Cambridge.

Skylar Fitzgerald sighed in relief as her last final ended. Unfortunately, her break looked like it would be another one spent shut-in and studying, trying to keep up ahead of the other talented enchanters who attended Lucy Cavendish.

While the college was among the lower ranks at Cambridge, it was still a member of the prestigious university and thus didn’t give any room for its students to slack off. Because of her desire to get ahead of her peers, the Enchantress found herself continuously working during the weeks and spending her weekends working as a part-time enchanter at an artisanal workshop. The pay was decent enough to keep her in school and somewhat comfortable, so she couldn’t complain.

At least she wasn’t like her younger sisters, who constantly slacked off. They were the ones who expected to be babied their entire lives. Why they’d lost their drives for striving to become better she had no idea. She just knew Iris and Luna would never reach her caliber and would instead become lowly combat mages of the Frontier’s military, according to her Mother.

While it was sad knowing that her youngest two sisters were going to be dead within the next few years, she had mixed feelings about Felicity. Despite the girl's coldness to her, she couldn’t really blame the girl for being unable to make significant progress. That was the nature of her disease; it made everything involving magic difficult for her because she had to be extremely careful not to overextend lest she want a trip to the hospital.

She’d rather not think about her older sister either. The fate she had apparently been given was to always be in the shadow of Eden’s accomplishments, never able to stand in the light. And the Water Sorceress knew that she’d never reach the same caliber as Eden was. Her sister was a genuine freak of nature and had the potential to become a Magi. But instead of pursuing that noble goal, she was apparently going to betray her country and move to Japan. What a joke. She was wasting all that talent on some stupid dream.

But that wasn’t the reason why she disliked her older sister. The true reason for that was because Eden seemed to look down upon her after she came to London. Always pitying and treating her as if she were a child who needed a guiding hand. It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about it.

Whenever these thoughts crept into her head, the Enchantress would focus on a singular fact: that she was her own woman, and slowly proving it. No matter how much blood, sweat and tears it took, she would prove that she could stand on her own two feet. That would show them all.

Thankfully, her parents had finally returned to Britain. With their support, she’d be better off financially. A line of extra income to help her afford rarer materials to enchant with would allow her extra-curricular studies to progress at a faster rate, and thus allow her to grow as an Enchanter at a faster pace. Perhaps she could even surpass her mother, given time.

For now, she didn’t mind her standing as a Tier 4 Enchanter with Tier 3 in Transmutation and Tier 2 in Evocation, though she’d only just tiered up her Transmutation. She was long overdue for tiering up in Enchanting, but with the mediocre projects she had mostly worked on up till this point, there was little she could do to make significant progress toward to the next tier. That was just the nature of Enchanting: it was horribly expensive to train. That’s why she turned her eyes to Transmutation: because it would greatly benefit her in the long run.

There she went off on one of her tangents again. By the time she regained her focus, she was standing on the sidewalk facing Madingley Rd. Subconsciously, she must have been thinking about going off campus to grab a bite to eat. How silly it was of her to not be aware of her surroundings. That was the one thing her grandmother had drilled into her when she arrived here.

Speaking of her dear grandmother, the Enchantress made a mental note to visit her soon. It had been a few weeks since they last spoke and months since they last saw one another. Soon enough it’d be Christmas, and she’d yet to purchase any gifts.

For the moment, though, her stomach was demanding attention. The woman knew it was no use studying on an empty stomach. An early, mana rich dinner at the Lion Yard would certainly fix that. However, walking there would take some time, and Trinity was a little closer. Even closer was Côte Brasserie, but she wasn’t in the mood for French food. It was Friday, the best day of the week for fish and chips.

Oddly enough, she wished she could dine on the fish and chips from her old haunt in Sydney. The city may be in the Frontier, but the fresh seafood truly couldn’t be beat, even if it was a bit less rich in mana than the kind found in Cambridge.

