“Honestly, what were you thinking, knocking me over like that?” Luna snapped. She leaned against the brick wall beside the community vending machine in the school's cafeteria, arms crossed, head low and eyes closed.

“I was just greeting my best friend. There's no harm in that is there?” Liz responded innocently while pulling three cans of tomato juice out of the device's pickup.

“She's easily embarrassed.” Ryan teased from his seat at an empty table.

“Well, some things never change then.” Liz stated cheerfully and split the drinks between the three of them.

“Enough about me.” Luna groaned and glared at the brunette. “I thought you believed that I killed the dog. That's why you left, isn't it? Why are you acting so friendly to me? Why are you even back here?”

Liz pouted. “That's a mean way to ask, don't you think?” When Luna didn't give an answer Liz dipped her head apologetically. “I tried to tell my parents that you weren't the one who did it but they wouldn't listen. Had it been my choice, I would have stayed.”

“What's this about killing a dog?” Ryan interrupted.

“Andy and a handful of other students we went to elementary school with killed a puppy that Liz and I were looking after.” Luna explained. “They framed me for it, though I still don't entirely know why. Regardless, it seems everyone is aware of it yet said nothing.” All except Ian apparently.

“I...” Ryan hesitated. “I don't know what to say to that.”

“Forget it.” Luna turned her attention back to Liz. “So why are you back all of a sudden? Did your parents decide that I might not be a freak these days?”

“Well, the short answer would be that I don't live with my parents anymore, nor do they have any authority over me.”

“Why is that?”

Liz smiled nervously as though she regretted allowing the conversation to turn in such a direction. She held the can of juice in both hands, spinning it around slowly. “I was a bit rebellious after we moved, in hopes that we might return here if I put up enough of a fight. I refused to make any friends at my new school, didn't join any clubs or do any sort of extracurricular activity and worst of all, as far as my parents were concerned, I never opened a textbook. My family was friends with this fascinating doctor so they eventually asked him to take a look at me and recommend a therapist if need be. He certainly knew his stuff but his personality was as beautiful as a-”

“Blobfish?” Luna inquired.

Liz tensed up her lips and nodded in short intervals. “How'd you know?”

“Lucky guess. Continue.”

“My parents started making sure I went to see him regularly. First, it was about once a week and they would sit in on it. Eventually, it started becoming as frequently as two or even three times a week. By that point, my folks were too busy to keep attending so they had me go alone. He was such a creep though that I hated them not being there. I started cooperating with my parents and the school to convince everyone that I was 'better' in an attempt to get away from him. They all praised, felt indebted and generally got even closer to him so that completely backfired on me. He was invited over for dinner many times and I noticed that he was making notes about me when he came. My parents, I'm guessing, dismissed it as him keeping tabs on my mental state and ignored it. Then...”

“Then?”

Liz squeezed the can tighter, enough that Luna could hear the aluminum crinkling. “Despite my rebellious phase, I was still outperforming almost everyone at school in every field. Even when I never opened a textbook, I still got a perfect score on every test. When we did the ten-minute runs in middle school, I left everyone in the dust. It didn't take long for recommendations to start skipping grades came in. Around that time, I came home one day to my parents sitting around the dining room table, letter in hand. I couldn't tell if they were happy, depressed, frustrated or ecstatic. Something about them seemed off, even as they noticed me. My mother who was usually very haughty in the way she spoke, was almost monotone as she beckoned me to sit. They told me that they received an offer, and as difficult as it was for them to make such a decision, they accepted it. Before I could ask what that decision had been, the doctor, Raymond, barged in like he owned the place. He threw a briefcase down on the table where my parents excitedly opened it. Inside was an enormous chunk of cash. Raymond put a hand on my shoulder and told me, 'Starting today, you're my daughter.'”

Luna's knuckles cracked and her eye burned. “They sold you off?”

Liz nodded. “He took me by force to this facility in the middle of nowhere that was just... white. White walls, white ceiling, everyone wore white. Not a soul seemed to bear any emotion at all except for the doctors who pretended to be nice. There was about a hundred or so of us, if I recall correctly. 'Gifted Children' they referred to us as. They constantly put us in competitions, trying to determine who was the best and analyzing everything. They studied our performances, our improvements, the rate of them, the rate we grew, the maximums of our growth, our responses to certain situations, and so on so forth.”

Liz locked eyes with Ryan who, out of sight from Luna, was shaking his head. He mouthed, “You've already said too much.”

