It was a long, quiet ride with a tranquil atmosphere that was supposed to be calming, instead Jareth felt stifled. The tranquil atmosphere felt heavy to him. He had to breathe and swallow quietly and slowly so as not to break the tranquility.
He fixed his eyes on the window and periodically took a peek at Esta every few moments, but her focus was on the road.
'Now I know why music is important; it would have lightened this atmosphere.'
That was how they continued the journey until she drove and halted in the small parking lot of a four-story building with 'HOT KITCHEN' written on an arch-shaped slate at the top of the glass door.
Switching off the engine, she alighted and walked towards the building. Jareth quickly came out and followed her, trailing a step behind.
The doorman opened the door as they entered.
It was a high-end restaurant, which he wasn't new to.
They took the elevator to the top floor, then walked to a room at the end, which Esta surprisingly had a key to—her comm band.
It was a big room, and in the middle was a pair of long couches facing each other, separated by a short but wide table. But she led him close to the wide window facing the street, which had the same arrangement, but couches were replaced with chairs.
As she sat down, she signalled for Jareth to sit opposite her.
Just as they sat down, the door opened and three waitresses entered with trays.
They swiftly served and elegantly arranged the food in front of them before leaving.
"You can eat while we talk," Esta finally broke the silence.
"I'm not hung—"
But his stomach grumbled at that moment, interrupting his lie.
Esta chuckled. "You can eat. I'm not telling you anything heavy, or interrogating you. Nadia already begged me, so I'll just help you. After I finish, you can leave."
She picked up her fork and began eating gracefully.
Jareth picked up the fork and began eating too, even though he felt uncomfortable dining with a stranger in a foreign world.
The food was so delicious that he soon forgot her as she didn't bother him, and focused on the food.
When he had his fill, he raised his head to see her calmly staring at him.
He blushed slightly in embarrassment.
Esta waved her hand.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about. Let's get on with business." Then she asked, "Do you know who an arcanist is?"
"I know nothing," Jareth answered calmly.
Esta nodded and explained, "Centuries ago, before oblivium invaded and changed Arkados, beings who could use mana and perform sorcery were called mages. However, after oblivium invaded and changed the world, the power system also changed, with the old world mages getting wiped out. A new group of people were born—the Arcanists.
"Arcanists are new age sorcerers, with a sorcerer's chart awakening when they clock fifteen years of age. The sorcerer chart controls the spells and all that. You should know your spells, right? And how to check your sorcerer's chart, right?"
Jareth shook his head.
"Just think of materializing the sorcerer's chart."
Jareth followed her instructions and a panel materialized in front of him. It was a dim golden ancient scroll, with simple runic carvings adorning the edges, and bright, glowing gold text written on it.
'It wasn't a hallucination…'
He focused.
–––
SORCERER'S CHART
[Name]: Jareth Idren
[Race]: Human
[Body]: ⟨5% Mana | 95% Oblivium⟩
[Source]: [Oblivium Forge], [Caniblaze]
[Spells]: [Weeping Ward], [Grieving Echo], [Quagmire], [Infernal Torrent], [Quintessence Claws]
[Core]: 0/200
–––
"Wow…" he couldn't contain his amazement. 'Like a game…'
Just as he was marveling at the projection in front of him, Esta spoke, "What's your body percentage?"
Jareth read the figure and his heart jumped as he felt nothing good would come from having a higher percentage of oblivium, which invaded Arkados and made ancient sorcerers history.
But he still said it as he thought he might need a cure. "Five percent mana; ninety-five percent oblivium."
Esta raised her eyebrows with her lips parting slightly and shutting back. Her lip's action was almost unnoticeable but because of her always calm expression, Jareth caught the action.
The silence lasted for about six seconds before she spoke again. "You're the first I've ever seen to have that kind of a high oblivium percentage in your body."
Jareth's face darkened.
'I know a bad compliment when I hear one.'
"Is it that bad?" he asked in a very low tone.
"Worse than you think."
"How worse?"
Esta paused for another good fifteen seconds before she began. "As the new age sorcery began, with the inclusion of the sorcerer's chart, humans lost their original ability to absorb mana directly from the world. So, they could only slay other beings, snatch their cores, and absorb them. But there was a problem.
"When those beings absorb mana from the world, they get tainted by the oblivium that is also residing in the world. This gives their cores a large quantity of mana with speckles of oblivium.
"So when we absorb mana from these cores, we try to filter it with our mind, which can end in two ways—either you are successful and increase the mana in your core, or you become tainted by oblivium. If your mind succumbs first, you go mad. However, if your body succumbs first, you become a vessel of oblivium, spreading madness and corruption."
Jareth shuddered as his eyes locked onto the high level of corruption in his body.
Esta, as if she could read his mind, clarified, "The body column doesn't represent or show you your corruption status. It is more like your affinity level towards mana. And it's unchangeable. But the higher the mana percentage in your body, the harder it is to become tainted, and as you can deduce, the higher the oblivium percentage in your body, the easier it is to become tainted."
Jareth took a deep breath before asking in almost a whisper, "Can you, in some way, estimate how high my chances of getting tainted are?"
"Your body is the first with the highest oblivium percentage I've ever seen," said Esta.
Jareth's meager hope shattered.
She continued as if she didn't see his bleak expression, "The highest I've previously heard about was an arcanist with a body containing twenty percent mana, eighty percent oblivium. Well, he got tainted in mind and body on his first core absorption, becoming mad and corrupted. The Parliament even advised that arcanists with oblivium body higher than sixty-five percent shouldn't absorb cores, as they are almost certain of being tainted."
Taking a sip of water, she asked, "So, do you know how worse your case is?"
Jareth's lips quivered.