Tiffany opened her eyes to an alien world and the image of Empress Elinor, her beloved master; the scenery filled her with joy at the possible ingredients that she had the opportunity to discover and work with. She knew her duty and knew her magic well. However, several things were wrong, and that confused her.

She sat up as her Empress threw her arms around her, “Mom!”

Her fingers twitched as she tentatively placed her left hand on her Empress’ back, ghostly veil sliding past her fingers; she blinked a few times in confusion. “Mom?”

What in the Dark Arts is happening? I’m … the Empress is...

Tiffany’s mild shock was overshadowed by concern; her charge collapsed in her arms, crown fading. Her jaw locked, knowing something was wrong; with her skills, her well-adjusted vision pierced the dark space.

We’re in a jungle, and there’s a Mount Class, Skeletal Steed above us … it’s damaged, but it appears to have exceptionally high Base Stats for a first-rank. A wonderful candidate for my Empress. Are we under attack? Edmon is here; I believe he was formed at the same time as I, which means…

Her vision shot between a red-haired woman and some kind of toad creature; the creature was holding a wicked-looking knife and was making strange noises, brandishing the blade at her Empress.

“Edmon … she’s so low on Life Energy.” Her words died as Elinor’s body began to deteriorate, green flames licking at her skin.

“I assume we’re under assault,” Edmon’s deep, rugged tone held an edge as he rose to his feet.

His blue eyes frothed blue energy as he activated his Class and Rank features. Edmon held the Royal Title Royal Gatekeeper and was in charge of their Empress’ safety; the title gave him defensive bonuses, control over all units during assault, and as a third-rank with the Doom Guard Subclass, in the Elite Defender Class, he held certain perks, in addition to whatever skill path he chose to follow in order to protect his charge.

Metallic-black platemail appeared out of the blue mist that licked off his body; it formed perfectly to his frame, showing sharp edges at points in case anything wished to ram him or the reverse. Not a single glimpse of skin could be seen as the eye sockets, and visor foamed sapphire fog; he wore a demonic themed helm.

In his left hand was his only item, an intimidating, massive cross-shaped shield with what seemed to be a smaller, circular shield on the inside that could be detached. The smaller piece’s edges were razor-sharp, meant for throwing while the ends of the cross-shield branched out into sharp cloves, and it stood from his feet to his chin, its sides one-third the width of its height.

Every part of his metal suit seemed forged by an expert craftsman; its rigid design shaped to take damage and deliver a sharp gift in return. A faint blue snowflake pattern glowed across the front of the first shield, the smaller shield showing the same design at its edges.

Interesting, he chose the Heavy Punisher and Frost paths.

Tiffany turned away from him to examine her Empress as she heard a few sharp clangs around her, and the Skeletal Steed above blurred into action to defend them. Not one thrown object touched them as a faint frosted shell encircled their bodies, including the red-haired woman, Transient Frost Wall. She knew what Edmon desired.

Motioning for the woman to come near without looking at her, she scanned over the rips in her master’s clothing with narrowed eyes. The trembling woman drew near, glancing at their transparent blue shields as they merged. Tiffany swiftly removed her Empress’ earrings from her temporary body; her clothes dropped to the mud as the magical construct turned to dust.

“Tell me your name, and the current situation,” she instructed.

The woman flinched as the towering steed jumped into action, barreling into the foliage to chase the frog-like creature, going on the offensive by Edmon’s telepathic command. He took up their primary defense, but it appeared the creature drew the steed further away to separate them.

Good, it’s trying to deal with it first; oh, what’s this, he’s named. The Empress called him Quin, how cute.

“I—I’m called—they call me…”

“Deep breaths, dear. Be calm … what is this?” she muttered, tone darkening as her fingers caressed Elinor’s true body; there was sinister energy billowing up from the ground all around them, seeping into the diamond sanctuary of her master.

There’s dark energy constraining our Empress? Our communication is being blocked; who dares separate our Empress’ voice from us? This is unnatural … another assailant, but this is much stronger than the prancing frog.

Her eyes widened with horror as she analyzed the force, and she interrupted the woman’s attempt at reintroducing herself. “Edmon, there is a dark presence attacking our Empress! Some kind of ethereal being. It’s trying to corrupt her spirit with its influence...”

The heavily armored man turned slightly to look at her, tone cold. “You’re the Royal Ritualist, Master of Witchcraft. This is what you are for. Deal with it!”