She ignored him to a degree. “In the end, I guess they decided they had everything they were looking for, or so they said. I was removed from the facility and given a large enough allowance that I could live on my own though I still picked up a job to make sure I had some spending money. I don't know what became of the other kids that were locked up with me or what became of my parents. They never even came to visit me while I was locked up. That aside, I decided that if I had been given this freedom, I would be the one to determine what I do with it. As such, I applied to this school as soon as I was able. They even allowed me to be in the same class as my dear sweet Luna!”

“A story like that only begs more questions.” Luna commented and took a swig of tomato juice.

“I'm afraid that's all I can really say. I never found out the purpose of it or what results they were looking for.”

“I guess that's to be expected. I question how legal an institution like that would be. In any sense, here's a question I'm sure you can answer. Have you two met before?” Luna pointed at both Liz and Ryan.

“No.” Ryan grunted.

“Yes.” Liz exclaimed happily, earning her a disapproving glare from Ryan.

Luna squinted at both of them.

“We work together.” Liz explained. “Speaking of which, we should probably get going. Our boss called an early meeting today.” She stood up and quickly hugged Luna. “It's unfortunate that we can't talk more but we should meet up sometime. I'd love to see how Stella and Aileen are doing after all these years.”

“Uh... right.” Luna said questionably and put one arm around Liz before she skipped towards the door of the cafeteria.

“We need to go Ryan. You know he doesn't like it when we're late!”

“I'll catch up!” he called after her and turned his attention to Luna who was still slightly confused. “Sorry about all that.” He started to say, rubbing the back of his head. His expression turned serious and both of his arms dropped down by his side. With no warning at all, he commanded, “Kiss me.”

Luna blinked rapidly before reaching towards him. He smiled as her hand neared his cheek but flinched as she grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up on his toes. “Don't get cocky just because I allowed you to hold my hand.” She released him with a slight push where he grabbed the nearest table for balance and to stop him from stepping backward. “I'm expecting an explanation later for why you felt it was necessary to claim you don't know Liz as well.”

He laughed while rubbing at his neck. “It was worth a shot.” He turned his back towards her and put a hand up in a wave. “I'll explain tomorrow!”

Luna stood alone in the empty cafeteria, eyeing the doorway with her head canted. “What the hell was that about?”

* * *

“You're so slow.” Liz shouted at Ryan as he left through the main entrance.

He ignored her and stepped onto the sidewalk where another student was passing by. “Stop there.” Ryan ordered and the student halted in place, not even turning around. “Give me your wallet.” The boy silently reached into his back pocket, faced Ryan and held the wallet out at arms reach, handing it over without protest. “Carry on with your business.” He turned on his heels and left Ryan behind, never looking back.

Liz slapped Ryan in the back. “Are you having doubts about your abilities now?”

“Piss off. I was just double-checking. I tried doing that to speed things along with Luna but she wasn't even fazed by it. Forget that though. What the hell are you even doing here?” He snapped and put his hands in his pockets. They spoke as they walked.

“Apparently there's another candidate here that I'm supposed to help bring in.”

“That's not what I mean and you know it. Why the hell are you showing yourself in front of Luna?”

“What? You afraid I'm going to steal her from you or something?” She inquired mockingly.

“Stop screwing around!” He yelled and grabbed her collar with both hands. She smiled confidently at him, offering no resistance whatsoever. “You'd best not have any intentions of manipulating her.”

“Says the guy who just tried to mind control her.”

“I only did that to try and get her to break down her shell a little bit.”

“Oh?” Liz then kneed Ryan in the stomach. His grip on her loosened and she locked his arm in her elbow then threw him over her shoulder. “I wonder about that.” She mused and laughed before continuing on without him.

Ryan slowly sat up, clutching his stomach. “Rotten two-faced bitch.” He spat and hurried to catch up with her.

* * *

“I'm home,” Luna called out as she walked into the house. The three grey wolves hurried in past her, panting and running around the living room excitedly. “Apparently I brought company!”

Silence.

“Stella?”

Ossory disappeared into the hallway where Luna could hear him sprinting up the stairs. He returned only a couple seconds later with a muted bark.

“Not there?” Luna asked him and he started rubbing against her leg without a sound. She then marched over to the fridge without taking her shoes off, grabbed both a note pad and a pen in order to scribble down a message.

I'll be at the pond testing something out.

-Luna

After pinning the paper against the fridge using a blank magnet, she motioned to her friends to follow. The three of them barked happily as they dashed back out into the wilderness.

