lady in the Water, whoever that is."

  Iskir mentioned he had to leave the city for a while a few weeks before the attack, but he never said anything about going all the way out to Faraway. I feel like he would have said something if he needed to go all the way out there. "One more thing, did he say anything about the trip?” I ask. “You said he started acting strangely after he got back. What made you think that?"

  The professor answers, "Well, I asked him how his trip went, and he said he was unable to meet the person he went to see, ‘The Lady in the Water’ he had mentioned before. He said he had made a mistake, a miscalculation, and was quite distraught. When I asked him as to what he meant and if there was anything we could do to help he said to pay him no mind and didn’t speak of it further. So, we didn’t ask further questions." The professor looks into the darkness of the nearby, empty, courtyard. “Still, the days before he was attacked Lord Iskir always kept his swords on him. I and the rest of the university staff had never seen him carry them on his person before, at least not on the university grounds. He usually just left them in his office. It was unsettling to say the least. I daresay he was even acting a little paranoid. Why would he carry his swords around all day just to leave them here the night he was attacked? I would think if he were anxious, he would’ve kept them on him at all times, right?" The professor’s gaze returns to me and he pulls back. “Er, not to criticize him or anything. These things that happen can’t be foreseen. That’s why they’re called accidents. Still, I just can’t help but wonder what if. Maybe then, things would’ve been different.”

  I hang my head and nod. "What if… yeah… what if…”