“It’s not that simple,” Tiffany snapped. “I can’t just wave my hand and fix everything; Witchcraft doesn’t work like that. Surely you understand a little of how my skills operate? I need to study our environment and prepare a quick Protection Charm to stem its current progress. Are we safe in this location; will we need to move?”

“No, the Skeletal Steed has extraordinary stats for its rank and level; the toad is now on the defensive, and I can’t sense any significant danger that will require repositioning,” he paused, momentarily following the fight too quick for Tiffany’s vision. “It should keep the creature busy for at least fifteen minutes before becoming impaired. I’d rather it not collapse, if possible.”

“More than enough, and the steed’s name is Quin; didn’t you sense it?” she chided.

“It sounds … too cute.”

Tiffany chuckled. “The Empress chose it; we should use it. Now, I’ll prepare a Protection Charm for the Empress to buy us time. Once the Empress is safe, I will join the fight; then, we can move to a more suitable location for a permanent solution.”

Without acknowledging his short grunt, she got to work, scanning the brush for usable materials, and the knife a few feet away immediately caught her attention.

She held the Royal Ritualist Royal Title, and was in charge of the Dark Arts of the Empire; it was her duty to advise the Empress on ritualistic options to advance her aims. The title gave her the understanding to analyze and comprehend the intricate components of materials and a wealth of early to mid-grade rituals. She was of the Witchery Class and a third-rank Subclass Hexer, which allowed her to branch into offensive magical forces.

Her grimoire appeared beside her from orange flames, causing her to breathe out a heavy sigh as she slid it to her side; the book resisted all forms of tarnish, including mud and dirt. She wanted to use it, but didn’t have the proper tools to utilize the more permanent solution her grimoire provided at the moment.

“Name, quick,” Tiffany snapped. Analyzing the large shrub next to her, she smiled. Pulling it up by the roots, she moved to pick up the knife, cutting the top half from the base before dropping them both beside her grimoire.

“It’s Gwen,” the woman mumbled. “Y-You’re a—a Witch?”

“You could say that,” Tiffany mumbled as she examined the knife hilt, faint smile still in place. “This will do wonders.” Orange flames sparked at her fingers, engulfing the knife.

“F-Fire?” Gwen shrank away, wincing as the fire illuminated the area.

“Witch’s Fire,” Tiffany corrected, using the magic-infused flames to separate the bony hand from the hilt. The fingers released their death grip, and she tossed the blade to her side; the orange fire surrounding the hand grew as she fed more magic into it, and it floated in midair beside her. “I can manipulate materials with it to a certain extent, but I need more practice to do more intricate divisions.”

She hummed, looking down at her shirt with delight. “I do love clothes; they always provide a fundamental material for Witches.”

Gwen eyed her uncertainly as she removed her shirt, leaving her only covered by her bra and shorts. Using the knife, she cut out a decent sized square out of the fabric, tossing it into the floating flame; it hovered next to the open bony hand.

Holding out the knife to Gwen, she said, “I assume you wish to live, yes?”

Gwen nodded frantically, eyes darting between the sounds of battle, concealed by the foliage and dense night jungle before returning to the knife hilt being offered her.

“Good, then please do as I say,” her smile was bright. “Over there,” she pointed at the bottom of a massive tree, four meters to their left, “is a pinkish flower called Athemia’s Gift, I need you to cut their base with this knife, that’s important, cut them with the blade, and bring me ten of them.

“After that, carve out a chunk of the tree root beside it; it shouldn’t be too hard with the Witch’s Fire surrounding the blade, and not too much, just a pinky’s worth. After that, find me fifteen of these thorns,” she instructed, picking up one of the black thorns the toad had been throwing. “Can you do that for me?” she asked, tossing the barb to her.

The woman nodded, catching it; her long, muddy red hair bouncing a little as she tentatively took the burning knife. “It—it doesn’t hurt.”

“Of course not,” Tiffany stated, turning her eyes to the jungle floor. “Witch’s Fire only burns what the caster wishes and has many other properties depending on the Witch’s skills. Now hurry along; we’re on the clock.”

She took one more fervent glance at the clashing sound of bone and wood on metal before scrambling to her feet and running to accomplish her instructed tasks, but not soon after she rose, Edmon blurred into action, separating the smaller shield with his free right hand.

Without warning or moving his feet, he threw it with surprising strength five feet to Gwen’s left. She choked, tripping into the mud. Blue mist followed the shield, and wherever it touched, thick, jagged ice formed. The disk vanished into the foliage like a bullet, leaving a trail of ice behind it, and Quin darted that way shortly after, his thunderous footsteps vibrating the ground.

