************Emily POV************

“If you don’t wake up right this instant, you are not going to get to see your new niece!” The harshness of James’s voice was enough to wake up his sister from the bottom of the staircase.

The thought of missing out on seeing her newborn niece caused Emily to immediately throw the covers off her body and stumble to her feet. Her brother and his wife had been trying for three years to have a child and when Nicolette had finally conceived, it was Emily who had become even more excited than the two of them.

“I swear if you leave me I’ll shove my foot where the sun doesn’t shine!” Emily yelled down as she pulled a green shirt out of her closet. Slipping it on while running down the stairs, she almost crashed into her brother.

“Hurry up, the clinic already contacted me about her being close. Nicolette herself will murder me if I’m not there for it,” James said as he grabbed his sister’s hand and pulled her behind him.

The siblings ran out the front door and past multiple guild members. As James went by, they all bowed in respect to him. He paid no mind to them, and all those around didn’t mind. They all knew where his mind was.

“What took you so long? Emily, you stay out here until you are called in. James is to come right away,” a nurse said from a doorway. James ran ahead of his sister to follow the nurse while Emily crossed her arms and walked the rest of the way to a small room filled with seats.

The waiting room almost looked like something out of an old movie, with its white tile floor and light brown walls. There was a mahogany table set off on to one side with a few chairs around it, while the rest of the room was almost bare looking save for three rows of newer looking blue chairs that the guild master’s wife thought would be a good choice for the room.

Emily sat down on one of the plush, deep blue chairs and crossed her legs. The tattoo of her guild’s symbol on her shoulder was covered by the sleeves of her shirt, and the black pants stood out against the chair. She sat there as she waited to be told to go in and see Nicolette’s new daughter.

She had turned twenty almost three months beforehand, and her training had turned her into a quick-witted, intelligent woman. In the end, her brother was the one who worked on training her in magic. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had become a quick learner after the way she was taught, she wouldn’t have become as strong as she was.

So when the nurse came out in silence after about an hour and a half, Emily automatically knew something was terribly wrong.

“Your brother has requested you to retrieve Arturo. There is something...wrong with the baby, but she is alive at the moment,” she said with her eyes cast down.

Emily’s mouth went dry as pain raced through her at the thought of losing the child. She had been preparing to take care of Nicolette for the first few years of the baby’s life, but the thought of losing her was more than even she could handle. The chair that she had been sitting in suddenly felt as hard as a stone as she let the nurse’s words sink in.

Without another question, Emily jumped to her feet and bolted down the hallway. She had a general idea where her old mentor would be, but as she ran outside the meeting hall and to the outdoors she spread a nice bit of her special darkness-infused wind magic to find him. As she thought, he was in the training area.

“Arturo, James needs you! There’s something wrong with the baby!” Emily yelled as she burst through the doorway.

Arturo, dressed in his famous black and green training suit, turned towards the young woman instantly at the words she spoke. He quickly placed his war hammer against the brick wall near the weapons rack and took off towards the guild’s quarters faster than Emily could even run while using her magic at full capacity.

Emily followed as quickly as she could while her thoughts were taking over. She couldn’t think of anything to calm herself down so instead she allowed her mind to come up with ways to help whatever could be wrong with her niece. Before she knew it, she was breathing heavily inside the medicine hall with the medical cleric holding a small bundle in her arms.

“There is nothing we can do, not with an ailment like this,” the nurse was explaining to Nicolette, who was laying on the bed with tear stains on her face.

Emily could only stand and stare at the bundle in the cleric’s arms. The only thing visible about the baby was a small hand, a hand that was covered in small blue veins that almost made it look like the owner of the hand was dead. But to her surprise, the small bundle made a whimpered noise.

“What’s wrong with her? Is there anyway to help her?” Emily stuttered and held her arms out to take the baby. The cleric shook her head and stepped back slightly.

“Nobody, not even the mother, is allowed to touch her at the moment. The moment she had skin on skin contact her skin turned blue. We discovered she had a rare disease that only comes from parents who have a large amount of magical quantities built up inside them,” the cleric explained.

Emily had learned about this years ago, back when she was sixteen her brother had explained why it was so hard for any kind of magical being to have children. Magic naturally creates a barrier in both sides, but if a child is born then they tend to be incredibly powerful because of the magic in both.

