“Breaking into a proper mage’s house is a suicide run, friend. It’s like they get off on making the most twisted, sadistic traps they could imagine and putting them up like ornaments. So, anyone or anything that can actually break into one is something real special.”

  -Tanith “Glass Bones” Kayneth, burglar, retired due to medical reasons.

  The Dean of Evocation lived within walking distance of both the diplomats apartments and the Grand Auditorium. That was how the three of them travelled to her home. Komena absent mindedly wondered if the Dean had walked her commute or if she had gotten around some other way. Maybe they flew, make an impact on the citizens.

  “What was the victim like?” Komena asked.

  “I didn’t meet with her often. But every time I did, she was a character. I don’t think she did a thing in her life that she didn’t enjoy. Of course, she didn’t mind stepping on a few toes to keep things that way.” Struth said, then sighed sadly.

  “I liked her well enough.” Kave said. “She remembered my name. More than I expected from her.”

  Vague, but a more positive impression than she had expected. It wasn’t like she had hoped for deep insight into the women from them. The only way to get answers would be to find them herself.

  “And here we are!” Struth said. “The former abode of the Dean of Evocation”

  Looking at the building, the first word that came to Komena’s mind was, surprisingly, ‘tasteful’. Instead of the giant tower or gilded compound most mages dreamed of, Komena was in front of a thin three-story house. It was a little smaller than what a well-off family would live in. The property was marked out by an almost delicate, encircling stone wall. The only difference was the unnatural bright white of the walls, like they were perpetually being polished.

  “Taim said that the university has already taken down the more aggressive wards that she had put up.” Struth said, opening the front gate. “He also said they hadn’t gotten around to disarming the yard yet. So, don’t stray from the garden path.” He then, in an impressive bit of assuredly feigned confidence, started off down the path of possible arcane death towards the house.

  Komena and Kave both hesitated, looking at the wide, rustic path of stones that led to the Deans house. Komena took a breath through her nose, imagined however the Dean’s would punish immediate failure, and walked through the gate and down the path. Kave followed her but walked faster, almost at a trot, hiding the fact that he had had started last. All three of them came up to the veranda of the house, standing outside the front door.

  “We should hurry inside.” Struth said reaching for the front door with one and into his vest pocket with the other. Kave grabbed his hand.

  “I insist you let me take the lead. We don’t know what defenses are left in the house.”

  “You’re being paranoid. I’m sure the others have disarmed whatever traps the Dean put in place. I won’t be worried about the defenses of a home whose owner was murdered inside it.” Struth said. “And if they haven’t been disarmed, that is no reason for you to put yourself ahead of me.”

  Struth didn’t push past Kave as he pulled a simple silvery key out of his pocket. The boy stepped back to give him room, but still stayed close as the lock was undone and the older man wrenched open the door.

  Komena had little interest in their argument. She was focused on how much more faith in whatever spells had been set up for defense she had than Struth did. The attack’s success was more a testament to the intruder’s skill than anything and no one could disarm the home of an archmage completely in a single day, not even another group of them.

  “It seems like the path to her study has been marked out.” Struth said, pointing at the series of wispy lights that floated down the hall and up the stairs. He had stopped to wipe his feet clean on the front mat. The interior of the building was just as nice as the exterior. A few paintings hung on the walls and a very fine, very expensive hardwood floor. The trio followed the path of lights, eventually coming up to the closed door of the Dean’s personal study.

  Stepping inside the study, it was clear that the murderer hadn’t been interested in taking anything other than the Deans notes. It was richly decorated with golden candelabras, small, elaborate pieces of clockwork, even a marble statue of a couple engaged in what Komena decided was frolicking. Only the large bookcase that dominated one side of the study had been gone though and only a few books were missing from it. The murderer had known exactly what they were looking for and where to find it.

  It was also clear that the murderer had wanted the Dean of Evocation extremely dead. Her body had been strewn across the floor, a hand over there, leg over there, her head somewhere else. Most of the innards that should have been hanging out, along with a fair amount of blood that should have been pooled on the floor, were missing. Whatever odor there would have been from the corpse was covered by a small enchantment that made the room only smell faintly of lavender. It was either something the Dean had set up for her own comfort, or a final mark of respect from one of her peers.

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  “When they said she was murdered. I thought they meant stabbed or something. Poison maybe. Not mauled.” Komena said. “Are you two going to be alright?” she asked looking over at the two academics. Kave was pale and looking away from the corpse, but he hadn’t thrown up, so he was doing better than Komena would have at his age. Struth, on the other hand, had maintained the same optimistic, frantic smile he had since they met.

  “Oh, don’t worry about us, madam. We’re quite used to grisly scenes like this. Dissections and the like.” Struth said as he approached the Dean’s torso, squatting to get a better look. “Would it be useful for me to try and identify the wounds?”

  Komena nodded and Struth pulled out a notepad. He had come prepared and didn’t seem the type to offer what he couldn’t provide. That meant he was better equipped for that job than she was. While he examined the corpse, she checked the rest of the room, starting with the one place the murderer had shown any interest in.