Perhaps she should visit the coastal city of Newcastle during the holidays. It wouldn’t be Australian seafood, but it’d definitely be fresh. It was also far better than Liverpool’s and closer than the Frontier City Edinburgh, which made it quite attractive.

On the other hand, the cost of the trip would require her to work extra hours, and the redundant basic enchantments she currently imbued onto items drove her nerves crazy.

The Water Sorceress realized that she’d once again gone off on a tangent. The bad habit always tended to reappear when she was hungry or disinterested for some reason. But it couldn’t be helped. Try as she might, the habit stuck to her like a leech.

For now, the Enchanter made her way down the sidewalk towards the city center, intent on getting dinner over with so she could get to studying.

Ultimately, cost was the main factor in where she decided to eat. Because the woman was looking for something to fill her stomach and nothing more, she decided on going to the Seventh Island Pub in the Lion Yard. There she had freshly made fish and chips, of which the chips had much more mana than the fish, much to her disappointment.

But while she was dining, she had a nagging feeling that all was not right. It was as if someone was intently watching her for some reason. Because of that, she quickly devoured her meal and washed it down with a stiff drink before leaving.

The sun had long since set by the time she made her way back outside. The cold wintry air assaulted her body as if it were freshly baked bread put in an icebox. If it weren’t for her fuzzy blue scarf, she’d regret walking so far from the school dorms.

But despite the fact that she was now outside of the Lion Yard, she still felt like she was being observed. Few things were enough to unsettle her, and this was one of them. Was it a man perhaps hoping to have his way with her? Or perhaps it was someone with more sinister desires hoping to use her as a hostage to extort her family.

Whoever it was, she certainly wasn’t going to let them simply walk over her. If there was one thing she shared with her sisters, barring Felicity, it was that she didn’t take threats lying down. If someone wished ill upon her, they’d certainly be met will equal malice and then some.

Immediately, the Sorceress began briskly walking toward Downing St. From there, she would lead her foolish follower all the way down to Mill Ln. If her pursuer continued to follow her from there, she’d quickly buff herself and cross over River Cam to Silver street, then bolt across campus as fast as possible to Lucy Cavendish, where she would be safe.

After all, it would be foolish to try and kidnap a student on the main campus, much less their own college. Surely there would be severe punishments added on top of the already disgusting crime.

Smartly, Skylar turned the corner and began making her way down Downing St. Across the road, students were still meandering about Pembroke, likely making their plans for the weekend. With so many eyes about, it would be foolish for anyone to try and pull something here. In fact, she should mostly be safe now, given there was only one block between her and River Cam, with the main campus just beyond that.

Skylar looked over her shoulder to see a woman in black following her. Just as she’d suspected, someone was definitely stalking her. By their visibly reinforced outfit, it seemed they weren’t just an ordinary mage. They must have been a Tower combat mage, likely associated with The Ivory Tower. But what was a Tower sorceress doing following her?

Hurriedly she crossed the intersection at Trumpington St. and onto the sidewalk of Mill Ln. Focusing her mind, the Enchantress incanted a Haste spell. If she had to make a run for it, it would be best to be prepared to do so.

“Haste,” she whispered quietly before glancing over her shoulder again to make sure the woman wasn’t gaining on her. Just as she had hoped, the woman wasn’t. But upon looking forward again, she realized there was now another issue: the woman pursuing her wasn’t alone.

A pair of mages were standing halfway down the lane. Aside from them, no one else was about. The Echantress been so busy watching her back that she hadn’t registered the strange sight earlier and now had begun walking right into what must have been a trap. Before she got too deep into it, she stopped.

If they intended to kidnap or assault her, then they’d have to come to her. In the meantime, she could form a backup plan.

Positioning herself so that her back was to a wall, she did her best to keep eyes on both the woman who had been following her and the other two mages. Sooner or later one of them would make a move or they’d leave.

