With their course set and objectives aligned, Gwen and her crew presented themselves to the Quarter Master of Melbourne Tower to receive their arboreal adventure equipment.

The old Sergeant was a gruff and bearded veteran Mage missing several digits of a finger and brace holding the left side of his body steady. As the man spoke, Gwen could see the scars on the man's face flush with blood, a sure sign of improper healing.

"What you're dealing with is a primordial jungle with vines as tough as steel cables which regrow in a day. It isn't going to be a walk in the park, lass! Yer sure yer head'n in with the Major?"

The Quartermaster appeared sceptical as he eyed Gwen up and down.
"Show me yer hand."

Gwen did so.

"Ye barely got a single callus on there! Yer fingers are as smooth as a baby's bum! I am warning ya lass; the woods out there is no place for a wee princess-like yew. Yer be bled and scabbed by the time ya first day's done!"

Gwen felt her forehead perspire with consternation. It wasn't as though she wanted to assume the youthfulness of a newborn babe. But it wasn't as though she could explain that a nether-world shapeshifter had eaten her old body and that the man was complaining about her newly regenerated dermis.

Besides her, Alesia's crew chuckled mirthfully at every grievance made by the wizened Sergeant.

"Ah Brune, give her the gear. We'll make sure she's alright."

"She some bigwig's daughter? Why are yer buggers playing honour guard?"

"That's on a need to know basis." Paul winked at the Senior Sergeant. "From up on high."

"Bah!" The Quartermaster resumed his item sorting. "Three Healing Potions and two Mana potions P-P. Five Cure Poison. Five Remove Disease for the party. Using it sparingly, we're running low thanks to the Mermen. Alright— here are five pairs of skin-suits, four sets of fatigued combat mesh, four pairs of Waterproof hikers, Two lengths of Magic Rope, one Decanter of Everlasting Water. Bring ya own woollen socks - I am out of stock."

The Quartermaster paused and looked up at Gwen, raising a sceptical brow before unhappily handing over what looked to be a model house and a bulging bandoleer.

"One Portable Habitat and One hundred HDM crystals, military issue."
The men each passed their fingers over the assigned items. By consensus, Gwen became tasked with carrying the restorative potions, as well as the water supply.

When she received a model of what looked like a small cabin, she had to ask what it was.

"Its a pocket dimension habitat, you know?" Taj was surprised Gwen noted that she had never seen such a thing. "They're pretty common for camping in zones through which sleeping in the wilderness is hazardous."

"What does it do?"

"You put the crystal in here," Taj mimed placing an HDM crystal into a slot that fed into the toy cabin. "It generates a small pocket dimension that only attuned individuals can see. Inside the portal is a Conjuration based persistent effect that mimics a cabin. We can safely rest, cook and heal in there for twelve hours per crystal, maximum of three crystals per cycle."

"That's incredible!" Gwen marvelled at the toy structure, turning it round and round in her hands.

"It better be for a whole HDM." Paul winced. "Rank and file get ten HDMs, officers get twenty to fifty. Most of it goes to buying magical stock, training, and replenishing mana. We should only use the cabin out of necessity. I mean, for an NoM, one HDM is about a month of their wage as a low-level maintenance engineer."

"Is that... very little?" Gwen asked. Had she been allowed to procure items, she may have had paid more attention, but thus far she hadn't needed worrying about resources. Her Opa has been a very sugary grandfather.

"Yeah-Nah, NoMs get paid in currency, not crystals." Paul looked at her strangely. "I am talking conversion here, so it's probably really skewered. After all, what's an NoM going to do with crystalised mana?"

"Oh." Her face grew bright pink. She'd hadn't had much consideration for income since Opa had taken up her finances. Furthermore, Henry had provided her with all the training materials and spell components. LDMs, HDMs, currency— she had much to learn about this world still. If Gwen ever wanted to put her old-world skills to the test, she would have to find some time to re-hone her gifts for her present context. As for her immediate concern, that was far more straightforward— she had to become an Omni-Mage of sorts, master multi-schools of magic, then work on synergising her options.

Paul leaned in conspiratorially.

"Gunther's ring is worth about ten thousand HDMs."
Gwen felt the immense weight of the ring on her ring finger.

"Without the Contingency enchantment…"

The weight now felt as though a neutron particle studded her ring.

"The price of having a tier 8 Enchanter engrave the spell is minimum five thousand HDM…"

The blood drained from Gwen's face. Her palms became sweaty and nervous.

"That excludes the materials for the enchanting, and the fame of the Enchanter, so one might say the Contingency Ring is priceless."

Gwen shot a nasty look at the Translocation Mage, who chortled satisfyingly to himself as he drank in her agony.

"Alright! I've got the confirmation." Jonas intervened between the two of them before Gwen could respond. "Let's go see Master Surya."

Their reverse-exodus flight proved heartbreaking.

This far inland, there was little evidence of the Mermen incursion. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that the countryside had remained idyllic and unaffected.

Below Gwen's party's flight path across the landscape, convoys of cargo transport conveyed from the tablelands down to the city, bringing much-needed food and water supplies. In reverse, caravans of NoMs in vehicles of all sizes with men and women crammed like sardines into military trucks alighted into temporary refugee zones. According to Paul, until the city purged the Mermen and the Shield Stations could be repaired, the refugees would sojourn here under the Frontier Government's martial law. The process could take months, perhaps even a year, and even then they shouldn't be optimistic about the prospects of rebuilding their home.

"Half a year, assuming no Mermen attack, no Tier 1 city pulling our resources, and no Factional bullshitting," Paul quipped in response. The others chuckled. Neither of those elements was likely avoidable.

"Maybe the Factions will settle down, I mean, surely the big Three are willing to work together under Gunther. The Grey busybodies are half-way responsible for the shit show, Gunther is the de facto leader of the Middle Faction, and the Militants are Gunther's fanboys," Paul continued. "The little Factions won't cause disruptions needlessly, so it'll be the external power players we need to look out for."

Gwen and her company made a strange spectacle as they soared over the makeshift camps. Three military men in green-olive fatigues are flying in an arrow formation, flanking an inexperienced girl in a black skirt and white blouse, silhouetted against a cloudless blue sky.

Paul had taken the opportunity to teach Gwen how to fly, but it would take hundreds of hours until Gwen would wrap the elemental air around her like an extension of her body. To subconsciously operate the Flight buff while casting spells and dogfight was as skill few possessed and even fewer Mages will master.

It took them two more hours to reach Surya's estate, by which time the sun had begun its descent toward the horizon.

Her Opa's home no longer had the idyllic look of an outback oasis. Instead, the entire frontage had been converted in record time into a receiving zone for refugees and supplies, with a line of trucks idling outside the property waiting to get in. Unlike the property owners adjacent his estate, Surya was a genuine survivor of the last Coral Sea Conflict and a veteran of many evacuations. The moment the news of the breach in the Shield Wall had reached Surya's ears, he had instructed Tess and Melissa to be ready for the influx of refugees.

Presently, rows and rows of transmuted stone and iron formed self-contained makeshift shelters, hundreds of them, stretching from one side of the estate to the other. Its once blue lawns of emerald buffalo were now strewn with the refuse of NoMs fleeing danger and tragedy, littered with cardboard, clothing, and odds and ends of the lives the refugees had left behind.

Most tellingly, the infinity pool had been transmuted into an aqueduct that provided fresh water to the camp. The moulding workshop where Surya made his sculptures had become a transmogrified open kitchen where dozens of men and women milled about with plates and pots.

"Your Grandfather is an incredible man," Jonas intoned with genuine awe as he slowed their descent and flashed his badge at one of the Military Mages manning the perimeter. The young man saluted and pointed them to the main house, which was now a temporary clinic.

"Yes." Gwen didn't know enough about her Opa append the comment, but the compliment nonetheless filled her with a giddying sense of pride. When they'd landed, there was a welcoming party waiting for her.

"Richard! Percy!" Gwen squealed gleefully and leapt towards her kin. Richard had been the first to contact her when she'd thought all as lost; his well-wishing had filled her with the audacity of hope. Her brother too was a sight for sore eyes. With all that had transpired, she felt a sudden pang of guilt for not thinking overmuch about Percy during the crisis. Seeing his wane smile and ashen face now, she felt her heart abuzz with mixed emotions of maternal, sisterly love and indignant disappointment that he'd not so much as sent her a single Message during the entire ordeal.

"Hmm—GNNHMM!" The sound of a throat clearing diverted her gleeful advance.

"Opa!" Gwen changed her trajectory midway and flew into her Opa's bony arms, almost bowling the old Mage over.

"My cucu perempuan!" Surya embraced his granddaughter, enjoying the softness of her body enveloping the scarecrow likeness of his own. T

"Oh, how I've worried!" Her grandfather appeared revivified by the release of tension brought on by the physical evidence that his granddaughter was unharmed. After the story she'd told him, the man had likely imagined her in direr straits.

"I've missed you too, Opa," Gwen brushed her lips over the whiskery beard of his cheeks, feeling the stinging itch of her grandfather's bristles poking into her tender flesh. Even though they'd spoken prior, a physical meeting held a special feeling that Message spells couldn't replicate.
When her Opa finally released her from his embrace, satisfied that she was in one piece, Gwen turned to Percy and Richard. The euphoria of the moment had passed, so Gwen delicately asked if their evacuation from the city had been fortuitous.

