Case 1: The Heron we all need

To reach the index of the series, click here: Fairy Tail: Black Glass Previous Chapter: Case 1: A Dovely meeting

The author would like to apologize for the length of this chapter.

The Green Heron
“I just wanted to tell you” Carol Heron stood over her. She licked her lips and when she spoke her voice shook “I am such a big fan.”

“Oh.” Araseph said, slightly confused “Thank you.”

Araseph sat on her hospital bed in her white gown. She had been in the middle of taking a break from the case, eating a pancake, when a doctor told her that her bandages needed to be changed. Some emergency had occurred, no doubt related to the explosions several hours ago, and so the doctor had instead left Araseph with her assistant; a girl in her teens, dressed in a white lab coat, a black shirt that seemed to shine and vividly long, green hair tied up in a ponytail.

“I know all about your life- from the biographies of course. I’m not that crazy, you probably get loads of crazy fans, right? But I’m not that crazy. I’ve read all about you.” Carol beamed. Araseph looked back uncomfortably. She had biographies? “Fabula Nova: Magic Hunter” and “The Survivor” are my all-time favorites. After “Black Glass” of course. The way Giorgio Hansen writes about your time in Fabula Nova as this amazing, magic-less dark mage really inspired me to get out there and do things with my life you know?”

“Uh…”

“So, on my 16th birthday my mum let me join QuadDracoras and now I’m Dr. Valentine's medical assistant! Isn’t that amazing?” Carol started taking Araseph’s bandages off, blushing and sporting an even bigger smile every time she made eye contact with her hero “I’m almost the same age as you when you were in the war did you know? I mean, our birthdays are a bit different; you’re April and I’m July- you’re a couple months older than me but we’re basically about the same, right? Oh, my god, we even look similar too! People would probably think we’re sisters if they didn’t know us. You reckon we could go out on a mission together one day? Somewhere outside of Seven, people would probably think we’re sisters. I heard all about you while I was growing up, how even though you just got out of prison you helped save Pilse Navarina in the Sunset Theatre. And then there’s all those stories about how you went out and fought the bad guys even though you used to be a bad guy yourself.” Araseph raised an eyebrow “It was just so cool and...OK this is going to sound kind of corny but, you’re the reason why I started learning Take-Over magic.”

“Well” Araseph gave an uneasy laugh “Haha that’s...what I do. Gotta do my part in helping out the future of this country you know?” If Carol’s smile grew any bigger Araseph had no doubt her head would split open.

“That’s enough Carol” Nora walked into the room, eyes calmly surveying the scene and her lips parted to a small smile. Her hair, like black silk, was tied up in a manner that kept it out of her face. However, unlike her usual appearance, Nora had soot and speckles of blood on her cheeks

Once Carol had sulked out of the room, leaving them alone Araseph said “Your assistant is weird.”

“That she is. She came to my door-step saying she would be my early birthday present. I see her as more of an irritable rash. Enough of that, how’s my favorite dark-mage doing?”

Araseph smiled “I’m sure that’s what you say to all the dark-mages.” Nora laughed. “I’ve been thinking about stuff and I just wanted to say thanks. For saving my life I mean.”

“Oh nonsense. It’s my job…well part of it at least. And now your Arch-Sage owes me a favor so I’ll call it more than fair. Speaking of the devil.”

Soren walked in, looking slightly frustrated and similarly had blood lightly speckled on his clothes. Araseph raised an eyebrow “You’re looking a little worse for wear.”

He nodded. Araseph expected him to say something back.

But he didn’t.

He turned to Nora and said “Get Conway. Like it or not, he’s in this and we’re going to need all the information we can get to catch this guy. I’d also appreciate it if you agreed to help me out with this case.”

Nora kept her mouth shut and simply nodded. She didn’t want to let slip she knew of Soren’s secret just yet.

“Conway?” Araseph questioned “Why’s someone like him involved?”

Nora sat on her bed “Several events happened while you were resting up dear. We’ll explain it when that rogue gets in here but the first thing you should know is that Solar Lagoon was bombed just today. Soren and I went off to try and save as many as we could but the fact is, whoever your culprit is managed to hit Port Tara and Solar Lagoon in a matter of days and they’re still out there.” *** 	After several tries, Conway woke up and had promptly asked why his hand was broken. It took 20 minutes of solemn explanation from all ends for everybody to be caught up to date and briefed on the current situation.

