After Luna had fallen asleep, she was embraced by the oddly pleasant darkness of unconsciousness. It was comforting and welcoming.

Unlike most people, Luna rarely felt the need to sleep. From what she’d studied about elves, it was said that they never slept. Though she was an elf, she’d only been able to get away with not sleeping for over a week. She’d never pushed further than that, but supposed she could go further if she really wanted to.

The effects of rest on her were less significant than they were to others. It was something odd that she could never quite understand. But this time, she felt as though her rest was energizing her. Which was odd considering she was asleep. Yes, she was sleeping right now.

Hold on. She was asleep, yet she could feel her body and think. In what kind of dream was that possible? Luna felt her body abruptly shift into a standing position. The air unexpectedly became soft and warm against her skin. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

She was currently standing in an unfamiliar place on what appeared to be a watery substance that reflected everything. The surface was completely flat as far as the eye could see, and it did not to ripple when she tapped the tip of her toe on it, though droplets did splash upward. The sky above was a clear blue from horizon to horizon. The soft sound of a piano rang out all around her. It was playing a repetitive rhythm that the elf felt like she would never tire of hearing.

Curious, Luna took a step forward, the splash of each footstep indicating her footfalls. It felt like she was simultaneously moving and remaining in the same position. She continued onward for about ten paces then stopped. Given there was nothing visible except for the surface she was standing on and the sky, it was impossible to tell if she was making any progress.

Was she still asleep? Was this some sort of dream? Such questions came to mind when looking around.

The elf paused for a moment to remember what led her here. The last place she remembered being before being embraced by the darkness was the deck chair of Iris’ new Castle Cove manor. If this were her physical body, then she would still be in the clothes she was wearing that day. She looked down and studied her reflection. The Sorceress was still wearing the same clothes that she’d been wearing before. But she noticed her warm skin was now lightly shimmering.

The shimmering alone was confirmation; this was not her physical body. Not unless this was some high tier illusion, but who would have such interest in a pair of high school girls that they would employ such a powerful spell?

“Hello?” the the girl called out in an inquiring tone. Perhaps there was someone nearby, though that was quite a long shot considering she didn’t see anyone.

A few moments passed by without a response. So she was alone then? Luna attempted the classic pinching oneself to wake oneself up trick, to no avail. She was, more or less stuck wherever she was for the moment.

The girl took a deep breath and listened to the omnipresent sound of the piano to calm her nerves. Panicking wouldn’t help her figure out what was going on. In fact, it might only make things worse.

Once her mind was refocused, she tried to circulate her mana through her conduits. Upon doing so she noticed that there was something else present within her that was similar to her mana that she hadn’t felt before. But to describe it was difficult.

The intense sensation she felt was similar to the feeling she felt earlier in the day, starting with the confrontation at the ISTC. The uneasieness, however, was now gone. Only one word came to mind when trying to describe the sensation: dreamy. It felt almost as if it was trying to tug her away from her present reality into another.

While she was focused on trying to understand the new sensation, she hadn’t heard the splash of footsteps approaching her. By the time she noticed them and turned in their direction, a woman had already stopped five meters away from her.

Or rather, another elf.

The female elf wore a blue dress of a design entirely foreign to Luna. It was various shades of pastel blue, with parts glowing a brilliant azure. However, its overall design was of one that appeared to be made for combat while keeping a graceful elegance one would expect at a dinner party. Unlike Luna, her skin wasn’t shimmering but was a natural pale white, almost ghostly in nature.

The features of the elf were what stunned her. The woman looked to be a young adult and had pastel milky blue hair like Luna, though its color was intenser than her own. Her eyes were a piercing icy blue. Overall she seemed to carry an air of elegance and power with her. But her expression was one of sheer shock.

Luna was the first to speak, though she could only fumble one word out of her mouth. “You’re…”

An elf. A real-life elf was standing in front of her. What should she say? What would the woman say? Would the other bluette believe she was lower than her because she was raised by humans? Was she the one who created the illusion they were currently in?

