A little confused and still drowsy, Riala looked around herself. To no-one's surprise, she seemed disoriented, suddenly finding herself in the middle of a forest. Her gaze wandered over the faces locked onto her, reaching mine in time.

“Miles?” she asked groggily. “Where are we?”

I was at a loss for words. It was the first time I truly felt this kind of aura pressure, and I finally understood how normal people must’ve felt in the presence of beasts—as well as how we had appeared to the citizens. Even mundane actions like moving or breathing were a challenge. I had to actively force myself to ignore the feeling to be able to respond to her.

“Ria, your aura is going wild right now, can you reign it in a little?” I said through gritted teeth.

She glanced around curiously, not having noticed. “Huh. This is all my aura? Isn’t that... a lot?”

A wry chuckle escaped my lips. “It is, and it’s hitting us pretty hard.”

“Oh, okay,” she said and concentrated.

We still weren’t as good as Aelene when it came to aura control, but we had reached a point where we at least didn’t need our mana script anymore. We could mimic a beast if we liked, or we could surround ourselves with a thin shroud of mana, which was a nice balance between appearing powerful and non-threatening.

From the befuddled expression on her face, I could tell that the way we usually scaled back our aura didn’t seem to work though. This was also noticeable in the mana still surrounding us, which had barely changed at all.

“It doesn’t work,” she said, irritated.

“Riala...” Aelene said with a heavy voice. “Could you try something? Close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and picture pulling yourself into your own body.”

Riala cocked her head. “How do I do that?”

“It’s a feeling... as if you’re trying to hide from the world. But in a good way.”

“Hm... I’ll try,”

She didn’t seem any less confused by this description, but the moment she closed her eyes and started focusing once more, her aura began calming ever so slightly and slowly retracted.

“That’s it,” Aelene said. “Keep going.”

After a few long moments, Riala’s aura had receded so much that it stopped affecting us as heavily, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief as the pressure lessened. Hayla was clearly hit the hardest. She was panting and had difficulty staying upright.

“Everybody okay?” I asked, looking at Hayla in particular.

“Yes... I... will be...” she huffed.

Riala’s eyes opened after her aura had reached a normal level and she repeatedly clenched her fists, feeling out her mana.

“This is weird. Why is there so much of it? Sorry,” she said apologetically.

Hayla struggled to smile at the little girl, but did her best not to worry her. “It’s okay...” she said.

“What about you, Ria? How are you feeling? You’ve been asleep for a while after you used up your mana during the fight with Arax.”

“Arax?” She tried remembering what happened, and it hit her right away. “Arax!” she exclaimed. Gaping, she jumped to her feet and staggered in my direction, almost tripping over the sleeves of Berla’s jacket in her frenzy. “What happened? Did we beat her? What about sis? Is everybody okay?”

“Yes, we’re all okay,” I quickly assured her. “Zara as well.”

“Wait, Zara? What happened to her?” Aelene asked.

Maybe I should’ve mentioned her before, the two appeared to be on friendly terms...

“She was attacked by Arax,” I explained. “We couldn’t check on her, but she was alive when we left, and I didn’t see any serious injuries on her.” I crouched down to look into Riala’s eyes. “I’m absolutely certain that Shadi and the doctors took care of her. She will be fine.”

“Really? And you?”

“I’m okay,” I said with a smile. “Thanks to you. Are you feeling fine as well?”

She threw me a bright smile, but it contorted as quickly as it appeared. She bit her lips and squinted her eyes, trying not to cry. The moment I spread my arms, she jumped into them and embraced me as hard as her small body allowed.

I had been worried about her, but I didn’t realize how much until this moment. The relief washing over me while hugging her back was immeasurable. Even the voices in my head that wondered whether it was good that she was this attached to me were quieted, as I learned to understand that I was equally attached to her.

We stayed like this until Riala was satisfied and let go.

“I’m fine,” she said finally. All that remained on her face when she looked at me was a happy smile.

After making sure that everybody was okay, she took in her surroundings curiously. Hayla was slowly recovering from the shock, and Berla and Reurig had long sheathed their weapons.

“Why are we in the woods?” she asked.

“The Rulers convinced the citizens that we’re evil,” I said, “they didn’t want us there anymore.”

“Oh... Again?”

“Yea, again,” I said with a chuckle.

I didn’t think about this at all when we left, but we had now kidnapped Riala twice. She didn’t even have a say in it this time. Of course this was in her interest, but it didn’t change the facts.

Zara will go berserk when she hears about this...

“We’re going to stay out here for a while again. Is that okay?”

Riala gave me an energetic nod. “Mh!”

“Alright. The most important topic then... It seems like you have reached a new level. Can you do it freely?” I asked, looking at her in anticipation.

