“This is a terrible idea.” Kate said to Mia as Sho Risia waited to escort them to the Grand Admiral. “We don’t even know what a Grand Admiral is or what they want with us. How do they even know who we are?”

“The Grand Admiral is the head of this Akasha branch.” Sho Risia interrupted.

Mia glanced at Pip who shrugged.

“We won’t get any of those answers if we don’t speak with him,” Pip responded.

“Follow me, then.” Sho Risia turned and led them out of what Mia now knew to be the healing ward. The building was huge. Countless corridors littered the hallways that were dozens of floors high as she led them to the Grand Admirals office.

“What do you guys do here?” Kate asked looking around at the sheer vastness of the office space.

“The Grand Admiral will explain…but if you are wondering, this place is protected by a magical barrier that the Grand Admiral controls. Trust me, you’re in good hands.”

Sho Risia turned her head and smiled, not stopping her pace.

She led them down a long passageway where two guards stood in front of large dark oak double doors.

“State your business with the Grand Admiral.” One of the guards said in an uninterested voice.

“I am Sho Risia escorting Mia, a new Akasha, and her team to see the Grand Admiral.” She said in an almost uniform tone.

The guard looked Mia up and down then produced a crystal from his pocket. He waved it in front of her and she started to glow, much like before. The guard raised an eyebrow at Sho Risia who nodded in return.

“Seriously, this place is stiff.” Kate stated grumpily.

The guards opened the door to a massive sitting room with lush brown leather furniture and pictures that were skillfully organized on the walls. A large desk sat on one side of the room where a woman sat behind it. She was quaint, her brown hair was pinned up into a neat bun. She was wearing brown robes and had glasses with a chain dangling from them by her ears.

“Welcome warriors to the Grand Admiral’s office. I am High Priestess Mena. His Excellency is expecting you. Please follow the guard to your left and up the stairs.” She gave a curt smile and went back to writing.

The Grand Admiral’s office was larger than Mia had ever imagined, and that was saying something considering the sitting room. The office was black with brown and gold accents that made the black all the more sleek. The room was brightly lit with candles burning on every wall. Thick round torches that Mia was sure Kate was considering using as a club. The Grand Admiral sat in a sizable plush chair that only seemed to accentuate his features all the more. He was bald with a chiseled chin and a dark caramel complexion. His smile was welcoming as he stood when they entered and came to a stop in front of his desk.

“Welcome, young warriors, I am so happy you could join me.”

“Cut to it, what’s this all about.” Kate responded bluntly.

The Grand Admiral let out a deep laugh.

“You must be Kate, it’s a pleasure, I’m Sir Marcus Maximus.” He gave her a slight bow and she huffed in return.

“How do you know who we are?” Pip asked. Mia wondered the same thing.

“The healers downstairs let me know. I’m grateful for them. I’m also glad we were able to get to you in time.” He gave them a bright smile. “Sagev is safe for now.”

“What do you mean, for now?” Kate folded her arms as Mia remained silent, trying to take everything in.

The room grew silent as Sir Marcus cleared his throat, “If you’ll allow me, I want to show you around.”

Mia, Kate and Pip looked at each other before turning their attention back on the Grand Admiral.

“Why?” Mia tilted her head, as the question came as more of a whisper.

“Mia, did Lily ever talk to you about your powers, or where your magic came from?”

Mia’s face grew hard. “Do you know where Lily is?”

He shook his head. “No, but I would like to show you around and hopefully clarify your questions.”

Mia looked between Kate and Pip. Kate shook her head back and forth to indicate ‘no’ vehemently, while Pip just shrugged.

“Sir Marcus, I need you to clarify how you know my godmother first.”

Sir Marcus grinned. “Very well.” He beckoned towards the door as the guard opened it to a smiling Sho Risia standing just outside. They followed him out and down the intricate hallway to the sitting room and out the second set of doors. The wooden panels on the walls gave way to large archways overhead, adored with rich golden tapestries that hung from the walls low to the ground. Each tapestry held a different symbol. Ones that she didn’t recognize. At the end of the hallway were four shimmering waterfalls of light, each one a different color and catacorner to the other. In between the waterfalls of light were three more hallways that led to more colorfully lighted waterfalls. Mia used her examine ability, but nothing populated into her vision.

“Your powers won’t work in here.” Sir Marcus grinned. “This area has a magical barrier around it. Even your Akasha Vision is disrupted.”

Mia turned sharply, “What is this place?”