“So” Nora said “A Lacrima smuggler by the name of Nevron Figurate found and hired Conway almost a year ago. Since then he’s been going about Seven spying on specific individuals that were connected to the war. Just a few days ago, this Nevron person went and got Lucian to wipe out Port Tara, and just today he tried to get you to take out Solar Lagoon. Anything else I missed?”

“Not really” Conway said. His hand was wrapped up and he stared at the ceiling as he spoke “Don’t know much about his magic. All I know is it’s something like a Take-Over but for humans- he just needs to touch you once, skin to skin, to take over your body and that’s it. He usually beats the crap out the person he’s taking over so by the time he’s done with his job they’re still unconscious.”

“A smuggler…” Soren murmured.

“I’m guessing from what Soren’s told me in the interrogation, and the thing with Lucian, Nevron can choose to swap back to his original body whenever he’d like to. So there’s that. He’s also ridiculously strong, we fought when he tried to take over me and he straight up took all my spells head on without any damage.”

“But he couldn’t use your Fire-Make magic?” Araseph asked.

“Fire-Make needs a specific hand gesture before it can be cast” Conway explained “Doesn’t matter how much magic you use, if there’s no hand gesture you can’t use any spells. Similar thing with Lucian’s magic, Nevron didn’t know how to cast the stronger spells so not many people died in Tara.”

Araseph frowned “500 people were murdered.”

“Compared to 700 000, I’d say just 500 dead sounds good to me.”

“You said Nevron tried to take over you” Soren pressed before Araseph could retort “Why? He hired you for a year why would he turn on you?”

“That…well I don’t know why she was like that but we found Florence in a human auction sale.” Nora visibly stiffened “We bought her and after talking to her to figure out what happened, I tried breaking her out. She got out, I kind of got caught red handed if you will and my boss wasn’t happy about that. He didn’t seem too annoyed though, so long as they were from Moon Drop anybody would do the trick.”

“Florence? She’s in Seven?” Nora asked.

“You didn’t know? She said she sent your guild a letter asking for help a while ago.”

Soren cut in again. Araseph noted he seemed hungrier for answers than usual. “We can talk about pleasantries a bit later. Right now there’s a mass murderer out there who wants to gather all the former leaders of Fabula Nova. You said as long as they were from Moon Drop it was fine?”

Conway nodded and Soren leaned his back against a desk, trying to figure it all out.

“What if it’s to do with the four factions?” Araseph said “Seven has four corners, and during the war there were four major powerhouses weren’t there?” She began listing them off her fingers “'''Fabula Nova. QuadDracoras. Moon Drop'''. And the Magic Council. What if that’s what he’s after then? He’s already got Lucian so that’s QuadDracoras. He then got Conway so that’s Moon Drop down.”

“So you think it’s a symbolic attack as opposed to a specific ritual?” Nora asked.

She nodded “That just leaves the Magic Council and Fabula Nova left. But since he made it pretty clear he’s looking to grab Fabula Nova for himself…”

“He’ll be after somebody from the Magic Council.” Conway finished.

“Not just anybody…” Soren said “This guy’s making sure a lot of people get hurt. And I’m guessing he wants people to know who was behind it by making it as flashy as possible. I wouldn’t rule out Moon Drop just yet since we arrested Conway before he could do anything, but the Magic Council…there really aren’t that many people who can cause mass destruction.”

“There’s you.” Conway said. The room fell silent when Soren nodded. Several seconds passed and Araseph piped up “Alright. So he’s looking for people from each faction to kill as many people as possible at the corners of Seven. Why?”

“In the interrogation, he said the attacks were at each corner to call for attention, a kind of blood sacrifice.” Soren said.

“No single seal is as big as a country. Maybe he was just delusional?” Nora said “It’s not every day we get people calling themselves the messiah for a bunch of dark-mages.”

