After copious volumes of Christmas pudding with a massive dollop of ice cream, the girls had watched the Dancing Lights slowly drift outward, dying in darkness.

Now, they retreated into Elvia's bedroom, each pilfering cushions from the other rooms. Gwen was giddy with excitement. A sleepover was something she had never experienced.

It took an hour for the small talk had been exhausted, and then it was time for business. Like back at the dorm, each of the girls took up one corner of the four-post bed, Elvia sat against the headboard, while Gwen and Yue leaned against the posts, buoyed by cushions.

"Alright," Yue began. "Let's get this show on the road! There are no secrets tonight! It's tell-all and show-all! Let's begin with the least traumatic of events. Elvia, out of 10, how do you rate your holiday activities?"

"Umm..." Elvia's big blue eyes rolled in their sockets. "Seven?"

"Ooo, very impressive." Yue cooed dramatically. "I'd say my blood-soaked story of jungle survival is about a nine. What about you, Gwen?"

Gwen chuckled uncomfortably.

"Twenty?"

"..." Yue raised both eyebrows. "You're not going to tell us that you're a middle-aged man polymorphed into a high school girl, are you?"

"Oh, I wish." Gwen smiled weakly. "I just hope you don't think I am lying or making it up, that's how ridiculous my story is."

"We'll try our best." Yue breathed in deeply. "Elvia, you're up first."

Elvia's face took on an intense concentration. She began to speak, first about her work at the clinic, then later, the main event.

"Every year, our family volunteers for charity work. This year, they were headed to the refugee camp in Manus Island."

"We arrived in early November, so the weather was both hot and humid. The camp we were going to was inland, so we had to take a local charter ship up the river to reach it. The entire waterway was lined with humpies as far as the eye could see..."

Elvia could hardly believe her eyes— or the stench.

The camps along the river extended as far as the eye could see, invariably the same sites of sadness and abandonment. For the inexperienced Elvia, a few hours was all it took for the immutability of the island's poverty, the enormity of it all, to drown her mind.

According to her unce, there were very few rules on the island, the refugees from the Mermen incursion had been given food, some resources, and then largely left to their own devices.

Here on the island, the strong was merely an accident arising from the weakness of others. The rare Mages who lived among the refugees became the natural masters of a place without rightful rulers. Both bullies and thugs, they hoarded food from the supply drops, warred with others too weak to fight, and aggravated murder and mayhem for sport.

For Elvia, their destination was the root of the river, the last bastion of order upon the island. There, the Mageocracy's volunteers had set up a station that offered refugees a place to receive medical attention, ensuring that no pandemic exacerbated an already hopeless situation.

As expected, the station was understaffed and overwhelmed. No matter how many volunteers and families from the cities came to help. The loss of the Micronesian islands to the Mermen created an endless wave of refugees, some escaping from slavery, others from chattel pens, filtering toward the single safe refugee the currents would allow - the Frontier nation of Australia.

The ship's first stop was a place ironically called Eldorado, a large camp housing about two thousand individuals. To Elvia, "Housing" was a word her uncle used ironically, as rugged jungle smothered the island, making the atmosphere intolerable. Indeed, Elvia was already melting under the oppressive heat, travelling up that river was like entering into the primordial past. And behind their camp, the jungle panted, impenetrable and inhospitable.

When the boat finally docked, Elvia immediately cursed her naivety. In Sydney, she had envisioned a field hospital with nurses in white linen. Clerics, NoMs and Healer-Mages alike would be standing shoulder to shoulder, working to alleviate the pain and suffering of the refugees.

What befell her now was a circle transmigrated straight from hell.

For what greeted them were hundreds of refugees, dark faces blunted and burnt by the sun and the humidity, with hungry eyes that swallowed the new arrivals.

"Hans, welcome back." Elvia's uncle was greeted by a young man whose coffee-coloured skin was dark and leathery, peeling here and there. "Had a cyclone come through last week, things have gotten pretty bad."

"Kali, good to see you again. What's the damage?" Hans asked, motioning for Elvia and a few others to join him on the shore.

Elvia stepped onto the plank and was immediately the centre of attention. Compared to their surroundings, she was too clean, too radiant, a pure being in a place full of things that slithered.

Kali rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"This is?" he asked, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously.

"My niece." Hans introduced Elvia, who waved at him demurely. "Make sure she's safe."

"Of course, Dr. Lindholm, anything."

Kali bowed toward Elvia, currently hiding behind her uncle.

"Anything you need, Mistress Elvia. I shall protect you with my life."
Hans offered Elvia a hand.

"Have courage, Elvia. Kali will see to it that you are safe."

Elvia met the young man halfway.

Kali took her hand and marvelled at its flawlessness before touching it to his forehead.

"I am your servant, Mistress," the native declared.

"He's an Earthen Abjurer." Hans gave the young man a firm pat on the shoulder. "Now, as I was saying, what was the damage? How's the triage centre dealing with the patients?"

"Currently, we have forty blues, twenty-two greens, five yellows and two reds. More are probably coming in."

Elvia gulped. "Uncle, that's a lot of patients."

"Elvia, everyone— Come, let's get to work. Kali, round up some men and move all our spare tables and chairs into the Triage centre. We're starting with the reds. Jones, Thomas, Clyde and Elvia can handle anything Orange and below."

"As you say, Dr Lindholm."

As they moved through the camp, pained faces stumbled from olive-green makeshift camps to gawk and stare. Most of them were topless, the few of them that had clothes were sweat-stained and soiled here and there. When they saw Elvia, a ripple emanated from the crowd, with fingers gesturing at the blonde girl.

Hans frowned. "Kali, what's going on?"

Kali hollered something that the gathering.

"Catapult!" the Abjurer suddenly incanted.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A boulder the size of a man's head flew through the air and struck a coconut palm, snapping it in half. The tree then toppled into the jungle, crushing all protest from the crowd.

"I want a perimeter kept." Hans nodded approvingly. "If they're not sick or dying, they're not welcome."

The Triage centre itself was a mess. Whatever it had stocked was long looted before the medical team had arrived. Hans growled and ordered the beds and tables set up again. Once done, he and the other doctors passed a hand over the empty tables, materialising equipment, potions, and medicinal instruments from his Storage Ring.