“A dungeon,” He replied, before adding, “Specifically, a permanent dungeon.”

Mia paused. “What’s the difference between a permanent dungeon and a temporary dungeon anyway?”

Sir Marcus smiled before walking through the teal colored waterfall.

“I’m not going in.” Kate said defiantly as she crossed her arms.

“Me either,” Pip agreed as she mimicked Kate’s stance.

Mia sighed. “Fine, you two stay out here.”

Mia turned and followed Sir Marcus through the teal waterfall, curious as to how the guild even knew about her existence.

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She was instantly nauseous as she stepped out of the waterfall, her Akasha Vision coming back to life as her alerts disoriented her view. She gagged as she heard Sir Marcus laugh heartily at her pain.

“I’m sorry, Mia, that gets everyone their first time through the dimensional doors. You’ll get used to it.” Mia took a deep breath as Kate and Pip bounded in after her. They looked the worse for wear as they both started to regurgitate in heaves. They were in a giant library, filled from top to bottom with books on each side of the massively tall walls. Large oak writing desks were in neat rows in the middle with candlesticks burning on each one. Akasha in white and gold emboldened robes sat at the desks with mounds of books piled on top, scribing on parchment paper with jars of ink and quills all over. Mia’s eyes grew wide at the sheer amount of books around her before she shook of her brief excitement and decided to go through her Akasha vision alerts while she waited on her friends to recover.

One alert caught her attention.

Akasha Vision Alert: You have entered a dimensional dungeon.

“What’s a…”

“Grand Admiral, welcome, we weren’t expecting you.” A woman bowed deeply, then stretched her arms to showcase the other Akasha.

“Master Daley, a pleasure,” Sir Marcus nodded his greeting then smiled brightly as the other Akasha stood up and bowed as well. Sir Marcus turned back to Mia.

“Your godmother is a valuable member of our guild. We asked her to go on the mission to find you based on something one of Master Daley’s scribes found.” He sighed. “There’s a prophecy…”

“Of course there’s a prophecy,” Kate grumbled under her breath. Pip chortled a laugh.

Sir Marcus smiled. “Of course, there’s a prophecy…and one I might add that includes a spirit being with silver hair and purple eyes.”

Kate and Pip turned towards Mia slowly before bursting out in laughter.

“What’s the prophecy?” Mia asked hesitantly as Sir Marcus grinned.

***

“Where is it?” Another hard smack to the face sent Lily’s head reeling to the side. She couldn’t see out of her left eye and her right was closing fast. Lily coughed hard, then smiled. “Oh come on Tess, you know I left my laundry at home, I haven’t had a chance to wash it yet.” Another hard smack.

“We could have done this the easy way, Lil’s, but you insist on making this more fun.”

Tess looked at her with her face beaming. Lily returned her smile, and Tess smacked her again. Lily spat out blood onto the stone ground beneath her.

“I think I know a five year old that hits as hard as you Tess.”

A rock chain formed around Lily’s neck suffocating her. She gasped for breath only for the rocks to start cutting deeper into her flesh. Blood starting trickling out and Lily was helpless to do anything. Her hand and feet were tied so that her body was pretty much vertical, bound to a large wall in a stone circular chamber.

“That’s enough Tess.” A gruff voice said from the shadows. Lily looked up and could make out multiple figures in the room that she hadn’t seen before. The guards that Tess had were few compared to dozens of figures she now saw before her. Her bruises made them almost impossible to see fully though. That’s why when the next blow hit her, she wasn’t expecting it.

***

“The prophecy isn’t something we can just share with you dear,” Master Daley replied.

“If you went through all of the trouble to find her and turn her magic on, why not just tell her the prophecy?”

“It’s not quite that simple, Kate,” Sir Marcus responded sternly. He sighed. “The being is said to wield great power, but some of the words in the book were lost. I’d rather find out the entire prophecy than to give it to her in parts.”

“But it was enough to find her and turn her magic on?”

“Yes, Kate, it was.”

Mia sighed.

“What do you think Mia? Do you want to be prophetic?”

Mia scoffed before pushing Kate to the side. Kate snickered a laugh.

“What else besides finding prophecies do you do in here?”

“These researchers scribe magical history and theory,” Master Hilda Daley said as she glanced over the shoulders of one of the transcribers.

“Do you know how Akasha Vision works?”

