“DAD, DON’T GO!” Cira felt her own voice shake the room, though she knew not where she was. Her outstretched hand seemed to have punched through a window or something. He’s really gone… He always swore it wasn’t my fault… so was that cursed monster’s fault?

“YOU BASTARD,” She let the anger infuse her words. “I WILL FIND YOU—”

“WILL YOU CALM THE SHIT DOWN?!” Mac’s powerful voice pierced her veil of rage and the island stopped shaking.

“Wha—Mac?” Cira noticed it was dark and shards of crystal poked her bare feet. “It’s so dark… and I’m naked…?”

Lamplights appeared in the air and Cira quickly found her white and gold robes on the table, neatly folded. They smelled of berries and subtle herbs.

Let’s see here… I must be in the bottom of Archaeum. Does that mean…?

Cira realized her outstretched palm was outside of a broken essence loom. She stepped out and repaired it with a lazy gesture and held out her other hand. An orb of blue flame appeared while the stone ceiling started to glow bright orange and melt like cheese.

“Whoa… Better be careful.” But Cira let it keep melting for a little bit because the feeling of using her aura was such pure elation. “Mac… it worked!”

“Of course it worked, you dullard. I practically did all the work.”

“We both know the artifacts did at least half of it,” Cira looked around the room and it was roughly the same as she remembered. “Where is everyone?”

“Beats me. Even Ella’s been out for a few weeks.”

“Hmm… Well, the island looks calm at a glance.” For whatever reason, her landmasses were still active, pulling mana out of the atmosphere en masse. The pillars of light didn’t seem to be up, but her sight had noticeably smaller range than the other day. She could see pretty much anywhere with enough time but decided to turn it off instead. Two eyes was more than enough for this early in the morning.

“I must admit… I feel fantastic.” Cira clenched her fists as she took a few paces around the forge, “Hang on! My leg is back! Aha!”

She skipped around the room giggling to herself as her hair bounced lightly over her shoulders.

“And I have so much mana!” She threw one palm out after the next, shooting beams of pure light deep into the walls. “Ahh, what a good day.”

“Having fun?” Mac asked, a little tired.

“I sure am. Why don’t we go for a stroll, in fact?”

Her father’s orichalcum staff appeared from her ring and she floated up toward the ceiling, the stone molding around her. She passed a couple goliaths on her ascent, then sprites and goblins, and eventually she was in the pure darkness of the Shadow Spring’s basin.

The artifacts were deactivated, but Cira still felt the space around her in a strange new way. Almost like Spatial Sense was just a sense now, and she only had to put in effort to see further away. Something distant almost tickled. Strangely, it appeared to be the mana well itself. She unconsciously drifted through the air in its direction.

“What are you doing?” Mac complained, “Breeze Haven’s the other way.”

“Shh. I think I found her.” It was hard to tell how fast she was going in perfect darkness, but the mana well came quickly. She peered through the shadows and saw the strangest thing superimposed over the well’s core. “Nina?! It is you! What are you doing here?”

The buzzing of her little wings approached like a lazy bird and the nymph hovered in front of Cira for a moment before clapping for some reason. Her expressionless face may have almost shown excitement as she pointed to her head with both hands and a little black hat appeared.

“No way!” Cira was overjoyed and started clapping herself, “Well done! Have you been practicing this whole time?”

She took a lap around Cira and bobbed in front of her a couple times. She took it as an affirmative.

My, what a talented little nymph. Here I was worried about her, and she’s been training her own sorcerer’s path the entire time, while I slept like a child.

Nina fluttered over and took a seat on Cira’s shoulder and tugged on the brim of her hat. If Cira didn’t know any better, she would think she was being rushed.

It didn’t take long to find Breeze Haven and Cira traveled across the plateau in a bolt of dark lightning which ended up doing more damage to her lawn than I anticipated. Mac was upset about the sudden haste, but Nina just kicked her legs playfully against Cira’s shoulder when they arrived, looking over everyone in the garden with her trademark absent gaze of wonder.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What the shit is that?!” Jimbo fell over backwards to the sound of broken glass

“You better clean all that up!” Cira retorted, seeing the smashed bottle glisten from the grass.

“She’s back!” Shores fell to his knees as did all the other mages present except for Tawny. “We thought you’d never return, Lady Saint!”

“Not like any of you came to check.” Mac chided.

“Enough. How long have I been gone and what have I missed?” Cira locked eyes with James through the window to her kitchen. He hung his head and walked outside.

“Nearly two and a half months…” He got quiet and Cira noticed the atmosphere had fallen pretty drastically. “You… missed a lot.”

Seeing that Cira didn’t intend to keep asking, he continued.

“Captain Wick… He burned down the village and took Kuja.”

Cira’s eyes went wide as her voice fell cold. “He what…?”

“Ripley came back, lookin’ to apologize to Jimbo. I guess he waited around Kuja’s for a couple days until we showed up, but by then Wick already had eyes on us.” He looked away, seemingly ashamed.