"Start sorting the sick. I hope the locals still have the tags the last team left."

Elvia stood at her station, her fingers trembling. Even with a cooling glyph set up in the room, it was stuffy and the air stank of sweat and antiseptic. Her uncle sorted the new patients, prescribed them with the level of healing required, after which the orderlies took them to the station with the relevant Healer.

_Shrrrrk!_

Her curtains parted with a start. A young woman with a bruised and battered face entered.

"This one needs a Cure Minor, examine her for infectious diseases." The orderly pulled the curtains close once again.

"H..hello," Elvia greeted her with a nervous voice. "I'll be healing you today, please lie down on the table."

The woman obeyed.

Elvia performed as she had been instructed by her uncle, initiating a head to toe. When she pressed on the woman's stomach, her patient winced and began to moan. Elvia placed a hand upon her abdomen and incanted an altered form of Detect Disease and Poison composed for diagnostics.

"Oh... Oh no." Elvia's eyes widened in shock and horror. "You've had an..."

The woman met her eyes with a resignation that made Elvia feel sick. Elvia examined her body with growing horror. The young woman had bruises all over her torso; additionally, there were lacerations on her low body. When she moved to check between her thighs, the woman shook her head.

Elvia looked up.

"Heal, please," the woman begged.

"But I..." Elvia was feeling her eyes watering up. "Protocol says I need to..."

The woman's hand grabbed Elvia's wrist with surprising force.

"Heal, please," she begged again.

"Elvia, tick-tock!" The orderly pulled at Elvia's privacy curtain. "There's a line."

Wordlessly, Elvia placed her hands on the woman's abdomen.

"Heal Minor Wounds. Remove Disease."

A green glow suffused the young woman. She moaned as the flesh knitted with that soul scratching itch which came with magical healing. The woman cried out — the more potent the mending, the worse the bone-deep itch. When finally the magic faded, her patient slipped off the bed, exhausted by the toll of the body's regeneration.

"Sank you," the woman muttered before she stumbled out.

Her next patient was a young boy with a broken arm in a makeshift split.
The next was an older man who leered at her with a toothless grin - he had an infected eye.
The next was another young man who tried to speak to her in a tongue she could not understand. When he got handsy, so the orderly beat him black and blue and threw him out.
Another boy arrived with a gangrenous foot.
Another came, and another went; an endless stream of suffering that seemed without end.

"I am so sorry." Gwen moved closer to the petite girl, putting out her arms to envelop her. The girl hesitated, but ultimately relented and nestled herself between Gwen's arms. "That must have been horrible."

"Uncle said I needed to see the world," Elvia noted sadly. "I don't blame him. I think I really did need to see it. I'd never thought such a place could even exist."

"So then what happened?" Yue could sense that there was more. There was always more.

"Things were okay for a month or so. We went from camp to camp, doing our best. The people who we helped started calling me the Ensel, and we were drawing out folks who were hiding in the jungle."

Elvia suddenly made a crestfallen expression. "And that's when it happened."

"Buk off!"

Elvia knew there was something wrong when a rough and foreign voice heavy with the accent of the local Tok Pisin dialect shot over the ambient moaning of the patients.

Driven by morbid curiosity, she opened the curtains, revealing a group of thuggish looking natives clothed in what looks like the multi-coloured garbs of woven-grass. Above these tribal garments, the thugs wore western singlets stained with sweat. The speaker was a corpulent man wearing what appeared to be a crown woven from blonde grass.

Across the floor of the triage tent, their eyes met.
Instantly, Elvia's heart sunk.

"Who's the Kin' here?" the man said in a mix of local dialect and English.

"I am." Hans stepped from the group of impatient-looking doctors. To the man's surprise, none of the staff looked particularly afraid, merely annoyed. "Where are you from, friend? What we have here is a medical facility; there are no HDMs nor precious metals for you to loot."

Elvia knew from where the man hailed. He was probably from a local tribe and having Awoken as a Mage, now fancied himself the king of his tiny corner of the earth. It was the typical story here. The local warlords had instigated almost all of the conflict with the refugees.

In the past, the Mageocracy had attempted to quail the locals with force of arms. That had ended badly, and here was the end-result of their failed colonial efforts.

"I am a pawa-ful Magician," the man said. "I hear that you have the Ensel here. I have come to take her as my meri."

Elvia blanched.

Her uncle blinked and quickly glanced at Elvia. She recalled her uncle hinting that there might be some trouble, but had also anticipated that no one would bother the doctors literally in the process of saving lives.

From the looks of it, her uncle has underestimated the allure of a pale, blonde healer to these local warmongers.

"I am afraid that is not possible," Hans apologised, speaking slowly so the man could understand. "Elvia is not for you."

The man grinned, pointing at Elvia.

"Is this the Ensel?" The man pointed.

Elvia's eyes grew as wide as hen's eggs.

"Come to Luluai!" The man walked towards her.

Elvia backed away, bumping into a table, sending its cargo of steel trays and syringes tumbling. Her uncle clicked his tongue, dismayed by her clumsiness.

"Kali!" Hans called out. No reply came.

"Ha! Your bodyguard is defeated. He was no match for me in a pait!" the man boasted.

"Did you kill him?" her uncle's face grew stone cold.

"Who knows?" The man shrugged. "Now, Ensel, come with me. I will treat you nicely, and then we can do the biktaun as maritman and meri."

"Was he gentle on the first night? I can't believe you didn't invite me to the wedding." Yue jested rancorously, chuckling at the morbidness of her imagination.

"Yue!" Elvia protested. "It's not funny!"

"Alright, alright, then what happened?" Yue apologised, putting up her hands.

Elvia paled.

"Then, Uncle got super angry..."

Elvia's uncle was a patient man, but even a saint's patience had a limit.

When the village idiot boasted that he had bested Kali, Elvia witnessed her uncle's upset.

In the week they had spent together, Kali had been beyond helpful. Without the local man, the team's progress would be set back many years, perhaps losing access to entire areas of the island altogether.

The other doctors, Elvia among them, felt Hans' anger rise like pent-up magma rising through the crust. They knew what was about to happen next and began to find cover.

