"I know only that he exiled himself somewhere, but I do not carry any more knowledge than that. Why?" Terwin asked cautiously. "Ah, so the council is still hiding things, even amongst themselves. How fascinating! However, allow me to show you something you might not have known," Mideia chuckled and slammed his forehead into the front, prompting Terwin to take a step forward to stop him, but found himself immobilized.
"What?" he asked with no small amount of confusion in his tone as he immediately felt that he could no longer move.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Ever-eager to jump into the fray, as expected of a Warden of your caliber. I merely asked a simple question that might have sped up my plans, but it seems they sent you here, somehow knowing I would ask that. Well played, council. Well played indeed," Mideia sighed while Terwin struggled against his invisible bindings.
"W-What new devilry is this? What have you done to me?" Terwin managed through gritted teeth beneath his hood. "Me? I haven't done anything to you. You can blame The Mouth for this, as he was the one who added this secondary barrier," Mideia replied curtly as his visitor continued his struggle against the bindings.
"I only wanted your full attention, and now that I have it, I would like to ask you another question, Terwin," Mideia said, suddenly leaning forward with enough strength to nearly snap the bindings keeping it in place, while simultaneously increasing the pressure placed on the Warden before him.
"Where is Thoma Fayren?" he asked calmly, sending a chill down Terwin's spine. "I-I do not know. The last I heard, he was still in Kavrass, but that is all the knowledge I have of him," he replied through a grunt of exertion as he tried to escape whatever kept him in place.
Mideia regarded him carefully as he watched him struggle, but the longer he did, the further the corners of his mouth dug into his sunken cheeks. "I see. In that case…" he trailed off as he leaned back, slightly releasing the pressure, but ensuring it was still enough to hold Terwin in place.
"I would like to propose a deal," Mideia said, still holding a grin on his face. Terwin raised his head weakly, his one uncovered eye leaking blood and mana from each corner. "I refuse," he snarled. "I don't think you are in much of a position to refuse," Mideia said, leaning forward once more, earning him a pained grunt from Terwin.
"Come now, it doesn't have to be like this. This would be so much easier if you, and arguably the rest of Polarion, didn't resort to violence at every given opportunity," Mideia said with a sideways tilt of his head.
If I let him have his way, there is no telling what havoc he will spread across the realms, Terwin thought, weighing his options carefully.
"I am waaaiting," Mideia continued in a sing-song voice, but his visitor remained non-compliant, prompting him to sigh heavily. "Listen to me carefully, Terwin: I have been tucked away in this shitpit of a place for long enough that I am unaffected by The Mouth's machinations. You, however, have not. Therefore, in exchange for your freedom, I will only make one simple offer; one I think you'll quickly find to be irrefutable," he continued.
Terwin's breath grew shorter and more frequent as he suffered through the pain of the binding spell. His hands began to tremble as he struggled against his invisible binds once again, but after another futile attempt, he began to accept his current predicament with one single thought.
I've been had, Terwin mentally hissed.
"I… accept," he said in a voice just above a whisper. Immediately, Mideia leaned back in his coffin, greatly lessening the pressure once again. "You made the right choice, Terwin. Not that there was much of one to begin with, but it was still the right choice," he said, staring down at the demoralized Warden imperiously.
"Just give your orders and be done with it, then. I'll not have you shame me even further," Terwin grunted between coughs. "Shame? There's no shame in valuing self-preservation, as it is a core value every being shares to varying degrees," Mideia said dismissively with a slight tilt of his head.
"But I digress. What I need from you are two things: The first is the whereabouts of The Mouth, and the second is the current status of Thoma Fayren, as I fear that after our last encounter, he may be far too broken to be of much use to me anymore," he continued, averting his gaze and raising his eyebrows momentarily.
Has he already had an encounter with Thoma? How is that even possible? Just how far has his reach extended? Terwin wondered silently.
"Oh, and just to ensure you won't try to pretend you've failed your task, I will be placing a small seal on your core as… insurance," Mideia said, breaking Terwin out of his thoughts as a thin, dense tendril of mana raced out from the coffin, piercing his chest. Terwin's head was thrown back in agony, his screams only slightly muffled by the thick cloth wrapped around his face.
It only lasted a few moments, but by the time Mideia had finished, Terwin nearly slumped to the floor in a heap, catching himself on outstretched arms. "Was that truly necessary? Do you really believe I would not honor the agreement after sparing my life?" Terwin asked weakly, clutching his chest.
"No, no, no. I know all too well that you do not possess the mind of a simpleton. Honor is a currency only used by those who cannot afford to flex their morals and mentally imprison you for doing so," he replied with a slight shake of his head.
Terwin paused, attempting to grasp the meaning behind his words. When the answer remained elusive, even after a few moments of careful consideration, he struggled to look up at his newfound master. "Why do you need to know their whereabouts?" he asked plainly, prompting Mideia to scoff. "Come now, do you honestly believe I would tell you everything? My, my. How Polarion's education has fallen," he said, glancing up toward the tower's ceiling.
"Just bring me the information that I need, and I will release your core after you've finished. If it makes you feel any better, know that I have no further use for you outside of that and harbor no ill-will toward you. This is merely an opportunistic and transactional agreement. Do you understand?" Mideia asked flatly, prompting Terwin to click his tongue in frustration.
Eventually, however, he nodded in agreement.
"Good. It's a shame I had to resort to such methods, but there is little time to waste. Go now and get me the information I asked for. The sooner you accomplish your task, the sooner I will release you. Now, leave," Mideia continued, his final word a command that immediately brought Terwin to his feet as a sickly, green glow flashed across his irises.
Without another word, Terwin picked himself up and readjusted his hood before proceeding toward the exit, where Sura had been waiting for him on the other side of the barrier. "M-My lord, are you alright? What did he do to you?" he asked the moment the pale barrier peeled away, watching Mideia's coffin return to its original station out of the corner of his eye.
"I will be. He tried to offer me a deal, but when I wouldn't give in, he relented," Terwin lied, unsure of what telling others might do to the seal on his core. Sura observed him carefully for a brief moment, but when there were no signs of further discomfort, he allowed himself a heavy sigh.
"If you say so, my lord. Is that all you needed from Aen Silar?" Sura asked as they continued down the long hallway. "For now, but I will have to return to Polarion to make my report. There is something very unsettling about him that I cannot put my finger on," Terwin said, his gaze darting back and forth across the floor as if searching for something.
"This whole tower is unsettling, lord. It reeks of malice and ill-will, though the others and I can only hope that whatever he's done to it will come to an end soon," Sura said with a chill running down his spine, prompting Terwin to sigh. "So do I, but perhaps that may come sooner than we think," he said idly, causing Sura to tilt his head in confusion. "How do you know that, lord?" he asked with no small amount of caution.
"I'd say I have it on good authority," Terwin said with an unnerving smile and flares of Leech mana in his eyes.