“No… This is my fault.” How could it be anything but? Kuja told me not to bring trouble her way… and now her village is burned down. Why…? Why does the king of this island have to be so ruthless? I didn’t even do anything wrong. Cira looked around and most of her core crew was there. “Is everyone on board?”

James nodded and they instantly rose from the ground. Breeze Haven knew where it needed to go. “Prepare to annex the palace.”

___

“Why, dammit?!” I reeled back as Wick swept a handful of bottles off the table. “How could you betray me, you bitch?!”

His words were slurred as he cursed my predecessor for the hundredth time today. I don’t know how Olive stood being high consort for so many years. Maybe he wasn’t so bad before, but he’s been in a real spiral lately.

“My love,” I drew his attention, “Just forget about her for now. Once everything’s settled on the Lost Cloud, we can send out as many search parties as you want…”

My words faded as he turned empty, hateful eyes upon me. “Pearl… Did I fucking ask you?” He stood up, clutching the lone bottle with anything in it as his face twisted in scorn. “Don’t you think for a god damn second that you can take her place. I’m not paying you to open your stupid mouth—Gah?!”

I nearly fell over as a tremor ran through the island, but apparently I hadn’t budged an inch, and the bottles on the floor didn’t make a sound. My hands dug into the corner of the bed as fear gripped me.

This is just like that day a few months ago, isn’t it…? I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s only happened that one other time.

The bottle in Wick’s hand clattered against the ground. He stumbled to his feet and leaned his forearm against the window.

“No… That can’t be.” There was a weak tremble in his voice.

Could it be…? The day of Wick’s reckoning? I had to fight to keep a smile from my face.

I got up and stood at a different window than him and we both stared out for a few minutes with bated breath. There was one more quake and right when I was beginning to worry it was over…

Three pillars of light rose through the mist, just like that day. This time though, the sky above seemed to grow dark, and thunder boomed from the other side of the island. The three pillars seemed to reach their zenith and burned the fog away. Thunder roared once more, followed by a pitch-black lightning bolt the bounced between mountaintops before a crackling explosion threw me to my knees.

I desperately clawed the floor as the bricks that formed the wall were sucked outward to a sudden influx of mana. I couldn’t believe my eyes as the world seemed to compress inward just outside until black lightning crackled and took the shape of something. Once the light seemed able to reach it, I thought it was a woman.

No, a young girl in white robes and glittering gold. Her bright hair, the color of unobstructed sunlight, shimmered beneath the radiance of what had to be a hundred suns dotting the night sky that weren’t there only a moment ago. A torrential river twisted in and out of existence around her, seeming to rupture as ambient mana trembled with fury. I’d never felt such an oppressive pressure before, even with all of Wick’s mages in one place.

“It’s… it’s you, isn’t it?” Wicks’ dumbstruck voice trembled in awe as he fell on his ass staring upward through the ruined thirtieth floor wall.

Returning his gaze was the young woman from maybe twenty feet away. She floated in the air as if it were only natural, her robes blowing gently in the wind. A brilliant golden staff glimmered above her while a swarm of blades dancing around it like a flight of starlings and a pale blue metallic ring reflected all the suns’ glory behind her back. I could almost feel my pitiful aura being sucked in.

This girl did not look happy to see Captain Wick.

“It is I.”

Black lightning exploded and before I could blink, Wick slammed against the back wall. The edges of his hair was singed and smoke rose from his body.

“You have crossed the line, Captain Wick. Perhaps too many times to count.” His eyes shot open in shock as he rose from the rubble, floating through the air towards the girl. Golden smoke poured from his wounds as his twisted limbs cracked and rolled back into their right position. His screams of agony slowly died in a whimper as his severely broken body was suddenly all better again. Soon, the ominous golden light faded and he met her face to face. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“You… You’re even more beautiful than I imagined.” Wick seemed to be in a daze.

Floating before us in a storm of mana, the girl’s frown only deepened at that answer. She pulled her arm back and closed the distance between her and Wick in an instant. The girl’s fist fell faster than I could even see, but on contact with his face, I saw and felt the light of countless elements explode.

“Sorcerous Punch!” She shouted as he disappeared from sight, forming another hole through the wall. I heard him break through another afterward as his pained groans ceased, but only a few seconds later, he came flying back in through yet another hole in the side of the tower. Any more and it would surely fall over. His limp, mangled body again leaked golden smoke as limbs righted themselves. Wounds disappeared in the blink of an eye. His gaze was glued in fear at the lone girl floating in the sky, perhaps finally shaken sober.

“Well?” He flew towards her, his neck eventually resting in her grip. “You don’t even have an excuse?”

I watched him cough blood into the air as he choked out words, “You… you can’t do this… to me—”

She flicked her wrist and tossed him aside like trash.

But we’re hundreds of feet in the air… My jaw dropped as I watched Captain Wick plummet to the ground, only to slow down at the last second as a sudden wind enveloped him. Now I noticed a green glow in the distant courtyard—one of his mages saving him in the nick of time.

I felt a chill and looked up. The girl was staring right at me, perhaps even into my soul.

“How troublesome.” Then she vanished.