It Began in a Tavern - Official Legacy Roleplay (Part 2)

[IgnitedxSoul]

The Queen's carriage trundled through a wooded passage in the twilight hours. The two guardsmen had just traded the carriage lines, the younger of the two dozing off, then waking up again in small fits.

Beta tsked between his teeth as he watched from between branches ahead of the carriage. They were tired, and they were getting sloppy. Perhaps even the Queen herself had fallen asleep within that gold carapace. Beta's hands twitched with anticipation, small pools of ether gathering at his fingertips, the expectation running so deep within him tiny sparks of light ignited. He quickly stuffed his hands into his pockets, he cannot give himself up. Not yet.

Despite his constant pleading for immediate action, Delta pressed on and on for patience and planning. He said they should have executed Arespeth long ago, and now she's on a war path to Cliff Cross, like the Queen, Hemios, and Barnabas. It seemed all fates were converging, and he couldn't shake the feeling of coming devastation.

He could have put an end to at least one variable long ago. He could have taken action against Delta's wishes and taken Arespeth out himself anyway. But he obeyed, made passive by Delta's imposing presence. Her cold ferocity and total dedication to maintaining the moral high ground. Yet so many have died by the hands of the Queen and her entourage. How many people were captured by Arespeth and experimented on by Barnabas? Countless. Unforgivable sin. He cared little that she was Gamma's daughter.

The carriage steadily approached his position. Just as it passed beneath him, Beta vanished in a hazy plume of smoke, reappearing once again in the branches, a hundred or so feet further down the path. He scanned the faces of the guards; the one without the reins had fully fallen asleep, his head lolling to the side. The other was alert, but not looking anywhere near Beta. He was still in the clear.

Being on watch irked Beta so thoroughly that he could scream. Gamma, keeping watch over Ravenna, Olive, and Katara. Alpha, gathering intel from the nobles in the city. And Delta, relinquishing a violin to the brain-damaged rightful heir. It was all so passive, despite their efficacy as mages.

Beta imagined jumping down upon the wagon as it passed beneath him again, setting the carriage, guards, and horses all ablaze in one fell swoop. Their cries of anguish a punctuation to this whole prophecy.

And then he imagined the stone spike that would most certainly rise up from the ground to meet him squarely in the chest. Time and time again, Delta warned them of Melina's power, how greatly it exceeded the power of the Alphabet Society combined. In an instant, she could open the floor beneath him and crush him whole. So, Beta sighed and kept watch.

As the carriage passed beneath him once more, Beta felt a chill rush over him and his vision darken. Regardless, he vanished again in a puff of hazy smoke. Only this time he appeared in a totally void space, nothing around despite feeling the ground beneath him. Slowly, his surroundings appeared, as if forming from nothing. He was standing on the forest floor in a clearing well out of sight of the carriage. He could not hear nor see them at all. In fact, the silence of the space raised the hair on Beta's arms. There was no sound at all.

The moonlight dimmed slowly, until the entire clearing was cast in oppressive darkness. Beta felt eyes upon him. He spun, taking in the edges of the clearing where the trees quickly faded away into a shadow so dense, dark, and isolating. Beta's breath lingered in as white wisps in the air.

"Who's there?" Beta called out. He took a readied stance, ether pulsing in his palms ready to erupt.

A metallic voice called out to him, sounding at once as though from within his own head and all around him. "My, my. You're a feisty one. I feel the rage rippling from within you."

Beta spun again, shooting out a short-range arc of fire. The darkness in the clearing held firm despite the fire, and that same voice began to laugh. It was a sickening sound, like glass shards scratching against metal.

"Show yourself!"

The shadows in the trees darkened beyond shadow, so dark that it seemed as though nothing at all existed within that space, as if the world beneath had vanished into a void. The shadow slunk to the ground, slithering slowly toward Beta.

It spoke again. "You've been a thorn in my back for quite some time. You and those three other self-important mages."

Beta balked, stepping back from the approaching shadow. It knows about the Alphabet society, it knows who he is. How? The shadow bubbled and roiled on the ground, growing up from the soil.

