Finishing their talk the group made their way out of Zoe’s rooms in the direction back to the Queen’s rooms, “Zoe you have done me a great favour, I only wish I had spoken to you sooner, we might have been able to save ourselves some time.” The Queen said, “I must remind you however, we do not wish for this matter to be spoken off.”

As Zoe, the queen and the adventurer finished discussing the queen's secret monster, They moved out of Zoe's room, heading back through the college grounds towards the queen's rooms.

"Zoe. I wish to thank you, your assistance with this task has been invaluable. We finally have the first clues to solving our predicament." Queen Aria said, "But please remember, do not speak of any of this. We do not want to cause a panic."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Zoe said

"Good girl."

The college hallways were surprisingly well-lit, most of the building was built out of white stone and large windows ran along the outer wall to allow plenty of light in each day. Zoe looked out at the clear blue sky of the beautiful fall day, cool air was coming in through the open window but it would still end up being a warm day overall. Nobody expected the sky to suddenly erupt in varying shades of black, blue and purple lightning. Tamond scowled and did not wait to be permitted the queen before running off to go see what had caused the event in the sky. The queen's servant came running down the stairs towards her before Zoe could run after Tamond.

"Your majesty. We need to move, it's the Seraph. It has broken free and arrived just outside the wall. It appears it cannot enter, but it is trying and the college mages are barely able to keep it out."

"Where can we go if it has arrived here so quickly." Queen Arla questioned.

"We need to get you into a carriage and on the road before this thing breaks into the grounds." The servant explained.

"Zoe. Come with us, this college will fall under this things attack." Arla said grabbing Zoe by the arm and dragging her along giving her no choice in the matter. She led Zoe to where the queen's carriage lay waiting for them, They hadn't even exited the building before a large boulder came crashing down into the carriage destroying it under the heavy weight and sending debris flying in all directions. Queen Arla fell backwards, thrown over by the force of the impact, Zoe only barely stayed standing but her eyes were drawn upwards to get a good look at the creature that had thrown the boulder towards them. Tall and pale, it wore a black tunic with dark grey glossy feathered wings. She saw the menacing scowl on its face as it pushed the black locks of hair away to reveal its glowing red eyes. With skin covered in dark veins, there was only one unaffected place and that was its face. Zoe was no expect but if she had to guess she would assume corruption.

The Seraph did not need to flap its large feathered wings to stay in flight, its magic allowed it to stay aloft on its own. As Zoe was the only one still standing it turned its attention to her. Its blood lust was not close to being sated, it let off a loud, ear-piercing screech before drawing a dark obsidian great sword. Its size allowed it to wield the blade in a single hand like it was holding a short sword.

Several small swords were sent flying free from the destroyed carriage and Zoe dove to pick one up so at least she had something to defend herself from the attack. Using two hands to hold the blade up, her small stature made it look like she was holding a broadsword. The Seraph propelled itself towards her, Zoe braced to be sent flying back when it hit her but much to her surprise it stopped as her blade connected with hers. The force took a moment to hit her, pushing her back after the attack into the wall of the college. Turning back to the queen, who cowered below the corrupted angelic creature, she pleaded for it to stop.

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Zoe knew there was no one else around to help save the queen so doing the only thing she could, she charged at the distracted monster, swinging her sword at it and much to her and the Seraph’s surprise her attack hit with an unbelievable amount of force, far more than it should have, forcing the creature back away from the queen giving her the space to get up to her feet. Angering the Seraph it focused on Zoe. It raised its hand and a warm yellow light began to form in a ball in front, the light seemed to darken the world around them and then proceeded to absorb the darkness until it was a pure ball of black energy as dark as night. Raising her sword above her head, Zoe flung it as hard as she could towards the Seraph causing it to drop the spell to catch the sword in the air. Zoe stood there now unarmed and too far away from another weapon to reach it before the creature could strike at her, the Seraph began to draw the power once again but before it could launch its strike Zoe’s body began to glow with a bright blue light that burst from deep within her and out to wash over the Seraph. The black and grey that covered its wings and body were pushed off like a sludge being removed.

Tamond came running around the side of the building having been trapped inside by the boulder, his sword drawn and ready to fight, he saw the corruption being pushed away from its body and stopped before attacking to survey the battle. “Well, that is different.” He said, looking at the Queen still lying on the ground, “Are you okay Your Majesty?”

"Yes. Thanks to Zoe."

"What happened to it?" He said, looking at the Seraph who was purified now. The corruption once covering its body now lay in a pile of sludge on the ground below it.

"She... She blasted the corruption out of it." Queen Arla said.

The booming voice of the Seraph echoed out despite the creature not opening its mouth to speak, “Child of Destiny, you have freed me from this evil.” It spoke sombrely, “You have served a higher purpose today. Their eyes are on you now.”

The queen and Tamond rushed Zoe off quickly after the creature vanished. The next morning Zoe was called to the courtyard by Tamond along with the college’s headmaster, Anrod Netheridge and Queen Arla. “Zoe, we cannot thank you enough for all you have done for the kingdom of Adrelalind. You will always be welcome in my kingdom, if you ever find yourself in the capitol, Edgewinter, please stop in.” See handed Zoe a silver coin dripping with powerful magic that even Zoe was able to sense, several characters were engraved on it in a language that she did not understand.

"What is written on it?" Zoe asked "It is a specific magic, old magic" Anrod explained.

"Yes. It is proof if you ever need a favour. "Queen Arla continued. "Professor Netheridge, thank you for your college's hospitality. For your patience in dealing with my uninvited interruption."

"You are always welcome here your majesty." Anrod said," I hope you found what you were searching for."

"Well yes. You were here when we killed the creature right?" Queen Arla said confused.

"Yes. I was but it is just something each head of college is taught to say to visiting royalty."

The queen and her entourage left later that day, taking the order leader with them, and the college was able to return to a sense of normalcy. Zoe and the headmaster watched as they left, but when they were alone Zoe turned to the headmaster, “Sir, I need to ask you about something.”

“What is it, child?”

“When I fought the Seraph, this magic came out of my body. I didn’t think I had any magic, I don’t understand what it was.”

“Every test we have done says there is no magic within you. We can test you again but I suspect we will get the same answer.”