“How about you work with me, Ali? It’s a good idea to make a living for yourself and also meet others.”
Alicia nodded once. She had on a black jacket with a hood and tugged the thin fabric, surveying her surroundings as the three walked into the cafe.
“Hi, everyone!” Vi exclaimed with her usual cheer. “We have a new worker today. Her name’s Alicia.”
“Wow, a fellow cat girl!” Cecelia shouted, her white fluffy ears perking up and tail waving in the air. She rushed over to grab the other cat girl’s hand and Alicia leaped back.
“Huh?” Cecelia blinked, puzzled.
“Ali’s a little shy,” Vi explained.
Alicia, after confirming Cecelia wasn’t armed and deeming her combat skills low based on body language, cautiously took her hand.
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Cecelia said enthusiastically, shaking her hand. “I’m Cecelia, by the way.”
“It’s good to meet you, Alicia,” Tilly greeted her courteously. The woman strode over to also shake hands, but another blonde, green-robed waitress held out an arm and stopped her.
Tilly glanced with questioning eyes at De’Vorah. De’Vorah looked at Alicia with distaste in her green eyes, then at Vi with an even more intense version of the expression. She spoke in a tone as severe as the ponytail she wore her hair in. “Daige Va’sho. Fa Sukoma?” Another murderer. Aren’t you enough?
Alicia did not allow herself to outwardly react. She couldn’t translate the Elarri very well—it was spoken quite fast—but she could see the unwelcome look in the Elarrian’s eyes, and caught a word with a root meaning of “kill”.
The assassin already knew Elarrians had a natural affinity with the elements. They also possessed their own brand of mind magic. The result was they had an enhanced situational intuition.
Tilly, attempting to placate the other waitress, laughed lightly and said, “I sense it too, but we should not judge without evidence. if Vi trusts her—”
“Bo Faleen, Bo Vu Ganshin Ravun,” De’Vorah snapped. My lady, I don’t trust the Demon.
A flash of guilt crossed Vi’s face. “De’Vorah, I swear by the King to do my best to ensure Alicia behaves well towards you and Tilly. She comes from a difficult background and is still adjusting.”
De’Vorah gave Vi a frosty glare, then her expression resumed her usual indifference. She slowly lowered her arm and nodded at Alicia curtly. “Very well. Apologies for my rudeness.”
Luckily for Vi, the door opened and Morgan walked in. Her purple robe swished around and her bunny ears wiggled as she saw Alicia, Enrique, and the staff. “Oh, hey. Looks like I’m early. Lots of new faces. What’s the deal today, Vi?”
“Good morning, Morgan. Take a seat,” Vi said quickly, leading the witch to a chair and handing her a menu.
“You know about the upcoming anniversary ball?” Vi asked the other staff.
Tilly nodded mildly. “The one to celebrate the treaty of the Five Kingdoms War.” De’Vorah’s face darkened for a brief moment.
“Yeah!” Cecelia exclaimed. “The Academy’s been talking about it for ages. We get a student discount. There’s going to be fancy meetings and events with members of the other nations, right?”
“You shouldn’t go,” Vi said lightly. “I have something a lot more interesting.”
“More interesting than seeing kings and queens and eating tons of food and dancing?” Cecelia’s eyes widened.
“Yes!” Vi produced a flier from her waitress outfit and waved the paper. “Since you all have done such a great job, I was thinking I could bring all the staff to a private vacation spot. It’s all-expenses paid—”
Enrique held out a hand. “Stop right there. You’re broke. What are you even thinking?”
“I mean, the cost is a little high,” Vi admitted hurriedly. “But think about it! Hot springs! Baths! The beach! Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“Ooh, count me in!” Morgan exclaimed, her bunny ears perking up.
“Oh no no!” Vi put a hand on her shoulder. “You have to go to the ball. I know a lot of nice and outgoing Anima will go there which are really your type. Plus, you should see how people react to the costumes you made. I bet you’ll get a lot of attention.”
“Eh? My type? Well—that sounds pretty good,” Morgan muttered to herself.
I really should let Morgan go, Vi thought. There truly is a high probability she’ll find a good relationship with all the activity and visitors at the ball. It’s not right to have her be too attached to me.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” Cecelia protested. “Why can she go but we can’t? She’s a customer at the cafe!”