The voice resonated in Beta's head, so strong he felt a pressure pushing outwards from within his ears. "I noticed you sparking that pestilent light in the trees; it sickens me. I clouded your sight with images of my creation, where we can be alone. Do you want to know how I deal with pests like you?"

Before Kurai finished, Beta dashed backward and shot another blast of fire at the shadow. It shrunk down against the ground, the fire burning pointlessly above it, and raced across the grass directly at Beta.

As soon as Beta landed, the shadow wrapped itself around Beta's right leg. It constricted like rope pulled taught against his skin. Beta kicked with the right leg, attempting to shake it off, but the shadow only crawled further up his body. In a haze of smoke Beta disappeared, only to reappear in the center of the clearing, no clinging shadow.

"What?" Beta swore aloud. "No, this is not where I meant to go." He turned, searching frantically for the shadow, shooting blasts of fire at every shadow in sight. His lungs burned against the effort it took to apparate so suddenly. His ether wavered, he was channeling it at a volume he hadn't in years. When had his training left him?

"It's useless," Kurai said. "You won't be leaving this clearing."

Beta, not able to find the shadow, took off. He sprinted full force into the treeline, weaving between branches, hopping over fallen logs. The presence of the shadow loomed behind him, the coldness permeating the air as he ran. Ahead, moonlight broke through the branches and Beta bee-lined toward his escape.

Except he found himself in that same clearing, once again. He hadn't turned once, ran straight the entire time, but ended up there regardless.

The shadow bubbled up again before Beta, accompanied by a chilling chuckle. "This was fun, but I have more important things to attend to."

It pounced, and Beta parried with a full stream of fire, several feet in diameter blasted directly at the shadow. The light grew, and Beta felt the heat from the fire intensify. It was working!

Then Beta felt a pull at his ether and a constriction wrapping around him. His vision went completely dark as the shadow enveloped him. Beta tried to channel his ether anywhere, against anything, but nothing came. He felt severed, claustrophobic in a vast field of nothing. He struggled to breathe as the shadow coiled in tighter and tighter against him. Then, like his vision, his thoughts vanished. There was nothing.

 

[ps102]

The shadowy figure, featureless and blurry, cut through the summery light that flooded the scenery. Behind her, the subtle sound of waves curled and clashed on the shore. And somewhere near, the leaves of tree branches rustled gently in a breeze.

And this shadow faced another, one who held the violin. The waves clashed louder, the sun shined brighter. Droplets of the sea rained behind this shadow as strands of her long, red hair waved in the direction this breeze carried them.

Then, the moment the droplets faded in the searing flares, she spoke. Muffled and short, but certain. It was something and nothing at the same time. Nothing and something. Nothing and something—as always.

It didn’t have to be. It musn’t be.

The shadow brought her arms behind her back. She smiled—“Play again,” she said, so clearly. So loudly. Her sweet voice pierced the scenery. She grew far away as the whole scene zoomed into absolute darkness. She grew farther and farther until there was nothing.

Yet, even in that darkness, her last words for that instance were clear.

“I loved it.”




Olive’s eyelids thundered open. Night crickets chirped in the distance, and the milky night sky sprawled above her. She rolled around. Ravenna slept on the floor—and Katara kept watch. She, with a parchment in hand, faced the mountain range as her pen scribbled the paper.

“Can’t sleep?” Katara looked over her shoulder. “You should. You are to keep watch in a few hours.”

She rolled to her back and thought about telling her about the shadow—about how clearly she spoke. But for all she knew, that voice was nothing but a distorted memory. A made up dream.

Maybe it all was.

“I need to take a walk. I’ll be back.”

“Sure, but don’t go too far.” Katara went back to her parchment. It was then that Olive noticed the smile on her face. She always smiled, even in the hardest of times.

Olive walked through the woods and to a nearby river, streaming down by the tall mountain range. Its water gently gurgled as it travelled down the narrow channel. It distortedly reflected the full, yellow moon and herself.

She kneeled before the water, collected some in the cup of her hands, and splashed it on herself. The water rolled around her red-swollen eyes and down her chin, where it dripped back on the river.