"I just arrived a few hours ago." Richard smiled broadly, though Gwen could see the fatigue written all over his face. "I can hardly believe how much of the inner city has gone down. It's been a long day for many of us. Are you feeling alright yourself?"

"Is something the matter?" Gwen asked. If something was troubling Richard, she wanted to be able to lend a hand.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Nothing I can't handle." Richard tried to brush off her concern, but Gwen distinctly felt that the young man was trying to avoid making her anxious.

"Richard…" Gwen realised from his expression that her curiosity would have to wait.

She turned to Percy, who'd watched her interaction with Surya and Richard silently. They say that growing girls changed every other month, but in Gwen's eyes, the changes occurring in Percy were no less surprising. Having seen him only a few times in the last year and a half, the boy more and more resembled their father.

Like Morye, Percy had that strange, indescribable handsomeness that was becoming of mixed heritage children, with a strong jaw and a well-spoken chin, but a delicate mouth and an effeminate nose. His eyes were darker than the hazel that Gwen and Helena shared, giving him a more distinct, prominent appearance where Gwen's fair skin and light eyes. His complexion took its tone from their grandfather, awarding him a honeyed tan that falsely gave the impression he was an outdoors type.

"Hey buddy, how's life been?" Gwen carefully touched her brother's nerves.

"Alright, I suppose, until all of this." Percy looked unkindly towards the NoMs milling about the place before sighing. "I was going to enrol in Prince's, you know."

"I am sorry to hear that," Gwen replied, unsure now of how to approach her brother after disgracing Helena at the Huang's Estate.
Holy shit! Kwan's home!
Her uncle's estate!
Suddenly, it struck her, Kwan's manor was in Kirribilli!

Gwen spun around and caught Richard just as his attention turned inward, causing the young man to regard her with a disconcerted apprehension.

"Richard, your family…"

"They're safe and inside."

"Buy your home! Your family's properties! Their investments! Your Tier 1 studies..."

Richard tried to put on another grinning face, but the straight-spoken young man was terrible at hiding his emotions.

"You know how it is. You win some; you lose some. I guess two decades of peace had us on the back foot."

"Oh, Richard…"

Before Gwen could pursue the matter, Surya instructed them to convene in the East Wing. The rest of the building, including the guest rooms, had been converted to service the refugees.

When they made their way through the central atrium, Gwen felt a slight tingle of premonition triggering her Divination talent. She paused to regard her surroundings and caught a familiar pair of heavily mascaraed eyes meeting her own.

Helena Huang regarded her with a complicated expression, then sighed.

"Mother." Gwen curtsied after the smallest pause.

"Gwen," Her mother greeted her. Gwen's eyes scanned the space around her and saw that her stepfather was nowhere near.

"Tang's helping with the shelters," Helena retorted with a hint of pride in her voice. "His manufactorum is bringing supplies to us as we speak."

That was not what Gwen wanted to know, but she paid Helena the fished compliment nevertheless. The mother and daughter then regarded one another for a few more moments, each wondering if something of substance might be exchanged.

"I am glad you're alright," Gwen said at last.

"You too." Helena was putting on a brave face, but Gwen could see that the woman was a mess beneath her stoic, self-aggrandising forbearance. Her mother's makeup was usually impeccable; with sharply contoured shadows framing her vivid eyes and lips that were well defined and outlined. Now her eyes were a little smokier than usual; her lips merely mattered with a dull crimson that felt cheap and negligent. It didn't mean that she wasn't her usual self, of course. Even now, as others passed them, they'd stop to steal glances at the striking pair; though more so at the effortless sensuality that oozed from Helena. Strangely, Gwen felt a trickle of sympathy for the poor woman— how tiring it must be to live like Helena, to be so wary of what others thought at all times.

As they measured one another for weakness, Helena noticed the three burly men who'd taken up positions beside Gwen were her bodyguards. The mana radiating off these men suggested the Rank of Senior Mages at the very least, while their cold demeanour inferred they were seasoned combatants of many battles.

Her mother's expression tightened.
Gwen could guess her thoughts by reading her stiff upper lip.

Only a year and a half ago, her daughter had been a mewing teenager whimpering at the utterance of every critique from her lips. What could her daughter have done to gain so much influence with those from up on high? What use had the late Henry Kilroy found for her daughter? How had she wormed her way into the good graces of someone like Gunther Shultz? There was her talent, of course, but hundreds of Mages had talent. Why Gwen?

But Gwen wasn't about to humour her mother.

"Gwen, in here," Surya's voice came from behind the double doors of the second living room.

"I am coming!" Gwen called out. She turned to Helena.
"Please be safe, mother."

Her mother nodded.

"You too," she said, her lips growing parsimonious. Helena felt no shame in confessing that her wayward daughter frightened her. "Stay safe, Gwen."

Gwen reached out to embrace her mother, who returned her affection after an awkward hesitation. As they exchanged cheeks, Gwen noticed that her mother's generous application of Chanel No.5. Where previously she had dreaded the scent, it now felt almost nostalgic, reminding her of the few times when they'd genuinely shared some mother-daughterly moments of innocent happiness.

"Gwen, come on." Surya had been watching them. "You can kiss and make up at dinner. What was it that you wanted to know? Shultz wasn't clear on the details."

Gwen left her mother standing as she entered the room with Surya.
The second living room was likewise a mess. Most of the statues and artworks had been stashed within to make space for the clinic.

"Right," Gwen found a place to sit.

Surya left for a brief moment and returned to materialise a decanter of cold water and several glasses. Gwen took over from the venerable Enchanter and poured for the men in the room, mindful of her junior status amongst them.

Alesia's men timidly took the glasses from her tray, mindful that Alesia never had in her life performed anything remotely resembling cordial appreciation of her party members. Ordinarily, it was the men who fetched cognac or whiskey so that Alesia could wet her whistlers as she talked over them.

Surya took a sip from the water and looked at Gwen with gentle eyes.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked his granddaughter.

Gwen recalled that only last night her communication with the old Enchanter had been choked with uncontrollable emotions, confessing to Surya what she had done and how Henry had died. In his face, she could see that Surya too shared unspeakable grief. A portion of it was over his friend's death, while the latter half was for the trouble their lack of vigilance brought upon his granddaughter. After all, he had been there when they 'confirmed' that Elizabeth had died. He'd also voted to support censuring Mark when the neophyte Necromancer announced that Elizabeth was still alive. What could the Enchanter be thinking? Gwen wondered. What if they'd instead chosen to pursue the matter, they might have uncovered Elizabeth's tracks? Prevented the tragedy to come?

More than that, Gwen realised Surya's guilt was exacerbated by Debora Jones, whose original body had been a skin-suit for Faceless. Her grandfather must be feeling a deep-seated dread for his stupidity in bringing Faceless to the meeting and catalysing Sydney's demise.

Thankfully, she knew her grandfather was a military man; despite his artistic sensitivity, he knew that there was a time for grief and a time for action. Now was not the time to mope over the loss of a friend and ally, but the time to ensure that the city survived and his legacy continued.

Playing the dutiful grandchild, she extended a hand and held Surya's own, feeling the empathic warmth of resonant grief flow between them. With a voice that trembled, she told Surya about her desire to save her friends.

"The Grot, huh?" Her grandfather took another sip before fossicking through his memory.

Jonas had come prepared and produced blurrily taken aerial lumen-recordings of the archipelago between Singapore and Jakarta. A circle had been drawn around a small group of islands, where a red dot marked a blurry smidgen of green with a handwritten title - Kapulauan Riau.

"You're going to be in for a hard slog," Surya forewarned them. As he recollected what he could, he informed them that 'Deathless Henry' had already become a famous moniker amongst the deployed Mages when their team first formed. Henry was older than all of them by at least a decade, though his presence had always felt younger thanks to the influence of his Dryad familiar and her supply of vigour rich essences. "Tis the milk of paradise," Henry had joked. He was happy to share it, but Sufina was frugal when it came to the golden mead.

"Well, the story goes that the island contains a groove of rather xenophobic Dryads," Surya continued. "Of the man-eating variety, that is."
His face took on a redder shade as he met Gwen's inquisitive, anxious eyes.

"You know what that means, right?"

Gwen's cheeks blossomed. Paul had explained rather explicitly what 'it' was that Dryads usually took for sustenance and sport.

"Right," Surya coughed. "So the story goes that Henry was one of the Mages who advocated scouting and mapping out the region during the seventies so that we could find potential locations for further FOBs against the Mermen. When he and his squad got caught by a sudden sea-sprout, they were blown off course onto this island, which today we call Kapulauan Riau. The location of the island and its archipelago is incredibly convenient, for it was within Greater Teleportation distance of Vietnam, Singapore, the Malaysian coast, and even Brunei."

Jonas and the old Magus discussed some geographical details before continuing.

"They explored the island for the first half a day without incident, but then they ran into the island's inhabitants. As you can imagine, this would be the millennia-old Bayan-tree Dryads that reside at the island's centre. I remember Henry telling me that his men were overwhelmed by the Dryads after a few days of being kited through the woods. The fairy-folk have a Fey-charm ability that muddles the mind, especially when it comes to young men."

Surya stopped to take a sip of water.

"When it came to Henry, however, he told me that since he was naturally a Mage aligned with plant-life, he managed to, 'convince', the Dryad to come with him instead of drawing him into the woods."

Paul whistled.

"The boss's Master must be close to the tier of a Magi if he can kidnap a wood nymph from her people. That's a helluva reversal."

Surya nodded in affirmation.

