Morgan was bending over Vi’s prone body. She checked a screen beside the bed, monitoring vital signs. Multiple colored lines pulsed with small, erratic spikes. Oxygen down. Heartbeat is barely there. Mana level’s low. The witch took a deep breath. Her stomach twinged and she couldn’t shake the lingering shame filling her body. Maybe Mom’s right. What if something wrong happens? She spoke aloud to calm herself. “It’s fine. Let’s see what we get.”

She set some equipment she’d brought at a table. Other than the odd cartridge was a small brown amulet, a large spellbook, and two mana crystals. First step is tricky enough. Drawing mana from someone else’s body. Transferring energy from yourself to another mage or Anima took serious training. A healer would be most likely to apply this skill in day-to-day duties, but doing the reverse, and for non-healing spells? She needed special equipment to compensate, and unusual methods to match.

She flipped through the spellbook, stopping at a page and peering carefully at the diagram there. Morgan held out the amulet. Then she murmured a long incantation. Break the heavens, let blackness fall, wring dry the planet’s stars and colors… The item began to glow green over Vi’s skin, which was still emitting small blue sparkles.

The witch spoke to the fox woman, though of course she couldn’t hear. Felt less bad that way. “Vi, work with me here. Come on.” As Morgan watched, the blue glimmers grew faint and many faded away. The machine next to the bed beeped an urgent tone. The line indicating mana level dipped, the spikes shrinking and separating as it veered towards flatlining. The bunny woman’s insides lurched.

Morgan could sense the boost she’d received from Rick bubbling underneath the surface, though it was not as strong now. Her guess was he was far away. Still, her casting was definitely being strengthened. Her own power pulsed out in waves. An amulet imbued with a dark spell could cause mana drain, but she needed to store the energy too. Hence the crystals.

She set down the amulet and picked up a crystal, holding it close. “This would be a lot easier if you gave me permission. You should be doing this yourself.” Yeah, grumbling wasn’t too appropriate, but the drain on her own body from ability use was severe. It tightened her chest and made breathing hard. As hoped, the crystal glowed a faint, telltale blue as it filled with Vi’s mana. The machine beeped alarm at a loud, continuous pace. Flashes of anger and guilt hit her. “Serves you right. You should’ve been up-front with the truth to me. What else are you hiding?”

The crystal stopped glowing. The witch blinked. “Drat, that’s not enough. I still need to find out how that tracker works—” Morgan shot a frantic gaze at the machine, then enveloped Vi in green light as she inspected the fox woman, just to double-check. Vital signs were still there. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“I should’ve figured, you must’ve built up vast mana reserves since you’ve been around so long. Still, what’s up with that? Can’t you power up, or are they locked away or something?”

Even if she was only musing aloud, the conflict and self-loathing grated at her emotions. “Huh. You’re definitely a lot weaker than in stories I heard about the war. Does your power get cut in half when you’re supposed to Fade? Or, worse than half. That’s what I’m sensing. Then, what, you’ve been letting your mana slowly recharge for the past ten years? I can’t figure you out.”

The questioning sent her into a tailspin of doubt. “You’re not an average Anima, but act like you are. Are you lying? If you’re so strong, why didn’t you do something? I bet you knew my cousins were in danger. Why didn’t you do anything? Huh? You should’ve used everything you had. Every ounce of mana, every bit of prajna you could’ve pulled from your surroundings, every technique, every trick in the book, every tool and weapon. You should’ve saved them!”

She almost screamed the last words aloud. Morgan reached out and gripped Vi’s hand, the bunny woman’s other hand still clutching the crystal. Her arm trembled. The outburst didn’t make sense—prajna was an old witch term for magic formed outside the body, Vi remained non-responsive, and Morgan was accusing without any evidence, but she needed to vent, and she absolutely hated herself right now.

The crystal abruptly glowed blue again, a solid hue. To Morgan’s surprise, she noticed Vi and her own body was glowing the same shade. “What the heck?”

White light briefly filled her vision and confusing images flitted through her mind.

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The first were disparate scenes like short videos being played together in a sequence. Vi strode atop a hill, the ground wet sludge as rain poured down around her. Only it wasn’t rain, but blood, and the hill was a pile of bodies covered in blue ice. Vi had her tails wrapped around a small, sobbing bunny girl. Huge, red-armored men rushed at her from every direction at once. Elarrian soldiers shouted in the distance, lighting artillery batteries which thundered cannon fire towards her. More soldiers shouted and aimed their blades and projectile weapons at the fox woman.

“It’s okay, Millene,” Vi murmured to the little bunny girl. As the men charged her under a hail of arrows and spells, she cut them down with her sword and beams from her tails. The girl wailed as the rain pelted harder. Vi shielded her from the drops with her tail. The fox woman huffed for breath, striking down one, then another, but the living waves kept coming closer. The artillery barrage struck a blue shield around her with a cacophonous series of explosions. “It’s okay,” she told the frightened child again, as she stumbled from the force. Vi wavered but held, shooting and cutting down ten or eleven at a time. Bodies fell, and fell, but as they almost reached her an immense wave of blue-white ice swept across the field. The soldiers became encased in frost or screamed as their limbs froze and broke off. The cannonade shattered and light seared across the hill like an exploding sun. Vi staggered her way down, towards a man with blue eyes and dark hair. The man held out a hand. Vi passed the child to him.

“Millene Fieldspring. You’re safe now.”

Morgan jerked back in surprise. Millene was her mother’s name. Then the scenes dissolved and another one from another time formed.

----------------------------------------

It took a moment, but she recognized a black blur as Vi moving through the air. Her attacks and body were moving faster than the eye could see. Blue beams pierced heads of figures which seemed frozen in time. Landscapes flashed and morphed around her as she tore across cities, in and out of buildings, and turned through streets. Several times she grabbed citizens with her tails and deposited them near vehicles or groups of adventurers, or lightly pushed an adventurer pair out of the way of some advancing projectile or blade. But she didn’t stop or slow down.

A group approached. Morgan recognized them from social media as a few of the Dire Wolves. Vi unsheathed her sword and decapitated them instantly. She was searching for someone. Suddenly, her eyes widened. She whirled her rifle to the right and leaped onto a rooftop.

Vi slid a green cartridge into the weapon in one smooth motion. A green arrow-shaped rune flared to life on the side. While mana flowed into the weapon, Morgan pieced together the cartridge’s function in her mind. A beam would hit the target like a bullet and embed mana in the opponent’s body. Though the blast itself would vanish, a spell would remain to trace the target's life force. It was quite robust, so even if someone lacked a conventional aura, it would check for raw energy and any enchantments placed near the body to be processed into a signature and traced. The thought was a little terrifying, and she wasn’t sure how she received it in the first place.

As Vi took aim, Morgan saw through the fox woman’s scope. There were several moving, minuscule black dots in a house in the distance. That was all she could see as she lay in a firing position, tiny pinpricks like the point of a needle. But apparently that was a shot to take. She pulled the trigger and the rifle recoiled as beams thundered out.

Just as suddenly, the images cut off.

Morgan noticed tears had gathered in Vi’s closed eyes.

----------------------------------------

The witch sensed Vi’s magic flowing through her. It repaired minor scrapes and bruises from Morgan’s earlier fights, reversing aches, filling up her own energy levels, leaving her less tired and even refreshed in some places. “Are you…trying to heal me? There’s no need. I’m not hurt. What’s going on? Are you dreaming? Was that one of your memories?”

The crystal merely brightened. A jolt of panic went through her. “Hey! Hey, stop. You’re overdoing it!” She yanked her hands and the crystal back, nearly falling to the ground as she backpedaled.

The crystal still pulsed with energy. Vi stopped glowing. Morgan took a shuddering breath, watching Vi’s chest rise and fall. Some kind of instinctive reaction. I almost killed her. Moon and stars. She gathered up her other items and hurried out the room.

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“Good to see you, Jax.”

“Thanks. I’ll be good to head out soon.” The adventurer nodded at the terrier-eared Anima sitting at the counter. He folded his jacket more tightly around himself and sighed deeply. “God, we screwed up.”

His Anima’s reprimand was stern. She put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t say that. We did what we could.”

Jax approached a screen of camera feeds the guild had been using to monitor threats. He slowly shook his head. “A lot of members hospitalized. Some dead. Monster waves got pushed back. Scattered a couple thieves and crime rings. What did we accomplish, other than buying time? Now we’ve got people ditching the Guild in waves. Heaven’s Gate is getting popular. Nefri, I’ve got a bad feeling. You know what I mean?”

The woman’s golden earrings emitted a gentle ring as she shook her head. “In your defense, Luna was already on the decline when we transferred.”

“I don’t mean only that. You get this message from Commander Rea?” Jax showed her a set of green text bubbles on his phone. “Last I was in contact, she told me Heroes are getting sent in to shore up guild work.”

“Yeah. I saw. Bad sign if the best adventurers need to do ordinary assignments.”

“The royal family’s going to push us to protect the non-Anima citizens, from what you and I heard. I can’t help but feel we need room to breathe. The guild still hasn't pinpointed sources of all the invasions. Plus, the gang got away. If we had people left to do some deeper investigative tasks, that could open up progress. But as it stands, our best option is a lot of hard fighting.”

Adventurer pairs began to stream in from other rooms in the headquarters.

His partner’s black jackal ears and tail flicked once as she caught worn-out faces. “Well, looks like daily meeting’s starting. Let’s let the others know.”

Jax cleared his throat as others gathered near him at tables or hanging out by the corners. “I know this is a struggle for everyone. I do have good news. Due to the efforts of the Leagues, including our own guild in Solaris League, we’ve fended off monsters, armed bandits, break-ins, and criminal assaults from cities across the kingdom. As a former member of Raven’s Hunt, I’m sincere when I say Luna Guild’s done outstanding work, especially given our circumstances.”

Luna Guild members nodded but no one cheered. They were tired, he could feel that in his bones.

“That means we have a little time to prepare ourselves. The Dire Wolves caught us off-guard last time, but I’m afraid we have more on our plates. I’m sure you’ve all received the new Partner Swap feature announcement. I’m thinking we put it to use today. See, Nefri and I were also invited to a meeting with the royal family. His Highness suggested a public relations campaign where we record our missions to the public. Their goal is to improve non-Anima—”

A bang echoed through the doors of the main entrance. Jax and his partner’s eyes whipped towards the disturbance. They saw a vaguely familiar young adventurer wearing a dark blue, cruciform design outfit. He removed his boot from the doors as they slid open.

Rick strode in. Behind him trailed Charlotte and a long line of mostly young male mages and female Anima, who cheered or laughed at the overly dramatic entrance.

“Next up! Luna Guild of the Solaris League! Sorry about the door, couldn’t help myself.” Rick grinned at the guild members. He winked at the emerging crowd behind him.

“Riiiick!” Charlotte added, her horned head bobbing as she gazed wide-eyed at the adventurer.

“Care to explain yourselves?” Jax pulled the collar of his jacket, irritated.

