In the evening, after finishing dinner and cleaning up the rest, Alicia went upstairs and got ready to take a bath. After filling the bathtub with water, Alicia submerged herself into it. Relishing the warmth of the water flowing through her nerves, her calm thoughts are dragged back again to her previous concerns. Regarding the future, what's the next path she should take? She has been obsessed with thaumaturgy for most of her entire life, even though she knew well that she couldn't even flow mana to alter the fabric of reality on a small scale.

She didn't seem to have an excuse to find a new hobby that makes sense to her. So, she tried to reflect on herself back to school days to remember whatever things she thought she was very good at, while immersing part of her face in the water. Let's see: She is pretty good at math, maybe she could major in applied mathematics, or architecture. But as clever as she was, she couldn't even stand the sight of dancing numbers for hours that could penetrate the defences of her round glasses.

What about science? Biology, physics and chemistry. Alicia can study the anatomy of living things, especially humans who have 'magic genes'. She may find something about how magic works in its entirety in a biological setting. She can work with physics to study how the structure of reality could be changed by magic. Chemistry is probably Alicia's best expertise. Her abilities could help her become a great alchemist, a profession very close to a real wizard.

She then thought of Social Sciences. History! She loves history. Especially the history of thaumaturgy. She always sneaked into her mother's private library to read books about numerous variation of magics. Don't forget that her mother read her a magic encyclopaedia as her bedtime story. Strange choice of fairytale topic indeed, but who can blame her, though?

'Interesting,' she thought. Alicia nodded to herself in the water. She could become a philosopher, or an archaeologist looking for ancient magical artifacts. Maybe it could help her learn the unsolved mysteries of magical practices, or a way to gain magical powers? 'Good idea!' Alicia nodded a second time. It turned out that enjoying the warmth of her bath made it easier for her to clear her distracted mind, rather than being exposed to direct summer beam in school uniform.

After concluding that there are many great opportunities for her in the future, a sense of optimism bloomed within her once more. However, she still had to choose only one among them. But that's for another day. Alicia wanted to enjoy her luxurious, rewarding time for now.

The time is ten o'clock at night. After making sure all the doors and windows were securely locked, Alicia went back upstairs to her room. She jumped onto the bed, felt the softness of the mattress, and began to squirm in it, feeling every comfort it had to offer. Alicia then took out her portable game console and started looking for the game she wanted to play. She opened her favourite multiplayer online battle arena game, and invited her two best friends, Nadine and Gilmore, to enter the match. But the two did not reply to her message. She then checked out the status of her two friends. It seems that they were not active in the network.

"Hmm…," Alicia was a little confused, as both of them should have been active by now. She thought maybe they were working on something else or spending time with their family. 'A lovely family they have,' she opined. She then switched to watching movies from her console, because she really sucked at playing and she also couldn't stand all those toxic behaviours of other players. Especially if they knew that Alicia was a girl.

Totally gotta keep that intel classified.

Upon opening the movie selections, her eyes fell on a film that made them sparkle, showing an interest in it. She turned off her bedroom light to watch the flick that only she and the darkness knew what it was.

Just as she was about to experience the flick, a dazzling light pierced through her bedroom window, accompanied by a roaring sound powerful enough to make her startle and get goosebumps. BAM! Alicia, who was almost stunned, dropped her console. Her hands shaking so badly for a moment before eventually grasping the blanket and trying to hide under it.

"ELLIE'S WRATH! WHAT IS THAT?" She immediately jumped out of bed. Half shocked and scared, she tried to peek at the window. The light was quite dazzling, but she could see the object that emitted the light stayed still in the sky, like it was watching her house.

'What's that? Full moon? Too bright even for a full moon!' Not only glared, the object that radiated a bluish light also gave off some kind of plasma energy stream, dancing around it with a bluish green colour. 'Is this some kind of magic spell? Could it be that someone wanted to break into the Crimsonmane estate? Or worse! Is it preparing to invade the town?'

Instead of hiding, Alicia grew curious and hurried out of the room, down the stairs in her pyjamas, and opened the front door for a better look. The lighting was dim because she had switched off most of the lights in the building.

As she unlocked the door, two shadowy figures were standing in front of it.

Alicia, who was in a hurry, was now shocked to death. She screeched, then collapsed to the floor with her buttocks hitting the floor first. The figures in shadows apparently were Nadine and Gilmore, who were also surprised when Alicia opened the door. They did the screaming too, but not as loud as Alicia herself.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU BOTH!" snapped Alicia after she groaned in pain. "I was about to hit the alarm! You know what in the world happens if I accidentally hit the alarm?"

Gilmore squeaked nervously. "Roasted alive?"

"Ye damn right were roasted alive! Divine mercy, you two. What are you doing here at this hour, anyway?"

Alicia was still trying to catch her messy-rhythm breath, while holding her chest with her left hand.

'Mus Insidias', the magic defence of the Crimsonmane estate, is indeed a common defence used by wizards to cast in their homes. It is a fairly simple spell but quite difficult to break, even for fellow wizards who want to break through. People who enter the area protected by the spell without permission will feel extreme anxiety and other strange feelings, for the mana flowing in the area disrupts the hormones in the intruder's body. If, in a pinch, the caster could cast the 'Urere' spell to make the flow of manna to slowly roast the intruder alive. Should one don't come out immediately, it won't take long for the intruder to turn to ashes. Since Alicia couldn't use magic, her father gave her a magic tool that could trigger alarms and activate the spell manually.

"We know, Alicia. I'm sorry, very, very sorry!" Nadine pleaded with Alicia while giving her hand to help her up. "We didnae mean to scare you, hen, not this time. We were just about to chap the door and you suddenly opened it."

