Aqua noticed that Azure was confused as she glanced back at Aqua, but it did not last as she noticed Aqua's serious expression which forced her to focus.

The man pulled out a chair as he sat before the trio, he did not speak as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Golden Rose, I presume" He spoke with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

His gaze washed over 3 women as he continued "Golden Rose already passed into Red Dawn."

He crossed his arms as he observed the trio with suspicion, his eyes analyzing the women to the best of his ability.

"We were not expecting additional wagons. And yet here you are." He spoke plainly.

Laura was about to speak up before the man raised his hand, not allowing her to speak.

"I will not have excuses, you will tell me who you are." He shouted as he leaned towards 3 women.

His face turned from Laura to Aqua and then finally Azure "All of your wagons will be seized, and you will be arrested. But you can collaborate by telling me who are you, which could reduce your sentence for impersonating Golden Rose members."

Aqua was worried that this man saw through her illusion, but it still held firm as she glanced at her companion and then at her own hands.

Something fishy was going on, and she needed to know what, she did not know about the structure of the golden rose but from what she gleamed from Laura's mind is that their leader would never abandon them.

Before she could do anything she was pulled from her thoughts by Laura's words.

"That is not possible. We are the remaining Golden Rose fighting force" Laura produced an insignia in the shape of a small rose made of pure gold, before placing it on the table.

Man picked up the insignia before inspecting it "This seems to be genuine" He sighed as he handed the insignia back.

"You 3 stay here" Man ordered as he exited the room, leaving 3 women alone.

Once the coast was clear, Azure was first to ask "Lady Aqua, what is happening?"

Aqua could only shake her head, she did not know, and could not say anything but one thing.

"It seems your beloved leader betrayed you, Laura." She spoke in a quiet tone as she turned to Laura.

While two disguised elves were confused, it wouldn't be comparable to Laura almost having a mental breakdown.

Calling it a breakdown was putting it lightly, she was trying hard to process the information while keeping herself calm and collected but failed terribly.

Both Aqua and Azure looked at their former enemy with concern, after all even if she was the enemy, betrayal would still hurt and anyone could sympathize with it.

"They are lying, they must be lying!" Laura slumped down as she tried to process what Aqua said.

'No, Fang would never betray me or Golden Rose' She shook her head.

He would never throw away the organization he spent so long building up, that Laura was sure.

Which meant, that the guards were either tricked or worked to deceive her.

'And yet the guard seemed to be as confused as us when he saw the insignia' Laura bit her lip as she tried to explain the current situation to herself.

Just after what seemed like moments, the man returned with 2 hooded figures at his sides.

Their grey robes flowed to their feet, their hoods obstructing their faces, and with a silver eye sewn into the hood, in their hands they held a plain-looking staff.

These were disciples of mind, a group that was responsible for the brainwashing of so many elves.

Man took his seat before speaking "You 3 will submit to examination of the mind, as is your duty as officers. If you pass we will let you pass the border"

He spoke as he gestured to two hooded figures bowed and then approached Aqua.

"You first, young lady, stand up and submit to examination of the mind" Aqua was the first one that was ordered to submit.

Two figures took the stance next to the table as they awaited.

Laura and Azure gulped as Aqua confidently stood up and spoke "It will be fine, Examination can't hurt" she winked at Azure.

Aqua took a spot between the two figures as she smiled they planted their staves on opposite sides of Aqua.

The flow of mana rushed from nearby Siphons directly powering their spell.

Man took a moment as he observed mana flow before announcing "You may begin examination."

Figures nodded as their staves glowed, they placed one hand each onto Aqua's head.

Aqua shuddered a little as two strangers touched her

'Do they have to touch me...' she thought as two men tried to invade her mind.

While their attempts were not the strongest, she would allow them to examine her mind.

It was just a moment before they spoke in unison.

"Golden Petal Aqua, rank Golden Petal, Race Human" Both disciples of mind spoke in unison, giving it a creepy tone.

While Laura wasn't surprised that the disciples didn't see through the illusion, she was surprised her mind managed to trick them.

Even then while Aqua passed inspection, she doubted her and other elven girl's ability to hide from disciples of mind.

Laura was ordered to approach next, and in the same manner as Aqua, they probed her mind.

But despite Laura's expectations, she felt no intrusion in her mind, instead they just called her name, rank, and race.

And similarly, the same thing happened to Azure, who was now at her limit, where even a slight push would cause her to faint.

Man sighted before sending two disciples of mind back before sitting back down.

"It seems you were speaking the truth, you may proceed to Red Dawn" He shouted as he took out a parchment, before stamping it with a bronze stamp and handing it to Laura.

