Ray

Aunty Ariana let out a whimper as she ran to Anita's side. Uncle Trevor sagged in place, closing his eyes as a tear ran down his face. "Why…" he muttered as he watched his daughter die in front of his eyes.

"How did you miss this? Haven't you done Alchemy for centuries?" Aunty Ariana said, laughing hollowly as the love of her life died as she watched.

"I don't know…" Elder Ma.

"The poison was supposed to fight back for hours, it was way more powerful. I don't know, maybe the blood was too powerful an ingredient? Ray did say that the Fae in question was millennia old...'' the Dean answered, his voice hoarse.

"So it was your fault." Aunty Ariana shouted, turning her head towards the Dean, her hands burning.

Elder Ma slammed his hand into Anita's chest, restarting the mana flow with his own.

"I can't say that, we don't know-" the Dean started, panicking as he looked at the literally burning mother in front of him.

"Can't say. Don't know. Well, you can-" whatever Aunty Ariana was about to say was lost as a wave of mana emerged from the floor, morphing into the figure of a bright yellow bird.

"What is it, Po-rat? " Aunty Ariana hissed, turning towards it fast enough to send flames sprawling into the air.

"Run Ariana, I tried to stop them but they-" The bird, to Ray's shock, said as the Treasury shook. The swords rattled as a voice shouted from outside.

"Do you know that you could be convicted of treason for this, Dean Ronne? " The Xnarthan lieutenant shouted from outside. Ray had to marvel at his timing, did it take a special skill or was it natural?

Aunty Ariana clenched her fist as fire spread across her body.

"Tell the Marchioness that she must leave at once! Or she can say goodbye to her darling daughter. " The lieutenant said.

"Don't worry, miss Ariana, I will take good care of your daughter. " Faret's voice emerged as Aunty Ariana scoffed.

"Oh, you'll take good care of my daughter, will you? What care will you take when she's dead? " Aunty Ariana shook her head as she turned towards the Satyr.

"Could whatever they have cure Anita even now? "

"I doubt they had something to cure her in the first place. Anita will be long dead by the time they come back to heal her anyway. " The Satyr Elder said as he poured mana into Anita. Ray couldn't figure out what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was extending Anita's life, even by a little.

"Just give up, Ariana, the Emperor owns you anyway. The Salazar group is done for. Anita's dying. What else will you destroy just for your pride? " The lieutenant taunted again. Aunty Ariana let out an angry breath as her fire burned redder.

"Just give up, miss, time is running out for Anita. " Faret said, trying to act helpful but still making things worse.

Fire started twirling around Aunty Ariana, turning redder by the minute as Po-rat settled on the floor before her, looking at her with her head tilted as its wings began to burn.

"I didn't have a choice, Ariana, the Xnarthan threatened to kill half of Afrieal if I didn't help. Just give her up, Ronne, you're surrounded. The Xnarthan won't let you go. " The Academy Dean said.

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The fire around Aunty Ariana froze, turning blood-red as she looked in the direction of the Xnarthan's voices.

"Do you think you're the only one that can kill people? " Aunty Ariana said, her voice hoarse with pain as she continued. "Just half of Afrieal was enough for you to give up on my daughter? Did you not even consider who was wrong? The one threatening to kill millions, or the mother whose daughter was poisoned? "

The blood-red fire around Aunty Ariana began spinning again as she walked forward, a vortex of purple mana appearing as she teleported out.

"Tell the nobles to evacuate, for today the Xnarthan will find out what happens when you kill a daughter." Aunty Ariana said, her voice echoing as she emerged outside the Treasury.

Wait, where was the Treasury in the first place? Ray had no idea.

"Run, people of Afrieal, run! For today, I will not. " Ray felt a huge bang sound out as mana began to vibrate.

A short silence filled the Treasury as those present tried to digest what was happening. Was Aunty Ariana actually going to burn Afrieal? What about the people inside?

"I will go help her. Ariana can't actually burn the city so easily, the city's protected by some powerful artifacts, it's why she's doing this. But we can kill that bloody lieutenant." Uncle Trevor said, teleporting off.

Ray looked towards where Aunty Ariana had disappeared, wondering if he should follow. The battle was a bit too high level for him, but he could maybe contribute a bit. Perhaps even kill Faret. Uncle Trevor was right, they could help kill the bloody bastards.