When it finished splashing, the water cleared. It showed her face. A face she both knew and not knew. She reached with her finger and tapped a ripple into the river.

And when the water cleared once again, it reflected herself—and Yuuna. She floated next to her with those white wings that glowed yellow just like the moon.

“You wanted to know more,” Yuuna began. “But the more you know, the sadder you become.”

Olive didn’t take her eyes from the river. She circled the water and blurred Yuuna away.

Yet, Yuuna went on. “The truth about you is out there. That insolent human you call Gamma knows, and so does that false queen of this land.“

Finally, Olive spoke. “Gamma said I’m not strong enough for it. When will I be?”

“That, I don’t know.”

“But if that’s the case”—she went on to face Yuuna directly—“then how am I ever to face what is ahead? Tell me, Yuuna!” Olive stood up. “Tell me at least that!”

Yuuna flapped her wings and floated upwards. Her own expression didn’t falter at the question. “I am older than infinity, older than the world itself,” she answered. “Unlike you humans, I make no mistakes. There is a reason I joined up with you.”

“Then, tell me that.” Olive demanded. “Tell me all about it! Why would you join up with a weakling like me? Someone who could hardly even use magic? Tell me! Or am I not strong enough for this either?”

“You’re sure putting me in a tough spot.” She floated down a rock and rested on its surface. Her wings folded around her back, and she gazed up the moon. “Like I said, I am older than this world. Before me and the other spirits, there was nothing. Not any light and not even any darkness—merely time and space existed. Utter emptiness.”

Olive sat beside Yuuna and lifted her finger in the air. She made a tiny blob of light above her fingertip. “And then you brought this… right?”

“It wasn’t just me though. There are countless spirits out there, and each one brought something of their own to colour this world with. For example, Koyo—the one that works with Gamma—brought autumn. We all cared, and we loved this world equally. We made into what it is. There were disagreements here and there, but in the end, we made everything as you know it now to be. However…” her tone grew heavier. “There was one particular, problematic spirit who wanted to plunge this world in nothing but darkness.”

“Darkness?” Olive repeated, looking outward the night sky. “The opposite of light.”

“Yes, Olive. The opposite of light. Without light, none of us can see. This world that we all put our everything on wouldn’t even be visible. What good is it all, then? It isn’t.” She crossed her little arms. “And you know it.”

“O-okay, yeah…”

“The night was his doing. Kurai’s, I mean. That’s his name. We let him create it so there is a balance. But balance was not enough. He wanted total and complete darkness. And he meant it, Olive.” Yuuna paused with an enigmatic expression. “He wanted a world that was all his. He threatened that he will make it happen, and then he disappeared. I’ve not seen him since then. But I know for a fact that he is behind the stoppage of time. He is planning something, something big.”

Olive looked up the stars and realized where Yuuna headed. “That’s to take your light, isn’t it?”

Yuuna nodded. “Likely so. Still!” She flew up from the rock and in front of her. “I am just a spirit. I may have complex power but my Ether reserves are low. I alone can’t stop Kurai. But you have an outstanding ability to produce Ether. That’s why together, we have the potential to be formidabble.”

“No, that’s—!”

Yuuna pushed her paw in front of Olive’s mouth. “I know what you want to say. ‘I can’t fight.’ You won’t have to fight. Not in the way you imagine, at least. My magic doesn’t work like that. You’ll soon discover the true nature of my abilities. Until then, just be patient.”

Olive could say nothing more. Before she could, Yuuna glew bright and vanished into thin air.




The royal horse carriage rolled down the bumpy country roads, curved through the tall grass. Queen Melina rested peacefully in her seat. She opened her eyes to the sight of high mountains in the distance—and that bubbly shadow in the opposing seat.

“I see you’re back.”

With simple and short words, Kurai made the announcement. “Beta is dead, and his spirit has been captured and bottled in the soul vial.”

“You’re dependable as always. Now we have everything that we need to execute the first phase of our plan.” Melina smiled. “But aren’t you sad to imprison your fellow spirit?”

“No,” he answered swiftly. “The summer spirit is amongst those I hate most, maybe as much as Yuuna. He wanted summers to be bright and cloudless. He didn’t even want an inch of darkness.”