There are rare times that a baby is conceived where the barrier comes in contact at the same time. This creates a slow death so painful that when the baby is born, they usually die in a week or two. The barrier cuts off the blood flow in the child and stops its heart in that time period, so naturally most couples who both work with magic don’t attempt to have children at all.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the end, her brother and sister-in-law had ended up with the deadly disease. And it was one that wasn’t curable at all. Except for one thing that could save her, and only Arturo knew about it.

“There is a way to save her, but I can not do it myself. It will take a bit of teleportation, and in my age I wouldn’t survive the process to go there,” Arturo sighed in defeat. Emily glanced at him before grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the medical room.

“What are you talking about? Is there really a way to save her?” Emily asked desperately, hope suddenly filling her heart.

“Well, only one way. Years ago, back when I was only a few years younger than you, I was sent on a mission to retrieve a flower from a special rose bush set in a kingdom not even I could fight my way through,” he explained. “Regardless, I was not as strong as I am now, but I believe you could retrieve it yourself. I am the only one who knows where it is, but it would kill me.”

“Whatever it is, I will find it. It needs to be done as soon as possible or the chances of her living will be too slim. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she died,” Emily whispered. She didn’t want her brother to hear or else he might leave his wife to find what it was Arturo was speaking of himself. That was the last thing she wanted.

Arturo seemed to consider this for a few seconds before smiling at Emily’s decision. She quickly turned and gestured for her to follow. The two of them walked to where a small sign with the words ‘Weapons Hall: Please Ask Permission First’ was written. Without even reading it, Arturo opened up the door and walked right through while Emily followed suit.

“What are we doing in here? I’ve never been allowed in this room before,” Emily said in alarm. Arturo only chuckled and walked to the corner of the room where a chest was laid.

He easily lifted the heavy lid and reached inside. Emily watched as he pulled out three objects; a lightweight broadsword that she had never seen anyone use in the guild before, a black pouch small enough to hook on to a belt, and a small orb.

“This is a device I found about six years ago. It's an object that makes teleportation simple but physically draining. The sword is something that was given to me as a gift, and you will use this bag for the flower,” he explained.

Emily looked at all the items Arturo handed her, then began to feel a bit of hope. The only issue was she didn't know how to use the orb. She was about to ask when the thought of her clothing made her stop.

“Give me a few seconds, I want to wear my training gear!” Emily quickly left the room before Arturo could say anything against it. She knew she wanted to have her leather chest plate she had the armorman create for her. Other than that she decided wearing black would help her hide herself.

When she was finished and was back with her old mentor, he made her she was fully prepared for whatever laid ahead. He wasn't sure if the man he once knew was still in control so he was worried about her.

“Place your hand on the orb and let yourself relax. I will do all the work but you will be the one who is sent away,” Arturo said.

She did what she was told. Thoughts of what she would see was soon clouded over by the hope of saving her niece. It wasn't long before it felt like her body was being pulled in all directions. No words would escape her mouth from the sudden decrease in strength.

Heat overtook her body. Her eyes slowly opened and found she was laying on sand with the orb next to her. Hands shivering, she grabbed the orb and quickly placed it in the pouch. The sword on her back didn't help with the weariness that had overtaken her, but she forced herself forward.

It was odd how strong the scent of rose was. She guessed that as long as she followed the scent she would be fine. The issue with that was with how weak she was, the smell was making her nauseous.

The mission at hand that her mentor had given her was something she had made more important than her own well being. She fought forward through a line of trees, when to her shock a large creature that seemed to be made of a plant rose up in front of her.

Emily didn't have time to let the shock sink in for at the creature attacked without warning. She did the best she could to dodge while reaching back to grab the weapon on her back. As the thing turned back to strike once more, Emily infused as much magic into the weapon as possible while she swung it at her enemy.

The plant creature fell to the ground, chopped perfectly in half. Emily gasped as she fell backward, the strength in her body finally giving out. She was barely able to scream as blackness hit her, and as she lost consciousness she didn’t feel herself hit the dirt floor.

************Ron POV************

Ron held the woman in his arms as her eyes rolled in the back of her head, curiosity taking over as a memory slightly called him from the back of his mind, but with nothing having come up from when he tried to think of it, he simply picked up the woman in his arms and walked back to his cabin to question her when she woke up.