Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 828

A second dragged by. Another one followed it. Noah stood locked in place, eyes narrowed, as he stared at the strange mannequin in search of any signs of… well, more oddity than what he was already experiencing.

He edged toward the strange mannequin. It had still yet to do much of anything at all. Technically speaking, that was exactly what mannequins were meant to do. They didn’t tend to stand up and start strolling around. That did nothing to make this one any less suspicious.

There’s no way I just missed it. I definitely would have noticed that massive weapon on its back. Then again, Eliana is… a lot. I suppose it’s possible she managed to distract me enough to keep me from properly looking around the room. I just can’t remember one way or another.

Digging through his memories wasn’t of much help. He just couldn’t remember if he’d ever glanced in the direction of this mannequin before. Noah would have turned to look for her, but the goosebumps prickling his skin refused to let him take his attention off the strange mannequin for even an instant.

“Eliana?” Noah called.

A second passed.

There was no response.

He resisted the urge to let out a sigh. Somehow, Noah felt like he should have expected that. It felt like a rule that every slightly odd individual was compelled to vanish at the worst possible moment.

And here I thought I was doing a good job of avoiding the goddamn side quests. How do they keep finding me? I haven’t even killed anyone important yet!

“I know you weren’t here a moment ago,” Noah lied, taking another slow step through the forest maze of costumes toward the suspicious mannequin. “I’m not that insane. There’s no way I’d miss such a big ass sword.”

The mannequin didn’t respond. That, also, really should have been expected.

Noah scanned it with his domain again. Absolutely nothing about the mannequin felt off. There was no magic. No hidden imbuements or power lurking within. It was perfectly normal. As every sense he had could tell, it was literally just another wooden man.

But why am I so damn uneasy? I only saw that guy at the top of the cliff for a few moments. I’ve dealt with a hell of a lot worse than some creepy bastard lugging around a sword twice his size. So how come this mannequin has me on edge?

Noah flexed his fingers. Unraveling Pandemonium’s strength coursed through his palm and gathered within his hand. Mannequin or not, he wasn’t about to turn his back to this thing. He didn’t even want to share a room with it.

Perhaps Eliana was crazy enough not to notice one of her creations missing. He could always blow it up and ask for forgiveness later. That felt considerably preferrable to sitting around locked in a staring contest with a literal piece of wood.

He stepped around another mannequin. The movement took him out of the suspicious mannequin’s line of sight and placed him solidly at its side, about half a dozen steps away from it. Not making eye contact with the odd creation eased some of the tension in his back.

Goddamn this thing is creepy. I’m definitely going to have to make Eliana tell me why she made something like—

The mannequin’s head spun around, snapping to stare straight at him.

 Then it vanished.

Noah’s senses screamed a warning. He lurched back, the Fragment of Self within him pushing his reflexes to their absolute limits. Wind screamed past his nose as a wall of white blurred above him.

The back of his neck erupted in gooseflesh. His domain hadn’t even sensed so much as a flicker of magic other than his own. Noah took a stumbling step back. He spun, but there was no trace of the mannequin.

“Show yourself,” Noah said, raising his hands before himself. His senses crawled through the entire shop. There was nobody at all. And yet—

A blur of white appeared at his side. Noah flung himself to the ground. The air where he’d been an instant before whoomped as something heavy passed overhead. Noah rolled to the side, slamming into a mannequin and sending it crashing down at his back.

He couldn’t even see where his attacker was. They were so fast, so undetectable, that—

Noah’s senses screamed a warning. A shimmer of gold twisted in the corners of his vision. It slithered just an inch away from his foot. Noah leapt for it.

The world warped.

His foot slammed down on the shoulder of a mannequin as he suddenly found himself right-side up once again, standing on the other end of Eliana’s store perched precariously close to the low ceiling.

The mannequin in tattered robes stood above where he’d been, its massive wrapped sword impaled in the ground where he’d been. Noah wasn’t so sure it was a mannequin anymore. He didn’t have the faintest clue what it was.