Ray felt his magic respond to his emotion, the glitter jumping in excitement at the thought of roasting Faret.

Ray turned to the Dean for help, his teleporting powers were still woefully limited.

The Dean sighed as he tilted his staff, "Here, take this too. The Emperor would have given Faret a lot of artifacts, I can't let you go fight without even one. "

The mana in the treasury flickered as the Far stone lifted, and the crown below it was levitated out. The golden mana withdrew back into the crown as it levitated gently onto Ray's head. And then he was surrounded by purple mana, teleporting him outside the Treasury.

sc

Anita

A few seconds after the poisoning.

A flash of pain spread through her body, and then it was numb. Anita tried to move her hand, open her eyes, but it wouldn't respond. At first, it confused her, but things slowly became clearer, or just more painful when a stabbing pain began in her stomach.

The pain ate at her, clawing at her insides as she struggled to move. Anita thirsted to move about, to toss and turn or scream out loud. But her body was numb. The pain continued to grow as she felt her body suffer, her lungs drew in less air with each breath, her beat slower. Or perhaps it was just her mind making things up. In this state, Anita couldn't be sure.

After what must have been hours of suffering, alone with little but a stabbing pain in her stomach, Anita gave up. Or she tried to. But even that was denied to her. The pain continued, her breath still reduced, and her heart she was sure would stop beating any second continued to beat.

What was this? A form of torture? Not letting her die, but also making her suffer. Anita clawed at the pain, imagining claws scratching at a thorn that was poking into her stomach. The change was minimal, if it even was there. Anita wasn't sure about that either.

A consequence of her position, it seemed, to sit there with little idea of what was going on. Not even knowing if she was dying or just in pain.

Anita didn't stop, perhaps because some part of her still had hope, or because she felt the need to do something. A burning urgency to stop the pain. Anita didn't think much about that, though.

Why wouldn't she want to stop the pain? The pain did seem to decrease, a little by little, but Anita still couldn't be sure. The difference was too little for her to tell. On the other hand, she was sure that her function was deteriorating.

The heart that had been beating once a second now was barely beating every three seconds, and even that was forced, as if it would stop after a few beats. The realization struck her with the finality of a hammer to her head. A few seconds passed as Anita lay there unmoving, but that itchy, stabbing pain wouldn't let her stay put.

Wait, since when was it itching? Didn't an itch happen when a wound was healing? Could it be that…no, it was probably just something she hadn't noticed. But the discovery still gave her hope. Anita charged at the pain with renewed enthusiasm, making a game of it.

What, you won't fall to attacks from the right? Well, she could attack from the left too! Anita clawed, cut, burnt, drowned, strangled and eviscerated the thorn many times over as she let her imagination out on the thorn.

The thorn survived, her mind would make up reasons as to why it was still there. The thorn reformed after cutting, the water was absorbed in, the fire couldn't burn a lot of it. But she continued. In the end, though, she had to give up.

Anita felt her body draw one ragged breath after another as her heart slowed even more, making sure that she was about to collapse any second now. But then it came. A rush of red that forced the thorn out. A variety of wounds were scattered across its body, making it easy for the red. Anita wouldn't have survived without the speed. But the red wasn't wasted, it spread throughout her body. Anita didn't think much of it, it had to be medicine, right?

But oh, was she wrong. The red made her body sluggish, her heart slowing nearly to stop, as her breath stopped. A source of mana emerged, forcing her heart to beat and her body to breathe, but Anita could feel it fail even as it began. The red was just too powerful.

What it did do was give Anita hope. Or some semblance of it. Anita just wasn't ready to die. Not like this, ill with no idea what even killed her. No, she would survive.

Calling onto what power she could, she croaked out in the depths of her mind, "The Void…does not…like you, red."

The call took most of her will as she sagged back down, her breaths short as she struggled to breathe. A shiver ran through her body as her mana reacted, awakening to her call. A rolling stream Anita didn't know she had responded to her.

The stream flowed through her veins, fighting against the red, with little direction as to what to do. Anita felt the words appear to her, perhaps from her own consciousness, or from some other source. But they were there, and she knew what to do.

Mana rolled through her body, flowing at great speeds as she yelled into the depths of her mind, "The Void hungers.”

And just like that, black broke through red, literally eating through it as she opened her eyes once more, mana flowing through her veins as she looked at the world with new eyes. A world full of mana, weapons and…a man with horns?