So how are we going to do this?

I was at a loss. We’d managed to steal the system from Merlin and flee to safety but also abandoned Mom and all of our friends in the process. Not only that but Merlin would hunt us to the ends of the universe to get it back.

Kalli planted her hands on her hips in a Superman pose. I’ll tell you how we’re going to do this. Together. He may be powerful, but he’s still just one man and mortal, right?

I sighed.

I’m pretty sure he’s mortal. Are you saying we should kill him?

Kalli shrugged. I don’t know. What if he kills someone else? Like your Mom.

She had a point. I didn’t want anyone else to die. Still, that had to be the last option. Unless Kalli was in danger. I knew exactly what to do in that case. Kalli sensed my thoughts and walked over to kiss me. No! I don’t want you walking down that path. Not even for me.

While I tried to hide it from her, I’d already made up my mind. Defending Kalli was the same to me as self-defense. I’d die without her. That part of me understood how Merlin felt about my Mom. The only difference was that if Kalli chose to live out her life and die, I’d follow her into the unknown, not live forever and try to make her do something she didn’t want.

Kalli cleared her throat to get my attention. I can see what you’re thinking. You know that, right?

I nodded but folded my arms defiantly.

I know. I was just thinking about what we have to do. We have one big advantage. Merlin accidentally showed it to me when he blocked me from the system. I’m going to activate parental locks on him. It won’t shut him down but hopefully, it gives us enough of an edge to stop him somehow.

Kalli giggled. That’s actually a good idea. We need to see what we can do with the system now that we have control. Also, do you think we have access to all that mana?

I started flipping through menus trying to figure it out.

I don’t know, but there’s a lot of stuff here.

I expected Kalli to lean over my shoulder and watch as I worked, but she surprised me. She pulled up her own menu and started flipping through spells. That’s strange. Most of the spells are greyed out. Oh, never mind. I see. I can only use spells that somewhat match my element. I can use Wind, Fire, and Earth, but Water, Ice, Electricity, Light, and Dark are greyed out.

I went to the spell section as well. Nothing was greyed out. It made sense in a way since my core was made up of non-aspected mana. While I’d originally mistaken it for the light element, Merlin made it clear that our family mana was unique in that regard.

Scrolling through the list, I noticed that most of the spells were difficult to pronounce, most of them barely words. Then something odd caught my eye.

Kalli, look at the Earth spells. Do they look odd to you?

Kalli looked down the list and giggled. That’s silly. Do you think somebody changed them? Who says words like Pew?

A rock the size of a bullet whistled past my face. I felt the shockwave ripple across my cheek as it passed.

Woah! You almost hit me.

Kalli rushed over to examine my face. She’d felt it through the bond. Oh my gods, Mel! I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I was going to launch a rock at you.

I shrugged, laughing the adrenaline out of my system.

Yeah, I guess we need to be careful with those words. It’s obvious that someone simplified them to make them easier to say.

After familiarizing ourselves with new spells, Kalli and I took time to practice editing and world-building. Both would come in handy in the fight against Merlin. While we had effectively cut him off from the system, he already demonstrated to me that he was more than formidable without it. He probably even knew quite a few World Magic spells.

At the time when we had cast it, Kalli and I didn’t understand World Magic or where it drew its mana from. We just knew the Celestea castle on Luna held quite a bit of it. With the loss of system mana, we could only hope that Merlin didn’t have another reserve somewhere. That was probably too much to ask.

The next question was how to draw Merlin out of hiding.

He’s probably waiting in the void for us to try and teleport.

Kalli smiled. We already know how to get around that. Wendy taught you.

She was right. I’d practiced becoming the wind and knew I could get back to the tower that way in a matter of hours.

But what about you? I don’t think I can carry you that way.

Her smile twisted in a most sinister fashion. Suddenly, Kalli started flaming. It was nothing new. I’d seen her do it on multiple occasions when she was excited about something. Only, this time, she didn’t stop. Her body warped under the flame, looking like a heat haze illusion before ultimately disintegrating.

I heard her giggle as the flame wrapped itself around me. Hurry up and change so we can go. We need to hurry so Merlin doesn’t have a chance to come up with a plan of his own.

While I could have experimented with another element, I didn’t have time for that. I quickly became the wind and flowed alongside Kalli. We exploded out of the hideout, quickly blasting through the twists and turns. As wind and fire, it was much easier to find the exit. We just followed the air pressure and were quickly released from the mountain with an explosive gasp.