Vi took Morgan’s order before replying.
“I—I’m trying to be helpful,” Vi told them with a smile. Her fox ears twitched nervously. “You don’t want to be at the ball, Cecelia. It’s been the same old thing every couple of years. You stand around and greet people and have a nice meal. Isn’t that boring?”
“Hm…maybe?” the cat girl looked thoughtful.
“Besides, Tilly and De’Vorah might not want to go too,” Vi added. “It’s awkward when they meet relatives coming from their homeland for the ball. Especially since this year we’re hosting the ball at Mirith. Tilly’s cousin Ti’brill will probably be in a bad mood the whole time.”
“I am aware the Third Battle of Mirith is a source of bad blood between you and my uncle Ti’brill,” Tilly said cheerfully. “However, since he is the Ranger Commander and other nobles from our homeland will be present, he must be there. I want to also be there as a family member of House Ti’vaan and Ranger trainee.”
“Wha—what do you mean?” Vi asked, her tails flicking around rapidly. “You don’t need to go to the ball. Just skip training! I skipped class when I was a student. And even if you want to support your family, they aren’t forcing you to do anything.”
Tilly cocked her head. “Weren’t the Rangers created to defend Elarrians in the Kingdom? You have told me so yourself. Even if I am now in the Anima Kingdom like my uncle, I would like to follow my family’s tradition. Highborns must look out for the good of all the High Race: ‘The great branch owes its beginnings to the other parts of the tree,’ as our saying goes.”
“You’re already doing enough.” Vi waved a hand. “Rangers go on lots of mission, and your training is very hands-on. Even today the King already informed me of a mission he selected the Rangers to do.”
Enrique interjected. “Really? I didn’t hear anything.”
Vi showed her phone briefly to him, with a notification on a green messaging app. “It’s nothing formal. I just get texts as his advisor. This one has a political reason of multi-cultural unification.”
Tilly nodded. “Tonight we must take part in a Ranger exercise to escort the nobles and other Elarrians traveling to the Kingdom.”
“If Tilly is going, I will go,” De’Vorah said bluntly. “As a lowborn and a trainee, I wish to do my duty.”
“I understand. Really, I do,” Vi said hurriedly. “But—”
“I already have tickets to the ball!” Tilly interrupted with a smile. “I have three from my family. Please do not worry. We could help cover costs, Vi.”
Alicia spoke up. “I want to go too.”
“What? Why?” Vi’s eyes widened as they switched to gaze at the cat girl.
“There’s food.”
Vi sighed. It was worth a shot, I suppose.
Tilly looked at De’Vorah hesitantly. “You are also going,” Tilly pointed out to Vi. “You were in the war. I have heard this is going to be one of the most important balls yet.”
Vi busied herself with preparing food and drinks. “Yes. At the King’s insistence. I can’t say I like the attention.”
----------------------------------------
Alicia set fire to a pan and smashed an egg. Again.
“Whoa!” Cecelia yelped from the front, her eyes drawn to the orange flames in the kitchen, and Tilly laughed.
“It’s okay! You don’t need to put in that much force. Let’s try again!” Vi told the somewhat confused assassin, dousing the fire with a flick of a tail.
This is harder than I thought, Alicia frowned in concentration.
Suddenly, Master’s voice sounded, bringing with it an intense headache. Darkwaters. I have a task for you tonight.
Alicia dropped a pitcher of water she had been carrying, splashing it all over the floor. As she watched Vi say, “It’s okay,” and start mopping up the spill, she concentrated to make a reply.
Yes, Master.
Her master continued in a cold, neutral tone. There will be a group of foreign Elarrians migrating across the borders for the ball. Some of their nobles wish to form an alliance and provide resources to the Anima Kingdom which would interfere with our plans. They will be under guard and the King has assigned an escort of Rangers.
Alicia’s eyes flickered to the tables, where Tilly and De’Vorah were serving customers. Elarrians? Escort? But then, isn’t this what those two were talking about? she thought to herself.
She tried to keep the panic and bile rising in her as Master spoke. Find them. You are to assassinate their leader, Menon, and retrieve a written draft outlining their goals for the alliance. I will send ice wolves and reinforcements to disrupt the group’s personal guards and the Kingdom’s Rangers. Act quickly.
