“What happened to me?” Narvari stared at her hands. They didn’t look any different.

“You awakened your savaz, my dear. Fifth-order, no less.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means that you have the potential to become a vanquisher.”

“I’m sorry what?”

“I know this must sound strange.”

“Oh,” Narvari laughed, “you think? You were the one who said I was an outie, whatever the hell that means. And now what? I’m supposed to be a vanquisher? No, this doesn’t sound strange at all. I hear this all this time.”

If Trixan was offended by Narvari’s sudden outburst, then she didn’t show it. She simply watched Narvari calmly. Did this woman ever lose her cool?

“This is crazy,” Narvari whispered. “This is all crazy.”

She was crazy. The whole world was crazy. But as crazy as everything sounded, she truly believed that Trixan was telling her the truth. The woman was right about the existence of demons as well as people with the power to summon magic guns to vanquish those demons. Narvari herself had seen these things with her own eyes.

She had vanquished a demon using that same kind of power. How did she even do that?

“I can’t be a vanquisher,” she muttered. “That’s not possible.”

She wasn’t from this so-called Inner Sphere. She was from Sharmandi, in West Africa, on Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy, in the universe. There must be some kind of a mistake and all this was one endless nightmare.

“Indeed, my dear, you’re not a vanquisher,” said Trixan. “Not yet. You need training for that. But it’s obvious you have ancestors from the Inner Sphere. It only explains why an outie would suddenly awaken.”

The implication of Trixan’s words hit Narvari like a truck. She had ancestors from the Inner Sphere? How could that be? Anana strongly believed in the existence of demons. But never once did she mention anything about vanquishers or the Inner Sphere. And her father? No, it couldn’t be. Her father was no vanquisher. Yabaga may be the best marksman alive. But that didn’t mean the guy could magically whip guns out of nowhere.

Her father was normal. She too was normal. At least that’s what she had always been until…

The wraith lord.

Narvari scowled. He did something to me. That was it. The demon blasted her with some dark energy, almost driving her insane. She remembered now. Those voices were in her head. They had urged her on to say a name. That demon definitely did something to her.

“I think that wraith lord did something to me,” said Narvari. “I could literally feel my insides burning.

“Oh right,” said Trixan. “Azmel mentioned you were possessed with demon energy.”

“Demon energy?”

Trixan nodded. “Demon energy is highly toxic in humans.”

“Then that should explain why I awakened, right?” said Narvari, trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

Trixan paused, watching Narvari with intrigue. “Perhaps, the toxicity of the demon energy triggered your awakening. But believe me, my dear, your sacros has always been within you.”

“Sacros?” Narvari narrowed her eyes.

Trixan nodded. “It’s the first form of sacred energy awakened by people from…” she paused, “…well, from my world.”

“The Inner Sphere?”

“A portion of the Inner Sphere.”

“Oh god.”

“Anyway,” Trixan continued as if she didn’t care about Narvari’s confusion, “while demons have demon energy, vanquishers have sacred energy which is the only thing capable of destroying a demon. It makes no sense that demon energy produced sacred energy within you. It’s impossible.”

Narvari bit her lips. “So you’re saying that awakening those magic guns had nothing to do with the wraith lord and had everything to do with my ancestry.”

“Yes,” said Trixan. “But I advise that you desist from calling them magic guns.”

Narvari blinked. “But that’s what they are.”

“They are savaz. They would be offended if you called them guns, my dear.”

“Offended?” Narvari laughed. “This is funny.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But Trixan wasn’t amused as she rubbed her knuckles. She didn’t look angry, but she wasn’t smiling either. That shut Narvari up immediately. Something was chilling about the woman’s grave stare putting Narvari on high alert. Narvari had to tighten her fists to keep them from shaking too much.

Trixan sighed, touching her forehead. “Forgive me,” she said. “I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

Narvari was speechless. She simply nodded, vowing within herself to never make Trixan angry.

“Is there something else you want to know?” The coldness in Trixan’s eyes was gone now. Her voice and smile were filled with so much warmth it was hard to understand how she had put such fear into Narvari with nothing but a single stare. These people were dangerous.

“Narvari?”

Narvari realized that she still hadn’t replied to Trixan.

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “There’s obviously a lot I still don’t understand. But I need to go home.”

“You can always enroll here in Draghein School and learn as much as you want,” said Trixan. “With the right training, I’m sure you will make an excellent vanquisher.”

Now it was Narvari’s turn to lose her temper. “Are you even listening to me?” she snapped. “I already told you I want to go home. I don’t care about being a vanquisher.”

What she cared about was finding Stein and killing that plague.

Narvari dragged herself out of her seat. “Thank you all for taking care of me and my people, but I have to go now. Don’t try to stop me. It won’t end well for anyone.”

Trixan looked amused, clearly not intimidated at all by Narvari’s threats. Of course, she wasn’t intimidated — the Elder had scared the shit out of her with her mere gaze. Clearly, someone like that could not be easily intimidated. But of course, Narvari didn’t care either. Just because Trixan had scared her did not mean she would let herself get bullied. She would always stand up for herself no matter how hopeless the situation was.