“Well, not to worry.” Melina closed her eyes again. “Soon, summer will be nothing but a memory, and maybe not even that.”

At that note, Kurai bubbled with happiness.




Wren, Olten and Pria were seated around the fresh campfire. Fish skewered with branches roasted around the campfire, crisping as the fire crackled and danced with Olten’s commands.

“Be careful now,” said Wren. “Don’t overdo it or you’ll burn them again. We had nothing last night because of it.”

“I’m almost done anyway,” he replied with his hands extended towards the fire. Glowing specks of ash floated behind his bright blue eyes. “There, done.” Olten lowered his arms and the flames shrank in size. They burned just enough to keep them warm.

Both Wren and Olten immediately reached for the sticks of fish. Their nicely browned and crispy skins bubbled as the trapped heat continued to cook the flesh underneath. Wren was about to take cautious bite when he noticed Pria, who had her eyes cast to the ground.

Olten chewed like a pig, but not her. She continued to stare at the muddy ground without reaching for food.

Wren asked, “You alright, Pria?”

But no answer seemed to come from her. Not until she slowly lifted her head and said, “The Queen. How powerful is she?”

Olten slowed down his chewing and just stared at her. “She is the most powerful in the country,” he said. “With one swing of her finger, she’ll sink you to your grave.”

“Some even call her the earth itself,” Wren added to that. “But what’s up with the sudden question, Pria? What are you thinking?”

She narrowed her eyes to a frown. “Not much. I just wondered about the Queen. She is so powerful and mighty. Yet…” Pria turned her gaze towards the city frozen in time. “Everywhere we seem to go, there is suffering.”

Olten took another large bite. “Well, she isn’t a deity,” he declared with a mouthful. “She can’t fix everything by herself. She needs all of us to help make this country a better place. Isn’t that why she sent us here?”

“Yes, we were sent here. But why?” Pria asked with a heavy tone. “What exactly did she intend? What did she have in mind?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions today,” Wren commented. “We’ll figure this mess out. Why don’t you just relax and eat for now? There is always tomorrow.”

Pria got herself up. “I’m not hungry. I’ll go take a walk.”

“Okay,” Wren agreed. “But do no strand too far.”

She turned her back to them and walked beside the edge of the cliff. The whole countryside stretched before her as a land of infinite green, patched with towns, cities and villages throughout. And somewhere out there, the mother she so much loved worked hard.

Pria reached for her pocket and retrieved the fragment the shadow handed her. It resonated with pure, complex power.

“The Queen nears, Priscillia.”

She pocketed the fragment and spun swiftly. The shadow was there below a lump of rocks where the moonlight couldn’t reach. Its shape bubbled fervently, and she maintained her composed stance. “What do you want?” she demanded to know.

“Fear me not, child. I simply wanted to tell you that the queen will be here by the next dawn.”

She clenched her fists. “Okay… what of it?”

“Do not rush and consume the fragment. It’ll only empower you for so long. There are others who will make it here shortly before the queen. A woman with green-colored hair, to be precise. You must destroy her along with the queen. Understand?”

“I… understand.”

“Good. Now stay put, and do not make your subordinates suspicious. Act more like yourself. Everything will be okay, I promise,” the shadow softened its voice. “You will save the world, and your mother will be proud of you.”

Pria’s eyes flew open at the mere mention of her. Though the shadow vanished before she even realized it. Her eyes relaxed and she reached for her pocket. The fragment radiated warmth against her fingertip.

“Okay,” she said to herself. “I can do this.”

 

[Louanne Learning]

The tender feeling welling up inside surprised Dusca. Under the night sky, with the fire crackling before them, she lightly placed her hand on Barnabas’ shoulder. “This must come as a shock,” she murmured.

He hung his head low, then turned troubled eyes towards her. “I won’t ask—I won’t ask why, uh, you never told me.”

“Barnabas—”

“I wasn’t there.”