Surprisingly, the woman also seemed to be taking a moment to register what was going on. Her expression had slowly changed from confusion to excitement. When she finally spoke, her voice was not one of disdain, but relief. It also had a light accent to it. One Luna recognized to be similar to a person who spoke Japanese as their first language. “And here I thought I was the last of us. Tell me, where are you right now. Aside from here in my grove, that is.”

To the elf’s surprise, it didn’t seem like the woman wanted to berate her. Rather, the bluette was genuinely curious about her from the inquisitive tone she was taking. As for the question, Luna assumed her physical body was still in Sydney.

“Sydney, Australia. And where are you from?” the girl replied hastily, still in disbelief that she was speaking with another elf.

“Sydney huh? It’s been a long time since I was last there. It’s a nice place, but far away,” the woman trailed off. It was easy to tell she was thinking about something.

Far? By the sound of the woman’s tone Sydney was quite a long distance away from her. What kind of spell would allow one to communicate over such a considerable distance? Or was this not a spell? As far as Luna knew, if this wasn’t an illusion then she was definitely dreaming. Which made this whole situation even stranger.

When the other elf spoke up again, her tone was still one of curiosity, though it was now more serious than it had been previously. “We likely don’t have long. Is this your first time?”

“First time?”

“First time here.”

“Yes. Where exactly is here anyway? I thought this was a dream.”

From the way the woman was speaking, Luna could only guess that this was a physical location in the world. Which then begged the question: was she really dreaming? This was starting to get confusing.

“No time to explain. What Enclave do you currently belong to?” The elf asked. She seemed interested in gathering as much information as she could, dismissing Luna’s questions for the time being.

Normally, the ice Evoker wouldn’t have entertained such questions so willingly given hers weren’t being answered. But the other elf looked different from the ones she’d seen in books. Because of this, she had a gut feeling that they were the same subspecies as herself. That alone was enough to make the Evoker more willing, as she needed answers about herself. But she had no clue what an Enclave was.

Then something clicked in the back of her mind. In her demi-human studies, she’d learned that elves often resided in places called fae-worlds. Could these fae-worlds be the Enclaves the woman was referring to?

Now that the girl thought about it, this place may be a fae-world. But if that was the case then how did she get here?

“I don’t think so?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what an Enclave is,” the other bluette said before letting out an exasperated sigh while bringing up a hand to rest her forehead on.

Luna winced. There were so many things she wished she knew about elves, yet had not the slightest clue. It was the price paid by being raised by humans and only having access to human knowledge. “I apologize. I was… raised by humans. They adopted me when I was little, so-“

“You’ve got to be kidding me. No wonder this is your first time here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No no, don’t apologize for something you had no control over,” the other bluette hurriedly replied in a reassuring tone. “Listen to me, I don’t know how long it will be until we meet each other again like this, but I need to know: are you safe?”

“Safe? I think so?” Luna was pretty certain she was safe. Why wouldn’t she be? Her body was with her mistress after all, though she was currently asleep. That is, if the other elf was to be trusted.

“Have other elves come looking to take you with them?”

“No. You’re the first elf I’ve ever spoken to other than myself.” Luna always thought it would be the other way around, in that she would have to go searching for other elves instead of them searching for her. The thought that elves would seek her out made her feel a little uneasy.

“That’s good though somewhat unfortunate given that I hadn’t found you before now,” the woman replied while raising a finger up to her chin and taking on a look of contemplation. The way she was keeping what she said brief made Luna believe that they didn’t have long.

And she was right. While the woman was thinking, Luna noticed little specks of azure blue light beginning to float up in front of her face. When looking for the source, she realized the little lights were coming out of her body. Was this what the elf meant by time was short? If that was the case, what would happen next?

