Nothing. There was nothing. My eyes were open but I couldn't see. There was no sound aside from a constant whisper; a soft scream in the distance in all directions. My mouth was moving, but nothing came out.

I could feel the countless abrasions across my body, but no pain. I couldn't tell if my legs were moving, but I kept running. I ran for so long that my legs should have already given out on me but they somehow didn't.

Time became irrelevant, but I never stopped moving, reaching, calling. Desperation and a never-ending sense of urgency consumed me. It was as if I was deprived of all my senses, but they were all laser-focused at the same time.

Slowly, the feeling returned to my fingertips, then my toes, then the rest of my body in turn. My movement was constrained, as if I was never in motion, to begin with, and the sound in the distance disappeared.

My eyes shot open, and I tried to sit up, only to learn that I was strapped to a bed with thick, black bindings. I was back in my room in Pan's tower and the light coming through the window told me it was morning. My cuts were bandaged up and my broken armor was beside the bookcase with Penelope's bag.

"Zeta!" A wide man with a long beard and wrinkled skin appeared at the door seconds after I called.

"You're finally awake." he said, "How do you feel?"

"Where's Penelope?"

"You don't want to know why you're strapped down first?"

"Where is she?"

"I don't know. You were gone for so long that I went to look for you. What happened out there?"

"The commission was a trap. They got Penelope. I'm going to go get her back."

"That's why you're strapped down." He tugged gently at the black straps keeping me down. "You can't go out there in the state you're in and besides, I already looked. I even called in a few favors. She's long gone."

"No."

"You don't have to believe me, but that doesn't change the fact that you're in no condition to go out there searching."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Rest. Your injuries on the outside aren't that bad, but we have no way of verifying how bad you're hurt on the inside."

"Bullshit." I started struggling against the straps with all my might.

Zeta snapped his fingers and the straps loosened to where I could slip from under them. "Alright, we'll do it your way."

"Thank you." I stood and went for the armor still sitting on the bookcase.

"You know, those wraps were only so you don't leave without me knowing."

"You want to come with me?"

"If only to keep you from exhausting yourself, yes."

"Whatever."

I donned the chainmail and picked up the two extra swords. There was no time to clean the other ones and I wasn't wasting any time doing so. With every movement, my clothes brushed against bruises I didn't know were there, making me wince with every new one I discovered.

Leaving my room, I asked, "How long was I out?"

"A day or so since I found you."

"Does Danna know about what happened?"

"No. I thought it'd be best if you told her."

"I'm getting Penelope back first." There was no question in my mind she'd do to me what I'd do to myself if I went to her without finding her sister first.

"Do you have any idea as to where she could be? You were there when it happened."

"We'll see when we get there. Can you teleport us?"

"Not that far but I can teleport us to town."

"Alright, but I'm hitting the ground running. I don't want to run into Danna while we're there."

"I'll be right behind you."

He summoned his staff and teleported us to the center of town. I found the way I needed to go immediately and sprinted as fast as I could down a road out of town and towards the old church, following my memory as best as I could. Once I was there, I stopped to regain my breath and look around.

The man-sized monkey carcasses were all gone, but there were still remnants of blood and viscera across the ground. Even bits of metal chipped from our armor was left behind. There was a deathly silence as the wind whispered through the breeze.

I took a deep breath and walked to the blood-stained floorboards of the forgotten church and lifted a few. The silver box was still there. I found the seam and tried to open it to find it wouldn't budge.

Already frustrated, I stabbed my blade as far into the slim opening as I could, placed my foot on the guard, and stomped it through to the other side. The box fell open with a bang. Inside was a shrunken head with a slip of paper in its mouth. I reached for, but refused to touch it.

"What is this?"

"It's a shrunken monkey head," said Zeta, nearby.

"So they summoned the monkeys?"

"I figured that was the case since monkeys like that don't live in this forest, but I couldn't figure out why they didn't get sent back once they were beaten or killed." He picked the head up out of the box and examined the paper in its mouth. "We're either dealing with a Familiar Summoner or a beastmaster and there's not really any way to know for sure."

"The woman who took her had feline characteristics. She had claws, a tail, and cat ears too."

"Any more details you can remember?"

"Her eyes were bright green. Once I looked into them, all my strength disappeared and I couldn't cast any spells."

"She could have cast an ocular spell. Then again, it could be an inherited ability like your eyes. Now that I think about it, a Familiar Summoner can merge with their summons and take on their abilities as well as their appearance. But even with that in mind, I can't think of there being a summoner that deliberately sends their summons to their death."

"Well, that's what happened. They appeared in the trees as soon as we buried the box."

"In the trees?" Zeta seemed taken aback by this information. "Like between the trees on the branches?"

"Yeah."

"Then they weren't summoned. They were drawn in."

"So, they were here the whole time?"

"They were probably pets, not summons. We could be dealing with anything at this point. Not even I know what really lies within this vast forest anymore." He yanked the paper from the shrunken monkey head and unfurled it. There was only a drawing of an eye on it.