To her disbelief, several minutes passed by in which none of the three approached her. Instead, they seemed keen on maintaining their distance. The standoff that ensued was duller than she hoped. If these mages weren’t going to kidnap her, then what exactly were they here for?

Having had enough, Skylar crossed the street. As she did so, she noticed that the mages didn’t follow her. Perhaps she was just overreacting to the situation, which did happen on occasion.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. As soon as she began to progress down the sidewalk again, a black car turned the corner and began making its way up the street.

Cursing her luck, the Enchantress began incanting a couple more spells. Given a confrontation appeared to be coming, it would be best to be prebuffed and ready to go when the time came instead of potentially getting ensnared by another Transmuter or being an easy target for an Evoker.

“Spider Climb. Alter Self.”

With her fresh buffs, she could scale walls and move more dexterously than she generally would be able to. Of course, the disadvantage was the effects would need to be renewed about every ten minutes.

In front of her, the black car stopped, and a man in a suit emerged from the back door, leaving it open while walking toward Skylar. Instinctively the woman stepped back, preparing to make a run for it. With her speed and dexterity, it would be hard to hit her, but not impossible.

“Lady Fitzgerald, I’ll need you to be coming with me,” the man stated persuasively, offering her a hand. “We have reason to believe that you’re in danger.”

In danger? She didn’t recognize any of these people, yet they had the audacity to tell her she was in danger? The nerve they had to think they had any authority over her.

If they had approached her immediately and told her she was in danger, she might have believed them. But to stalk and then corner her? Whatever these people wanted, she definitely had no intention of giving it to them, even if push came to shove.

But with her back to the wall like this, getting out was going to be tricky. Even if she blinked, she’d still have to run as fast as she possibly could. Her high-heeled boots would be a hindrance when it came to sprinting, but hopefully she could overcome the impediment they presented.

It wasn’t like she could change her shoes now, given she was surrounded.

“And what if I don’t? I don’t recognize you, nor do I believe you have authority over me. What’s to stop me from suddenly taking off?”

In response, the man who approached her took on an air of annoyance. Typical. Her grandmother had warned her that if there was ever trouble caused by her father, the people who may come for her would be just as impatient as he was. It was part of the reason she’d insisted her mother get a divorce. But alas, her mother stubbornly clung to her father like a babe clinging to a teat.

“I don’t think you have a choice in the matter, Ms. Fitzgerald. Now then, please get in the vehicle,” the man maliciously insisted, gesturing to the vehicle with his hand. “After all, it would be such a shame if we had to do something to your younger sisters.”

Her younger sisters? Was this man implying that he’d hurt them if she didn’t comply? He had to be bluffing. There was no way he wasn’t. How would he even manage to hurt her sisters when he was thousands of kilometers away from them?

The only way he could get to them was if he made use of LRC devices and paid someone off, or had already sent someone to Sydney with the intent of hurting her sisters.

But then again, why should she care? It wasn’t like her younger sisters actually cared about her anyway. Why should she be concerned if something terrible happened to them? It’d serve them right for being such awful siblings to her.

A sharp pain spread rapidly throughout her head without warning. It felt like her head was about to split in half like an egg.

Had someone cast a spell? No, she’d been keeping an eye on the mages around her. If they’d cast a spell, she would have known. So then, what exactly was it?

Skylar, I believe you’re going to be just as powerful as Eden. Iris and I are so lucky to have you two as big sisters.

The sound of Luna’s childhood voice rang loud and clear in her head. It caught her by surprise, but the voice wasn’t the only one that rang out through her head.

Let’s become Magisters together, Skylar! We’ll join Eden and someday have a Tower of our own!

Iris’ childhood voice was also present in her head as well. The stupid promise she’d once made to become a Magister alongside her was one she’d forgotten about. So why all of a sudden was she remembering this?