His partner was much more direct, pointing her gold-bladed khopesh at the entrance. “Get. Out.”

Rick strutted to the center of the room, where a majority group of guildmates including the two sat or stood. He didn’t even look as Nefri kept her sword leveled a fist’s length from his chest. “No, I don’t think I will. See, I’ve been hearing rumors around town. Rumors this place is in bad shape.”

His dark eyes lingered on the tired faces in the room. Jax grimaced.

“I’m not the one in charge here, but.” He stopped speaking long enough to let the word hang in the air. “If running a League was a business, I’d say you need new management. Dynamic bosses that can whip everyone into tip-top shape and bring them glory. Someone who can bring results. Don’t you agree?”

The adventurer put a hand on the sword hilt behind his back, as if readying himself to fight.

The other mage noticed. “Don’t be stupid. We’re all on the same side. If you want people to join you I can’t stop you.”

Rick smiled. “I’m glad there’s no misunderstandings.”

Nefri was incensed, especially as she read Jax’s thoughts which were similar to her own. Rick knew this guild was in a weak state. He’d chosen to bust in with his massive numbers the moment everyone was struggling to recover, in her partner’s case physically. “Don’t you have enough people already?”

Rick’s followers were continuing to stream in and filling up his half of the room.

“It’s never bad to have newcomers. We’re going to diversify. The king and queen want us to help the other races, so I’ve started recruiting non-Anima too. Why don’t you three introduce yourselves?” He stretched out a hand to three figures who filed last into the room. They were strikingly different in appearance from the adventurer pairs, causing everyone to switch attention to them.

Two of them were blonde and light-skinned. They wore blue Ranger cloaks with the hoods down, exposing their luminous faces.

One had her long hair styled in curves and gave a friendly smile at the eyes set on her. She spoke with a faint melodic accent. “Greetings. My name is Tilly. It is a pleasure to work with you all.”

The other had her hair in a ponytail and swept her eyes around the room with a cold gaze. “De’Vorah.” Her accent was more pronounced but the sharp delivery hardened it.

The last figure stood out the most, towering heads and shoulders above the Elarrians next to him and adventurer pairs crowded around. He was clad head to toe in intimidating scarlet armor.

The metal emphasized muscles and cast a monstrous appearance, complete with a monotone helmet featuring a T-shaped opening, spiked shoulder plates, and a cuirass shaped to mimic his abs. He carried a large red sword and shield, and on his back was a spear. The being spoke through his helmet in a deep, booming voice, banging his shield on the ground. “My name is Khan! I am a warrior proud to serve the mighty Anima Kingdom! I will not hesitate to slay our enemies! Sau kalla!”

Many in the crowd, both Rick’s group and in the guild, scooted away a little at his introduction. Jax scratched his head. “A Saukallian, huh? Not that common in this city. I would say good to meet you all, but this is an intrusion by your leader.”

Rick spread out a hand, indicating Tilly and De’Vorah. “Ranger apprentices.”

He moved his hand towards Khan. “Infantry. Detached from an army squad, being rotated to these parts.”

The young adventurer grinned. “They were all looking for work. I found them at a bar, noticed they all had army experience, so I brought them in. Good to be generous, don’t you think?”

“Yeah you’re so nice!” Charlotte squealed.

“Join us and I guarantee you’ll have a much easier time completing missions. Charlotte will be recording us to make sure we’re each in a good light and can get the best rewards. We’ve got the numbers and the power to start our own League. We’ll need a name…how about the Ascension League?”

“Cool!” Charlotte exclaimed in excitement.

“I’ll be inviting Heaven’s Gate guilds next. Do you want to miss out?”

The members of Luna Guild glanced at one another. Some were uneasy, averting their eyes from one another. Others murmured quietly to friends at the table. In groups of two or four, they drifted to the other side of the room.

Jax folded his arms. “I’m leaving.” His partner nodded in agreement. “We’ll have no part in this.”

“Suit yourself.” Rick shrugged, directing his gaze and smile at the new members. He watched the other adventurer and his partner exit the room. Only a few others did the same.

Rick’s phone rang. He picked up. “Hello?”

“Um, hi Rick, this is Morgan.”

On the other end of the line, Morgan was clutching a crystal glowing in a blue outline.

“Good to see you’ve come around. No need to sound nervous. Plenty of time for the team to get to know each other. I take it you’ve decided to join and pair up?” Rick grinned to himself.

Morgan wasn’t sure how he could mistake the shaky fear in her voice with discomfort around strangers. “I heard you were the one that hurt my friend. Is that true?”

Rick had to take a moment to reply. Charlotte hopped over to listen in. “Hm…I hate to be blunt, Fieldspring, but your friend isn’t someone you should be concerned about. I saw an entire crowd of citizens screaming, begging for someone to stop her and teach her a lesson. It was complicated. I’m telling you, there was more to her than you think. Something real twisted. You might say having your friend unable to influence further events is for the best. I’ll be able to explain more if you come over.”

Charlotte chipped in with a sympathetic, “That's harsh!”

“Harsh, but true,” Rick told Morgan. “I’m sorry about that.” He was still smiling, however.

“You…really did that? That’s horrible.” Morgan stopped talking as the crystal emitted a spell. The tracking spell was flooding each of her senses, allowing her to pinpoint a moving location in many different ways.

“What’s going on?” Rick picked up on the sudden cut-off.

“I was going to tell you. I found a way to find the leader of the Dire Wolves gang.”

Rick’s eyes widened. “You know where he is?”

Charlotte’s eyes were even bigger. “Whoa! How? How do you know? Tell usss!”

A blurred landscape loomed in her vision. Faint sounds of steps and the clink of armor. Most noticeable was an internal pull in her chest, nudging her body like an arrow.

“I can get a general sensation. I think I’ll need to come meet your team and guide everyone.”

The adventurer’s eyes gleamed. “Excellent. I knew you’d be a great addition.”

----------------------------------------

“Okay. How are we going to do this?” Enrique, voice quiet, folded his arms as Alicia and Sven rejoined him. The four gang members stood tense facing the Black Cats, while Gujar was less tightened up.

“We should confiscate their weapons,” Sven said. “They can’t use magic. They’re easier to handle that way.” Enrique nodded and motioned for the four gang members to drop their enchanted swords and shields. One, with an eye patch, scowled, but they complied. Blades and metal clattered to the floor. Enrique approached the four with caution. Noting his wariness, Sven held out a hand and a blast of wind pulled the weapons over to the other mage.

Next to the gang members, Gujar watched in silence. The shapeshifter approached Alicia, Sven, and Enrique, carrying two bags of Drifters and placing them at Enrique’s feet. “I suppose you want the rest?” Enrique frowned as he scanned the burned street and saw the piles of drug boxes that had been abandoned. “Yeah. There’s a lot. How are we going to carry all of that?”

Sven scratched his head as he thought. “Horses,” Alicia chimed in.

Enrique swiveled his head at his surroundings. “Good idea, but there’s one small problem.”

The horses were gone.

He grumbled under his breath. “Figures.”

To the gang members and the robed Nocturne, he announced in an authoritative tone, “From now on, you are a member of the Black Cats. The drugs are ours to do as we please. Understood?”

“Yes. I will carry some,” Gujar volunteered.

Enrique lowered his voice. “What exactly are you doing, Gujar?”

Gujar murmured, red eyes flashing. “I too have been in deception. I have convinced them I am of Kavistra’s church. I have no love for that demon. Away from your eyes, I infiltrated a church and intercepted one of their members who was trying to gather gangs. I freed one who you see now, Waz, as I recognized from his healed skin he was someone of significance.”

The Nocturne pulled the sleeve of his robe, exposing blue characters of a name etched on his arm. “One’s skin tells a story. I am formerly of Grishna.” As he spoke the name, the mark glowed faintly. “Once, Grishna perceived the tides of time, and in the long ebb and flow, the greatest darkness would stem from the Anima Kingdom. The great one became an ally. I serve the kingdom now. My loyalty is to the Anima.”

Enrique was bemused by Grishna’s totally straight face. “Let me get this straight. You want to stop a demon, but you also believe in a different demon, who is somehow not trying to kill us.”

“Yes.” Gujar let out a wry grin, showing sharp teeth. “It is a bad time to be a Nocturne. We face much discrimination and our foolish churches from our old nation do not help. Truth be told, to stop such discrimination is what has driven me to this mission in the first place. But now tell me, did you find any trace of the arms dealer? We must capture her no matter what.” Gujar swiveled his head around, craning his neck high and low as he spoke.

“About that. She escaped.” Sven grimaced as he raised a hand and summoned a sweep of wind that formed like green mist. It lifted a couple boxes up and stacked them nearby.

Gujar stepped back from Enrique. The shapeshifter glowered. “Surely there is something we can use? Any evidence left behind?”

Sven filled them in on details. “I shot the bear but I’m pretty sure it’s being controlled by a spellcaster. Alicia saw more than me.”

Enrique noticed Alicia fidgeting, one hand behind her back. A gray hard case flashed near her body. “Hey. What’s that?”

Alicia followed his eyes down to her hand. She’d put the WMD in the case. Her own inference was as good as anyone’s. She glowed with a black light to inspect the container itself. “Felice dropped it. It had a weak camouflage spell. I think the spell’s worn off now. I don’t think we should open it.”

“Why not? It could give us clues.” Enrique strode towards the case.

Alicia struggled for an excuse. “I just have a bad feeling. Maybe we should wait. I saw an illusion made by Felice. She’s a Fae. That would explain some of the magic we see.”

Enrique frowned underneath his mask. “What’s a Fae?”

The cat girl shrugged. “Non-Anima race. I heard somewhere they’re good at certain types of magic. Illusion is the more well-known. I guess part of their tech is putting magic in items?” As she hoped, Enrique was puzzled into silence.

Sven motioned to the gangsters. “Perhaps we should deal with them first.”

“And transportation,” Enrique added as he faced the gangsters. “I want those drugs piled together. What’re your names? Where are you from?”

A younger-looking man spoke up. He held out a black tattoo burned on his arm. “AI789346. Waz. From Ai.” He pointed to an older man with graying dark hair and a worn expression, who also rolled up his sleeve to show an ID. “ISH44325. Dorthon. From Ishnu, neighboring village.” Then Waz pointed to a seething, heavy man with a black eye patch. “Ulsag.” And finally at a lanky man with long brown hair and a sarcastic grin. “Roco. Both from an Unplaced city, Damas.”

“Okay.” Enrique made eye contact with each to let them know he was in charge. “How do you usually move the drugs?”

The older man of the group grunted. “Each person got a pile. Made carts. Robbed mounts or pulled them in the wilds.”

At mention of robbing, the mage’s glare intensified. Enrique lowered his voice as he turned to Sven. “What should we do? Do we bring them back to the kingdom? I don’t feel good about taking these guys anywhere near an Anima. Plus, where would they stay?”

Sven pursed his lips. “Yeah. Citizens would be in danger. Could we talk to the royal family or an official to come up with a deal? Or we could leave an anonymous tip and leave the drugs for a ministry to collect, if that’s possible.”