“Nora might be onto something.” Araseph said. “We found Blue Whistle on…actually. Conway did you ever see flowers around Nevron? It’s a really light blue…uh guess it looks like a cross” Conway searched his pockets and found the flower in his belt. “Alright perfect. So we know Nevron carries around Blue Whistle on the people he takes over for some reason. Maybe he takes the hallucinogen regularly?”

“Oh this plant? God no.” Conway said “Nevron only carried one of them on him at any time. I mean, he almost always had this flower on him but it definitely wasn’t for its properties.”

Araseph’s face fell “He didn’t mass produce these? No garden?”

“Sorry. But none of that.”

Soren asked “Conway, do you know if Nevron ever had any kind of base? Somewhere we could hit him first before he attacks again.”

“I lived at a mansion while I was hired but never really got to see the main place. Hell, even if I did see it I wouldn’t know where it was on a map.”

Nora frowned. “What? How’d you get to the place then? Did someone always blind fold you or something?”

“Naw Nevron used these special things, called them “Warp Gates”. They were basically these items about the size of a book that were stuck to the ground. They grew bigger and glowed blue, and you stepped on them to teleport to another open Warp Gate somewhere in Seven. Did it to keep things about his plans a secret. Sometimes they were metal plates, sometimes they were seals on the ground. Apparently they’re really popular in the underground markets.”

“Warp Gates…” Soren said “They were used a lot during the war. That is weird though, nowadays there are so many more efficient ways to travel. I personally don’t like them too much, they take too much eternano to fuel those gates. After a couple of uses the whole block of area could take days to recover completely.”

Conway shrugged. “Well if you ever want to check out where I lived though, I can show you on the map where the Warp Gates I used are.” With a gesture Araseph pulled out her map from her bag and handed it over to Conway who spent time searching for the approximate location.

“At least that answers how Nevron was able to move from one side of the country to the other so quickly” Nora said. “So, what’s our next move? I need to stay here and help the civilians that were attacked when they wake up. Conway’s almost good to go apart from his hand…Araseph dear, how are you?”

“I’m almost ready.” Araseph said. She quickly smiled “All thanks to you.”

Nora smiled back and peered at the map Conway was scribbling on. She raised an eyebrow at the markings and looked at Soren “The Magic Council is in the middle of it all.”

Conway spread the map on the bed for everyone to see. There were six markings on the map, forming a hexagon with the Magic Council in the dead center. Soren went very still as he watched the map. With a slow, steady voice he asked Conway “Did Nevron ever mention anything about mountains? Or did you ever see a mountain near your mansion?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“Mountains? What’s wrong Soren?” Araseph asked. The Arch-Sage continued staring at the map and after several seconds clapped his hands. “Alright, without saying too much about the secret stuff only I know about since I’m special”

Conway and Nora rolled their eyes at the same time. Araseph saw them and grinned at Nora.

“Here’s our best course of action. Since Nevron’s looking to hit the corners of Seven, and he’s gone to the West and then the East, he’s probably looking to hit the North now since there’s nothing in the South. Which means he’s going for Anthems Cradle, right here.” He made a mark on the map. “If he was to go for the South, realistically his only option would be Midnight College, that’s the main place Seven gets its goods from Fiore and Bosco.” Soren marked the map again. “We know roughly where Nevron is going to attack so that’s what we’ll work with. I need to head over to the Magic Council to report this, and talk to them about my super-secret stuff. Conway, as soon as you’re ready I want you to move to Anthems Cradle and look out for anybody that could attack the town. Nora you’re obviously here to do your job. And Araseph.”

“Yes?” She said hopefully.

“You’re staying here until I get back from the Council. When I’m done, I’ll grab you and we’ll head over to Conway together as back-up.”

“Oh.” She said disappointingly.

Soren pat her on the head and walked out the room. Conway grinned and ruffled her hair. When she glowered at him he barked a laugh and walked off. Nora simply shrugged and said “Must be tough being with the Arch-Sage.” And walked off to make some tea. Alone in the room, almost in perfect condition Araseph pouted and flopped back onto the bed. She could definitely do more right now, if only Soren let her.

The First
''That night Araseph woke up with a gasp, her heart pounding and fear filling her mind. She breathed heavily and looked around the room; hand over her heart. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she patted her chest, where just moments ago, she had seen an enormous blade with a golden hilt pierce through her.''