“It is a quick creature,” Edmon commented with a short grunt; an icy replica of the disk formed in his outstretched hand before it shattered, leaving behind his circular shield in its place. He smoothly reattached the two pieces, head following the fight as they moved a little deeper into the jungle.

Tiffany directed a quick smile at her trembling assistant as she shakily got back to her feet and moved to accomplish her task.

Good girl. It’s nice having an aide.

She hummed while plucking two different types of mushrooms, tossing three of each into her fire; it kept an even distance from her body, housing her ingredients.

This place is ripe with lovely ingredients! I just need an acting agent now … if only there were Death Caps nearby, but I can’t see anything similar to it … hold on.

A glowing, light yellow moss caught her attention; it was growing on a small rock several feet away. That has the same properties as ground Kelser Root! Fascinating...

Getting to her feet, she briskly walked toward it and knelt as Edmon communicated his skill parameters to her telepathically.

I can see Transient Frost Wall being inconvenient at times, but at the same time, it does have a good field of defensive capabilities against projectiles, which this assailant seems to favor.

He had stood in the same location for a reason; Transient Frost Wall had a few caveats. He must stand in the same spot while using it, or it will break, starting its five-minute cooldown. It only defended against ranged attacks, and only protected those within a five-meter radius that he wished to support. Lastly, it could only take a certain amount of damage before going on cooldown. Tiffany wasn’t concerned, though; even if this shield broke, she knew he’d defend them with some other skills.

She took a deep breath as she held up her master’s diamond cores. “I apologize, my Empress; I would not do such a thing if it were not necessary.”

Regretfully, she tucked the diamonds into her shorts left pocket, and carefully pulled back the moss; she made sure to touch it in only specific dark yellow locations, humming thoughtfully as she appraised it.

So, this is called Snaptoe Moss, likely because it has internal barbs that shoot up if stepped on. How fun! The poison spreads through the body quickly and gives similar symptoms as the Yellow Fever virus. Yes, this will work as an acting agent!

Holding the earthy bottom, she tossed it into the fire and returned to Edmon’s side. Sitting beside her book, she manipulated the flames to lower and examined her ingredients with pursed lips.

“Is that all you need to protect the Empress?” Edmon asked, head still moving with the fight obscured from Tiffany’s field of view.

She talked while preparing the ingredients for the quick Protection Charm. “Yes, in the short run. It will give us at most an hour to find a safe location for me to perform a more extensive cleansing ritual.”

Edmon’s sinister full helm moved to look at the red-haired women, frantically crawling along the ground, searching for the thorns. “Woman, tell us what happened.”

Gwen tensed at his harsh tone, continuing to scavenge for her tasked items. “I—I was just going on a trip … it was for humanitarian aid…”

“Summarize it,” Edmon stated dryly.

“Be gentle,” Tiffany huffed, using her flames to extract the water from the mushrooms before coating the moss with the liquid. “We need her.”

“Oh?” Edmon muttered. “I see.”

“N-Need me?” Gwen’s arms began to tremble as she halted in her action, looking up at her.

“No, no, dear,” Tiffany chuckled, plucking the cloth out of the flames to spread a line of mud across it with her thumb. “Yes, I could use your life for many rituals, but no, not for this one; besides, we have other creatures to use for those kinds of things. Why get rid of helpful hands? Now continue searching, my dear, and answer the good man’s questions. He may appear gruff and intolerable, but he is the one protecting you.”

Gwen cleared her dry throat. “I—okay…” Her voice trembled as she resumed her search. “Lights appeared all over the sky, and then a crystal appeared. It—it felt really e-evil … everyone started running. The toad-frog-things came—they came out of the crystal. We didn’t know what to do; everyone panicked, but they just started—they killed us,” she rubbed at her eyes with the back of her wrist before continuing.

Swallowing, and sniffing back some snot, she found another thorn, placing it in her other hand that held the gathered ingredients. “They tied me up, and—and they forced us to walk into the crystal … we came here. It’s like a whole new world,” she muttered, glancing around the dark foliage, dimly lit by the Witch’s Fire. “The girl…”

“Empress Elinor,” Tiffany sharply corrected, crumbling the dehydrated mushrooms into the cloth on her lap.

“Excuse me,” Gwen choked, wincing as she tightened her left hand, causing a thorn to poke through her skin. She refrained from crying out, choosing to bite her lip, and opened her palm a little to extract the barb. “Empress Elinor—she—she was your—your daughter … she helped us escape with that monster, and—and then they sent that toad-thing after us. The Empress, she talked to it, and it—it took you hostage—it killed you, and—and she brought you back.”

