Tia:

Continuing…

Tia froze in fear. She had seemingly increased her attunement with the Mana around her.

Her skin crawled at the pungent aura his mana waves emitted. She swallowed her fears, standing tall in her confidence.

Dargor steps away from the wall, each stride reverberating the mana waves with every step like tremors.

Tia had never seen Mana act in this way. Dargor approached slowly. Finally, he stood right before her, a wicked smile as he leaned in his face inches from hers.

"The children of Tore are fearless, it seems," He straightens his posture.

"Why don't you run back to your cage, or…" Dargor flexed his hand, fanning his fingers before curling them into a fist.

The Mana in his fist shook violently, quaking. He slammed his fist into the door Tia had used to enter the room. The wood smashed into pieces, and the wall surrounding the impact zone cracked instantly.

"You'll be in itty bitty pieces when I give you over to my friends." He glared at her with a murderous stare.

Tia gulped. Dargor condensed the waves of Mana until they violently repelled, but instead of giving the magic an activation phrase, he used Martial forms, much like her father's Ein Sof sword arts, to release the energy.

It was dangerous. Any miscalculation on Dargor's part when condensing the Mana would shatter all the bones in his hand.

Could she fight a man with that much resolve? She felt severely out of her element.

"So? Compliance? Or violence?"

It felt like less of a question and more of a command.

"What if we compromise?" Tia asked sheepishly,

"Out of the question,"

"Uhhh," Tia scratched her head, backing away slowly.

"Times up."

Tia's eyes widened, Dargor laughing as he raised his leg. Slamming it into the ground, the ground beneath her shaking violently, throwing her balance off, cracks forming in the ground.

Tia turned away, running straight down the hallway, aiming to run through the opposite door. A large chunk of the concrete floor spiked from the ground as she narrowly avoided being impaled by it.

She needed something to protect her, she tried to think. Suddenly, a small rock slab jutted from the ground, tripping her, and Tia landed flat on her face. The impact caused her nose to begin to bleed.

She pushed off her elbow and turned to see Dargor slowly walking towards her, reveling in her terror. Every step he took broke the internal structure of the hallway. Cracks in the walls creep onto the roof.

Suddenly, a large chunk of the timber ceiling snapped from its frame, swinging straight into her side. She coughs up a small amount of blood.

She prayed for no internal bleeding as she barely pushed the wood off her. She dragged herself to her feet. Giving up on running away, she decides that if it comes down to it, at least she'll die fighting.

She won't die helpless this time. She grits her teeth, A newfound determination in her eyes. She raises her hands, resembling how she had seen Tiago when she broke into her father's study to try and save him.

She needs that same need for survival she saw in his eyes that day. No one is here to protect her now. Dargor pauses briefly,

"There's that determination I saw a moment ago. Let's make this interesting, shall we."

Dargor releases the tension in his muscles. The mana waves settled, the rumbling slowing till silence filled the hallway.

Moonlight filled in from a crack in the ceiling, dividing a line between the two.

"I'll let you get one free hit in." He gestures to his chest,

"And make it count, yeah?"

Tia sneered at his remark. No wonder Tiago could get the jump on people like him. These guys spend too much time, high on their power, to maintain anything sustainable.

'I guess nothing changes no matter what world you're in.'

She parted her mouth, croaking out a sentence,

"I'll make you regret underestimating me." She pulled her palms together, opened them slightly, and funneled Mana into her palms. She was pouring as much energy as she could. It was almost painful to the sheer quantity of energy building.

"What are you doing, girl."

"One free hit, right?" She smiled, Dargor's grin replaced with shock as Tia slammed her palms into the floor. The ground rumbled softly for a second, and he looked around frantically. The rumbling quickly faded as Tia collapsed to her knees.

"I guess you're out of Mana. You had me scared for a second there." He laughed,

"You know, for a second there, I thought you were gonna do something unbeliev-" His sentence is cut short by an ear-shattering smash, the lanterns illuminating the walls smashing onto the floor, throwing shards of glass around the hall, the ground cracking open in significant gaps; he falls to the ground as the ever-changing floors, cracks and launches him around the room.

