Half a year had passed since the team's formation, and requests were increasing by the day. Every morning, Lyn would sift through the mountains of requests, before picking a few out for the team to discuss, choose and prepare for.

Today, everyone was in Lyn and Irene's shared apartment for their daily team meeting, as usual. Sitting around a glass dining table, they waited for Lyn to get ready—Millie and Irene were sharing a bag of chips, Raph was dozing off in the corner, and Cydney was sipping on a large cup of bubble tea. And in the kitchen, Lyn was making her third cup of coffee for the morning.

"Alright, let's start," Lyn declared as she sat at the end of the table. "So, I know the last time we talked about a couple of local requests coming from Salem and Worcester, but we're gonna have to put those on hold now because a really big one came in and there's no way we are rejecting it."

"A really big one, huh?" Irene raised her eyebrows. "Is it the one which called you in for a last-minute meeting over the weekend?"

A wide grin broke out of Lyn's face. "Yeah. It's a joint commission."

Raph, Irene, and Millie stared back at her, their mouths wide open.

"No way," Raph blurted.

"We're already at that level?" Millie asked.

Cydney was more perplexed than incredulous. She looked around, frowning. "What's that?"

"It's for a quest where one team is not enough," Lyn explained. "It's very well-funded and is always a very good deal. In our case, this commission is funded by the QA."

Irene whistled. "The Quester's Association? That's one hell of a joint commission."

Lyn tapped her fingers on her coffee mug. "That's right. We're going to get paid at a rate even higher than what top guilds get for their regular commission," she said with a widening smile. "It's pretty sweet."

"Who are the other teams involved?"

"Since it's the QA themselves, they definitely got the Big Three working for them, so Dawn Avengers, Disciples, and Blue Cross will be there. And then other than those three, they have Arrowheart and Allies, and then us, so six teams in total."

"Arrowheart and Allies of Order? Those are top twenty guilds." Irene jolted up. "Dude! Are we on par with them now? Are we also top twenty now?"

Lyn shrugged. She tried to act as nonchalant as she could, but her lips tugged upwards uncontrollably. "I don't know, but I think we're going to be expecting some really good news in this year's ranks." She turned to wink at Cydney's bewildered expression. "Every year, the QA ranks guilds and independent teams based on their performance. It's a pretty big deal for questers."

"So, what is this commission about?" Irene urged.

Lyn took a few sips of her coffee. After making her team members wait in suspense (and right before Irene could throw a handful of chips at her), she let out an exaggerated exhale and said, "Capturing the Witches."

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The reaction was as dramatic as Lyn had hoped.

Millie gasped and covered her mouth, Raph immediately turned pale, while Irene let out an appalled, "Whoa."

Cydney, as usual, was dumbfounded. "The Witches? Like, witches and wizards? They're bad?"

Lyn set her cup down and straightened in her seat. "Well, to be honest, they weren't bad in the past. Witches and wizards used to mean mages who study magic academically. The first discoverers, the ones who would invent new spells and new types of magic. Concoct potions. You know it. But over time, a lot of them started to do... Forbidden Magic. There was, like, a war, lots of lawsuits, civil unrest; it's... complicated. Long story short, the QA was formed and they settled everything, and now, witches and wizards are terms we use to mean outlaws who do Forbidden Magic."

"Forbidden Magic?"

"Magic that is illegal. Well, I mean, all kinds of magic, if used inappropriately, can be illegal, like if you murder someone with magic, obviously that's bad and you go to jail. But there are certain kinds of magic that, just by using it, no matter for what reason, is immediately against the law, and so they're called Forbidden Magic. For example,"—Lyn gulped.—"subjugation. It's... magic that controls animals, and... and humans."

"Oh." Cydney blinked; her expression was a mix of daze and horror.

"Yeah, not good. Worst of all, the Witches is a specific group of witches and wizards—confusing name, I know. They're a group the QA has been trying but failing to capture for decades now. I guess it's especially difficult because they're not only an organized group, but their leader is a very, very powerful subjugator."

"Sybil Dalman," Irene added with a scowl.

Lyn nodded. "She's quite notorious."

"I heard she's actually a few hundred years old," Millie chimed in, "and that she learned how to prolong her life using some sort of secret Forbidden Magic."

"What? That's not true." Lyn frowned. "There's no way any kind of magic can achieve something like that unless you're talking about Blood Magic."

The room turned eerily quiet and somber. Lyn cursed inwardly; damn it, why did she have to bring this topic up?

Naturally, Cydney got curious.

"Blood Magic?" she whispered, staring at Lyn with her large, curious eyes.

Lyn shifted in her seat. "It's, erm, a type of Forbidden Magic that... involves human sacrifices."

"Human sacrifices?" Cydney gasped, her face turning a few shades lighter.

Lyn regretted bringing up this topic even more. "Don't worry, Cinna, nobody does that anymore. Even- Even the worst gangs or mafias won't even think about doing anything close to Blood Magic. I doubt the Witches do that."

"And how would you know that?" Irene challenged, narrowing her eyes.

"Irene, not now." Lyn rubbed her nose. "It's just- It's just pure evil, alright? There's no way the QA is making us deal with something this sinister. If Blood Magic is involved, the orders would be for every single guild in the world to ambush them and kill them on sight. But here we are, just a joint commission, just capturing them, so..."

Lyn trailed off, noticing the tensed stiffness in everybody, including Irene. She promptly changed the topic back to the commission.

"Anyway, Allies recently managed to track down the Witches' secret hideout. Allies of Order is a guild that specializes in tracking and investigating, by the way, and they work a lot with the QA."—Lyn added an explanation for Cydney.—"So all of us are gonna work together to ambush them in their hideout. In a moment, this guy, Brendan, from the QA is going to come by and explain the plan to us, and also explain how we are going to coordinate with the other teams and stuff. Any questions so far?"

"Yes." Irene eyed Lyn warily. "Who are the people we will be working with from Dawn Avengers?"

Lyn snorted. "What? Are you afraid that you might have to work with Em?" Irene's growing scowl caused her to chuckle. "Don't worry, I was briefed a little during my meeting with the QA, and the plan is for us to work with Blue Cross, so you don't have to worry about that."

She turned to Cydney yet again—by now, she was accustomed to having to explain almost everything to the petite woman. "Blue Cross of Clerics is a top three guild that is mainly made up of healers. We only have one healer, so we'll be teaming up with them to form a more balanced team."

A knock came on the door.

"And that must be Brendan from the QA." Lyn drummed on the table before standing up. "Let's do this."