I stepped off the carriage and into the fog-filled street.

Everything was quiet. Too silent. Not even a bird chirping in the distance. Even the breeze felt strangely still.

I narrowed my eyes and looked around carefully. Everything remained calm. As though nothing was wrong.

But something screamed out to my instincts. The air was heavy, like the sky during an approaching thunderstorm.

This isn't normal. This doesn't feel right.

I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. I need to figure out what's going on here. I'd never felt this alone since I woke up in this world.

First things first, I needed to locate my sister-

Suddenly, a flash of light streaked through the air, causing me to make the most undignified squeaking noise.

Lorina appeared in front of me next to the carriage, like she'd come out of a portal. She was covered in blood and holding the severed head of a monster. It looked awfully similar to the beast that almost ate me in my hallucination.

Her sword was drawn, and I could see four runes glowing a bright silver along the blade.

"Lori?" I asked hesitantly. "What's going on?"

She looked at me with cold, serious eyes. I shivered. Those were uncharacteristic eyes for her in the short time I'd known her.

"Tread very, very carefully right now, Alice. Keep your eyes open."

"What?" I trailed off nervously. "Where are we?"

"In Halton, of course," she responded calmly.

I shivered. This was wrong.

"Halton? What?"

"Yes." She answered curtly. "Sorry sis, looks like my party's past is coming to bite us in the rear. This is an ambush. Likely, specifically for me."

I swallowed hard as my fear kicked up another notch.

"What do we do?" I asked frantically.

She gave me a strained look and said nothing.

Then, a small red bird fluttered above and landed gently on Lori's shoulder.

"It seems my visions were correct. He's not as dead as we'd thought."

I blinked. The bird spoke in the mystery woman - Dora's voice.

"Be careful, old friend," The bird cawed quietly, turning its head toward the distant horizon. Its wings rustled slightly, and it hopped onto Lori's other arm.

The two of them exchanged glances, then nodded to each other briefly. Then they turned and began walking away quickly.

The bird shifted into the woman who'd been in the carriage. Except, she was dressed in a red outfit out of a Wuxia film. She still had a veil that covered most of her head.

What in the actual fuck?

"Wait! Where are you going?!" I shouted after them.

"We must move," the red woman called back without looking over her shoulder. "Follow along quickly, child."

"Lori?! Wait a second!!!" I screamed out at their retreating backs. They didn't even turn around to acknowledge me.

I sighed heavily and started following behind them.

There was something very wrong with this entire situation. My heart was beating furiously, my skin tingling with goosebumps. A chill ran down my spine.

I stopped suddenly when I realized why I felt so uneasy.

There was no wind blowing through the streets.

I glanced cautiously and saw that there was also no movement nearby. Even the birds and insects had disappeared completely. There was nothing but silence everywhere I looked and listened.

This is wrong. Something is very wrong here.

I took a deep breath and focused on calming my nerves. I couldn't let my fear control me anymore. I needed to get a hold of myself and think clearly.

Okay, okay. Calm down. Think rationally. What should I do next?

I continued to follow close behind the red woman and Lori. My feet moved mechanically, and I stared straight ahead without seeing anything.

This is too much to handle right now. I'm not ready for this. Not yet. I don't know enough about magic or monsters to fight correctly yet.

I clenched my fists tightly as I walked.

Then, I slowly meandered as I thought about what to do next. But before I could come up with any good ideas, Lori suddenly stopped and drew her sword. I heard a faint sound from behind me. It was a low, guttural growl.

I whipped my head around to look behind me and froze in place.

There was a large gorilla-like creature standing between me and the carriage. It was huge, easily three times as tall as me and twice as wide. Its body was covered in black fur, and its face was humanoid.

However, it had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth and a long tail swishing ominously. Its hands were tipped with claws, which dripped with blood.

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It growled again, baring its fangs at me threateningly. It began to slowly approach as I scrambled for my wand.

"W-what is that thing?" I stammered out nervously.

