I had to make several stops to rest. It took me almost 2 weeks to arrive at my destination. I started to doubt myself, this is quite far, is Verruka really here? I landed on a mountainside. I should be close to where she lives. I didn’t see or notice any destruction. Am I too early? As I came closer and closer to where her cabin was supposed to be I started hearing blasts and noticed the ambient mana was a bit more charged towards fire. I followed the sound and found a short brunette Misha blasting fire magic at a strange building. At least she isn’t getting brutally murdered.

“Excuse me, are you Ylia?” The brunette paused with casting magic and looked at me.

“Oh, you’re just like me, yes, I’m Ylia, would you be so kind as to assist me? This building seems to react to fire magic but my fire affinity is poor.”

I looked at the building that was glowing red hot.

“Is this an ancient building?” The face of Ylia lit up.

“Yes! So, you know what it is! It was hard to find because landslides are very common in this area, this is the third time in 40 years that I had to dig it out!”

“So, this is an ancient building so what is its function?”

“Treasures, lost magic skills, Maybe even some sealed-away artifact!”

“So, you don’t know?”

“I don’t know but I do know that it only becomes detectable once it gets hot look!” the ancient building had cooled off and it seemed like it had never existed. I walked over and tried to place my hand on its invisible wall but there was nothing there.

“Fascinating, eh? It completely disappears! It only reacts to heat.” She shot a [Laser] and it made a spot glow red hot.

“Unfortunately, the whole building needs to get to a certain temperature for it to open. Can you help me?

“Before I do, I need to tell you something. Verruka Saltpeter of the Witchaven Council has betrayed her race, as far as I know, she has killed another council member and another Misha in the shadow elf forest. I have reason to believe you’re her next target. She is very powerful I would advise you to hide or run.”

“Oh, thanks for the warning, do you suppose we can trap her in there?” She looked at the red patch on the otherwise invisible building.

“Trap her in an ancient building?”

“Well, I have found out that they have also been used to seal powerful beings inside, it is said that even gods and demi-gods have been sealed away in some of these structures.”

“And you want to open this and possibly set one free?”

“Oh no, you know just like I do that the ancient civilizations were way more superior when It comes to the use of magic and technology. So can you help?”

“Would a [Meteor] be enough?”

“How about something that isn’t going to severely hurt me?” I used [Conflagrate] and the building started to glow red hot.

“More! It needs more!” Ylia was also throwing her fire magic at the building. I cranked up the temperature and it started to glow white hot and a door opened.

“Yes! Thank you!”

“Is going inside a good idea?”

“Oh, it’s not, I am sending my familiar inside!” I got curious too. I don’t have a familiar but I could piece something together. I opened some magic circles and started to change them around. It was sloppy because I didn’t have my setup from my lab but I managed to make a water clone that wasn’t as sexy as me but good enough.

Ylia sent in a white owl. The familiars lost sight of us the moment they stepped in but we could still see them from through the entrance. To them, it looked like the door had closed but as long as we on the outside kept the building hot enough the door stayed open.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The familiars found themselves in a round room which had 4 images on the wall.

“How fascinating! Oh, look ehh, I’m sorry I didn’t ask your name.”

“Ayaru Mistflower.”

“Look Ayaru! Isn’t this what the humans call a jigsaw puzzle?”

“I think so, what is this about?” I used another [Conflagrate] to make sure the building stayed hot enough.

My clone crouched down and started to solve the puzzle. A mechanism triggered and the room started to rotate. An image on the wall changed and the image rippled. To me, it looked as if a magic portal had connected to another space. Some flame tigers jumped out but my clone defeated them easier.

“Something is up with this puzzle; it makes no sense?”

“This puzzle is so frustrating! None of these pieces seem like they can complete the puzzle!” I was starting to become frustrated. I am not great at puzzles.

“There! It’s done!”

“Ayaru… that piece doesn’t fit!”

“There! How about that!”

“How about I help you with this?” We spent 2 hours but we didn’t manage to get anywhere. I did get interested in these images that changed and connected to a space somewhere else when a certain puzzle sequence got laid down.