Enrique furrowed his brows. “Don’t know. The king wants the gangs dead, remember? Dropping the drugs off would make the journey easier. But we still have to deal with these scum.”

Sven lifted his head up to observe the night sky. “We’re going to need a place to rest soon. This is going to be troublesome.”

Enrique groaned. “Fine.” He turned his attention to the four gangsters again. “Don’t attack us, and we don’t attack you. I want you to carry as many boxes as you can. We’ll have to stay together for a day. We have a hideout to go to, but it’s a little far. Any nearby bases you happen to know about?”

The gangster with an eyepatch glared. The long-haired one shook his head. Well, Enrique didn’t expect them to reply to an obvious bait like that.

Waz turned to a wall of an abandoned shed. “Maybe.” He reached out a hand and tapped on the wall with a finger. “We’re in Kavan.” He scratched out a small circle and drew other crude shapes around it, forming a simple map. Enrique, Sven, and Alicia looked on curiously. He scraped a winding line with his nail. “There’s a big forest to the north. Neutral land with some giant pigs and things.”

The oldest of the gang, Dorthon, spoke up. “The Emerald Forest. That’s the name. It’s closer to the Anima, but does it work, Red?”

Enrique nodded as ideas began to form in his mind. “Yes. Let’s go there.”

----------------------------------------

Ding-dong. A chime that could be heard across the vast hallway. “Riiiick!” Charlotte called, slouching on the couch.

“Coming, coming.” Rick pulled himself off a chair and went to the door. Morgan peeked through as the door cracked open. “Ah, Fieldspring. Come in.”

The bunny woman stepped in, dressed in her usual robes and pointed hat. Her expression was subdued. Her eyes did widen as they saw large glass windows, spiraling staircases, ornate paintings, and jeweled flower vases spread throughout the spacious room. The scent of expensive floral arrangements filled the air. “Big place.”

“It’s my house!” Charlotte piped up. “My dad’s a businessman! I get that a lot.”

Morgan’s unease grew, not only because of the extravagant decorations which were nothing like her own house, but because she saw a number of other visitors had arrived as well. They were mostly adventurers and sat at tables or plush couches.

Two she recognized as being of the High Race. One was a large red-armored man who sat upright, occupying a single table by himself. Morgan was surprised to see by his sheer height and size that he was likely a Saukallian. The others, Anima or human adventurers, had excitement or mild curiosity on their faces. She settled near Charlotte on her couch in the mansion as Rick re-joined the two.

“We’ll go after the Dire Wolves without delay. Today.”

“So soon?” Morgan was surprised.

“It’s not a bad idea to move first to make good impressions. We’ll control the situation and occupy everyone’s minds. Killing a whole gang will show we’re serious business.”

The bunny woman nodded. “Okay. Fine. I want them all dead.”

“Charlotte will be streaming for us. She’s got lots of equipment already.” Rick smiled at Charlotte and pointed to a massive monitor placed on a table. It had large cameras and speakers attached to it or lying nearby in a chaotic mess.

The horned girl sunk lower in her seat. “I’m sooooo tired. My clothes got dirt all over them and my body’s hurting.”

“Now, now, don’t be like that when you can make fans.” Rick reprimanded her mildly, glancing at the gathered members of his new team.

“I don’t want to! Don’t tell me what to do!” she screeched. “I’ve been doing things for you all day!”

“Right. I appreciate it, Charlotte.” Rick shot Morgan a look of joking chagrin. Morgan stared at the two with a blank expression. How can they be so flippant when so much suffering is happening?

The doorbell rang again. Rick glanced up. “Oh, that’ll be your order from the shop. I’ll get it.”

He opened the door. A pale woman stood on the other side wearing a purple dress. Her pink pupils with blue eye shadow matched the mischievous smile on her face. At the woman’s feet was a stack of boxes.

“Thank you, Felice. How nice of you to pay us a visit,” Rick said, picking up the stack and turning to the door.

“Why, of course.” Felice’s voice had a bubbling amusement beneath the surface. “Anything for one of my most valuable customers.”

As Rick opened the lid of the top box, Charlotte leaped from her couch, exhaustion forgotten, and ran over to peer inside. Many stuffed animals gazed up with their beady eyes.

“Wooow!” She grabbed three and clutched them to her chest. “Thank you, Rick! These are great!”

Charlotte squished one of the toys, a stuffed white rabbit, and giggled. “Some of them feel funny. Like there’s little balls and powder inside.”

Felice stepped through the doors and settled on the couch, eyeing the horned girl. “Consider yourself lucky. You get the first shipment of a brand-new kind of material. They’re beanies instead of cotton.”

Morgan cocked her head, watching the newcomer. Felice’s clothing and skin appeared the slightest bit off under the mansion’s lights, flickering to match the air around her. “Excuse me. Do you know those two?” The bunny woman reached out a hand to Felice’s arm.

Her fingers went right through the woman. “Oh. An illusion?” Morgan’s eyes widened.

“She’s a very powerful Fae.” Charlotte hopped to the huge monitor and turned it on. A small beep came from its speakers. She settled on a black swivel chair. The girl adjusted a camera nearby and shoved stuffed animals from the box at the lens. “Hi everyoneeee! It’s me, Charlotte! Today I’ll be unboxing some new toys today!...”

Morgan stared. Felice turned towards her and Morgan tore her attention away from the live stream.

“Eh heh. I see you’re a good witch. I am quite busy nowadays, what with my business taking off, but I hope my appearing like this isn’t too rude.”

“No, not at all. I’m sorry, I was surprised. It must cost a lot of energy to maintain that. I’m sure those two appreciate it.” Morgan waved an arm in a hurried motion.

Rick plopped the boxes at the foot of Charlotte’s computer table, so it would be easier for her to pluck toys out to show her fans. The other members of the group turned from their various spots to watch as she narrated the haul with breathless excitement.

“Look at this rabbit! I like the whiskers and the color. He’s different from the others because he’s a beanie.”

“Oh, she is quite popular,” Tilly noted. The Elarrian scooted closer and her fellow Elarrian De’Vorah kept a close pace with her. “She has over a thousand online fans? Anima are so good with media.”

De’Vorah folded her arms. She thought this Anima was quite irritating.

The hulking, red-armored Saukallian, meanwhile, turned his helmeted head like the others but remained in an upright positon, as if expecting an attack at any moment.

Rick’s eyes swept over them and the adventurer pairs. “Ah, I almost forgot. Now that everyone’s here, I’d like to make an announcement. We’re going to start a League. I’ve been debating the name and decided to call it the Blackstar League. What does everyone think?”

“Sure, sounds coollll! You hear that, guys? I’m going to join a League and be an awesome adventurer!” Charlotte was hauling out one of her larger toys, beaming at her off-screen viewers.

“Everyone here will be the founding members of Blackstar’s first Guild. I’ve mostly cleared our first mission with the ministry. Morgan Fieldspring will help lead us after the Dire Wolves Gang. Does anyone have any input? I’m willing to listen.” Rick smiled at the rest of his team.

A murmur of consent went through the room.

Felice lounged on the couch and cupped a hand to her mouth to call out. “Charlotte, what happened to your last order? Did you lose more of my toys?”

“Um!” Charlotte gave Rick a big, innocent look with wide eyes. “I don’t know. I might’ve. But I kept them all in my backpack!”

“I did not see any drop,” Rick informed the shop owner smoothly.

Felice frowned. “That bear should’ve been in your backpack,” she muttered to herself. Then her eyes glimmered and she leaned forward in her seat. “Don’t forget some of the toys glow in the dark. You should leave some in your room at night and see how it looks.”

Charlotte gasped. “I almost forgot! They’ve got a crystal inside! Do you think I can complete my collection?”

For a moment, Felice’s smile turned wide and sinister. Morgan blinked in shock, and then the expression was gone.

“I’ll need to go now. The League sounds fun, though. Shame to miss it.” Felice went out the door as Rick strode towards Charlotte to regain the room’s attention.

----------------------------------------

Everyone was in a staring contest. Enrique rubbed his hands over a fire. His flames crackled in the dirt as they sat in a rough circle. Silence and contempt sizzled.

“We’ll take turns keeping watch. Half of us and half of you. Rest of us sleep. Then we switch. Got it?”

In the pitch-black, he could barely see the gangsters except for the light of the flames. Their shoulders were tense. He saw one nod.

“Okay. We’ll wake each other up in—” He peeked down at his phone hidden under his robe. “—five hours.”

Enrique lay on the grass, mask still on. The ground was hard and covered in dirt. Wind whipped through the forest trees, blowing an icy wet chill through his clothes. He brushed some of his curly hair and grimaced as stray leaves fluttered through his fingers. He moaned. “This sucks.” Wish I was back at Vi’s house.

Turning his head, he saw Alicia was already curled up fast asleep. Jealousy fluttered within as he contemplated how she could be so unbothered. Sven lay facing her, green cloak wrapped around himself like a blanket, and had his eyes closed. Enrique shut his eyes and tried to sleep, but was all too aware of four unfamiliar sets of breathing across the fire. Why did I do this? I made a mistake coming here. I hate these guys. I hate them so much. They hate me too. As he slept he felt a sensation of hands grasping his throat, tearing at his mask, and jerked up—

Only to realize it was a dream. Judging from their positions and the rise and fall of their bodies, the gangsters had fallen into a slumber also.

“Can’t sleep?” He heard Sven’s voice, quiet.

Enrique rolled in his direction. “Yeah. This is all so weird. I got an idea, though. May as well stretch my legs.” He rose and walked to a nearby thicket, inspecting the trunk of a tree. “I’m nervous about the drugs we couldn’t carry and left in the warehouse. What if the gang comes back or someone else takes them all? I was thinking, I could practice using the earth element and make some wheeled carts from the wood here. Then we could find some wild animals to pull them.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “If that’s possible? Like pigs or something harmless.”

Sven shrugged. “Sure. We can give it a try.”

A huge black bear suddenly lumbered from the trees towards them. Enrique reached for his gun, eyes wide, but the massive shape hissed, “It’s me.”

Enrique kept his hand on the weapon even as Gujar shape-shifted back to a humanoid form. “Can you not do that? How many forms do you have anyways?”

“My limit is five animals,” the Nocture informed him, unloading a couple boxes from his winged back to join the pile dragged over by the others. “I cannot carry everything. We must hurry before anyone else returns.” Enrique noticed Gujar barely blinked and hadn’t slept. Kind of creepy.

Enrique unsheathed his sword and raised it up with both hands like an ax. He studied the trunk.

“You’re having second thoughts.” Remnant made the observation mid-swing.

“Argh! Don’t interrupt me!” Enrique leaped aside as the top half of the tree thudded to the forest floor.

“Sorry. You seem shaken.”

His shoulders slumped. “Yeah. We did fail, didn’t we? The dealer got away and we only captured four gang members.”

