Present day…

As Jamie made her way through the forest to the cave by the waterfall, one deeper in the forest than the cave that she originally scouted when she arrived, she reflected on the day’s events.

What do I know so far? One, the contestants hate the Vaselands. Two, it seems I'm the only one clueless to what the Vaselands have done, yet everyone seems to know who the Vaselands are. Except that they can be exceptional mages. Three, oddly enough, General Ames doesn’t mind my bloodline. It’s like someone doesn’t want the General and me together purely because of my mana abilities due to being a Vaseland…

Jamie spotted a weird-looking tree ahead. Is that what I think it is? Jamie thought and stopped by the tree. Adorned on the trees were rosy-peachy colored fruits, each about the size of an adult head that looked like a man’s private parts, with two ball appendages and a thick stick in front. The fruits are known as Big Balls.

Jamie couldn’t help but laugh as she picked some of the fruit. This is a medicinal fruit that boosts mana. What’s going on? There are so many rare herbs and fruits in this forest, among these shapeshifters.

A wolf’s howl interrupted her train of thought and she glanced below. A 300-pound white fang wolf howled and Jamie watched as six adorable pups ran toward it. The white fang wolf lay down and the white pups with a black strip down their foreheads, started to suck on her nipples. How sweet, Jamie thought.

A small howl randomly erupted and Jamie turned her attention to a smaller pup, this one had three black stripes down its forehead. The small one was howling with a slight whimpering tone to it, however, it seemed to have detected her looking, because it stopped howling and directly stared at her, its eyes were a brilliant blue, like the color of the sky on a perfect day at the beach.

Aww, that is adorable! But I must keep going, Jamie thought and continued towards the waterfall cave. One more transportation spell and she should be there.

By the time she finally arrived at the waterfall cave, it had gotten lighter.

I should rest my eyes for a bit. I’ll set an alarm, she thought to herself as she positioned herself high up in a Topperpan tree, 25 meters from the cave. As she dozed off, it occurred to her this was her only time setting an alarm since they went hunting for the demon Hans had a bounty for. She still remembered his last words about it, “It’s a mystery though, needs someone with tracking magic and foresight. They think it’s a demon that enters ya dreams.”

She shivered at the thought of that frightful incident…

----------------------------------------

[Day 71 in Mander]

The warm morning sunlight flickered on and off Jamie’s face due to the moving MonkeyOak tree beside her window. She rolled to her side and opened her eyes. Master Edwards’ gorgeous green eyes smiled back at her. Jamie smiled back and closed her eyes. Wait a minute, she thought.

She opened her eyes, confirmed that it was Master Edwards on her bed, and closed her eyes again. “I thought today I will get to rest up because my arms need to heal.”

“Yes, but we have a problem.”

Jamie started to fall back to sleep. Master Edwards grinned and slowly moved his hand on her hip.

Jamie leaped out of bed. He turned on his side and grinned. “That hurts.”

I’ve seen him with women, Jamie thought. He is exactly the type to stay away from.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have a migraine.”

“That’s not a migraine. It’s why I’m here. It’s about that coin you took from Hans.”

“I didn’t take it, he gave it to me. Who knew it was a trap.”

“Well, you have to complete the task or the migraines become nightmares that you can’t wake from.”

“What?!”

“I did you a favor, I looked into the demon. Get dressed and I'll tell you more about it.”

“Okay.” Jamie walked over to her closet in a very plain room. She was about to take off her sleep gown when she noticed Master Edwards was still in Jamie's bed.

“Umm.”

“Oh was I supposed to leave?”

Jamie side-eye him and he laughed.

“It’s okay, I’ll close my eyes.”

“Are all Mander men this flirtatious or just you and General Ames?”

“Oh does he flirt with you too, I’m so jealous.”

“Get out.”

“Don’t be mean. Let me help you undress,” he said as he appeared right behind Jamie. He slyly touched her gown’s strap.