She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, shakily breathing in, trying to get her mind to gently sink back into the darkness but instead vivid sensations flashed behind her eyes. A feeling of hope. A sense of raw, uncultured hatred.

Walking down a warm, black hallway bloody and bruised, her footsteps echoing in the deafening silence.

And her finger pointing at a man, in the middle of a battlefield and watching him collapse and promptly die.

''She frowned at the images…dread washing over her for they were so clear and easy to remember. In her brain, they shined brighter than any star she had ever seen. Were these from the war? She wondered how she would deal with gaining back the memories of two years of murder and destruction. It would probably suck. Or maybe they were a premonition? She hesitantly touched the lacrima in her chest, feeling the cold crystal humming in tune with her heart. The Council had told her the lacrima was something they had never seen before…maybe it had the power to tell the future she hopefully told herself.'' ''She flipped the pillow over to the cool side and curled up on her side, trying to put it all past her. Several minutes passed, and when the loving embrace of sleep finally reached out to take her, it took those memories and hid them further away in the recesses of her mind. And just before she fell asleep, she briefly wondered whether it was better for those images to be her past or her future. ''

Some call me Sherlock Holmes
Araseph sighed when she woke up. Behind the curtains, she could see the sun and smiled at the new day. She turned over in her bed and saw a tray of food neatly laid out next her. Someone had come in and seen her sleeping. Oh…how embarrassing. There was a folded piece of paper next to the bread which read several words of admiration for Araseph. It was probably from Carol. Wiping a bit of drool from her face and rubbing her eyes, she took a bite of the toast without putting on any butter. She frowned while chewing the bread…she remembered waking up in the middle of the night, but had no memory of why or if anything even happened. Staring at the wall she thought about recent events:


 * Conway would almost be at Anthems Cradle if he was using the Council’s transport.
 * Soren was likely finishing his talk with the Majestic Six by now.
 * Nora was still operating on the people injured in Solar Lagoon. 

Lazily chewing and staring at the sun, she turned her attention to the map Conway had drawn on-she might as well try and go over the case again if she had nothing else to do. Taking a sip of what tasted like coffee she glanced at the six dots around the Magic Council. Grabbing a marker, she connected the dots, making a hexagon around the Council. Soren had taught her about the Warp Gates, how they used a large amount of eternano in the area to power up. Lining the map against the tray, she used the edge as a ruler and marked the circumferences of each Warp gate. The areas that were affected by the gate were now circles on the map.

''Raising an eyebrow, she noted how all the circles intersected each other at the Magic Council. Well that was interesting.'' Her eyes caught Port Tara on the West end, and she imagined herself in her Take Over dashing to the town north of the port to that village. That had been a dead end…as Conway said, Blue Whistle was carried around for some sentimental value, not for its effects. She clicked her tongue in annoyance-how frustrating.

She thought about how Lucian’s clothes were all burnt up when she found him. Alongside the Magus Mortis…it was probably all linked to Nevron’s weird magic. It was a bit strange that Lucian was already dead when Nevron attacked but…maybe that was the only way Nevron could’ve controlled him. Was it something like he could only control those that were weaker than him? Requip…Left Hand…they didn’t really matter too much. Araseph guessed to herself she could use those to identify Nevron but in general it really didn’t help her out.

So the things that were left were the attacks at the corners of Seven and the Blue Whistle plant. Tapping the marker against her head she wondered what they were about. Soren had said Nevron saw himself as some kind of messiah, and how he had brought up religion out of nowhere. But as Nora said, it was a bit strange he would randomly start talking about religion…actually, if he brought it up but didn’t really expand on it, what if it was just some awful, hastily put together distraction?

“What kind of messiah would that be anyway?” Araseph thought to herself. Fabula Nova had seven leaders…one had been killed by Soren on the first day and then had been replaced by some mass murderer within a week. Another one, a powerful swordsman, left during the war in search of a stronger opponent. Two more died during the final confrontation and the mass murderer disappeared a couple days before the last fight.