* * *

Splash! Luna threw a small stone into the pond as the three wolves wrestled over an apple behind her. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, filtering out the sound of their horseplay and instead focusing on any noises within the forest. Hearing nothing but crickets she unzipped her sweater, removed and folded it then laid it down at the tree line. Her ears sprouted up in their freedom and her tail stretched out, wagging to get the blood flowing.

Luna approached the still water and eyed her reflection, gently rubbing at the sudden “insignia” that had appeared on her chest that afternoon. It seemed innocent enough like it had only been drawn on her skin using a marker but had the persistence of a tattoo. Anytime she touched the skin around it, it would glow and burn in response. Could this be related to the Ríastrad in my eye? If so, why hasn't anyone told me about it?

She scoffed at her reflection, double-checked that no one was nearby and reached for another rock. She threw the stone almost directly up, angled just enough that it would fall into the water and not on her head. About the same time it started to come back down, Luna covered her cursed eye and watched the object diligently with the other. The red snake symbol burned again and once more, reality seemed to shift like tumbling building blocks. In a flash, they all settled back into each other neatly and the rock returned to Luna's hand.

“What is this?” She asked herself aloud.

“A succubus specialty. Moulding reality itself, to an extent.” A mysterious voice answered.

Luna immediately dropped the stone and pressed down both of her ears with her hands while simultaneously trying to hide her tail behind her. She quickly whipped around to see a man, with what she thought was a very long walking stick, stepping into the clearing. Each step he made had absolutely no sound whatsoever and his body seemed translucent. She could only make out details such as colour when she looked at him through her peripheral vision. “Who the hell are you and when did you get here?” She snapped.

He waved his stick through the air in front of him and his figure became solid. “Ah, where are my manners? My name is Idel. Quite frankly, I wasn't far behind you this entire time. I was on my way to deliver a package to Stella and Aileen when I happened to see you and your family,” he gestured towards the wolves, “head into the forest. You don't need to hide your ears and tail, by the way, Luna. I'm quite certain they're no more surprising now than they were when you were a baby.”

“I never told you my name.” She commented and slowly lowered her arms. Her tail flicked behind her and hit the ground with a thunk!

“Naturally. I'm not senile nor do I have Alzheimer's. It's only been sixteen years. Surely my remembering your name isn't that unusual? You will have to forgive my sneaking up on you though. I'd assumed that you would refrain from acting out of the 'ordinary', so to speak, if you knew someone was nearby. As such, I concealed myself with a low tier visual cloak but high tier masks to scent and sound. I figured if you took after your father as much as Stella and Styx said, you'd try and find me with your ears and nose before your eyes.”

Luna maintained a defensive stance, only relaxing the smallest amount when she saw that the wolves hadn't tensed up at all in response to Idel's presence.

He followed her gaze as he took his staff in both hands. “Fascinating creatures, are they not? I solemnly believe that wolves have some of the greatest danger senses in the known universe. Ah, but of course, if you weren't here I'd probably be running for the hills right about now. Even if these three would still be friendly, their pack mates may only see me as a free meal.”

They both stared at each other in silence for a brief moment before Idel tilted his head and pointed at the insignia on her chest. “Simply marvellous. I'd read in Stella's letter that you inherited the Ríastrad from your father, but to think you also inherited Dúil from your mother!” He began to walk towards her excitedly and she stomped on the ground, growling. Her claws and teeth sharpened while Ossory and them stopped what they were doing to start slowly surrounding the stranger. He ceased his movement and held his hand up once more, gradually readopting a relaxed stance. “Apologies. In my excitement, I forgot that you don't remember me. Perhaps I should have waited until one of your overseers was nearby before I engaged you. I'd rather prefer not to get into a fight with my niece after coming all this way.”

“Niece?”

“Oh, yes of course. Cain and Styx are both my younger brothers. We did take dramatically different routes in terms of our careers though. Cain became a mercenary who specialized in vampire hunting, Styx became a vampire champion ironically and I became the Archmage of Draíocht Academy.”

“You're supposed to be a wizard?”

“In the simplest terms, yes. If it's alright with you, I'd like to avoid getting into the specifics for now. Once we return to the splendour of the indoors, however, I would be happy to explain in detail the differences between all One-hundred-forty-one, with more either being created or discovered, different types of magic casters.”

“Magic sounds interesting but I don't think I'm that intrigued. Now, what was it you were saying about the Ríastrad and...”

“Dúil?”

“Sure.”