"Sufina was still young, of course, a century at most and so more pliable to becoming a bonded familiar. It was fortunate for both of them. I'd always thought. I've never seen another plant-Mage like Henry, and Henry had never encountered a suitable magical creature like Sufina since."

Her grandfather's audience agreed.

"Now that brings me back to the point I was making," Surya continued. "While you will be fighting your way into the island, you mustn't attack the Dryads themselves."

"How strong are they?" Taj inquired. "General class for the mature ones? Giant class for the Elders? Titan for the mother-tree?"

"No no, nothing like that." Surya waved his hand. "Nothing so exaggerated. A tier 3 Fire Evoker can take down your average Dryad without breaking a sweat, Soldier class at best. Only the Matron, who feeds off the grove, could arguably approach the Commander class, or tier 7 thereabouts. I am saying that once Sufina returns to the fold, she would be far more powerful than your average Dryad, maybe even approaching Titan class on her own. If you start killing the Dryads, you'd be killing her kin, and then you'd have to face her wrath."

"But she'll remember us, right?" Gwen asked anxiously. "She'll know who Yue and Elvia and Whetu are."

Surya dipped his chin ever so slightly.

"She's a sentient being, so she'll have memories of friend and allies. However, when a contracted creature is released, there's a loss of the empathic bond. When you have shared a telepathic connection with a partner for over three decades and then suddenly it's gone, you're bound to be feeling a little crazy. Gwen, you have animal companions, so you wouldn't know just how much feedback the loss of a spiritual companion gives you, but it is said to be worse than death. I've even heard of Conjurers committing suicide when they lose their Familiars. The feeling of losing a sentient spirit is said to be the soul-rending feeling that you'll never again know completion or happiness."

Gwen took in a nervous breath of cold air. In the stillness of the room, they could audibly hear the quickening of her erratic breath.

"Sir..." There was a rap on the door.

"Afternoon tea?" Tess's bright face looked into the room. "Hi, Gwen!"

"Hey there," Gwen said weakly, still thinking about her friends and now with the added trauma of projecting the paranoia of losing her Familiars.

"Let's break for a bit. We have to wait for our last member anyway," Jonas suggested. When he walked past Gwen, he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It'll be alright. We'll recover your friends safe and sound. You'll see."

Gwen followed the rest of them onto the alfresco dining area of the veranda. Everyone was present: Richard, Kwan and Tali, Helena, Tang and Percy, Tess and Melissa, Gwen and her companions. A large table was set, modestly filled with simple sandwiches, bits of leftover roast carved into cold cuts, and fresh fruit.

"It was all we could do under the circumstance, Sir." One of the NoM maids apologised to Surya, who gave her a gentle pat on the head and excused her. Gwen looked at them and felt her heart skip a beat when her gaze met those of NoMs that milled about the refugee camp. Here they were, barely surviving on the supplies given to them by the Military, and no more than a dozen meters away the Mages of the household were having a picnic.

They probably had no idea that what they thought was a feast was a horrifically underrepresented afternoon tea for someone of Surya's position, but their resentment was nonetheless palpably felt. Nevertheless, her grandfather paid them no mind, though Melissa seemed genuinely displeased by the looks they were getting.

"Ungrateful serfs," she mumbled to Tess, just audible under her breath. "If it weren't for Master, they'd be dodging Mermen while knee-deep in seawater right now."

Tess patted her sister's hand and told her not to mind.
Surya tapped a glass.

"Family, friends, I am grateful that all of us could be here today," the old patriarch began appearing touched that all of them had survived the calamity. "Though the past few months had seen some great turbulence, I hope that in this time of crisis, the family can remember that blood is thicker than water, and that no matter how far we roam, we remember that unity brings strength and prosperity."

"Hear, hear!" To Gwen's surprise, Kwan began to clap frantically.

Everyone else followed, some more vigorously than others.

"Now," Surya continued when the applause died down. "I wanted all of us to be here today, because even though in the next few months we may go our separate ways, compelled by different circumstances, I want all of you to at least remember that today, on this day, we are one family."

"All of you are close to me." Surya's voice became full of emotion. "It means so much to me that—"

"Am I... am I late?" The Enchanter's speech was interrupted by the appearance of a lone figure walking onto the veranda.
Gwen's' eyes grew as large as quail eggs.
Surya's face grew three shades darker.
Helena almost spat out her sparkling chardonnay.

A casually dressed pauper walked in on them dressed in straight cut jeans and a stained white shirt; his hair cropped informally to give an indifferent air. Still, the man possessed a ruggedly handsome mien. The only flaw immediately noticeable was his height, which fell below Helena's desirable magic number of six-feet.

"Er…" Gwen's father instantly realised that this was perhaps not the best time to exit the lobby and make his presence known.

Likely, Gwen guessed, the man thought that since the family was all present, he may as well get all the scowling over and done with at once.

"So, am I interrupting something?"


The family made space for Morye next to Gwen out of politeness, but the pleasant atmosphere prior was now shot and done to death in a dark back alley. Demurely seated next to her father, Gwen could feel her stepfather regarding Morye with near-tangible antipathy.

When two men who had slept with the same woman sat at the same table, particularly in the presence of the former's children, a feeling of contest or enmity was unavoidable.

It was not so for Gwen's father, who was as cool as the proverbial cucumber, without a smidgen of annoyance or care. He spoke quietly to the people he knew, asked them about their survival experiences, and even cracked a few jokes to nervous laughter. Not even Surya's growls and death-stares could faze Morye's come-what-may repose. Whenever Helena, Surya, or even Kwan tried to undermine Morye, they had the distinct impression of punching wool.

"I was looking for our daughter, you should know." Morye turned to a startled Gwen, who didn't believe a word her father said. "I tried to call her many times."

If there was one person at the table who seem to stagger Morye's impervious demeanour, Gwen was it. For some reason, her father spoke to her with a feeling of reservedness, carefully formulating his words and thinking twice before delivering them. As he told his tale, Gwen measured Morye with her untrusting eyes, sceptical about her father's purpose.
She knew that he had met her brother every other weekend for a luncheon, or had frequented one of his school's Spellcraft competitions.

With herself, he had cut himself off since the day she walked out after he'd prematurely brought a girlfriend over. She could guess that to her father; his wayward little girl had changed beyond all recognition. Gone were her timidness, the insecurity, the panicky obsession with her appearance. The Gwen seated herself next to him now possessed an air of supreme confidence about herself, a kind of surety that came with age. She wore very little makeup, suggesting she'd grown out from that particular phase of her life, but remained uncommonly pretty even without effort. Thanks to Almudj, her skin was pale and flawless, as tender as that of a child's. Her figure as well, which had always been a little anorexic, was now supple and shapely, attesting to the good life she must have enjoyed for the last year. Watching his face, her father seemed happy but likely had no idea how much her former self had been battered, bruised, starved and mistreated.

"Thanks, Dad." Gwen felt strange calling a man she'd already rejected and forgotten in both lives with the endearing moniker of 'Father', but there was no helping it under the circumstances.

Her father appeared to wrack his brain for something to say that would break the icy tension between them. "So, how's the VOID Magic coming along?"

Suddenly, all sound and action ceased at the table.

Morye looked around the table and saw the astonished expression of each member frozen in different stages of surprise, shock, confusion, disbelief, and murder. To Gwen's chagrin, it was only now that father realised with a sudden outbreak of cold sweat across his brow that he'd made a terrible blunder.

Gwen's mouth opened and closed for a few seconds, but no words ushered from her paling lips. She knew now how her mother felt. She wanted to strangle Morye right here, or at least punch him squarely in his stupid face.

Her grandfather had buried his face in both palms and was trying to breathe without inducing an aneurysm. Tess and Melissa seemed to be in the know, and so looked downwards at their plates, finding a sudden interest in their half-eaten sandwiches. The military men that had come with Gwen said nothing. Instead, they looked as though they were ready to murder everyone on the table if Gwen would only give them the command.

On the table, only Kwan, Tali, Helena, Percy and Tang's faces looked as though they were seeing NYE pyrotechnics for the first time.

"The… Void element, was it, Gwen?" Helena said after what must have been half a minute. "One of the scarcest taboo elements, said to be second to none in offensive ability?"

Beside her, her husband Tang's face was less kind. As a retired Colonel and a Senior Enchanter himself, he immediately realised the correlation that may or may not exist between the crisis and the suspicious coincidence of Gwen's talent.

"What do you know about the Black Sun?" Tang demanded with a voice that boomed across the veranda. "Are you involved with the Mermen incident? What happened to Lord Kilroy?"

"Colonel Tang," Jonas intoned dangerously. "I'd advise you to consider your next words very carefully."

Tang felt the killing intent flow from the three men at the end of the long table. Instantly, his expression resembled a Gob who had triggered a Glyph of Warding and knew that his leg was forfeit at any moment. However, the man's suspicions were sound as he had been present when his wife was disgraced. Unfortunately for Tang, Gwen knew that his hypothesis no longer mattered; certainly not with three Combat Mages breathing down his neck and whetting their knives.

"Sorry." the strength seemed to drain from the retired Colonel as he apologised to Gwen. "It's the stress, the heat. I wasn't thinking straight. Please forget what I said."

Alongside her husband, Helena's face was alternating between shades of ash and carmine. Gwen cringed when she studied her mother's eyes. The Void Element! She must be thinking. The same talent as the war hero, Elizabeth Sobel! Even from a distance, she could see the gears and cogs of Helena's mind tick, foreshadowing great things that had seemed just out of reach a moment ago.