"You want to try me, mon?" The man's eyes glowed. A sloshing sound bubbled from the ground. To their surprise, the earth around the man began to liquify.

An Ooze Mage? Elvia recognised talent.
It was a rare talent.
The man could have made himself something in the cities. Ooze Mages were one of the rarer Primary para-elementals, specialising in protective and debilitating effects.

Here on the island though, the Mage was a source of pure misery.

"Elvia, you might want to look away," Hans warned.

Elvia could hardly move. She'd never seen her uncle fight before, and she'd never seen an Ooze Mage before.

"Oo Supia—" The Ooze Mage began, but before he even got halfway, Elvia's Uncle finished a tier 5 healing magic.

"LIGHT OF ABSOLUTION!"

A pillar of light surrounded the man. A non-existent shield of mud instantly evaporated, revealing a pulsing beam of pure Positive Energy.

The shock of losing his shield disrupted the man's tribal spell, and their assailant wondered for a moment if he was about to die. When he did not, he gazed upon Hans with an evil grin.

"Your spell does nothing," the Mage mocked her uncle.

Then suddenly, the smile froze on his face.

His body began to swell. First his limbs, then his torso. Within the man's twisting abdomen, organs tore and gashed, bloating with cancerous cells. There came a sound of muscles tearing and bones wrenched from their sockets. In his final moments, the man's head grew the size of a watermelon, or perhaps a boil on the verge of violent expulsion.

"Elvia! Take cover!" Her uncle dived behind the table. "Elvia, back behind the curtains!"

The crew ducked behind whatever they could.
Elvia stared, fascinated with shock.

Then, the human water balloon exploded.

Yue dry heaved.

Gwen cradled Elvia like her baby, hugging her whole-heartedly and squeezing her tight. The poor girl! Her poor Evee!

"I— I was so glad I had my mask on," Elvia sobbed. "Otherwise some of it might have gotten in my mouth..."

"Elvia! No!" Yue rolled around the bed, unable to control herself.

"Uncle told me that this is why we Positive Energy casters need to stay away from the front lines. Our spells are slow, takes time to manifest, easily shielded against, and can be unexpectedly inhumane."

"How is that seven out of ten? I am being traumatised for life here!"

"Oh, you poor, poor thing!" Gwen kissed the top of Elvia's head, feeling her soft, boneless body in her arms, not ever wanting to let her Evee go.

Yue recovered, panting as she laid on her back.

"Phew, alright, that was intense." Yue fanned herself with a hand.

"Your turn?" Gwen asked.

"Well, I don't know if mine is still a nine after that, but alright."

Yue lunged forward, obscenely bouncing on the bed to face the girls.
Gwen covered Elvia's eyes.

"Well, I was with Master Alesia," Yue began, her eyes clouding with recollection. "So naturally it all began with a Fire Ball..."


"An empowered Fireball specifically," Yue gushed. "The very first Metamagic that Alesia taught me. It's Evocation mixed with Transmutation."

Yue wanted to begin her recount in medias res. The girls, however, demanded context as they couldn't make head nor tail of Yue's pyrotechnic, Michael Bay epic.

"Alright, alright, sheesh. Give me a second..."

Yue had to recount several times to get her story straight and figured out the chronology of her flashfire flashbacks.

"So, we're on Moreton Island, off the Gold Coast. The coast guard had requested heavy ordinance from the Tower, which meant Alesia. Master was already gunning for an opportunity to get me blooded, so she agreed on my behalf."

Yue went on about how she was still half asleep when Alesia grabbed her, then flew out to catch the troopship with Yue in her pyjamas.

"The Island was a FOB between the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. As for why it's there, it's because of that mumbo-jumbo we learned in Geography class— trade routes to the South China Sea and what not. The Tower lost contact with the base after a cyclone came through in October."

"Anyway, the troop carrier ran into some trouble along the way. We got rammed by a giant squid that tried to topple the ship. Master killed it, and we ate grilled squid. Squid tentacles as thick as your leg? Yes Please! Then when we're almost to the island, we got boarded by Crab-folk, I think. Anyway, they were surprisingly good steamed with soy and ginger. We kept going, and as we landed, these fish folks were attacking the harbour. Boom! Sashimi two way, with chilli Fish head soup."

"..."
"..."
The other two girls regarded one another.

"You ate them?" Gwen asked.

"Raw?" Elvia said.

Yue blinked. "Was I not supposed to?"

Gwen suppressed a gag. Should Yue have eaten her prey? There were no right answers to that. The consumption of Magical Creatures was essential in the development of human civilisation and its magical war-potential. At school, the girls ate them by the tableful, but those weren't intelligent creatures, or were they? There was a Caliban's length of ethical dilemmas that assailed Gwen as she tried to step into Yue's shoes.

"You said PEOPLE— talking, walking, sapient people. With villages and stuff. Civilisation." Gwen reiterated, slowly realising how ridiculous she must sound.

Yue regarded her friend puzzlingly.
Sometimes, Gwen said the darnedest things.

"Fine," Yue sighed. "Anthropomorphic Magic Creatures. Better?"

Gwen felt her gut clench.

"Anyway, Evee, the sashimi was amazing. So fresh, you could taste the mana just rolling off your tongue."

"That sounds delicious," Elvia cooed.

Gwen tasted bile, wondering if there were vegetarian Mages.

"Regardless, we arrived at the island, and its a fiery mess. By the way, Alesia brought the whole team with us— do you remember Billy and all that?"

Gwen did.
Elvia did not.

"There's Jonas, Alesia's Cleric. Paul's the translocation Conjurer-Transmuter. Taj the Water Abjurer and Billy is the Diviner. He's responsible for communications. He asked after you several times Gwen, I think you made an impression on him."

Gwen's cheeks burned pink. She recollected that the last time they met, she wore nothing but a robe.

"So we landed," Yue continued, using her voice as much as her hands. "Off the bat, Alesia gets me buffed - Flight, Iron Skin, Aid, Resist Elements— the works. I am all jacked up and ready to go, you know? She's like, go out there and get me some crab legs! I am all like, 'Yes Ma'am!'"

Elvia cooed.