Dusca slumped, and stared into the fire. “There was a time,” she began, “that I cried myself to sleep, awaiting your return. Humph. Seems so long ago. But, the years passed, and something inside of me hardened—”

“Dusca—”

“No, let me finish.” With furrowed brow, she turned to meet his eyes. “Barnabas … Being here with you, like this, has loosened something, I’m not sure what. It seems almost fate, that we should be together, like this, to go and rescue our daughter, from who knows what. Will you help, me, Barnabas? Will you help me get Katara into safety’s hands?”

He nodded, then took her into his arms and they held on to one another as if they would never let go.

***

Beta came to consciousness. On his back in a bed of pine needles, in the light of a single moonbeam, his head swam. He had not the energy to move. Instantly, instinctively, he knew his heatwave had been taken from him.

The smells and night sounds of the forest enwrapped him in relative comfort. He listened to his own labored breathing, and then his finger twitched. In his mind, he began to pray.

Yuuna, I plead for your protection. Be my refuge, be my deliverance from this evil that has stricken me. I am weakened, I am your servant, be with me now…

A raccoon came waddling by and poked its nose into Beta’s cheek. Beta’s eyes sprung open and he turned his head to meet the raccoon’s face. The animal did not seem to startle, but gave Beta one, gentle lick upon the cheek. Beta closed his eyes, threw back his head, and loudly groaned.

He called upon all his stores of determination and was able to get up on an elbow. He panted, and then swung himself into a sitting position. Depleted, his head hung low. A fire mage without his spark was a hollow shell; a heart without blood. He had not the stamina to be angry, only the desperation to survive.

With bleak eyes, he looked to the little creatures beside him. A family of raccoons—two little ones, and two larger—watched him. “Can I not even put fear into you?” he muttered. “Have I become a curiosity?”

With an agony shredding him inside, he threw back his head and roared with the ferocity of a cornered beast.

The raccoons scattered. Then the ground litter was disturbed by something else, something with a heavier step. A figure in blue robes appeared. Delta pursed her lips. “I told you we must act with patience,” she said.

With a slight sway, Beta got on his feet, and glanced harshly at her. “Please … be done with your ‘I told you so.’”

“We have Arthur,” Delta said, abruptly.

“What?”

“We have Arthur.”

“And … the violin?”

“He played it.”

Beta dropped his head in his hand. “So, we now have our servants of the divine, and the music.”

“But now it seems, we have a new problem.”

“Yes … Kurai is in possession of my magic.”

***

Wren, Pria and Olten lounged around the fire in their cave. In the shadowy dimness, Wren read aloud from the Scriptures:

“When the unearthliness of the mage comes together
With the artistry of the poet and the logic of the scientist,
And the faith of they who are none of those,
And when the song of the Angel Mark is played by royal blood,
Then the battle between darkness and light may begin,
And time restored,
In eternal light.”

“What about the gear?” Pria asked. “What about the fragments?”

“Well … I suppose, that’s what the battle is over.”

***

At dawn the next morning, the pale sky was golden, and cloudless. Night’s hush gave way to birdsong, and Katara awoke inspired to write a poem. Furiously, she scribbled, then roused Olive and Ravenna. They perched on their elbows. “Listen,” Katara said with some excitement, “I’ve written an ode.”

Ravenna yawned. “About what?” she asked.

“About us!” She grinned, and then huffed a breath. “Ready?”

The other two pulled themselves up to sit cross-legged. “Ready,” Olive replied.

Katara recited:

“Oh wind, fair and foul, foul and fair,
Heave ho, heave ho, across salty air,
Our compelling sails capture you,
We take advantage, through and through,
“Press forward!” we cry, until hoarse.
Our three-masted ship stays the course.
Not the water, nor the clouds, shall daunt
Our resolve on our little jaunt.
Begone fear, go on, walk the plank,
And we have one another to thank.
We will make the sea clear again.
Bet on it—and aye, aye, Captain!”

Olive and Ravenna, giggling, enthusiastically applauded, and Katara, grin puckered, bobbled her head in self-appreciation. “Are we the ship?” Ravenna asked.