Araseph counted off her fingers the leaders that were left: Nowie, Seifer, Saxon…did Leengard count? Some goal that is, trying to revive Fabula Nova when there were less than half of the leaders still left alive. Turning her attention to the Blue Whistle she looked at the flower, an absolutely beautiful shade of blue that reminded her of pure lacrima crystals…not like the white crystal in her chest. It had a red stigma and four blue petals that branched off like a cross. Twirling the flower, she tossed it onto the map and sighed.

Well this sucked.

Sipping the coffee a little longer she felt the caffeine, waking her up a little more. Rubbing her eyes, she cringed as bread crumbs got into her eyes. She gently wiped them out and when they got on the map she tried to wipe them off again. Her hand drifted from the hexagon to the mountain ranges, and very briefly Soren’s words from yesterday flitted through her mind

“Did you ever see a mountain…”

Araseph had raised an eyebrow…it was so strange seeing Soren get so serious so quickly. Her hand moved to wipe off the crumbs but there was one stuck to the fabric of the map, just over the mountain range of Seven.

And her stomach lurched.

Her eyes slowly glanced at the flower, the cross shape of the flower lying next to her hand, then back at the crumb. Moving slowly, as if moving too fast would break the idea she was reaching for into a billion pieces, she picked the crumb off and slowly drew with the marker where the crumb had been.

Her mouth ran dry.

Her eyes moved over to the Blue Whistle again, a cross shaped plant that had been carried around just for its sentimental value. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, a simultaneous feeling of hope and fear blanketing her heart. Plucking the flower from the stem she laid it on the map and gulped.

Moving the flower aside she got her tray and used it as a ruler, lining it up, she ruled from Anthems Cradle to Midnight College. North to South. Nevron’s taunt rang through her mind.

“See me dance again at the other corner”

She turned the tray and ruled another line; Port Tara to Solar Lagoon. West to East.

“A blood sacrifice at all four corners of the country, this is how the members of Fabula Nova will find redemption”

And at the dead centre of the map, where the lines cut each other was the exact point of the marking Araseph made just a few seconds ago. Fear washed over and dragged her underneath like a tidal wave. Her heart pounded and her breath went shallow when she understood the extent of Nevron’s plan.

In the mountain valley south-west of Seven, hidden from the affairs of the country and buried from sight was a weapon the Council had prepared during the war, something Soren had taught to her as a top-secret piece of information. A weapon that took inspiration from its parent the Etherion in Fiore. An ultimate, all-purpose weapon that had been designed to end the war in a single, fatal stroke. Built with materials from another dimension {owered by the strongest lacrima in Seven Strong enough to tear through the Earth’s mantle.

A doomsday device.

The Revelations Ray.

Was this just a coincidence though? Of course, it was odd the lines lined up perfectly for the Ray however, as far as she knew the towns themselves held no relation to the weapon. Maybe she should go ask Soren…

Someone knocked on the door and Araseph gave a small shriek “Oh My God!”

Spilling coffee all over herself and the map, she looked up to see an equally startled Carol standing at the door, rolls of bandages having fallen from her hands to the floor.

“Oh my god…I’m so sorry Carol, you just surprised me that’s all.”

“No no no it’s alright Araseph. Oh geez you’ve got coffee everywhere…let me help you clean up.”

Carol stepped over the bandages, moving towards Araseph. But instead of reaching over to help Araseph change her clothes, she reached for the drenched map. She frowned as Carol tried to wipe the coffee off of it and cleared her throat to grab her attention. The ink of the marker had blotted and spread all over the fabric, turning the left side of the map into an unrecognizable mess. Carol quickly looked over and gave an embarrassed smile “Sorry, I thought you could change out of it on your own. Do you want me to hang this map or..?”

Araseph plastered on a smile “It’s fine, I couldn’t really figure anything out from the map anyway” “Aww that’s a real shame. Would you like a white gown or pink gown?” “Any colour’s fine.”

Carol nodded and walked out to get a gown. Before she completely left the room though, she quickly turned around and stuck her head into the room “Umm…this is going to sound super creepy but…can I keep your gown? The one you’re wearing right now.” She turned a deep red, contrasting heavily with her green hair “It’s just that you spilled coffee on it and all so it’s hard to wash out and-“

“Go nuts.” Araseph warmly smiled. When Carol squealed with delight and ran off to find a spare gown, she looked at the soaking wet map. Grimacing at all her hard work going to waste, she folded it up and tore it into pieces, relishing the glorious feeling of ripping the thick, wet material apart. Squashing the fabric into a wet ball of cloth and coffee, she told herself this was for the best. She would keep this all a secret until Soren got back.