"That reminds me," I said, "Ever so often it felt like we were being watched by someone. I figured it was you but I never thought to ask. It was that cat woman the whole time."

"I'm afraid we'll have to assume the worst." He ripped the paper in half and the pieces became engulfed in blue flames. "That means I have some things to tell you."

I took a step back. "Like what?"

"Through my experiments, I've found that your powers directly influence Penelope's strength."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you're a Wizard, Oscar. A wizard can't grow properly without a proxy to hold a lot of their power and when I tested to see if you had any aptitude for magic, you somehow imprinted on Penelope and she became your vessel. Once I told her what happened, she accepted the responsibility upon herself, sealing the contract and making it irreversible by anyone other than you two. While she still can't use magic, your magic manifests within her through her glowing tooth alongside her enraged state."

"You mean when her eyes glow like that it's because of me?"

"More or less. But it's likely something she would have unlocked on her own in due time. I was hoping the emblem on your choker would act as a vessel instead but you just ended up with two vessels at that point."

"And her glowing teeth..."

"Now, don't go thinking it's all your fault. She took it upon herself to push her body as hard as she could to get stronger. I used my experiments to help her, but I think she would have found a way to do it with or without me. Even for her it still takes a lot of effort to swing a greataxe single-handedly."

"It was because of her glowing teeth. She held her down and ripped them out of her skull. I couldn't do anything, I just watched. Then they grew back and she just took her." I clenched my fist so hard I thought the skin on my knuckles would rip. "She tried to take my choker but couldn't pull it off and I think she wanted to take my eyes but she didn't. She said they were too dangerous. Like something would kill her if she did. Do you know what she meant by that?"

"I can't say I do."

"Bullshit." I reached for the collar of his cloak and held it firm with one hand. "My eyes. They're the reason why no other mages wanted to teach me magic, right?"

"I get that's what you think but-"

"Danna... She used to be my best friend, but now she can't look me in the eye. Something is wrong with me and only magic users can see it." I looked him in the eye and he didn't flinch. "What is it about the stars in my eyes?"

"I think this is something better discussed when we get back."

"Whatever." I let him go. "I should already be looking."

I stepped into the tree line and continued forward through the thicket. Looking up, I followed the sturdy-looking branches, making sure to keep a special eye out for any that looked scratched or damaged. Before long, I found myself back in the clearing where I started.

"That happened when I looked, too." Zeta wasn't far behind me. "Then I tried from above and I still found nothing. Whoever they were, they erased every trace of them down to their scent and mana trail. It's almost like they never existed." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "The best we can do is wait for news from the trackers I called. Hopefully, it will be soon."

"I'll keep looking." I went back to where I entered the forest and went back in.

"Try not to over-exert yourself or underestimate your injuries. I don't want to have to come looking for you again."

"I'll come back at nightfall. How can I find someone if I can't even see?"

"Good luck." He summoned his staff and disappeared.

"Yeah," I whispered.

Back into the forest, I went in a straight line instead of following any signs or landmarks. My senses were fully heightened to the point where every so often I'd hear a soft thump and stop just to find out it was my heartbeat. The deeper into the forest I went, the slower I found myself going until I realized that I stopped moving and was just staring at a tree growing around a stone. It was shaped similar to a bench with the rock as a seat. Night was close by and the sky was already in varying shades of red and quickly fading.

Sitting on the stone against the tree, I said, "Zeta. I'm ready to go back."

His voice echoed nearby. "How did you know I was still here?"

"If you weren't, I wouldn't come back. I can't be a student to someone who'd leave me like this."

"Well, I figured if I didn't stay I wouldn't have a student anymore, regardless."

"Can't just say you care about me?" I forced a smile.

He appeared sitting next to me with his staff in hand. "Let's go home. We can continue tomorrow if it helps."

"Sure."

He tapped his staff on the ground and we were suddenly sitting on a bench on the edge of town. We stood and walked through to the other side of town and back to the tower. On the way, we ran into Danna. I was trying to avoid her, but we saw each other at the same time and she approached me.

"Hey Oscar, on your way to pick up a commission?"

"Not really..." My mind raced as quickly as ever to come up with something to say. "I lost something during the last commission and I just came back from looking for it."

"Oh, well, did you find it?"

"Nah, I need to go out and look for it again tomorrow."

"Must be really important in that case."

"It is."

"Where's Penelope? You two are usually glued at the hip." She was looking around as if Penelope was going to appear around a corner.

"Probably lifting the heaviest thing she can find at home right now."

"Home? Oh yeah, you both live with that Wizard."

"Well, I have to get going. Uh, see you when I see you."

I tried to scurry away, but she grabbed my hand before I could get too far.

"Wait."

I stopped and we looked into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds. She shut her eyes tight and turned her head abruptly as if I was about to hit her. A tear rolled down her cheek not too soon after.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, it's just worse." She wiped away the tear but kept her eyes closed.