“That is something we have researched since the beginning.” Master Daley sighed. “From what we have gathered, think of it as a switch. Akasha Vision, we believe, is sparked by the inherent natural elements that’s engrained in every living soul. That element is what activates when you awaken your Akasha powers. We believe Akasha Vision to be a side effect of that. It seems to have a mind of its own as I’m sure you’ve already experienced.”

Mia nodded.

“Good.” Master Daley smiled, then showed them through to another room. The room had nothing but two long bamboo sticks hanging on bare stone walls hanging in a cross pattern to the left.

“You wanted us to see two sticks?” Kate asked as they walked in.

“Just wait,” Sir Marcus said as looked intently at the wall.

Kate grumbled about her patience, before cloaked figures appeared through the wall right in front of them. The trio jumped in surprise as more figures started to appear. The Grand Admiral chuckled. “I love watching peoples’ faces when they do that, freaks them out every time.”

Kate huffed again and Pip was physically frazzled, her shocked stare still on her face.

“This is one of our weapons training teams. They like to be dramatic. They all have an ability called ‘blend in shadows’ which allows them to become one with their environment. Essentially our senses are blind to them, almost as if they weren’t there.”

“Grand Admiral, welcome.”

“Thank you Sho Ventin.”

“Wait,” Mia interrupted. “Why are you showing me this?”

Sir Marcus flashed another grin. “I’m glad you asked. Follow me.” Sir Marcus walked directly into the stone wall with the bamboo sticks. Curiously, Mia followed and was greeted by a long table full of people with people wearing elaborately colorful robes.

“Mia, Pip, Kate, let me introduce you to everyone in the room. To my left, this is Master Morena, she is an esteemed Akasha who specializes in weapons, mainly long and short swords. Next to her, is Master Rogan. He is a master of crystals and alchemy. Next, we have Master Orin, he is an expert in ancient language and history, and finally this is Dynes Grand who is the headmaster of The House of Jin, our private training school for young Akasha. “

“Wait, what?” Kate said in response.

“Mia, we would like for you to join us at the House of Jin, where we can teach you about your powers and how to wield them to your best capability.” Dynes Grand said. She was a short, stoutly woman that looked as if she was no-nonsense. The permanent frown she wore on her face seemed as if it had been plastered there for decades. Her voice was slow and deep, as if you were waiting for someone to gather their words as they were speaking to you. She spoke in clipped tones and Mia was reminded of the old housemaid that ran her father’s home. She was also no-nonsense, but everyone loved her anyway.

Mia’s face flushed, she had never been to school before.

“Mia, we heard how you all stepped in to help save Sagev. That was very brave. I even heard you went up against a member of the Oya Guild, that was even more brave.” Master Orin said. His smile was warm. He had short salt and pepper hair and light blue eyes. The wrinkles that creased his eyelids showed he was aging well. Master Rogan and Master Morena looked as if they were the younger of the four.

Mia shook her head again.

“The guild of Oya are Akasha members who have broken from the ancient traditions and wish to bring harm to the human world through magic. We need all the help we can get to keep balance between the magical world and the human world,” Dynes Grand stated curtly. “Now, before we get into any more detail, Mia, I need to know your answer. Would you accept our invitation to join the House of Jin?”

Mia thought about it for a moment before she responded.

“No.”

“No?” Dynes Grand said raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t leave my friends, plus we still need to find Lily and our missing prince. I’ve gotten this far, I can keep going.” Mia responded.

“Mia, wait,” Pip’s accent flooded the room and her face flushed from the attention. “I think you need to go, you need to build your strength, it will only help you.”

Mia looked at Pip thoughtfully. Pip was usually the voice of reason between them. Which is why her saying this made her pause. Should she?

Dynes Grand looked at Mia, Kate, and Pip with an unreading expression on her face. It’s like she’s been playing cards all her life and was a master of disguise. “I’ll tell you what.” She said in her monotone accent. “We have a few non-magical researchers at the House. If you two want to join that will be a welcome addition. I do want to tell you. We work hard, and don’t take no for an answer. We are also willing to use force if necessary for cooperation.” She smiled and showed horribly stained and crooked teeth. Kate winced and Pip’s face flushed again. Mia could only smile at the gesture.

“Would you give us a moment?” Mia asked.

“She’s going.” Kate replied and rolled her eyes. “Pip’s right. There is something going on that I don’t understand, and you may be our only hope.” Kate smiled then added, “Oh child of prophecy.”

Mia flashed her a look and received one in return. Mia rolled her eyes. She looked at Pip and Pip nodded in agreement with a huge smile across her face.

“Well, I guess we accept your offer.”