“It looks like our time is up. Your projection has mostly spent itself already, though that’s to be expected given you have no experience. Listen, I have a human friend in Sydney that I’m going to ask to contact you. You’ll know them when you see them. Don’t trust any elves that approach you. And don’t fret, we’ll meet again soon enough.”

Luna felt like she’d only been here for three minutes and already she was being forced to leave. So many questions would go unanswered that were burning at the back of her mind. But she needed to know the answer to one question before she left.

“Wait, I didn’t get your name,” the elf hurriedly asked.

The elf’s expression quickly turned into a smirk. “Polaris, yours?”

“Luna.”

“Pretty. See you again soon, Luna,” Polaris replied.

“I look forward to meeting you again, miss-“

Before she could say the elf’s name, her vision filled with azure. The sound of the piano faded away and her body felt like it was being tugged somewhere. The azure light faded to black, and Luna felt the air become a little colder.

As she opened her eyes, she discovered that she was back in the room Iris had given her, laying on the bed, covered in a blanket.

Was it all a dream, the Luna wondered as she sat up. It couldn’t have been, could it? It seemed far too real to be a dream.

An elf. A living, breathing elf had spoken to her. And not with any form of malice either. Instead, the woman seemed to be genuinely curious about her. Luna honestly didn’t know what to think. She hadn’t forseen this coming. But what would it mean for her future, now that an elf was interested in her.

After stretching her arms out, Luna crawled out of bed and made her way over to the wardrobe where she stored the backup clothes that she carried in her storage ring. The outfit for the day was a gray tee, with black cargo pants, a pair of athletic sneakers and intimates.

As the Ice Sorceress walked to the shower, she couldn’t quite get the whole incident that just happened out of her head. As far as she knew, she wasn’t an ordinary kind of elf, and the one she just met, Polaris, looked just like her. That would mean that they were likely the same subspecies.

Her mind drew back to what she’d just experienced. When she thought about it, it didn’t make sense for it to be a dream. She was able to feel with her body as if she was actually there. But it was also true that her body couldn’t physically be in two places at once. Polaris had called the body she inhabited her a projection. Given that she watched that body dissipate, that statement made sense. It would also explain why her time was so limited in that place.

And what did the woman exactly mean by ‘Enclave’? There was definitely the possibility that the fae-worlds were these Enclaves she was referring to, but there were reasons their locations weren’t widely known. Even now Luna, could imagine hapless mages who would try to force their way into the homes of elves to try and gain power. It was unsettling to say the least.

Turning on the lumen crystal in the bathroom, Luna set her outfit down on the sink and looked in the mirror. What she saw made her do a double-take.

Her appearance was now strikingly different. Whereas her hair was once an icy, milky blue, it was now a bold, milky blue. Her once green eyes had now become a similar shade of blue. Furthermore, her once fair complexion had now become a ghostly white.

At a loss for words, she stood in front of the mirror taking in the sudden change of appearance. One thing was for indisputable: her ‘dream’ last night happened. And it definitely affected her, both physically and mentally.

The Ice Sorceress suddenly felt reminded of the feeling she had when she circulated her mana, she felt something else within her. Focusing her mind, she could just barely sense the presence within her, still as dreamy as it was the night before.

Could this be what she was warned about as a child? Was it the thing that could end up breaking her resonator and allow the shield resonance to shatter her core? Instinctually, she reached her hand behind her back and grabbed at the resonator stone attached to the back of her neck. Thankfully, the stone she’d had since she was little was still in one piece. Though unlike before, it was now a little warm to the touch, indicating it was working more than before.

Luna sighed in relief. If her stone was intact, then all was well. Though eventually she would need to find a replacement given it was working hard now. That, or she would have to leave Sydney.

For now, the elf decided she needed to test if her spells had been affected by this new sensation within her. It could be entirely possible that she’d awoken to a new affinity. Perhaps even a new school.

