As Gallant's sister advances towards me, I shake of the initial shock and marshal my strength, preparing to mind blast her into letting me slip away. I quick scan of her body tells me that while she is spiritually strong, she has no connection with Fate. I grasp the thread of The Voice's transmission within her and broadcast my signal.

Ignore

Gallant's sister stumbles slightly as she digests my message and a confused look forms over her face for a second. But she quickly recovers and continues walking towards me. Its as if she never received my mental command at all. Grimacing, I crank up the power of my transmission and mind blast her again.

IGNORE

Absolutely no effect this time. Its as if Stalker never received my transmission. Damn. She must be really keen on meeting her brother to the point where she is outright ignoring my commands. Fine. Its not as if I don't have any other means of resolving this problem.

"Transmigrator," The Voice chimes in, worry evident in its tone, "Mr Gallant's sister, Siobahn Gallant, intends to take you back to Neo-Cardiff with her. You must not allow that to happen. Once there, you will be quickly determined to be insane and detained at a mental institution for the rest of your days. Do everything you can to escape this encounter."

Already working on it boss. No way this bullshit bad end is going to get the better of me. As Siobahn gets closer and closer towards me, I draw a bead on her neck and send power into my working left arm. A full powered blow to Siobahn's neck will end her, and this encounter pretty quickly.

Closer, closer. As I begin to ramp up power output from the core, a sudden blinding pain strikes me in my head and the buzzing noise rises to a crescendo. In panic I cut power from the core immediately and the pain fades away almost instantaneously. The buzzing also fades into the background. This is bad, Gallant does not want me to hurt his sister. That closes off plenty of options that I thought I had. Cold sweat begins to flow freely down my back.

Siobahn grabs me in a full embrace and follows up with a fond pat on the shoulder. Feeling the wetness on my clothes, she frowns and asks, "Daffyd, is something wrong?"

Crap. She senses something is wrong. "Uh, you're still crushing me with your magic." I protest.

Siobahn frowns, "And you're still a faggot if this level of force is causing you to complain." She nevertheless eases up and the invisible pressure on me disappears.

"Asshole." I mutter underneath my breath.

"What was that you said?" Siobahn shoots back and I quickly shake my head in a quick denial.

"I heard it, Daffyd." Siobahn continues and gives me a friendly cuff to the head, "You've really grown up during the past few months away from home. I always knew you had it in you."

Uh, thanks? But why are you grabbing my shoulder and steering me deeper into the park? Why isn't your muscle following you? Once Siobahn drags me back to where the benches are, she stops and stares silently at me.

"Alright." She says, "Talk. What kind of foolishness have you been roped into?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply.

Siobahn folds her arms glares at me critically, "Let me rephrase then. Why is my brother hiding out in Six Trees? Why is he a wanted criminal? All you had to do was stay at the bar until the time came for you to meet with the Archmage. What did you do to suddenly awaken your magic?"

I cannot fight Gallant's sister. That means I need to persuade Siobahn into letting me go. Fleeing from her is also unlikely to succeed. Her demonstration just now was probably meant to drive home the point that she could ground me the moment I decided to leg it. The Voice is completely silent, offering no advise. The buzzing in my head has stopped as well, for some reason, Gallant is also eager to hear how I handle this situation.

"I got a job." I answer Siobahn vaguely.

"To commit murder and terrorism?" She asks bitingly.

"Well, yeah." I respond with a weak gesture, "Its payment for the magic."

Siobahn rolls her eyes and says, "Uh huh. And the scars all over your body?"

"Part of the training. It wasn't easy you know." I say while licking my lips.

She merely nods again, looking at me closely.

"So yeah, I got to do this job for the boss." I continue, "Especially since he has already come through for me. And not after I have seen what I have seen. I can't go back to Neo-Cardiff just like that."

Siobahn narrows her eyes and glares at me again, "Daffyd are you alright? You're talking strange."

Shit. Gallant must have a different speech pattern compared to my natural style of speaking. And I have no way of mimicking Gallant, as I have never heard him speak before. I need to do something quickly, Siobahn is obviously getting suspicious.

"I don't know what's going with you Daffyd." Siobahn says, "You avoid me. You attack the Archmage's lab and my staff. And now you're telling me some story about your 'boss'. I think you need to come home Daffyd. I can get you out of The City without the police noticing and we can have a nice sit down with da. Wouldn't that be nice?"

The buzzing in my head begins to build in protest. It looks like Gallant and myself share the same opinion on one thing at least. Neither of us wants to leave The City.

