Mevi stood silent and still. Her initial reaction almost getting the better of her when the door slammed shut so suddenly. The darkness was all around, and entirely without any sign of potential light. Mevi darted her eyes, up, down, in every direction, she wasn’t even sure if her eyes were open at this point. She could almost feel the darkness, her senses deprived of everything. There was no light, no sounds, no smells, no noise, even the air felt strangely blank. The shadows almost seemed to dance around her, but if that was her mind playing tricks or real Mevi couldn't tell.

Sounding somewhere within the room, and seeming to echo a million times around her, Mevi could hear a voice softly whisper, “Your people often live their entire lives in darkness, hiding from the light.. Isn’t that right?”

Mevi wasn’t sure if she should answer, and held true to Kalesi’s advise, ‘Do only what you are asked.’ ‘Speak when commanded to speak.’ So Mevi responded to the question with silence. Not daring to open her mouth, her fear of the dark from so many years alone made her hallucinate and her mind race. Mevi thought she saw the abyss-faced entity, her now ‘Lord Magi’ directly in front of her. Looming overhead and about to engulf her.

The whispering voice, as far from opposite the booming authority that oversaw the selection on the colony. Those whispers and murmurs echoed paradoxically silent, both booming in her ears but quiet enough no words could be made out. A barrage of deafening silence. The voice spoke clearly again, “I command you… Speak plainly. Do you enjoy the gift I have arranged for you? Your taste of home?”

Mevi wasn’t sure if this was a trapped answer, but did as she was told, “My Lord Magi, Falcier. I am afraid of the dark, my Lord.”

The voice feigned surprise, “Oh! You are afraid? You don’t seek out the darkness as your kin do? Then allow yourself to bask in the light.”

Suddenly, as if emanating from the floor below her, beams of light shot out and tore the dark away. Slicing as if like a blade, pillars of light engulfed the room. For the briefest of moments, when the light shone like a star so bright her eyes began to close, she could see the room she stood in. Her mind must have played a trick, or been overwhelmed by panic, but the room looked as if it were a writhing mass of charred flesh and tendrils. Yet the room was quickly shed in light, and when Mevi’s eyes opened, the Magi stood before her. Basking in the light, no the source of the light itself, the Magi emanated pure golden light in all directions. A jagged set of twisting wings rotating behind him, framing the being in a halo of energy. With the light shining so brightly behind the figure, his form and faceless mask looked all the more dark and sinister. This figure loomed close enough that it could reach out a hand and touch her if it so desired. But instead it stood, watching, the rays of light shifting and illuminating the room. Mevi, again remembered why she was called ‘Small thing’ by her house and family instead of her full name. She felt like an ant trying to fathom the sun.

This being stood, seeming to revel in the awe and terror it produced in Mevi’s soul. But it soon relaxed. The rays of light dimmed, and were left with the robe-clad entity with shadows in its mask. The room was visible, and it was strangely normal. A gray matte floor, high walls of marble that arched into a dome, with support pillars made of a yellow-gold material. The room naturally rounded, with a single round table on the center floor accompanied by two well made chairs of what Mevi thought was wood. Strange silver letters lined the walls, inscriptions and sigils that made no sense, but otherwise without additional decorations. The Magi gestured a beckoning hand towards the table, “Please, Mevare. Choose a seat.”

Mevi had been trying her best to not look in the direction of the Magi, preferring to stare at their shoes and flowing robes than gaze into the abyss once again. She took this gesture as her command, and walked as calmly as she could muster then sat in the nearest chair. Its squeak and scraping against the floor as she adjusted her position making her flinch for each tiny sound. In the few breaths that it took for her to walk and sit, she finally looked up and the Magi was already sitting across from her. Having moved silently, and now sitting tall with their hands resting in their lap.

The Magi spoke again, “Now then… We must talk business, my little starlight…”

Mevi was confused, and for a moment flattered, and began to formulate the words, but quickly silenced herself.

A noise, that might’ve been a subdued chuckle, escaped the Magi’s mask, “Good. You know where you… Sit? Yes, you sit, stand, walk, and bend for me. But, in this room… You speak. I command you. Speak freely, and speak when spoken to. Ignore the warnings of… is Kalesi her name?”

Mevi wasn’t sure if this was a test of some kind, but mustered the courage to speak as this Magi seemed to be awaiting some kind of response, “You… May call me Mevi, my Lord Magi, if you wish. Very few people call me Mevare.”

This strange creature’s voice seemed to rise in excitement, “Oh yes~! We can call each other… What is it called? A nickname? You are a wonderful specimen. You may deign to call me how you please, or Magi will do…”

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Mevi was tense, but slowly relaxing with the strange one-eighty in character persona she remembered from the selection, “Thank you, Magi.”

While the creature bore no face or expression, Mevi got the distinct feeling she was being toyed with. Like the fake kindness some from her house played at to trick her into misbehaving. But until she was freed from this place, she would resign herself to do as she was told.

Mevi’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the Magi’s hand appearing on the table, drumming their fingers in place, “Do you know what your father offered us as tribute alongside you? Something that is supposed to represent equal value to that of one of their house’s children.”

Mevi didn’t know, but understood she was meant to play along with the Magi’s conversation, “No, Magi. I do not know what was offered, it looked like a gemstone.”