“You remind me of someone.”

“Did this person also try to kill you after you took them as a prisoner?”

Trixan laughed heartily like she had heard the funniest joke. Given her calm demeanor, it was strange seeing her laugh so suddenly. But her laughter put Narvari’s nerves at ease. Everything this woman did seemed to relax Narvari. Well, except for that one time she scared the living hell out of Narvari.

“You are no prisoner, my dear. You are free to come and go as you please. Though I hope you’ll stay.”

Narvari stared at the woman suspiciously. Was Trixan saying that so she would lose her guard? Narvari didn’t think so. The Elder didn’t seem like the person who would lie to get what she wanted. She exuded such a serene ambiance it was hard not to want to trust her. Could Narvari really trust her?

“Sorry. I can’t stay.” She sighed. To think that she had actually considered this. She couldn’t just forget everything. She had a job to do. “There’s someone I need to kill.”

“A demon?”

“A demon, a human, I don’t care. I’m going to find them, and I’m going to kill them. End of story.”

Trixan did not even flinch. That soft smile of hers was permanently etched on her face. Did she often hear of people wanting to kill others? Was this a common conversation topic among vanquishers?

“You should know,” said Trixan, “using your savaz against ordinary people is treason. Any vanquisher who harms an outie with their savaz will be severely punished by the Order. Not even I can protect you from that fate.”

“I guess I have to stick to good old guns then.” Narvari shrugged. “Or is that one too treason?”

Trixan didn’t say anything for a while. “It’s not. Although law enforcement of the Outer Sphere might disagree. But that’s something for them to figure out themselves.”

“Great. Then I should be on my way. Unless of course, you plan on stopping me.”

Trixan chuckled. “I already told you. Although I do want you to stay, I won’t stop you from leaving.”

Narvari raised a brow. She had to be sure. That way when people started dropping dead they wouldn’t say she didn’t warn them.

“So Pheera isn’t going to come out of nowhere and suddenly make me do things against my will again?”

For the first time, a flicker of uncertainty flashed in Trixan’s eyes. “What?”

“Oh, I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about.” Narvari folded her arms. “It’s how I ended up here. Pheera did something to me. I’m sure of it.”

“You were captivated by Pheera Zoleris?”

“What?” Narvari’s face flushed, her cheeks burning in embarrassment. She shook her head like a leaf in the wind. “What are you talking about? I was not captivated by anyone, okay. I mean, Pheera is,” she stuttered, “Pheera is beautiful. Stunning, actually. Okay, that’s not the point.” Focus, Narvari, focus. She rested her arms on the desk as she gazed at Trixan intensely. “The point is that I won’t say I was captivated by her. Okay? It was more like, more like…” But as much as Narvari thought of a word, she couldn’t find any. Damn it. Was she really captivated by Pheera?

Trixan’s chuckle interrupted Narvari’s internal dilemma.

“What is funny?” Narvari raised a brow. This woman had the most bizarre temperament.

“It seems we are both talking about two very different things.” Trixan must have remembered the gravity of the situation because her disposition instantly turned serious. “Pheera can make people do whatever she wants by touching them. It’s called captivation.”

“Oh.” Narvari paused, then nodded. “Right.” She suddenly felt stupid that she had thought of being captivated by Pheera in the traditional sense of the word.

“Are you sure she did that to you?” Trixan asked. “She abhors using her power against others.”

She does? Narvari thought back to how apologetic Pheera seemed when she called her out on her action. The girl truly felt bad about it although she captivated Narvari for a good reason. Still, the thought of being made to do things against her will enraged and frightened her at the same time. Did people really possess such power? Was this something all vanquishers could do? She would do well to avoid physical contact with them.

“Pheera and I will have to talk,” said Trixan.

Narvari bit her lips. “No need for that. What she did actually saved my life.”

Trixan smiled and nodded. “That makes sense. But I’ll still need to talk to her.”

“Is she going to be in trouble?”

“It’s nothing to worry about, my dear.”

Trixan was right. This was not something she should be worried about. So why was she so worried?

“I guess we’re done here.” The Elder interrupted her thoughts. She stood and came to Narvari.

“So I can go home now?” Narvari asked.

“But of course, my dear.” She smiled fondly. “I just hope you come back to Draghein School when you feel you’re ready.”

The rectangular screen on Trixan’s wrist flickered to life as soon as Trixan touched it. Narvari gazed at the strange-looking device wrapping around Trixan’s forearm like some kind of metallic-looking fabric. Pheera, Yanvirrak, and Azmel had the same device on their arms too.

Just as Narvari was about to ask Trixan what that device was, blue light assuming the shape of a door appeared right in front of Trixan like some kind of a hologram.

Narvari blinked. What the hell?

“Well, what are you waiting for, my dear?”

Narvari gawked at Trixan.

“Home is on the other side. Just step through the portal.”

Narvari had so many questions. But there was something far more pressing at hand.

I’m coming for you, Stein.