Back in the Council
Soren missed being a general, during the war he had given out orders and taken orders from his superiors. And that was all he had to do really. Now that he was an Arch-Sage, if there weren’t any urgent missions only he could do, Soren was stuck in his office going through mountains of paperwork. And the worst part was that there were no superiors this time; if he had to talk to someone it was to the Majestic Six.

“This is a very serious accusation you’re making Arch-Sage.” Valmer Adelt said. Perched in his throne in the middle of the group, he adjusted his white coat and spoke again “The Revelations Ray was a last resort weapon made during the war. I highly doubt anyone outside of the Council even know it exists.”

“Are you sure it’s not just a coincidence?” Elincia Crimea suggested.

“I wouldn’t chalk up the possibility of the Revelations Ray being activated as a coincidence.”

“Yet” Valmer said “it hasn’t been activated yet.”

“What happens when it is activated? We need to act now.”

“Not necessarily.” Ladon, the Council’s scientist spoke “Please do have some faith in the Council Arch-Sage. A weapon of that scale, quite literally a continental doomsday device, there’s no way we would leave it lying around while still activatable.”

Soren frowned “What?” “A key. The Revelations Ray, although it can charge up, can’t be fired without the key.” “And this key…what is it? I don’t think I’ve seen any mention of a key inside the vault.” “It’s not a physical key per-say Arch-Sage. Do you know of the soul-surge?” “A folklore tale”

“A proven, scientific fact, as real as the magic around us. A stream of life and death flowing with us, yet not with us. Separated by the walls of reality, only opening when a person dies. A beautiful thing is it not? To activate the Ray, one would have to physically break down those walls and grab a powerful, willing soul to offer their living substance to fire the Ray.” At Soren’s puzzled expression Ladon explained simply “In the concept of the afterlife, one would have to reach into the domain of the dead, grab a willing soul, pull them to this reality and use them to fire the Ray. For that soul, there would be no afterlife, no chance of reincarnation-they would just become nothing, and to be willing they would need to be aware of that. That is the key to the Revelations Ray. Even if one were to know of the key though, there’s still another layer to the Ray’s security. Four seals, that when linked together cover the entire country. One at-"

“Let me guess” Soren said with dread “They’re at the four corners of Seven? Are they also some kind of blood seal?”

Ladon frowned “Well…yes. How did you know? They’re built on the lives of the people who live in the area so if-“

“If hundreds of people died almost instantly in the area, the seal would be broken?”

“That’s…that’s quite right.”

Rubbing his forehead in exhaustion Soren looked up at the six people before him “I don’t know how or why you haven’t received any word of this so I’ll explain what’s been going on the past few days. Near a week ago, I was personally tasked by Valmer with the mission of investigating a massacre in Port Tara, one directly caused by former guildmaster Lucian Crimea. Since then, Solar Lagoon has been attacked and an underground lacrima smuggler by the title Nevron Figurate has been suggested to be behind these attacks. During an interrogation in which he still managed to escape, Nevron revealed he was interested in associating himself with the remaining leaders of Fabula Nova.”

The previously stern faces of the Majestic Six slackened at the mention of Fabula Nova.

“I have strong reason to believe, Nevron is not only after the leaders of Fabula Nova for his own gain, but is also looking to use the Revelations Ray for his own purposes. I don’t know why. Two of Four seals have already been broken in a matter of days. Conway Blackwood is currently heading to Anthems Cradle, and I’ve sent a letter or warning to the Midnight College. Ladon here just mentioned the existence of the key. I don’t know why, and would like to know in the future how he knows this but I’d go so far as to say Nevron wishes to use the Revelations Ray to break out the leaders of Fabula Nova.”

The room went quiet as the information began to sink in.