While we never lost contact with each other, Kalli and I were very careful not to combine fully while traveling to the tower. Wendy had warned us. The journey took two hours once we got high enough to catch a friendly breeze. I worried about the barrier as we approached the tower but it didn’t seem to be a problem. Either Merlin had forgotten to block me or he couldn’t block his own blood without blocking himself. Or perhaps it was a trap.

Kalli agreed. He’s probably waiting for us. We need to be ready for anything.

I decided to ask the others.

Hey guys, we’re here. Any sign of Merlin yet?

Joe replied for the group. Not yet. We’ve moved into the alcove, but it’s locked from above. I’m pretty sure I can break through if needed. We were just waiting to see what you’re going to do. Also, there’s the matter of Lavender.

He looked down at the lifeless form of Lavender. It was left unspoken but it was fairly obvious that they couldn’t sneak through the tower hauling a body. She was going to have to be left behind. Knowing where they were helped me come up with a plan. We entered through the park on the throne level of the tower as I gave my instructions.

Break the door and head for the elevator. Make your way to the first floor and leave the tower. We will meet you on the way.

Staying in our elemental forms, we flowed along the walls, trying to look like an innocent backdraft as we made our way toward the elevator. Could it be possible that Merlin was unaware of us? We’d just caught sight of everyone when he made his move. Merlin appeared behind Mom and wrapped his arms around her. Before anybody had a chance to object, he was gone.

Mom!

Even though I knew he was baiting me, I had no choice but to follow.

Kalli, wait here. I’ve got to rescue her.

Merlin was waiting as I appeared in the void. He paced around my Mom, who was frozen. “You know, she’d be able to defend herself if she’d just let me awaken her.”

“Why didn’t you just awaken her?” I asked, wondering why Merlin opted for the nuclear route when there was a much simpler option. “It’s not like she could have stopped you.”

He laughed. “Have you ever tried to awaken the unwilling?”

I paused, thinking back to the many people I’d awakened. While many of them didn’t know what awakening was, I’d explained to all of them what I was doing. Merlin took the answer from the expression on my face and went on. “It isn’t pretty. You might even say it’s torture. A core that doesn’t want to be awakened or that’s awakened by force becomes warped. In some cases, it even implodes and that’s a fate worse than death. You obviously wouldn’t want that for your mother, would you?”

At that moment, Kalli appeared at my side. Merlin scowled at the two of us. “Okay, enough conversation. I’m going to make this simple. Give back the artifact and I’ll return your mother to you.”

“You wouldn’t dare hurt her,” Kalli said, folding her arms. “You love her.”

He looked at Mom before answering. “That is true. I do love her. However, I’ve loved her through many lives. If she dies today, I’ll just wait for her to respawn again. When you’re as old as I am, time is but water dripping in a bucket. You, on the other hand, only get one mother. She won’t be the same when she comes back. That bond will be lost.”

“You’re sick!” Kalli said, her voice dripping with anger.

“Enough!” Merlin screamed, a vein throbbing on his forehead. “Do we have a deal?”

“No,” I heard myself saying the word as though I was someone else. “I can’t sacrifice the universe, not even for Mom.”

“So be it!” He sighed, holding out his wand. “Then I have no further use for you.”

An arc of flame shot out faster than I could react. Just as it was about to hit me, something slammed into my side, knocking me out of the way. Kalli yelped as the attack hit her square in the chest. At that moment, I saw red. Even the prospect of Merlin murdering my Mom didn’t enrage me like the thought of him Hurting Kalli.

Before I knew it, Kalli’s Training Wand was in my hand, and pointed at Merlin. I didn’t bother feeding the wand any element and just let my natural mana blast through. Merlin hid behind Mom, forcing me to pull the attack back at the last second. By that point, Kalli was on her feet, aiming her own wand at Merlin and letting out a torrent of flames at the wizard. He dove behind Origin to evade Kalli’s attack.

Instead of pursuing her attack, Kalli pulled back the flame and lunged for Mom. I’ll come back as soon as I can.

Then they both vanished, dropping out of the void. Merlin stepped out from behind Origin and glared at me. “You cannot hide her from me.”

Then he vanished too. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew he went to where Mom and Kalli were. I focused on Kalli through the bond and dropped out of the void just in time to see the two of them square off. Merlin appeared behind Kalli and black smoke shot out of his wand. She began coughing and sputtering as the smoke wrapped itself around her body.

I targeted the smoke and edited it.

DELETE

Fortunately for me, magic was defined as an item. Merlin’s eyes widened as his attack was nullified. He didn’t waste any time rounding on me. Shards of ice shot out of his wand. I held up my hands to block the attack.