She beamed at me with a playful grin, understanding immediately. After taking a step back, she held an arm forward and showed me her empty palm. Mana started to gather in its center, while the air wavered ever so slightly. As if catching a spark, the mana then lit up and burned brightly in the air above her hand.

Having been a lifelong, stereotypical fire magic fan, I watched the flames in awe, and wondered how she was doing it. I imagined that the mana conversion would have to be fueled by an extremely strong feeling. Rage perhaps? Terror? Loathing? Maybe a mix? I hoped that Riala would be able to explain it to me.

However, suddenly, the mana she put into the flame seemed to spike, and it grew in size rapidly.

“Wha!” Riala jumped in surprise as the fire climbed skywards, creating a huge, thin flame that quickly reached the tree tops.

She started to panic slightly and waved the flame around in an attempt to make it stop. Unable to safely approach her, I tried the next best thing that came to mind and activated a mild water script aimed at her hand. Fortunately, this did the trick and the fire disappeared immediately.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I quickly stepped closer and took her hand, checking it over. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“No...” she said with a frown.

Her response made me want to punch myself. Full of anxiety, I wondered how I could’ve been this careless. This was an entirely new way of using mana that knew absolutely nothing about it. I shouldn’t have instigated a child to try it without safety measures.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worriedly.

“My mana is stupid... It doesn’t do what I tell it to...” she said with a pout.

I stared at her blankly while she calmly reviewed her hand and mana flow. “But you’re okay?”

“Hm? Yea.” She didn’t even look up at me as she immediately started a second attempt.

“Whoa!” I hurriedly grabbed her hands to stop her. “No way, we’re going to analyze this first! Understood?”

“Oh, right,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry.”

Exasperated, I thought once more how good it was to be out here. Riala was becoming more responsible over time, but it was a process, and there had been enough casualties during our fight with Arax. The way she acted, she might not have noticed everything the flames did to the town and the people there. I wanted to spare her the graphical details, but I needed to have a serious talk with her later.

“Try to keep your aura down until we do some tests to see what’s going on with your mana. And don’t use scripts unless it’s necessary.”

“Okay.” She seemed a little disappointed, but understanding.

“Still, this is pretty amazing,” I teased, which elicited a proud smile.

With that, I knew what I was going to do for the next few hours, which left the others. They had watched what was going on with varying degrees of shock or surprise, and were slowly relaxing again now. Except for Hati, who stood behind Riala after our immediate conversation came to an end.

“Riala!” he said happily.

“Hati!” she exclaimed as she buried her face in his chest.

Reurig looked at me inquisitively. I nodded to confirm that he should carry out the agreed upon task. While he asked the others whether they were in desperate need of something, I thought about Riala.

Something about her mana and how it behaved was most definitely weird, and I hoped to have another epiphany that might tell me what was going on, but I was coming up empty.

It just never gets boring here. For better or worse...

***

A guard came up on a tower atop Alarna’s town wall during his patrol. Looking southward over the fields and the woods, he dutifully scanned for any potential beast activity. His route made it necessary to pass through the tower though, so his line of sight was briefly interrupted as he entered it.

To his surprise, he was not alone inside. His eyes immediately fell on a female guard, casually sitting on a window’s low ledge, her legs dangling down on the outside. Were a captain to see her skipping out on her job, she would receive a warning at best, and a night in prison at worst. Not to mention that it had only been a day since very dangerous beasts had invaded the town.

He approached her from behind. “Do you think it’s a good idea to sit around like that, Emeryn?”

“Wah!” Startled, she slipped slightly, but immediately caught herself. Turning around, she stared daggers at her assailant. “Are you crazy, Wryn? Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

He sighed, irritated. “You’re on lookout duty. Beasts don’t give you a warning in advance either.”

“Pfff! The warning is me seeing them from a distance.”

“You won’t see much sitting around like this.”

“I can see much better without the towers blocking my sight, thank you. Walking around the wall is pointless.”

“If you say so. I warned you.”

Standing right behind her, Wryn leaned out the window as well and took in the sight. He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but he had to admit that the view range was rather good.

Emeryn glanced up at him knowingly, before she suddenly noticed something southwest of town. For just a moment, it looked like a tree was on fire, but the presumed flame disappeared almost immediately.

“Did you see that?” she asked full of curiosity.

“Hm, hm.” Wryn had noticed it as well. “I guess they’re still there.”

“Still?”

“I believe I saw smoke there last night, and it’s roughly the direction they went.”

“Really...” Emeryn looked on in wonder. “Hum... What do you think it’s like to sleep outside?”

“No idea. Volunteer for the caravan to Cerus and find out.”

“I already did... Got rejected. I think I’m under suspicion for supporting them.”