"I'm sor-"

"Be careful taking commissions. Some recent commissions that were sent out were actually traps to lure out adventurers."

"Thanks for the warn-"

I tried to pull away but she held firm.

"People have gone missing." Her grip tightened on my hand. "I don't know what I'd do if either of you were gone. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will. In fact, we won't be taking commissions for a while, anyway. We're focusing on getting as strong as we can for now."

"Thanks." She let me go. "You should be going, it's getting late."

"Yeah..."

As soon as the front door closed, I said. "Teach me everything."

"Everything?" said Zeta, hanging up his cloak.

"Everything."

"Very well but if you're so eager to learn, there are a few things I still need to tell you."

We went into one of the rooms with a table, a few chairs, and far too many books to count. After rummaging through one of the piles of books, he produced a few and sat them next to him on the table.

"Up until now I've only taught you the basic aspects of magic but magic and its utilization doesn't stop at just magic." He held up his hand and one of the books began levitating. "Focus. Can you sense the power radiating from this book?"

I focused my attention on the book and I didn't feel anything coming from it. "No."

"How about now?"

Nothing changed, but now I felt something radiating off the book like heat, but it wasn't warm. "I do now."

"What I'm going to teach you now is the other forms of power people possess." He flicked his finger and the book opened to a diagram of a human with a network of interconnected tubes not unlike blood vessels running through their body. "One of which is ki. Something you should already be familiar with as a swordsman whether you know it or not." He dropped the book in front of me and did the same with another one that depicted a person with a ghastly cloud around them. "The other one is spiritual energy. The reason why I never taught you these is to make sure whatever power lies within those eyes stays dormant until you're ready."

"And now I'm ready?"

"I don't know but you are determined. I hope that's enough."

He passed the books off to me and I read through them until I found myself waking up from falling asleep between them. Morning had come before I realized it but I continued taking notes and struggling to understand the new concepts presented before me. Once I thought I had it understood, I allowed myself to relax and fell back to sleep until the thought of who-knows-what being done to Penelope while I slept jolted me awake. By then, it was already afternoon and the sky was turning ever darker shades of blue.

I picked up the notes I took and went down the stairs to the training room. My movements were sluggish, so I laid my hand against the center column to make sure I kept my balance on the way down. As I neared my destination, my mind fell into a haze and I just kept going. At some point, I stopped going down and it was dark. In front of me was a wall I could barely make out. It was smooth and seamless aside from the few chisel marks I could see across the surface. I knocked on it to find that it was completely solid. I then kicked it and nearly hurt myself.

Turning around, I decided to head back up and on the way, I passed a room full of crystalline ice shards and a wine cellar before getting to my original destination. The silence of my surroundings made me realize something that I hadn't until then. The tower was big, empty, and lonely. Zeta had probably been living alone in this big space for who knows how long.

After picking up a couple of wooden swords, I was about to start training on a dummy when I saw a pale woman with long white hair leaning against one, asleep.

"You always sleep in weird places."

I reached to pick her up but as soon as I was close enough to do so, her arm whipped out and she nearly back-handed me.

"Don't pick me up, it's embarrassing every time you do."

I stifled a laugh. "I embarrass you?"

Hearing my words, she snapped awake. "N-no!" She stood quickly and dusted herself off. "Okay, since you're awake, we can start."

"So, what's the first thing?"

"Remember when you cast your first spell?" She popped her knuckles.

I gulped. "You're gonna beat the shit out of me again?"

She bobbed her head around a couple of times before answering. "Yes."

I groaned and sighed at the same time.

"It'll be different this time, don't worry." She went into the magic training room. "You have training swords this time."

"Sure, that'll help," I said, sarcastically, following behind her.

"Actually, they won't." She turned around and handed me a blindfold. "Put this on."

"What?"

"I'll be helping you refine your ki control. Since you can already sense it, I don't need to teach it to you. Just how to use it."

"Ah, okay." I put down the wooden swords and put on the blindfold. "What now?"

"Do you feel anything?"

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As soon as she asked, I felt something radiating toward my face. It was as if someone laid their hand on my face, but it wasn't warm.

"You put your hand? In front of my face?"

"Okay, how about now?"

This time, the feeling condensed on one spot on my forehead.

"Is that your... finger?"

"Yep."

On instinct, my hand swiped upward and caught something flying at the spot. It was her finger.

"Good job. I was going to flick your forehead."

"Oh, I didn't even realize I was moving."

She moved her hand and I felt the side of my head start tingling, causing me to duck.

"You really do have the senses down. The fact that someone could blind-side you while your senses were sharpened from combat is surprising. You can take off the blindfold."

I did so and as soon as I could see again, something knocked my feet from under me and I hit the ground unceremoniously.

"Ow!" I was on my side having narrowly missed landing on a wooden sword.