But these weren’t the only things going on in her head. Her mind felt as though something broke. It wasn’t the physical pain she was still feeling, but instead was as if some part of her mind was no longer working. Though oddly enough, aside from the sharp pain, her head felt completely fine.

Unfortunately, there was no time to deal with the matter now. The man in front of her had begun to close the distance between them. He was reaching out to grab her and drag her into the car.

She began preparing Blink as she futilely attempted to stall.

“You think that scares me? Pah, we don’t even get along,” the woman said. While she wholeheartedly believed that was the truth, her heart was telling her it was a complete lie.

“And what of your precious Eden? It’d be such a shame if that lover of hers was murdered. That appalling relationship of theirs most certainly wouldn’t be missed.”

Another sharp pain burst forth in her head, this one worse than the last one. Out of instinct, she wanted to grab her head and kneel.

Skylar you need to be more careful. If you make the mandala too big it’ll be easily visible and give away the box’s magical nature.

I don’t need your lecture, it’ll work just fine.

I know that, all I’m trying to say is that- Hey, where are you going? Skylar. Skylar come back. I’m sorry, I was just trying to give you advice is all. Skylar. Wait, please don’t-

This time, it was Eden’s voice. Or rather, the argument that created the bitter divide between the two. The one that she started just so she could burn her bridge with her elder sister and get the woman out of her life for good.

Eden was such a kind, caring person. The woman would easily figure a way to get out of this situation. And right now, Skylar wished she had her help.

Hold on, why would she want Eden’s help? Her sister was an overbearing snob who wanted everything done her way. Otherwise it wasn’t done right. It was for that very reason she refused to be tutored by her, seeking to train herself instead. At least that way, she could stand on her own two feet.

At the same time, she knew Eden cared and worried about her. That deep down, she wanted to be mentored by the woman and learn from her.

What was she saying? Why were these contrasting thoughts and feelings suddenly welling up within her?

And as before, something in her mind felt like it had been broken. But she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had been broken, or how. She just knew that something wasn’t right within her.

While that was quite concerning, it would have to be put on the back burner. Her Blink spell was fully incanted, so now was the time to make her move. If she could Blink across the street, she could cast Expeditious Retreat, which, when coupled with her already cast Haste, would make her extremely hard to hit. Especially after she reached open ground.

But the best way to do this was to lure the man as close to her as possible, so he was further away from her when she reappeared. Thus, she waited until the man was with arms reach before stirring to action.

“Blink,” she shouted, appearing about three meters away. “Expeditious Retreat.”

Quickly, the Water Sorceress began sprinting down the street at inhuman speed. By now, she was running at least four times the speed of the average human, likely five. Behind her, the mages gave chase and were quickly gaining on her. But within seconds, she was already at the edge of River Cam.

The Water Sorceress lunged into her last step, then jumped, flinging her arms out in front of her. Her momentum carried her over the river. But before she was fully across, things took a turn for the worse.

Whatever hit her was hard and painful, cutting through her shoulder and disorienting her. On top of the searing pain where she was hit, she was met with more pain as she slammed into the ground- and was sent tumbling.

When she finally stopped, she could feel the hot blood soaking her shoulder, sharply contrasting with the cold air. Her once-delightful looking outfit now had rips and dirt all over it. Her favorite Friday blouse was ruined, and the left sleeve of her winter coat was in tatters. And worst of all, her fuzzy blue scarf had a hole in it.

It hurt just to breathe, and she felt like if she got up, the odds that she’d seriously injure herself were high. But if she didn’t, those Tower mages would drag her off and do who knows what with her.

Gritting her teeth, Skylar tried to stand, only to discover the heel of her left boot was broken. Great, just great. Could this get any worse?

Quickly waving her hand over her boots, which were still on her feet, the Sorceress stored them and summoned her Transmutation training sneakers. At least they’d be much easier to run in.

Quickly slipping the shoes on, the Enchanter looked over her shoulder to see that the Tower mages had disappeared entirely. The question was: where did they go?