As expected, Helena slowly moved her eyes until she met Morye's. The careless fool was now scratching his head apologetically in that scrappy, slipshod manner that irked Gwen inconsolably.

Her mother must be wondering where the Element had been hidden. Surya's talents were Enchantment and Fire; her talent was Evocation and Fire. Their late grandmother was Transmutation and Water, which had passed onto Kwan, then onto Richard.

Was Helena regretting leaving Morye now? Gwen wondered. There was no doubt that the answer was negative. If Helena had stayed any longer with the capricious incarnation of irresponsibility, she would have probably murdered the prick in bed with an ice pick. What mother dear regretted was all that potential talent that even now was going to waste. If only her father could have used his talent, then she might be married to another Gunther Shultz.

The others at the table were watching Morye with the same thoughts. With the prevalence of inherited talents, Gwen and Percy's uncommon Element of Negative Energy could only come from God himself, or from this blithe idiot who was even now stuffing himself with their sandwiches.

"Please, Major Durn, no need to be like that." Surya looked towards his children and their spouses with eyes that glowed like two notes of dark, smouldering coal. "I assure you, those present here can keep a secret. If I recall, Gwen's talents would be made public in time, though that time is not now."

"There's been a change of plans, Opa," Gwen bowed to her grandfather. "Now that Ma— Magister Kilroy has passed."

"Of course." Surya nodded understandingly. "Later then?"

"I should hope so, Opa. There'll be plenty of opportunities, I am sure."

Her grandfather observed a moment of silence, then turned to the table. "You. All of you. Swear on your Astral Souls that you will not speak a word of Morye's blunder."

Kwan was more than happy to oblige, as was Tali. Surya noticed that Richard had been entirely unfazed this whole while.

"She told you before?"

"Around about three months ago, Grandfather."

Tali and Kwan regarded their son, who then swore by his astral soul that he would keep faith with Gwen's secret. Though such oaths were non-binding, they manifested a phenomenon whereby the constant reminder of one's betrayal of the pledge would ultimately influence the progress of one's Spellcraft training, especially when it came to attunements which directly drew power from faith and belief. And though there are individuals who were sociopathic enough to ignore the oaths they made, it was no less a token demonstration of one's willingness and sincerity associated with oath-making.

Tang followed without incident, and then their attention fell upon Helena, who gritted her teeth through each word, exhausted the by the effort of the simple pledge.

"Percy, you too." Surya was merciless.

"I don't want to." Gwen could see that Percy was at a rebellious age and saw the push to make him swear some incoherent oath for his sister as a clear sign of favouritism.

Surya's fuming displeasure could have lit the tablecloth on fire.

"Opa, it's okay," Gwen intervened, not wanting to make things any more awkward between Percy and herself. From Alesia, she knew that the oath was less so magical compulsion and more so psychological trickery. Her Sister-in-craft had once boasted to Gwen that when she compelled oaths from felons, she would brand them with fire. That way, each time the miscreants thought about reoffending, the ache from their scars coerced them to reconsider life's choices.

"Ungrateful little weasel," Surya spat, clearly displeased about Percy's challenge of his authority.

The table regained its awkward silence. Once more, the murderous gazes of its inhabitants gathered upon Morye, who happily drank his chardonnay.

Without a doubt, the luncheon was at an end.

"We'll leave it at that." Jonas stood from the table. "We'll be getting ready. As soon as our number five and our documents arrive, we're leaving."

Morye raises a finger to stop the Healer. "Ah, about that…"

Gwen turned sharply to her father.

"Dad, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you here?"

Morye's guilty face turned to face Gwen with a look of helpless consternation, like a sailor who'd been shanghaied by his mates and now found himself bound for Barbados.

"I am your fifth man!" he announced with the flourish of a third-rate magician shouting 'ta-da!'

"Yes, excellent, Father." Gwen made an expression akin to seeing her dog shit on the front lawn in front of guests. "So why are you here?"

Morye's face grew tragic with wretchedness.

"I was told that I had to accompany you on this journey because you are a child and thus had to be accompanied by a guardian."

"I am thir… I am Sixteen! Dad, I am not a child! Besides, I have some of the most capable men in the military with me. Not to mention I can take care of myself."

Morye turned to regard the three military men, who grinned at him confidently as if to say "We're happy to leave you behind."

"No!" Morye affected an expression of disbelief and hyperbolic grief. "You don't want me to come?"

"I don't," Gwen said coldly. Her father had already ruined their luncheon, and the man had only been here for an hour. Gwen wanted nothing more than to leave right now, supply or no supply, but she had to wait.

"Good, please call Gunther and tell him that I've been discharged," Morye said quickly, handing Gwen a Message device that was already dialling.
To Gwen's surprise, it connected.

Ding!

A Private Message spell bloomed beside her ear.
How the hell could a mid-tier Abjurer just casually call the Paladin of the Tower during a crisis? Gwen shot her father a look of ambivalent emotions and quickly moved away from the table. With the absurd number of NoMs going to and fro, she retreated instead to the second living room, shutting the glass doors being her as she did so.

"Brother Gunther, what's happening, why is Morye our fifth member?" she quickly asked her craft-sibling.

Gunther's mirthful voice came through the spell's aural invocations.

"He's there? Good. I am sending the documentation now. Ask Surya to retrieve the package from the Teleportation Circle he'd set up for your training."

"Thanks, Gunther, but how the hell is my dad going to help?"

Gunther's voice became more severe as he continued.

"Gwen, just how much do you know about your Father?"

"He's a useless, lazy lout, a womaniser and a faithless scoundrel who is a Water Abjurer? I think he was tier 4 or 5; I am not sure. He works some menial technical job at a Shield Station."

Even behind the pulsing Message Glyph, Gwen could feel Gunther wincing at every barbed insult.

"But… I suppose Morye was a nice enough Dad. Kept us through the darker time when Mother was away. I don't remember having wants for food, shelter or clothing while he stayed with us. Even though we lived in a working-class neighbourhood, we felt safe."

"That's it?"

"There's more?"

Gunther fell silent as if gathering his thoughts.

"He gave you the pendant, the one that ended saving our lives, right?"

At her Brother-in-craft's reminder, Gwen felt her conscience mugged in the night by her balaclava-clad guilt wielding a nail-studded bat.
Her father had indeed given her the pendant. But it was Morya who had idiotically implied that it was for childbearing, hadn't he? What kind of a lecherous father gave their daughter a fertility pendant? Had her father anticipated this day or was he as clueless as he appeared?

"You may be interested to know," Gunther continued. "That your father was the only survivor of incident Zero at the Watson Bay Shield Station. That's where your father worked. Of all the Mages stationed there, including a guard unit Senior Combat Mages, your father, a 'useless technician' was the only survivor."

Now it was Gwen who grew uncertain. She recalled seeing the station blow up. She remembered the moment with clarity.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Before we even knew of the Mermen invasion, I received a call from your father, specifically asking for you and your brother's whereabouts. When I'd asked him what happened to the assailants, do you know what he told me?"

"They escaped?"

"No, Gwen. He told me they collectively committed suicide."
Gunther's re-telling wasn't funny, but the event was indeed in the style of her father's morbid humour.

"Another thing. When my recovery team went in, the debris was covered with negative energy residues collated in powdered white crystals."

"Salt!" Gwen mouthed to herself in silence. For someone with her life experience and keen intelligence, it wasn't difficult to join the dots.
Her father's survival.
The Salt residue.
Percy's talent.

"Not only that, we found one of your old acquaintances at the scene."

"I am not familiar with his co-workers," Gwen continued to dig through her alter-self's memories. She had recalled seeing her father's co-workers when she was younger, but her memory was indistinct.

"We found the remains of a certain Edmund Moore Ravenport at the scene."

"Doesn't ring a bell."

"Also known as The Dust Devil, or the Mind Mage, Edgar."

Suddenly, Gwen found herself short of breath.

"The body was in quite a state, I am afraid. Crushed, drained, limbless, castrated."

Gwen felt her mind reeling with visions of Edgar, the man who had come close to violating her mind and body. At that moment, she had tasted the malice and darkness that lied in "Edgar's" heart and knew that his capacity for malevolence was unfathomable. How could a Mage like that die so unceremoniously? She'd been loathing their next meeting, playing the scene over and over in her head, and now, without warning, the bastard was worm fodder?

"Wait, did you say 'castrated' as in the..." Gwen tried for a euphemism. "Servants of the Sultan's harem sense?"

Gunther chuckled uncomfortably.

"Rather violently, I am afraid. Dashed eggs and all that."

"…"

"Well, that's what the report stated in its exactness, there wasn't much left. Anyway, why do you think someone would go to such length to inflict so much pain on such a man? I mean, it's not much exactly a stretch of the imagination, after all, your father risked exposing himself just to extort you and your brother's location. If you don't mind me saying so, Gwen, despite Morye's insouciance, he cares a great deal for his children."

Gwen looked outside toward the long table, where his father was helping himself to the decanter. Surya was in low conversation with Jonas, while Richard spoke jovially with Morye while ignoring his mother's frantic tugging of his shirtsleeves.

In an accidental Renaissance sort of way, the scene somewhat reminded Gwen of an infamous supper. Would their family ever be together like this again? What would happen once they go their separate ways?

"Gwen?" Gunther stirred her from her daydream.

"I think I understand."

