Cece had spent a few day preparing odds and ends, as well as strategizing, when her opportunity came. It hadn’t been difficult to plan for, she simply had to wait until she received an invitation to almost any party that Sienna Solastria would attend. In this case it was a young lady of the Jovis family that was throwing a tea party. What was harder was keeping her daemonic ocularis outside the Solastria estate, waiting to make her move. It had proven to be quite useful since it didn’t require magic, it would never die on her when she needed it, although it did mean she was left without her left eye for most of the day. It paid off however a half hour before the tea party was scheduled to start.

Sienna Solastria walked out of her home with a smile on her face. Her long blonde hair was put up and decorated with several ornaments, she wore an elegant marigold dress, and she was covered in gold jewelry, including a beautiful pair of topaz earrings. She got into her carriage, excited for yet another of Elaine Jovis’ wonderful parties.

“3H6SL” Whispered a voice on a nearby rooftop.

After the carriage pulled off the estate, Cece waited for about five minutes before walking towards the same doors Sienna left. The guards watched as the familiar form approached them. With long blonde hair, a marigold dress, this time without the shining topazes on her ears. Cece’s hands threatened to shake, she wasn’t a particularly good actress, but she forced her body to obey the whims of her mind.

“Young mistress, was there a problem?” One of the men attending the door asked

“I forgot my earrings.” Cece said, the illusion swaying ever so slightly with Sienna Solastria’s body language.

“Shall we have someone grab them for you?”

“I’ll just quickly go grab them myself.”

“Very well, ma’am.” The guards said, looking ever so slightly confused. Cece figured that they weren’t used to Sienna doing things for herself.

Cece walked quickly through the door into a beautiful entry way. A checkered tile floor and fountain waited in front of her, but she couldn’t stop to take in the architecture. She kept moving until she found an empty room and she used scribe’s eye to switch the grimoire to stealth mode. Instantly her form disappeared and her footsteps muffled. She moved with confidence, her previous trip familiarizing herself with the layout, she went down several sets of marble stairs, and came to a heavy brass door. She oh so carefully pulled a set of lockpicks out of her purse. She hadn’t had too many opportunities to use them, but she was well read on the mechanics of locks, so it took her only a few minutes of fumbling to get the door open.

Cece kept walking and eventually found herself in the grand ritual cavern of the Solastria estate. There were people milling about, most of them were blonde and ornamented in gold, and many seemed to be in the middle of important business, luckily none of them were too close to the altar. Still it would be difficult to pull of the switch since it was wide open area. Cece positioned the ocularis to look behind her, giving her a dizzying, almost omnidirectional view of her surroundings. The altar was a simple stone slab, with intricate carving, and resting atop it were several bars of pure gold. She waited carefully for a moment when no one was looking, there were twelve people in the space that were theoretically capable of seeing what was happening, but she timed her actions perfectly for when they were distracted. Cece took a bar of gold, putting it into her spatially enhanced purse. Next, her hand pulled out an identical looking gold bar, the only difference being the large amount of silver it was alloyed with.

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Many magics are in some way opposed to each other, but silver and gold are perhaps the worst. Information on elementals was limited to say the least, but Cece was fairly sure even a trace amount of silver could negatively impact the ascension, with the amount in the bars however, she was hoping something much worse would happen. She repeated her actions, keeping a constant watch for where people’s attention was drawn. It took her a little bit more time than she would have liked, but eventually all the bars had been replaced and she was ready to make her escape. Unfortunately she would have to leave as Sienna to not raise any flags, so along the way she ducked into an unoccupied room and shifted back to her disguise. She kept walking and almost made it to the door before she was stopped.

“Sienna, darling, I thought you were going to a party?” Came a voice behind her. Cece didn’t need to turn her back to see her, the ocularis still watching behind her. Still she turned around and made eye contact with an ancient gold elemental, Freya Solastria.

Cece hesitated for a moment, not out of fear or aggression, but simply out of the fact that she didn’t know what to call her. She had only known one elemental herself, and she didn’t feel that that was an adequate sample size, especially considering his pecularities. In a standard mage family Freya would be called “Honored Elemental” or “Matriarch”, however elementals were strange creatures, some clung to tradition, some balked at it. There was little real way to determine how Sienna would respond, but Cece had a hunch. It pained her to admit it, and it made the rage in her heart flare, but they truly were not all that dissimilar.

“Aunty Freya!” Cece said cheerfully. Freya smiled softly. “I just forgot my earrings, and came back to get them.” She continued showing off the illusory topazes.

Wordlessly the woman hugged her. It was disarming in the extreme, and if Cece hadn’t had such inhuman control over her own mental processes she would have recoiled in shock. Not even her own father had hugged her and now this strange elemental who likely personally killed him was. She returned the embrace, the taste of blood blooming in her mouth from biting the inside of her cheek.

“Sorry Sienna, you all just grow so fast, I fear I won’t get another chance to hug you.”

“It’s alright.” Cece lied. The woman finally pulled away after a few seconds, but her hands remained on Cece’s shoulders.

“I shan’t keep you any longer, you look beautiful. Have fun at your party.”

“I will thank you, Aunty.” Cece said, the illusion feigning a smile for her. Cece walked wordlessly and stone faced, until she reached the door, where she waved the guards goodbye, pretending to be in a hurry.

When she made it out of view from anyone on the street she turned invisible. She began walking home, but her feet started taking her another direction. She felt perturbed, angry even, she couldn’t really figure out why. It was strange to see the people you hated being so… human. She didn’t have cold feet, she would kill them. It was not just her goal or desire to kill them, but something greater, it was her duty and she would carry it through. Still, that didn’t mean it felt good.

Before Cece knew it she found herself walking along the large river that ran through Ari, the capital city of Astraev. She had to dodge people as she walked, since she was still invisible, but she preferred it to being seen right now. There was something peaceful about it, as if you weren’t truly part of the world. For the millionth time in her life, Cece envied her family that could use magic like that whenever they wanted. Cece couldn’t help, but think about if she had been able to use magic, who she would have become. It was something she had dreamed of since she was a child, the what-if familiar to anyone who had irreparably lost a part of their future. When she was younger she had wanted nothing more than to be an elemental, but it was a childish dream. There is no world in which Cecilia Silva could be an elemental, because in any world where she had magic, Cecelia Silva is killed by Solastria.

Cece peered over the edge of a small bridge, and watched the water move. Soon she would show them what a mistake it was to let her live.