Gaudis

Ransu Svar was hanging upside down. His feet were bound and attached to a rope suspended from the ceiling. He slowly rocked back and forth with his hands crossed. His expression displayed boredom; he had been in this position for two days.

He looked around observing the nearly pitch black room. The walls were dusty and old and the door made from a rusty iron. This room was meant to hold an ordinary human, yet Ransu was confident he could escape at any time. Suddenly foot steps were audible. He listened to determine the amount of people. Just one. he thought.

The door slammed open illuminating the entire room. To Ransu it felt as if his eyes were on fire, he squinted and looked at the shadow spread across the floor pointing in his direction.

"Angie!" He exclaimed with joy.

"I told you not to call me that anymore." A cold tired voice replied.

"Don't be like that, we used to get along so well together. We even share the same birthday." He said uncrossing his arms and forming a smile.

"That was decades ago, Svar. Back when you were still alive." The voice replied.

Ransu appeared as if he was in his early twenties, though one stops aging when he's brought back to life as a deadman.

Ransu brought his chin closer to his body and stared at the upside-down silhouette. Though the light behind her nearly blinded him, Ransu could make out that the woman in front of him was wrinkled and graying.

"We're about how old the professor was back then." Ransu said after the brief pause.

"No, we--I'm older." Angela corrected herself. She raised her index finger and a small green flame shot out igniting the rope attaching Ransu to the ceiling. "You're already dead."

SNAP

Ransu fell straight down onto his head.

"Get up, and follow me. There are a few people here to question you about that dead enforcer." She said with a sigh.

Ransu was yet again tied up, this time to a wooden chair. Across from him stood two enforcers, most likely from an internal review branch. One was scarred and old, from the look on his face you could tell he'd seen plenty of action in his days and however unlikely it was, he managed to survive it all. The other younger and visibly agitated, he'd been the one to insist on tying Ransu to the chair.

"Is this really unnecessary? You know these ropes don't really mean anything to a deadman, don't you?" Ransu broke the silence.

"Just following procedure, Svar." The old man camly answered with a deep voice.

"Alright, I'll play along." Ransu smirked. "I'm here to talk about that rookie enforcer right?"

"He's dead!" Yelled the young enforcer not comfortable with skirting around the issue.

"Then turn him?" Ransu questioned with a puzzling expression. Most enforcers that died were just brought back as deadmen.

"We can't." The old man let out a sigh. "You liquefied him."

"Oh, right...." He looked around to the room to avoid eye contact.
"Well it wasn't my fault." Ransu slyly followed up.

"How could this possibly not be your fault? You turned the man to mush!" The younger enforcer yelled still agitated.

"Well more of a fine paste-" the words flowed faster than Ransu was able to stop them. "Err... I was under orders?"

"Really? He ordered you to do that to him?" the enforcer continued sarcastically.

"He ordered me to heal him."

"And you call that healing?!"

"Calm down, let him explain." Interrupted the old man.

"Well, healing isn't exactly my strong suit. I warned him this wasn't going to turn out well. If anything he's at fault for not listening to my advice, I know the limits to my magic much better than he did!"

The younger enforcer fell back into his chair defeated. "How-, Healing magic doesn't work that way. I've never heard of it liquefying a person before. In the report it said you even had a rose healing implement. Any mage with basic training should be able to use it for at least first aid."

"Well he needed more than first aid he was on his death bed, so I figured I'd add a little oomph into it. How was I supposed to know the crystal was going to over charge and decay like that." Ransu continued.

"According to your file, you shouldn't have been able to liquefy him at will, your powers don't work like that." The older man looked at Ransu.

"--which means it was accident" Ransu continued pretending as if he was finishing the old man's sentence.

The gates of Gaudis were dyed a reddish tint by the setting sun. Two men walked out towards the parked wagons.

"Hey, you!" The older enforcer gestured at Trista "You're the expedition leader for this troupe right?" He waited for a response.

Trista merely nodded while maintaining eye contact with the older man.

"I'm Gians from internal discipline, this here is Ransu Svar. He's your responsibility now." The man continued.

"Trista?" Ransu said without confidence. "That is you isn't it? Remember me I'm Svar from The Captain's squad. We've met before remember?"