"Good. Far be it that I should come between Father and daughter, but I hope you resolve your differences. Also, I would very much like to know what that Kirin pendant does, and if we can replicate its effects. I am waiting on reports on your father's past, but mayhap he is willing to let you into his head a little."

"I'll try my best."

"Excellent, Sister. I am certain Yue, Elvia, and Whetu await your timely rescue. Godspeed."

Gwen moved out onto the veranda. From the direction of the workshop, an NoM servant approached with a package covered with protective glyphs.

"For Mistress Song's party." The maid placed the box on the table and curtseyed before leaving.

The family turned to address the incoming Gwen, who held the inert Message device in her hand and looked at Morye intently.

"I've confirmed with Gunther, he's our man," Gwen announced to the group.

Paul, Taj and Jonas gave one another looks that suggested they had just stepped dog shit.

"I won't pull your leg," Morye said to them when he caught their constipated expressions. "If you don't pull mine."

"Dad's got a commendation from Gunther," Gwen backed up her father, having gained a new, previously unfound confidence in the flighty fellow.

Despite their disbelief, the package passed down to the group, where Jonas opened the Glyphs with a secretive invocation. Within were several metallic plates constructed of some composite material that resembled thin pieces of flexible carbon plates. When the Healer channelled a mote of mana into the card-like object, it projected an illusory field that held his headshot, biometrics, affinity and Rank.

When Gwen received her identification, she saw that the range of her abilities had been underreported, as expected.

**Gwen Song**
 **Multiple Transit Pass**
 **I.D** : 2840598 01
 **CoO** : Australia
**Eyes** : Hazel - Green
**Skin** : Caucasian
**Hair** : Black (Warm)
 **Height** : 180CM
 **SoM** : Evocation, Conjuration
**AFT** :: Quasi-Elemental - Lightning

There was also a line of small print that could be just visible in the indent: _This Pass is for valid Transit holders only, effective within the territories of the Mageocratic Commonwealth._

There was a careful balance to her falsely advertised talents. If Gwen's skills appeared mundane, her retinue would cause suspicion; if she were overtly unique and precious, her lacking a substantial entourage would also bring trouble.

Feeling the card in her hand, Gwen wondered if Gunther was trying his best to emulate his late Master's methodology. Gwen knew that she couldn't be grown in a greenhouse and still hope to attain the same level of Spellcraft as Alesia and Gunther. If Gunther was happy to let her roam as she pleased, then she was glad to take the opportunity.

When she earlier received the Teleportation Ring from Gunther, an unspoken understanding had passed between the Siblings-in-craft. The message was simple- all Gwen had to do was survive. In her mind, she understood that she had to prove herself worthy of Gunther's protection, just as Gunther would do his best to ensure that she would survive to try again.

Morye took his I.D and examined its contents.

"Mineral Mage," he mused. "Well, I suppose it's close enough."

With the luncheon utterly disrupted by Morye's blunder, the rest of the group had little desire to persist in the family gathering. They broke off into private assemblies across the long veranda, exchanging members once in a while to build rapport for the days to come.

Thanks to Tang's presence, Helena stayed away from her ex, which came as a great relief to Gwen and Percy. The teenagers, meanwhile, had formed their huddle separately from the adults.

"Now can you tell me what's going on with the family?"
Richard was about to pivot to another topic when his cousin's serious eyes cornered him.

"Well, we're shit broke," he confessed candidly.

"How?" Gwen demanded. Her Uncle might be a conniving, name-dropping charlatan, but his real talent in investment brokerage seldom failed the family.

"The Mermen invasion, of course," Richard replied nonchalantly. "It's the normal thing during a large scale invasion. It's not like it hasn't happened before, just not to Sydney, and not to us."

With nonchalance, her cousin explained their dire straits. As a Praelector candidate from Prince's, Richard had received the opportunity to attend university in London. There, he'd planned to earn enough accolades to eventually move his parents to the tier 1 city itself, from which their rise into the upper strata of the Mageocracy could begin.

Unfortunately, even with his prodigious talent, mere talent proved insufficient to gain a full scholarship to the colleges he desired to attend. Now with the sudden destruction of the property market and their family estate in Sydney, Richard could no longer afford the price of immigration, not to mention the cost of renting and staying in London's upscale educational districts.

"There's also the problem of Policy," Richard continued to explain. "In a state of emergency like this, the standard procedure is to move all non-essential Mages from the Frontier City and assign them to the closest Tier 1 city willing to take them. From there, the rarer talents are, 'divvied up' for the lack of a better word, by the power brokers."

"What happens to those with mundane talent?" Gwen asked suspiciously, thinking of their friends in Blackwattle.

"Bundled off to another tier 2 cities, I imagine," Richard replied. "A new life, as the propaganda would say, though I imagine it's a case of waste not, want not."

Gwen's eyes had an ambivalent look to them.

"So you are going to a tier 1 city?"

"As a refugee, not as a student." Richard sighed. "We don't get a choice of what cities we are assigned. As refugees, we'll be living in segregated zones from the rest of the tier 1 folks. Knowing the snobbery of the citizens there, I'd half expect them to see us as little more than NoMs."

"Can Opa…"

"No." Richard stopped Gwen before she could make the suggestion. "Why do you think Kwan came here first thing? Surya's doing the right thing here, spending the family's money to help the NoMs and those Mages who wish to stay here. The NoMs will be living under some pretty feral conditions until the city's cleansed and the stations repaired. They could be here for years, living in these concrete boxes. At any rate, you need more than just money to bend the rules. I'll hit up some of my seniors and see what they can do."

"So what's your projection?" Gwen asked. She wasn't sure how many people knew that Richard had already contracted an Undine, but surely someone of his talent would be a clear stand out even if they were forced into special refugee zones somewhere in a tier 1 city.

"Making sure my parents are safe. I suppose. Then I can focus on the new world. I am confident we'll be fine wherever we go. At any rate, I look forward to you visiting our new home."

"What about you, Percy?" Gwen turned to her brother. "What's mum's plan?"

The young man looked up at Gwen with questioning eyes. Percy had an expression that looked as though someone had stolen his lunch. Gwen could understand how the boy felt. A proper Awakening, a rare elemental talent, a bright future— all of that had been within his grasp. Then before he'd even enjoyed any of it, a tsunami of Mermen had dashed his dreams and washed his hopes out to sea.

"Dad, I mean step-dad, is staying to repair the city. That's what his manufactorum specialises in, fabrication. I doubt mum would stay here if she's allowed to go to a tier 1 city though, even if it's in a special exclusion zone."

"So that means you'll be going as well if it comes to it?"

Percy nodded.

"Richard said that with my talent, I'd be able to continue schooling."

"It's true. I doubt a Tower would let someone with Percy's elemental talent just languish. He's likely going to be picked up in processing and sent back to school. Maybe even a school like Prince's, they got branches and brother-schools in all the major Frontiers."

"How's Prince's holding up?" Gwen asked out of curiosity.

"Gone," Richard shrugged. "No Shield Station, no school."

Gwen nodded. She'd heard that the influential Houses all had connections linking back to tier 1 cities. For those born to privilege, the invasion's extraordinary circumstances merely compelled an accelerated timetable for their return to the main branch.

They kept up the small talk for a while longer until the conversation was interrupted by Paul.

"It's time to go," The Translocation Mage announced. "We'll be taking the Teleportation Circle to the Tower, then to Brisbane, then to Townsville. There are a few inland hops from there until we get to Darwin. I hope you had a light lunch just now. It's not going to be gentle on the stomach."

By now, Gwen was no stranger to teleportation, but this was her first foray into inter-continental travel.

"Luckily, Gunther's done a bang-up job." Paul grinned affably. "We're clear for uninterrupted travel until we board the Freighter in Darwin."

"How long until we reach the island?" Gwen inquired.

"Assuming we find a ship in Singapore willing to take us." Paul's eyes fell towards Gwen' Storage Ring, where a hundred military-issued, high-density mana crystals sat in a pouch. "All in all, I'd say seven to eight days."

Gwen almost spat out the glass of water she'd been nursing.

"Seven to eight days!" she uttered in disbelief. "How long does it take us to get to Darwin?"

"About ten hours, most of which is waiting for the Teleportation Chambers to be attuned."

"Then?"

"A ship, more specifically, we'll be boarding a cargo freighter. There are ones that go out every day."

"We can't teleport to Singapore?"

Paul regarded the inexperienced girl before him. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Gwen was a teenager who'd never been outside of her Ivory Tower.

"No, Singapore is not a part of the Oceania Council of Ten. We have ongoing treaties, but the "Fortress Port" has sovereignty within its territories."

"But Gunther could ask for us to go direct, can't he? We're in a hurry."

"By what capacity do you propose we make the proposition?" Paul's brows furrowed. "Do you know anyone there? Does Tower Master Lee owe you a personal favour?"

Gwen found that she had no rebuttal for Paul's rationale.

They were Three Senior Mages with Military Ranks, one zealous apprentice to a deceased Magister, and one unwilling loafer, venturing into a Black Zone. Why are you going there? An official Singaporean Magus would question. What lies at the end of so much risk and effort? "We're saving three junior Mages," they'd reply, and their stunned audience would surely demand that they owe up to the undeliverable truth.

"Gwen," Richard interjected before Paul became irritable with Gwen's dissatisfaction over the delayed travel arrangements. He took her icy palms and held them in his own, which were dry and warm. "Your people have done their best in the circumstances. You have to trust them if you want them to help you. Don't let your feelings go over your head."