Understood, Master. The headache gradually stopped.
Alicia grabbed another raw egg and broke it before it could reach the pan. The yolk dripping down reminded her of blood. S***.
----------------------------------------
It started with small things. Setting out plates over, and over, and over. Moving front to back to unload finished dishes, yet never leaving the cafe. Cleaning a spill from a wailing toddler. Having to smile. A lot. Washing dishes.
Enrique found himself at first holding a strained expression. Then tapping his foot in irritation in the kitchen. Then containing a steadily simmering boil inside as Vi kept Alicia with her in the back, leaving him with the other waiters who jabbered some small talk.
The sensation grew to pressurized, hissing steam as they talked about where they usually went besides work.
For Cecelia, the Anima Academy. Apparently young Anima went there for a general education—“But I just wanna make potions and practice my healing!”—and to prepare to receive partners—“I can’t wait when I get one!”.
For Tilly and De’Vorah, a place they called a Ranger camp. They attended classes in an outdoor area. Tilly shared some stories—“Instructor Evelyn made us roll in the dirt and then Uncle Ti’brill scolded me in private for soiling my clothes. Sometimes the commander and instructors, ah, strongly disagree on how to teach us.” De’Vorah didn’t talk much.
When Cecelia left and the time neared for Tilly and De’Vorah to leave, Enrique couldn’t take it anymore.
“I’m done with this s***!”
He whirled around to face Vi, who was helping Alicia fry an egg. The cat girl had burned it. For the tenth time. “I’m going out. I’ll check out a Guild or something. This waiter stuff isn’t for me.”
Vi blinked at him without replying for a few seconds. She gave him a smile. “Sure! Let’s go together.”
“No, I want to go alone. Trust me, it’ll be fine.”
Vi’s tails swished around and she wrung her hands. “It’s not safe,” she said with an undercurrent of anxiousness.
“I’m not a kid in one of your daycares!” he snapped. “Seriously, I can’t keep following you around all day and not doing anything myself. I want to do my own thing. I want to make my own goals and follow them through. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
She started to make a suggestion. “As long as you stay in the city, I’ll—”
“I’ll stay wherever I want! Stop it!” He turned away and stomped towards the exit of the cafe. “This is my life. I’m going. You don’t need to be so clingy.”
Vi watched the door close. Her tails flicked back and forth and her ears slumped a little.
----------------------------------------
“Tilly, De’Vorah, I’m closing early today. Ali, come with me.” Vi seized Alicia with her tails and dragged her out of the cafe.
“Get off. What’s your problem?” Alicia struggled in the mass of black fur as Vi set off at a fast pace towards her house. While the assassin was distracted, Vi took out her phone and shared a profile.
Alicia Darkwaters. Unregistered Anima.
In “Stats”.
Abilities: Dark Element Manipulation, Dark Element Augmentation, Self-Healing, Invisibility, Vanishing.
Intelligence: 6, Attack: 7, Defense: 5, Speed: 7, Agility: 7, Magical Attack: 7, Magical Defense: 4.
She released the cat girl from her grip. “Ali, can you be a good friend and stay home for the rest of today?”
Alicia brushed her jacket with a hand and her face took on a neutral expression. “No.”
“No?” Vi asked in surprise.
“I don’t want you forcing me to do whatever you want.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“But—but I’ll give you lots of tasty food in the house,” Vi said in a pleading tone, clasping her hands together. “Did you know there’s different types of fish? How about three whole plates of tuna, salmon, and albacore?”
“Hm…” I don’t know what those are, but they sound good. Alicia had noticed Vi cooked in the cafe very quickly, and had not had her do much except to set pans out and help on the most basic ingredients, like crack an egg and boil water. She suspected this was deliberate.
“I’ll give you a phone too!” Vi added. “There’s lots of fun games you can play. Have you ever played one?” She gave the cat girl a small black device.
No, she hadn’t. Alicia poked the screen.
“Now can you please stay?”
“Okay.”
Vi appeared relieved. She ushered Alicia inside and had her sit in the living room, then made the promised food with incredible speed, not even bothering with a stove and just flinging the fish around with tightly controlled wind and fire magic.