“Hm...”

He was somewhat curious what side she stood on, but the climate in town was currently such that nobody knew who to trust. Utter as much as one positive word about the criminals and you might find yourself discriminated against. Asking would be pointless if her response was practically pre-determined. His conversation partner didn’t seem to have the same qualms though.

“This is so annoying,” Emeryn said. “Of course I’m going to support the current leader, whoever it is. Wouldn’t it be stupid not to? And I liked their ideas.”

“Captain Eissen would wholeheartedly disagree,” Wryn pointed out.

“Captain...” she scoffed. “Two days ago he was still in jail for murder. It’s funny, the king would’ve executed him immediately.” Emeryn’s legs whipped playfully in the air, her gaze still fixed on the woods.

Wryn leaned against the window frame as he listened to her. She was right that Eissen’s fate had a certain irony to it. He was incredibly lucky, really. Nobody would’ve bat an eye if Lilly executed him and his men.

“Hypothetically...” Wryn said. “If you had been in Lilly’s place, would you have ordered their death?”

“Of course,” came Emeryn’s immediate response. “They killed Marly and tried to kill Lilly and her friends. Why keep them around? Isn’t that common sense?”

“Maybe,” Wryn mused.

He didn’t know what the right answer was. Carelessly discarding Fighters might prove fatal. They could still be useful in an emergency. Then again, you wouldn’t be able to fully trust them. Not after such a stunt. Additionally, Marly’s father and her friends weren’t happy about Eissen now running around like he owned the place either, which was already causing conflicts between the guards. Executing him would’ve presumably been better in the long run.

Emeryn interrupted his thoughts. “Hey, Wryn.”

“What?”

“Have you seen their guards? I wonder what they’re doing.”

“I saw Bren earlier. Looked like they’re on patrol duty in the farm district.”

“Really?” she giggled.

Wryn glanced at her, puzzled why she was amused by this.

“It’s not just me, right? This is funny,” she said, noticing his eyes on her. “A month ago they had a job nobody wanted. Every day they had to risk their lives out in the woods. They probably hated it! And now that it’s safe, they’re not allowed outside anymore. It’s hilarious!”

“I suppose it is,” he said, though he didn’t find it funny enough to actually laugh about.

“But you know... If you’re supposed to be loyal to your preferred leader, wouldn’t they need to try to reinstate Tomar? Ex-Captain Grym even swore his loyalty, if only for six months.”

“You can’t reinstate someone who’s not here.”

“But he is here.” Cheekily, she pointed in the direction of the forest. “Right there. No?”

Emeryn was a rather carefree girl, but Wryn was still surprised by how freely she spoke about these topics. “You sound like you want to go out there and get them. It’s no surprise you’re under suspicion.”

“Nah,” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t really care who is leading the town. I’m just wondering what’s going to happen next. But I’m curious... Who do you believe between all these rumors and allegations?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t think it really matters. King Hertar... High Priest Orthur... Lilly... Tomar... They probably all lied at some point in time. And our job stays the same either way.”

“As long as we’re talking about Alarna,” she added.

“What do you mean by that?” Wryn asked, confused.

“Nothing in particular.”

“Hm.”

It was clear to him that she wasn’t just babbling, but he didn’t understand what specifically she was getting at. He also believed his break to have been long enough and straightened up.

“Well, I’ll continue my patrol. You should, too.”

“Don’t worry, nobody ever comes to this tower. I’ll see you when you get back.”

So she’s planning to sit here for an hour? Wryn thought, an eyebrow raised. But he didn’t comment on it.

“Alright, until then.”

“See ya,” she chirped.

Emeryn fixed her eyes on the Wildlands again while a creaking door signaled Wryn’s departure.

She truly couldn’t care less about who ruled the town, as long as something broke the monotony of her everyday life. Despite her Calling, she somehow always found herself in the least dangerous positions imaginable. Whenever she applied as a Wildland guard, she was miraculously told there weren’t any free positions. The attempt to become a hunter was unsuccessful due to her inability to properly aim a bow. The wall most frequented by beasts had traditionally been the one in the south, but she had been assigned as a lookout in the north. A dungeon appeared, and it was all hands on deck, but just when it was her turn to venture inside, Tomar came along and closed it. Now she was finally assigned to the south, but of course there were no more beasts to be found at all. And to top it all off, she had been napping—out of sheer boredom—in this very tower when a category ten attacked the town. Possibly the largest event Alarna would see in her lifetime, and she had missed it.

Emeryn’s Calling hadn’t given her what she craved. Her desires unfulfilled, she felt like the unluckiest person in the world. But maybe it wouldn’t have to be like this. Maybe it was time to take her fate into her own hands. If an agent could desert, why not her?