Rai held his spell. Lightning spewed out of his back. It wreaked havoc in the training area. However, as the training area was already almost completely destroyed, Rai’s lightning only really added scorch marks to the brunt of the damage.

Ding.

The lift door opened.

Naam couldn’t believe her eyes. She looked around at the lightning spewing all over the room and covered herself.

Lilly formed out of a black mist and shielded Naam before a bolt of lightning would’ve struck her.

Naam slowly pushed forward with Lilly. She screamed over the wayward lightning field.

“We need to contain this! Dad won’t be happy when he sees the training area in smithereens.”

Lilly nodded in agreement. She manifested a thick, leathery, wall of mana. It acted as an insulator. Slowly, Lilly morphed the wall to contain Rai’s lightning and convert its energy back into mana, which she released into the atmosphere of the room.

Naam let out a low whistle, “Since when could you do that?”

“F-or a whi-le.”

Rai called out, “Thank you!”

Naam ran as close as she could without touching the insulating mana.

“What happened here Rai?!”

“I don’t know if you could tell, but it would be much easier to explain it later! For now, maintain that spell while I maintain this one. I’ll keep it up until Sin’s pain stops.”

“... Fine! But you better have a good reason for Sin going through any kind of pain. I won’t hesitate to hit that pretty face of yours.”

“Haha. There’s definitely... a reason.” He had an inkling of a suspicion that Naam probably wouldn’t like the reason. Still, Rai had faith that Naam wouldn’t get too mad at him.

Naam ran back to Lilly. “Hold the spell until Sin’s all fine. We’ll take her upstairs afterwards and then Rai will explain everything.”

Lilly nodded and continued to maintain the insulating spell.

With that, Rai and Lilly kept at it until Rai felt the energy in Sin’s nerves return to their standard levels.

Both him and Lilly slowly released their spells.

Rai fell backwards onto his back. He panted heavily.

Lilly and Naam ran over. They checked on Sin first.

Rai forced his body to sit up.

“She... she should be fine now. Come on, let’s take her to the penthouse and I’ll explain it all there.” He looked around at the disaster that was the training area. Scorch marks everywhere from his lightning, cracks and destroyed flooring from Sin’s spell... their fight was clearly insane. “I think... Kallad’s going to be mad at me.”

Naam and Lilly both looked at each other, nodded, and spoke at the same time, “Yep.”

“Ahahaha! Oh well! Sin’s going to be stronger for it, so it’s all worth the pain.” He stood up.

Naam picked Sin up. Since she was completely limp, Naam slung Sin over her shoulder. “Why’s she so sweaty...” She whipped her head around to Rai, “What the fuck did you two do down here?” It seemed like Naam had only just noticed the damage in the chamber.

Lilly also looked around, mouth agape, at all of the destruction in the chamber.

Rai rubbed the back of his head, “We, uh... well. We fought.”

Naam facepalmed with her free hand, “Right. Okay. You’d better think real hard about that explanation now.” She started walking with Lilly over to the lift.

Rai followed them. He was nervous, but Sin’s sisters would probably be understanding. Right? Right?

Not right.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?! A FORBIDDEN SPELL?!?!” Naam popped a vein in her forehead. She slowly rubbed her temples. “Fuck. FUCK!” She shouted.

Rai was being scolded. He was sat on the table near the sofa and crystalakrum. Sin was laid down on the sofa.

Lilly crouched as she looked at Rai with disapproving eyes. Flick.

Rai rubbed his forehead, “Ouch.”

Lilly shook her head at Rai.

Rai had just about had it with these two.

“Forbidden spells really aren’t as bad as the council makes them out to be.”

“That’s NOT THE POINT! Sin is the DAUGHTER of AN ASPECT! She should not know a fucking-...” Naam stopped herself. She took deep breaths. Lilly gave her a cup of water, which she angrily snatched and downed.

Lilly took over, “Rai. You also know a forbidden spell, don’t you?”

Naam’s eyes widened as she stared at Lilly. “What? What did you just say?!” She whipped her head around at Rai.

Rai nodded, “Kallad told me what it was called. Antithesis.”

“Of all people... HE TOLD YOU ABOUT IT?! I want to die.” She sat down on a chair and leaned back, closing her eyes.

“That... most definitely does not sound like our father. At least... it doesn’t sound like how he used to be.”

Rai tilted his head at Lilly, “What do you mean? Kallad’s always helped me learn about magic, and he’s hated the council since I met him when I was young.” I didn’t hear it from Kallad himself, but Jin told me about how much Kallad disliked the way the council operated. Still counts, I think.

Lilly sighed. She looked at Naam, “I think we know less about the man our father has become than Rai does.”

