Jayden waited for Elizah to arrive at the pond, as usual, that evening, but for once, Elizah was late. He was about to leave, thinking she wouldn't show up, but then she arrived with flushed cheeks and eyes mildly tired.

"We need to head over to Jade's cottage," she said, and Jayden only gave her a curious look before asking, "Why do we need to go there?"

"She wanted us to examine the body from this morning," Elizah said and walked in the direction of Jade's cottage in the depths of the forest.

Jayden could only follow her, and soon the tiny cottage came into view. It was well hidden in the dense forest, making it hard for anyone to spot it in the checks of the woods.

Elizah opened the door and let herself in, and Jayden continued to follow her. Jade was seated at a table, and the man was spread out in front of her. The man's face was still scarred, but the bloodstains had been cleaned off, making it a bit less gruesome.

"I'm glad you've made it. For a moment I thought that you had forgotten and had no plans to come," Jade said and stood up.

"I need you to examine this, Elizah," Jade said and stood next to Jayden. She had a solemn look on her face, and her face was grim.

Elizah reluctantly moved her hand over the man's face and closed her eyes. She was serene and calm, and the rigidness, which was usual for Elizah, had melted off her facade for once.

Jayden watched intently as the man's wounds knotted together extremely slowly. The man's face was no longer disfigured within moments, but bruises remained on his face. There were also clear burn marks on his face which seemed extremely stubborn to leave his face.

After all the scars had come together, and the skin had held together, Elizah's eyes opened and she gasped and fell backwards. She clutched the first thing she could grasp and was breathing heavily.

"Are you okay Liz?" Jayden asked almost immediately after she'd fallen backwards, with his tone full of concern. He rushed up to her side and was about to help her up when she kindly declined and closed her eyes for a moment before she stood up by herself.

"She'll be alright," Jade said and handed Elizah a steaming mug of some sort of tea.

"What happened?" Jayden asked and curiously watched Elizah's still trembling figure sip from the mug.

"That took a lot out of me," Elizah said and took another gulp from the glass.

"I'd suspected the very same. It wasn't a living person after all. You had to use only your energy," Jade said with a satisfied glance in Elizah's direction and led the two of them to chairs after covering the man.

"What did you suspect?" Jayden asked, more bewildered than ever.

"It wasn't a normal injury. There was foul play at work here, but this is a good learning experience for the two of you," Jade said as soon as she sat down.

"This feels like someone's pent up magic," Elizah managed slowly, and her eyes widened as she made the connection.

Jayden's glance met Elizah's, and the two of them were full of both surprise and fear.

"Am I right?" Elizah asked Jade.

"It's a bit complicated, but you've got the spirit. It's time I did explain how this works now," Jade said with a sigh, "So as you guessed this was a pent up power that was used against him. If you remember correctly I mentioned to the two of you that every type of magic can be light or dark in its own sense. That is the original definition of dark magic, but now to make it simple enough for an ordinary person to understand, the definition has been diluted. In both of your cases, you have the darker half of your magic types. However, in order to fulfill your destinies, you both will be able to use the lighter half as well. The lighter half of healing magic corresponds to using magic to heal or grow, whereas the darker half corresponds to taking energy from one being. The same for warrior types or battle magic, is related to the element as the darker type users will use fire while the light magic users use water. Users of dark magic are rare, but not uncommon, however you both may be first instance of those who can use both."

"So the injury on the man was caused by a warrior with dark magic?" Jayden asked in confusion.

"Precisely," Jade said and gave a small smile of approval.

"That combination repelled me out of the man's leftover bits of life before I could dare to try to heal it," Elizah said and rubbed her palms together. They had started to go numb after placing her mug on the table.

"I know you didn't do it, young prince, but that only makes matters worse for all of us," Jade said with apparent worry in her voice upon seeing Jayden's mildly afraid face.

"There's someone out there who is a potentially dangerous murderer if not tackled," Elizah said with her tone sombre.

"If the problem is actually looked at, there's something that we can notice clearly. This person wouldn't be driven to such extremes unless they had to conceal their powers from the outside world," Jade said with a mild bit of anger building up in her tone.

"You're saying the cause is probably the ban on magic," Jayden said as the thoughts finally clicked in his head.

Jade only nodded gravely. "I need the two of you to be safe. Please be watchful of your surroundings. Losing more chances of magic existing in the next generation is one thing we can't afford," Jade said with concern, creasing lines on her face.

Jayden and Elizah nodded in unison. "I'm heading off to report my findings to the king, both of you head back home and Elizah please rest well," Jade said and led them out the door and closed the door behind her.

Jade disappeared in the castle's direction, and Jayden observed Elizah closely. There was something clearly wrong with her, but she wouldn't tell him.

"Is everything okay back at home?" Jayden asked cautiously. He wanted to help her out no matter what. Because that was the role of the king and their family, even if the intentions had changed over time.

"It's nothing. If anything, I'm going to spend more time in your sight," Elizah said with a small, sad smile.

"What do you mean?" Jayden asked, surprised by her statement.

"I'm going to become your mother's servant," Elizah said with dismay in her voice.

Jayden looked taken aback by what Elizah had just said.

"You're kidding right?" Jayden asked with dread in his tone.

"No," Elizah said placidly. She then narrated whatever had happened that morning at her home.

Jayden and Elizah reached near Elizah's tiny cottage when she was done. Jayden was stubborn that Elizah shouldn't take the job, and neither was Micah leaving.

"I'm going to make this work," Jayden said when Elizah tried to protest.

"It's impossible," Elizah said with a tired sigh.

"Just trust me, this once. Go home and sleep, and meet me at the pond by sunset," Jayden said and waved a sign of departure, and Elizah was just left in both fear and worry for what the prince had in mind.

There was a knock at the door, and after a moment, someone walked in without waiting for a response.

"You never fail to disappoint," the calm, seated person inside said.

"I'm getting tired of this," the person at the door said without stepping inside.

"You can't keep killing or scaring all our accomplices," the seated person answered.

"You know, where's the third piece of our deal, they're never helping," the person outside complained.

"They're doing their fair share, just because you have a terrible relationship with them doesn't mean that you're doing too much work," the seated person answered.

"Easy for you to say," the other answered with a roll of their eyes.

"What did you say?" the seated person asked with a raise of their eyebrows.

"Nothing," the other person quickly mumbled.

"I know you long for power, but be patient," the seated person answered gently.

"I've waited long enough," the person said, and flames sparked out of their palms.

"It's not much longer till the first fragment will be free," the seated one answered.

The two people only could wonder wistfully of the oncoming possibilities of their powers as their fragmented plan slowly came together, piece by piece.