"You know what I think Daffyd?" Siobahn continues, looking at me closely, "I think you're a mite touched in the head. It happens sometimes you know, when the spirit core suddenly releases its power all at once. The mage becomes a little confused. Like Uncle Tomas. Remember him? He spent an entire evening running about the garden shouting about alien pig rozzers."

"I'm not crazy!" I shout while backing away from Siobahn. Then immediately regret it since that sounds exactly like what a crazy person would say.

"Alien pig rozzers Daffyd." Siobahn repeats as she closes in on me again, "Those don't exist. You and I know that. But Uncle Tomas didn't. Until he took his medicine."

I jump behind the bench, keeping it between me and Siobahn. She waves her hands to calm me down and speaks, "You need to come home Daffyd. I heard stories from the police, speculating that you have secret connections with some big man or other, being part of some kind of conspiracy. But I know that's all baloney Daffyd. We grew up together. Tell me, who is this boss you're talking about? Describe him for me."

"I -" I quickly stop myself before I blurt out that The Voice is literally a voice on an untraceable line. But the damage is done. Siobahn sees my stuttering as proof that I am completely deluded.

"See, Daffyd? You need help, before you go into another fit and pull more people into whatever fantasy you want to live out." Siobahn pushes the bench aside while saying, "I can help you Daffyd. Just come home."

I hear a ringing tone coming from Siobahn's jacket, but she turns her phone off without bothering to look at it.

The Voice rasps, "I tried distracting her, but Fate has fixated Siobahn Gallant's attention wholly on you. Hurry, the bad end is closing in."

But what can I do? I want to scream in frustration. I cannot fight. I cannot flee. I am literally being railroaded to my doom. There must be a way out of this though. If there wasn't, The Voice would have just pronounced that I was screwed. I just need to find the escape path. But how?

I rack my brain. During my time hiding in Gallant's soul at the crossroads, I was privy to some of his thoughts and history. Gallant was regarded as a failure by his family and sent to The City in disgrace. A disgrace, his father wanted to disown him unless he proved himself right? I need to make a gamble here. I don't have all the facts, but I need to make my move now before Siobahn seizes me.

"I cannot go back. You also can't make me go back." I declare.

"And why is that Daffyd?" Siobahn pauses, surprised at my sudden coherence.

"Because da disowned me. I cannot go back until I master Finger of the Mountain right?" I follow up.

Siobahn laughs, "Don't be silly. You wrecked my bodyguard with Finger of the Mountain. You passed with full marks. Its time to go home."

Now, to throw the dice. "But I didn't learn it from da." I rebut, "I accepted another master while I was in The City. He taught me how to use Finger of the Mountain."

"Nonsense." Siobahn snorts.

"I can prove it. The boss taught me what da could not." I press on, "That's why I cannot leave with you. My place is with the boss."

Siobahn folds her arms and looks at me critically, "You do know the actual meaning of what you're saying right? If you accepted another master without da's permission..." She trails off dangerously.

Jackpot. This is my means of escaping Fate's trap. Gallant's family can't just accept him back if he has already apprenticed under a different mage without their permission. Its like a sect member suddenly upping and joining a rival organization.

"Cast Finger of the Mountain on me." I tell Siobahn and raise the core's output in readiness.

"Daffyd, this is stupid. Stop being stupid." Siobahn snaps, but I impatiently gesture at her to get on with it. No objections from Gallant himself either. He must really not want to go home.

Siobahn sighs in resignation and flicks her index finger at me. I feel a sudden rush of force slam against me but the core easily repulses the attack and Siobahn is sent staggering backwards from the backlash.

"So its true." Siobahn murmurs, while rubbing her sore arm, "Didn't sense any of our family magic in you during that exchange. You really did train under someone else."

"So that's that." I quip, "I cannot go back with you. Until I settle my debt with the boss. Da did not raise an ingrate, right?"

"Aye." Siobahn concedes and I begin walking away from her with a sigh of relief.

"But." Siobahn suddenly raises her voice and her core begins to surge menacingly, "Da would also not let his son continue disgracing himself and the family name as a common criminal."

I turn back and see Siobahn settle into a fighting stance, her core output rising to combat levels. Oh come on! Didn't I just talk my way out of being abducted?

"I am your sister Daffyd." Siobahn announces, "And as the elder sibling, I am going to teach you the error of your ways. After that, you can come home with me to beg for da's forgiveness."