With that done, Vi set down the plates and went to her room. She had a vision of where Alicia might go and what she might do. The probability the cat girl would stay put for long wasn’t exactly high, but Vi’s concern at the moment was to find Enrique quickly.
Vi went to her closet. She put a hand on a panel camouflaged into the back wall and it silently slid open, revealing an entrance to a large hidden room. As the door shut, the fox woman stepped in and glanced at the weapons and armored suit she’d taken from Alicia.
They were on a rack besides an assortment of weapons, clothing, and rare magic items from some of Vi’s older days. She grabbed a black rifle and slung it around her back, then checked the pouch, katana, and aqua-black pistol on her waist was securely fashioned. She left the room as quickly as she’d entered.
Her phone rang and she dug it out.
“Vi, my squad has a blood trail. No bodies. We’re still in pursuit,” a voice growled.
“It’s okay, Sergeant Rorian. You’ve done well. Just go back to your normal duties,” she answered. Even a delay is good enough. It’s best to have the army combat the attacks now while we prepare for the ball.
“Roger,” he said shortly.
“Thank you,” she told him, and he simply shut the phone off.
----------------------------------------
Alicia ate her fish quietly. Her ears perked up as she heard Vi’s voice speak faintly in another room. Maybe Marcus and Eileen are alive.
She shook the thought away. No. Don’t be stupid. This is life. It’s not kind to beings like us.
She took out the phone and played a game where she jumped over blocks and avoided enemies to get a high score. It was surprisingly addictive. She had a strange desire to sink into a deep sleep, nestled against the comfy chair with a full stomach and mindless entertainment. She didn’t want to move. Still, she had to put it off. Her real life was on the line.
She heard Vi walk towards the entrance of the house and the door clicked shut.
She’s going to leave me alone just like that? Alicia finished her food and went around looking for her equipment.
C***. Weapons are gone. Where’s my suit? I really don’t want to go without armor. Maybe she trashed it. F***. Alicia clutched the jacket she already had on and stared at her empty plate.
She felt a pang of regret that she might not get another bite. I’ll break my contract. I don’t have a choice.
----------------------------------------
I guess this is the place. Enrique gazed up at the looming building, and pulled his hat lower over his head. It didn’t have a very descriptive sign—Luna: Solaris, but was one of four large structures that stood out in the city square. It was fashioned like a tower reaching towards the sky, with a moon sculpture at its tip.
Like that one, the three other edifices rose high above the other buildings on the street square. They faced each other stoically from a distance, like four people playing a game of cards around a table. Streams of Anima-human pairs walked to nearby stores or in and out of the superstructures. One was like a desert-themed skyscraper of glistening blue, sandy brown, and glass. Another was like a pagoda, each of its many roofs hammered out from iron-black and scarlet. The last was like a white tower of marble outlined in gold.
He felt small and unremarkable as he walked in. The double doors to the moon tower opened, and he entered a spacious main room with a long desk, a digital screen resembling brown digital posters tacked on a side wall beside a glowing blue map, a series of paintings, and open passageways to many other rooms. Pairs of adventurers rushed between rooms or out the great doors, their clothes fluttering and weapons glistening in their hands or at their waists. Some crowded around the posters, talking in an animated and serious way among themselves. An Anima sat at the desk typing on a tablet, hunched over with his terrier ears listening to conversation and his fingers flying over the screen.
One man standing at the posters, with a black cloak and a red rifle on his back, cupped his chin in thought as he studied some of the posters. His blue eyes narrowed as one of the posters flashed and erased itself in an instant, and then new words appeared on it.
He pointed at the blue map next to the posters, which showed landmasses and labeled cities, as well as several moving green and red dots. Images and videos flashed from the dots.
They displayed frontal and aerial views of various activities. There were masses of bizarre creatures resembling raptors, brown hogs, and oversized insects. Other screens showed rough-looking men in scattered groups, marching with a haphazard assortment of armor, weapons, and clothing.
“It’s no good. Tyrant lizards are down but now we have more of those sword-tusk boars and a mix of stag beetles. As soon as someone finishes a mission, a new sighting pops up.”
A woman near him with a green robe and black hair in a bun uttered a frustrated groan. “I heard two of my friends are transferring out of the Solaris League to other guilds. They say Luna’s losing their touch.”