With all this in mind, the Evoker hastily showered and got dressed, emerging from the bathroom a mere seven minutes later. Soon, she was hurriedly running down the stairs to the main floor of the manor, the interior currently bathed in the warm morning sunlight.

Making her way through the foyer and kitchen, she walked out onto deck overlooking Peach Tree Bay. Given she hadn’t seen Iris yet, Luna assumed the girl was sleeping in. It made sense since the girl usually had to get her out of bed every morning.

Hopefully, she could figure out a way to explain what happened to her before the girl saw her new look. Though trying to explain such significant changes gently would be tricky. It wasn’t like one’s appearance occasionally drastically changed overnight. And how exactly was she going to explain this newfound sensation that certainly wasn’t mana?

Stepping out onto the recently built back deck, the ice sorceress quietly closed the sliding glass door behind her. The crisp morning air coming off of the harbor was refreshing. Gulls cawed as they soared over the water while boats meandered about the bay below.

Taking a deep breath, Luna focused her mind. As a Tier 4 evoker, she was proficient in using Ice Storm. She could also cast Cone of Cold, but she wasn’t quite efficient with it. It always left a significant dent in her readily available mana. With her past experience and training, she could easily cast Ice Storm more than once and still cycle through her other spells in a short amount of time.

Calmly, she recited the incantations for the spell and targeted a location on the water about five meters from her. Holding her hand out in front of her, the quart-elf quietly whispered, “Ice storm”.

In a large cylinder of space, chunks of ice started falling from roughly 10 meters above the water’s surface, splashing as they sunk below the water. From what Luna could tell, the spell seemed completely normal. The ice was mostly clear, the radius of the spell was its standard size of 5 meters.

Dispelling the storm, Luna began the incantation of another spell: her Tier 3 version of Fireball, appropriately named Iceball. It was a spell that was similar to Fireball in every way except that instead of fiery explosion, jagged ice burst forth from the sphere instead. In addition to this, the ice didn’t immediately dissipate like the fire did, meaning if the ice gouged someone they stayed gouged.

Holding her palm out in front of her and targeting the same spot, she quietly fired off the spell.

“Iceball.”

A sound similar to the sound of a Fireball soaring through the air emitted from the Iceball as it traveled towards the water’s surface, where it exploded upon contact. A large, spiky iceberg that was at most 8 meters from spiky tip to spiky tip lay before her with the fairly loud sound of water being rapidly displaced. Unfortunately, the elf had forgotten that Iceball, much like its fiery counterpart, was a noisy spell. Hopefully she hadn’t woken Iris up.

When the water kicked up by the explosion settled, Luna studied the temporary iceberg. It appeared as a normal Iceball, mostly clear save for a slightly blue tint. It exploded chaotically as well, which was normal.

So far, there was no indication that anything had changed whatsoever. In addition to this, the drain of the spell on her mana felt normal. If this new presence empowered the spells, it likely would have shown it in some way by now. But it was better to exercise patience and be certain that empowerment could be ruled out.

Luna proceeded to work through a few more of her spells. Ice Bolt and Ray of Frost both appeared to be unchanged like her other spells. Her Ice Blade was the same temperature as it was before, throwing out the possibility that her ice had merely become colder now. After cycling through a few of her other spells, she found herself with only one spell left other than Cone of Cold: Ice Flex.

Ice Flex was an original spell created by one of her tutors through experimentation. It was derived from Burning Hands, a fire spell that allowed one to shoot flames out of their fingers. Only Ice Flex had a much different effect.

Originally only shot icicles out of her hand at high speed when casting the first incarnation of Ice Flex. Her tutor had found themself unsatisfied with the results, and after tinkering with the spell a bit they stumbled upon a delightful discovery. With only a few inputs, one could create an uncontrolled glob of ice that solidified on impact, freezing whatever it stuck to in place. Of course, adding a few incantations made it much more controllable. The overall result was the cantrip Ice Flex being created.