Scanning her surroundings, it was apparent they weren’t hunting her anymore. They’d have already been across the river and pinning her down if they were. So where were they? Why would they give up just as they’d gotten their teeth into her? Unless… Unless they were serious about going after Eden’s girlfriend because she hadn’t complied.

She was on-campus now, and who knows whether or not someone was watching. Despite not being able to definitively prove who wounded her, if she was kidnapped, someone would likely see it in this open area. That meant they’d likely chosen to go with their apparent plan c, which was killing Dr. Kono. But would they really go that far?

Skylar still had mixed feelings about her sister, in part because just five minutes ago she absolutely hated her. But as for Dr. Kono, the woman had done nothing worth getting killed over. And she was a Biomancer with a spirit, a rarity. The woman had no knights though, since she wasn’t a citizen of the Mageocracy, so, with enough firepower, she’d be an easy target.

If the Enchantress didn’t warn them and those mages did go after them, she’d feel responsible for her death. And given just how rare a Biomancer with a spirit was, that was unacceptable. Plus, she knew she’d come to regret letting the elder Sorceress die if they really did come after the woman’s life and she did nothing.

Clumsily, Skylar pulled out her Message device, only to realize it had been broken in half by the fall. Her luck was so bad that it was truly laughable.

Although, this meant she wouldn’t be able to warn her sister.

Which meant Dr. Kono might actually die, and the Biomancer’s blood would be on her hands.

Unable to accept that reality, Skylar tried to summon a healing potion from her small-medium storage ring. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t have any of those either. Just what was her luck right now? Was the world trying to curse her for her past mistakes?

There was no choice she supposed. She had to get to Eden’s apartment as fast as possible. The only way this was going to end well was if she warned her elder sister beforehand. If she did that, then surely the woman could come up with a plan that would keep her hands blood-free.

“Haste.”

Though her body was still throbbing with pain, demanding she stay still and wait for help, Skylar began sprinting in the direction of Eden’s apartment. She had to get there before whoever just accosted her did so.

Although, now that she thought of it: what was to stop them from killing Eden if they were going to kill Dr. Kono? The answer was there was nothing to stop them. Nothing at all.

Despite the pain in her chest, Skylar pushed herself to sprint even faster, blazing through campus and ignoring all the onlookers.

“Miss, are you alright?”

“Miss, please come back here, you’re badly injured.”

“Did something happen?”

“That girl, she’s injured.”

Eyes from all directions following her, and she could overhear people talking about her. No doubt they recognized her as well, in part because of the rumors that she was the younger sister of the genius Eden Fitzgerald.

However, she couldn’t push the possibility that this may be an elaborate prank from her mind. A prank taken too far, which was initially meant to simply embarrass her in front of everyone.

While her mind was telling her that was the case, her heart told her that was something Eden would never willingly do. And her gut told her to trust her heart. Thus, her thoughts and feelings were currently jumbled chaos.

Just what was going on within her? Why were so many things happening all at once? Such thoughts crossed her mind as she continued to run onward.

If she’d started from Lucy Cavendish, the sprint to her older sister’s apartment would have been absolutely horrible. But having started near Queen’s College, the distance was almost half what it would have been.

“Expeditious Retreat!”

Renewing her buff, the Enchantress rushed from the south end of campus into the Newtown neighborhood. Within minutes, she was standing in front of the vaguely familiar front door that she remembered as being her elder sister’s.

At least, as far as she recollected, this was the apartment Eden had lived in when she’d last been invited over for dinner.

In a panic, she frantically banged against the door as hard as she could, hoping to get a response. After a few moments of silence and muffled voices, the door opened. To her relief, her elder sister had answered the door.

After studying the woman from head to toe to ensure there wasn’t any Polymorph trickery afoot, she sighed in relief between pants.

“Cure Moderate Wounds.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Dr. Kono, her arm extended outward.