"That would explain it." She reached out her hand and helped me up. "You need to be able to focus your ki without being blinded. I assume this is something you learned from sword training."

"Yeah, I just haven't done it in a long time."

Zeta took a few steps back and assumed a martial stance. "Now I'll teach you how to focus your ki while your eyes are open."

I took a stance as well. "I've sparred before. How will this help?"

"Pick up the swords. You'll need them. Ki is the most powerful of the three and the hardest to control. You'll need an analog outside of yourself to channel it easier."

Picking up the wooden swords, I assumed my normal stance. "I still don't get how it helps."

"Now is not the time to question me. Don't be afraid, just focus. Bring your mind back to when you didn't have magic at your fingertips and just feel it."

I took a deep breath and said, "Okay."

She took a step forward and her palm was directly in front of my face in a blink of an eye. My instincts kicked in again and I side-stepped it while swiping at her hand. My sword only met the air and her elbow was now careening toward my chest. My other sword moved in to block it but the impact sent it into me and a shockwave blew through me.

Whenever she used magic before, I'd get a feeling of something shifting unnaturally toward her, but this wasn't it at all. This was a sustained pressure rushing away from her and it scared me. Was this really the power of ki? A power I could have possibly been using the whole time?

I took a few steps back and she dashed at me. Despite that, I felt the presence of something flying at me from behind. Reacting as soon as I felt it, I hopped to the side and Zeta caught something.

Noticing that small opening, I retaliated, swiping a sword at her.

Before I knew it, she caught the sword between the fingers of one hand and her other hand was hovering in front of my face followed by an intense pressure wave. It was like a condensed whirlwind, but there was no wind. I tried to stand against it but it soon carried me into the air and dropped me on my back.

"You let your guard down because you thought I was distracted." She reached and helped me up again. "I just hit you with a ki attack, how did that feel?"

"Like you just blew in my face really hard."

"Oh yeah? Your nose is bleeding."

I dragged my fingertips under my nose and found blood on them. "How-?"

"Ki is the cumulation of your physical life force. The ability to extend and manipulate that life force is called ki control. It's like how magic is a cosmic force that governs the laws of the universe but it's only called magic when someone takes control of it to alter the state of nature, you see." She snapped her fingers and a tissue appeared in her hand. She handed it to me and I wiped my nose. "Seeing as you can already sense it well enough, I don't need to teach you more than how to control it better. Eventually, you'll be able to do what I just did but hopefully better. I'm not that good at using ki."

She placed her hand on my chest and I felt like something was pushing against me, but not 'me'. It was as if it was pushing the concept of 'me' without actually moving my body. As if it was moving just my aura. It felt numb where her hand was and I could feel my blood rushing on the spot. Regardless, I stood there with tissue on my nose looking like a kid who tripped and fell.

"Do you feel that?" She asked.

I nodded.

"I'm pushing on your soul. You have to fight it or I'll push it out of you."

The thought surprised me, but I had no idea how to resist outside of normal means. "How?" My vision began to double and I started seeing colors. I was being pushed backward through myself.

"Feel it out like you always have."

"I..." I could feel 'me' losing grasp on myself and I fought to hold on. I grasped onto myself and didn't let go. The pressure of her pushing lessened as I pushed back until I felt whole again.

"Looks like I had nothing to worry about." She smiled.

Trembling, I looked at my hands and examined them. They looked no different but they felt fuzzy as if I sat on them for too long. The same feeling came from my whole body but it wasn't uncomfortable, just an unnatural feeling. It was accompanied by a slight pulse originating from my chest and spreading outward. "This feels weird."

"You're actually feeling your body for the first time. After a while, you won't notice it but with enough practice, you'll be able to do it on purpose."

"Practice with what?"

"Remember the feeling of fighting me to keep your soul in your body? That's how it feels to use your spirit energy. It's the opposite of ki. The manifestation of your spiritual self beyond your physical self. It's not hard to learn or use, but it's by far the weakest. Outside of allowing you to affect your own soul and the souls of others, it lets you alter your magic in more subtle ways. In fact, I don't think I even need to teach you more than this. Well aside from a few things, but we'll cross those bridges when we get to them."

In a moment of solidarity, I said, "Thank you Zeta."

"About that." She clasped her hands together and pulled them apart, producing three blue orbs of different hues. One was almost black, another was deep crystal blue, and the last was closer to the sky in color. Based on the feeling I got from each, the darkest one was made of spirit energy, the lightest one was ki, and the last one was magic. "Try to pop these. Until you can, you have to call me 'Master'." She dropped them into my hands.

I squeezed them between my fingers and sustained a literal shock. They put up a fight in a way I wasn't expecting. I started tossing them between my fingers to find some sort of weak point but I could see any. It seemed like a pretty straightforward test but I was certain it would be a difficult one.

"So, I'll call you Master until-" The sound of someone hitting the ground took my attention as Zeta collapsed. "Zet- Master!" I went to her side quickly.