The building is falling apart. Tia doesn't have the strength to move as jagged debris and rocks fall onto her. Slashing at her skin. She needs protection. Anything.

Then she remembered her mother's protection magic, its protective bubble, and its repelling factors—a message of unity.

The intricate waves of Mana tearing apart the walls calmed in a small bubble around her. A protective barrier enveloped her as she cradled herself as the hallway fell to pieces.

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Dargor swore as he punched at the debris falling, attempting to break the chunks into smaller pieces to minimize the incoming damage. But he can barely keep steady, let alone use any helpful magic.

The ceiling no longer existed, caved in completely—the two men Tia had seen were now reappearing at the hallway door.

Dargor yelled something to them, one of them stepping into the quakes to rescue him. When a large rumble suddenly stops him. He pauses before immediately being impaled through his chest. Bursting through his chest and out the end with a splurt of blood. A large piece of rebar had sprung from the ground.

The other man panicked, backing up, Dargor shouting, redirecting his frustration to Tia. He began crawling toward her. Another cement chunk snaps out of the ground, snapping his arm back.

"ARGH!" He screams out in pain. Tia smiles faintly.

The girl Tia had trapped when she escaped appears behind the unharmed old man in the doorway. She shouts something angrily that Tia can't hear.

The trembling slowly fades as the Manas energy recedes. Returning to a calm state, the quaking stopped. Damn, it wasn't enough. But she got one of them, right? Indeed, that's enough. She even hurt that Dargor bastard in a way no one could fix.

Her vision starts fading. She has no strength left now. Maybe she can rest if she keeps her barrier up. With no other option, she shrinks it down even further to hopefully maintain strength. The old man entered the hallway, pulling Dargor to his feet.

The girl approaches Tia Bubble. Poking it with her finger, she lets out a large sigh.

"She can't hide in there forever. Our contract isn't void as long as she is still here."

"Forget her; fix my arm already. It hurts like you wouldn't believe."

"Don't rush me, old man." She says while continuing to stare at Tia quizzically.

Tia's vision finally fades completely, succumbing to the fatigue.

Her eyes open again; however, she is not in her bubble, and her body is completely unharmed.

She floats in an empty white expanse with no identifiable features. Was she dreaming again? If she was, she felt thankful it wasn't some traumatic nightmare like last time.

She floated for a moment, flipping around. Is there something she was supposed to do in it if it was a dream?

Tia shrugged. If anything, it gives her time to clear her head for a moment, finally—a subtle moment of peace. When was the last time she had one of those, she wondered. Suddenly, she no longer floated in her room but appeared in the study in their manor.

Tia always felt right at home with these stories. What was history in this world was fiction in her own, tales of magic, dragons, and heroes. She was living and breathing a world that these stories exist in.

It was one of the only things she shared with her brother—a love for the magical, the unreal, the imaginary. However, as most children do, she cast aside these dreams. Reality is a cruel mistress, she supposes.

Is this the reason for her ambition towards magic? If that's the case, it works against her theory that her current twin is the same as the one she had before. Then again, what did she know of her brother at their demise?

What kind of life did he live to be holding his sister at gunpoint? She knew he had joined the military but dropped off the earth's face past that point.

Tias abruptly remembered the event of her kidnapping. Tiagos had a calm face as he took the life of another person, not even blinking to continue his onslaught. It was only natural to him. Was it her fault Tiago is the way he is?

The environment changed dramatically once again. Tia's ripped from the study to sit in the courtyard, watching Tiago train. Tia admires his resilience.

Then to their time in the Inn as he slept on the floor. Caelen had taken some bedding from one of the guest rooms and made a makeshift bed in the corner of the building.

He slept like any other child, but it wouldn't take long before he would thrash restlessly. Fidgeting, calling out names. People from a life once lived. Names that Tia never recognized.

Tia hated herself for the way she treated him. She'd do things differently if she could do it again, but reality isn't so kind.

Tia's memories swirled around her, disappearing into nothingness and returning to the vast white expanse.

Her arms suddenly jerked as a searing pain overcame her. The wounds of her fight with Dargor engraved themselves on her skin. Slashes, bruises. She was returning to consciousness.

Tia closed her eyes as a piercing headache pulsed through her skull. It throbbed from the wound she had received from falling forward, Fresh blood dripping from her nose.