“Don’t think like that,” Remnant told him. “What matters is you made it out alive. I think that’s what Vi would care about. Plus, you’re not completely empty-handed for all your trouble.”

“I guess.” He approached the fallen trunk and scrutinized it. He sensed Sven moving closer behind him. “Can you show me how to use the earth element?”

“Right. You haven’t used that element, have you?” Remnant was thinking, if his silence was any indication.

“What about that flashback you showed me? Where I learned Overdrive. Does mana have something to do with emotion?”

“Sort of. Certain emotions are tied to specific elements. Anger with fire, coldness with ice, steadfastness with earth, for example. That doesn’t mean you need emotion to do magic, rather that intense emotions tend to amplify and tap into it. Overdrive is a spell that uses the fire element to increase your physical abilities for a short time. You channel a part of your soul, in a sense. Speaking of elements. You might consider picking a skill line and starting a Form too.”

“Form?” Enrique held out the sword and imagined the wood of the trunk bending to a rectangular shape.

“Yeah. People like to name their own custom moves, but there are some more standard spells with unique effects you can learn. Each element has their own sets. You start with mastering your First Form, then go to Second Form, and so on. The highest I’ve seen is Seventh. At that level, even deities get worried about you.”

“Hm, like the light element gives a mana boost while darkness drains? It wouldn’t hurt to have more useful effects and stronger attacks. Maybe I can figure out this earth magic and then make dark element clones like I saw Alicia have. That could go well with learning a Form.”

The trunk wasn’t budging. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“Here, let’s see.” A sigh came from the sword. “No, no, no. You shouldn’t only be using your mind but willing that energy to the tree. Earth magic is about nature, and what you need now is to control that nature and shape it. Observe it. Pull your mana through it. You should be able to vaguely feel the pulp and grain in the wood.”

He tried again. The trunk glowed with green light and then hovered about a pinkie finger’s length in the air. The center of the tree broke off and flattened to a thick board. Enrique panted for breath.

“Can’t you send me another flashback so I can learn this faster?”

“And deprive you of hard work?” Enrique could hear a grin in the sword’s voice. “Be glad you’re not summoning material from scratch. Besides, you need to practice magic to be able to handle more of it. Like stretching a muscle. Even if you were shown how to do a strong spell, chances are the nuances would be lost on you, plus you’d drain all your energy quickly. High-level spells can even physically break down a body that’s not prepared for them. We wouldn’t want that.”

Sven stretched a hand and arrived at Enrique’s side. “I can help.” He had slightly more success than Enrique, breaking off another part of the trunk and fashioning another board of roughly equal size. He too looked strained, but Enrique was jealous. Does he have a natural talent? He can’t know more than me.

“What is this flashback I’m hearing you talk about?” Sven asked Remnant.

“I’m able to transfer memories to other people when they make contact with me. Also able to make possible future scenarios. That’s from Vi’s powers. I’ve got her mana. I used it to simulate a training session from the past. Nothing too important for you.”

Sven regarded the sword with thoughtful caution.

Remnant used the opportunity to rag on them. “You guys want to meld the wood as one piece. They’re supposed to be carts, I believe? Not pieces of a shed.”

Enrique grimaced. He directed his board to hover next to Sven’s. Sven likewise moved his glowing piece closer. The edges of the boards bent, elongated into sides, and then fused together.

Sven pursed his lips. “We should go for more of an open design. We could cover the top with a cloth or something similar.”

Enrique broke off another board and this time half of the piece bent at an angle. “You mean like—”

“Perfect.” As Sven interrupted, he folded his own piece in half and fitted it in with Enrique’s.

“I think you’ll both get the hang of it. After about a hundred tries.”

With that, Remnant fell silent again.

Soon the ground was littered with pieces of wood and large cart bodies of varying shape. Enrique lost track of time. He saw the sky brightening, so he figured the sun would come up soon. He gave quick glances in the direction of the gangsters, but they remained asleep and huddled together.

There was one thing, however, that he couldn’t help but keep track of. Sven. The boy noticed that as his own discarded wood piled up, Sven’s pile stopped growing while it was small. Sven’s actions became more fluid and faster as well, until he emitted a constant green glow, directing fallen logs with his hands like an efficient conductor. He broke off the outer parts of trunks and formed consistent boxy shapes in mid-air, leaving very little of the trees to waste. When Sven directed some mana at Enrique’s less stellar half-carts, stretching the planks into stronger and thicker sides, Enrique couldn’t help but groan.

“Something wrong?” Sven’s face was concerned.

“That’s unfair,” Enrique muttered to himself. “Why do I feel like the least useful person here? Alicia’s super strong and Sven’s got some monstrous instinct going on.” Louder, he told Sven, “I’m tired. Can you finish up while I watch the others?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sven nodded. “No problem. We still need to put on wheels later.”

Enrique stalked to the fire he’d made and released some pent-up frustration, watching the flame grow higher to a warm blaze. He grumbled. “I’m useless. Can’t I win at anything?”

To his surprise, he heard Remnant again. The sword’s tone was much more serious than before. “Enrique. That’s not true. You were chosen as part of a long line of Heroes. Adventurers with accomplishments that, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe. Destiny doesn’t make mistakes.”

Enrique still sulked, but then his stomach growled.

He spotted a pair of familiar green eyes as Alicia padded his way. Alicia’s stomach made a similar rumble.

Enrique squinted at the early morning rays breaking up the skyline. “In the mood for some breakfast?”

Alicia scanned the forest’s surroundings, making note of the vegetation and terrain. Dense foliage. Leafy trees, berry bushes, likely some roots as well. A diet fitting large mammals. “Monsters here should be enough.” She raced into the forest.

“Alicia, wait,” Sven called out.

Moments later, Alicia returned, clinging to the back of a large, screaming wild boar. She drew a knife from her robes and stabbed the charging animal, then glowed and summoned a number of dark element clones on top of it. The clones held their own knives of energy and stabbed mercilessly into the boar’s brown hide. The monster screeched and Alicia directed it into the group’s makeshift campfire, where it collapsed in the flames with a crash, sending the gangsters scrambling awake and shouting.

“Watch it!” one of them cried.

Alicia paid no attention to them. She concentrated and the fire intensified, charring the monster. She jammed her knife into the dead boar and carved out a crude hunk of meat, then bit into it. The inner meat was also seared black but the cat girl didn’t seem to care.

Enrique stared. At least it’s not raw? That explains why she always burns things.

Alicia hesitated then, after a moment, speared another piece of meat and held it out to Sven.

“Oh. Thanks.” Sven took it and settled next to her, holding in a hint of a smile. He propped his mask up enough to bite.

The cat girl chewed on her makeshift meal and eyed the fire, as if in contemplation. She carved out another chunk and held it to Enrique.

Enrique was incredulous. This is the first time I remember Alicia ever doing anything for anyone. “Thanks.” The food reminded him of a very burnt, tough ham. He choked it down.

As they ate, he noticed the gang members watching with envy. He was tempted to let them starve, as he didn’t have much sympathy for them, but he got up and chopped a few slices onto the grass with his sword.

Alicia frowned upon seeing this. “I didn’t say they could eat.”

“No point giving them nothing. They’ll have to make themselves useful.”

The four men had taken the food and ate without any complaints. Enrique observed each one’s behavior was different. The oldest of them, with graying hair, broke his portions evenly and munched at a measured pace. Someone who had attained a small amount of control over his life, Enrique knew. Kind of like his own brother or higher-ups of rival gangs back home who’d seen a lot. He might be good for information or influencing the rest.

The other three ate frantically in a way that reminded Enrique a lot of Alicia. Waz appeared to be the youngest and ate the fastest. The larger gangster with an eye patch had his body turned to fix his good eye on the Black Cats and angle his meal away from the trio. The remaining one with the long brown hair slouched and stood on two legs in a peculiar rocking motion, with a twitching smile on his face.

This last one—Enrique cast his mind for a name, Roco or something—wandered to the drug pile and picked up a box. Then, to the boy’s surprise, the gangster opened it and took out a white bottle, downing it like a swig of beer.

“Hey! What are you doing?” As Enrique started towards him, Roco bit into the boar meat and guzzled again from the bottle.

“Gotta have a drink! This stuff’s no good without it. Haven’t had my daily Drifter, anyways.” As Enrique watched with alarm, Roco’s face turned slack and a dazed smile drifted across the gangster’s face.

“Roco, seniority. You gotta let Dorthon have his dose, and then me,” another gangster with the eye patch complained. His fellow didn’t pay attention and stared at the sky with the same blank expression.

“No good stressing, Ulsag,” the oldest man said, and reached towards the box. Both he and the one with the patch took out green bottles and sipped the drugs. Neither were affected by Roco’s reaction, and seconds later they too had faraway gazes, clutching the wild pork limply.

“What’s wrong with you?” Enrique snapped, stomping to Roco and the two. “Those are ours! You didn’t have any permission to do that! And why are you drinking them? They’re addictive!”

“You got a problem?” Roco slurred. “I don’t see a problem, Red. We just sitting here waiting and nothing matters.”

Enrique pointed his sword at Roco’s neck. Waz, who had froze in shock, spoke meekly. “Some of us use the drugs to calm down. I hear they make you happier and do some kinda magic boost, but if guys like Roco don’t get his dose he can fly off the handle.”

Roco laughed in a hoarse cackle. “What are you going to do, Red? You ain’t our friend. You attacked us first. What do you want from us? I’m sitting here doing nothing. I bet you got something horrible in store for me and everyone.”

Great, they’re drug dealers who are also drug addicts. “This is ridiculous. We went through a lot of trouble for those!” Enrique’s face reddened and he clenched his fist. “How long are these idiots going to stay like this?”

“A few minutes,” Waz muttered, avoiding Enrique’s gaze. “It’s a low dose and they’ve been on it for a while now.”

“Yeah,” Ulsag slurred. “Ridiculous. Nerves shot all night. Why wouldn’t we cool down?”

Sven’s face etched with concern. “Enrique, sorry if this sounds sudden, but we should abandon these four. They’ll slow us down and from what I know about drugs, the behavior will only worsen over time.”

Enrique pursed his lips. “Withdrawals symptoms and such. Yeah, I can see it. They’ll get mad and do anything for a bottle.”

Roco reached down for another drink of his bottle. This time Alicia marched up and smacked his hand away.

“Put the drugs away,” the cat girl commanded.

Roco grinned and waved his hand. “Ah, we can do it later. Give us a minute—”

The man suddenly screamed as Alicia plunged her knife into his shoulder.

“Alicia!” Enrique cried, aghast.

“Put. Them. Away.” Alicia glared into the man’s eyes.

“Ahh, ah, ah…” Roco’s eyes flickered to the blood trickling down his shoulder. He let out a weak laugh and placed the bottle into the box, though his eyes remained unfocused.

Waz’s eyes were big as he scurried backwards. The other two squinted, as if they were only dimly aware of the danger being posed to them.

“You the boss? Didn’t hear your boss say nothing,” Dorthon mumbled, waving a hand at Enrique.