“We’re the masts, and the sails,” Katara replied. “See, with three sails, we have more sail area, which means more wind power. Olive is the mainmast, which gives us our main energy. Ravenna is the foremast, giving us forward drive. And I am the mizzenmast, helping to steer. Together, we’ll outmaneuver even the most formidable storm.”

Olive laughed. “Never ceases to amaze me how you can turn from art to science in a snap of the fingers.”

Katara brightened. “Thank you! And your magic is out of this world!”

Both of them turned to Ravenna, who shyly smiled. “What do I offer?” she asked.

“I told you,” Katara replied. “Drive.”

Olive placed a light hand on Ravenna’s arm. “Every time I doubted myself,” she replied, “you reminded me to have faith.”

***

Olive was mounted on Nova, and Katara and Ravenna on Pippen, and the two bay mares walked the cliff’s edge. Below them, the countryside stretched, and all three young women gaped at the beautiful view.

A young woman, wispy and tall, and wearing spectacles, came around the bend. She stopped short, and the girls halted their horses. “Hello,” the young woman called. “I’m Priscilla. You can call me Pria. It’s not often we see strangers here.”

“We head for Cliffcross,” Katara replied.

“Oh? Well, you have arrived!” She narrowed her eyes on Olive. “Your hair is green,” she remarked.

Olive recoiled at the unexpected comment. “Is that—is that a problem?”

Pria gave a little, nervous laugh. “Not at all!”

***

The Alphabet Society congressed around their jet-black, round table. The flames of the wall-mounted candles flickered, and shadows danced in the room.

“Our holy trinity has made first contact at Cliffcross,” Delta reported.

Beta sighed. “And me, made useless.”

“I have a plan,” Delta replied, “We may be able to use Hemios and Arapseth to recover your magic from Kurai.”

Gamma appeared distracted. “I must go to her,” she said. “I must go to Olive.”

“No,” Delta insisted. “Now is not the time to interfere … remember the words of Scripture … we will know when we are needed.”

 

[ps102]

Olive, Katara and Ravenna followed Pria up the rocky cliffside path. Save for the distant roar of thunder, no words were spoken. Dark, grey clouds covered the skies and stretched far beyond the horizon, where they sparked and roared.

A single rain drop fell on Olive’s nose. She wiped it with her finger and stared at its spherical surface, then the dark skies. The wind picked up, whispering as it flowed through the mountains.

Pria continued to walk in silence, her hands clasped tightly. The droplets of rain increased in frequency and splashed on the dry rocks. It quickened with each loud step they took and became heavy rainfall.

Near, lightning struck the sea. Thunder boomed, and the world was flashed with white. When it faded, Pria no longer walked. She stood still. Katara looked around and they were no longer in the narrow path, but at the mountain top, near a cliff that overlooked the ocean shrouded in misty darkness.

Pria turned abruptly. Olive, Ravenna and Katara stopped. Pria’s wide eyes, sharp as swords, pierced them. Wet strands of her hair dripped dripped down her forehead, and then down those sides.

Before anyone could say or do anymore, the wind turned violent. Katara swiftly attempted to shield herself from its ruthless current while Ravenna stood her ground firmly and kept her eyes glued on Pria. She, too, stood still as a stone.

Olive, with her eyes half open, attempted to keep still. There wasn’t much time to think. Pria started to raise her hand. With her palm straight, she sweeped the air, and the wind came to an abrupt stop.

Momentary silence ensued, followed by one thud, then another. Olive looked over her shoulder. Both Katara and Ravenna laid flat in their backs, motionless.

Pria lowered her arm and walked forward slowly. And Olive walked backwards in response. She clasped her hands tightly with both anger and fear. How was she meant to fight? Not one person ever taught her. The power of light seemed useless here.

Once again, Pria raised her hand. The wind swirled around her and she thrust forward. Before Olive could blink, they stood side by side. Pria’s palm was right against her neck. “It’s nothing personal,” she muttered. “I am only doing what must be done.”

She released a thrust of built-up, wind shaped like a sharp blade against Olive’s neck. The blade hit her in an instant and burst into a mixture of wind and golden light that swirled in all directions.

Olive’s eyes blinked. She was alive.