She was unconscious and breathing but her body temperature was falling fast and her heart rate was rapidly slowing. Unsure of what to do, I was going to pick her up but then she started glowing blue then green and her form changed to a blonde woman with a streak of black in her hair and rosy skin. Afterward, her condition went back to normal and her eyes fluttered open.

"It must be midnight," She said, sitting up casually.

"I thought you were dying." I leaned in and hugged her.

"I must have overdone it a bit right before my transformation. It happens."

I let her go and helped her up.

"Okay, try to use what you just learned in conjunction with your magic." She waved her hand and a visibly green whirlwind appeared spinning toward the far wall. "Once you can mix all three, it'll become easier to cast spells and you'll be able to elevate your magic as if you were born able to use it."

From then on, we trained in ki control alongside magic training. As far as spiritual training, I was able to apply almost everything I learned from the other two to that, but it took time to gather the strength to actually affect my surroundings using spirit energy alone. Mixing them proved difficult as I was only able to focus on one at a time since learning them.

After a few days, Zeta decided to start teaching me rituals; spells the way they would be cast by someone with little or no access to magic. It involved creating mostly circular arrays of materials to be consumed for the desired effect. All I would need to do was convey my intention at that point and the spell would essentially cast itself using me as a source of power instead of feeding off the natural mana in the environment since I had my own magic to use. I was able to learn nearly every spell Zeta tried to teach me using that method.

We only trained at night since every morning I went back to the forest to search for any sign of Penelope and only returned at sundown. I ran into Danna a few times and every time I worried that she caught on but it didn't seem so. Regardless, I always chose my words carefully.

A couple of weeks into my new training regiment, I noticed Zeta seemed more tired than normal. Maybe it was the effort of training me with sparring instead of just pointing at targets for me to hit, but that didn't seem to be the case. I'd find them sleeping in odd locations frequently and they were becoming more sluggish before and after training. Maybe it was my imagination, but I couldn't help but wonder.

As time passed, I started having strange dreams. Maybe it was from my overall lack of sleep or maybe it was something else but I saw stone and steel cobbled together and heard the rattling of chains. I could feel something digging into my wrists and an unending coldness accompanied by constant fear and desperation. Every time, I would say something but it didn't feel like me talking. I was being asked questions but I couldn't hear them and I couldn't answer. I never told Zeta about them but I felt like they were important. This continued for a month.

During that month, the people Zeta called to help find Penelope came back empty-handed. The person who sent out the commission was real but someone swapped out the item that was supposed to be in the box. There were no suspects and no lead so they gave up in a few weeks.

One day, the sun had just barely gotten to the horizon and it was time to turn back but I got a strange feeling. By then I had canvassed nearly the entire forest but the feeling led me to somewhere I had been before. The tree growing around the stone in the ground, making the shape of a seat. Something was nearby but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I wandered around after it got dark until I heard something rustling nearby. Quick as lightning, I whipped out my flashlight and shined it at the source. I spotted a small person in a tan cloak lumbering toward me. At first, I thought it might have been a lost child or an elderly adventurer until their gaze lifted to meet mine.

It was Penelope.

Once we made eye contact, we ran toward each other at full speed. We wrapped our arms around one another and just stayed there for what felt like an eternity, sniffling and crying.

After our tears subsided, I got a good look at her. She was malnourished, caked in dirt, and shivering from the cold. Her wrists were raw and coated in many layers of dried blood. Under the cloak, she was nude and covered in bruises and scratches. Whatever happened, she managed to free herself.

I picked her up without a word and carried her back to Pan's tower.

Back home.

Once we were back, I sat her down, made soup, and fed her. She couldn't speak at first but managed to regain her voice enough to whisper. Even so, we couldn't find words to speak of. I was searching for her so fervently and she found me instead.

Eventually, a question popped into my head. "How did you escape? Did they let you go? Or..."

"They just couldn't stop me this time."

"Can you tell me who they were and where their hideout is?"

"It was a portal... Somewhere in the forest, there's a portal that lets them in and out but you need a password to find it and another to go through it. It led to a different place. I don't know where because I was chained in a cave the whole time... I don't know who they are but I do know that they're not human. At least not normally. They all have a human form but they're like... anthropomorphic animals."

"Furries?"

She started to giggle only to be stopped by a sudden coughing fit.

After the soup, I helped her into the bath. Once she was clean, I treated and bandaged her wounds, helped her into her pajamas, and put her in her bed. I couldn't help but smile the whole time. It might have been unceremonious, but she was back.

Before I could leave her side, she said, "Sleep with me."

"In what way?" I joked, "Because I already told your sister we're not dating and it'd be kind of awkward and all if you know..."

"If I had the strength to punch you right now I would."

"Alright. I just need to tell Zeta you're back."

"Okay. Just come back soon."

"I will."

Sprinting as fast as I could, I almost ran into Zeta going down the stairs. His body was that of a short man so I barely noticed him until the last second.

"Penelope's back."