The man pursed his lips and continued as calmly as he could. “Something must be pushing the monsters out of their usual territories. We can assume whatever’s driving them out is much worse than anything we’ve been fighting so far. Plus, the criminal activities by illegal immigrants are getting too coordinated to ignore. We need to be ready.”
Enrique approached the cluster of adventurers. “What’s going on? This is the Luna Guild, right? I want to join.”
The man shot him a look. His Anima next to him, with black jackal ears, gold earrings, and short black hair in a white robe, nodded with her arms folded.
“Yeah,” the man confirmed, motioning him to come over. “Welcome. I’m Jax, and this is my partner Nefri. I’m a new transfer myself. Normally we’d have some kind of initiation and paperwork, but our numbers are already so much lower than the other guilds with all these attacks.”
His partner indicated the posters. “These are automatic bounties posted by the kingdom through the System. We have monsters and various foreigners trying to take advantage of the situation at the borders. There’s so many attacks there’s a danger of violence spilling into cities.”
Jax held out a hand and Enrique shook it.
“I’m Enrique. I’m ready to help.”
“Where’s your partner?” Jax asked curiously, glancing around.
“She’s not here with me now,” he said shortly.
“Ah, okay. No problem. We need all the help we can get. I won’t lie. It’ll be dangerous.”
Enrique nodded. He was glad Jax didn’t press further, but he noticed Jax and his partner Nefri exchange worried glances.
The terrier Anima at the counter spoke up. “We don’t have much time. Fill out this form and you’ll be set. We just need your contact and basic information. If you want to officially join once things slow down, I think our Guild would welcome you.”
Jax pointed to the map. “We’re coming up with a plan for the latest wave. Got any thoughts?”
Enrique huddled with the adventurers as they came up with their plan.
When they were ready, Jax strode towards the door with his partner and the other adventurers. “Let’s go.” Enrique walked with them, his heart pounding with nervous anticipation.
----------------------------------------
“Bo Faleen—”
“Let us not use Elarri,” Tilly cut in as De’Vorah walked next to her in a deserted park. “We need to practice the kingdom’s language more. What will we do when we speak to the Anima-human pair in our squad? They would not understand us. Will we become two in a team of four? Then we would surely become weak and fail our duties.”
“Vaan Ti’li, I am still not good at the common tongue,” De’Vorah confessed as they passed by a set of benches, colorful twisting metal structures for kids to play on, and then a thicket of tall pine trees. “You know I do not like speaking it. The Anima use so many strange words from the plain-walkers.”
“From humans,” Tilly corrected her. “Plain-walker is not a good way to talk about humans anymore. That’s what my tutor taught all of house Ti’vaan.”
“He sounds like a fool,” De’Vorah huffed. “Do we have to throw all our words down at the feet of the Anima? I am more comfortable with the other Elarrians in our tent-forest. High-hand Ti’brill—”
“Commander Ti’brill,” Tilly corrected her gently. “Ga’sho is too literal. And a tent-forest is also called a camp. Do not be afraid to speak, De’Vorah. It is better to make mistakes and reach high, like a wind-beaten seedling, than to be silent and not grow.”
“Apologies.” De’Vorah’s green eyes darted at gaps in the tree branches. Then she pulled a brown bow of bespelled yew from her back. She turned around, her dark blue Ranger cloak fluttering as her eyes narrowed.
“What is it?” Tilly asked, pulling out her own bow.
“I thought of something. Do you remember that black cat Anima? She felt like a killing-hand.”
“A Va’sho? Killer?” Tilly asked, peering through the trees with her.
“The stench of a blood-letter was strong in her. We Elarrians must be careful. There may be others like that in the kingdom.”
Suddenly De’Vorah yanked back her bowstring. A series of green beams flew out and struck the branches of a distant tree, blasting wood and leaves apart. The air rippled.
She fired again at the tree as a light wind brushed its leaves, and this time Tilly followed suit. The two abruptly switched targets and sent a hail of beams between the gaps of another tree, watching a lower branch bend down and the space around it shudder, like ripples in a pond. They swiveled their bows and fired near another tree farther off. Leaves drifted down like flower petals.
