Liv jerked awake, seeing sunlight stream in through the foliage far above her. She got up, looking around. Liv was in a palatial bedroom, the walls covered with perfectly painted golden vines on a green background, and a floor made of intertwined branches. Through a small gap in the branches next to her bed, Liv could see the ground. Very far below. Slowly, she got up. Everything hurt. Eventually, Liv managed to get herself out of bed, after expending a significant amount of her daily willpower allowance. She stumbled around the room, looking for an exit. There was none. The room was simply four walls, a floor, and no roof. Liv thought about climbing out, but quickly discarded the idea. That wasn't happening, with the state she was in.

  Suddenly, part of the floor cracked open, revealing a set of stairs. "It's always funny watching someone try to find their way out of their room for the first time," a smiling woman said. Her ears were elongated, and her hair was a perfect black. "Who are you?," Liv asked, looking at her suspiciously.

  "I'm the one who saved you from the carnivorous trees, also known as the princess of the elven kingdom," she replied, her smile somehow managing to make Liv happy.

  She smiled. "What's your name? I'm Livianna, but my friends call me Liv."

  "Well then, Liv, I'm Jade," she said, still smiling.

  "How big is the elven kingdom you're princess of?," Liv asked.

  "Well, it used to be really big, but now it's smaller because of the corrupted dryads and dark elves forcing us to retract a little," Jade said, her smile finally fading a little bit. "Follow me. My mom wanted to meet with you."

  Liv nodded, slowly following Jade, who grinned and tapped her. "Just use wind to lighten yourself, idiot."

  Liv, embarrassed that she hadn't thought of it, turned to the side and quickly Whispered to a wind spirit. Soon, she was moving at a faster pace, the burden on her legs decreased. "So, what do you do around here?," Liv inquired.

  "I generally go out and help people, and lead war parties against our enemies. My mom handles all the tactics and also governs this place."

  "Is everyone around here as nice as you?," Liv asked.  

  "Everyone says I'm abnormally nice, but I think everyone around is nice," Jade said, pouting slightly.

  Liv nodded, looking up at the massive wooden door in front of them. It started to creak open without any prompting, revealing a massive hall. A throne sat at the far end, and there was a massive table in the center. Surrounding it were a multitude of elves. All of them carried weapons openly, except for the elf closest to them. All of the elves turned towards them and quickly disregarded them. The elf without a weapon turned. Her face lit up, and she quickly raised her hand. Muttering a few words, she flicked her hand at Liv, and a golden orb flew directly at her. When it made contact, Liv quickly gasped in wonder. She was back to her full strength now.

  "Hi, Mom!," Jade said. "I brought her, like you asked."

  Jade's mother nodded, looking at Liv. "You're the one who defeated a corrupted dryad general all by yourself."

  "I did kill a corrupted dryad. What do you mean by general?"

  Jade looked at her from the side. "You really didn't know?" At Liv's headshake, she continued. "The enemy forces have generals controlling their tactics. You just took out one of the generals controlling the corrupted dryads. It was the weakest one, but it's still a big help."

  Liv nodded. "So, one thing I need to ask-are there any altars around here?"

  Jade looked at her, surprised. "Ask my mom."

  Liv looked at her mother, eyebrow raised. "Yes. The alt-"

  Liv ducked under a sword swipe from one of the male elves standing at the table, bringing the lightning within her to the surface. Blue arcs crackled around her as she punched him, sending the elf flying.

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  "She's the target. We can't let her get to another altar," the elf said, crashing into a wall. His eyes rapidly turned black until they appeared to be holes in his skull.

  Three of the other elves at the table snapped to look directly at her, their eyes changing, as the elf got up. He wiped a bit of blood from his mouth before reaching out to the side in unison with the other elves. Weapons made of black light formed in their hands, and they charged. One held a spear, another held a sword, the third grasped a bow, and the fourth wielded a pair of daggers.

  Liv immediately put her lightning on maximum power. She felt a connection from Vivian, offering her help. Barely dodging a spear thrust, she accepted. The link widened and Vivian looked at her plight. "Ah. This seems like a problem."

