When she woke up that morning with a headache, Elincia knew that she had overdone it. Sylvia was always telling her that she needed to be careful about how long she let a spirit stay on this plane of existence. Letting them stay too long drained her mana, and since mana was the very essence of life, she could die if too much of it was drained.

Human sorceresses have it so easy. They don't use their own mana except when summoning a spirit.

She sometimes wished she'd been born human. If she had, then summoning a spirit wouldn't put so much stress on her body and mana reserves.

I wonder where I am?

Turning away from the white ceiling, Elincia was greeted by plain white walls. A window next to her bed allowed sunlight to filter through. The rising sun and multitude of colors spread across the sky let her know that it was early morning.

Sitting up in bed, Elincia belatedly realized that she was fully clothed. She tried to raise her hands and stretch, but something was pinning one of them down. A single glance revealed the culprit, Caspian, his head resting on the bed and one of his hands clutching hers.

Oh...

Elincia spent a moment basking in the warmth that engulfed her heart. She didn't know what was going on, why she was in a bed, or what Caspian was doing there, but knowing that he was there, with her, made her heart soar.

"He stayed here all night for you, you know," a voice said. Elincia looked at the doorway to see Erica leaning against the wall, her arms crossed underneath her bust.

She wasn't alone. Derek was sleeping on a chair that had been pressed against the wall, his neck lolling at an awkward angle and his armored feet splayed out in front of him. He would snort every few seconds, then mumble something about how he couldn't take anymore. Elincia didn't want to know what he was dreaming about.

"Lady Erica... what are you doing here?"

"Making sure that you and Caspie are okay, of course." Erica stood up and walked over to the bed. "Considering everything that happened last night, I felt it would be best if you two were not left alone."

"Last night..."

Elincia only needed a moment to remember what happened last night, the attack on her and Caspian, the maliciously glowing red eyes, the feelings of despair that had overwhelmed her, and of Caspian throwing himself at the machine's to protect her. She recalled summoning Baldur, and after that, she could remember nothing else.

I used up too much mana trying to keep Baldur on this plane.

Baldur was one of her contracted spirits. He lived in Yggdrasil, one of the five spiritual planes that existed out of phase with Terraria. She'd never summoned him before, since she didn't have much reason to. Perhaps if she had practiced, she would have been more prepared for how draining the act was.

I need to become stronger. Caspian almost died because of me.

Her best friend, the boy she'd dreamed about every day since he'd begun attending the academy, had nearly died because she hadn't been strong enough. He'd thrown himself against impossible odds while she had frozen up. Even after she'd summoned Baldur, she had been of no help. She passed out from exhaustion mere minutes after the battle began.

I can't let that happen again.

"Um, Lady Erica?" Elincia asked.

"Hm?"

"Um, I don't want to trouble you, but do you think you could train me?"

Erica perked up. "Train you?"

Elincia nodded. "Like, with summoning spirits, and stuff."

"You mean Spiritual Evocation?" Erica raised an eyebrow.

"Um."

Another nod. Elincia squirmed as Erica dissected her with a single amethyst eye. She didn't know what was going on inside of the sorceress's head, what sort of thoughts the woman might have been thinking, but the idea of being rejected made her stomach feel queazy.

"Hm, I suppose I could give you a few pointers," Erica admitted finally. "Although I'm not really the best when it comes to Spiritual Evocation, I am well-versed in figuring out how to make the most out of my spirits."

"Oh, thank you!" Elincia said. "Thank you so much!"

Erica's lips twitched into a smirk. "Ufufufu... oh, my. Aren't you an endearing young woman. I can see why Caspian loves you so much." Elincia's face blew up. Erica laughed. "What an innocent reaction! You two are like a match made in naivety. Oh, dear. Cassidy is going to be most disappointed."

Cassid? Isn't that Lady Erica's maid? What does she have to do with this?

"Of course, Caspie could always go the harem route if he wanted to."

Elincia didn't get it. Harem? What is that?

"Then again, I don't know if two women can be considered a true harem."

S-she's completely lost me.