Pria swiftly leaped backward on top of a boulder and put herself in a defensive stance. Her sharp eyes narrowed, and her hands trembled slightly. “You— you green haired witch! How are you still alive?”

That, she didn’t know herself. She just stood there awe-struck. So much unfolded so fast. She looked over her shoulder. Katara and Ravenna remained flat on the ground. Only their hairs moved, lifting up with Pria’s wind.

She looked forwards again. Wind burst around Pria. Lightining roared in the dark skies behind her. Pria moved her hands in a circular motion and directed the powerful gusts to flow around them.

Rocks and pebbles rolled along the currents. They clashed and crashed against each other. Olive’s feet felt lighter and lighter the more she lost her grip on the ground. Little by little, the emulated tornado lifted her up in the air.

Olive could not hold for long. The forces tossed her up in the vortex. The rocks, splinters and mountain debris violently rolled around the storm alongside her. They hit and slashed her skin. And all the while, the ground beneath her feet distanced with each laboured breath.

Before she even reached those overcast skies, her consiousness faded.

***​

Queen Melina exited her carriage. Clad in her dark steel armour, she admired the tornado up in the mountains of Cliffcross. “Priscillia has engaged Olive,” Kurai reported behind her.

“What wonderful magic.” Melina smiled warmly at the sight. “She works her element with such precision. I am almost sad by what is about to happen to her.”

Kurai bubbled. “Speak for yourself. She is nothing but a pawn in my game, just as you are.”

Melina laughed. “I love the way you think.”

“Let us make haste.” He crawled towards the mountain. “We must be there. Yuuna is with that green woman. You never know what tricks she may pull.”

“Yes.” The queen followed suit. “Yes, indeed.”

She squished the soul vial in her hand with pure excitement. At last, everything was to start. The end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end all at once.

***​

Delta stood in the conference room all by herself, hood down. Her old, wise face stood against a tall doorway etched with ancient symbols from an era long past. They twisted, intertwined and met at a single point in the center. She placed her palm there and the door lit up in a bright blue.

It hissed with steam and opened to reveal a long hallway built by old stone bricks, cracked and covered in moss. Light was on the other end. She followed it to the other end and broke through to the other side.

She stood on thin air. The sunless, moonless sky stretched to infinity in both directions. Just clouds drifted beside her. The mark in Delta’s forehead glowed blue, and a cyan fox appeared beside her.

“We have failed, Sally,” she said to Delta. “Olive will die. That is her fate.”

Delta showed no particular reaction. “I realized it myself.”

The endless sky whispered to them, and Sally sat down beside her good old friend, Kori—the spirit of wintertime. “The more this day passes, the more it conforns to the predictions Kurai made. The cogs of time have turned to his favour. We shall enter a new era of darkness.”

Sally’s gray hair gently swayed in the breeze. The clouds moved before her on a journey of infinity. Is their destination predetermined, or subject to change? She moved her palm and blew a frosty breeze, shifting one of the clouds.

Sally got back to her feet and turned around. Now she faced a jungle of tall purple-leafed trees with white trunks. Their countless vines reached down on the earth, dense with with bushes that eminated blue sparkles of light.

She walked towards a shallow cave. Kori followed her through its cavity, lit up with phosphorous white ore disperesed throughout. When they met its end, a body encased in a big crystal of amber stood there in stasis. Her eyes were closed, and so was her brown hair, stuck in the middle of a motion. And her expression? It portrayed pain. Discomfort.

Kori’s red eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking of, Sally? Why did you come here?”

There was no reply at first. She merely traced that woman’s eyes behind the smooth amber. “’And she who carries the light, she who plunders the world in its blight, shall be crushed one with the earth’,” Sally quoted the scroll of Kurai. “That’s the prediction.”

“And it will happen it seems. But what is your point?” Kori raised her voice. She looked at Sally straight in the eye. But her own eyes were still occupied with that of the woman in stasis.

She took her palm off the amber and clasped it tightly. “I refuse to give up this fight. Olive will die. There is no questioning that. But”—she brought her book of spells out and turned it to a specific page—“What if we… use this?”

The moment Kori read the full spell, she understood everything. “Can your heart handle this?” was the only thing she asked.