The tactile warmth of Richard assurance brought her back from the anxious edge of impatience. Gwen took a deep breath and calmed herself, measuring their circumstance.

Could Yue stay put for nine more days? Could Whetu last that long? Elvia should be fine, but there were many unknowns to which she couldn't even begin to guess.

"I am sorry," Gwen said to the two boys. "I have to go."

"We'll be out of contact once we leave Darwin," Paul reminded her cousin and her sibling. "If there's' an emergency, get Master Surya to contact Gunther, and he'll try to get ahold of us."

Gwen fiercely embraced her family.

"Percy, take care of Mother. Richard, good luck with the relocation. I hope to be back before it happens, but please keep me updated."

"Will do. Hopefully, we'll see you soon."

"Goodbye, Sis." When it was Percy's turn, her embrace grew fiercer and more maternal, pressing the embarrassed boy tightly against the small of her body before kissing him on the forehead.

Back on the veranda, the rest of the family waited.

"Opa, I have to go."

"I know." Surya came and embraced Gwen, his body frame poking into her ribs as usual. "Be safe, my little cucu perempuan."

"I will."

"Take care of her." Surya turned to the others, who saluted the old Enchanter.

"We will, Sir." The men saluted.

Gwen turned to her mother, who'd been laconic since Morye had blurted out that she was a Void Mage.

"Goodbye, Mother."

"Good luck," her mother replied before they embraced, performing the familial ritual with duty rather than feeling.

There was also Tess and Melissa, who gave Gwen a tearful farewell. Tess handed over a large ration of Roo jerky, a full kilogram's worth, which she made Gwen promise she would save for an emergency. Melissa meanwhile, had prepared a bottle of eucalyptus oil, "for the bugs," she explained "bugs as big as your face".

Gwen held the flask a little closer to her chest.

"Right." Paul pointed the way to the workshop, where the Teleportation Circle awaited. Soon they would be away. Gwen would leave Sydney for the first time in her life.

A cry from the crowd impeded their progress.

"Ms Song! Gwen Song! Please! A moment!"

The voice wasn't from their party, but from the crowd of refugees gathered on the property's camp. The family turned to see an auburn-haired woman with amber eyes, middle-aged and well kept, waving frantically in their direction.

Gwen recognised the woman's face with a sinking sensation. She'd never seen her before, but it didn't take a Diviner to guess that she was the mother of the late Debora Jones.

To be the harbinger of bad news had always been one of the most challenging endeavours an individual could undertake. It took immense mental fortitude and incredible empathy for an individual to become capable of looking a mother in the eye and state with absolute certainty that their child had died.

Gwen considered herself a woman of spirit; she could stomach pain, disgrace, and trauma when performed upon herself, but it didn't mean that she had the stoic forbearance necessary to bring such mental anguish to another.

One must be cruel to be kind. Gwen reminded herself.

"Let her through," Gwen said, mindful of the several seconds in which she'd stared at the woman in wide-eyed horror. Two of the militiamen keeping order in the Refugee camp allowed the woman to pass.

Debora's mother was an Earthen Transmuter. With only a modest talent for Spellcraft and elemental affinity, she'd worked part-time at a local manufactorum and was principally a homemaker. When the evacuation began, and the list of inland locations for temporary shelters came up, she saw Surya's estate and used what little connection she had to move her family to the Hunter's Region.

When she saw Gwen with the Master of the house, she must have recognised Gwen instantly. She must have seen the lumen-pics her daughter had brought back, especially the ones with her daughter's arms wrapped around the waist of a sorceress with bright hazel eyes.

"Mrs Jones," Gwen approached Debora's mother and extended a hand.
The formality seemed to catch Debora's mother off-guard, causing her to hesitate before taking Gwen's hand.

"Just Verna is fine."

"I am sorry." Gwen bowed before Verna could persist in any small talk. There was no point to it. No matter how they twisted and sidestepped, the outcome was inevitable.

"Why… are you sorry?" Verna's face turned the colour of fresh sheets.
Gwen remained bowed while Verna stammered. Jonas moved up and helped the woman steady herself.

"She was brave until the very end, Mrs Jones. I couldn't have had a better companion."

Verna steadied herself, and then her expression turned cruel.

"That's it? How can you be so heartless?" she accused Gwen. "Debora said she was your best friend! She said that she admired you!"

Gwen felt the palpable disappointment in Verna's accusation. She knew she couldn't blame the woman, nor herself. If she had been Debora's friend, if she had spent a year with her friend, if her friend had died in her arms, then she could have spoken of every detail in Debbie's eulogy.

But the reality was far from Verna's desired truth.

In the end, she was not Debora's friend. She didn't even know Debora. Instead, the thing that had taken Debora's form had directly resulted in her Master's death, her real friends' displacement, and the city's loss of life.

In an instant, her heart grew cold. She wasn't a saint. She couldn't possibly waste another minute here, conferring with this woman of no importance who'd only accuse her of abandoning her daughter, who knew nothing!

Her eyes turned to Taj.

The Senior Sergeant came between Verna and Gwen as Debora's distraught mother continued to pour out a torrent of hysterical abuse. Jonas tightened his grip on the woman as well, ready to give her a jolt of Calm Emotion if she should turn violent. Though they frowned at Gwen's apparent coldheartedness, they had a long journey ahead.

In the end, it was Surya who took the disconsolate mother away, speaking to her softly with kind words.

Taj caught up with them a moment later at the entrance to the workshop. Morye had long since escaped the spectacle and was waiting for them within. Paul was readying the Circle. Jonas gave Gwen a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"It's alright if you want to grieve," he suggested helpfully.

Gwen shook her head.

"I am alright," she replied, looking toward the silvery glow of the active Teleportation Chamber within. "Let's go. Delay as we may, time waits for no one."


If someone had asked Elvia a year ago if she'd be rubbing shoulders with Magisters and witnessing city-levelling combat that existed on a mythical level— she'd ask what quasi-magical medication they were taking.

Elvia was as kind as she looked, a daddy's girl. Among the friendship trio, she was Gwen's respite, Yue's sometime-pillow, and the angelic healer of Blackwattle's clinic. Timid and bashful, she was not built to withstand the immense tension that came with two Magisters squaring off, much less the traumatic anxiety of conspiracy where hundreds of thousands of human lives hung in the balance.

"Debora, God help me if you don't let Gwen go right this minute. If you harm her, my life's sole purpose will revolve around ensuring that you suffer..."

Yue's acerbic threats made Elvia's scalp crawl.

"You fucking bitch… I am going to immolate everyone you love. Your brothers, your sisters, your parents. You will rue the day you turned traitor…"

Elvia felt sick. Yue's blasphemous threat sent shivers down her spine precisely because she knew that her friend meant every word. As Alesia's Apprentice, Yue could arguably cite to the Tower that Debora's family was complicit to the conspiracy that resulted in the death of tens of thousands. But what if they were not? She would never know the sweet innocence of restful sleep ever again.

The standoff had lingered for a moment more until Alesia uttered a cry of dismay. Surprising them both, Yue's Master Blinked past them into the Grot.

"You're too late," Debora announced flatly as a swarm of firefly embers filled the air.

Beside the traitorous Transmuter, Gwen writhed in agony, caught in the constrictive embrace of the Sand Prison. Elvia' fists clenched and unclenched. It was just like that time during the Field Trip, only now Gwen wasn't screaming for her to run away.

When Debora next spoke, her words were emotionless and full of prophecy.

"There is nothing you can do. There is nothing any of you can do. Not anymore."

"Shut your hole—" Yue began, letting loose a torrent of abuse.
Elvia wanted to cry but fought down the tears.

But it wasn't her gut that began to spin and churn.

Without warning, the Grot began to distort, though really, there was no word to describe the strangeness of their unbidden translocation. It was the folding of two spaces across a vast expanse, first folded like two ends of an origami crane, and now transforming back into a plain sheet of paper.

In the blink of an eye, the space within the Tower ceased to be.

Where Yue had been shouting death-threats at Debora only a split second ago; now she was hurling abuse at a lonesome sapling. A verdurous seedling with a dozen leaves that had sprouted from the foliage smothered floor of a tropical rainforest.

Much like a cargo truck without compression breaks, Yue went on for a few more seconds before her embroiled mind could process their forced translocation.

"…. shove a wand up—" Yue stopped.

She had stopped because the sapling had uprooted itself and fled behind the wall-like roots of a giant banyan tree.

"What the fuck?" Yue said to the general air.

"Where ears this?" Whetu regarded their surroundings with awe. "This reminds me of northern New Zulland, near Rotorua."

"Fuck that, where's Gwen?! Where's that bitch, Debora?"

"I don't think this is Sydney," Elvia intoned frightfully, feeling the humidity almost instantly drench her pale, heat-sensitive skin, far more acclimatised to the dry, cold air of Middle Europe.

The movement of a sapling-like being peeking out from the trees caught their wandering, agitated eyes. It gawked at the party, its leaves quivering with terror.

"Hello? Who are you?" Elvia lowered her body until she was on both knees, her fair hair cascading over her shoulder. "We don't mean to harm you. You may come out if you like."

Perhaps sensing Elvia's goodwill, or possibly recognising the tone of her speech, the little sapling emerged a little more from its place of shelter.

Now that they had a closer look at the thing, it was no longer in the shape of a sapling tree. The plant was instead a petite, female babe with olive skin, bright luminous eyes of emerald green, and hair full of tressy vines. The young Spirit was also entirely in the nude, though a lack of anatomical features hinted at its inhuman nature. Overall, it was an adorable, tiny thing the size of a puppy or a kitten.