“Doesn’t matter. Shut up and move.” Alicia sliced a shallow cut on the older man’s cheek.

Dorthon yelped.

“Alicia, they’re unarmed,” Enrique muttered, a queasy feeling settling in his stomach.

“Who cares?” the assassin snapped.

“I’ll do as the boss says,” Dorthon muttered. He and the other gangster slowly moved their bottles into the box.

Enrique grimaced as he snatched the box away. “Sven, I agree. This is not working. But I don’t think we should leave them here—”

“I can kill them,” Alicia interrupted.

“Don’t, they’re unarmed and under the influence,” Enrique explained. “And they still may have useful information.”

Alicia’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not the boss of me. I’m not taking orders from you. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be eating anything right now.”

Enrique met her eyes, doing his best to stay firm. The last few hours had been ebbing away his confidence, however. “You’re not killing anyone today.”

Alicia’s face turned impassive. She turned to the gangsters and held up her knife. “Listen up. From now on, I’m the leader of the Black Cat gang. Only me, no one else. I’ll allow you to live only if you do exactly as I say. Understood?”

Waz and the other three nodded. Blood still trickled down Roco’s shoulder and the drug users still had a distant expression.

Enrique balled his hands into fists, feeling the nails of his free hand digging into his flesh. “Hold up. You can’t do that. I’m the leader. I know more about gang work than either of you.”

Besides, you’re too stab-happy, he wanted to add, but he didn’t like what might happen if he did.

He looked to Sven for support. Alicia directed her gaze at Sven also, but it more like a challenge.

Sven bit his lip but stepped towards Alicia. “Sorry, Enrique, but I’m on Alicia’s side here. She’s capable enough and she’s my partner. Whatever the outcome of this mission is, I came to this world looking for someone like her, and I’m going to stick with her.”

“You can’t be serious. This is ridiculous.” When Sven merely tightened his lips in an impassive line, Enrique began to feel very small. He sensed a gap opening between himself and these two.

“First you try to kill me. Then my partner and I let you into the house, and you eat our food and live with us, and then I get that prick Rick away from you, and you still can’t have enough respect to listen to me?” Enrique demanded. “You’ve got Sven and you’re both overpowered as heck and I…I’m just…”

At that moment, Gujar swept over, black robes flapping. “What happened? I smell blood.”

Alicia pointed to the two injured gang members with her blade. “They need to be patched up.”

Gujar looked from her to Enrique, surmised the situation, and hurried towards a patch of the forest. He returned with a set of large leaves and wrapped them around Roco’s shoulder. He moved Dorthon’s hand to press a leaf piece against the man’s face, soaking up blood. Alicia noted the plants were like those she herself would have chosen, which meant the shapeshifter had skill in outdoor survival like herself.

The drug users gradually came to their senses. They drew away from Alicia, fear on all their faces.

“We should hurry before any more drugs are taken,” Gujar urged the others.

Sven nodded. “We need wheels. And mounts.”

“No mounts. I’ll just use clones,” Alicia said bluntly.

Enrique attempted to carve a set of large, round wheels and axles from wood, but in his anger and shaken state the pieces of wood snapped and fell apart.

Sven worked earth magic also, trying not to appear too guilty. “What I’m not sure about is the design. We want a sturdy set of wheels and axles that won’t fall apart but can handle rough ground.”

Waz spoke up. “Give us our weapons.”

Alicia whirled to him. “What?”

Waz swallowed hard and dropped his gaze, stepping back. “We know how to do that, but we need a sword or something sharp to help. You did want us to be useful.”

Enrique, Sven, and Alicia looked at each other. Finally Sven shrugged and reached in his cloak, taking out two knives he had stashed and tossing them at the feet of the gangsters.

“Make them fast,” Alicia ordered.

“You heard the boss. No more playing,” Dorthon told the other three, wincing as he pressed the leaf against his cut. Roco swore but nodded. Waz took a knife and Ulsag the other. The four worked in unison, stripping wood and slicing axles from the pile Enrique and Sven had lying around. They carved out wheels, rods, and some type of stopper with surprising efficiency given three had been wasted mere seconds before. The process reminded Enrique of a homemade assembly line, with each member taking on a role of cutting a certain part and fitting in a piece. They passed parts and barked commands to one another in a harsh language with guttural accents.

The Saukallian language, he realized.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation earlier,” Enrique told them. “You should clarify what you were talking about in that deal. It seems to me like a lot of your problems come from the Saukallians. Why don’t you fight them instead of the Anima?”

Waz and the others shuddered. Dorthon answered for them gravely, fitting in one of the new wheel systems. “I take it you’ve never met a Saukallian. Saukallians follow their Code, which is about victory and honor. Part of that is how each must earn their own kalla, their glory. They already crushed our lives once when they made us their slaves. If we couldn’t survive them in our own cities, when we had our own people together, what makes you think we can attack them now?”

Enrique folded his arms. “So then you target the kingdom instead, because you think it’s easier to attack innocent civilians.”

Dorthon shrugged. “We do what we must.”

Alicia cut in as Sven collected his knives. “Let’s get moving. I’m summoning clones now.”

The cat girl glowed with black light and the gang members watched with a mix of envy and awe. Twenty black clones materialized to tug the eight or so large carts.

Enrique gritted his teeth at the sight. “I can do that too.” He slammed his sword into the ground and flung his frustration at it. “Remnant, what are the emotions associated with darkness?”

Remnant supplied, with quiet caution, “Secrecy, vengeance, hatred, among others. Don’t make a fool of yourself and do what you’re not ready for.”

“Shut it,” he hissed to his sword. A black shadowy wisp formed from the blade and took on a vaguely human shape. It was not quite solid and took a few steps towards Alicia, before abruptly bursting into orange flames.

Alicia leaped back. “What the f***?”

Enrique cursed and grabbed a cart, hurling a rope of red energy at it and pulling it with all his might. “Let’s just get going,” he growled.

----------------------------------------

The group returned to the warehouse shed where the remaining drugs had previously been stored. No one had returned to steal them, so they wasted no time loading everything up.

Roco scooped up his sword but Alicia snapped, “Drop it.”

He made a face as if to protest, but glanced down at his bandaged shoulder and dropped the blade.

“Maybe we can take a few to study and find the origin of the weapons. Help us find Felice,” Sven suggested quietly to the other two. The cat girl grudgingly chucked one sword and armor pieces into one of the containers.

She was careful all the while to keep the silver case from Felice on her own person. Enrique wanted to get her to open it but she had placed the straps on like a backpack, and he already had a sour taste in his mouth from talking to her.

“You four. Get in a cart,” Alicia commanded.

Waz and the others were confused. “Why?”

“Hideout. We don’t want you to see it.” Alicia pointed a hand and a couple clones pushing carts surrounded the four, holding out shadowy blades. The threat implied, the gang members all crawled into the least filled cart.

“You. Put a cloth over each of these things.” Alicia pointed to Gujar. He obeyed, draping large pieces of black tarp and some vegetation he had carried from the forest over the carts, hiding the drugs and gang members from view.

“Now all of you shut up and follow me.”

Alicia then lead them to what Enrique hoped was their final destination. Their “hideout”, using Enrique’s own improvised language, was going to be the Anima Kingdom itself. He had no idea what to do once they got there, though. Enrique yanked one of the center carts in the front with two of Alicia’s clones in the back, sweating and huffing as he exercised his orange aura.

The carts trundled along.

Alicia stopped. “This should be near the border,” she murmured to Enrique and Sven. “I see guards. One coming our way.”

“Border guards? Like adventurers? I didn’t see any on our way out,” Enrique noted. Alicia shook her head, a small amount of concern on her face.

“That’s probably because we were leaving, not heading in.” Sven swiveled his head to the right and peered forwards. “I think they’re coming for someone else. He’s trying to cross ahead of us.”

Sven was right. A dirty, ragged man in black armor was hurrying along. He somewhat resembled the gangsters Enrique had already seen. As the man ran, a guard dashed towards him with great speed. At the sight of the guard, the man’s eyes grew wide. Enrique’s did as well.

The guard was female but very tall and muscular, clad in brutal-looking spiked red armor, and even more distinctively had bright crimson skin. The woman had long brown hair and red eyes which were narrowed in fury. She had two miniature battle axes at her side. As she closed in she shouted in a harsh accent. “Unplaced scum! You dare trespass the territory of the Anima? Draw your sword! Sau kalla!”

The man halted, his face going white as he glanced around for an escape route. He attempted to flee to a nearby building, but the woman gained on him in an instant. He breathed heavily, sweating as he turned and tried desperately to pull out a small, battered blade. “Oh gods, please—”

It didn’t matter. The guard pulled out an ax and swung, knocking the blade away and cleaving through the man’s shoulder armor, leaving a deep gash. He stumbled down with a cry, and the guard fell upon him. She swung both axes with short, swift chopping motions. The ax blades hacked deep dents into armor, breaking bone, and straight through his flesh as he screamed and writhed. Blood splattered as the guard strode atop him and assaulted without mercy, carving through limbs, face, and torso as the man cried and flailed. Soon a mangled corpse lay on the street.

The commotion had drawn the attention of two more guards who arrived at the scene. These were clearly male Anima, wearing silver armor decorated with a red-gold logo of a scepter and sword. “What’s going on?” one asked, with ears and tail like a tabby cat.

The woman stomped a metallic boot on the body’s face, grinding it to a pulp. “Another worthless runaway causing everyone trouble.” She placed her axes away and Enrique was disturbed to see her armor somewhat camouflage the blood. “Gang member. Either a scout or drug smuggler.”

The woman pointed to the body’s arm, where a black ID had been burned into the skin.

The cat guard made a face. “I know you’re eager to prove yourself, but next time, call backup first. Can you identify which gang?” He reached down and dug through the body’s clothes.

The Saukallian straightened her shoulders. “My apologies, Anima! My squad will not let you down. I will not make this mistake again. This area has either the Scorpions or the Dire Wolves. Dire Wolves have the numbers to make a larger threat.”

The guard retrieved a small black device that had been attached near the man’s pocket. “Short-range radio. The main group should be somewhere nearby.”

“I will send an alert to the Guilds,” the Saukallian told him, spinning away on her heels without a second glance at the body.

Enrique cringed. He heard the gangsters underneath the cart making urgent noises. One of them stretched out a hand and clenched the side. “Red, we need to leave now,” Ulsag whispered to him in a terrified voice.

“We need to pass them,” he started to say.

“No! Back! They’re going to murder us!” Roco hissed from the cart.

Enrique pushed their cart away from the guards as silently as he could. He noticed Alicia had also backpedaled the other carts using her clones. “What was that word the guard said?”

Dorthon spoke, trembling from under the tarp. “Sau kalla. It means, ‘kill for glory’. That’s their way of life, where their name comes from.”

Enrique glanced towards Sven and Alicia, wondering what to do next. He thought about uncovering the cart and giving the helpless gangsters their dues, but they were so genuinely afraid. “What do you think your leader would be planning now?”