“I see…” Tiffany whispered, tone sad.

“This makes things complicated,” Edmon sighed. “And the toad seems to be more skilled than I anticipated. It’s harming Quin faster than expected by focusing on already damaged areas. How soon until you can join the fight?”

“I’m hurrying,” Tiffany growled, tossing up another orange body of fire into the air. “Gwen, stick your ingredients into that flame; it won’t burn you.” She turned back to her work, a low rumble in her throat. “Yes, this makes our relationship complicated with the young Empress. Our charge is not aware of the scope of her abilities and what she did when creating us.”

“Still, it was a masterful move considering her circumstances; although, it would have been difficult for her if she knew the process of what she performed.”

Gwen tucked her lower lip under her teeth as she finished collecting the scattered thorns and tossed her listed items into the flame. She collapsed to her butt to stare at the ground, waiting for further instruction.

Tiffany brought both the skeletal hand and moss together in the flame, molding the plant to the outer edges of the bone. Gently holding up the cloth, filled with the mixed mushroom dust, she blew it into the flames. Directing her magic through the fire, she layered the bone with the powder, saying, “Spore and body of two mixed Lesser Panacea toadstools, coat this vessel with the mark of thy protection.”

She lowered the flame and shifted her legs to retrieve her master’s diamond bodies, turning to Gwen. “Take the knife and cut three of the flowers at their head, and carefully twist them around each other into a rope.”

Gwen nodded, following her instructions without a word.

Putting the fabric back into the orange flame, she guided the open palm onto the center of the piece before gently placing the two diamond earrings within the skeletal palm. “Close thy protective fingers around my master; defend her against the blight that seeks to corrupt her spirit.”

Weaving her magic into the mushroom-dust and moss coated skeletal hand, she watched the black burn marks of the spell wrap around the fingers, and the yellow moss’ pale glow increased as the hand closed around the diamonds. She took the cloth carrying the items out of the fire and swiftly folded its sides. Taking the braided stems from Gwen, she tied the cloth bag shut.

Tiffany held it up, muttering, “Burn back the corruption.” She watched satisfactorily as it burst into orange flames before breathing a sigh of relief as she brought the bag close to her chest. “This Protection Charm should last an hour. Now for the toad, and we’ll be taking it alive.”

“Alive?” Edmon growled. “For what purpose? It assaulted our Empress. It forfeited its life.”

“Gwen,” Tiffany smiled at the still trembling woman. “You said that our Empress could speak to the creature, did you not?”

Gwen nodded. “Yes,” she cleared her throat. “The Empress talked to her—I don’t know exactly what they were talking about—I only understood Empress Elinor, but—but it seemed like a hostage negotiation.”

“Hmm,” Tiffany nodded. “I thought as much, and she, is it? Interesting, a female of the species. Good to know.” She turned back to the intimidating Doom Guard above her. “As you heard, our Empress has not finished with her, and she will be the one to decide her fate.”

“A reasonable deduction,” Edmon grunted. “How do you plan to subdue her?”

“That’s already in the works,” Tiffany chimed, putting the Protection Charm housing her Empress on her grimoire and placing the gathered root into her flame. “Calgar Root; if it is crushed, the juices act as a low-tier sleeping alchemic agent. However, if you take the pollen of Athemia’s Gift, that acts the same as Wind Vivri, such as the flowers Gwen collected, and use them as a dispersal agent,” she brought both flames together, “then you can create a sort of sleeping gas—but that won’t be enough.”

“This is—is Witchcraft?” Gwen asked, clearly beginning to feel a little safer with them.

“Crude Witchcraft; just a simple Hex with decent ingredients,” Tiffany stated, extracting the pollen from inside the flowers with her magic, using the flames as a medium. “We must enhance the strength of the Calgar Root with a tiny bit of sap from the root of an Elder-Class tree … there it is, and pierce the root with Black Thorn Barbs. Normally, if you’d crush Black Thorn Barbs into dust and mixed it with water, then it would be mildly poisonous; however, what we need is its link to the Black Thorn Tree.

“Wonderful, they’ve been plucked recently, which means I can draw on its remaining root energy. You could use these barbs to grow a Black Thorn Tree, but we’ll be using that vitality to bridge the link with the Elder Tree’s sap and the Calgar Root. We just need to stick these into the root … slip the sap through the puncture points, and … done.