  There was a sharp contrast between the gore-stained floor and the near immaculate bookshelves. The only marks they had were dust and slight singes, potentially the last testament to the Evoker’s final struggle. The only signs that someone had gone through the shelves were a few empty spaces. Fiction, magic grimoires, legal texts, at least one treatise for every academic subject Komena could imagine. When the other Deans had described the Dean of Evocation as a genius, that hadn’t been idle boasting. All of them had been left behind, making it impossible to tell what subject was missing.

  She pulled out one of the books she didn’t recognize. Thick, without a title and sealed with a rune printed leather strap. It was prominently displayed and its purpose easy to recognize. If someone opened the strap without some countermeasure, they’d trigger a massive burst of fire, incinerating the book and everyone within ten feet.

  “Kave, I need you take these books back to your dean. See if you can get him to crack them open.”

  “Why these books?” Kave asked, startled out of his stupor.

  “I had my mother enchant a book just like this when I was girl. Well, a simpler version. It’s a common way to protect someone’s personal documents. Like their journal.”

  “Are you saying that you found her diary?” Kave said.

  “Exactly. If we go through the most recent one of these, we might be able to find some reference to the missing research. But we’ll need someone to get them open first.”

  “I’m not going to see him on my own. He’ll turn it into an interrogation. Can’t we just open them ourselves?” He asked.

  They couldn’t. The Dean could have made that book as secure as it would have been on the sea floor. Unless the boy was a prodigy, there was nothing the three of them could do. They didn’t have the knowledge or the ability. Very first step of the investigation, and they were already clearly out of their depth. Just as she had hoped.

  “Do as she says, Kave. You’re obviously distracted. Some air will do you good” Struth said, still focused on his examination. Kave hesitated, obviously trying to decide on a response. Eventually he sighed, took the book from Komena’s hand and started gathering the rest of the shelf. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry sir, something about this room is keeping me from focusing.”

  “Surprising. Normally you have a stronger stomach than this.” Struth said.

  “Could be the statue.” Komena, said glancing again at the very detailed marble couple. She received a glare and sullen silence from Kave in response as he walked out of the room with the books.

  Satisfied with finding the diaries, Komena turned her attention to possible entrances. If the murderer had been invited inside, then they wouldn’t have been able to take the Dean by surprise. She would need to get the full house disarmed for a thorough search, but there were places she could look now. Every window, and sky light in the study and the hallway they come in through was checked for any sign of disturbance. She found nothing. All the locks were in place, all the ways barred.

  As a last resort, she checked the wards protecting the house. Extending a trickle of power, she felt at the energy engraved into the walls. It was a risk, but she was confident that her own magic was delicate enough not to set off anything. With the Deans death, they were fading quickly. There wouldn’t be anything to check in a few days.

  Most of the wards were untouched. The only damage was caused by them fading out, starved of power by their murder of their battery. The spells that kept the wall clean, the windows unbreakable and that retaliated against any interference were like day old cobwebs. An untended building, fading back to nature. The exception was the spells meant to keep demons and angels from forcing their way in from their side. Reinforced versions of the spell that almost every building in the city was built with. The same one that had made the Universities imp knock on her office window instead of appear on her desk. It wasn’t obvious what was off, a few flows in the energy stopping short. Individually meaningless, but all together crippling. The difference between a home that had been abandoned and one that been burned down.

  The murderer had been a spirit. It had warped inside the house, without triggering the security measures. The knowledge didn’t comfort her. When the wards had been at full power, they must have been like a wall of swords pointing out at the world. Anything that could force itself though them was monstrously strong. To do it this subtly meant it was monstrously intelligent too. Komena wasn’t ready to fight monsters.

  She went back into the study, in search of a distraction.

  “Struth. Have you finished?”. The short man was standing and flipping through his notes.

  "Yes, I was just reviewing what I would bring back. There’s something quite interesting I found with the body.” He answered, holding up what remained of the Dean’s head by the hair and pointing to the neck. The skin was slightly charred and blistered. “Whatever did this was emitting an immense amount of heat.”

  “Can make any other guesses about the creature?” She asked. Struth shrugged.

  “It has short claws and is strong. I’m aware that’s vague, but there isn’t much left to work with.” He said. She understood. Frankly she was surprised he got that much out of what little they had.

  “We’ll need to do more research then. See if we can narrow down the list of spirits that fit that description.” She said. Struth tilted his head.

  “Why do the specifics matter? Surely the important thing is that a demon was the murderer. A random act, like being killed an animal or undead. Case closed.”

  She had forgotten how superstitious people from Corlin could be. Magic was new to them. The supernatural still happened to people in their minds, instead of because of them.

  “Because demons don’t just break into our world to commit random murders. They need to be summoned. Directed, and they only allow that for specific causes that align with their interests. This isn’t an animal attack. It’s an assassination. The demon is just the murder weapon.”