Wanda walked through the human village, drawing attention from curious humans. It was rare for a flit to be so far from their own, but Wanda was a woman on a mission. She walked quickly, trying not to burn the cobblestones. Her skin was translucent, showing the red fire within. The early autumn moon hung in the sky lighting her path. She searched for her destination, discarding the drunk humans, nervous animals, and whispered gossip. Her eyes landed on a river, and she altered her course. She could not say what drove her, but she knew she had to continue. Wanda stopped at the riverbank, wondering what to do, tapping her foot on the ground. A splash from upstream startled her out of her thoughts.

“Is there someone there,” she asked.

“Look into the water,” another woman’s voice called. Wanda looked down at the river and, to her surprise, saw a kyrill treading water a few feet away. The kyrill smiled, raising a webbed hand out of the water. “My name is Brooke.”

“Mine is Wanda,” Wanda said. “What are you doing so far from the ocean?”

“I have been following a spirit. It has been calling to me, asking for help,” Brooke asked. “What brings you so far from your people?”

“I have been hearing a child calling for help,” Wanda answered. “It is like a Spirit Calling.”

“Then it seems we have the same path,” Brooke swam into the shallows and began shedding her tail. She came ashore covered by her scales alone. “I suppose it would be wise to walk side by side in order to find the source of the calls we hear.”

“Are you certain,” Wanda asked. “I am of the flame, I could burn you in an accident.”

“I am certain,” Brooke answered. “Let us follow the calls.”

With that, Brooke turned and began walking down the riverbank. Wanda hastened her steps to keep up with Brooke, and fell into stride with her. For a long time, the babble of the river and the light hiss of Wanda’s footsteps on the muddy bank broke the silence for miles. Then, Brooke froze and slid down the bank, back into the water. Wanda stopped, confused.

“There is someone or something coming by water. I don’t like the feel of it,” Brooke said. “Be wary.” Brooke summoned her tail once again and submerged herself under the water again.

Wanda dimmed her flame as much as she could, and crouched down low before continuing. She crept along the bank, keeping an eye on the river ahead. She came around a bend in the river, and saw a human man trying to pull himself out of the water. Wanda brightened her flame and thickened her outer skin before moving down to where the man was. She grabbed him by the arms and began pulling him back up the bank.

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“Hang on, I have you,” Wanda said. She pulled the man up the bank to safety as Brooke erupted out of the water.

“Wanda, dive,” Brooke cried. Wanda threw herself over top of the man as arrows rained down from upriver. Brooke caught one of the arrows with inches to spare before losing her tail. “Show yourself!”

Brooke raised her arms up to fight as a human man jumped from the trees, making a run for the wooded area on the other side of the river. Brooke called the water to her with her people’s magic and threw herself onto the bank. She grabbed the man and pulled him down into the water. After a few moments of silence, Brooke and the man broke the surface on the side of the river Wanda and the other human were on. Wanda turned her attention to the man beneath her. She rolled off of him and rolled him onto his back, checking for wounds.

“My side,” the man gasped.

Wanda ran her hands over his sides and found a broken off arrow in the man’s side. She probed the area, hoping to not find any barbs. “This is going to hurt dear,” she said. “I need to pull out and cauterize the wound. The man nodded and held his hands in fists. Wanda set to work, pulling the arrow out of the man’s side. She thinned the skin on her hand and winced as she cauterized the wound. The man screamed in pain and passed out as Wanda tended his wound. She could hear Brooke slapping the other man’s face, trying to wake him. Wanda moved so that she could see the man and Brooke. The man woke up and started coughing and spitting.

“What the hell,” the attacker snarled.

“We have questions and you are going to answer them,” Brooke snapped.

“Who are you,” the human spat.

“Why were you after this man,” Wanda asked.

“Master made me,” the man growled. “I am following orders.”

“Why,” Brooke asked.

“If the Master is to be disobeyed, or the loved ones of those who fail will be killed,” the man said.

“What is his name,” Wanda asked.

“He is known as Blacklight, he is a magic user,” the man said.

Before either woman could ask anything else, a spear of light broke through the trees, hit the man, and speared a hole through his head. Another hit the ground behind the man as he collapsed. A second bolt went through the chest of the man that Wanda had saved. Brooke cursed and summoned a weapon made of coral, and threw it. The lights did not come on anymore, even after several minutes. Brooke screamed in rage, frightening formerly sleeping animals.

“Brooke, we need to tell someone,” Wanda said.

“No human would believe us unless we were Drifters with at least one human backing up what we say,” Brooke said.

“Then make change happen ladies,” a low voice answered.

“Show yourself,” Brooke snapped her spear-like weapon to attention once more.

An androgenous-looking sprite with sparrow wings stepped out of the woods.

“How do we know you mean well,” Brooke growled.

The sprite flapped their wings and cocked their head. “My people do not have that kind of magic. I am also the one who summoned both of you,” they said. “You answered my call.”

“Why,” Wanda asked.

“You are needed by many,” they said. “I am not as I appear to be, and now, neither shall you.”

“What do you mean,” Wanda asked.

“I am helping bring people together who can and will make every difference that they can,” the other said. “To stop things like this from happening, to protect innocent people. You were chosen to be tested. You have answered my call and passed my test. This scene played out centuries ago, but without anyone to interfere. These men were both killed, as were their families.”

“You are a Drifter’s spirit, aren’t you,” Wanda asked.

“Yes I am,” the sprite answered. “You have been chosen for a specific path, that which my colleagues and I followed before you.”

The spirit, bodies, and two women vanished, pulled elsewhere by magic.