"That's right! So we took off from the troop carrier and rocked that bitch like the Valkyries of legend..."

Yue watched her first empowered Fireball bloom into a scarlet blossom of death, sending bits of fish-folk spiralling like rag-dolls here and there and everywhere.

The Murloc, or perhaps the Sahuagin— Yue couldn't tell from this distance, scattered and ran for cover. The Mermen had thought themselves safe after overpowering the outpost, and now paid the price of their naivety. A few of the legged-fish took to the fort itself, throwing spears and shooting poison-tipped arrows at the two Mages from behind cover. Their ineffective weapons ricocheted from Yue and Alesia's Iron Skin enhanced bodies, making long white marks where they struck.

Alesia halted Yue's immediate retaliation and fired a mote of flame through a window. Her Scarlet Caracal spirit could differentiate between friend and foe, and so could effortless purge the fish-eyed Murks.

_WHOOMPH!_

In the next instant, the windows blew out. A dozen fish-folks, blackened and seared, tumble from the second-storey window.

"Match my speed and follow my flight trail. Attack every second volley. Beware Danger Close as the ground troops move in."

"Yes, Master," Yue obeyed enthusiastically.

Master and student circled the base while Jonas and the rest of the team arrived with the reinforcements, clearing out the 'Murks' as they went. Yue observed a creature getting skewered by a spear of stone that erupted from the earth. According to Alesia, Mermen without a dorsal fin were Murlocs; those with fins were Fish-folk.

"Scorcher!"

Yue sent out her new spells, testing their combat effectiveness.
Radiant lines erupted from her hands, jet-streams of fire so hot as to turn white and blue struck the little diminutive fishes below, taking off limbs and heads, setting others ablaze. When a cluster of three or more appeared, waving their primitive spears, Yue sent opted for a Fireball, blowing the unarmored beings into giblets of smouldering meat.

_PSSSZAK!_

They were on their third pass when a bone spear shot from nowhere and skewered Yue mid-fight, sending her tumbling down below. Yue's iron-skin held, but the sneak attack had winded her. With a yelp, Yue fell. For an Apprentice, her borrowed Flight spell lacked the means to be maintained without concentration.

Alesia watched her Apprentice impact the sandstone wall, skidding off the sides to land in a heap on the blackened bitumen below. Yue's Master cursed under her breath, then somersault turn in the air, diving for her student.

The sneak attack had come from a window on the third floor. Below, already several Murlocs were converging on the fallen Yue. Caught for time, Alesia sent a Maximised Fireball into the window before landing with a flourish, the explosion behind her sending out a shower of glass and aluminium.

"Yue, you alright?"

"Yeah, just a little dazed." Yue slapped her thighs to offset the concussion, stumbling upright, bracing against the wall.

"Think you can handle this one?" Alesia tested her apprentices' resolve.

Yue nodded, clearing her grogginess through force of will. The Murks was coming closer now, half a dozen of them armed with bone spears and long daggers of Megalodon teeth. Heeding her Master's lessons, Yue waited for a moment more before making a semi-circled gesture with both hands.

"Wall of Fire!" she incanted, pushing past the throbbing pain pounding her brain.

A semi-circle ring of orange plasma burst into existence, catching the Murlocs as they advanced. Yue grunted as she channelled more mana into the phenomenon. Ahead, her flames flared and roared, stoked as though by an invisible wind, spluttering blue and white-hot, turning her foe into charcoal.

"Phew—" Yue fell to one knee just as the final Murloc writhed and died. Her Master caught her as she sank to her knees, slinging Yue's arm across her shoulders.

"Good work, Apprentice."

Yue beamed at her Master and idol.

"Let's get you back to Jonas."

"Sorry I got hit."

"It happens to the best of us. You'll learn in time," Alesia replied encouragingly. "Remember to be situationally aware at all times. Don't get distracted by fireworks. Fire and forget and never stop moving, never fly in a straight line."

"Yes, Ma'am."

By the time they got back to Jonas, the landing force had mopped up the stragglers. Billy had made a round through the perimeter, ensuring that no Murlocs remained on the base.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I'll go get the crystal running," Taj offered.

Alesia removed a Storage Ring, tossing him the spare Barrier Core. With the creatures this close, the base had likely lost its original. Unlike the barriers closer to the cities, these coastal stations were regional and isolated, and mostly self-powered.

"I'll keep an eye out," Paul said, then left with Taj.

Jonas approached, gazing worriedly at Yue.

"Injured already?" he remarked, placing a hand on her shoulder. "This is going to itch. Cure Light!"

Yue shuddered as her bruises faded and her cracked bones mended. By the time the spell had run its course, cold sweat had soaked through her shirt.

"Thanks, Jonas," Yue replied between clenched teeth.

"Allie, are you sure about taking Yue into live combat?" Jonas questioned his commander.

"Absolutely," Alesia said. "Yue can handle it. She's like me. Hell, I had a four-digit kill count by the time I was fifteen. By Yue's age, I was a Major."

"That was a war." Jonas protested.

"What do you call this then?" Alesia smirked roguishly, expansively moving her hands across the vista of the burnt and crumbled courtyard.

"You know damn well what I mean," Jonas growled.

"I am fine." Yue focused on a spot on the floor, forcing herself to resist the urge to pull her skin open so she could gnaw at her itching bones.

"Well, I know Alesia thinks you're a tough nut, but take care of yourself. Don't be reckless." Jonas advised, rubbing his chin and scratching his handlebar moustache.

"I will, thanks Jonas," Yue replied innocently, stretching out her arms, punishing the elasticity of the unforgiving fabric. Flustered, Jonas looked way for something else to occupy his mind.

Alesia chuckled. Jonas was an old celibate. That's why they called him Father Jonas. He was also a worrywart, though Jonas made a damn-good Healer.

A thrum rang through the air. The barrier was back.

"There we go." Alesia patted Yue on the back encouragingly. "Mission accomplished. Easiest 10k you ever earned. How was it?"

Yue seemed stunned by the news.

"We get paid for this?"

Alesia regarded her apprentice dubiously.

"You don't think we do this for free, do you? The Tower may be many things, but a charity it's not!"

"That's way too much money."

