Master Desmond pressed his hands firmly against Zara’s sternum, feeling her heart beating erratically beneath them. His hands started glowing a deep blue and then the light started to brighten until it was a blinding blue white. His face was pressed into a mask of pure concentration as he tried to connect to the tendrils of her spirit that were still attached to her physical body. She continued to scream a horrible, pained cry and her head turned side to side wildly as tiny horns started to grow from her forehead.

He didn’t think much could be done for her now. It would take a miracle to pull her spirit back to her now that she had been marked by a devil. He could already feel the terrible dark magic of the seal he had placed on her starting to set in and spread through her body. Within minutes her transformation would be complete and her spirit would be unable to return to her body as long as the seal remained. The only way it would be able to be removed would be from the spirit’s location, not from her physical body’s location . He was powerful but once that happened there would be little he could do for the girl.

He felt the faint presence of her spirit that he had been searching for. The smallest hint of the magic of the spark of life where her soul was attached to her physical form still resided deep within her subconscious. He wrapped his magic around it, trying to pull it back into place as he knew it was rapidly slipping away. He pushed more and more of his power into her, wrapping tightly around what was left of hers. He felt it resist. He gritted his teeth as he poured more of his magic into her, fighting against the dark magic that already had deep roots. They clashed inside of her body, fighting for control.

Ta’Ga watched as the horns stopped growing from Zara’s forehead and peered at Master Desmond in wonder. Zara continued to scream, tears, sweat and blood dripping from her face. It was a strange battle to watch. She seemed to be there, writhing in pain, aware of what was happening. But when Ta’Ga looked into her eyes he could see no spark of recognition in them. They were unseeing. Occasionally they’d close and then pop back open with another scream. They’d roll back in her head and then come back to normal, never seeing, just dead staring.

Just then, the door to Master Desmond’s quarters burst open. Ta’Ga looked over his shoulder to see Yuli running toward them, her arms full of strange items. She dumped them onto the bed and started searching through them. Ta’Ga watched as she located two strange metal hoops and wasted no time dropping to her knees besides Zara and slide them down over her hands, one onto each wrist. Yuli touched the bracelets with both hands and started chanting in a quiet voice. The bracelets started to glow as Yuli chanted, strange runes glowing around the circumference of the bands. The suddenly seemed to ignite with light and then went out. When they did, they were fastened tightly to Zara’s wrists, seemingly fused to her skin they were so tight.

Then Yuli moved and put her hands on Master Desmond’s shoulders. He started at her touch but then relaxed back into concentration.

“You shouldn’t be using magic,” he muttered, “you only just recovered.”

“You need help,” Yuli said, gritted her teeth as she started pouring her own magic into Master Desmond. “I would attempt to assist you but I know this is beyond my understanding and there’s no time to teach me. Instead I will lend you some of my power and you can manipulate it as needed.”

Master Desmond pressed his lips together in a disapproving frown but said nothing in protest. He knew that he would need all the help he could get even if Yuli was in a weakened state. The girl was strong and had some of the largest stores of magic that he’d ever seen. Plus, she was moderately good at controlling it with precision. Having both quantity and control with magic was extremely rare and made for a deadly combination. It was what made her so valuable to her sect and the Organization.

Master Desmond felt Yuli’s cool power seeping into his skin and deep into his body. He focused his magic around hers and pulled it deeper within him and then pushed it out toward Zara. In this way, he began feeding a steady stream of their magic in and around Zara’s soul. Slowly, he felt the dark magic being pushed back. It flailed around angrily, trying desperately to get around them to severe her spirit’s connection to her body.

Ta’Ga watched in wonder as Zara’s body went still and she stopped screaming. The tiny horns remained, but the skin stopped splitting and the blood stopped dripping down the sides of her face. He carefully wiped the blood and sweat from her face. “Come on, Zara,” he whispered as he waited in the tense silence.

Master Desmond grunted as he pushed more magic into her even harder. He felt the the dark magic reside until it was a small ball within her subconscious. He let his and Yuli’s magic flow around it and tightened it like a vice. He muttered a few words and cut off the magic, sealing the condensed dark magic into a tight wad. Then he used his magic to push the sealed dark magic up against where Zara’s soul connected to the tendrils of her outcast spirit. He fused his own magic surrounded the dark magic to Zara’s magic the same as he had done to pull Yuli’s along with him.

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The ball of magic stuck to Zara’s soul, unmoving from where it was tethered. Satisfied, Master Desmond pulled on the tendrils of Zara’s spirit, sung all of his strength to pull it back toward’s Zara’s body. He sighed in relief when he saw that the thin, brittle tendrils thickened into wispy ropes and continued to grow. He kept his magic wrapped around them, pulling here and there to help guide them back. The tendrils grew and grew until they were slowly started to wrap themselves back around Zara’s soul and also the bundle of dark magic wrapped up and his and Yuli’s. Satisfied with the progress, he released Yuli’s magic and felt it snap back to her and out of his body like a rubber band that had been stretched too far. Yuli gasped and fell back onto her bottom. She gasped again like the wind had been knocked out her but realistically the entirety of her borrowed magic was flung back into her at a high rate of speed.