“Yecna?” A short silence settled over the cart. The tarp shifted and stretched as if the four were moving to hide themselves as much as possible. Waz volunteered, “He usually told us a few steps in advance. Didn’t write much down.”

“Some of us can’t read,” Ulsag supplied. Enrique guessed he was the bigger blob scooted at the very rear of the cart.

Waz went on, “If I were him, I’d want strong magic like his amulet. That’s what we need right now. I’d try to meet up with Felice to finish a deal. At the same time, I’d find as much of our gang as we can from around other cities and see if we can get someone to make items.”

“And do you know anyone who could?”

“No, but Felice did mention Stone Lords. There’s one border city full of them. Yecna may be heading there next.”

Enrique’s mind raced as he pieced possibilities together. “Stone Lords know how to make items, so if Yecna found a city of them and attacked them, maybe he could force them to give something.”

“Sounds like something he’d do,” Waz admitted.

Sven strode over and interrupted. “Do any of you have radios? The guard mentioned one.”

The four fell into an uncomfortable silence. Enrique silently cursed his own mistake. We should’ve searched them. Alicia drew her knife and put a hand on the cart cover.

“I, I have one,” Dorthon muttered. The older man reached out a hand and produced a small black device. It appeared mostly handmade, like a piece of scrap metal with a dial, knob, and speaker. “It’s short-range, only a couple hundred steps each way. We don’t use Anima tech like phones because they can use that to track us.”

“Can you tune it to find the ones in your old gang?” Sven asked.

“We’d have to be closer to them…and it looks like the king will send Saukallians after them.” He sounded increasingly nervous.

Alicia spoke decisively to Sven and Enrique. “Let’s leave the carts for the guards to pick up and then find the gang leader. Maybe we can find that annoying arms dealer too.”

“Okay, but then we need to get the guards’ attention without them noticing us.” Enrique rubbed an arm as he eyed a cart. The bottles made it heavy.

Sven rummaged in his robes and took out a grenade from Vi’s house. “This? We can run away and once we’re far enough I can try detonating it. I haven’t tried wind magic on a pin and at such a distance, though.”

“Do it. You four, out of the cart. We’re going to search for your old group.”

The Black Cat gang took off in a silent run. Sven turned in the opposite direction and hurled the grenade high into the sky. A green wave of wind caught it and sent it spinning.

A minute later, a bright orange explosion tore through the air like a firework. The three guards hurried towards the sound, to find a bizarre sight. A set of eight massive carts sat filled with green and white bottles of Drifters.

One of the Anima guards spoke in a communicator to the rest of his team. “Wow. We found a massive haul. I need some help to take these to the Ministry.”

----------------------------------------

Morgan poked her head in her mom’s house. “Hey, you three! Are you going to join me and Rick? Hello?”

She walked in, scratching her head. “This is really weird. They weren’t in Vi’s place either. Where did they go?” She headed to the living room and saw her mother and three cousins there, as well as their parents.

“Morgan, how’s Vi? Would you like me to take over?” her mother asked.

The witch managed a weak smile. “Yeah, thanks. Have any of you seen Enrique and his two friends? I think they were Sven and Alicia.”

Her mother shook her head, concerned.

Her smallest cousin’s face fell. “I wanted to talk to Remnant!”

“Oh, the talking sword,” her aunt remembered, patting her daughter on the head. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they will be back soon.”

The little cousin looked crushed. Morgan had a similar, if lesser, disappointment. “Sorry, Mia. If I see them I’ll let you know. I was hoping they’d try on some of my costumes for the ball. I wonder what happened to them.”

“Find them!” Mia cried.

Morgan adjusted her hat. “Not now. I’m going after the Dire Wolves gang.”

Her cousins and their parents fell still and silent.

“You shouldn’t go,” her uncle told her, worry etched on his face.

“I’m going. This might be one of our only chances to stop them, and I want to be there to make sure they burn.” She clenched a fist and spoke as firmly as she could.

“It’s dangerous!” her middle cousin Anna cried. “We were there! They were smashing the walls and had swords. There were so many of them, and they were big with scary black armor, and…”

Anna trailed off, her older cousin Lucy putting a hand on her shoulder, brown eyes somber, and Morgan merely nodded.

Her mother looked torn, as if she couldn’t decide whether to yell at Morgan or caution her. “Be careful,” she finally told her daughter.

“I’ll be back,” she promised them, and left before they could say anything that might change her mind.

----------------------------------------

“Where did you get a mount like this?” Morgan clambered atop an enormous, regal dragon adorned with heavy black scales and fiery red eyes.

“Oh, you like him?” Rick adjusted the reins so Charlotte could seat herself comfortably behind him. “I thought since we’re officially a League now, I could use Ender here as part of our Blackstar team transport. I tamed him about a year ago.”

Morgan hopped on behind Charlotte, who was fiddling with a large pink video camera. “So your sword is Godslayer and your dragon is Ender. You come up with these names yourself?”

“Correct.” Rick flashed her a smile. “I like to do things my own way. Don’t worry, Ender recognizes me as his master so you’ll have a smooth ride. He can keep up with the others riding in the Anima ships.”

Morgan glanced around at the small group of silver ships surrounding the dragon. The kingdom had provided them.

A black-haired woman in a silver-armored suit approached. She was bristling with weapons including a rocket launcher at her back, a spear in her hand, and a hammer at her side. “Just so you know, I will be supervising this first mission, Rick.”

Rick waved a dismissive hand. “Commander Rea, I’m telling you, the moment we land, you should turn all your ships around and fly away to mop up other bad guys. They won’t be needed.”

“We can never be too careful on an initial mission,” Rea told him seriously. “This gang has been causing trouble and we shouldn’t underestimate the enemy. I will stay out of your way as much as possible, since this is your team and your mission. I’m only here as backup if you need Hero support.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “And I’m telling you, as the future Number One Hero and commander of the next biggest League, that your services are unnecessary. I want you out of the mission so my team can get as much screen time and recognition for our work as possible. Got it?”

Morgan was taken aback by his attitude.

Rea gave a small, tight smile. “Per the king’s orders, I have no choice but to do as you say. I will direct my ships to monitor other cities. If we find any criminal activity we will strafe the enemy and push those foes to you. Does that sound fine?”

Rick nodded, smug. “More target practice.”

Morgan gripped the dragon’s back tighter. “Whatever happens, I’ll kill them all. Every last one of them. And if we find the one who killed my cousin, I want to be the one to punish him personally.”

“You have my word,” Rick said grandly. Rea, however, gave Morgan a look of concern mixed with pity.

“Sorry to hear that. Good luck.” Rea left. The dragon lifted off with a ferocious roar. The ground trembled and ship engines fired, lighting the earth with spells of wind and flame as they rose together with the beast.

Morgan sat back to allow her tracking spell to take effect. Now that she was close to Rick, her magic bubbled and rose to a level she had rarely had before. She gasped. She felt the pull on her body like a magnet, jerking her senses in an invisible arrow. “Head north.” She pointed.

The massive black beast veered forwards with its great wings flapping. Houses and shops below whizzed into indistinct blobs. Looking down, Morgan saw the streets of cities forming neat grids or haphazard paths. The dragon burst through several clouds. Charlotte chirped from the front, “The king and queen gave us some cool equipment. Want to use one?”

The girl handed Morgan a small pocket-sized black device with a numbered dial, a knob, buttons, and soft earbuds. The witch recognized it after a few seconds. “Radio interceptor.”

Charlotte’s eyes grew big like dinner plates. “What’s that? How’d you know?”

The witch shrugged. “I studied a lot to be an adventurer.” She put the device in her robes.

Rick leaned back. “Isn’t that smart, Fieldspring? I heard from some of our new members that the Dire Wolves are piss-poor. When they were fighting, they did a lot of shouting at each other and unit-level maneuvers like a bunch of primitives. They won’t have satellite, air comms, wireless mobile, or anything advanced like us in the kingdom. That means their coordinating comes from short-range channels like radio. Wouldn’t surprise me if that’s all they know.”

“Woooow.” Charlotte’s eyes filled with admiration.

“You’re probably right. This can do interference too?” Morgan fingered the knob.

Rick shrugged. “It’s Anima tech, so I thought you would be on that.”

“I have made some items. Mostly spell-based,” she admitted. She felt another tug and spotted several houses that seemed warped as if carved into dirt, as well as several trees. Behind the houses loomed gray superstructures with pumpting pistons and whirring machinery, sending up vapors of clean mist. One of the advancements brought by a previous generation of Anima partners—steel factories. It made her wish again for her own partner. These ones, an alternative to traditional blacksmithing, brought the city’s homes steady work. “Hang on. Down there. We’re getting closer.”

As the guild descended, Morgan realized the houses were shaped like little stone mounds and lined with connected walls in zigzag patterns, and further along ringed by a dark green forest. Voices drifted from the buildings and beings in telltale red hair with big eyes wandered within them. The dragon flew to the edge of the houses. “I’m going,” Morgan informed the two.

“Sure, we’ll land.”

Before the words had finished coming out of Rick’s mouth, however, Morgan had measured the distance to the ground and jumped. She landed on her feet and charged forwards. The witch took out the interceptor device and put in the earbuds. She read the numbered dial and slowly turned it down, listening as static buzzed.

300…200…100.

Voices formed and crackled over the interceptor. “Need to move quickly…get the others together in squads…scouts going to find someone to capture…”

With the boost of Rick’s power surging within, she tore through the air like a missile. She glimpsed the shapes of three black-armored men. Immediately she took out her scepter and slashed the air. “Eruption!”

A red slash mark cut into the three and immediately exploded in an orange flash as they cried out, blowing the bodies into orange fireballs. The tug of the tracking spell led her onwards and she pressed a button on the interceptor device.

The voices fizzled. “Need to get…status item…hello? Do you hear me?...Everyone, every city, must find high-grade weapon…?” The voices became puzzled, and then panicked. “Signal’s jammed!...Scramble from 100! Advent…”

Morgan had heard enough and dashed into another group of armored men. They thrust out swords and rounded shields, but Morgan felt fire raging through her and slammed her scepter against the closest one, smashing his head in. “Inferno Ganta!”

A wave of massive orange flames burst from the ground around her weapon. The gangsters screamed, their skin burning and melting as they writhed on the ground. A jolt of fierce satisfaction rose through the bunny woman and she called out another spell. “Hellfire Rain!”

A set of red fireballs materialized and fell from the sky, setting the screaming gangsters alight and searing straight through their armor, turning them to ash. The witch’s heart thumped as the tracking spell’s draw became stronger still. In her mind’s eye she could see a loose gathering of rough-looking men in black armor, pulling spaced formations to prepare what she recognized as a large-scale assault.

In the distance, she heard Rick’s dragon land, digging its talents to the earth, followed soon after by the hum of ships. She streaked through the forested outlands and found another group which had been advancing stealthily towards the city. The bunny woman’s orbed scepter glowed an intense green. “Firestorm!”

