The Eyes of Deceit

Christmas regretfully finishes too and before I realize it, the next day comes. I wake up with only one thing on my mind: today is the day of my first mission. I and my family had gone to sleep late last night but because of my improved constitution, I am still able to wake up early while feeling completely refreshed. Since the rest of the family is still asleep, I take the opportunity to use magic to quickly complete my chores. After that, I return to my room to freshen up.

The next couple of hours involves me using my phone, while also watching the time like a hawk. All the while waiting with dreadful anticipation. I have no idea how today is going to go.

By eight thirty my mom finally wakes up, and I use that as an opportunity to cook up an excuse to leave the house so early on a holiday. Of course, since I couldn't think of anything better I blamed it all on Drew. I had spoken to him yesterday night and he had agreed to cover for me so I could focus fully on my mission.

Eight forty-five I leave the house, and by nine I am in the Lands, right on time.

I am not the first to have arrived. Kane and his entire team are already here, along with Noah and Adelia. Thankfully we don't have to wait too long before Han, Tobi, and Bella arrive.

"Alright," Kane says drawing everyone's attention to himself. "Quick brief. Today, our targets are a couple of weak Erhaz who are in possession of what we suspect to be an artifact of Laen origin. The Erhaz in question run a shipping business, and up till now they haven't done anything even remotely suspicious, but recently some evidence came to light that causes us to believe that they might in fact be in possession of an artifact stolen from the Laen some years ago."

"What artifact is it?" I ask.

Kane turns to Noah. "You should be able to recognize it. Viv?"

The blonde girl on his team nods and spreads her arms. A moment later a photo-realistic image of a pair of black glasses appears in front of us.

Noah straightens with an awed expression on his face. "Holy- is that what I think it is?"

Kane nods. "It is."

"Can someone explain what it is?" Adelia says.

Noah turns towards us and explains excitedly. "That is the Eyes of Deceit, it is one of the most powerful Illusion artifacts ever created. Look, most people think that the Illusion Trump is just about creating Illusions, right? Manipulating light and such, but it's far more than that. Most of our advanced techniques mess with the brain in one way or another, that's what makes us really effective and the Eyes of Deceit excel at it. Those glasses were created by Grand Elder Rick. He was part of our Court for a while but he didn't feel like mastering all the techniques so he decided to create an artifact that could do that for him."

"Those glasses," I say.

Noah continues after nodding. "Yeah, but no one expected them to be as powerful as he made them. Even a complete noob to magic could use those glasses to go against Guardians. They can mess with your head so hard and to such a degree that even the higher-ups will have to struggle to escape its influence. With those things, I could make you believe your mom was your dad or that you were a rock and nothing in this world would be able to convince you otherwise. You could cast large-scale Illusions, area of effect brainwashing-"

He pauses his tirade to catch his breath, but by this point, we've all gotten the message. The glasses were powerful.

"Wait," I turn to look at Kane. "How'd such a powerful artifact end up in the hands of Erhaz."

"It was stolen during the previous war."

"Wait wait wait," Bella says. "If the glasses are so powerful, then the people with them can't be weak, right? Why are we the ones they sent on such a mission?"

"That's the funny thing," Viv says, "the people currently with it are weaklings. It's not so surprising though, given how powerful the artifact is even a weakling shouldn't have difficulty keeping it safe. Just make anyone who finds out you have it forget you do."

"And that's also why," Kane interrupts, "we have to be extra careful in this mission. If we alert them to our purpose beforehand and they get to use the Eyes then the mission is as good as failed."

"But," I say, "what if the people with the glasses are only pretending to be weak."

"That's why we're here. In the event things go wrong, we'll take over. But, you better not use that as an excuse to slouch. If any of you causes the mission to fail…" He trails off, leaving us to imagine the consequences of slacking off.

"First missions are not supposed to be this difficult," Tobi says under his breath.

"Well if they're too easy then there wouldn't be any challenge for you guys," a guy on Kane's team says. "Missions have three uses, first is pushing you beyond your comfort zone to make you stronger, second is to allow you to use what you know to serve the Laen, and third is for us to make money."

"Money?"

"Yeah, but if you can't complete it then you can forget about any reward."

"Alright," says Kane, "each member of my team will be assigned to one of you, to prevent unnecessary accidents. I will be with Ian. Now Ian, follow me." He leads me away from my team before beginning to explain things in more detail.

First, even though we know the Eyes of Deceit are being shipped today, we don't know where to. Also, while those Erhaz are suspected to be shipping the glasses today, we have no idea if they are with it now. After a few more pieces of unimportant information, like the location of the warehouse the glasses are meant to be in, Kane's information dump stops.

"Now," says Kane, "normally you would have to make a plan with the rest of your team, but I want you to do so now. I don't expect you to make a full-blown plan but I at least expect you to be able to come up with something, as a Leader, it is something you need to know how to do. So, tell me, how do you think we should go about the mission."

I consider it all for a moment. "Well, searching the warehouse is out of the question. It'll be too large and since they know it better than us they will probably be able to sneak the Eyes out without us knowing. We need to wait until they start shipping. Hmm. Yes, we also can't attack their delivery vehicles immediately, just in case they are getting the glasses along the way. Okay, I think I have a plan.

"First, we need to get to their warehouse early, then we wait, making sure they don't see us while we do so. Then, we follow their vehicles for a while. If they stop along the way, it'll probably be for the glasses, if they don't, then the glasses are most likely with them already. Then, we need to get close and separate the Erhaz there from the vehicles long enough for someone else to find what we're looking for. If we can't do that then we just need to beat them up, after that finding the glasses should be easy. How's that for a plan?"

Kane nods. "Not too bad, alright let's meet up with your team. It's time for you guys to discuss and iron out the details of the plan, then we move out."

I follow him back to where the rest are and after his prompt tell my plan to them.

"It could work," Adelia says, "as long as they're not stronger than expected. But how are we going to follow them unnoticed."

Noah half raises a hand. "I could cloak us. I know a few spells that act sort of like a one-way mirror. Within we can see outside but people outside can only see through us. We'd be invisible to them."

"And once we decide to attack I can get us to the vehicle in an instant," Tobi adds. To prove his point he points forward and a portal slowly forms in front of him. It takes about two seconds to complete but when it does it is perfectly stable. A large ring of purple light enclosing something which resembles the darkness of space.

I nod, excited by how everything seems to be falling into place. "Great. Then the main attack will be launched by me, Adelia, and Tobi. Noah, since you can turn invisible, and you know what the Eyes of Deceit look like, you can use the opportunity to search for it while we buy you time. And Han and Bella, you guys watch our backs."

Bella and Han nod. After a few more minutes spent hashing out the details of the plan, I turn to Kane. "We're ready."

"Great. Then let's go."