The town center was pure chaos. The cloud coverage overhead was lit with red as fire spells along with water, air, and earth erupted around her. Lifeless bodies were strewn across the roads as Sagev guards fought the onslaught of magical attacks from the invading Akasha. The Sagev guards proved to be no match as they all started to fall one after one. The remaining guards fell into a defensive position, placing themselves between the invaders and what remained of the Sagev residents.

Mia drew her sword. While they were traveling to Sagev, Kate put her and Pip through combat drills with sticks. At least, Kate had called them combat drills. Torture drills was more accurate in her mind. The amount of near fatal wounds almost slowed their travel. Luckily, Pip was well versed in healing herbs, although some of them gave her a rash for days. Mia was grateful, nonetheless.

“Kate!” Mia shouted as an Akasha shot water arrows towards Kate and Pip. Mia returned the attack with an air blast, hitting the Akasha directly in the center of their silver chest plate. Kate spun and dodged the incoming attack, while blocking another. Pip stayed in the rear and shot off arrows from the background, something Pip often did in the Kings Guard. Mia watched briefly as Kate brandished the two daggers she gave her and put her Kings Guard training to use. Mia’s eyes left Kate as she saw a woman and little boy trying to get away as fast as they could from the battles around them. Unfortunately, one Akasha spotted them and snarled. Mia quickly threw out a fireball, which knocked the Akasha off their feet.

“Witch.” The woman turned and hissed at Mia with a terrified look on her face, rushing the boy faster down the cobblestone road. The woman had a terrible hobble not allowing her to go any faster than a brisk walk. The boy jogged along side her until they turned a corner and vanished out of sight.

Mia took a deep breath then turned around to head back towards the main fight. Ash, dust and rubble were in abundance all around. The buildings that once stood tall were ablaze with fire, the Akasha invaders tearing through them like a storm.

Mia grit her teeth, closing her eyes briefly, and breathing in and out. She opened her eyes then cast her water whip, knocking out five of the dozen oncoming invaders. Another two went down as she cast her air blast. The remaining Akasha paused approaching her more cautiously now. Mia did a doublecheck of her jin. That blast cost her almost half of what she could use. She would need to be careful with how she used the rest. She didn’t want to accidently overdo it and end up paying the price in the end.

Fire darts hurled her way as she narrowly avoided them. Mia felt the ground beneath her begin to quake as the other Akasha finally reached her and their swords clashed. The first came barreling down on her, yelling in rage as she easily avoided his advance and gave him a quick knock on the head with the hilt of her sword dropping him to the ground. Mia’s smile was premature as she was slammed in the side by a blast of water sending her flying into a nearby wall. Mia spattered as she slowed to get up, before being sent backwards by another water blast. Her Akasha Vision littered her view with bright red alerts, which she mentally sent to the back of her mind. She coughed up blood before she saw the Akasha advancing on her before they started falling to the ground one by one.

Kate was a blur as she used her daggers to slice through the Akasha. Arrows flew through the air, hitting Akasha in the shoulders or torso. Not enough to keep them down, but it gave Mia the time she needed to recover and counterattack with her friends. Mia quickly checked her jin and saw that she had less than half left. She decided not to waste it and chose to use her combat skills instead. She swung her sword at the nearest Akasha, their swords clanging loudly as sparks flew into the air. Mia pushed the attacker back with her sword, then spun around their attack swinging upwards and catching them off guard. Mia used their momentum against them and sliced down, cutting the attacker in the back of the neck. Mia pivoted turned, shooting an air blast at an attacker approaching from her blind spot. An arrow quickly flew into the attacker making him scream as blood pooled around him.

“Mia! Watch out!” Kate yelled as boulders twice her size came hurling towards her. Mia conjured her water whips and struck the boulders head on, smashing them to pieces as Kate and Pip dodged more oncoming attacks. Kate’s footing was just as good as always, Mia thought to herself as she watched her slice the throat of another invader as they sent a fireball in her direction.

“I eat fireballs for breakfast,” Kate stated as the man gargled on his blood. Pip sent an arrow into one of the last invaders as Mia sliced downwards sending the head of the invader tumbling sideways with a thud.

“Let’s join the remaining guards and see if we can at least help everyone get to safety.” Mia said as she heard cries for help echoing around her.

“Where Mia? This whole gods damned town is on fire.” Kate replied as she briskly cleaned off her daggers. Pip collected arrows quickly before they all turned to head towards the loudest screams.

“Well, well, well...my little Cinderella, what are you and your two little mice doing here?” An ice-cold voice, she knew all too well, hit her like a storm from behind. Mia turned around slowly and came face to face with the woman of her worst nightmares.