“My god…” Roy Dissinria, another member of the Majestic Six, muttered “A normal soul would be enough to decimate a city. If somebody from Fabula Nova were to power it…”

“We’re looking at the entire landscape being torn into pieces. New maps would need to be made if this all happened.” Ladon uttered.

Valmer Adelt solemnly stared at Soren “Are you confident this Nevron person is going to activate the Revelations Ray?” “I’m not one to task risks.” “Very well. Arch-Sage, it pains my heart to even think about sending you on a task you specifically asked for but desperate times call for desperate measures. By the order of the Majestic Six, I order you, Arch-Sage Evans, to abandon the investigation of Lucian Crimea and to take on the task of protecting Seven. Take anyone you want with you. You are to identify and neutralize Nevron Figurate, whilst simultaneously, permanently, disable the Revelations Ray. Failure to do so will be considered an act of treason and will be punishable by death. Is that understood?”

Soren saluted. “Yes sir.”

A breath of fresh air
An hour after Araseph had gotten a trace of Nevron’s plan, she had waited patiently for Soren to come back. She ate her food, read her books and even allowed Carol to fawn over her a little bit.

Two hours after Araseph had gotten a trace of Nevron’s plan, she impatiently walked back and forth across her room, biting her nails at the lack of news from Conway or Soren. A voice inside her head spoke with her ''“What if Anthems Cradle is already gone? What if Soren is still waiting in line to speak to the Council?”''

And by the third hour she had called Liza on her calling card to drop by the hospital for a bit. Liza ‘popped’ out of thin air and hugged Araseph, but when she heard her request instantly refused.

“No. Not happening.” “What? You don’t even know why I want to go there though. All I said was “Liza can you help me out.” Why would you say no?” “Because I know it’s going to be something dangerous.” “What if I said I wanted to peel some oranges with you?” “Were you going to peel oranges with me?” “Well. No. but-" “And thus the reason why I said no.” “Alright. But if I did, hypothetically, say I wanted to peel oranges with you..?” “I still would’ve said no.” “What? Do you hate me?” “Knowing you, while I’m in the middle of saying yes you would’ve quickly said "bythewaycanyoualsohelpmekilltheKingofSeven”. I know you Araseph…don’t think you can fool me.”

When Araseph only blushed and said nothing more Liza laughed. She pulled up a chair and, while eating some grapes Nora had left as a gift, she asked “So, what is it this time?”

“I need to go somewhere.” “Is it in Seven?”

Araseph nodded.

“Is it important?” “I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t.” Thoughtfully chewing on the grape Liza leaned back on the chair. “I’m not comfortable with you going somewhere when you haven’t been given the all clear. What if you faint in the middle of a fight?” “What if I bring some doctor along with me then?” Liza raised an eyebrow “You can try if you want. Soren’s told the whole Council about Solar Lagoon, I’d be surprised if there are any doctors here who aren’t busy with keeping people alive right now.” “What about a medical assistant?”

Liza sighed. *** Tears brimmed her eyes and Carol almost wept with joy. Araseph had just asked her to go on a mission with her. To the mountain range no less. She filled her backpack with lozenges, pills, tablets, bandages, countless ointments and several packs of chalk. They would come in handy for drawing seals later.

She squashed them all into her white bag and proudly walked into the room. Araseph was dressed in her usual outfit; black leggings with gold bands, a black skirt, grey vest and a thick band of metal around her neck that served as a radio. Carol watched as Araseph reached into her backpack, and after what seemed like several minutes pulled out three plates of metal, too large to have fit into the bag, and stuck them to her back. Checking her radio and adjusting her vest, Carol’s hero nodded and signaled to Liza who smiled back.

A wave, a surge of resentment passed over and for a moment drowned her heart. What was this…was she jealous? Of course, Araseph had friends…but she wished she was one of them.

“Carol was it? Grab my hand, Araseph over here wants to get going.” Liza said.

Putting on a fake smile Carol walked over and grabbed her hand, with a tinge of envy noticing how delicate Liza’s hands were. Everything about her seemed perfect, even her clothes were so pretty…

Araseph smirked “God you make me sound so impatient…you know Carol is my biggest fan, you should be nice to me today.”

“Are you sure it isn’t the fact she’s your only fan?”