Warm mana suffused her body, leaving several parts of it itching. In particular, her left arm experienced an itch that bore deeper than the bone. In an instant, her external wounds closed up as her inner ones got to work healing themselves.

Skylar, on the other hand, had found herself caught by surprise. She’d been so worried that Eden and her girlfriend were in danger that she’d mostly put her injuries to the back of her mind, which had heavily dulled the pain.

“Ah…,” she choked upon realizing how badly injured she was. Her sheer desperation for the safety of her elder sister and her lover had driven her to forgo her own health. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, it was quite evident by her actions that she still held feelings for the elder Enchantress. A flood of emotions rushed to her all at once, most of them not making any sense.

“Skylar, what are you doing here? And why were you bleeding,” her older sister asked, the shock of seeing her perfectly conveyed in her voice.

An excellent question. One that would take a little while to answer. And the Water Sorceress wasn’t confident they had that kind of time.

Studying the surprise on Eden’s face, it was obvious she wasn’t expecting to see her. And there was no malice in her expression either. Instead, she could see genuine worry and concern.

There was no way this was some twisted prank. Whoever had attacked her earlier unquestionably had terrible intentions for her.

“I suppose this isn’t a prank then. Eden, what in the world is going on?”

“I was hoping you could tell me. You’re the one who randomly arrived here with awful injuries.”

The woman had a point. Eden may be a genius, but, by her prior expression, there was no doubt she had no idea what may be about to happen. How could she know?

“You might be in danger. When they said that threat earlier, I wasn’t certain if they were being serious or not. But your expression proves that you honestly don’t know what’s going on. Someone may be coming here to try killing you and Seiko,” Skylar hastily tried to explain, but what came out of her mouth was almost gibberish.

Eden stood in front of her, dumbfounded by what the younger Water Sorceress said. She began to open her mouth but closed it a couple of times, trying to process what the girl had said. A quick glance above Skylar changed that.

Suddenly, the older sister straightened her head up, her face once again taking on an expression of sheer surprise. Immediately, an arm wrapped around Skylar and yanked her into the house, while the woman blocked the entire doorway like a looming golem.

Turning to face Eden again, she noticed that there was a fourth person amongst them: Felicity. For some odd reason, her younger sister, whom she’d known was terribly sick, was sitting in a lounge chair. What’s more, she looked hale, as if she was completely healthy.

Behind her, Eden went on the assault. When her older sister got angry, she never threw a tantrum. Instead, she remained cool-headed, yet struck fear so deep that it apparently even made Maguses belonging to The Ivory Tower shrink back in fear.

“Well well, it seems you people just don’t know when to quit. Now you assault my wayward younger sister?”

Outside, a familiar man in a suit quickly approaching her, a shit-eating grin on his face. He looked as though he’d just won the lottery.

“Miss Fitzgerald, step aside. We’ll be-“

“-Stand down, final warning,” Eden commanded, raising her arm up in a defensive manner.

It felt like an Ice spell had struck Skylar’s spine. She thought she’d seen Eden mad before, but this was on a whole other level of fear-inducing. And her sister wasn’t even using magic. The Water Sorceress was a genuinely looming giant in a human's body. The woman undoubtedly was the kind to carry a big stick.

“-I beg your pardon,” the man stammered, trying to recover from the sudden order.

The poor Magus likely had no idea what he was in for. He’d done the equivalent of poking a sleeping bear when he demanded the woman hand over her younger sisters. And now the elder Enchantress was preparing to slaughter him.

“My sister arrived at my door severely wounded and told me you not only attacked her, but threatened my lover as well. That said, I’m quite certain if you dare attempt to enter my abode you’ll regret being born.”

“An outcast Noble such as yourself ought to understand your place. It’d be in your friend’s and your best interest to hand your sisters over. Now,” the man scoffed and sneered, attempting to wrestle control of the situation from Eden.