Idel scrunched up his face slightly and bobbed his head side to side. “I'm afraid that conversation will have to wait until Stella joins us. I believe it would be more beneficial to both of us if I didn't repeat everything you may have already learned from her.”

Luna clicked her tongue in frustration. “Fine. What about my talents as a part succubus? You mentioned altering reality?”

“In a very general sense, yes. A pureblood like your mother was capable of teleportation, swapping physical positions, stopping time within a certain field of effect, and the list goes on. Again, there are limitations. She couldn't halt the entire world at once nor teleport unless she had been to the target location before. Warping that rock into your hand after throwing it was a mutation in the sense that you moved the stone instead of yourself.”

Luna momentarily recalled how she had narrowly avoided the car from that afternoon. “I've figured out warping other objects, how do I teleport myself?”

“Well, it differs. For you, since you're part demon, all you really need is enough mana in your reservoir, the affinity -which you obviously have- and finally the will to perform the desired spell. Try this, put a clear image in your mind's eye of you standing behind me then channel the mana through your runes.”

“Through my what?”

“Your rune-, your eye. Do exactly what you did when you moved that rock but instead of thinking about holding it, think about being behind me.”

“What if I thought about grabbing you by the throat?”

He fidgeted nervously. “It's doable, and your mother has done. I wouldn't recommend it as a common practice or a learning process. If you lose focus you may end up putting your hand inside of me and that wouldn't be fun for either of us.”

“Dully noted.” Luna chuckled and covered her left eye again. Idel's facial expression stiffened up for a split second and returned to normal. She pictured herself standing behind him, just out of arms reach. Her chest burned yet again and her head began to pound, forcing her eyes to close. A slow clap beckoned her to open them, the pain quickly dying down. In front of her was Idel, the pond now behind him instead of her and she now with the tree line to her back.

“You've successfully transported yourself. Not bad for a beginner. You were rather sluggish so honing is in order. If I may also add, blinking as a cue for activation is alright for learning but in the future, I'd recommend forming yourself to execute the spell using naught but a thought. The blinking is a dead giveaway of your intentions and also adds to your total cast time.”

“The migraine that comes with it is rather annoying as well.” She stated and massaged one temple.

“Considering you've cast magic at least twice today that you've only just learned, it's no surprise that you're suffering some drawbacks. Illusion and alteration based magics are especially strenuous on the mind since they require immaculate focus. Pyromancy and cryomancy, on the other hand, are particularly hard on the body because...”

As his explanation dragged on Luna became dizzy. The pain hadn't returned but all of a sudden she felt like she needed to lie down or at least slow her breathing. Idel didn't notice until she put one knee on the ground and started blinking rapidly. He knelt in front of her, trying to ask her questions but she heard nothing. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled what looked like a sapphire out of his pocket and placed it in her hand. He then took hold of her fingers and, using them more or less as a shield, broke the crystal. Her hand was encompassed by azure light and she felt better almost instantaneously. As Idel backed away, she stood up and asked, “What just happened?”

“Just how many spells did you cast today?”

“Four, maybe? Once by accident to avoid getting hit by a car, once to steal a cop's gun,” Idel rolled his eyes and grunted in amusement, “warping the rock and just now, warping myself.”

“You really are just like your parents. Anyway, it's a bit strange but I believe you went into a state of mana fatigue. It's mostly unique to demons where if you use up your body's reservoir, you mentally suffer very similarly to if you exhausted your body like after a marathon. The good news to that though is that your body itself retains its stamina so you only need to worry about recharging your psyche. The bad news is that you risk brain damage or even putting yourself into a comatose so I would recommend figuring out your limit sooner or later. These gems,” He pulled out another one of those sapphire-like crystals, “are called scíths. Whoever is in contact with it when it breaks immediately refills their personal reservoir. These types are basically pure crystallized mana. There exist cheaper ones which are tainted by other minerals like salt-”

Luna clasped a hand over his mouth. “You said it was strange. What is strange about me running out of mana?”

He rolled his eyes again, this time in annoyance. “We will be revisiting that explanation, mark my words. I said it was strange for two reasons: one is that you should have a tremendous reserve and two, it's the middle of the day without a cloud in the sky.”

“Explain the second one. What does the time of day have to do with this?”

“What does it have to do with this?” Idel's voice started to rise slightly. “Are you, by chance, completely ignorant to arcane architecture?”

“Do I look like I have a sweet clue what I'm doing?”