Naam leaned her head back on a cushion. Right now, she just wanted to go to sleep and pretend that all of this had never happened. “I... don’t know what to think.”

Lilly got close to Rai. She softly rubbed his forehead, “I’m sorry for flicking you.”

Rai shook his head and slowly reclaimed his personal space. “It’s fine. Can you tell me what you guys were talking about, about Kallad?”

“You know our father as the Aspect. Kallad Raven. But... he was once a broken man. Without telling you much of a story that is his to tell, our father made grave mistakes. He forsook his daughters to save his wife, but that attempt... ended up failing. The council chose not to help...” Lilly sat in the empty space on the sofa beside Sin’s head.

Naam added, “He cursed us. To save our mum... but we couldn’t. He must’ve repented, since he made sure not to make those same mistakes with Sin... In the end though, dad’s greatest sin was us. He would have considered forbidden spells to be on the same level as us, if he was the same as he was all those years ago.”

Silence.

Rai tried his best to respectfully digest the information. Finally, after a few moments of a melancholy atmosphere, Rai whispered into the quiet. “It must’ve been rough... I can’t say that I know what that would’ve felt like, but you’re all here now. From what I can tell, Kallad’s outlook has changed. He wants Sin to follow in her goals, and he’s helped me pursue my own. I don’t think he would disapprove of this.”

The two sisters did the same. They listened. After listening to and trying to understand Rai’s words, Naam slumped back in her chair. “Maybe you’re right. For now, let’s just focus on Sin. Do you know when she’ll wake up?”

“My forbidden spell evolution put me in a coma for a couple weeks.”

“I’m just going to pretend that you didn’t say that, and that Sin is not going to be in a coma for two weeks.”

“No no no. My coma was because of something else, I think.” He recalled draining all of his mana and the backlash almost destroying his body. Rai shivered at the thought.

Lilly scowled at him. “You think?”

“I’m sure she’ll wake up in about an hour or two.” He got off the table and sat in the chair beside Naam. “I’m drained from that new spell I used earlier... so I’m gonna just take a nap.”

Naam quietly whispered back, “Same.”

They both fell asleep almost instantly.

Lilly also nodded off.

About an hour later, Sin woke up.

The only part of the story that Rai left out was the part about Kallad cursing Sin’s sisters. He figured that they should talk about that as a family, rather than him mention it and cause a bunch of trouble.

Sin stared at her sisters.

“I promise it’s not dangerous! I won’t use the Queen’s Domain unless I really have to, and I definitely won’t use it around the council!”

Lilly softly patted Sin’s head, then pulled her in for a hug. “Just be safe.”

Naam concurred, “What she said.”

Sin’s senses all of a sudden became overwhelmed.

She winced. Everything in the Secret, she could feel. The voices of every single person in the Secret, she heard. The glass multiple storeys down that fell to the floor and splintered, she felt crawl along her skin.

Sin screamed as she gripped her head so tight that it almost looked like self-harm.

“It’s too much! I can feel... everything! It hurts!” Her voice shuddered.

Rai was about to use that same pain-relieving spell again, but Naam gripped his arm with an incredible amount of force that he wasn’t quite expecting.

“Not here.”

Rai nodded.

Lilly and Naam both held Sin in an embrace as she sobbed.

“Focus on us.” Naam said.

Lilly rubbed the back of Sin’s head, “Right now, we’re the only ones here. Find our voices.”

Sin breathed. She listened to her sisters. F-focus on them. Tune out the rest.

It took a few minutes and words from her sisters for Sin to focus on, but Sin’s senses slowly freed themselves of her domain’s influence.

She panted. Sweat was practically dripping off of her, and her clothes were in a torrid condition. But... it was over. For now.

Naam giggled, “The state you’re in, fucking hell. Forget roses, you’re gonna smell like sweaty socks at this rate.”

Lilly laughed as well.

Sin stifled a giggle, “Pfft.” She broke out into giggles.

“C’mon. We’ll clean you up.”

“... Thank you.” She turned to Rai, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Rai nodded silently. He watched as Sin’s sisters took her to her room. He had a warm smile on his face. Me and Sin... we both have a forbidden spell now!

He didn’t feel the same kind of loneliness anymore. Rai couldn’t fully explain it, but right now he felt a soft joy. It’s one thing to be with a person, but it’s another feeling entirely when that person knows your own experiences first-hand. Rai was just now beginning to understand what that feeling felt like.

He went into his room and showered, then dressed for bed. Rai then jumped face first into a pillow.

Almost instantly, he fell asleep.

Rai’s sleep was bliss.

On the other side of Aurum’s capital however, Kallad was not having a good time. He was in fact, being chased.

By the Arbiter’s agents.