And Sally turned to the frozen woman once more. “I don’t know. But she would want this, I am sure.”

***​

Olive was completely unconsious. Pria had her in her firm grasp, floating up in those dark clouds. She released the tension from her hand. The tornado abruptly burst and faded to nothing.

She watched as the uncounsious body dropped from the sky. She fell, and fell, and fell, until she dropped right against the tip of the cliffside and burst into a pool of blood. Pria’s stomach pulsated with disgust. She collapsed to her knees and hurled.

For a minute, she just stayed there and stared at the gound. Stones and pebbles still rained. She questioned herself. But just as quickly as she did that, a vivid image of her mother struggling at the farm appeared.

Pria got up to her feet and went to the cliffside. She stared down at the young woman. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and she looked away. Then she raised her palm and gently blew air to push Olive down the cliff, which met the infinite sea.

Clapping sounded behind her. She turned around to find Queen Melina on top of a big boulder. She smirked and made encore. “Amazing!” she laughed. “You did it. Congratulations.”

The image of the frozen city flashed through her mind next. She bit her lips and put herself in a defensive stance. “You’re next.”

“Very brave, you’re!” Melina stomped her foot in the ground. A small earthquake pulsated before them. “But can you really defeat me?”

Pria reached for her pocket and retrieved the special stone. Once again, the image of her mother in the farm flashed in her mind. This time, she smiled against the backdrop of the sunset. She stood there, embracing a young version of herself.

Thousands like her mother existed. People who were worked to death, often for the benefit of the royals or other aristocrats. “If it’s to free this world of your tyrrany, I shall,” Pria declared. She raised the stone in her mouth and consumed it.

Nothing happened at first. It took a second, then two. A burning sensation appeared in the pit of her stomach then. Her muscles stiffened, and her legs locked up. Fear flooded her mind. A sense of pure, petrifying terror.

She raised her shaking hands. She started to hyperventilate. Every pore of her being was suddenly overflowing with power—power she swiftly realized she had no hopes of controlling. She collapsed to her feet. The corners of her vision started to darken.

The last thing Pria saw before she lost consiousness was the Queen. She smirked, as usual, on top of that boulder. And that shadow lay next to her, happily bubbling.

***​

Katara woke with a headache. Her temples pulsated with pain. Ravenna was next to her, still unconsious. Olive was nowhere to be found. Somewhere near, commotion ensued. She got to her knees and crawled up a rock to meet a flat surface.

There, a woman in steel armour stood on a boulder proud and tall. She recognized her immediately. She was the queen of her country. Her skin crawled.

But she wasn’t alone. That… black-haired woman from before was also there. She kneeled on the ground. Katara rubbed her eyes and squinted them. Her trembling body was pulsating with blue light as a shadow crawled over her.

Katara slowly backed away. She ran for Ravenna. “Hey, wake up!” she rapidly shook her shoulders. “There are all kinds of things happening!”

Ravenna’s eyes twitched and she woke. Though before another word could be exchanged between them, Alpha, Gamma and Delta appeared before them.

Gamma came forward. “We’re in crisis,” she announced swiftly. “The Queen has tricked someone into consuming one of the fragments.”

Katara was smart. Her mind quickly jumped to Pria. “What for, and why?” she could only ask.

“They will use her astronimically elevated power to destroy the sun,” Delta explained.

“When someone consumes the fragment, their mind is lost in a sea of power. They can no longer think clearly. They’ll use her confusion to trick her into it. Kurai in particular will. It’s his forte.”

“Okay.” Katara nodded. Olive told her of Kurai. “I understand. What am I to do?”

“A certain scientist knows all about these fragments. Bring him here. Until then”—she turned towards the battlefield along with the others— “we’ll do our best to distract Pria. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“Good. Go now!”

Delta, Gamma and Alpha went and surrounded Pria, who rose to her two steady feet. Her body was a blue shadow, and her eyes shaped like white black holes. She had no mouth, and her hair floated upwards. Space around her distorted, twisting and expanding as she breathed.

Katara and Ravenna exchanged glances. They turned and ran as fast as they could.