“Who are you?” Noah asked, his eyes narrowed. More gold coiled through his vision. Gossamer roots borne of the Line stretched out through the world, as if beckoning him to step onto their path. “What do you want with me?”

The robed figure turned toward Noah, pulling its sword free from the ground with ease. He still couldn’t sense the faintest bit of anything from them. It was like nobody was there at all.

  “You’re him.” The figure’s voice was rough. Dry and muted, like a piece of sandpaper worn thin. It didn’t seem like they’d used their voice much in the last fifty or so years. “The dead man.”

“You know, of all the things I’ve been called, I’m not sure if that’s the least or the most accurate,” Noah said. “But since you seem to be able to talk, why not answer my question?”

“I am the Executioner. And you are the dead man.”

“I’m going to put up some protest to that nickname,” Noah said. “It’s really not flattering at all. What do you want with me? I don’t have any enemies here.”

The Executioner vanished.

Noah’s neck prickled. He lunged off of the mannequin and into one of the golden pathways. The world shifted once more. Then he stood in the center of the forest of costumes. A loud crash marked the untimely demise of the mannequin he’d been standing on a moment before.

No sign of the Executioner remained. The strange man had vanished again. A flicker of anger sparked in Noah.

Could I please go to one goddam place without somehow having someone try to kill me?

Arcs of red magic popped across his fingers. Noah clenched his jaw. His domain was worthless. It couldn’t sense the Executioner at all. But he had more to work with than just his domain.

Noah summoned his violin to his hands and sliced the bow across its strings, playing a Formation into being. Hollow Symphony activated within him, adding its power into the mix and accelerating the creation of his song.

“Could you hold off with this shit?” Noah called. His heart thumped in his chest. There was no sign of the Executioner, but the assassin was still around somewhere. He was just biding his time. “We’re totally trashing this poor woman’s shop and I haven’t even got any crystals to pay her with—”

A wall of white accelerated toward Noah out of the corners of his vison.

He released the magic he’d been holding.

Oily magic spilled through the air before him. A loud crash rolled through the room an instant later as the Executioner’s massive sword slammed into the puddle of magic before Noah, sending ripples rolling through the magic.

Noah lunged forward, knocking a few other mannequins out of the way. He banished his violin and drew on Sunder as he thrust his hand for the Executioner’s chest.

The other man vanished.

Noah stumbled forward with a curse. He released Sunder and summoned his violin back to his hands, restarting his Formation. The entire move had only made him miss a few notes. Noah’s lips peeled back into a snarl.

“Come on, then,” Noah said. The notes of his song spun into an expanding Formation all around him. “I have no desire to fight you, but if you’re going to insist on it, then I’ll oblige.”

There was a moment of silence. That wasn’t really anything too surprising. Noah didn’t actually expect an answer.

But, to his shock, the Executioner stepped into view on the other side the sea of mannequins.  

“This is your power?”

“You have a problem with it?” Noah asked. “You’re the one who attacked me. I feel like you don’t get to be annoyed at what magic I use.”

The Executioner raised the massive, wrapped blade. Then he spun it around, sliding the huge weapon back into its spot on his back with a heavy thud.

“This is not consistent with the report,” the Executioner said emotionlessly. “You are not a Hand.”

“What?” Noah asked, his brow furrowing. “What are you on about?”

“Perhaps you are not the dead man,” the Executioner said. “I do not have enough information to execute on my orders.”

“You know, that didn’t help in the slightest,” Noah said. “Either attack me or don’t, but I’d appreciate if we skipped the vague, overly mysterious bullshit and got to…”

Noah trailed off.

The Executioner was gone.

But that wasn’t all.

The damage to the shop had been completely erased. Every single mannequin had returned to its proper place.. They were all as pristine as they had been before the Executioner had arrived. Even the hole that the Executioner had put in the ground with his sword had vanished

Noah stood alone in the center of the shop, magic still arcing around him in preparation for an enemy that wasn’t there.

Noah’s hands slowly lowered. Confusion furrowed his brow.  

No trace of the Executioner’s passing remained.

What the hell just happened?