"You found her?"

"No, she found me."

"How is she?"

"I'm not entirely sure but she can talk... barely."

"That's good, at least. Make sure to take care of her. We have no idea how much of a toll this has taken on her."

"I will."

Once I was back in Penelope's room, I could already hear her softly snoring in her bed. I laid down next to her.

"I wish I could have found you- no I wish you were never taken. I... You don't need to hear me say that."

Before I knew it, I fell asleep.

The next day, I awoke to a heavy series of thumps. Penelope was on the floor trying to stand.

"Wha- What are you doing?" I stood and picked her up in my arms like a cat. "If you couldn't walk you could have just woken me up."

"I have to pee and you've seen me naked enough already." After a moment of consideration, she scoffed. "Whatever, just take me."

Once we got to the bathroom, she was adamant about doing the rest herself and limped in, closing the door. Half an hour later, she emerged taking steady steps to walk normally. We then went into the kitchen where Zeta was reheating a pot of stew that was meant for last night and we ate it for breakfast. It seemed to give Penelope the energy she needed to walk properly again. During that time, she told us everything she could about where that portal she mentioned was and how to find it. Zeta went to contact some people, leaving the two of us alone again.

"So, how's Danna been doing since I've been gone?" Despite it being such a normal question, it gave me pause.

"I... never told her..."

"At least she didn't worry."

"I just wanted to find you so she never had to go through... losing you, you know?"

"You know, she's the one who told me never to learn magic."

"Really?"

"She said if I valued my relationship with you I shouldn't learn magic."

What she said brought me back to the conversation I had with Danna while guarding the merchant.

"It turns out people who can use magic are freaked out by my eyes. It's why she seemed like she hated me so much. She just couldn't handle it."

"I figured it was something like that after your eyes went all weird the first time."

"The first time?"

"I figured you didn't notice. It happens every time you cast a spell."

"Oh really?"

Our conversation carried on for hours until we ran out of stuff to talk about.

Over the next few days, I made sure she got all the rest she needed. Her voice went back to normal and she could walk and run. Most of her strength fully returned as well while her wounds healed aside from some scars on her wrists and a few more scattered around her body. After a week, she assured me she was well enough to go back out on commissions but I had my reservations. Regardless, we went into town to get one. On the way, we ran into Danna.

"Penelope, I haven't seen you in forever." Danna approached with her arms out for a hug.

"Yeah, I've just been in the tower the whole time." She reciprocated the hug.

"Like a little princess."

Penelope giggled. "Yeah."

"So, how much stronger are you now?"

The small woman her arms and said, "I can't really put it in words, you know?"

"I get it, you're probably breaking through walls on accident now."

"You have no idea."

"Alright, I'll see you later." Danna left us and went on her way.

"I thought you'd have told her," I said.

"No. If she knew..." She shook her head. "I don't think she could still be herself if she knew."

I wanted to ask her what she meant by that but I left it alone.

We ended up picking a commission that needed us to find runaway cows for a farm not too far away before they get picked off by wolves.

The way there was uneventful but when we got there, the farmer was affixing a chain to a wooden gate. As we approached, I noticed Penelope shaking like a leaf. She was staring at the chains and wincing at every sound it made. She hid behind me the whole time I talked to the farmer about where his cows went.

"How may I help you two?" he said.

"We picked up your commission." I showed him the commission note. "I was thinking you could give us a clue as to where your cows might have gone."

"That was quick. I just posted that commission this morning. The lock broke last night, rusted through, and about five of them just headed out like they had work to do. Didn't notice until I came to check up on them. Normally, I'd have went and found them myself but I got other things to tend to, like getting a new lock to make sure the rest of the cows don't decide to run loose. Not to mention tending to the rest of the animals. You see, I don't have much help around here since my wife's expecting and I need to stay as close as possible for when she pops."

"Congratulations. Where do you think they ran off to? The quicker we find them, the less likely the wolves get to them first."

"There's a patch of very green grass on the other side of the little forest here right before the mountain incline starts. They probably went there. I wouldn't be surprised if the wolves got to them already because it's right near a wolf den." The area he motioned to was toward the closest mountain to the west through a thick forest.

"You're fine living this close to wolves?"

"They don't come this way. There's enough stuff in that direction for them. The only time they're a problem is when food is scarce and that hardly ever happens. Or times like now."

"Alright then, we'll get going."

"Take care."

We went down the road until we made it near the mountain slope then we cut into the forest.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Despite her calm demeanor, I could hear the nervousness in Penelope's voice.

"You were shaking like a leaf every time the chain rattled."

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"I don't believe you but I'll take your word for it."

She scoffed. "Whatever."

After about half an hour of travel, we met an open grassy field. Three cows were grazing on one side while one was farther away, being encroached upon by a pack of wolves. By the looks of it, the wolves were just taking their time while the cows were completely oblivious and one cow was nowhere to be seen.