“To think, the rogue Akasha turns out to be you.” Her stepmother’s low-pitched voice dripped with disdain as she slowly closed the gap between them. Kate and Pip moved closer to Mia, Pip drawing an arrow as Kate gripped her daggers tightly.

Mia’s heart skipped a beat, sweat rushing from every pore on her body, as she started to shake uncontrollably. “No…it can’t be.”

Kate looked at her sharply, her eyes piercing even in her peripherals.

“Don’t tell me it’s your…”

“Stepmother,” Mia whispered, not believing the sound escaping her lips.

“It’s Madame LeRant to you,” she sneered. “Cinderella.” Each syllable dug into her skin like a snake unleashing its venom.

Mia started moving backwards while her stepmother slowly continued to approach, like a predator stalking its prey.

“What are you doing here, Clarissa?” Mia managed to stammer out, just before her heel tapped a large stone wall behind her.

“Oh, it’s Clarissa now,” she said, mocking her tone. “My how you’ve grown up.”

“Do something Mia! Or else I will.” Kate spat. Mia felt like she couldn’t breathe. She glanced at Pip as she aimed her bow directly at Clarissa.

Clarissa laughed in a low-pitched chuckle, then curled her lip as a wall of stone erupted from the ground encasing the four of them inside. Mia countered and cast air blast, knocking her stepmother backwards. Clarissa grunted, then laughed.

“You’re still a fool.” she said, then sent giant boulders hurling at Mia. Mia used her water whip to break down the boulders like before, but this time, an arrow pierced through her stepmothers shoulder causing her to scream in agony as the boulders dropped suddenly with loud thuds.

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Mia couldn’t move. Kate ran past her, with her daggers out, side stepping the obstacles on the ground.

“Get it together!” Kate yelled angrily as Clarissa quickly recovered and drew a long sword as her blade met Kate’s.

“Let’s do this.” Pip gave her a faint smile as she released more arrows. Most of them flying over her stepmothers head as she and Kate fought toe to toe. Mia couldn’t pull herself into the fight, no matter how hard she tried. Clarissa finally gained the upper hand on Kate when rock pellets flew out of her hand sending Kate flying backwards, then motionless.

Mia eyes went wide with shock, then anger overcame her. She lashed at her stepmother with her sword, but her steps were not in sync. She tried to get back into form, but her stepmother’s laugh made it hard to concentrate.

“You’re still as weak as ever.” Clarissa grinned, then kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying backwards. A boulder hit her hard in the head, but not before she cast her air blast to knock the majority of it out of the way. She felt the blood run down her face as Clarissa stopped to cackle.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to shake violently, the wall of stone around them breaking down instantaneously. Clarissa yelled as the large stone crashed down on top of her, burying her beneath. Pip ran and grabbed Kate, putting her over her shoulder then nodded at Mia.

“Let’s get out of here and get some help!”

Pip had spoken too soon as large stones shattered into the air, Clarissa heaving as she climbed the rest of the way out of her rock coffin. The pieces of stone cut into her armor, slicing her gear and skin underneath. They ran as Clarissa gave them chase. Mia could barely see, they were still faster. They turned a nearby corner and ducked into one of the abandoned buildings. Mia and Pip gasped for air as she heard the close shouts of her stepmother.

Mia checked her jin. It was flashing red at 3%. She had ignored her Akasha Vision Alerts, already having set it to not interrupt her while in combat. She wished she hadn’t. Mia wiped the blood from her face as a headache pounded in her skull, making her cry out in agony.

“This would happen when I’m all out of salve too.” Pip whispered. Mia could barely understand anything. She felt like her consciousness was wavering from the present to the darkness.

“Listen…” Pip said quietly as she turned her head to hear outside of the building more clearly.

Her stepmother’s laugh pierced the air around them. Mia took a deep breath, then glanced at Pip who shrugged. Kate still hadn’t woken up. Mia knew they had to find a way out, but she wasn’t sure that was possible. Unexpectedly, her stepmother screamed. Shouts could be heard all around her but she couldn’t make out anything coherent. She looked down and noticed she was losing a lot of blood. Her jin was out and not replenishing fast enough.

“Someone’s in here!” Mia heard a voice close to her. Blurry faces came into view before everything went black.

***

Lily woke up in a daze. Her hands and feet chained to a stone wall. She had a rag in her mouth which made her choke on her spit. She gathered herself and shook the chains ferociously, unable to use her Akasha Vision. She cursed herself for not putting it back into mental command mode after training with Mia. Lily looked around but the room was poorly lit, most of it in shadows. She took a deep breath and focused on conjuring a light wisp to hopefully give her a better view of where she was. No luck. Her powers were blocked, which could only mean one thing.