I took aim at it, but I was too scared. The symbols wouldn't form in my head. I stared in terror as I tried again and again, but it just wouldn't work.

At the last possible moment, Lori appeared in front of me and swung her sword into the air. A bright white light shot from her sword and struck the monster square in the chest. The beast roared in pain and stumbled backward. Then, it fell to one knee and clutched at its chest with its claws, snarling at Lori the entire time.

"Oh no...holy shit," I whispered softly.

Okay, that was, admittedly, really damned cool.

She ignored me and pressed her assault on the creature, lunging in to stab at its abdomen. Suddenly, it struck out at her faster than I could blink, shredding Lori's breastplate in a single hit, but she expertly twisted with the momentum. It launched her into the air, but she somehow halted the momentum mid-flight and swung her sword, sending a blast from it. The explosion sent the creature tumbling backward once again.

Lori drove her momentum forward in the air and swung her sword down hard onto its neck. Blood splattered across the ground like rain.

"Lori!" I cried out, rushing towards her side. "Are you alright?"

The second I made contact with her, she spun around and glared at me angrily.

"Stop! Just stop it!" she growled, jerking away. "And don't touch me!"

I recoiled in shock and stared at her in disbelief. Where did that come from?

"What's wrong with you?" I asked incredulously. "Why are you acting so weird?"

Seriously, what was wrong with this girl?!

"Weird? Weirder than you? You're the one who's been acting strange lately," she snapped back.

Then, she looked at me coldly, "And what happened to your magic? That was an easy shot. I nearly got killed just now because you've been a dipshit about your problem!"

"What? I don't know what you mean."

"Don't bullshit me. You lost control of your magic after Rivershire," she said accusingly. "What did you do to yourself? Be straight with me, Alice. I've never seen you struggle with something as basic as a Mana Bolt. I felt something was off when I saw those books but that just confirmed it."

"I didn't do anything! And what does that have to do with anything?"

I shouted. What was her problem? Why the hell was she going after me like this?!

"Don't play dumb with me!" She shouted furiously. "I might not be the smartest girl in the room usually, but I have damned sharp eyes. Look, I'm your sister. You can talk to me about this stuff."

"Lori!" I exclaimed in horror, taking a step away from her. "Why are you acting like this?"

Where was all this coming from? Fuck this.

"What else am I supposed to say?" she demanded harshly. "You're always so calm and collected and so damned smart. Now, you're the one who's been acting like an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!" I yelled back. "I'm just....I'm just scared!"

"You're scared?" she scoffed. "Get your shit together sis, this is serious right now. Life and death."

"I'm still trying to figure things out," I screamed. "How can you be so calm when we're surrounded by monsters? What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"Calm?" She snorted derisively. "You're the one who's being dumber right this moment than I've been acting on our baby adventures."

"What!?" I gaped at her. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Before this? That was all small fry to antagonize and get you experience. This is our first real battle," she explained impatiently. "If you want to survive this, you need to focus on the enemy, not your sister."

"Seriously?" I stepped up, puffing my chest in anger. "You did all that. Just to fucking throw me into the water?! Sink or swim?"

Now, I was genuinely livid. I'd been left with and attacked by dangerous criminals no less than three times. I'd been drugged, left hungry in the streets, and kept up for sleepless nights, and now we were being attacked by monsters while my sister talked down at me.

She scowled, her eyes darting around, "Look. The only way for us to win this fight is if you stop thinking about me, and start focusing on fighting back."

Her eyes suddenly shifted my way. "Duck."

"Huh?!" I gasped as I suddenly felt something approaching.

"Duck!" She repeated urgently.

I ducked instinctively as a giant ball of fire flew over my head. It slammed into a monster's chest, and it burst into flames instantly. The creature howled loudly in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Lori turned to the air next to me and nodded sternly. "Good work, Haigha."