“Now I just need to activate the magical connection between the objects, and boom, a burst of mild-grade sleeping mist that will put most creatures under for at least forty minutes. On another note, it would be longer if ingested and not diluted into a fog. However, it should provide us with some cover to escape if any more toads are leaping about.”

“Marvel at your work later,” Edmon said, turning toward the dark jungle. “I’ll bring Quin back. Activate it when ready; I assume once the toad has reached striking distance of us again, it will attack.”

“Of course,” Tiffany giggled. “Oh, and by the way, Gwen, this will also put you to sleep; it works against anything living.”

“Huh?” Her throat constricted as the massive gorilla-like monster burst through the jungle, polished bones reflecting the orange light of the fire, and the light blue shield around them flashed several times, more barbs dropping to the floor as if losing all momentum.

“Oh, poor thing,” Tiffany muttered as the bright blue shield surrounded the beast; its legs seemed to have been the primary focus for the assailant. The bones were chipped, and a few cracks were evident in several places.

Dozens of blue flashes struck across their dull blue shield before the toad appeared a few meters from them. It could have been Tiffany’s imagination, but she was sure the creature was frustrated as her chest puffed out, and she let out several loud croaks.

Tiffany’s smile didn’t falter as she rose to her feet, taking the root out of the fire. She brought her flames with her, but removed the now useless flowers, dropping them to the dirt; the only thing left in the orange magical energy was the pollen.

She held up the root to the toad as if offering her a gift; as she spoke, black patterns began to trace down its length. “Root of the dream, linked to the seed, and given power by the sap of an Elder Tree, become one, and bloom with the wind.”

Manipulating the flame in-between herself and the hexed root, she blew, and the fire extinguished as the pollen gently flowed into the dark glowing designs. Gwen and the toad seemed confused as they stared at the root in her hands. A few seconds passed in silence.

“Was something…”

The root exploded into thick white mist, carried by a massive surge of wind; the toad vanished from sight, but it would be too late. Gwen took one breath; her eyes rolled back, and she began to collapse. Before she struck the ground, Edmon ordered Quin to catch her. Despite his injuries the giant ape swiftly reached down, picking her up in his massive left hand.

“Nicely executed,” Edmon said with a humored tone, moving to their left; his armor was nearly silent. The shell around them faded with the dimly lit snowflake on his shield.

“Hmm?” Tiffany turned to smirk at him, brushing back her thick black hair. “Is it just me, or are you grinning?” Without expecting a response, she shifted her attention to the dense fog that would spread half a mile, and stay for twenty minutes.

He bypassed her teasing remark. “We must find a suitable place to defend.”

Tiffany huffed. “Sure, but I need to gather a few more ingredients. Does our little Quin know where our Empress was initially heading? I also assume she must have other Undead elsewhere, at least one of these toad-people to communicate with them.”

“Yes,” Edmon stated telepathically to her, moving out of casual conversation range. “Once our Empress has returned, we can get answers, and speak to this toad-woman ourselves. She will answer for the crime of attacking the Empress.”

You’re just being overprotective … it’s the Defender in you. It will be the Empress that decides her fate.

“Of course, but I will request the Empress allow me time with the creature … examples must be made.” His tone was dark as he returned from the thick mist with the sleeping toad-woman under his armored right arm, her feet dragging along the floor.

In his left hand, his shield was gone, and in its place he held the toad’s dagger, offering it to her. “I assume you can use this?”

“Oh, you do love me.” Tiffany giggled with excitement. Taking it, she examined the fine craftsmanship. She took the sheath that was attached to the toad-woman's jacket, cutting it off.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he grunted. “Let’s mount,” he paused before grumbling, “Quin. Why would she choose such a ridiculous name?” he mumbled before continuing, “we’ll follow the path the Empress last directed him.”

“Avoiding the name?” Tiffany asked with amusement, placing the sheathed knife inside her makeshift sack where the other blade rested. “It’s a real shame the pouch ripped in her fall. Very well; just give me a moment to gather a few more materials.”

She spent three minutes collecting several different types of plants, flowers, sap, and fungus. Once finished, she wrapped them in what remained of her shirt and tied it together. Walking over to her book and Protective Charm, housing their Empress, she picked them up, saying, “I’m ready.”

Edmon had stood by their Empress the entire time. Nodding, he commanded Quin to pick them both up and set them on his shoulders before gently wrapping the toad-woman and Gwen in his massive hands. He began moving in a specific direction and was surprisingly stealthy for his size.

They continued through the silent fog, every creature sleeping soundly around them as they moved to the last safe location their Empress had directed her Skeletal Steed.