“Tess.” she thought to herself, anger spreading across her face.

***

“Miss, miss, are you alright” a voice said to her, but she didn’t recognize it. Mia sat up and looked around. She was in an all-white room surrounded by people in what seemed like uniformed robes, something she only saw in the infirmary. Some were wearing green robes, while others wore blue or yellow. She guessed it was based on whatever they were doing, but she didn’t bother to ask.

She looked around and finally saw Kate. Kate was talking to a person with a blue robe and long brown hair. The person looked annoyed, and Mia could only guess as to why. She groaned. Where was Pip? That thought left in a hurry as the weight of her fight with her stepmother was coming back like a crushing wave and her body ached. Why was her stepmother there? Lily not being there gave her no answers to her questions. She felt lost.

“Miss, can I get your name?”

Mia blinked then looked at the person with a yellow robe speaking with her. She had a kind face with long brown hair and soft blue eyes. “Mia,” she said softly, still wincing in pain.

“I’m Sho Risia. Are you alright? You suffered a lot of damage, but you seem to be healing very fast. Mia shrugged. She still felt like someone had hit her with a cart though, then remembered the rocks Clarissa pelted at her. She had to get some answers.

“Yes, but where are we?” Mia asked.

“You, my young Akasha, are safe in the Branch of the Tree” she responded with a smile.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Sho Risia looked at her and smiled again. “You will know soon enough. The Grand Admiral is anxious to meet you. He is on his way here now.” She patted Mia on the shoulder, then walked away to speak with another person in a blue robe.

“Wait, the who?” Mia called out before a spasm of pain overwhelmed her. She grumbled to herself.

She needed to find them a way out of there and fast. She sighed to herself, then looked around again, noticing Kate had vanished from her sight. Mia groaned again.

Akasha Vision Alert: New Quest – Find the Prince I

Quest level: Epic

The prince of Talis has been taken by unknown forces. Due to your sworn oath, your instinctual nature has led you to find the lost prince.

Success Conditions: Find the lost prince of Talis.

Quest Failure or Refusal: Unknown

Reward: Unknown

Accept? Yes/no?

“Ok,” she thought to herself. She really needed answers. Why was she just getting this quest now?

“Mia!” Kate exclaimed, pushing people to the side as she came rushing over. “You’re finally awake.”

Mia gave her an awkward grin.

“Did you find out anything?” Kate asked, already starting her probing.

“Only that we are in some place called The Branch of the Tree, or something like that. They also know that I’m an Akasha.” Mia said as she tried to get to her feet. She stumbled and fell into Kate, who promptly held her up.

“Same thing I was told,” Kate replied as she tried to help her get stable.

“Have you seen Pip?” Mia asked, still scanning the room.

“Yeah” Kate said nonchalantly. “She’s over there with green robes lot in the other room. I think they grow plants or something like that.” Kate shrugged.

“Wait, you know what the colors of the robes mean?”

Kate shook her head. “I think the blue robes have been going around asking everyone if they were alright. They seem to be the ones wrangling the cattle. The green ones have potions of some sort and I heard them talking about growing plants, so Pip was talking to that group, but their station is in the other room. This room is controlled by the blue robes, and the last room no one will let you into, but that’s where the yellow robes mainly are. I think they are healers of some sort. I saw someone fix someone’s arm. I blinked and it was like nothing had happened to it, when it was falling off of his shoulder a second ago,

Kate shook her head . “I just don’t understand it.”

Mia looked up and saw Pip heading towards her, a big grin on her face.

“Mia, I’m glad you’re finally awake”

“Wait, how long was I out?”

“About a day and a half.” Pip responded quietly.

Mia threw her hands on her face in disbelief. “Ughhh,” she groaned.

“You lost a lot of blood, Sho Alana gave you a potion to help you recover what you lost, but you were still out for a few days. The Ki, the ones in the yellow robes, stitched up your wounds. Some were worse than others.” Pip said then looked back towards the other room.

“The Jurens, or the green robes, are the ones who give out the potions to all of the patients. They work with the Ki to set up a healing plan. The Yi, the blue robes, are the ones that organize everyone and makes sure everyone is getting the care they need. I love this place!” Pip said with a huge smile.

“At least they seem efficient, most of the wounded here are survivors of Sagev. The town fell to the invaders.”

Mia shook her head and sighed. She couldn’t find the energy to be sad about it, just frustrated that of all people, her stepmother was an Akasha and there in Sagev.

They all looked up as Sho Risia returned and greeted them with a slight bow. “I have news, the Grand Admiral has arrived and is ready to speak with you.”