Moving to form a triangle Carol joined hands with Liza and Araseph, squeezing Araseph’s hand and sending a shy smile her way; one that Araseph didn’t see.

Electricity flowed from Liza’s hand to Carol’s and in an instant, they were in the luscious mountain ranges of Seven. Whipping her hand away, Carol stumbled and ran behind a tree, throwing up. She heard the two laughing at Carol’s reaction and felt Araseph patting her back

“It’s a bit hard to get used to teleportation magic, don’t worry this is normal.”

The group teleported another three times, Araseph pointing on the map to where she wanted to go. Carol had no doubt Liza was purposely setting them off trail, probably hoping to see her throw up again.

They walked up the grassy plains, Araseph slowing down so Carol could consistently keep up. She readjusted her heavy backpack, and tied her green hair out of her face, mumbling an apology when Liza helped her over a hill.

“Stop. I think we’re here.” Araseph told the group. Carol laid down on the grass, catching her breath. Liza looked around with an amused expression “Were you looking for a picnic spot?” “No, some kind of secret base. Look” Araseph pointed at the bottom of the next hill “See how the grass there is greener than the rest of the hill? There’s some sharp angle where the hill seems to randomly change colour. And it’s not moving either, I think this patch of grass is an illusion.”

Liza walked to the patch, waving her arms around her “I’m not feeling anything out of the ordinary. I mean yeah the grass looks different but that’s about it, isn’t it?”

Carol rolled over and spitting on the grass, for a moment looked at her spit land on the green organism and walked over to the bottom of the hill. Inspecting the area for a moment, she shouted out “Hey! I think I see some kind of seal over here!”

The group joined her and hidden by the long grass, was a softly glowing, light green seal that had been carved into the dirt. Carol moved to press the seal but Araseph and Liza exclaimed in surprise “Wait! It could be a trap, we’re not entirely sure.” “Couldn’t Liza just teleport us out if it’s a trap?” “Some traps are set so they prevent magic being cast. Others punish the ones that activate them.” “We’ll be fine, just trust me on this one.” And before they could stop her again, Carol traced her finger around the seal, causing it to change colour and shine brightly. The hill began to rumble and a section of the hill opened, revealing a vast corridor of black stone leading downwards. Araseph frowned as a sense of déjà-vu washed over her.

“We should head down” Carol suggested. Without another word she led the way, and Araseph and Liza followed her down. Torches flared as they passed. The corridor went on for thirty minutes and then opened up to an empty room, a large round room with a plain stone slab in the middle, large enough to hold maybe five people.

Spreading out, both Araseph and Liza inspected each wall and every detail they could find while Carol seemed to wander over to the stone slab, looking at it curiously. While Araseph leaned over to peer at a patch of the wall that wasn’t black, she heard someone scribbling. She looked over to see Carol with a stick of chalk, carefully tracing over a pattern evidently only she could see. When the pattern was finished, the whole room illuminated with a soft blue light.

“Cool.” Carol commented.

“What the hell did you do?” Liza asked.

When Carol looked back fearfully, Liza apologized and asked again.

“I-I just saw a pattern on the stone and thought it looked like a seal so I just traced over it…sorry…”

“Carol” Araseph said dismayed “You can’t just do that. What if that seal was also something dangerous?”

“But it’s not! Dr. Valentine showed me this seal when she had to go to other countries! This seal is a temporary Warp Gate, we can take this to the bad guy’s mansion!”

Liza looked over to Araseph and when she just shrugged, the two of them joined Carol on the altar. As the soft light started to grow sharper, Liza frowned “wait, I thought we were looking for a base, not a mansion?”

Araseph opened her mouth but no words came out. That’s right, when Liza had asked she only said “base” and nothing about Nevron’s Mansion…

The Warp Gate took them to another floor, and as soon as Carol jumped outside the seal the bright blue light solidified, arced like electricity and struck them both. Liza fell to the ground, writhing and screaming as lightning surged through her veins and Araseph fell to the ground, clutching her body feeling her muscles spasm every few seconds.

Squatting to the floor Carol stared straight into Araseph’s eyes and with the loving smile she had used to fawn over her, asked gently “Are you ready to seek redemption now?”


 * Chapter 10: TBD