It took mere minutes before Wagons were ready to be on the way again.

They proceeded past the checkpoint as they finally arrived in the Kingdom of Red Dawn, and soon after Great Walls of Razul would be visible on the horizon.

"Lady Aqua, Lady Azure. I know we are enemies but I would like to ask you to help me find our leader once we arrive at the City of Razul" Laura spoke with deep sadness in her voice.

"I know he would never betray us, and I need to confirm it myself otherwise I won't be able to live with myself." She continued speaking, her head held by her hands.

Azure was first to speak up "Laura, of course. Once we rescue my friend we will find your leader. After all, he has a lot to answer for" She sat closer to Laura as she patted her back.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Laura nodded "I will submit to your judgment once I know that my dear Golden Fang wasn't a traitor. Something must have happened!" As tears welled up in Laura's eyes Azure hugged her.

'Azure, being that merciful will come back to bite you' Aqua sighted at her companion's behavior.

One should never comfort their enemy who only cooperates with them due to a threat.

'And yet it fits her that she is so caring' Aqua smiled as she looked at her good-hearted friend.

***

Disciples of Mind were humans that with their whole being surrendered themselves to the study of mind under the great Inquisitor.

A society of people rose up, with a desire to emulate and embrace ways of mind as was taught by the great Inquisitor.

Each and every single one of them was aware that their spells and techniques wouldn't be on the level of the great Inquisitor.

As such most disciples of mind would often work in pairs or even larger teams, just for a singular goal, Approach the Majesty of great Inquisitor.

And for that end, there was no greater joy than to serve at the Kingdom's borders, where disciples would get frequent opportunities to practice both mind reading, mind control, and partial mind rewriting.

Occasionally daring nonhumans would attempt to sneak into Red Dawn, which would allow border Disciples to practice without repercussion.

Only greater joy for a disciple of mind would be working as one of the Mind Programmers in the City of Razul, and yet this was unattainable for most.

Mind rewriting was an incredibly taxing technique that required a massive amount of power and expertise to change even one non-human, so only those born with talent could be trained to work at such a prestigious facility.

But partial rewriting was possible for most, even for someone like Gabriel.

He did not possess the mastery of techniques of mind nor the vast power needed for a full rewrite, but he was able to rewrite small parts of memories.

After years of grueling hard work and study, he was finally sent to work at the border checkpoint between the City of Razul and Ebon Forest.

A place where many nonhumans would attempt to pass, accidentally or for some foolish act of heroism.

But recently even that number dwindled which meant Gabriel and his partner weren't getting proper practice over their techniques in a long time.

Heroic nonhumans were growing less and less in number, and so they couldn't not be subjected to Gabriel's experiments.

They were forced to only use their mind-reading techniques to interrogate suspicious humans passing through the checkpoint.

Such as the current suspects, Gabriel did not expect to be called in today as it was his and his partner's day off, but once he saw 3 beautiful young ladies that he was supposed to examine, how would he be able to refuse?

Gazing into the minds of people, especially cute ladies was always a joy for him.

While he did enjoy his work, he also preferred to not work when not necessary, unless the one he would be examining was a young woman.

He knew that his partner thought the same, every time they would examine the minds of young ladies, they would be able to peer into their most intimate moments without them ever knowing.

And if they noticed, women couldn't do anything, as they were all at the mercy of two disciples.

One word to confirm a suspicion would be enough to either execute, enslave if they were nonhumans in disguise, or just throw them into dungeons.

That influenced the duo to have events that would happen at the Ebon Forest Checkpoint.

Their word could influence any decision on who would pass the border and who wouldn't.

And visitors knew that, as such they had no choice but to fully submit their mind to the disciples of mind.

Many would most certainly consider their actions vile but who could blame him, any man in his position would use it to peek at good-looking women.

And the trio before him was a jackpot, 3 beauties, and from what he could tell two of them were sisters.

'They must have some delicious memories together' Gabriel smirked under his hood as he and his partner approached.

The first woman stood up and approached two disciples, letting them begin their preparation.

'She is obedient for a suspicious person, I wonder what we will discover in that pretty head of yours' He chuckled as his and his partner's staves glowed.

Two disciples placed one hand each on the woman's head, letting them feel the silky hair of the lady in front of them.

'This softness, this silkiness, this woman must be quite wealthy' Gabriel thought about not peeking if it was indeed someone powerful, but his desire was stronger.

While the disciples did not need to touch the ones they examined, it was common practice for Gabriel and his partner.

Two disciples closed their eyes as they cast their spell.