The men shrieked and flailed as orange waves of searing heat swept through them. One attempted to shoot a yellow beam of energy but she easily dodged and kicked the offender’s head clean off. “Die!” The gangsters were rolling in agony as flames licked up their flesh, charring and consuming them.

And then, she saw a main group, at least sixty attempting to move through thickets of trees to avoid detection. They had split themselves into squads in loose lines, likely to avoid losses from bombs and the artillery-like strikes of some adventurers, but to Morgan it didn’t matter. She would hunt them down. The bunny woman leaped like lightning and kicked, breaking the chestplate of one man, and channeled her fury and anguish through her scepter. Fire and raw energy blew out like a hurricane, engulfing many of the gang members in flames. Others attempted to run but she whirled and kicked, coating herself in fire, cracking bone and shattering limbs. “Die! Die! Die!”

The screams of the dying were oddly satisfying to her, a way to sooth the vengeance-filled pain filling her chest.

As ember and smoke rose from the corpses or still-screaming men, she still felt the tracking spell tugging her along. She grit her teeth and rushed in its direction, trampling some of the bodies in her haste. She glimpsed flashes of light and realized the gangsters were attempting to shoot at the city of small rock homes she had seen before.

“Oh no you don’t!” Morgan leaped out, the forest aflame behind her, to see a thin line of grim-looking men advancing towards one of the houses. Suddenly, a huge silver sword collided against the furthest one. A flash of black light lit the air and the man blew apart. The force of the strike sent tens of the other gang members flying backwards, crashing into tree trunks, their limbs and necks snapping with audible cracks.

Rick heaved Godslayer back with a grin. “Come on! Is that all you’ve got?”

Charlotte jumped up and down, hovering up with her little feathered wings. She panned her large video camera around the scene. “Whoo! We’re already rolling!”

Rick spotted Morgan and waved to her as he struck with Godslayer again, splitting five gangsters in half with a single swing. The bunny woman heard his voice through a communicator placed by her ear. “Not bad, Fieldspring! You scared them right into our trap!”

Morgan wasn’t aware of any such trap but supposed what she’d done amounted to one, pushing the enemy from a safer zone like the forest into the open before they were ready.

The guild was now unleashed in full force, and Morgan noticed that each Anima adventurer was attacking with far more speed than she expected. Beams pierced the gang’s ranks even as several enemies attempted to disperse and retreat to the forest. They were simply too slow. Gang members who stayed shouted to one another and raised their shields in a locking formation.

“Phalanx!” Fifteen charged Rick in an arrowhead formation as others attempted to go around the adventurer. Rick merely smiled as the mass of men glowed with yellow defensive magic and aimed their blades at him in a counter-barrage of sword tip beams.

The beams couldn’t even reach the adventurer as he brought his sword forwards, glowing in a purple aura. “Gravi-Crush Slash!” The men staggered to the ground as a crack ripped open the earth from Rick’s position. Invisible pressure hammered down on them, forcing them to drop their shields and strain their bodies against the force. They saw Rick’s enormous slash of purple energy coming towards them and they panicked, screaming and thrashing as they struggled futilely to get off the ground. Then the attack connected, and they were reduced in an instant to bloody pulps and smears in the dirt.

The ones who had attempted to avoid the adventurer didn’t fare any different. From Rick’s side, two Ranger trainees, Tilly and De’Vorah, fired their bows in elegant arcing motions. The arrows pummeled armor or stabbed through gangsters, sending them lurching to the ground or sputtering.

From the other side, a red-armored figure let out a terrifying shout of challenge. “Sau kalla! You will be punished, you Unplaced worms!” The massive man took out his own large sword and in an incredible display of athletics whirled like a miniature tornado, slicing each enemy combatant apart four or five times in the blink of an eye. He roared like an animal and plunged his blade into another opponent’s chest, then seized another shaking gangster with his muscular arms and ripped the enemy straight in half, armor and all. The Saukallian yanked his weapon from the body without flinching and blocked a set of beams with his shield, then chopped the offender diagonally in two.

Morgan jumped into the fray, setting swaths of men aflame. Charlotte gasped and made several shocked noises, especially as Morgan stomped on a blackened corpse and Khan the Saukallian carved up another gangster. She swiveled her camera side to side. “Oh! Eeek! That’s gross! Should—should I be filming this?”

Rick waved at her. “It’s fine, Charlotte. We’re doing a good job. Here, focus on me. Let me talk.”

Morgan could barely concentrate on the adventurer as he blabbered despite his own impressive prowess. She thought she should feel pleased at everyone’s help, but it only made her angrier. She wanted more to burn, more to suffer. The tracking spell had not faded, which made frustration boil within. “The leader,” she snarled, grabbing a nearby member by the throat and slamming him to the ground. “Where is he? Where’s your leader? I’m going to make you all suffer!”

That was when she started her rampage.

----------------------------------------

Enrique, Sven, and Alicia followed the elder gang member as he fiddled with the radio. “We should be close but the signal won’t pick up. Maybe they changed the channel.”

Dorthon went still as static-filled voices buzzed in the background of the device. “Help! Someone help! No, please—aaaaaah!”

“What the…?” Enrique and the others paused, except for Alicia who kept marching straight ahead.

The radio filled with other voices, confused and disoriented. “Getting reports. It’s a bunny—” It cut off with a chorus of screams and then a new set of voices. “We’re under attack! Get out! They’re going across the cities! Anyone who can hear get out—”

“I’m begging you, don’t—” Another scream from the radio before again cutting off.

Enrique pressed on, if only to satisfy a morbid curiosity, but he smelled something burning and the tips of orange-red embers drifting through trees. The next thing he saw was a pile of burnt bodies. “Oh.”

The four gangsters were getting weak-kneed, recognizing the small bits of armor that remained.

“This was a mistake. We shouldn’t be here,” Roco muttered.

Sven glanced at the smoke rising around them. “If we stay, we will definitely end up like them. Let’s move before the fire gets here.”

The group burst through a clearing and into a frenetic amount of activity. Gang members were shouting angrily at each other or running towards a set of rock-like houses in the distance. Fire and smoke trailed into the sky like a thick, angry orange fog. “We’re losing contact!...Send Group 5J and 2I to do a break-in!...No, idiot, we call this off and retreat!”

In the middle of the yelling was Yecna, his face haggard and glowering as three other members argued with one another around him. “We need a way to stop these adventurers,” he growled, his muscular, tattooed arms tight with anxiety.

A small voice cleared its throat and a familiar teddy bear waddled over. “Whew. You have no idea how hard it was for me to get here.”

“You,” Remnant growled from Enrique’s position. Enrique saw the teddy bear had an X-shape from two bandages on its head, where Sven had shot it.

The bear hadn’t noticed the newcomers yet and faced Yecna. It showed a small red amulet in the shape of an octagon on its hand. “I’ll let the survivor of this mess have this, heh. A speed and strength enhancer. You’ll have to pay me later, whoever it is. At a premium, of course.”

“Felice! None of your games!” The gang leader moved towards the amulet, as did everyone else in the clearing.

Then a man crashed into a nearby tree. A bunny woman stepped into view, her brown eyes filled with pure hatred and fury.

Morgan? Enrique almost called out in surprise.

“Please, no. I surrender.” The man who had fallen trembled, sword and shield gone, bleeding on his back.

The bunny woman laughed. “Surrender? You think you can surrender after what your gang did to my family?” The witch hauled the man up and threw him behind her. He was impaled in the stomach on a large red sword that had suddenly appeared also in the clearing. It was wielded in a two-handed grip by a fierce, monstrous man clad entirely in red armor.

The witch grabbed the man and yanked him off the blade roughly, causing him to wail in pain as he thudded to the forest floor, a bloody hole through his back. She flicked a hand and the man’s body ignited in flames, screaming.

Morgan’s eyes swept over the gangsters who stood frozen in horror. At that moment, Enrique felt the same fear they did. This wasn’t a fight in their eyes. This was a wholesale massacre.

“Which one of you were in Morin a few days ago?” she demanded. “There was a bunny family there. Which one of you killed my cousin?”

One of the gangsters stammered, “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Morgan pointed her scepter at him and incinerated him without a word. She watched the body dissolve in a pile of ash with a smile that was a little too wide to be normal.

The smell and the sight sickened Enrique.

Yecna snatched the amulet from Felice. He looked from Morgan, to the little red amulet, to the petrified faces of his men around him. At that moment, he understood. Only one of them could get out alive. Him, or his men.

He hurled the amulet to the member nearest to him, who caught it with surprise all over his face. Then he drew his sword. “It was me. Come on!”

Morgan’s eyes became like slits at his straightforward response. “You? You’re their leader.”

Yecna was sweating and shaking so hard he could barely step forwards. “I am. I killed a boy in Morin when I was trying to kidnap his family. Now show me you’re not a wimp, Anima. We Unplaced don’t have to hide behind magic like you.”

Morgan’s eyes flashed. “I’ll make you suffer! You murderer!”

Orange flames erupted around Yecna’s body. He fell with a cry.

Morgan raised her scepter and Yecna’s body convulsed as fire slowly spread across his skin, searing his arms, his legs, his fingers. The man screamed.

----------------------------------------

Vi awoke. Her eyes scanned the room, recognizing the white walls, the machine next to her, and the bed she lay in. An older bunny woman, in a healer’s white outfit and brown hair tied in a bun, was rummaging through a cabinet a few paces away.

“Millene,” Vi called out softly.

Ms. Fieldspring whirled around. “Vi! You’re awake! Thank goodness.”

Vi propped herself up with a metal bar installed next to the bed. “My power’s been drained,” she murmured to herself. “That means Morgan went out.” Her eyes glowed blue.

Ms. Fieldspring started. “Stop! You’re not recovered yet.”

Scenes flashed through Vi’s mind of Morgan, of Enrique and his companions, and of the bed she was already lying in. Sifting through futures with their various points of view was nearly giving her a headache, but necessary.

She closed her eyes after a moment. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

The bunny woman was concerned but relieved that she had stopped. She didn’t ask about the odd request and fetched a set of papers and a black pen.

“Thank you.” Vi settled down, sketching on a sheet. She opened her eyes again to meet Ms. Fieldspring’s, and they were somber and sad, filling with memories. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save your family.”

Millene shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for. From what little Lucy told me, they might have all died. Losing Jamie was bad enough. I can’t imagine losing three of my nieces also.”

“You didn’t need to do this.” Vi lightly pulled the bedsheet and blanket draped across herself.

“Nonsense. You’re a patient. Healers take care of patients. Besides, you taught me, didn’t you?”

Vi shrugged. “Only a little.”

A ghost of a smile was on Ms. Fieldspring’s face. “Always so modest.”

Vi studied her sketch and drew some more. She was going off of a memory, but she was very careful with the strokes. “I’m going to need to call Morgan.”

“Is she hurt?” Ms. Fieldspring asked sharply, worry seeping through her tone.

Vi shook her head. “I’m more worried about her mental state. This isn’t about keeping her alive. It’s helping her live.”