They were too far for my spells to reach, so we snuck around in the treeline until we were close enough. By then, the wolves were ready to pounce on the unsuspecting meal.

I summoned a fireball and threw it at the wolves. It hit one and it fell over before scrambling back up. The cow took notice and ran toward the others but the wolves didn't run. They just turned their attention toward us.

A feeling of danger crept up on me quickly and Penelope reached for me at the same time. Without looking, I wrapped an arm around her and hopped forward, straining my arms and legs with the weight of her bag.

Three wolves hopped out of the treeline behind us. They knew we were there and were smart enough to ambush us. Penelope noticed first, but it would have been too late.

"Burn." I reached out my hand and cast the spell causing one of the wolves that tried to ambush us to catch fire.

Instead of running away, it lunged at me but Penelope put it down with a swing of her axe. The other two behind it were knocked back by the resulting shockwave. She had used ki effortlessly but the wolves stood again. By then we were nearly surrounded.

I drew a sword in one hand and held a fireball in the other while Penelope's eyes glowed red with greataxe in hand.

One lunged at me, but I followed it with my eyes and drew my fireball along the length of my blade, fusing the two and turning the blade red. As soon as it was within range, I stabbed at it, impaling it.

"Duck." As soon as the words left my lips, Penelope dropped to the ground. Mustering all of my strength, I grabbed my sword arm with my other hand and swung in a complete circle. "Blade wave." A red line trailed from the edge of my blade and raced outward with the body of the skewered wolf. In the same motion, I happened to hit another wolf that tried to jump at Penelope and cleaved into its side. It didn't get back up.

The rest of the wolves seemed to finally get the message and slowly backed away between the trees to retreat.

"What the hell was that?" Penelope lept from the ground in her excitement.

"A combination of a spell you haven't seen yet and a little bit of ki to help make it happen."

"Key? You unlock things now?"

"Well, I unlocked the insides of those wolves. We should probably tell the farmer about these. He'll probably be able to do something with them."

We corralled the cows by chasing them on foot until they went where we wanted. Since we had no other way to keep them together, we exhausted ourselves until we made it back to the farm. When he saw us, the farmer opened the gate to let the cows in.

As soon as Penelope heard the sound of the chain jiggling, she fell to the ground in the fetal position with her hands covering her ears and started audibly crying.

That's when I realized she was really not okay.

I picked her up and tossed her bag onto my back then sprinted back to Pan's tower. She cried in my arms nearly the whole way. Once we were back, I sat in her bed and cradled her until she calmed down.

"I'm sorry," she said, still sniffling.

I dropped my voice to a whisper and said, "Never apologize for something you can't control, you hear me?"

She stopped hanging onto me and stood up, looking me eye-to-eye. "I'm scared."

Hearing her say that, I couldn't help but tear up, her few words beckoning tears straight from the heart. I pulled her in for a hug where we stayed for a minute.

"While you were gone, I had dreams where someone was chained up in a stone room. They kept talking to me but I couldn't hear them. The rattling of the chains was all I could hear. Was that you?"

"I don't know... The whole thing was... I... It probably was. Sometimes I felt like maybe you were by my side. I couldn't help but try to talk... Even with my voice gone."

"I'm just glad you're back."

"You're squeezing me too tight." Her voice was audibly strained.

"Oh, sorry." I let her go. "I guess I don't know my own strength anymore..."

"I can tell. You're adept at magic now, right?"

"Yeah," I said with a smile.

Twiddling her thumbs, she continued, "Then can you, like, say, remove a memory? Asking for a friend."

I chuckled, "Asking for my friend?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "I mean, you're the only person I could ever ask for this."

I looked her up and down and considered the consequences. Although I had been taught a ritual for it, I was also taught the risks.

"I can't. I might remove more than what you want to forget."

Immediately panicked, she pulled me to a standing position. "I don't care what happens as long as I don't have this in my mind anymore." She sounded like she was pleading for her life. It was the fastest mood swing I ever witnessed.

"But... but you might not even be yourself afterward." I tried to reason with her.

"I don't care... I'll do anything..." She fell to her knees, gripping the belt of my pants. "Anything- please... Just take it away..." She began pulling and with her strength, it wouldn't take much for her to strip me by force.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it, just stop. I get it. You're already not yourself anymore. The worst that can happen is that you just end up even more different."

"Thank you." She let me go and I guided her to the room I had been conducting ritual spells in under Zeta's guidance.

"Stand in the middle and I'll get ready to start. I'm not Zeta, so I can't do something like this without preparation."

"Okay." She went to the center of the room and stood, waiting.

After I found everything I needed, I returned with a pouch of bone powder, a pouch of iron shavings, and a bag of goldfish blood as well as a book with the necessary ritual written in it.

I used the bone powder to create half of an array on the ground around Penelope and used the iron shavings to create the other half then I poured drops of the goldfish blood within the spirals and circles I created to bind the whole thing together.

"Okay, now here's the hard part." I sat outside the circle.