“It’s running away,” De’Vorah said. She walked a few steps forwards, but then glanced at Tilly. “Please stay close to me.”
Tilly nodded. The two traveled a short distance and they inspected fallen branches and chipped bits of wood. De’Vorah motioned to a print of a boot in the dirt. “I couldn’t see it. Its mind is leaving our range, but I also sensed an aura. Magic-walker. Anima.”
Tilly did not sound as concerned. “Maybe you scared him or her. We are in a park. It could simply be a curious kid trying some magic. I have heard young Anima who want to be adventurers practice stealth as part of their training.”
De’Vorah swept her eyes around the area, her mouth drawing up in a thin line. She focused her mind but the presence was gone. “I don’t like it. A child would not come in such a way. The mind was also like a killer at first—all empty thoughts and no emotion. When the creature ran, it kept itself invisible instead of—what is the word? Mind-filled.”
“Panicking,” Tilly supplied. “We can report it to others in Ranger camp when we arrive.”
De’Vorah took a look around, but there was only the distant chirping of birds and three small squirrels running up tree trunks. She pulled out her phone and saw a message of a profile from Vi. The blond woman frowned. “Tilly, perhaps we should not go to camp today. I do not have a good feeling.”
Tilly turned around in the direction they were traveling. “What do you mean? We should not delay our training. Two minds coming our way.”
De’Vorah tensed and brought her bow in the other direction. “One plain-walker. One magic-walker.”
A pair of figures appeared in view, walking side by side, wearing dark blue hooded cloaks like the two of them. The one on the right pulled off her hood, revealing a human face and two yellow ears like a leopard. The one on the left took off his hood to show a plain human face with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a crooked smile on his face.
“Greetings!” Tilly said cheerfully, seeming to relax a little at the sight of them.
“Oh. You two. Were you the one who snuck up on Tilly?” De’Vorah demanded, though she lowered her weapon.
“Huh? What if I did?” the leopard woman asked with a smile. “Rangers need to think on their feet, you know.”
“Do not try that again on lady Tilly!” De’Vorah snapped angrily, but Tilly patted her on the shoulder.
“I am glad our squad is together now. Let us hurry to camp.”
“Yes, Captain,” the leopard woman’s partner said. The Anima and her partner joined Tilly and De’Vorah as they set off at a fast pace.
“She can’t take a joke, can she?” the leopard woman whispered to Tilly. “Why in the Four Houses would I jump my captain? I bet if a flower petal came near you, she’d start shooting it.”
Tilly laughed as a way to set the other two at ease. “It is because she is a lowborn, and because of her father and the war. She feels duty to defend our race, especially the higher families.”
She exchanged glances with De’Vorah, however, and noticed an uneasy expression on the lowborn’s face. Tilly did not let her own face show it, but it mirrored the feeling gnawing slowly inside herself.
----------------------------------------
Alicia leaned against a large tree trunk, catching her breath. S***. S***. S***.
She had been too straightforward trying to sneak close to the two members of the High Race. Her plan had been to find where the foreign Elarrians were by tailing the Ranger trainees. She assumed they would lead her to the Ranger camp, and then to the delegation.
She hadn’t expected De’Vorah to sense her that quickly. Alicia had felt her heart jump as she felt the Elarrian’s mind reach towards her, prying at her own mind, and then leaped towards the safety of another tree as De’Vorah attacked.
The bow had also surprised her. She had expected a couple arrows, but a simple pull of the bowstring and green beams had shot out nonstop like rifle fire. A modified weapon by the Anima Kingdom, she guessed.
Alicia narrowly dodged the attacks, but the lapse in concentration had stymied her invisibility and partly revealed her position. She jumped between treetops, magic blasts smashing chips of debris three heartbeats next to her, tearing in the fabric of her jacket. She got five minor cuts, non-vital areas, but the most damage was in her emotions. The assassin felt the mental reach of the two fading until she was certain she was well out of their mind sense. She watched her injuries heal and forced herself to calm down.
But now she was so far away she couldn’t even see them. She took cover by an abandoned bench, listening hard, sniffing the air. If she strained hard enough, she could hear soft footfalls and faint voices. She could catch the scents of the two members of the High Race, which she had familiarized herself with in the cafe. The High Race had a markedly different smell from plain humans and Anima. De’Vorah’s was like pine needles and mint, and Tilly’s was like a faint lemon chrysanthemum.