A man with brown bunny ears popped out of thin air beside the burning monster. He was wearing a blue suit with an orange bowtie and had a wand drawn. He smiled cheerfully at us, then looked behind him curiously.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked in a soothing tenor voice before he turned to look at me with wide eyes, "Oh dear. Alice...you've gotten so big!"

"Yeah, we're fine," Lori answered quickly. "Where's the chief?"

"Oh, just...just erm, give him a minute!" the rabbit-eared man replied nervously.

I jumped slightly when I saw a giant demonic-looking bear standing behind him. Its body was covered in thick black fur, and its face had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth. A long tail swished back and forth menacingly. It growled deeply, showing off its impressive fangs.

"Blasphemers..." the bear said gruffly, glaring at Lori threateningly.

Lori sighed softly and raised her sword into the air. A bright white light shot from her sword and struck the bear square in the chest.

The beast roared in pain and stumbled backward. It fell back to the ground and didn't move.

"Lori..." I whispered softly.

Okay, that was, admittedly, really damned cool. I was MORE than fed up with her shit at this point, but that was still cool.

The red woman suddenly transformed into a wolf and pounced on the unconscious bear. She sank her teeth deep into its neck and shook her head violently. Blood splattered everywhere, covering the ground like rain.

What the heck. This was horrific!

I needed to get out of here.

Another creature appeared on the scene and rushed towards me. It was a colossal humanoid frog with three heads. One head had two horns growing out of it, while another had four eyes. The third had no eyes or nose. I screamed, pulled my wand out of reflex, and fired a mana bolt at it. The spell hit home, and it let out a high-pitched squeal before dissolving into particles of light.

I blinked in surprise. I did it! Under pressure!

My mind raced as I tried to figure out what was going on.

The wolf transformed back into a woman next to me. "And THIS is why you're taking my place, Alice..." she spat, coughing out the bear's blood. "Screw this life."

Huh? Take her place?

A loud growl made me jump again. A large wolf with eight eyes stood before me, looking at me hungrily. Its body was covered in dark brown fur, and its face had sharp teeth protruding from both sides of its mouth. A long tail swished back and forth ominously. It growled again, showing off its impressive fangs.

But then, it got hit by a....molotov cocktail? Yes, that's right, a molotov cocktail.

Except, it was less of a liquor bottle and more of a shiny purple glass orb.

The wolf creature burst into flames and began to thrash and howl. And then suddenly, a rain of a dozen arrows began to strike its torso. With a whimper, it stopped moving.

I turned to the source and saw a tall elf in a green tuxedo with puffy orange hair and a ridiculous top hat. He had a ludicrously packed utility belt and was juggling three red balls similar to the one he had just tossed at the wolf. With one agile motion, he dropped all three balls into a large fanny pack.

"Hey!" Lori called out cheerfully. "I'm glad you could make it, Chief." She turned to look at the roof with a wink, "Dinah!"

"Uh..." I stammered out nervously, staring wide-eyed. My eyes followed my sister's, only to land on a bow-wielding catgirl on the roof with long red hair and blue eyes. She flashed me a grin when she met my eyes and gave me a thumbs-up. This was too much.

The elf waved his hand dismissively, "No need for formalities here, dear."

"I don't think this is quite the time to be worrying about formality," Lori snapped back. "We're in the middle of a fight against one hell of a warlock and his monsters. Anyone see Friar Dodgson?"

"He'll turn up," The elf acknowledged slowly before turning to me. "I am sorry that we couldn't meet again under better conditions, Alice. We've been eager for this moment since we heard about your graduation!"

"Wait," I asked, confused. "For what?"

The elf took a step forward and placed his hands on my shoulders. His touch felt warm and comforting.

"This moment for you to join us," he explained softly.

"Join you?" I asked blankly. "Wait..."

I suddenly remembered what Lori had told me when I'd first woken up in this world. Then, I narrowed my eyes at the elf, who seriously reminded me of the Lucky Charms mascot.

The elf pumped his fist, "Yes, Alice. Please. Join our little group!"