"Why?" Alesia raised an exquisite brow. "I am a Battalion Level Magus, and you're my cute little ensign! Even you receive Danger Pay!"

"It's still too much, Master." Yue protested. She had a total of four hundred roo-dollars in her student card, and that was after half a year of savings. She usually ate from the school canteen to save money on luncheons and dinners.

"Bosh! You have any idea how much money you need to be a top rate Mage?"

"Nope," Yue confessed.

"Boots of Flying, Nagaskin armour, Ioun Stones, Combat Wands, Health potions, Mana potions..."

Yue shivered at the thought of so much HDMs flowing out of her account.

"I get you, Master."

"Good, now let's see how the Harvesters are going. We get to keep fifty per cent of everything we kill.

It took the harvester Mages and their NoM helpers the better part of the afternoon to gather the bodies and dig out the mana cores. Most of the Cores had shattered, although the team managed to recover about twenty odd stones of various sizes.

"About two thousand HDM's worth Ma'am," one of the crewmen reported. "Would you like to take delivery now?"

"Sure, shoot it over."

Yue watched Alesia pass her ring over her share of the Creature Cores. She turned to Yue.

"If you sense a powerful elemental presence in a core, it means there's a spirit in there. If you manage to find one, then you're in luck. A minor Spirit sells for about two to three thousand HDMs, an intermediate-tier Spirit like my Caracal, expect up to twenty thousand HDMs."

Yue's teeth felt weak.

"You starting to get the reason why I dragged you in here?"

Yue wasn't big on critical thinking, but even she could sense a windfall when her piggy bank clinked.

"To make Crystals?" she ventured carefully.

"Exactly!" Alesia wrapped an arm around her apprentice, rubbing two fingers together. "Three things make a good Mage— good breeding, good training, and good resources. If you want to catch up to Gwen, Tiger, you better be rolling in the dough."

"How much did you make?" Gwen watched as Yue imitated Alesia rubbing two fingers together in a conniving manner.

"Hee..." Yue snickered proudly. "Wouldn't you like to know!"

"Come on, don't be evasive."

"Take a guess."

Elvia lifted five fingers.

"Five HDMs? Evee— cut me some slack."

Gwen facepalmed.

"She means five hundred." Gwen put into perspective Elvia's guess.

"Colder."

"Fifty?"

"Warmer"

"Two hundred?"

"Colder."

"One Fifty?"

"Bingo, just about."

Gwen tried to whistle but succeeding in only blowing a raspberry over Elvia's head.

Thankfully, Elvia's eyes were already glazed over. She had her family's support, but that was different. She'd never had more than a hundred HDMs to her name.

"Nice one, Yue!"

"Hehe, thanks." Yue thrust her chest out proudly.

"What happened next?" Elvia wanted to know what was so terrible about Yue's jungle island adventure.

"So yeah, we stayed on the island for a while cause we had to Purge the place. Alesia used this opportunity to run me haggard. Day in and day out, it was 'Buff up! Fly out!' 'Blow this up! Blow that up!' 'Search and Destroy!' You know how it is, right? After a while, I kind of got used to it. Pretty sure we burned down half the island by the end."

Unfortunately, the girls did not "how it is".

"You want highlights? Alright." Yue relented after they pressed for more specifics. "Well, there's this thing, you see that we found... but Nah, it's not that interesting."

Yue blanched, her facial muscles froze into a terrible grin.

Gwen felt her heart lurch. Something horrible must have happened to faze the unflappable Yue.

"You okay?"

"Yeah—" Yue puckered her lips.

"You don't have to tell it if you don't want to." Gwen moved across the bed and took her friend's hand, noting with mild alarm that Yue was cold and clammy. "Yue, are you okay?"

"Bless!"

Elvia reached over and channelled a few motes of positive energy into their friend, filling her body with a warm and fuzzy glow.

"Thanks, Evee." Yue swallowed. "Okay, I am going to tell the story."

The girls nodded.

"No secrets," Yue reiterated.

"None." Gwen's stomach lurched, mindful of its 'secrets'.

"Alright." Yue seemed to have calmed herself. She squeezed Gwen's hand and began to relay the tale; her eyes focused on a middle distance. "So, I was out hunting when I ran into a Murloc Spawning Pool..."

Yue had read in her sociology textbook that humanity was the only beings who kept chattel, mass farming domesticated quasi-magical beasts to provide food for its burgeoning citizenry.

Before her discovery, she had been out on the lake's edge stalking prey. Alesia had a simple rule for survival training. You kill, you eat. To wit, Yue had been equipped with a small Storage Ring and a tracking amulet, then sent off into the Orange Zone to find dinner.

Armed with a basic lay of the land, Yue ranged from the camp with her inexpert Transmutation, crashing through the forest like an Auroch in a terracotta shop. She had almost given up hope when, to her surprise, she had spotted a pig-like creature with a prehensile nose foraging for roots, utterly oblivious to her presence. From the back, it wasn't very impressive looking, akin to a stocky dog. It looked stupid, and according to Alesia's lessons, this meant one of two things - either the creatures weren't native, or it was unmolested by local predators. Looking at the honking porker, Yue was confident that it must have been stock kept by the colonists before they were wiped out by the Murlocs.

Currently, the porker was eating something by the lake's edge.

Very carefully, she evoked a Flaming Spear, an altered form of Scorching Ray re-shaped for penetration. With a Thunk! It struck the pig-like creature in the starfish, skewering the porcine beast with a quenching squeal.

"YES!"

Yue gave herself a crude chuckle before venturing from her hiding place. Knelling over her prey, she produced a bowie knife and began to dismember the beast, just as Paul had instructed. Now in a better mood, she hummed as she worked, whistling some tune that was popular back on Sydney's pop-charts before she left.

She was mid-hack through extracting a rather delicious looking length of back-strap when a commotion happened on the shore opposite, some half a kilometre across.

There was something on the lake. If Yue squinted against the sun, she could just make out what looked like a dam made from rotten driftwood and smashed up trees bundled together with vines. There was a Murloc on there, and he was manhandling a familiar, fleshy silhouette.