She slunk towards the distant sounds and scents, her ears twitching and face set. At least she’d had the foresight to swipe an extra pair of oversized boots from a shop stand. She’d put them on without the merchant’s notice or any further incident. The cat girl walked around in a winding trail and chucked the shoes—they were useless now as she’d read the Rangers were good at tracking footsteps. She kept in the shade of the trees and kept her feet light as a feather as she tread the edges of a dirt trail.
The Ranger trainee squad walked on until they came to a set of three oak-brown stone arches engraved in green, angular runes. They were in a clearing hedged by a tight tunnel of trees, and the structures pulsed with invisible waves, their inner shape filled with strange liquid energy pouring down like jade-green waterfalls, and were lined up one after another like people waiting in line.
“These were set up pretty recently, huh?” The human Ranger in the squad scratched his chin.
“We must take precautions so no one follows us,” Tilly explained. “These are Mi’qin, deprivation gates. My kind has made them before. We must protect the nobles’ location and they will be using a portal. Is it true the Kingdom dislikes using portals?”
“Yeah. We don’t want bad guys being able to suddenly appear in our land.” The Anima Ranger nodded, her leopard ears flicking and her tail waving with interest at the three arches. “In we go.”
She walked through the set of gates, followed by her partner and the two of the High Race. Each gate made a low humming sound as they stepped through, accompanied by the splash of energy against their heads and shoulders.
Alicia’s eyes widened. The quiet shuffling sounds of the four apprentices she had so carefully been tracking had vanished. What the h***? An instant later, their scents abruptly disappeared. At first she wondered if they’d suddenly been attacked, but that didn’t make sense.
She felt a deepening sense of dread as she stood still, her heart racing. How was she supposed to find the Elarrians now? It was like they had vanished off the face of the earth. Master would not tolerate any excuses. She’d lost them.
The assassin took a deep breath and concentrated as she walked towards their last known positions. No, there has to be a way. Alicia released a wave of dark element magic, forming two dark element clones to scout ahead. As she did so, she realized she could still feel…something. She let the clones dissipate into black wisps. What she felt was still quite weak, but it was like pressure bearing down on her from four sources up ahead. It was like seeing an aura, except through feeling the power instead of through eyesight.
She let the sense lead her, wondering what was happening to her. She seemed to be gaining new powers whenever she was pressed into a corner. It was disturbing that she did not even know what was going on with her own body. Was this because of the ability of Emeraldnight? What did Vi call it—Death’s Hand?
She walked until she came upon a line of three brown arches with green runes, pulsing with jade energy like doorways. The assassin could feel the trainee squad was somewhere past the structures. Alicia glanced around, but the path was closed off at the sides by rows of thick tree foliage, massive trunks, and gray boulders. She didn’t spot any other way through except the passageway.
The assassin approached the first arch, inspecting the symbols on it and the material. She grimaced. The exact form was unfamiliar to her, but she recognized the gate had alarm wards, and also archaic spells to hide travelers’ locations. That would explain her senses being cut off. It was an older Elarrian artifact, she guessed.
If she went through the gate, she was as good as dead. Touching the arch would surely cause it to perform some kind of retaliation spell on her, and also send an alert to the ones who set it up. If she ran into fully-trained Ranger squads, she’d be in deep trouble. But how else could she reach her target? D*** the Kingdom and its preparations. She felt defeated before her task had even begun.
Oh, wait. There was that. The ‘vanishing’ ability.
The first time she’d used it had been a fluke. Could she activate it intentionally this time? She didn’t know. It wasn’t like she had a choice.
Alicia took a deep breath. She focused her magic and ran towards the gate. Just before she was about to collide into it, she blinked and—she was through. She was on the other side.
One down. One more time. She breathed in and out and concentrated again. She felt energy being sucked out of her, and then just like that she appeared past the second gate.
One more. This time she was more ready, but more tired. She activated the ability and she disappeared, reappearing at last past the arches. She panted, feeling as if she’d summoned a horde of clones at once.
It’s not something I can use too often. But I'm starting to get the hang of it now.
She sniffed the air, catching familiar scents, and renewed her pursuit.