Velma’s expression was cold, concentrating on charging up the attack. Her hands were together forming a sphere bigger than any of the previous attacks.

The man leaped forward, pre-emptively attacking. Velma rushed a response, directing her hands to the man. He tried to slip to the side but the attacked honed in and moved faster, shifting towards him. The sphere hit.

The man’s eyes widened on contact. At first, I was sure it was in pain, I could see him ready to scream, but the edge of his lips straightened wide instead. There was no blast, no chaotic sparks, not even any sound to it. but I saw the man’s body wry in pain, his face grimacing. He stayed standing.

“That should have knocked you out. You should have died!” Velma panicked. She looked tired, the attack obviously taking a lot out of her.

The man stumbled backwards but caught himself from falling over.

“And here I thought that it all a con, there’s actually a seventh domain,” The man was laughing but his mouth was bloody. He was hurt.

Velma tried to remain fierce but you could tell she had little left. “How’d you defend that! No one should be able to defend that!”

“You know very little of the republic madamme, or really of much else to be honest, I don’t think I ever saw you read in the tomes! A tomestress that’s so badly read she hired some kids should have set off some of those haughty embers,” His voice was less playful now, I could tell he was trying to mask some of the effects of the attack, the pain bitter.

He launched himself forward again. He really was fast, closing the gap between himself and Velma with ease. Velma had only used distance attacks until now, so I expected she was in weak close combat.

As soon as he came too close, she tried to jump back, but here body was slow- at least compared to his. He swept at her leg; it was subtle but I saw his foot turn to stone just before it made contact with her shin. Velma somehow blocked, recruiting her earthen looking shroud. She’d focussed more of it at the point of contact, slowing the attack greatly.

“clever,” The man said.

He didn’t stop there, switching stance and now raising the opposite foot to the sky. I saw pyre flow around him for the first time, blue wisps circling his movements. His whole leg changed as it rose, turning to rock in an instant, his foot enlarged, earth piling on, the whole leg now looking more like an anvil.

Velma's eyes were wide, "What in the..."

Then he slashed downwards. The pressure that built crashed; it felt like moon falling.

I couldn’t handle the forces that built even from the distance I was at. I fell back landing on my arse. I had to shield myself from the air-borne debris the attack incited, my right arm was slow to block because of the injuries so a few seeped through, impaling my head. I was left laying groggy.

“Who are you two with, my family will pay you more!” The words were almost grovelled, I could barely tell it was Velma.

I looked to her and saw her skin pierced all over. She was bloody and rabid.

“Hahah, you try force first and then money after? I can see why you’d hide the world book for yourself, just like your father.”

“If you just want the Qy- world book I can give it to you, I know it better than anyone, I’ll tell you all its secrets!” Velma sounded pitiful. I couldn’t bear to hear it. My consciousness was slipping, and I was beginning to appreciate it.

“You don’t even know where it is love, besides, I don’t need your help learning what you know,”

I wanted to see but I couldn’t even bring myself to open my eyelids. I don’t know If it was because I lacked the strength or the resolve. I stayed awake long enough to hear Velma final few words although I didn’t know it at the time.

“No! don’t! you’ll trigger the seal!”

***

I woke to the sound of busy streets: people yelling, children running and carts rolling. There was a window open and in bleed strong rays of sunlight, signalling midcycle. Still half asleep, I moved to stretch my arms. I felt my muscles working with ease. The smell of flowers and soap lifted from my sheets. My skin felt smooth and free. Everything seemed great, then dread hooked me.

 The beads were gone from my neck.

I tried to traceback my memories, replaying my capturers and the fight that happened, but I couldn’t make sense of it all. Where’s Velma and… was that guy Nimor? I jolted out of bed, half expecting my muscles to give at the attempt. But everything felt fine. I couldn’t even tell which arm I had broken. I felt at my chest and realised I was even more bony than usual, but the skin felt firm and clean. I expected scabs and holes, and found it in better shape than it had been in potentially ever.

I decided to look out of the window. I could figure out where in the village I was and maybe go find Lunar. I was going to tell her everything, if I did run into Velma again, I had no idea what to do. I needed Lunar’s help.

I had flash backs to how pitiful she looked which ached my heart. But her crazed eyes haunted me none the less.

I heard the markets outside the window first, they were like the markets of Tomov, but much rowdier. When I looked out of the window, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. It looked nothing alike. The scale up in size alone was enough to make drawing similarities dumb. I realised I was several floors above ground, I’d never been higher than the roof of the tomes so the feeling was unsettling. Looking down on hundreds of families milling around and men hard at work I felt small… yet whole. There was something to the amount of life all in one place that made life vibrant.

Where am I?

Then a thought jolted my mind. Only someone rich could afford to be so high up in such a nice room. What if Elon and his entourage brought me? They wanted to get a holy sister to read my memories. Did they somehow find me after Velma’s fight and take me a to a city to get one? They’d be better than the ones from the village but the closest city was Kerone and that was hundreds of miles from the village.

I Didn’t want to find out. There was also the mystery of Nimor, or whoever that was fighting Velma. If he took me, I didn’t trust him either. Whoever brought me here I couldn’t trust.

I was naked so looked around for clothes. I found the clothes I had been wearing cleaned and repaired placed by a wardrobe. I questioned it but decided to just put it on and leave as soon as possible.

I opted to leave by the window. Whoever was watching me could have been downstairs. Standing by the ledge my heart raced, I tested out all my joints, muscles and bones. I needed to be sure I could none of them would suddenly flail up again. it took me a few minutes to convince myself but I made the drop, landing on the roof of a food hut and rolling on impact to brace my fall. My knees couldn’t handle the shock, buckling on landing. But I listened to my adrenaline, quieting the pain.

“Leaving without even a thank you.” A familiar voice called from behind. I’d seen no one on the roof when looking down, but I still knew the voice. I knew I couldn’t outrun him.