Yue stopped her extraction of dinner from the butchered pig. There, paralleling herself, was a fish-man taking an axe to something that looked vaguely human. She could just make out the humanoid shape thrashing about before it collapsed. The Murloc then hacked here and there, throwing bits of red-pink flesh into the waters.

"What the fuck," Yue mouthed to herself.

What the fuck did she just see? Her oesophagus clenched hard as she wiped her gore-soaked hands on her shorts and shirt. When she looked down again, she finally saw what the porker had been eating.

There was a human hand, cleaved at the wrist and missing a finger lying in the sedge.

That was what the porker was feeding on.

Yue crashed into the basecamp fifteen minutes later, her outfit torn and her legs were bleeding from trashing through briar thorns.

"No wonder there's so many of the little fuckers around." Paul was hanging a cig in one corner of his lip, grilling fish fillets over red-hot coals. "They got themselves a Spawning Pool set up."

"That explains how the local garrison got overwhelmed." Alesia clicked her tongue. "Little Murk bastards could get to maturity in three months if they just kept hidden in those lakes. Good work, Yue."

Alesia clicked her fingers, and the camp's fires died out.

"Fuck, my fish!" Paul groaned.

"Fuck your fish. Get ready to move out, Raid configuration. We're taking out that village."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The men saluted, then moved about camp, stowing their supplies.

"Yue, Billy, get me a sitrep on this lake, I want a comprehensive Scry of the area."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Yes, Master."

Yue directed on the map to Billy where she thought the lake would be, watching Billy's eyes turn white as the Scry took hold. When the Diviner finished, he turned again to the map and began to mark it with patrol routes, points of interest, and targets of opportunity. Yue watched Billy's work with fascination. Usually, Billy was a nervous, stuttering wreck, but the Diviner was an expert when it came to the cartographic markings.

Alesia approached with the rest of the team a few moments later, packed and ready to rumble.

"Brief us."

Billy noted several entry strategies for Alesia's perusal, carefully combing over each item on the map. When it was all said and done, Alesia nodded with satisfaction.

"Good work, stay back and open up communication with our basecamp at the beach, let them know we found the motherlode. I want the area completely purged. Jonas, Paul, set up extraction points here— and here—"

Alesia tapped the map.

"Taj, Yue, you two are with me. Taj, Paul, we're running extended buffs, plan for sixty minutes of full-combat engagement. I am going to Djinn up."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Alright. Buff up!"

"Wait up," Jonas coughed. "You want to take Yue on this?"

Alesia cocked her head.

"What's wrong?"

"She's not ready."

Alesia turned to Yue.

"You ready?"

Yue's thoughts flashed back to that scene she had witnessed at the lake. She could still feel the rage boiling over.

"I am ready."

"See, she's ready." Alesia patted Yue on the head.

Jonas said nothing.

"Okay, ladies, here we go!" Paul began to channel.

"Mass Flight! Enhanced Constitution! Freedom of Movement!"

Taj followed.

"Aid! Bless! Resist Elements! Iron Skin!"

The two Mages broke into a sweat after buffing only Alesia and Yue. Taj then self-buffed, activating his Boots of Flying.

Alesia stepped back ceremoniously.

The men turned their backs as Yue helped Alesia remove her clothing, stowing them away in her ring.

A glyph appeared beneath the Scarlet Sorceress' feet, three circles bisecting to form a triplicate mandala, spinning faster and faster until it tapped into the Prime Plane of Fire. Instantly, the air around the Evoker ignited. Hovering mid-air, Alesia's flame-spirit Caracal melded into her body. Scarlet flames erupted from her porcelain skin, her hair transformed into strands of red-hot copper, sending out a swarm of fireflies. Her blue eyes became two brightly flaring stars, white with heat and the rage of primal fire.

Yue watched with eyes aglow with adoration and amazement. Here was the very embodiment of her most celebrated desire - the physical manifestation of "Firepower" in feminine form.

Alesia cracked her neck. Her voice was hollow and God-like.

"Yue, come! Today, we are Valkyries of Death, sowing discord and war in Odin's name!"


Gurglugg was the Chief of his domain, lord of all he surveyed. Though some have called Gurglugg a warmonger, he had been a wise enough Chief to enjoy the popularity of the clannish families that served under him. Indeed, no fish had starved to death since he took the reigns of power. For years, the number of young Murlocs proliferated, swelling from tens of clutches to hundreds! Soon, Gurglugg's kin would populate the island!

At least, that was what Gurglugg had anticipated until one moon past. Now, the dreaded Landkin which plagued their island had returned, traversing the terrible sea. Upon their arrival, the Landkin annihilated his outpost and took the lives of sixteen clutches of younglings. Worse still, from the reports he received from Flurgluug, there were flying shamans among the Landkin who could rain down fire from the heavens. Cursed fate! The best his shamans could do was rain down mud and rot upon his enemies. How in the name of Buulopdegup was he supposed to fight that?

As if that wasn't the worst of it, in recent days, his fishes began to disappear by the dozen, entire patrols evaporating into the air as though Buulopdegup ate them herself. In rows, his kin came to him with their petitions, their eyes oozing with mucus.

_"My clutch-mate is gone!"_
 _"They took my spawnlings! Gluuurp!_ "

Bah! Gurglugg was sick and tired of their complaints.

Of course, Gurglugg knew why their babies and their clutch-mates were disappearing. It was because they invaded the Landkin's base! The Landkin were so delicious once flayed. So convenient, these creatures were, to have skins that came with "zips" that allowed for easy removal. They were good labourers as well when made to work in the spawning pools, eventually becoming excellent fertiliser for the young when they grew weak and died.

Now, Gurglugg had just a few dozen left, herded in the pens. Maybe he should use them to request peace? That had worked with the Serpents in the deep jungle, who left them well-alone when Gurglugg had presented them with human shamans. The Snake-kin liked to eat the shaman's brains and hearts, they were strange like that.

Still, what was he to do? With the crystals they found and the flesh they harvested, the tribe could grow to two or three times its size! If anything, Gurglugg needed more time - time for the new spawnlings to be born, then he would be the Chief of a thousand clutches!