Master Desmond than slowly withdrew his own magic from Zara’s body. He wasn’t surprised to see he had almost none of his stores left. He wasn’t surprised though. He knew the massive amount of magic it would take to be able to accomplish what he had just done. It had been a long time since he had to work that hard an he sat back as well, rested his head to the side on his bed frame.

Well?” Ta’Ga asked him tensely, eyes never leaving Zara’s face. “What did you do? Will she be ok?”

Master Desmond sighed heavily but nodded, looking over the girl lying in front of him. He was glad to see the tiny points of the horns that had worked their way through her skin had withdrawn back beneath the surface. Her eyes had closed and she looked to be peacefully asleep. He knew, though, that this was not the case. Not even close.

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Zara screamed one last violent scream before falling silent on the ground before the cloaked figures and demon overseeing her transformation. When the screams didn’t start again, the demon frowned, annoyed to have to stop playing with the pretty thing that had crawled into his lap. She purred in his ear as he rubbed her ass.

“What is it?” He called to the cloaked woman who spoke before. “Why did she stop?”

The woman turned around to face him. “Master, you should come see this.”

He growled and shoved the woman off his lap, standing to see what the issue was.

He stood nearly two heads taller than the rest of the people in the room. When he stood he could easily see the girl’s face, lying pale on the ground. Unconscious and pale but… hornless. He growled even louder as he pushed his way through the circle of people staring down at her. He kneeled, pressing a finger to her forehead again. She felt… soft. Softer than before.

No, he thought frantically. No one had ever been able to retreat after he had begun to seal them. But even as he watched, the girl was becoming more translucent by the second. He pushed more magic into her disappearing form but felt it go nowhere. He watched as she slowly disappeared completely, his finger sliding through where her head had just been and onto the stone floor.

There was silence for a moment as everyone tried to understand what had gone wrong. The he bellowed with all the hatred of the hells.

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Zara floated through dark space, like she always had in her dreams. This time was different because there were no monsters there with her, floating through the empty space. This time was different because she was distinctly aware of the searing pain still present in her head. It felt like the worst headache of her life but one hundred times worse. She gritted her teeth against it, letting tears flow from her eyes. It hurt so bad she couldn’t think or care about anything else. As she floated, the pain got a little better but not enough to be much relief. She opened her eyes a crack and was surprised to see Ta’Ga’s worried face above hers.

A sob escaped her lips as she sucked in a shaky breath. Then Yuli’s face was there too, staring down at her in concern. She reached out and pushed Zara’s sweat damp hair off her forehead. She continued to sob as the pain ebbed, barely able to keep her eyes open for longer than a second. She knew they were talking to her, asking questions but she couldn’t comprehend them. Couldn’t answer even if she wanted to try. All she wanted was for the pain to stop.

Then she was being lifted into the air and felt herself lowered onto something soft. The person who lifted her held her up in a sitting position and she felt a big hand gently spread her lips apart. She let them, unable to resist and continued to sob. Then she tasted a horrible, bitter liquid pour into her mouth and then hand forced her lips closed. She only fought a second before swallowing, not understanding what was happening. Then the strong hands laid her down onto the soft surface.

The three people watched Zara’s sobs turned into hiccups and then light snores as the medicine helped her to fall into a deep sleep. Master Desmond invited them to his sitting area but they left the bedroom door opened so they could keep an eye on Zara. His hands shook slightly as he made tea, indicating just how exhausted the ordeal had made him. Yuli kept glancing worriedly back at Zara, biting her lip in the process.

“She will be alright,” Master Desmond said as he finally poured the tea for them. Yuli reached for her but Ta’Ga sat with his arms crossed, watching the old man.

“How can you be so sure?” He asked.

“Well,” the Master said, setting down the kettle and falling heavily into an overstuffed armchair, “she is back. Her spirit has returned. There is no reason she will not wake as herself. Though, it will be difficult for her. I had to trap the dark magic inside of her and attach it her soul in order to stop it spreading through her body. If that had happened, her spirit would have been trapped in the plane where the seal had been attached, not allowing it to find it’s way back to her body. I wrapped the condensed magic up and sealed it within mine and Yuli’s magic and then pulled Zara’s spirit back to her. Now that it had returned fully, the tiny ball of dark and our magic will be sealed within her soul. If she ever allows her spirit to leave her body again it will almost certainly give the dark magic a chance to break out of its seal and spread through her. If that happens, he spirit will be thrown out of her body and forced back to where the seal was placed, holding her in that realm until removed by the one who placed it or someone very powerful. Now, she has a chance to make sure that doesn’t happen. Though I doubt that this experience will be without consequence to her.”

Yuli and Ta’Ga had sat in silence as the Master explained Zara’s ordeal.

“Where was her spirit being held?” Yuli asked.

“I think from what I felt of her magic and also the appearance she began to take on she was likely in one of the Hells,” Master Desmond explained.

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