“I SAID GET OUT!” she screamed and flung a fireball at him. He easily caught it and eventually puttered out of her room. “You know playing hard to get loses its appeal fast.”

She threw another fireball at him as he laughed and closed the door.

“Oh, before I forget. Wear this!”

A few minutes later, Jamie walked out of her room, dressed in her yellow dwarf rain dragon boots with a very tight-fitting leather top that exposed her blossoms in a very flattering manner.

“What is this?”

“It’s the latest style. We can’t have you dressing all depressing.”

“What do you mean by depressing? I dress very appropriately for training.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yes, but it doesn’t do anything for me.”

“Put this on,” he handed her a watery-looking glob with fleshy undertones.

“What is this?” Jamie held it, “It’s so squishy!”

“It’ll conceal your bruised face from yesterday. I can’t have you going around the center looking like some poor tortured slave.”

“Are there a lot of abused slaves there?”

“No, it’s illegal in the center, but I can’t have the authorities stopping us. We are to kill this demon and get out. Enough questions, let’s head out!”

He held up his palm and created a transport portal.

[Center]

A flash of white light appeared and disappeared just as fast. A pair of yellow boots stepped out alongside a pair of snakeskin-patterned dress shoes.

Jamie walked out and was awestruck by the bright and colorful lights, flying cars, and flying objects delivering groceries, take-out, and the like, going this way and that.

Some people were riding on mana balls, others walked, and some just floated, they all wore skin-tight clothes Jamie had on, except most had on thick sunglasses that covered half their heads.

“Close your mouth, a terrible insect might fly in. It happened to Henry. He had diarrhea for two whole days because we couldn’t figure out what caused it.”

“Why are they wearing sunglasses?”

“It’s their new health craze.”

Master Edwards leaned in closer to Jamie and tucked her arms under his. “Careful here, lots of bounty hunters around. Where there are bounty hunters there are kidnappers. And you, you are worth a lot of money.”

They walked for one more block and abruptly entered a small forest, and stopped in front of the biggest tree Jamie had ever seen. Master Edwards knocked on the tree. A woman’s head poked out, her eyes widened when she saw Master Edwards. She beckoned for them to enter.

The woman could be described as beyond plain looking, except that she remarkably resembled a rabbit with her long face and fluffy white hair, and two front teeth poked out from under her top lip.

“I am Miss. Linna’s nanny, Petra. Her parents are away. Um, they are trying to enlist the help of,” Petra’s eyes opened wide, and ran over to the staircase.

“Miss Linna, you mustn't be out of bed.”

“I wanted to see the famous Lord Edwards,” she barked.

“A pleasure Miss. Linna,” Master Edwards said and smiled at the eleven-year-old.

“It’s my pleasure, I’m your biggest fan,” she said excitedly.

Master Edwards elbowed Jamie to close her mouth.

Jamie forced her mouth to close and held on to Master Edward’s arm for dear life. The teen before them looked like a walking corpse. One of her eyeballs looked like it was going to fall out, her hair was thin and balding, and her skin looked like she was already in the grave, with blotches of white bone showing through. How could he not have mentioned this beforehand, Jamie thought.

Master Edwards looked at the nanny, who had prepared an amazing arrangement of cakes, scones, fresh bright red fruits, and many delectables.

“Come, we’re about to have tea,” the nanny said.

The teen and Jamie walked over.

“Can you give me the chocolate bear strawberry,” she asked and pointed with her index bony finger at a gummy bear-shaped strawberry.

“Sure,” Jamie said and gave it to the girl using the silver tong provided.

The girl grabbed it and ate one. Jamie watched as the girl swallowed it and then she heard a light THUM. Jamie looked down to see the strawberry on the ground in between the girl’s legs. Oh god! Don’t freeze, move, move! Jamie thought as she started to slowly move away from the dessert tray and the girl, eventually, her back pressed against Master Edwards as he made his way forward. He grinned in amusement as Jamie’s face showed pure terror.