Once he and his partner entered the mind, they would be separated which would allow them both to search every corner.

Gabriel was transported into a woman's mindscape, but instead of gazing into the vault of memories as so many times before, he was floating in the middle of the void.

Gabriel couldn't move, cast, or speak as he was stuck in what was supposed to be a mind, with only his thoughts accompanying him 'Did I botch my spell? No that is not possible, I've done this thousands of times.

Direction had no meaning, space did not exist all that existed in this mindscape was... nothing.

The voice never left his mouth, he tried to scream and yet even that never left his throat.

Gabriel tried to cancel the spell and yet he was stuck in place, his spell being fuelled by something else.

Panic gripped him for what seemed like months before a speck of light appeared in the distance, he grasped towards the light as it suddenly expanded.

The mindscape that once was nothing was filled with light, once infinite darkness was filled with orange, yellow, black, and red.

He felt his very soul burn as the world before he transformed, the colors coalesced as the scenery before him turned into a land flowing with magma and flame, the sky covered by thick smoke and the ground itself scorching his feet.

A spitting image of hell, not only the scenery but sounds around him were equally terrifying, screams of tortured souls, and the smell of burning flesh was deafening.

His hood disappeared as the scenery was changed into what looked like a palace.

Before him stood a woman he was supposed to investigate, she approached him, and without a word, her form shimmered as the illusion was dispelled.

Before he stood a non-human, in more ways than it was expected, her halo of flame radiating scorching heat to everything around her, angelic wings of pure flame dragging on the ground, leaving a trail of fire after them and her blue eyes leaving a trail of ghost blue as she walked.

'So a nonhuman, she better have a good explanation for this' He smirked as he took a step before the elven woman.

He knew that this was only a mindscape, the worst she could do was to kick him out no matter what kind of illusion she made and if she did, she would be announced as a suspicious person.

"You better have a good explanation for these tricks, woman! Otherwise, both you and your companions will be enslaved!" He shouted at the suspicious elven woman.

"Oh, you will never leave this place, Human" her voice echoed inside the palace walls.

Step after step she slowly approached before stopping mere meters away.

The palace collapsed, revealing a familiar void, but this time it was occupied by two of them.

"I can't have you preventing me from entering this damned kingdom, human" She spoke softly as she placed her hand on Gabriel's face.

Masses of black flame appeared around her and in moments the void was filled with the black fire.

The flames coalesced more and more, forming chains around Gabriel's limbs.

"WHAT IS THIS YOU WITCH" He shouted with a panicked voice.

"Black Fire, Human. Did you think mind and soul weren't connected" Her giggle echoed inside an infinite void.

"Both you and your partner's mind and soul will forever be bound to me, your free will no longer exists" She spoke with a hint of sadism in her voice as she spoke while caressing Gabriel's face.

"No... THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE..." Gabriel screamed before his voice was silenced, and his attempt at screams would never be heard as Aqua continued speaking.

"You will forever live in the world burned in flame as all creatures that stood against me would, as your body serves your mind and soul will exist forevermore inside the hell of my own making." She laughed as the scenery collapsed he was once again transported into the land of flowing lava and scorching earth.

Aqua disappeared, leaving Gabriel, chained in black flame to forever suffer the heat of the world that once was.

******************

Aqua sighted at her cruelty which reminded her of the tyrant's own, if she just used mind control it would have been quicker, and yet, it would have been easy to discover.

But consuming a soul of Disciple using black flame would leave a shell, that would only require a piece of soul that would obey her to inhabit it.

A piece of soul would be able to continue conducting its host body's regular duties and yet it wouldn't contain its former personality, the advantage is that the spell wouldn't exist and by extension would be undiscoverable.

She felt no sadness for the necessary cruelty she committed on the disciple, after all, she had done worse in her quest to destroy the Tyrant of her old world.

Two souls being trapped in the scorched world that was part of her mindscape would not even be in the top 100 atrocities she had to commit.

After all, they were still alive in some form and could be recovered, and yet she had no plans on doing anything to these two souls just yet, so they were left trapped in the scorched world.

'It was necessary...' She repeated to herself.

If she and Azure were discovered it would most certainly attract the attention of Red Dawn, which Aqua wished to avoid, at least until Sheira was safe.

Red Dawn after all seemed quite advanced and worse of all, they were unknown.

Aqua knew nothing about them, and their inner working, and as such they had to be dealt with with great care.

She was pulled by the voices of puppets confirming her identity as one of the Golden Rose shortly followed by the same confirmation for Laura and Azure.

'I hope I won't need to do this again' she thought as the trio returned to the wagons before departing for the City of Razul.