He stared blankly for several seconds. “Touche. Well, you probably don't know what your affinities are either then, do you?” He held up a hand to silence her before she spoke. “Yes, this is relevant to the sky being clear.”

“No, I don't believe that I know my affinities.”

“Would you like to?”

She thought about it for a moment. “I suppose if you were going to try anything, doing so when I was suffering was your best opportunity. That's enough evidence to declare that you're at least aware of the risks associated with turning on me. Fine then. What are my affinities?”

“Oh, Luna.” He took a step toward her, his arms widening and she jabbed him in the solar plexus.

“Don't even think about hugging me.”

Idel backed up a couple of paces, gingerly rubbing his stomach. “You show affection like your father, there's no doubt about that. It'll take me a minute or two to set up. I can't tell you what your affinities are off the top of my head, I have to determine them through a test. While I'm setting it up though, I'll explain the concept of affinities and go into greater detail on why it's strange that you used up your resources. In the meantime, could you kindly go fetch roughly fourteen deadfalls? They need to be long enough that they stick up at least six inches above the pond's surface.”

“Why do I need deadfalls?”

“They'll serve as the catalysts for this test. Now go on, this test isn't terribly quick so I'd like to get started as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Luna lazily left the clearing and started scanning the ground beyond the trees for any relatively long, fallen branches.

As she did Idel grabbed a leather satchel hooked to his belt, hanging on his backside. When he reached into it, the opening glowed slightly and despite only being large enough for him to reach in just beyond his wrist, his entire arm disappeared into the bag. When he pulled it back out, he was holding a mortar and pestle, another scíth and a pouch of some kind of glittery, blue liquid resin. The gem was dropped first into the resin then Idel held his hand over top of it, palm facing the opening. The scíth flew into his hand as he muttered something incomprehensible where he then tossed it into the mortar, grinding it down into dust.

As he said, he explained the fundamentals as he worked. “Firstly, succubi typically have almost infinite supplies of mana since the majority of their sorcery is passive and affects a large group of people at once. If they had more moderate amounts, they'd probably experience mana fatigue before the sun even came up in the morning. I suspect that your supply has been mitigated by your demi-human genes. They naturally have minimal mana but you being a wolf makes it even worse. Your people have a splendid balance of speed and strength making fantastic warriors but often struggle as mages.”

He paused as he grabbed a handful of the powdered crystal and started drawing a circle in the pond with his staff. The wake of his motions seemed to freeze, creating smooth lines in the water much like pen on paper. He traced his movements with the powder which made the water sparkle like the night sky and shortly developed an even, warm glow throughout the drawing. With the initial shape done, he walked up to the edge closest to the ground and drew a smaller circle on a tangent to the bigger one. He repeated that step in six other spots, as equally spaced as possible all around the ring. He then wandered into the centre and tapped the ground once. The drink rippled evenly without a sound and a smaller copy of the finished design appeared within the original. The only difference was that it was rotated slightly.

Luna returned with the requested branches and Idel instructed, “Make sure none of them are rotten on the inside at all then put one vertically, straight up, in each small circle.” As she did, he explained the base affinities in the clockwise order. “Fire, darkness, air, water, light, earth and arcane. These are the starting points for first-generation magic casters. Second-generation can possess these or take it a step further. Within the smaller circle, we have celestial, chaos, miasma, plasma, aurora, creator and cataclysm. In terms of arcane architecture, affinities are the foundations. For a human such as myself, this isn't terribly important. Affinities just mean I have some natural talent in that field but I can still, with practice, cast magic from any domain. Pure demons on the other hand almost live and breathe by their nature, unable to learn magic from other fields no matter how much they train. As a trade-off, their wizardry is much stronger and they have immunity to their element among other boons. Take fire for instance; complete immunity to heat as well as being able to regenerate mana rapidly in the sunlight. Usually. Some mould themselves to have larger pools instead of rapid regeneration so that they can cast higher tier spells. The boons themselves can be manipulated with a little bit of know-how.”

“So you think I have an affinity for fire magic?”

“You most certainly have characteristics of the sort. It was not only Cain's primary element, but it also matches your personality.”

“Come again?”

“Pyromancers are usually rash, violent and rude. They're often associated with people who want to watch the world burn, so to speak.”

“Eh?” Luna cracked her knuckles again.

