After recording the creation of the shard tower, Talus's eyes had returned to normal and could no longer visibly see the figures of his three Fae servitors. Their presence could not completely escape his sharp senses, there was a slight distortion in reality where each of them stood at his disposal. A hand suddenly clapped down on Talus's shoulder, he glanced back to see Crow standing behind him.
"A shard tower being built ain't something you get to see every day. But shards be willing, I'll never be within a hundred-mile radius of it ever again. You can be damn sure more than a few poor sods breathed their last during that performance. Look over there, that's one of them," Crow said, pointing at the grave rat Talus had seen mercy-killing the soldier earlier. The man lay immobile on caked dry mud. It was evident from the scorched grass around his corpse that a stray flame had landed nearby, the intense heat had ended his life instantly. Talus's simulacrum body was completely immune and indifferent to the temperatures around him, hot or cold. "I knew him, Piercing Petyr, an apt name and a black-hearted bastard if ever I met one. I'm almost sad to see him go. But not really, his loss is our gain. Throw on his boots, they're just about your size and pick up his pack. We want you to look the part when we tell people you're a grave rat."
Crow's face was burned red from exposure to the heated mist permuting the battlefield and was slightly contorted with discomfort. Despite that, he tugged off Piercing Petyr's boots and tossed them to Talus.
"Thanks, Da," Talus replied, crouching to pull on the boots slightly too big for him. The familiar sound of his voice shocked Crow into stillness. Talus leaned down past the flabbergasted man to pick up Piercing Petyr's pack and shrugged the straps over his shoulders.
His tone and mannerisms perfectly mimicked Crow's unconscious subtle habits, causing Crow's eyes to grow wild-eyed. The man gulped and ran his tongue across cracked lips to wet them. Inhaling deeply, Crow briefly closed his eyes to steel himself against the emotional pain that flashed over his face. He let out his held breath, opening his eyes to meet Talus's violet gaze with a flushed pale expression.
"Who-w-what are you? You're not the shade of my boy come to haunt me, are you? I've been a bad man at times b-but I made sure that I did right by you and your ma until she up and left," Crow stammered. He froze and grimaced in disgust at his display of Human weakness, forcefully tugging on the hem of his moth-eaten shirt to compose himself. "Shards, I lost myself for a moment there. It ain't really important what you are, shade, grifter, or some some curse-spawned djinn. You're my ticket out of poverty. As far as I know, my boy is still out there alive somewhere. Don't call me that again, use my name, Crow. Once we're settled nice and cozy-like, you a Magi and me an upright made-man, I might go looking for him. His ma might forgive me and take me back after all these years when I'm no longer borrowing through a fresh battlefield."
"I'm none of the above but I'll grudgingly play the persona of your son Talus. I'm loathe to do so and would much prefer we drop that part of the act. We can instead proceed with you just adopting the role of my manservant once we get accepted. The only fixed detail of this charade is that I will become a Magi. Even if I have to carve another field of bodies to get there. I strongly suggest you don't position yourself in between me and my goals, Crow," Talos said, still speaking with the same inflections and mannerisms as the man in front of him.
"I'm a man of my word and we shook on it. We'll take on a don't ask, don't tell policy. It can be our backup plan if we end up in a bind down the road. You never know when it could become an ace up our sleeves. In the meantime, stop calling me da and just call me Crow. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end," Crow agreed. He glanced up at the nine Magi hovering in the sky, visibly deciding they were the kind best avoided. "I don't know where the other five came from but they looked mighty displeased at having to show their faces around here. Four of the Magi were busy fighting each other during the skirmish until the shard somehow overloaded and blew up. Put a stop to the fight right quick, it did. They're now up there working together like they've always been best mates. Shards strange thing to witness in person, I'll tell you that much. I don't know why I'm telling you that, you probably saw it with your own eyes anyway."
"Of course," Talus lied. Crow gave him a coy sideways glance, not voicing his suspicions aloud. Talus easily hefted his new overstuffed pack like it was weightless, meeting Crow's gaze and staring with a wordless challenge.
"No more of that. Let's go find the woman who owes me a favour. She won't be caught stepping foot in this shit hole like ordinary banner baggage. We have a few days dredging through the marsh to get there but it'll be worth it. She's interested in our secret prize stashed away inside my coat pocket. Magi are certainly a strange bunch and this might be just the thing to woo her," Crow said with a chuckle. He turned to retrace his steps in the direction he had come back for Talus.
Talus spared the shard tower one last glance. The mutating cube radiated unnatural power beyond mortal comprehension. It produced or converted the source of Human magic through unknown means. Talus was determined to uncover the truth of how they functioned and use that forbidden knowledge to crumble Humanity's reign from the inside. Impervious to the Fae Monarch's obvious hatred, the shard core remained an ever-shifting monument of boundless power, sustaining the region with arcane energy that distorted reality itself, ready to be harnessed by Human magi at a moment's notice.