Alicia looked at Nadine and Gilmore for a moment with a sullen face, then closed her eyes and exhaled. She took Nadine's hand and then stood up. She flicked her pyjamas to remove any dirt or dust that might have stuck to it. She let the two in so that the effects of the magic that messed with their guts could be undone.

"Well actually, we wanted to take ye to Café Dandelion-Eight in the middle of town. Ye ken, havin' good craic, enjoying braw evenin' breeze," Gilmore replied.

Alicia looked at Gilmore with a look on her face as if to say, 'Huh? Ye what?' after he said the last sentence. What does 'braw evenin' breeze' even mean? She then tried to wake her mind by shaking her head after falling asleep with Gilmore's pretentious yet miserably failed poetic words.

She answered again, saying, "Yer off yer heid. Asking me to have the craic late at night? You know papa won't allow me."

"But your papa isn't home, right?" said Nadine.

"How did you know my papa wasn't home?"

"Because one; ye opened the door, and then you squealed, and then you talked to us. Yer da didnae even come to answer the stramash," Gilmore said while pointing an index finger as if he was counting.

"Two," Gilmore stuck out his middle finger. "I saw Baron Trinketshore's engine carriage went to the border, means he's out of town. That's simple logic, Alicia." Gilmore said while pointing his head with his two fingers earlier.

"Aye, we did want you for wee craic at the café," said Nadine. "That was before we saw that weird, shining bonkers," while pointing at 'the moon' behind the window. She added again. "We continued to follow the object until it stopped right in the middle of the old cemetery to the west of town. It was strange because when Gilmore came to pick me up, he saw nothing there."

Nadine's house is indeed on the west end outside the city limits of Trinketshore, after passing the cemetery complex.

"Got goosebumps when I saw that weird flash of light, to be honest. But we decided to head over to your house so we can see it together," Gilmore continued.

"You saw a strange object in the sky, right above the cemetery, and instead of rushing to report to the civil guard, you wanted to drag me to it?" asked Alicia, more curious.

"Well, yer a pure canty when it comes to magic and but, are ye not? Are ye nae curious to find out what kind of magic it is up close? Sure ye could find a thing or two about it."

"And I'm sure it will hit us like a bloody meteor, killing us instantly if we're anywhere near it," Alicia replied.

"And I'm pretty sure it won't hit any of us. Look at that thing, glowing the blue light after all! Isn't that one bonnie lass? She doesnae emit pure hackit red glow, purple glow, or anything. She's an absolute braw magic!"

"And I'm pretty sure the colour of the light doesn't prove anything."

"And I'm pretty sure you cannae prove it's a bloody weapon either--Oh cummoan, pal, it's okay! Dinnae fash yerself, I'll gie it laldy to protect ye. All my heart and soul, O Alicia Crimsonmane! Look, got myself a scout knife," said Gilmore while pulling out his scout knife in a showy sense, like pulling the Sword Excalibur out of its scabbard. An honest and innocent attempt to calm his little friend and persuade her to come with him.

Seeing Alicia and Gilmore arguing like children, Nadine stopped them.

"Alright, that's enough, wee bairns! Tell you what! Alicia, ye want to see it or naw? Answer now!" Nadine began to show her assertive leadership traits.

Alicia had a dilemma after hearing her question. On one hand, she was absolutely curious about the floating sphere that radiated such dazzling light. It did give those who saw it goosebumps, but it wasn't as if they were being hunted by a beast or alike. It's a sense of awe. The energy released by that object also flowed gracefully, like a collection of dancing spirits. Beautiful scenery to look at. A sight that, instead of scaring people away, drew them closer.

On the other hand, the flying sphere was in a peculiar position. At the graveyard? Why on earth was that thing hovering in the middle of the grave of bones? It was possible that the sphere is resurrecting the undead to hunt and eat the brains of the townspeople!

"What if... what if something bad happens?"

"We'll protect you, hen. Like we always have," replied Nadine again firmly, but also gave off a gentle impression at the same time.

Alicia thought for a moment, then sighed. She finally made up her mind. "Well, looks like this only happens once in a lifetime," said Alicia. "Would be a pity if we missed it for closer inspection. After all, with such bright light, the entire folks would be showing up around the graveyard eventually."

"Fucking yaldy!" Gilmore exclaimed.

"Although I have to tell you this, Liz," Nadine said after Gilmore showed his excitement. "During our way to your home, we couldn't find a single person reacting after that flash of light. In fact, there was no one in the town, felt like a bloody necropolis. I doubt people would even gather there."

"Oh...," Alicia gulped. "You sure about that? It would be very worrying then."

"If you're still fashed, maybe we can just stay at your home until morning, at least until it's gone," replied Nadine.

"Arrggghh! Alright! Alright, we're going! But if anything suspicious happens, please, let's just leave. I still love my life."

Alicia then turned around and ascended the stairs.

"Let me change my clothes first, then we can go," she went to her room and changed her pyjamas, then put on a white sweater and red plaid peg pants. She took a waist bag which was enough to hold one book and stationery. The bag was facing back as she put it on. She also went for a red hooded cloak, with tassels running along the bottom side of it. The cloak was a gift from Ailsa, her mother, on her tenth birthday. She knitted it herself and cast a powerful protective spell. Her mother advised her little princess to use it solely in dire situations, for the hood can only activate the defensive spell three times. Alicia felt that this little adventure could be potentially disastrous, so wearing it wouldn't hurt. She tied the cloak under her neck, leaving the hood unused.

Then, she regrouped with her two friends, who were waiting in the living room. "Let's go." []