Idel held up a hand toward her. “You're only serving to prove my point. In any sense, let me finish before you do something impulsive. This circle dictates the restrictions in affinities. As you can see, each element has two more opposite it. Fire is across from both water and light. This means that light and water are both incompatible with fire. That may seem odd seeing as a flame is a source of light, but the underlying issue here is the personality traits associated with the user. Pyro wants to destroy the world, light wants to protect it. Pyro and hydro on the other hand, in terms of personality, can coexist. Someone with both can be assumed to be very calm yet still have a desire to destroy the world. However, if you were to mix them physically, the fire would be snuffed out by the water.”

“I see. If the elements can't physically mix or the personality traits conflict, the magic becomes incompatible.”

“Exactly. This is less apparent in first-generation magic casters as their affinities are dictated beyond their control. It really only pertains to second-generation magic casters who inherit aptitude from their parents. Your mother was purely arcane, a rare case where she developed specializations within the field, void and, moulding. Your father possessed both fire and light-”

“Wait, wait, wait... you just finished saying fire and light were incompatible.”

“They are.”

...

...

...

“How, in that case, did my dad have both?”

“You mean to tell me you don't even know his greatest feat?”

Luna shook her head and Idel exhaled so hard, his cheeks puffed out. “Is this ever going to be a long day. For now, you'll just have to believe me when I say he was a special case.”

She scratched her head. “Fine. Continue.”

“As I was saying, the second generation is dictated by the inheritance of the first. In other words, the children developed from their parents. If a pyromancer mated with a necromancer, there would be a small chance that they would mutate together and the child would possess the chaos affinity. Before I continue, I would like to specify that these second generations affinities are not specific. Think of them as categories. Now, back to your parents. Your father had fire and light, your mother had arcane. This means that you have four possibilities for your affinities: fire, light, arcane or celestial. So,” Idel pointed towards the circle. “Are you ready to find out what you have?”

“More or less.”

“Wonderful. Step into the centre.” Luna did as she was told while Idel walked laps around the outer perimeter, explaining the process. “First, I'm going to test your first-generation affinities. This will simply address what we already know; your roots. In this case: arcane, fire and light should react. Pay special attention to the sticks in these slots. Their reactions will tell you everything you need to know.”

He waited until Luna made eye contact with him and he whispered under his breath again. The circle glowed and crackled with energy but the water remained calm. Without warning, one of the branches was engulfed in flame. “There's pyro,” Idel observed. Then the stick immediately counterclockwise to it burst into splinters which levitated at varying heights over the water. “Arcane.” Finally, leaves started to grow out of the third stick. “And that's light. Very good, we've confirmed your roots. Congratulations, Cain really is your father.”

“Har, har, har. What's the second step?”

“Now,” he whispered some more before finishing, “If one of your affinities stayed within the roots, the corresponding stick will remain unchanged. If there's a mutation, the celestial stick will begin to smoke. Then, the originals will alter in accordance with the specifications of the mutation.”

“What?”

“Just watch for now.” Idel waved his staff again. When he did, one of the inner branches began to smoke. “There's a mutation present.” He declared and they both watched the roots closely. The levitating splinters began to vibrate and quickly pelted the other sticks like a barrage of needles. “I've never seen anything quite like that...” Idel commented quietly, his voice trailing off. The flames from before then turned into a jade-like colour. Simultaneously, the leaves on the last stick wilted and fell off. “Fascinating.” The Archmage whistled. “At first glance, it seems that you have a unique element, which we'll need to study in more detail. You also appear to have retained the arcane affinity, to no surprise. Make sure you stay in the circle while I take a look at the results. Once you leave, everything will return to their natural states.”

“Did the leaves wilting off the deadfall mean that I don't have light?”

“I would assume so. Celestial magic is a cross of fire and arcane, so it wouldn't be unexpected for you to lose light, which is incompatible with fire. Otherwise, you could have developed something within the spectrum between arcane and light, though it would be a stretch.” As he spoke, he approached the stick burning with the jade fire. “Incredible. If I had to guess, I'd say this is a cross between Lilly's moulding and Cain's flame. I'll have to look into it, but my initial hypothesis is that this may be Lunar magic, which would explain why you don't regenerate mana during the day.”

“So what does lunar magic entail?”

“I'd wager it's largely similar to fire magic but your boons are based off a nocturnal cycle. Pyromancy is incredibly powerful during the day, and a wielder can cast it almost indefinitely as long as they have a large enough pool for it due to their rapid regeneration. This may be the same thing but at night, under the influence of the moon. That could be problematic though.”

“How so?”