Elvia swallowed while Yue and Whetu sucked in deep breaths.

Where the hell had they teleported? The duo tried to recollect themselves. Was this a part of the Grot? Perhaps a defensive system? Where was Alesia?

Most importantly, the sight of the child-like forest-spirit before them assailed their capacity for rational thought. First of all, why was there a sprite here? Wasn't it that Magical Beings like this only existed in zones uninhabited by humanity?

"Come on, little one. Come out. Can you speak?" Elvia cooed as she coaxed the delightful little thing to come closer, anxious to ask it for directions so that they could escape and find Gwen.

Yue and Whetu took a step back.

"Elvia," Yue spoke carefully. "Don't do it."

"Maybe it can talk," Elvia assured her friend innocently. "Maybe it can tell us where we are?"

Elvia gestured so that Yue suppressed her instinct to drop a Fireball. She was confident that her gut feeling was right. As Elvia watched, the sapling spirit emerged entirely from its sheltered spot between the roots and was now coming towards them.

It reaches out with long, tendril-like fingers that were far too distended for an anatomically accurate human body and touched Elvia's cheeks.

"Ki!" the creature uttered. "Kiki!"

To Elvia's surprise, it came forward and began to rub itself against her hands. Instantly, the healer relaxed, feeling no hostility from the creature. Mayhap the Sprite was attracted to the Positive Mana that emanated from her body?

Elvia brushed a hand over the sapling's hair.

"So soft," she said, turning to her friends. "I feel it's harmless. I don't think it can talk— ouch!"

She spoke too soon. A needle-sharp pain that pricked her hand, causing her to wince and grimace. With a jerking motion, Elvia pulled her hand from the thing's head. It had stabbed her with a tendril, prickling the pale skin of her finger, which began to bleed profusely.

"I knew it!" Yue fired up an aura of fiery mana. She was confident that she could incinerate the thing with a pair of Scorching Rays while avoiding the risk of friendly-fire on Elvia.

"No!" Elvia leaned over the creature protectively. "It was an accident!"

The sapling creature cowered beneath Yue's flaming aura, feeling the motes of fire pour from the Evoker's body. Trembling, it reached out with a tendril and caressed Elvia's hand, where its thorn had pierced her skin. There was a brief emerald glow. To their surprise, the swollen wound mended in front of their eyes.

"That's rather handy," Yue retracted her spell but still regarded the thing with suspicion. The child-like Spirit made a face at her and hid away from Yue behind Elvia.

Whetu furrowed his brows. "Elvia..."

"I know," Elvia answered. It goes without saying that because a Magical Being was benign right now doesn't mean it would remain so in the future.

"Kiki-ki!" the thing wailed. It then clambered up onto Elvia and buried itself in her flaxen hair.

"We're not keeping that thing," Yue warned her friend, mindful of Alesia's claim that the only good Magical Being was a smouldering mana-core after a nice Fireball.

"Just for a little bit?" Elvia begged. "Maybe it'll be helpful?"

Both Elvia and the Sprite begged their companions with liquid eyes.

"Erh." Yue turned away, unable to withstand the look of innocence that radiated from two pairs of guileless eyes. Whetu as well seemed defeated by their adorability.

The trio inspected their surrounding.

Evidently, they were in a verdant jungle. The heat was beyond humid and oppressive, weighing upon the group like wads of cotton. Behind them was a gigantic Banyan tree, stretching into the heavens, smothering all light, leaving the floor with nought but the dappled light peering through its dense foliage. Between the root system as tall as a grown man, was an open space that hinted at a Dryad's sanctum.

"I reckon that's the Grot," Whetu pointed out helpfully. He ventured close to the threshold and placed his hand between the open space. What he felt was a resistance, like pressing one's hand against congealed gelatine. "Ets closed."

"Let me try." Yue attempted to enter the Grot. She made it no more than a few feet before the wall of force drove her backwards. Undeterred, Yue clicked her fingers, and a pair of Dancing Lights manifested. In the shimmering reflection, she could see the outline of her body hazily refracted through the firelight.

Not far from Yue, Elvia had settled the little wood sprite onto her shoulder. She produced her Message device and tried a few Glyphs. The droning tone and the glowing red symbol informed her that its inbuilt Divining formulas were woefully out of range.

"Shit!" Yue's patience was wearing thin. "We have to get back to Gwen. I can't believe Debora betrayed us for Walken! That bitch!"

"Yue…"

"I swear I'll make good on my promise. When we get back, I am going to boil that traitor alive in a vat of low-smoking oil, I… "

"Yew!"

Yue looked up at her companions, who were staring wild-eyed behind her.

A fragrance of wildflowers drifted through the air, sweet and alluring, thick and sticky, hanging in the atmosphere like a physical presence. The redolence was accompanied by the sound of rustling leaves and the susurrating of tall branches.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Yue turned.

The trio beheld a vision, one that beheld them in turn. An avatar of Aphrodite with a long head of autumn leaves beginning in flaming red and ending in burnish bronze shimmered under the dappled light of the afternoon sun. From its head of autumn colours, a breathtakingly beautiful face, gemstone eyes, a celestial nose and pouting lips with the hue of ripe goji protruded. Fluid lines of woodgrain formed its exotic wooden complexion, passing over sensuous curves that were dangerous and voluptuous.

"Wow…" Elvia held her breath, mesmerised by the beauty of the ravishing Dryad that strode into the clearing on long slender legs taller than her head.

Yue turned to Whetu, whose face looked smitten.

"Why do you suppose Dryads have knockers?" she said to the two of them critically. "They ain't mammalian creatures, so ain't it kind of like tits on a bull? I mean, why nips?"

Elvia stared at the alluring Dryad. Yue was right. Especially with its skinny waist, the exaggerated breasts of the woodland being was enormous. Like ripe fruits they were, melons in their own right, poignantly poised upon her chests.

"You've ruined the glamour, Yue." Whetu moaned. "I can't un-see it."

"Well tits or no tits, we gotta ask it for directions. Gwen's waiting for us to rescue her," Yue snapped. "Put your eyeballs back in their sockets, Whetu."

A rustling giggle answered their banter.

"Little ones," hailed the giantess in green and brown. "Where might you hail from?"

Though the group knew that humanoid Magical Beings could speak, the more human-shaped, the more likely, they were still impressed that a creature of such age and origin spoke the common tongue.

"Hello," Elvia began politely. "We're from Sydney. Do you happen to—"

"Tree Lady, where are we?" Yue interjected. "What are you, and how do we get back?"

Whetu placed a careful hand on Yue's shoulder. "Patience, Yew, we are in her domain."

Yue shook herself off Whetu's grasp with impatient annoyance.

"Where might this be?" The Dryad moved her overlarge body with a grace that was pleasing to the eye. "Why, we are in my groove, where my sisters and I have lived since time immemorial."

"We are sorry to intrude." Elvia curtsied, amazed that the creature spoke English. "Might I ask how we may return to our home?"

"Of course, allow me to show you the way." The Dryad turned, flicking her hair in a way that sent streams of beading dew flowing through her hair, dripping down the arc of her wasp's waist onto her magnificent buttocks.

Whetu's breath grew laborious.

"Now that's an arse you could build a house on," Yue muttered offhandedly, displeased at her male companion.

Elvia followed without a word, mindful of the little Sprite hidden in her voluminous hair.

"Ki-ki! Ki!" it muttered beside her with a distinct sense of alarm.

"I can't understand what you're saying," Elvia gave her minute companion a nudge. "What's the matter?"

The sprig-sprite pulled at her ear, but a backward glance from the giant Dryad sent it back into hiding.

The group followed the Dryad for a quarter of an hour. The woods seemed to part before them before closing behind them, giving the three a feeling of foreboding anxiety as their hostess lead the way. By Whetu's guess, they had made it a kilometre before Yue had enough.

"Hey! Double-D, are you sure this is the way out?"

Whetu broke into a snort. Even Elvia couldn't help herself and had to pinch her thighs to keep a straight face. With tears in her eyes, she turned to Yue to scold her for her abrasiveness.

The giantess turned to the group with a winsome smile that no longer reached its eyes. "Yes, it's just this way."

When the group reached a clearing though, it was evident that not only were they not "out" of the woods, they were, in fact, more buried within it. There were tables and chairs set out for human-sized guests in the clearing, shaded by the dappled bower of the enormous Bayan tree above it. The three junior Mages had done their bestiary classes. Now, they regretfully acknowledged that despite their naive optimism, the coy giantess had broken faith and had brought them to be drugged and glamoured.

"It must be very tiring to walk through the woods," the Dryad spoke with a voice dripping with honey. "Mayhap take a short sojourn here and enjoy a cup of sweet mead or a slice of manna bread."

True to her word, cups sprouted from the tables, while a bloom of white flowers seated upon the wood began to fruit, forming a puffy white mushroom that resembled unbaked bread dough.

"I am truly sorry," Elvia began. "But we really must be going, you see, an enemy has captured a friend of ours, and we really must depart to save her."

The Dryad turned to face them with her gemstone eyes, her pupil-less irises giving her an alluring, alien presence. She turned to them, a nude wonder poised to please, and from her mouth issued a soft breeze of spring. A sweet fragrance supernaturally filled the air as the clearing blossomed at once with thousands of flowers.