Gurglugg shook his bulbous, whiskered head, sending out flying globs of sputum and phlegm, trying to align his thoughts. His intense mental concentration was almost at its apex when—

_Boom—BOOM! Ba-BOOM!_

An explosion rang out, unlike anything Gurglugg had ever heard before. The stupid noise quickly turned into the sound of females shrieking their gills out.

Gurglugg flapped his plump and corpulent body for the door, his legs as thick as small tree trunks. He snatched his favourite coral trident at the door and pushed past the seaweed curtains.

" _Glurrrgh! Ghugh! Gooolp gul gu gu gullarg?_ "

His answer came in the form of a blast of cacophonic noise that filled the air. Gurglugg's jutting eyes, each the size of dinner plates, moved to focus on a series of dots approaching them. With alarm, he realised the horizon was on fire, lit by a miniature sun.

" _Goolp gul gu gu gullarg?!_ " He said to his guard. The stupid fish-spawn built like a mud sloop-house stared slack-jawed.

Then the air grew scorching.
Steam began to rise from the pool and Gurglugg could see the young below writhing in pain.

_"Gulark uu Pulak! Goolp gul gu Glaark! Glark!"_

His cry of warning echoed across the village, reverberating across the lake. By now, his skin felt incredibly dry, like all the moisture had been extracted from his mucus. He gazed upward, sensing the presence of something too terrible to acknowledge.

The miniature sun had arrived, blazing ochre and orange, radiating enough heat to wilt the wetland. His warriors used every weapon at their disposal, but could not harm the radiant being.

"Flame Barrier!"

The radiant Sun-God declared some edict he could not understand. Gurglugg did not possess eyelids and could not squint, but in the circumstances, he tried his best. Half-blind, he could just make out the silhouette of three humanoid figures.

There was a flash of light.
Gurglugg burned.
The forest burned.
The lake boiled.
The world was on fire.

As the Purge team approached, Yue could see Alesia's Wall of Fire cast a swath of destruction through the forest. Every inch of greenery they traversed became scorched earth, the trees wilting in the wake of their passage. From churning cinder came the figure of the Murks, hundreds of them, fleeing towards the safety of the lake, their limbs flailing wildly, the bright coloured flesh upon their heads pulsating alarmingly.

Yue threw out a few Blast Bolts, watching the missiles detonate below. One bolt struck especially true, splitting a slow running one from the shoulder and sending its head flying.

"Getting a nice count there!" Taj shouted over the music. "You over a century yet?"

"Just about!" Yue hollered back.

"Let's see how many are in the village," Alesia joined in. "You'd probably hit four digits."

"Four digits?" Yue marvelled.

"You'll see." Alesia laughed, sending out fireflies embers as she pressed forward.

"Hey! Check out that fat one!" Yue spotted a rather large Murloc holding a trident.

"I think that's a Patriarch," Taj shouted.

"Let's get started then." Alesia accelerated to combat speed.

The trio arrived at the centre of the lake, where Yue had seen Spawning Pool. Below, they could see hundreds of Murlocs swimming through water, trying to protect clutches of transparent spheres. Alesia's Avatar of Fire was radiating so much heat that the water below her began to ripple and steam in great broken rings.

"Filthy fucking animals!" She spat distastefully. "How many people did they feed into that pool to get that many tadpoles going at once?"

With a grunt, she clapped her hands together; the heat began to rise in earnest. In her Efreet form, Alesia was a human portal channelling the relentless energies empowering the Elemental Plane of Fire.

"Flame Barrier!" She incanted, drawing upon her fathomless reservoir of elemental flame.

Instantly, a wall of fire twenty metres high began to form around the Lake, licking across the forest in black gouts as the vegetation charred. From above, the trio watched as the flame formed a great ring that encircled the Murloc village in a matter of minutes.

"Nothing escapes," Alesia noted for Yue's benefit. "Paul and the others will take care of the Pens; we take care of this."

Murloc warriors emerged from the lake to engage them, great big hulking masses of fish-faced amphibians with bulging biceps the size of footballs. They launched spears of coral and bone from the waters towards the girls, peppering the skies with dark shards of poison and bone.

Had Alesia and Yue been alone, they would have to use their speed to avoid the ground to air assaults, but this time, they had Taj with them. The Abjurer effortlessly blocked the Murloc's non-magical attacks, casting warding barriers of stone that formed below the girls like great bowls of dark clay.

A glob of acid splattered toward the Mages. Taj blocked that too with another shield.

"Yue, take care of it," Alesia commanded.

Yue spotted the Murloc shamans below and began tossing Fireballs toward the surface of the lake, preventing them from surfacing.

Meanwhile, Alesia extended both hands and drew a flaming glyph in the air. Another set of glyphs opened up above and below her. She was beginning the ritual for a tier seven spell of mass destruction, accessible to only in her Efreet form.

Yue fired off another volley Fireballs, watching the orbs impact the lake's surface, scalding the creatures hiding below.

"Fire Storm!" Alesia exhaled. From the heavens descended a tornado of swirling fire that plunged into the lake, wildly displacing the surface so that hissing steam flooded the forest.

As Yue had anticipated, the surrounding area filled with superheated steam. She even felt a spurt of white-hot mist hiss underfoot, noting with alarm that Taj's stone barrier began to flake.

"Glad you got that Resist Element?" Taj joked.

"Bloody oath." Yue almost bit her tongue.

As Alesia's spell raged, the ineffective attacks against them ceased.

"Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that smell?" Yue was instantly aware of a scent that rose from below, thick and heavy with the texture of an oily gravy. It was a smell of fish, not rotten fish, but boiled fish.

Hundreds, no, thousands, of poached fish.

The vortex of superheated air persisted for another minute before subsiding, dispersing thanks to the magically-induced microclimate.

Yue's eyes grew wide with horror. What she saw was obscene death on an industrial scale. The poor bastards below had been boiled alive, their leathery skin falling from their bodies in great sliding sheets of slimy flesh. There were even ones without skin at all, walking blindly with bleeding eyes through the mud, stepping on others. Others had gone mad from the agony, lashing out and attacking anything that came close.

Yue saw one take a trident to its face, frenziedly stabbing itself to make the pain stop.