“Simply put, because you're a wolf. Surely you've noticed that you're physically much stronger at night? Cain used to balance this trait with his magic. A pyromancer during the day, a swordmaster come night. If my theory here is correct, that means you'll be nigh-invincible under the moon, especially a full moon, but at a great disadvantage during the day.” Without another word, he wandered over to the other stick and looked straight down at it. His eye twitched. “You did check to make sure there was no rot before you put this here, correct?”

“Of course I did. Why?”

No answer.

“Oi!”

Idel shook his head. “Just checking. You can step out of the circle now.”

Luna hesitated but eventually complied. When she did, the jade flames were snuffed out and the levitating splinters that hadn't punctured the wood fell into the water. She gave Idel a sideways glance. “You're sweating.” She observed.

He wiped his forehead first with his hand then fished out a handkerchief. “Would you look at that? She's a bit warm today and seeing as my affinity is purely arcane, the temperature bothers me more than it does you.”

Luna squinted at him but before she could say anything else, her nose twitched in response to an approaching smell. “Strawberries?” She asked and started to look around. “And this noise... flapping? It kind of sounds like an insect. A mammoth of an insect at that.” She hurriedly grabbed her sweater and threw it on before anyone got within view.

Idel sighed in relief. “You scared me for a minute there. It must be Nao coming with Stella. I asked her to wait for her as a precautionary.”

“Nao?”

“My wife.” He stated and pointed up into the sky. Luna followed his finger to see a blonde woman with twin tails, dressed in what seemed like a blue, ornate corset. Her shoulders were left bare but she still had matching, unattached sleeves that became frilly at each end. She wore a white skirt with white shorts underneath, white thigh high socks and brown, leather shoes. Sky blue wings sprouted from her back which made her look like a giant butterfly coming in for a landing. She touched down on the ground, grinning ear to ear, holding a packet of strawberries in front of her.

“This is your wife?” Luna asked for clarification. Idel smiled triumphantly and put both of his hands on his hips while puffing out his chest. “She can't be any older than twelve.”

No sooner had the words left Luna's mouth did the colour drain from Idel's face and he tensed up defensively. “She's older than I am! That's as mature looking as a fairy gets. Not to mention any mage would tear entire worlds apart for the chance just to meet someone of her race. Marrying one is of the highest honour for a man dedicated to the arcane arts!”

“A fairy?” Luna echoed and walked up to Nao. If she stood up on her toes, the top of her head would be just level with the centre of Luna's chest. The girl's wings appeared to glow faintly and her eyes were a glistening violet.

“They're demon kin.” Stella exclaimed while coming out of the tree line then began to greet Idel. “For being over a thousand years old, you don't look a day over twenty. Those Fluix Anchors really do wonders for old age, huh?”

“Fluix Anchors?” Luna echoed.

“I'll explain later.” Idel told her.

Nao turned to look at Stella. “Wouldn't it have been quicker if you flew as well?”

“I'm not concealed by a cloaking spell like you are.” She sighed. “I would have been seen for sure.”

“Nao doesn't look cloaked to me.” Luna commented.

“The spell only hides her from humans, not demi-humans or other demons.” Idel explained.

The fairy extended the package of berries toward Luna, interrupting the conversation. “It's nice to see you again after all these years!”

“Oh, uh, thank you.” Luna replied and took the food from her.

Stella walked past them and stopped at the edge of the pond. “Were you two doing some kind of ritual? Aren't there better ways to break the ice between family members?”

“I was conducting an aptitude test for her. I'm shocked that you and Aileen never took any measures to determine her affinity.” Idel bickered.

“Sorry.” Stella apologized sarcastically. “We didn't have any tests of the sort in Síochain.”

Nao then cleared her throat, frowned and looked up at her husband. “I know there's still much to discuss but for now we should consider returning to their lodging. A storm is brewing on the horizon and descending upon this land at an alarming rate.”

Idel looked up into the sky again where he still couldn't see a single cloud though he still knew better than to question a fairy's - or more importantly, his wife's - intuition. “Very well then. I still have to clean up here so I will catch up shortly.” He then began to march towards the enchanted ring while everyone else moved towards the tree line. Luna explained the events of her day to Stella as they walked, including the process of the test and why she had been out there in the first place. Neither of them noticed that Nao wasn't matching their pace.

The fairy slowly followed but stopped just before getting under the leaves. She cranked her head towards Idel and blinked twice. “You're making your 'what am I going to do' face.” She declared.

He didn't immediately respond. Instead, he walked into the water and stood directly in front of the stick with wilted leaves. Nao blinked another two times and soared over right beside him. “What's wrong?”