It was a spell that was extremely useful, especially when dealing with the various monster and demi-human species across Australia. Being able to pin an opponent into place made disposing of them much quicker.

It was also Luna’s favorite spell by far, given it could be used in a non-lethal manner. A card up her sleeve that she kept well-hidden from all except a handful of people. Quietly she incanted the cantrip and held out her open palmed left-hand.

“Ice Flex.”

A small, clear glob of liquid flew out of her hand. Upon coming into contact with the water’s surface it solidied into chaotic icy mess. Unfortunately, the results were rather disappointing. The lightly blue-tinted ice, as with the ice produced by her other spells, appeared entirely normal.

By now the elf found herself becoming disturbed. If this new presence within her didn’t affect her magic whatsoever, then was it a curse? Could a curse be inflicted remotely? No, that wouldn’t make any sense. In that case, what was it? And what did it do?

“Luna, is that you?” a familiar voice asked behind her.

Luna froze in place. All the noise her spells had been creating must have woken Iris up, especially her Iceball. Standing behind her was the other girl, lowering her arms as if she had been just about to attack her adopted sister. Her face changed from one of mild-caution to complete shock.

“Luna, you’re pale. And your hair,” Iris stammered while taking a step back.

Just what the elf needed. So much for breaking it to the Water Sorceress gently. The question was should she come out to Iris outright about what happened or not.

If she didn’t tell her, Iris would be suspicious. The girl was highly impulsive, and impulsiveness definitely wouldn’t help the situation.

Then again, just the previous night the girl declared they were sisters. She’d known Iris her entire life and dearly trusted the girl. If she couldn’t trust her with what happened, then she could trust no one with it. Besides, how else was she going to explain her sudden change of appearance? She knew she wasn’t a great liar, and Iris would likely pry the truth from her if she tried to do so.

The Ice Sorceress took a deep breath and smiled softly while walking over to the outdoor table. “Come sit down with me Iris. This is going to take a while to explain.”

Over the next hour Luna explained everything that had happened, from the strange sensation she began feeling after the confrontation at the Tower, to her dream and what little she’d figured out so far.

“And then you walked out here.”

The Water Abjurer had an air of contemplation around her as she sat across from the Ice Evoker. She hadn’t asked much during the explanation. As far as Luna could tell, the girl was taking it all in.

“So you’re saying my mother somehow triggered this weird feeling within you?” the girl asked with a raised brow.

The Water Sorceress’ doubt was certainly understandable. How would one explain a pseudo-dream like the one she had. It made her sound like she had used some sort of hallucinatory drugs.

“Sort of and yes. I think it might have been the way Felicity reacted to your mother that triggered it.”

“Strange. And the only word you can think of that describes this new feeling is ‘dreamy’”

“Yes Mistress. It’s weird. This feeling that is. It’s a faint, light and airy feeling that makes me feel disconnected from reality,” Luna explained as she made gestures with her hand that didn’t help much in terms of explaining.

The other sorceress gave her a half-hearted smile. Instantly, she recognized her mistake.

“Sorry, Iris.”

“It’s alright, you’ll get used to it,” the girl said before yawning and stretching her arms out. Iris never was a morning person, and she usually struggled to wake up. “But this new feeling you’re having concerns me a bit. Sure it doesn’t seem to be having an effect on you at the moment, but what about later?”

The other girl did have a point. If there were long term effects on her, she wasn’t so confident they would be good.

“I don’t think it’s something like that. It feels similar to mana, though I don’t quite know how to utilize it.” Was it even possible to utilize the new dreamy presence? The elf was beginning to have her doubts. But then why wasn’t the faint feeling fading away.

“That doesn’t ease my worries. But it is what it is. What I’m more concerned about is the change to your physical appearance. You didn’t look human to begin with and now you definitely don’t look the part.”