  Liv replied, "Yes, it does seem to be a problem. A little help here, please?"

  Vivian sent her a mental nod, and energy flooded her muscles. A symphony rang out in her mind, and outside, as Vivian helped as she could. She sped up, flaring her lightning to past maximum power for a single moment, as she appeared next to one of the elves still at the table, and pulled his sword out of its sheath. She disappeared again, reappearing behind the group of dark elves. A quick chop took the head off the one with the bow, as the other ones stepped back, sizing her up. Then they sped up as well, almost matching her speed. Liv started whispering, blades of wind and flame criscrossing each other and flying around the room, always careful to avoid Jade's mother, Jade, and all the elves at the table. The dark elves started struggling, being pushed back towards a wall.

  Vivian spoke up. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?," she asked.

  "Most likely," Liv replied, giving Vivian a mental smile.

  She performed her second Call ever, a spirit of pure, flowing Water popped into existence. It dumped its energy into Liv, and Vivian sung of Water, controlling the energy and perfectly incorporating it within Liv. The dark elves shouted, pointing their weapons at Liv, beams of dark energy flying out to intercept her, but she flowed around them with tremendous speed, the new Water within her body giving her tremendous control and flexibility to match her speed. Liv ran at the dark elves, an image of Vivian appearing next to her for a brief moment. "My turn now," Vivian said, and she snapped her fingers. A sword formed in Liv's other hand and she dropped the temporary one she'd picked up from the elf. It was a beautiful thing, formed of Vivian's power. Liv put a little bit of her energy inside, and it immediately attuned to lightning and water.

  "Hey, you get one too!," Liv said, pulling a lot of energy out of her body. She fused it into a sword matching hers, except it was made for Song and not Spirit. It disappeared across the link and Liv felt Vivian grab it.

  Liv ran directly at the dark elves with her new sword. They stood at the ready, a ball of dark energy emerging between them. It quickly grew to a massive size, and they threw it directly at Liv. She glanced around. Jade and her mother were behind her. "Guess I'd better block this," Liv said, slashing directly at the orb. Power quickly collected behind her strike, letting her cut through the ball as if it was butter. Liv looked at the dark elves and then, to their vision, disappeared. They turned around and saw her already behind them, flicking blood off their blade. The dark elves' final act in life was to look at each other and lament their decisions before they fell apart into a mass of flesh, having been cut up into small pieces.

  Liv turned around, seeing the room, which was surprisingly more intact than she thought it would be. "So. I guess I'm helping you win the war now."

  Jade ran up to her and gave Liv a hug. "Yay!"

  Jade's mother walked up to her. "I am Faylinn. Call me Faye. Who was that person who appeared next to you?"

  Liv blinked. "Vivian? I have a link with her, and we can help each other and stuff."

  Faye sighed. "Well, Jay was right."

  "Who's Jay?"

  "Jay is... a monstrously powerful being, who is kind and benevolent," Faye answered, stepping towards the burns and other damage to the room. She raised her hands and light poured out, quickly removing any evidence of the fight. "He brought Jade her and entrusted her to us. He also told us about a person who would have an intense connection with another, who was nowhere nearby, and used spirits."

  "So... you think it's me," Liv said. "Exactly how powerful is Jay?"

  "He would be able to destroy this world with a single thought," Faye replied, looking back at her. "He's not interfering with this planet until you die or leave, because he's training you to be one of the strong. He will eventually leave for other planes, to spread good there, and he wants someone to help him. Or multiple people. This Vivian you mentioned might also be in training."

  Liv nodded. "Well, what do I need to do? To help with the war, I mean," she said.

  Faye thought for a moment. "You're easily the strongest person we have. However, you're not yet strong enough to take on the bigwigs that they have. Jade will take you to skirmishes. Nothing major, not that we win any of the major battles, but skirmishes. After you think yourself ready, we'll let you handle the generals."

  Jade ran in front of Liv. "You get to join my party! I'll take you to meet them all!"

  Jade started dragging Liv away, and Liv quickly complied, running alongside her. They almost instantly disappeared in the maze of the elven city.

  Faye looked out one of the windows. We have a chance now, and damned be us if we don't take it.