"Um, Lady... Erica?" she asked hesitantly.

Erica waved a hand through the air. "Well, never mind any of that. You asked me to lend you my aid in growing stronger, and I have agreed. We shall speak more about this matter later today, perhaps over wine."

"O-okay."

"In the meantime..." Erica's grin suddenly turned devious. "... you should tend to your young man. He's waking up."

"What?" Elincia asked—only to freeze when Caspian groaned and stirred.

"Come along, Derek." Erica kicked Derek in the leg, startling the man awake.

"W-whazzat?" Derek looked around for several seconds before turning his eyes to Erica.

"It's time for us to leave," Erica said promptly.

"Oh... okay..." Derek stood up and yawned. He followed Erica as she sauntered out of the room.

Elincia watched them go, and then turned back to Caspian as he sat up and stretched his arms above his head. The shirt he wore was very form fitting, so when he stretched, his shirt lifted to reveal his stomach.

Oh... um. Oh, my.

Elincia stared at the little bit of Caspian's stomach. Despite not being able to see much, she saw more than enough to make her mouth dry. She tried to wet her throat, but it didn't seem to help. Caspian had abs.

"C-Caspian?"

"Hm?"

Caspian let his hands fall back down and turned his eyes on her. She felt her face become warm underneath his gaze. He stared at her for several seconds, as if not quite sure what he was looking at, or maybe he was staring at an illusion. Then his eyes widened.

His next action shocked her.

"Ele!"

"Kya!"

Elincia squeaked when he almost threw himself onto the bed and pulled her into a hug. Muscular arms wrapped around her midsection, and she found herself being pressed against a lithe but powerfully built chest.

He's hugging me... Caspian is hugging me. Oh, spirits! Caspian is hugging me!

Elincia thought she might go insane. She felt delirious. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her cheeks felt like they'd been lit on fire. Caspian was holding her and—

"I'm sorry!"

What?

"Caspian?"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you!"

Protect me?

"Caspian... what are you saying?" Elincia asked.

Caspian's arms tightened around her body. Elincia almost squeaked when her face was pressed further against his chest.

"I trained so hard. Everyday, ever since I've come here, my life has been nothing but training. I did it all so I could be strong enough to protect you, to be worthy of becoming your Knight, but I... last night, I failed. If it hadn't been for Sylvia and the other sorceresses showing up when they did, you would have been killed."

Elincia's chest felt uncomfortably tight. She didn't know what happened after she'd passed out, but something had clearly happened. Up to this point, Caspian had never acted with anything less than utmost confidence in himself. He walked with his head high, he refused to back down when challenged, he was assertive and told everyone exactly how he felt, and he expressed confidence that he would be the victor in this tournament. She was amazed by how strong his belief in himself was—or rather, had been.

"How could you say something like that?" Elincia lifted her head to gaze at his face. "Caspian, you're the strongest person I know."

"No, I'm not. I'm really not. If I was strong, then you would've never been placed in so much danger last night. I would have demolished those automatons within seconds." Elincia would have said something, but Caspian's determined smile stunned her. "Don't worry, though. I haven't forgotten my promise. I'm going to get stronger, strong enough that I can protect you from anything."

"Caspian..." Elincia shook away her astonishment and gave him a beaming smile in return. "And I'm going to become stronger, too. I want to be someone who's worthy of being your sorceress. I want to be able to help you."

"Then let's make another promise." Caspian raised his hand and stuck out his pinky. "I promise that I'll grow stronger, so strong that what happened last night will never happen again."

Elincia coiled her pinky around his. "And I promise to become a sorceress whose powerful enough to stand by your side. I'll become so powerful that you'll never have to worry about me fainting from mana exhaustion."

She didn't know what the future held. She didn't know what kind of hardships she and Caspian would face. But in that moment, as she and her best friend made another life-changing promise, Elincia knew that it didn't matter what she faced. No amount of hardships would be enough to keep her down. No amount of danger would make her waver. Because she had Caspian to stand with her, and they would both make sure the other survived.

"It's a promise!" they said at the same time, their matching smiles bright enough to outshine even the sun.