Idel reached for the stick and when he took it in his grasp, the bark remained but anything within it turned to dust and fell into the water like sand. “What a truly terrifying girl.”

“A new mutation?”

“Must be. I have a theory of what I think it is but...”

“But...?”

He fell quiet and shook his head. “Let's just hope I'm wrong. In any sense, we'll need to start researching. When we're done here we'll go through all our records of celestial magic and when we've exhausted that, we'll do the same with everything modern science knows about space.”

Idel waved his staff through the air and the circles dispersed while the sticks fell and were submerged. He began to take his leave and Nao followed after him. “Anything specific that we'll be looking for?”

He hesitated, then said, “Her first mutation resulted in what I believe to be lunar magic from Cain's fire and Lilly's moulding. That would mean if there's a second-”

“It would have to be from Cain's light and Lilly's void.”

“Exactly so.”

Nao shuttered as a chill went up her spine. She nervously stated, “That could be a dangerous combination.”

Idel laughed softly as another bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. “Especially when you take into account that she's got the Ríastrad. If it takes control of her...”

“The Gods themselves would be nothing but toy soldiers in comparison.”

Idel slapped himself twice in the left cheek to make sure he was focused. “It won't do us any good to get wet feet now. We'll inform Stella of our theory before the day is done but for the time being it's imperative that Luna continues to believe her affinities are Lunar and Arcane.”

“Agreed. We should catch up to them before they start getting suspicious.”

* * *

“That bastard is late.” Ryan complained as he threw rocks at a nearby tree.

“He's not exactly the type that can just show up whenever he wants. People would throw a fit if they saw something like him in person.” Liz explained, though she was leaning against a pole with her chin on her hand, eyelids half-closed and her tone slurred.

“He should have picked someplace where traffic was less of a concern then.”

“Must you two always whine?” A large man with a booming voice barked behind them.

Liz turned lazily. “You finally showed up.”

“Let's get this over and done with quickly so I can get some sleep.” Ryan groaned. “What's this about a new candidate being discovered?”

“You'll regret taking this matter lightly boy. Every step we take could have colossal effects on this world moving forward.” The man snapped.

“Yeah, yeah, crystal clear. Just tell us what is you want us to do tonight.”

The man grunted in frustration. “We've located the chosen for the Ocras.”

“Wonderful.” Liz clapped her hands together. “Tell me his location and I'll take care of it right away.”

“Yeah, let her take care of it.” Ryan quickly agreed. “It shouldn't be a problem for the Aonair. She can handle it by herself and I can go take a nap.”

“Silence!” He cried. “I already warned you about taking this matter too lightly. All three of us will be going.”

Liz tilted her head. “It's highly unusual that you tag along. Why the extra effort for a weaker candidate?”

“The situation is more grave than either of you give it credit for. The Ríastrad is somewhere within the city and has already unknowingly contended with the Ocras.”

The two students backed up a step each, brows furrowed. “That could certainly pose a problem.” Liz coughed in an effort to hide the concern in her voice.

“That has to be bullshit.” Ryan spat. “If the user of the Ríastrad got to them first, we wouldn't be meeting now.”

“I assure you, I've only spoken the truth. Our only saving grace is that the cursing process was interrupted. Ocras's body has undoubtedly already perished but his desires remain locked within Wrath's domain. We simply need to enter, have him accept his fate as Gluttony's chosen and return here.”

“Like hell, it'll be that simple.” Ryan barked. “The inhabitants of that plain will detect us the moment we arrive and either try to kill us or force us out.”

“That is why all three of us are going. I will handle the Ocras. You two will be responsible for keeping me safe.”

“Sounds good to me!” Liz beamed. “This should be a walk in the park.”

“I'm not putting my life on the line for free. What do I get out of this?” Ryan asked.

Liz shot him a dirty look. “Greedy bastard...”

“I'm just being smart, not making decisions based on pride like your dumb ass.”

The man grabbed both of them by the necks and lifted them into the air at arm's length. “I told both of you to be quiet. Your reward for doing this will be living to see another day. Once we return, we can negotiate a proper payment based on your performance. Understood?” The two nodded as best they could and the man slightly loosened his grip. “Good. We'll travel like this as your punishment for making me repeat myself. Now...” Four, great white wings sprouted out of his back, phasing through his robe and a large brass coloured rune appeared at his feet. “Let's get going.”

The three of them then vanished in a blinding flash of light.