Master Edwards walked over to the nanny and held on to her wrist. In a split second, blood splattered in the room.

Jamie’s eyes zoomed in on where the girl was and all that remained were a pile of bones.

“What is going on!?”

“The nanny was possessed by the demon, that by the looks of it was feeding on the whole family.”

Master Edwards held his palm up and in a split second was completely naked except for his boxer. His chiseled chest and body turned her face red and her cheeks burned. He cast another spell and was dressed once more in a blue suit with a white button-up dress shirt.

Jamie slammed her eyes shut and turned away to face the nearest wall. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall, filled with family photos of the girl and her parents. Some pictures included the nanny as well, they were all healthy and embracing life with open arms, at the beach, in the forest, or simply in front of the house cheering with drinks in hand.

“How did you know?”

“The front door, the shoes, there was still mud on those shoes.”

“And?”

“It rained yesterday when I spoke to them, they were complaining that it had been raining all week. Didn’t make sense, they just up and went to find another hunter when they arranged for me to come.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I don’t expect you to. Now set an alarm using your mana and we’ll sleep here tonight to finish it off.”

“What? It isn’t dead? What was that woman then?”

“She’s just a vessel for it. This thing lives in the other realm. 4 am, is the time the demon can cross over into our world, and likewise, when we can cross over.”

“But why would it return if we’re here? Wouldn’t it run off?”

“No, because it doesn’t know. You will impersonate the girl and I will clone myself, my clone will be the nanny.”

“Right, so if I missed up, the demon won’t enter you for real.”

“Yes, the demon needs to be in a vessel in our world for it to be destroyed.”

“I don’t get why they were still alive though.”

“Jamie, isn’t it obvious? The girl and the nanny, their souls were barely intact, just a scent of it left. When people no longer have a soul, they are living corpses with a tad of humanity left. I bet my money the demon will finish them off tonight and move on if we don’t finish it.”

“How come the girl was a pile of bones and the nanny, she was all bloody?”

“Just like it takes you time to learn, it takes time for such demons to absorb the living. The demon wasn’t absorbing the nanny’s life energy yet, it corrupted her to the point of no return though. The more the demon consumes, the stronger it gets. Once it is strong enough, it can cross over into our world permanently and just feast on and on, becoming stronger and stronger. This is important for you to understand.”

Master Edwards walked around and inspected the house. “Let’s settle down and find a place to sleep.”

“I don’t think I can sleep under such circumstances,” Jamie responded.

***

Jamie and Master Edwards slept until 3:45 am. Ding-dong! Ding-dong, an alarm went off in Jamie’s mind. Jamie’s eyes opened and she looked over at Master Edwards disguised as the Nanny. He handed her a mirror. “Now you do it too. Take this.”

She took the mirror and transformed into the teen from before. In the hallway, hidden from view, stood the real Master Edwards observing her and his clone.

They waited until the clock struck 4 AM, and at that exact time, Master Edwards’ clone’s eyes turned black as night.

I need three touches to manipulate his mana, she thought. Jamie touched him, one, two, three. The Nanny’s eyes turned white for a second.

She pursed her lips as she separated the eerily mana threads from Master Edward’s Nanny body. The threads pulsated in the air as Jamie wrapped mana threads around it.

“Very good, you were able to use level 3 mana manipulation to control me and pull it out.”

“Now what?”

Master Edwards raised his palm and spat! The ball burst and on the ground remained a small set of stone-like horns.

“It’s done. Collect those, we’ll drop it off at Hans as proof.”

“This feels too easy.”

“Nothing is that simple. Remember, you’re with me and you have the wave manipulation gift, you can hijack a mage's mana and control them using it. Life is unfair that way, under normal circumstances, it would take a mage centuries to learn it, and that’s if that mage is talented. With you, you’re able to grasp and execute it like it is second nature. You’re very lucky.”

“Luck, what a nuanced word.”

“Ha, is this philosopher Jamie I’m speaking with?”

He held out his hand, “Let’s go home.”