Taking a deep breath, Penelope said, "What is it?"

"When I cast the spell, you'll have to think about the memories you want to forget with the thought that you want to forget it. Depending on your willpower, it might be quick or take a long time. The longer it takes, the more likely things will go wrong. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I'm ready." She clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and took another deep breath.

"Okay. Amnesia." I placed my hands near the array and concentrated on allowing a path for my magic to take into it. In seconds, the bone powder began glowing red and the iron shavings were glowing blue. The fish blood started traveling through the channels of the array like a river with multiple sources.

The red and blue glow traveled upward, encompassing Penelope as she stood in a trance, and lasted well over a minute. The light soon faded and she still stood there but her eyes were open now.

Standing, I asked, "How do you feel?"

I felt a strange pressure from her and a handaxe soared through the air at my face. My instincts kicked in and I ducked it.

"Whoa!"

As fast as the flying weapon, Penelope appeared directly in front of me, swinging her greataxe.

I narrowly dodged it with a shallow cut to my arm. The shockwave from the blow nearly sent me to the ground but I caught myself.

"What are you doing?" My panic saw me fumbling with my words.

Her eyes were glowing red and she didn't seem to hear me as she rapidly closed the distance with a look of pure murderous intent.

The axe in her hands raced toward my face and I couldn't react in time before a sharp pain spread from the impact and I saw red. The force sent me into the air, then back to the ground.

Struggling to my feet, I only made it to my knees before I had to draw my swords to parry her next attack. They were quickly knocked to the side then she Grabbed me by my throat with one hand and swung me like a ragdoll back to the floor.

Raising her axe again, she slammed it into my swords as I used them to block. It sounded like the ground beneath us was going to break from the impact. She kept pushing it down until my own blades came within a hair of my face.

I pushed as hard as I could and carried her axe to the side where it splintered the wooden floor, and I used the opportunity to crawl from under her but I didn't get far. She grabbed my ankle and swung me into the air before trying to slam me onto her axe. Luckily, my other foot was in the right position to kick her wrist and force her to drop me before she could split me in two.

As soon as I landed, I started crawling toward the door. The sound of metal being dislodged from wood and dragged across the floor followed me to my destination. As I stopped to reach for the doorknob, the sound stopped as well.

I could already feel the pressure of a strike I couldn't dodge along my spine. The thought of what would come next paralyzed me for a second until I realized that she was waiting for me to grasp the knob and turn it. She wanted me to think I could escape before ending me, so I stayed, frozen in my own fears.

The door opened to Zeta as a tall man with an afro on the other side. He had a look of sheer surprise for a second then he disappeared from sight.

"Serenity." Zeta's voice came from behind me and the sound of metal falling on wood came soon after.

I turned around to see him holding Penelope in his arms.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"I... She wanted me to erase her memories."

"I see." He bent down, placed his hand on my shoulder, and cast a spell. "Restore."

My ankle popped a few times and the pain in my face faded but the red in my sight didn't go away.

"Is she okay?" As I said this, I stood and the pain came back.

"I see." Zeta looked closely at my wound. "This is similar to a curse. Looks like you'll have a scar but other than that, you'll be fine if it heals properly."

"But what about her?" I motioned to Penelope.

"I can't say for certain but it seemed as though she didn't have control of herself. Since you did this, whatever comes from this will be your responsibility. Do you understand?"

"I- I didn't mean-"

"Do you understand me!?" He yelled. This was the first time he ever yelled. I was more frightened now than ever.

"Yes, Master." I stood shaking and wondering just how bad I made things.

"Good. I'll put her to bed. Wait for me in your room and I'll come to dress your wound."

I did as told without a word and he came in moments with ointment and bandages. I was sitting on my bed, watching the red dripping down to my lap and cursing myself for making such a stupid mistake.

"Hold your head up," he said, lifting my chin with a finger.

I looked at him silently.

As he began dressing my wound, he spoke. "Accidents happen but when it's caused by magic, anything can happen. Even I make mistakes. My biggest mistake is one I'm still dealing with to this day." He paused as he lined up the bandage to my eye before wrapping my face. "This tower used to be a school and I was the headmaster. One day, one of my best students perished during an experiment I was conducting. Some say it was an accident and others say they knew the dangers involved so it wasn't my fault, but none of that changes the simple fact that I let it happen. I shut down the school so I wouldn't make that mistake again. It might have been a foolish choice in hindsight, but it was how I sought to deal with it." He sighed. "My point is... I don't know what to tell you. I just hope this story helps you in some way. All we can do is our best and sometimes things fall out of our control." He finished dressing my wound and examined his handiwork.

"Thank you, Master. I- I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to her. If she remembers. Maybe still do it even if she doesn't. That's up to you."

He left the room and I stared at the door for a minute before slumping to the side. My face still hurt for hours and all I could think about was what could happen next. Eventually, my eyelids grew heavy and sleep came to take me.