The Enchantress, on the other hand, looked as if she were about to pounce on her prey.

“Care to start an international incident,” Dr. Kono interrupted, walking past Skylar to stand behind Eden. “Things are already tense between Kyoto, Tokyo and London as is. I wonder what would happen if you were to upset or even dare to harm me. Then again, perhaps London Tower isn’t interested in resuming the trade of rare materials to begin with.”

Immediately, the Magus stopped in his tracks.

“Lady Kono, this is a matter that doesn’t concern you,” he fumbled, trying to recover his composure.

“Is that so? Then please explain to me why you threatened my life,” the Biomancer inquired with a tone that hinted of authority.

The Magus, who had moments ago been so cocky, was now caught wholly on the back foot. His face began to redden rapidly as he attempted to give the doctor an answer that would avoid her wrath.

“That’s ridiculous, I would never do such a thing,” he scoffed.

“Is that so? You see, the odd thing is I can tell Skylar is telling the truth. Eden’s wayward sister also has nothing to gain by lying here.”

“You’d believe that child over a Magus such as myself,” he asked, completely dumbfounded.

“I do. Especially with the way you’re acting. Do show some more class instead of intensity, sir.”

In response, the Magus clammed up for a moment and straightened his black suit jacket and tie out. He was likely thinking over whether or not this was going to be worth it.

But, just who exactly was Dr. Kono? The woman seemed to be able to easily beat off a Magus without using the slightest bit of magic. That was a sight the Enchanter never thought she’d see anyone succeed with, at least not with the Maguses from The Ivory Tower.

“I suppose we’re at an impasse then,” the old man grumbled.

“We are, unless you’d like to continue. But you know what that will cost you. And if you leave, do remember in the future that if either Felicity or Skylar suddenly go missing, Tokyo Tower will have a field day.”

The old man stared directly at Skylar for a moment, sending shivers down the girl’s spine. However, she remained where she was standing. In her present situation, she couldn’t afford to show any fear that could be taken advantage of.

The Magus sighed and turned around. With a wave of his hand, the mages around him all took to the sky in the direction of London. He glanced over his shoulder one more time, likely etching the memory of the sight into his mind.

“You’re all lucky the Tower wants to get back in the good graces of those Demi-Humans. Otherwise, you’d all be under arrest right now and in stasis.”

Neither Eden nor Dr. Kono responded to the remark, Instead letting their silence speak loudly for them.

The man grunted and made his way back to his car, which quickly sped off.

Instinctually, Skylar sighed in relief.

In front of her, her older sister closed the door and then turned to her. The analytical gaze of her told the younger sister she needed to come completely clean about everything that had happened up until this point.

“Thank you Eden, I’m so sorry you got dragged into this situation,” Skylar apologized, even though her mind was telling her she shouldn’t be trusting the woman.

“It’s nothing, I have an inkling why they were after you. They probably wanted to try and trade you off for Felicity. Thankfully, they shouldn’t bother you in the future,” her elder sister said as she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and kissed her on the cheek.

Skylar opened her mouth to thank her older sister again.

But this time, her entire body was wracked with pain. It wasn’t a searing pain like before either. This was a fully body, aching pain. It felt as if her entire body was beginning to tear itself apart. Instantly, the girl collapsed, hitting the floor with a thud.

What did you do to her?

Do to who?

You know who I’m talking about, you bastard.

You dare raise your voice to me?

The sound of an argument between herself and an all too familiar voice played out in her head.

Above her, Eden had been pushed aside by Dr. Kono, who’d brought out her spirit, Camilla, if she recalled correctly. There was the feeling of warm mana spreading throughout her body, but it did nothing to stop the pain coursing through her veins.

What felt like a barrier in her mind suddenly shattered, allowing a memory to flood into her mind. But the Water Sorceress couldn’t understand it clearly, mostly because of how much pain she was in.

Quickly, her world faded to black. And then, there was nothing.