----------------------------------------

The gang member holding the red amulet turned to flee, as did other survivors in the clearing. They dropped their swords and shields out of terror or to make themselves lighter as Yecna cried out and rolled on the ground on fire. The amulet glowed crimson, throwing out threads of red light like energy bolts, and the nearest members found they were suddenly blurring forwards at a breakneck pace.

“None of you are escaping!” Morgan shouted. A hail of fireballs rained from the sky, pelting craters in the dirt, turning tree trunks to cinders, and erupting against three fleeing unarmed men. The victims cried out as they were were blown to pieces.

She thrust out a hand. “Barrier!” A large dome of green burst from the ground, trapping enemies. They collided against the barrier’s walls and were knocked backwards as they were set aflame.

A teddy bear attempted to run too, but it was suddenly set aflame and screeched. The bunny woman was too enraged to care about why it was there, only that if it was here it was an enemy. Morgan stalked to the bear and shoved her scepter at it. “Ignite.”

The bear was wreathed in orange fire. “Kaaaaaagh!” In the distance, Alicia heard a woman yelp in surprise.

“Felice!” The cat girl turned to the others. “I heard the arms dealer. She’s here!”

The normally silent and still Gujar narrowed his eyes and shapeshifted into a bat, then took off towards the treetops.

Enrique spoke quickly. “You guys go after her and I’ll get that amulet.”

Then Morgan locked eyes with Enrique.

“Oh, c***.”

Morgan swept her scepter forwards and fire rose from the earth like a miniature tsunami. Enrique held out both hands desperately, shooting his own wall of flame out as Sven summoned a gust of wind next to him. Behind the two mages, the four gangsters were already running. Alicia had the foresight to turn invisible and sent a beam from a clone at the attack.

The combined strikes collided with Morgan’s flame wave and barely slowed it down. Enrique, Sven, and Alicia dived to the side. “Run! S***!” Sven scrambled with Alicia in the direction where she’d heard the scream, while Enrique tried to distract Morgan away from his four gang members and towards him.

The witch raised her scepter towards the masked stranger, but then an incoming call pinged from her communicator.

What? Morgan’s heart thudded in panic, wondering who could it be. She had never been one to follow strict security protocol, and after the last few days’ events she’d linked the communicator with her own device. Was it her family? Could something have happened to them again? The guild members would have spoken to her directly. She had a direct line to Rick and the guild should have been following behind her.

She took out her phone to let in the call. To her shock, a fox woman appeared on the screen.

“Vi? Why are you calling me?”

Vi’s voice was gentle. “Hey, Morgan. I have something for you.”

A large image on white paper popped onto the screen. For a moment, Morgan’s anger vanished as she stared at the drawing.

It was a sketch of her dead cousin Jamie, done completely to life in blue lines like it was a photo. There was a burst of sunlight above him and a row of flowers decorating the bottom edge. The smile on his face was big and wide, his brown eyes filled with glee. Behind him were his fellow brunette siblings, little Mia, Anna chasing after the two, and Lucy with a panicked expression. Then Morgan herself. Everyone was following after him in a moment frozen in time.

Morgan recognized the drawing from a long-ago trip she’d taken with her family. A tear trickled down her cheek. Her body shuddered violently.

“I know you’re angry and scared,” Vi said. “But please stop what you’re doing. There’s a difference between fighting and taking revenge.”

She uttered a choked hiccup as the forest burned around her. “Who cares about the difference? These people need to be stopped!”

“I don’t think Jamie would have wanted to see you like this.”

“What do you know?” Morgan snapped, her voice wavering. “I can’t let these gangs get away! I’ll murder every last one of them!”

“Morgan, listen. I’ve seen many futures. In one of them, you’re consumed by hatred and anger. You stop considering enemies as people, and it leads to a dark place. I’m not doing this for them. It’s for you.”

Morgan breathed hard. Her aura flared to life around her and she flung her scepter out. Geysers of fire like volcanic eruptions caught two fleeing gangsters, roasting them alive as her magic pulsed outwards. “Shut up! You’re not making sense! These are our enemies! They deserve whatever happens to them!”

She shouted. “Do you even care about your fellow Anima? I know you’ve been hiding things from me! Those three you brought with you are up to something, and I know you bought an illegal magic item! How can you treat me like this when I’m your friend? How can you be so calm and lie to my face, and tell me not to fight the ones who hurt my family?”

Vi, from her position on the bed, gripped the metal support bar next to it so hard she crushed it like aluminum foil. “You don’t think I have feelings too? I’m angry at what’s happened also. I’ve just seen too much to let emotion interfere with adventurer work. I’m talking from experience, Morgan. I once tried to take revenge as well. I regret it now. Look around you. If you take out your pain on unarmed, helpless men, you’re making a choice you could regret the rest of your life.”

Morgan glared at the screen. “Don’t talk down to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Vi said, keeping her own voice calm as she let go of the destroyed bar. “And I’m really sorry for not telling you about many things.” She turned to gaze out the window of the room, as if arranging her thoughts, before returning to focus on Morgan again. “This world…is a broken place. I’ve had a dream since I was a child. One where Anima could be safe and live in peace with the rest of the world. I want everyone to get along. I keep secrets because I want to protect others. I make bad choices sometimes. Everything I do, I do for the kingdom.”

The witch couldn’t keep herself from shaking. “No. You’re just selfish. If you were really my friend, you wouldn’t be talking to me like this. You’d shut up and support me with whatever I do. Rick was right about you.”

“Morgan…” Vi appeared hurt. “What do you mean? You’re my friend.”

Morgan snapped, “You’re not the Hero I thought you were.” She ended the call.

----------------------------------------

Vi got off the bed, lurching unsteadily. She forced herself out of the room. Morgan’s mother ran towards her.

“I’m heading out. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Likely by the time Morgan returns by the end of today.”

“You need to rest,” Ms. Fieldspring told her, puzzled and worried.

“I’ll manage. Thanks, Millene.”

Back in the forest, Morgan heard rustling behind her. Three corpses of black-armored men smashed into branches, the wood piercing their skin. She turned to see Rick and Charlotte arrive through the trees, and Khan the red giant standing to meet them.

“Why did we stop filming?” Charlotte whined.

“We accomplished the mission,” Rick explained in a lazy drawl. “Quite handily. The Stone Lord citizens don’t even know invaders were knocking at their door. You got plenty of footage. I also noticed Fieldsping here was quite…eager.” He fixed her with beady dark eyes, seeming more amused than anything else.

“Did you find the leader?” Charlotte asked, excited.

Morgan pointed her scepter down at the smoking body of Yecna. The flames had been deliberately weak to prolong suffering, so his features were still quite intact. His expression was twisted in pain.

Charlotte recoiled. “Ewww! You killed him yourself?”

Morgan nodded.

“Pictures please, Charlotte,” Rick told his partner. She complied, pointing her camera down and snapping images. “Hum. I think we may be able to salvage some audio proof as well. Are you glad you got your revenge?”

The witch nodded again. “But it’s not over. I’m going to kill any remaining Dire Wolves members.”

“Well, let us be of assistance,” Rick said with a smirk. “I’ve been quite generous since this is personal to you, but I have to raise my own rank too.”

Meanwhile, Enrique caught sight of the gang member with the amulet. He pulled his gun, wondering how he could stop him. He could shoot ice, he remembered. Fire, ice, lightning though that last one he hadn’t attempted yet. He fired an ice beam in a two-handed sweeping motion and saw the man stumble and fall, his boots frozen in blue-white frost.

The man tried to crawl forwards, looking back in terror, but Enrique tackled him and wrenched the amulet out of his grasp.

“If you want to live, follow me!”

In another part of the forest, a black wolf pursued a pale woman in a purple dress. It howled with bloodcurdling rage, extending its black claws on the edge of her dress and tearing off a piece as it leaped forwards. The woman turned back and shot out a pink spell, sending the wolf catapulting backwards.

“Gujar!” Sven swiveled his rifle at the woman’s head, when two white stuffed bunnies marked with pink runes leaped in the air, obscuring his view. The duo flung little silver knives and made little “keh heh heh” sounds as they charged him. Sven threw himself to the side with wind magic as the blades thunked where his face would have been. Each then bunny found a dead gangster on the ground and picked up a sword, firing yellow beams nonstop like machine guns. They split up as they targeted the man.

Sven rolled, aimed his rifle, and pulled the trigger. A green beam struck one of the bunnies on its rune in its chest. It exploded with a blinding flash of light, leaving Sven disoriented. As he covered his eyes, the last bunny swiveled its sword, but suddenly Alicia leaped over and fired a black beam. The toy burst into red-hot flames and another blinding flash that sent the cat girl skidding back.

Alicia glared at Sven. “She got away again.”

“Not yet,” Sven growled, as he whipped out the rifle and aimed for Felice. She was gaining distance but he fired as many beams as he could in a rapid-fire assault. He saw her flinch once, stumble, and keep running.

Alicia, Sven, and Gujar raced towards the arms dealer, but she soon disappeared into the trees. Gujar took on a humanoid form and clutched the piece of torn cloth angrily.

The three did find a small amount of blood on the ground.

Gujar stooped down and scooped the blood sample with his finger and the cloth. “It is not the worst outcome. This will make locating her easier in the future.”

“Nicked her,” Sven guessed. “Thanks for the help, by the way.”

“Why are you thanking me?” Alicia asked in confusion.

Sven had an equally blank response. “You saved my life. Why wouldn’t I?”

“But she got away.”

Sven shrugged. “We failed a mission. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”

Alicia had a very strange reaction. She flinched and her face grew frightened, as if Sven had punched her in the face. “I…I don’t fail. I never fail a mission. Never.”

“Are you okay? Hey, it’s alright.” Sven reached out a hand but Alicia shrank back. She suddenly appeared very small and vulnerable.

“Don’t touch me.”

Gujar cocked his head. “We should find the others.”

After what might have been an hour, though he wasn’t certain, Enrique had tracked down the other four gangsters. They hadn’t gone too far, and cowered at the sight of him. It seemed they’d been in such a hurry they hadn’t bothered arming themselves. Then again, maybe they didn’t think it would’ve done any good.

“It’s me. Don’t think of escaping. You’re part of my gang now, remember?”

The four stood in a resigned fashion as he led the newest captured member towards them. They didn’t make any small talk but eyed the red amulet Enrique had fetched and then stowed in his pocket.

“The Anima will come for that,” Waz muttered.

“I’m not worried about that,” Enrique told them with as much bravado as he could muster. Truth be told, the incident meeting Morgan had him spooked, and he absolutely didn’t want another encounter with Rick on top of that.

“Alicia? Sven?”

They all regrouped at a considerable distance from the city they had just traveled too.

Alicia had recovered herself, mostly. She addressed the group. “We gained one member. We have a magic item now. We should find a place to live and lay low for now.”

A familiar voice spoke from behind her. “Well then, why don’t I take you home?”

Vi stood with her sword out, a small smile on her face.