"Won't you stay? Just for a little while longer?" Her voice filled their ears, rich with pleasing promises.

Whetu seemed instantly smitten, his expression becoming soft and languishing. An idiotic grin of unconditional trust appeared on his face as he nodded slowly. Elvia meanwhile, heard a small "Ki Ki Ki" beside her, a few seconds later, her groggy mind regaining its clarity. Yue however, was entirely unaffected, with the flower petals bursting into fireflies as they neared her body.

"Hey, wood whore!" Yue punched Whetu in the chest, doubling him over. "Last chance."

The Dryad frowned, lovely even in anger. From the other side of the clearing appeared several more of her kind, each beautiful in their way, with mischievous smiles and cruel faces full of anticipation.

"Well, have it your way." Yue opened a channel to the Plane of Elemental Fire. "Fire Storm!"

Swirling motes of Elemental fire descended upon the clearing. The lesser Dryads shrieked and fled the scene. The giantess' face transformed into a maleficient scowl.

"YOU DARE?!" the elder Dryad screeched, her voice the shrill lament of wind through hollowed logs.

But her protest was fruitless. In the next moment, a firestorm engulfed the clearing.

Great gobs of uncontrolled plasma fell indiscriminately into the clearing and the surrounding area. Yue gritted her teeth and kept up the channel, transforming the woodland domain into a sea of crackling flames.

"Bless! Aid!" Elvia slapped Whetu across the back of his skull, pulling Whetu from his stupor.

"Wii have to git back to Sufina's Grot!" Whetu exclaimed. "This place is going to be crawling with nimfes."

"You lead, I'll clear ahead," Yue shouted back, satisfied that the clearing would be burning for a few hours yet. The abundance of elemental fire in the area would ensure any the wood and debris were as good as bone-dry tinder.

Yue was glad she had shaken Whetu from the Charm, for the Dryads' retribution was quick and swift. Lashing tentacles of barbed tendrils shot from the shadows of trees towering above them, trying to snag them by the neck like nooses or to scourge them with their poisoned spikes.

Whetu, now cleared of the tree-woman's glamour, executed his expertise, forming punamu shields left and right, above and behind, shielding the two girls as they slid and stumbled through the densely wooded trail.

"Is this the right direction?" Yue shouted. She and Elvia had barely passed outdoor survival and so couldn't even begin to tell the direction.

"Oi think so." Whetu forced apart a thorny bush with a shield. "Dis way!"

If any of them could fly, that would have simplified their progress, but the earthbound party of three had to push through the verdant, dense jungle by sense alone. Along the way, their escape was itself unimpeded, though even as their mana waned, they couldn't help but notice they were nowhere near Sufina's tree.

"Shit, what do we do?" Yue warded off another Dryad who came into view with a Scorching Ray.

"I think it's the woods itself. We're in a maze." Whetu opened an umbrella Shield. The tendril penetrated the first few layers of his punamu. Elvia huffed. She could see that the attacks were getting more vicious.

"Evee?"

Elvia had concurrently been listening to the little Sprite that rode on her shoulders.

"Kiki!" it suggested, apparently aware of some solution to their dilemma. In the chaos, though, Elvia had no idea what it was saying.

"I don't understand," she begged the Sprite for greater clarity. "Point us where to go?"

The Sprite's inarticulate gesticulation was interrupted by a triumphant shout from Whetu.

"I see a clearing! There's the tree!"

"Ki! Ki!" the Sprite pleaded desperately, but its companion ignored its incomprehensible, irksome actions.
'
The three junior Mages burst into the clearing with Yue's purging flame pruning the way. A giant Bayan tree again towed over them, underneath of which was a portal into the underground.

"Is that it?" Yue asked, unsure if this was indeed the Grot they had seen.
Behind them the entire forest seemed to be moving, crushing towards them like a mudslide consisting of roving greenery. The trio's options were clear, they could forgo the clearing and keep on moving, or they could take a gamble.

"No Time!" Whetu felt a dozen tendrils lashing the Shield he had left behind them, crunching through the punamu. "Which way?"

"To the Grot!" Yue commanded. "Maybe we can hold it hostage. The bestiary said that Dryads perish with their Grot. Elvia?"

"Kiki!" The Sprite was pulling her hair backwards, causing Elvia to wince.

"Dump that thing! Lord knows whose side it's on," Yue snapped and pulled Elvia forwards. Together, they stumbled towards the shaded nook of the tree, into the space between the roots.

"It's open," Whetu was the first to touch the base.

Behind them, the elder Dryad burst into the clearing like a wooden goddess that had seen better times. Her lovely hair of flowering tresses was now a smouldering mess of cinders, her flawless woodgrain skin charred in several places. Her gemstone eyes were aglow with angry, autumn colours. If one wasn't in the know, they might have mistaken her for an avatar of forest fires. A dozen others appeared, likewise singed and injured by Yue's flaming outburst, striding dramatically into the clearing, their eyes full of murder.

"Fuck it!" Yue pulled Elvia by the hand, and they pushed into the Grot.
Outside, the flames suddenly extinguished. The smouldering leader of the Dryads shed her red hair and ashen skin, becoming once again beautiful and flawlessly radiant. A cruel smile touched her lips, and she began to giggle, an innocent trill full of sadistic mirth, echoed by her companions until the entire clearing became full of thrilling laughter.

The air inside was damp and chilly.

The tunnel into the Grot itself was moss-covered and wet to the touch, leading downwards into the darkness, lit by phosphorescent fungi that shed just enough light to tease the eye. They had made a hundred meters or so when Whetu became overcome by a sense of Déjà vu.

"Oi think we're going in circles, look hear." He pointed to a spot in the wall where he'd left a piece of punamu when they'd last made a loop. "Circles out there, circles in hear. Ets not looking good. The dryads are warping the woods."

"Well, I'll just carve a route out then, maybe it'll give the owner of this Grot indigestion." Yue grinned nastily as an orange flame blossomed in one hand.

The sudden burst of elemental fire in the tunnel seemed to awaken something, as the walls began to shudder.

"See?" Yue tittered smugly.

Then out of the moss-covered walls came bursting out a pale white hand. It grasped Yue by the mouth and waist, pulling her back with such force that she became winded. To Whetu's shout and Elvia's dismay, Yue became violently pressed upon the walls; half-dragged into the moss by the pale-skinned figure.

"Mmmmph!" Yue tried to struggle free, but the thing's arms were as strong as old roots. A pale face appeared by the tunnel's side, one of a venerable old warrior long since consumed, whose near translucent skin looked as though it hadn't seen the sun for a century.

"Join us! You cannot escape. The mistress will have thee in her thrall!" The resonating voice crooned, its eyes turning to look at Whetu. "Thee as well will become her servant! None escapes here!"

"MmmmPH!" Yue burst into flames as she forcibly manifested her Flame Shield, causing a wracking surge of fiery mana to escape her body and sear her skin.

The pale bodied man screamed and howled, retreating into the tunnel's walls with a wail.

"Motherfucker groped me." Yue coughed and spat as Elvia healed her blistering skin and eased the effect of the disorientating mana burn with a Lesser Restoration. She felt for her right breast, where she was sure that there would be a bruise come morning, restoration or no.

"Healing Word!" Elvia dispensed some of her healing.

"Flame Shield!" A semi-circle of fire manifested around Yue, encompassing Elvia and Whetu within its protective reaches. All around them, the walls of the tunnel were now a mess of writhing moss, within which white arms and legs, white faces by the hundreds, appeared and disappeared.

Yue produced one of the mana potions that Alesia had left them at the convent and injected herself with the blue solution.

"YEAH, that's the stuff," Yue moaned as her reserves shot to full. "Let's get out of here. I rather fight those bitches to the death than die here in a stinking hole. Let's see how long it'll take before whoever owns this Grot regurgitates us."

"Flame Sphere!" A giant sphere of fire manifested and began to roll down the tunnel, turning all within range into ash.

"Wall of Fire!" A blistering row of fire charred the tunnel walls.

"Fireball!"
"Firebolt!"
"Blastbolt!"
"Scorching Ray—"
Yue's escalation seemed to have done the trick, for it took them only a few minutes to wander out from the Grot and once again into the clearing.

As they exited the pocket-space of the Grot, they grew aware that angry woodland beings now surrounded them.

Unexpectedly, however, the trio was no longer being menaced.

Instead, the Dryads were on their knees, supplicating themselves before an emerald goddess that stood amongst them like a tall poplar amongst lowly hedges. Even the elder Dryad was on her knees, steaming a little as her innards fumed with the fire still burning within her Grot.

The object of their adoration was a familiar shape with a familiar face. It was Gwen's face, superimposed upon an artistic wooden sculpture of surreal beauty. Its hair was a verdant vertical garden of tendrils, flowers and leaves that framed her face and cascaded until it reached the forest floor. Its eyes were a glimmering display of prismatic colours, staring intently towards them with distinct displeasure.

"Sufina?" Yue intoned, swallowing a little as her flame shield spluttered. "Sufina, do you know where Gwen is? We need to get back to her."

"Sufina!" Beside Yue, Elvia breathed out a sigh of relief. Her companion Sprite hid instantly behind her hair, cowering and whimpering.

"G' day," Whetu added.

The majestic Dryad's eyes regarded them coldly, seemingly devoid of all emotion. Behind her, the woods were lovely, dark and deep, a place of flora sans the fauna, a dark forest where no birds sing.

"You three," Sufina said softly. "Are in big trouble."

\- End of Arc 1