Tia opened her eyes again and raised her head slowly. She was still lying down, surrounded by her protective barrier. Her wounds had stopped bleeding, a large gash on her thigh, and bruising all over her chest and face, a minor laceration on her forehead.

The girl who commented on her capture sat roughly 10 feet away. Idley is flipping through the pages of a book. Tia grimaced as she pulled herself to a sitting position, releasing exhausted breaths with each subtle movement.

The girl immediately tilted her head up, staring directly at Tia.

"Nice nap, was it?" She asked sarcastically,

"What—" Tia, still attempting to catch her breath, stutters,

"What do you want from me."

The girl shut her book with a clap, pulling herself to her feet. She approached the bubble. Tia tilted her head to look up at her, sitting on her knees.

"I don't want anything from you." She points her index finger to Tia, bending closer to her as she speaks,

"My client wants something from you." She pokes the bubble again, sending ripples around Tia.

"And…Your client, who are they." Tia prodded further,

"Ever heard of client confidentiality? Jeez, I am a professional, you know." She turned away from Tia, strutting back to her position against a broken bit of wall.

"Fine then, at least tell me who you are then."

The girl giggles maniacly. The setting sun sends streaks of light, illuminating a sadistic grin.

"Alright, I guess I can give you that. What harm can a kid do anyway?" She reaches for the strange black trident on the Red hood Tia had seen on her earlier.

"We are the Aethereans. Be sure to remember that."

Tia recognized that name. Where had she heard that name before? Her eyes widened. Ayther. That strange man in red who her father was supposed to meet.

"And as for me, my name is Darcey, and you won't need to remember that one. Cause you'll hear enough about me anyway."

Darcey taps against the wall impatiently, making faces as she speaks with a bored rhythm.

"He was supposed to be here four hours ago. What's the holdup?"

Tia pushes off her knees, wobbling as she stands. Darcey stares away from her, distracted by something outside of the building.

Tia takes a deep breath. One more spell, trap her like she had done before. She had to be freed by the two older men. Tia raised her arm but couldn't concentrate enough to cast the spell inchantlessly. Verbal activation would be necessary.

Darcey smiled softly this time. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." She turned her head, eyes wide open, a murderous glare across her face.

"It won't work a second time." She approached Tia's bubble slowly, pushing her hand right into it.

"I think you misunderstand something. I'm not breaking your bubble because It's troublesome. Not because I can't."

Darcey digs her fingers into the barrier; cracks start spreading from the point of contact.

"I'm not like Dargor. I'd rather not do something unnecessary."

Tia's heart was racing. Who was this girl? She seemed even more terrifying than Dargor.

Darcey pulls her hands back. The cracks quickly repaired themselves.

"Why should I do anything if you are right where I want you." She yawns.

Tia sways where she stands as Darcey begins wandering the destroyed hallway. Tia turned her head to the door she had come from. Her eyes meet with the lifeless body of the older man who lay impaled through his abdomen during the destruction. Tia feels sick to her stomach, and she feels pale.

Darcey noticed her reaction and smirked,

"Nice handiwork, kid, even I'm not that gruesome. I guess both kids are killers, haha."

A killer? She's not a killer. It was self-defense.

She grabs at her head; she is here to help people, not kill them. Why does no one ever understand?

She can't be a killer; she is nothing like Tiago. She couldn't kill someone so easily.

Wait, does that mean she considers Tiago a killer?

By all definitions, he was one, but it felt wrong.

Tia always thought Tiago was the stupid one, but maybe Tia was the idiot all along. She was holding on to her preconceptions of right or wrong.

Instead, she needs to live more freely. Even if that means redefining everything she values in her life.

Dargor approaches from behind, taking Tia by surprise.

"You're finally here." Darcey chirped.

"I have news." He approached Tia in her bubble,

"The boss said there's a change of plan."

"What kind of change."

"We need to get the kid out of here before he finds her."

Darcey stomped towards Dargor angrily,

"He promised us he would deal with him."

"It seems he underestimated him."

"Hmph," She scowls. Darcey then turns to Tia.

"Looks like I have to do something unnecessary anyway."