“Ugh, I didn’t think that this would be so hard. At least we know what the ancients used to keep invaders at bay.” We dispelled our familiars and let the building cool off.

“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t find out more about this building but it was interesting enough! I think I will take my belongings and stay in Witchaven for a bit. I’m not that great in combat.” Ylia gave me a polite bow and I followed her to her cabin.

“Hmm, that’s strange, I’m sure that I had put out the fire under my cauldron.” She looked at the smoke rising out of her chimney.

I walked forward. “I’m sure that you did. I think I have found my target.” The shadow of the cabin moved and changed its shape to an enormous jaw and tried to bite us. Ylia used a [Flash bomb] and the shadow got driven back and turned into a normal cabin shadow.

“I can assist you, please… I don’t want to die.”

“Don’t worry, this bitch is the only one dying today. Verruka come out! We know that you’re there!”

I felt a sting in my back. I looked at Ylia and she had fired a [Laser] at my back. Before I could ask her why the door of the cabin opened. Verruka appeared dragging Ylia’s body behind her, her heart seemed to have been ripped out of her chest.

“How did you like my [shadow clone], [Shapeshift] combo?” The person who I had believed to be Ylia, turned into Verruka and then disappeared into the shadows, just like how shadow clones normally disappear.

“You! Why are you doing this!” I made a [Dimensional Sword] and slashed at her. I’m not a swordswoman but this skill ignores distance. Verruka dodged it by turning into a black puddle on the floor and popped up after the slash had passed. She looked behind her at the cabin that had been cut in half.

“Ohh, spatiotemporal magic, I think I will go for you next but not now. Enjoy your wild goose chase! Also, it seems that my [Mirage] is convincing enough. Her image blurred as if I was watching an illusion and the scene changed.

It wasn’t as brutal as the scene that I had seen in the Shadow Elf forest but the cabin was destroyed. I saw a lifeless body lying near the front door. Judging by the state of her body it seems that she had been dead for a while. About a week is my estimation. I blew the flies away and used [Earth Tomb]. The shadow clone had used [Shapeshift] so that clone acted exactly as the real Ylia would have… It’s not that I know her but from the brief exchange I had with her I could tell that she didn’t deserve this and that she would be quite harmless. I sat down. Verruka had escaped again. My failure didn’t matter here. Innocent Misha will get murdered like this if I don’t find and kill her. She has her eyes on me now, which is good but what if she stumbles on other Misha first, what if I fail? If she gains access to my skills… I don’t know who will be able to stop her.

I have already passed my one-week deadline. Nothing pleasant will be waiting for me back at Witchaven. I wonder if the council realizes how serious of a problem this is. All they are concerned about is their egos. I went back to where Ylia and I had explored the ancient building. Maybe I should seal Verruka in one of those images. I will have to mess with the puzzle, get a highly improbable outcome, and seal her in the space behind those images. That will give me enough time to find a better solution on how to deal with her and the council. I decided to find out what the best puzzle combination is right now. I have already missed my deadline so since I am already late it won't matter that I return even later. I made 2 clones and opened the ancient building. The clones went inside and worked on the puzzle.

It was obnoxious and difficult. I wrote down every combination and used various calculations to find out which iteration would be the most improbable for a human to make. Multiple times did I want to drop a [Meteor] on this building but I kept my cool and stayed patient. After 17 days I figured out how to efficiently seal Verruka away and the puzzle iteration that is highly unlikely to be executed. Anyone who does get to it would probably know exactly what he is doing. This puzzle has many solutions but there are only 4 true solutions. The others are also correct but they won’t provide access to one of the 4 treasure rooms at the end of the corridor that opens up when the correct solution is made.

Every ‘correct’ solution has some treasure at the end but not a treasure room. I had also put together the perfect seal. It would even be able to seal a god! I am so amazing! The problem now is to find Verruka, kick her ass, and drag her here. Kicking her ass and dragging her here should be no problem, probably. The real problem is finding her and making sure she doesn't run away. I decided to head back to Witchaven and prepare to endure a lot of bullshit and my exile.

I sighed.