Their hands formed a steeple now, with their elbows on the table, their black gloves with silver talons seemed to stretch far down their arms, “Oh yes… A gemstone, at a glance perhaps. The item is a very rare material. One that even we Magi seek when we can. It is called a Star Stone…”

Mevi had no clue as to what was being talked about, and accidentally tilted her head in confusion. Quickly amending her error she sat up straight again, regaining conscious awareness of her body and monitoring herself.

Another strange chuckle escaped the Magi, “Yes… a Star Stone. A very magical name, don’t you agree? Its properties can be… empowering.”

Mevi recalled her small gem, and disregarded her comparison of the gem her father had and her own as it never seemed to make her empowered outside of shedding light in her room.

The Magi was suddenly gone. No longer sitting across from Mevi. Her instincts made her want to turn around and search the room for any sign of them. But the advise from Kalesi made her think twice, she willed herself not to react and stay sitting. From the corner of her vision, a silver glint moved closer and closer. A gloved hand placed itself on her right shoulder, the silver talons digging in slightly and sending a spiral of pain down her arm. Mevi couldn’t help but react to the sudden stimuli, and flinched away from the grip. Her head turning around to find the thing that had grabbed her.

The golden, and almost mischievous, form of the Magi was gone. In its place a darkening shadow like when she was gazing into its mask. But there was no mask, face, or body to speak of. A whirling pool of ink that reached out to embrace her. An echoing voice ringing loud in her head, “YOU. WILL. NEVER… Resist me again…”. The dark was moments from consuming her, the light from the room being swallowed as this pit engulfed what remained of the chamber. Mevi jumped back from her chair, and scrambled past the table and towards the wall. Her only salvation the light emanating from the domed ceiling. Quickly the shadowy form was gathering larger, and would soon flood past the table and towards her. Mevi desperately scratched at the wall, hoping it might somehow provide some salvation if she could dig into it deep enough. The all encompassing dark resembled her nightmarish fever in the selection and her dreams in the capsule, but now come to life and coming directly at her. The shadowy form slowly creeped along the floors, wall, and ceiling, eventually blocking out the light and dimming the room in more and more darkness. Just as the last of the light was breaking away, and the shadows almost reached her feet, the terrifying amalgamation was sucked back into a single humanoid form. The Magi, in all its almighty terror.

The door Mevi came from opened a moment later. Heart pounding, Mevi desperately looked past the Magi and to the door. The Magi as well turned around and gazed at the intruder. As it turned, clutched in its hand Mevi could see what looked like the gemstone her father offered to it. The Star Stone, as the Magi called it. A voice was saying something in the doorway, but Mevi’s heart was pounding in her ears and she collapsed to the floor breathing rapidly. She mustered herself enough to see Kalesi, and she heard the half part of their conversation, “-been onboarded. We distributed the mana to all that provided their due tribute, and delivered the houses their governance supply. As you requested, we doubled the supply of House Bensari. We are ready to depart at any time.”

The two were having some kind of logistical conversation, the Magi too quiet to comprehend. As her breath was caught, and steadied, the Magi looked back over to Mevi. She averted her gaze as best she could in her crumpled state. The Magi said, “You may return this one and awaken the new supplicants. Initiate our undocking procedure and return us to The Barge.”

Kalesi bowed deeply, and waited for the once-terror as the now ‘normal’ Magi turned and walked off. Another secret door opening and the Magi passing through silently. Once the Magi was out of sight, Kalesi calmly went to the other side of the room and helped Mevi to her feet. Silently Kalesi moved her to the hallway and began leading her back towards the chamber where Mevi’s capsulated kin were kept.

When they were far from the Magi’s doorway, Kalesi looked down at the drained Mevi and cast a knowing glance, “The Magi despise disobedience, in any form. Especially ones that might show them they don’t have complete control.”

Mevi’s eyes were beginning to well in tears, and choking back sobs she asked, “But..? What did I do?”

Kalesi seemed to finally break, her face softened and she bent down to hug the small Mevi, “Its hard to know sometimes. You will learn… I will help teach you, I will be responsible for you and some of your friends now… So try not to worry, okay?”

Mevi, feeling the first real human touch that was kind, gentle, and loving broke down into sobs and fell onto the ground. Incoherent mumbling being all that could escape her mouth. Kalesi held her for a few moments, and tried to shush away the stress, but not seeing any headway she lifted Mevi in her arms as if she weighed nothing and continued her walk. As the two made their way down the long hallways, a little slower than before, Mevi calmed her nerves as best she could. All she could manage by the time they approached the capsule chamber was being set down and stopping the sobs, while tears still flowed freely down her cheeks. Before they entered, Mevi stood herself as tall as she could straighten her back and tried her best to pretend she was fine. The door not opening, she looked up to Kalesi who was watching her with worry in her eyes. Kalesi refocused as well and said, “You know. I heard from one of the Sentinel when they returned. You almost broke free of the Magi’s power. Could move around and everything! Best keep that mana power to yourself, don’t want to surprise or upset anyone with being too special.”

Mevi wasn’t exactly sure what she was meaning, and assumed the Sentinel was one of the golden guardians she saw with the Magi, but she understood Kalesi was trying to cheer her up in some strange way. She did her best to smile, and Kalesi slapped her on the back playfully. Kalesi interacted with the door like she’s done before, and the two stepped inside the chamber where others from Mevi’s colony resided.