We met with Rose and Clara. The city was mostly empty because of the state of emergency, so it felt not-so-strange walking in the dark. I remember how badly Rufus lied about letting me free hen the going got rough. Yet, I felt light and energized when I remembered my pledge to protect this town. Like a real magical girl.

Clara whispered to Rufus and pinpointed a high-rise as their base. My family never had any business around here, so I couldn’t remember whether this building was empty, but Clara said that it was the case. The difficulty was that, while there was no security entering, the elevator cables were severed.

Rose shivered, “This way, it would be inconvenient for the perpetrator to climb up, but once up there, we would have to use magic as the only way up. But they could camp there for as long as they want.”

“Right on the mark,” said Rufus, as if he wanted that apprentice instead of me.

Clara said, “We’ll take reconnaissance with our flight. Rose, take care of her and stay here. It should take us twenty minutes.”

It was the safe call. I could only imagine the horrors if we teleported within a wall. The ground floor of this tower was dark, but we guessed with our magic until we found a ruined lobby. There were quite a few pests, so Rose and I sat strangely, with our knees folded.

She had always been so confident, but now Rose was quiet, especially since she realized that we had a point of new return. She picked up when I glanced at her expression, smiled, and said, “Are you ready to continue?”

“What?” it was a stupid joke.

When they returned, I realized that there was little reason why we couldn’t go to. The couches and chairs were disgusting. I was just happy when we surrounded in both Rufus’ white light, and Clara’s electric blue light.

In a flash, we were on the executive floor. The fact we were able to tell told us that they used magic lighting, which was one of the basics Rufus taught me. Light that could come from a point source, but also could envelope an area around the source.

It was unnerving that it wasn’t so bright, yet there were no shadows cast by anything. We thought that there had been no one here, but the higher floor was nicer. There should’ve been bugs and everything like the reception. Instead, it was cleaned up to look like it was new.

Rufus said that he and Clara would go ahead.

“No,” I don’t know why I said it.

“Have it your way,” said Clara.

It wasn’t a very big building, so we were able to see through the executive floor easily, especially since we split up. One of the larger offices was surrounded by a barrier. I couldn’t see it just yet, but the light acted weirdly. The office was surrounded in a big ball of darkness, for which the border was just outside the door.

I guess it made sense. The criminal inside lived on this floor, so it had the artificial lighting, yet no one has any business here and you couldn’t tell from outside that a barrier had been placed here.

I guess then, the Avians had to go to every suspicious building one by one. Normally I would be impressed, but that was just how hard they were willing to work to leave sooner.

I told everyone else, and Rufus promised to take us inside, and when we arrived, wands blazing, I heard Clara yell, “You are under arrest. Please surrender your belongings to us.”

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But when the light cleared, we were not in on the offices, but rather, a dim, but wide area somewhere else in the building.

“Do we really have to this again,” I blurted out.

“Shush, brat,” whispered Clara, but behind her I saw a person over what looked like a large rig of chemistry equipment.

I took a deep breath of the cold wet air and the ground beneath me in the dark seemed to turn to jelly. I always imagined that the person we were chasing would be either the ‘evil wizard’ or ‘evil sorceress’ type.

No, she was a young girl that looked older than me, but not by a lot. She looked like a doe caught in the headlights, since her face peaked out of her equipment. She briefly looked at me, then to her lab, then she ran way, faster than any human girl could’ve moved.

I heard Rufus yell, “Clara, she’s preparing teleportation!”

So they flew at full capacity through the building, no longer concerned about stealth, and they were outside before I knew it. They were to surround the building and keep her in.

They were trapped too but she could run to anywhere in Luminaire city. And then my family and friends would suffer longer.

I had to levitate towards the high ceiling to keep up with her, faster than I ever did in training, and I didn’t look behind me for Rose.

I felt angry and scared, but I chased her so fast, it felt that the surrounding around me were melting around me as I whizzed upwards.

To the ceiling in a second, I saw her power through the concrete and I knew the debris would smash me, and before I knew it I already in my defensive suit.

My head raced and I could only be afraid of my own determination. I didn’t want to feel like this. One story to the next, I felt like my suit would give up, but finally, we reached the roof. The wind suddenly became still and I saw that the two Avians set up a dark liquid curtain around us. They were strained, and I think it was a trap to keep her inside.

“They’re open,” She yelled. The magic attack she fired look like a pitch black blob, not at all like the bolts of coldness I could fire. They moved with such weight and heaviness, it was a miracle that I could intercept.

When my icy attack met with hers the two exploded. Rufus yelled and started to fall. The barrier lightened and I could see the moon from through it.

“Why are you doing this,” I yelled, “Stop right now. You’re not going to escape.”

“Escape. Escape! I need to. I’ve finished my mission and it’s time to leave.”

“You hurt dozens of people. You only care about leaving?”

“I am the Scion on the Josten Family. I was born to take this job.”

“Whoa, hey. You’ll already caught. I can promise that you’ll only make this harder on yourself.”

“Shut up. You were only told to say that.”

“Fine. I’ll fight you, but you have to keep on me. You don’t look so tough.”

When I provoked, she seemed to listen, and took of her protective equipment. The black set fell to the floor, and underneath, she wore a far more elaborate protective suit. Rather, she had created faster than I could distinguish it from her otherworldly clothing. I think I had underestimated my foe.