Luna knew the Water Sorceress was right. She couldn’t just go waltzing down the street with her appearance as it now was. Sure she could hide her ears, but her bold pastel blue eyes and ghostly skin tone would be harder to explain away. Fortunately for her, she had many grey cloaks she could wear that would hide her appearance.

“It’s fine Mistress. I don’t mind wearing my cloak, and no one bothers me when I’m wearing it.”

Luna felt like it wasn’t worth mentioning that her resonator stone had gotten a little warmer. Iris already seemed to be on edge, and if she knew something might be wrong, the girl might freak out a little bit.

“Still…”

“It draws less attention. I’m pretty sure elves would receive quite a bit of hassle in a city like ours.”

Based on how most mages in Sydney viewed demi-humans, Luna wasn’t so sure that she’d be well received. But there was an even bigger issue now. Polaris had warned her to stay away from all elves who approached her. Given that was the case, she needed to keep a low profile.

“Actually the more pressing issue is keeping it mostly unknown that I’m an elf, if Polaris is to be trusted. According to her, I should be keeping out of other elves’ sight.”

“Do you trust her?” the Water Abjurer inquired.

Luna expected the girl to bring up the rather odd situation of whether she trusted Polaris or not. Given that Polaris looked so similar to her new appearance, Luna felt a strong temptation to trust her. But then again, could she trust someone she’d only just met? That didn’t seem the logical thing to do. For all she knew, she could be walking into a trap.

“That’s complicated. Until I meet this friend of hers, I’m going to be cautious. Still, she’s the first elf I’ve ever met. Given she looks like me on top of what she said about being the only other elf of our ‘Enclave’ I’m somewhat inclined to trust her.”

“If you’re sure then I’ll trust your decision,” the other girl replied, seemingly satisfied with her answer. She looked out to the bay, where boats were beginning to meander and go about their business. “Anyway, I’m going to the Tower today. You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to.”

Given Luna wasn’t a licensed mage and already was a citizen of the commonwealth, she felt no need to go to the Tower. And though she was grateful for the Tower’s actions on behalf of her mistress, the elf thought it best to be wary of such a place with so many mages given Polaris’ advice about whether or not she was safe.

“I think I’ll continue to test my spells a little more. I want to figure out exactly what this new presence is and does.”

“I’m quite interested in it as well. Who’d have thought your powers would have suddenly awoken like they have. It’s pretty exciting actually, even if you have no idea how to use them,” Iris said as she stood up. “But for now, I need to take care of this Tower business. I should be back by lunch. Also, one more thing: I think it might be best for us to stay here for the rest of summer break until we can get an idea of what this new power you have is and what it does.”

The idea of not having to stay in the dorms was quite enticing. In a week, the Isozaki sisters and Zoey would return along with several other of their ‘sisters’ from school. Though she lived in the dorms with many of these sisters, she’d somehow managed to maintain keeping her heritage secret thus far.

She could only imagine the chaos it would cause if one of them found out she was a elf. Rich children loved to gossip after all. It wouldn’t be long until everyone in Sydney’s upper tiers knew she was a elf masquerading as a human.

For now though, she would need to grab some clothes from Lilith’s and explaining the situation to the headmistress might be a good idea.

“If you think that’s for the best then I don’t mind.”

“Alright. Well, I’m going to go take a shower and get going. Let’s meet back here this afternoon.”

“Have fun mistress.”

“Yeah yeah,” the girl waved her arm about nonchalantly as she walked back into the house. “And Luna, don’t get too crazy. I may not seem excited yet because I haven’t had coffee but once I do, we’re definitely celebrating this.”

With that, Iris made her way back inside the house and closed the door, leaving Luna standing on the deck. The elf stared out at Peach Tree Bay, taking in the moment. Her talk with Iris had gone better than expected. Fortunately Iris wasn’t fully awake, or else she likely would have freaked out. As for when she got back, Luna wasn’t so certain the Water Transmuter wouldn’t freak out.

Since, her mana had been almost fully restored, it was time to do some more testing.