Then the wailing started. First, a few, then a dozen, then whole schools of the bastards began to cry out in agony and pain, a chorus of suffering. Yue saw small monsters, big monsters, Murlocs clutching clusters of their transparent eggs, now well cooked, wailing in despair. Pairs of the fucking things were hugging one another. She even saw a little fish-thing trying to nudge a dead one to wakefulness.

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

"What the fuck—" She whispered under her breath.

Her mind spun. These were just monsters, right? Materials and fodder and food! What was this feeling eating away at her chest? Why was her stomach lurching; her heart constricting? She couldn't even breathe. Was it the smell?

She tried to speak, but couldn't find her voice.

"I need a quick break," Alesia announced. The fire of her Efreet form began to dim. "You guys go mop up. I'll be fine at a higher altitude. Meet up with Team Two. They should be at the Pens. If we're lucky, a few people might have made it."

Taj flexed his muscular, bull-like neck.

"Yue, ready?" He joked.

Yue was still staring slack-jawed at the exquisite hell below them.

"YUE, still there?"

She turned slowly to look at Taj.

"You alright?" He demanded briskly. "Never seen mass destruction spell in action before? They're all like this. I wouldn't worry. If you think this is bad, you should see an extended range Incendiary Cloud. Crispy, I tell you! Ha! You ready to become a bit-shot Evoker?"

Yue felt the beginnings of an insane smile, the muscles around her lips locking into place to form a permanent grin.

"Let's mop up!" She announced jubilantly, her mind no longer willing to ponder the vision below. All she could recall right now was the invocation for Fireball. And from what Yue could see, she was going to need many Fireballs indeed.

"Bai Yue..." Gwen felt such wretchedness that she had to hug Yue tightly against her bosoms, enveloping her head with both arms.

Elvia joined in, and the three of them shared a moment of silence.

"Do you want to cry?" Gwen asked carefully. "It's okay to cry."

"I am over it," Yue replied with a muted voice. "I've never been one for outbursts."

The trio parted.

Gwen felt the eyes of her friends upon her.

"Your turn," Elvia said heartlessly.

"Yeah," Yue affirmed. "What's the damage? Miss twenty out of ten."

Gwen audibly exhaled.

"I have a lot of secrets, some of them doesn't belong to me alone, so I'll have to refrain from those, but I'll tell you as much of myself as I am able."

The girls nodded.

"Before I begin, I want to show you guys something. It'll make my story more believable."

"Alright."

"Hit me."

Gwen concentrated.

"Ariel."

A jolt of lightning jolted harmlessly through the air, materialising into a cute little marten that landed with a flourish.

"Ee! EE!"

"No way!"

"Oh. My. God."

Ariel began its devastating attack of adorability, instantly enslaving Elvia and Yue's maiden hearts.

"Can I touch it?" Elvia asked.

Gwen nodded.

Before Elvia could touch the marten; Yue reached out with both hands and hugged it to her face.

"So soft!" She moaned orgasmically.

Elvia watched enviously, awaiting her turn. After a minute, Yue handed the cat-snake over. Elvia took it with trembling hands, her blue eyes staring widely at the creature as it sniffed the air.

"Ee?" Ariel necked Elvia's hands with its cheek.

The cuteness proved excessive for Elvia; her mental fortitude had reached zero. Like a girl obsessed, the Healer suddenly kissed Ariel full on the nose, then did it again. Ariel extended its little pink paws and gave her face a good push, but Elvia persisted in smooshing its weaselly mien.

The girls played with the marten for a good fifteen minutes. Finally, Ariel settled onto Elvia's lap.

"There's one more," Gwen said expectantly. "This one is also cute. I think."

The two girls nodded with big grinning faces.
Gwen took a deep breath.
Then she took another deep breath.
Then she materialised plastic sheets across the bed, asking them to stretch out the corners and sit over the edges.

Her friends grew confused. Was it a Water Elemental? Was Gwen trying to hint that she had another element? If so, it would make Gwen beyond unique. Very few Mages had more than one element.

"Caliban," Gwen stated with a quavering voice. "Come!"

A dark portal shunted open near the ceiling. Instantly the temperature dropped by several degrees. Yue felt her heart wrench with dread and loathing as the Negative Energy polluted the air. Elvia, on the other hand, turned white with shock, reacting aggressively against Caliban's aura of desolation.

Then Gwen's Familiar came, a slithering monstrosity in black obsidian, sinuous and serpentine, its prehensile body writhing this way and that. Unlike Ariel, Caliban turned to Gwen and hissed.

"Shaa!"

Yue felt the bile rising in her throat.

Elvia suddenly began to scream.
She cocked her head, gripped her sheets, and screamed and screamed.

As if reacting to its favourite music, Caliban turned to the petite blonde and joined in the symphony. It's carapace split in twain, revealing a pulsating mass of purple-pink flesh dripping with cold grey slime. It opened its lamprey's mouth and began to sing, its tongues darting about happily.

"Shaa! Shaa! Shaa!"

Gwen grimaced. Was that too much too soon? Was Elvia's father going to burst into the room and see his comatose daughter with a monster?

Gingerly, Gwen conjuring a little handful of purified water and splashing the coldness across Elvia's face. Elvia snapped back to reality, saw Caliban and cried out once more.

Finally, too paranoia to allow her friend free reign, she moved a hand over Elvia's mouth.

"Hush! Shh! It's okay Elvia, Caliban is friendly."

Gwen willed Caliban to calm down, watching its tentacles retract into its carapace. Without its pulsing flesh exposed, Caliban resembled an abstract work of art.

Elvia gripped Gwen's wrists, her nails digging into Gwen's skin.

"Wow, I don't even feel remotely mind-fucked by the Murks anymore," Yue gazed warily at Caliban as its head bobbed this way and that. "Good work, Gwennie, I am cured."

"What…" Elvia wracked her mind to find an appropriate word. She found it in Yue's favourite vernacular. "Gwen, what the fuck is that?"

"Evee!" Yue slapped Elvia, shocked. "No!"

Gwen raised a hand, willing Caliban to come closer. Against her thighs, she rubbed its snout gingerly, eliciting a clicking-purr. Ariel meanwhile, played the ambassador and leapt onto Elvia's lap once more, licking her face to provide her with some creature comfort.

"What… Element is that?" Yue was surprisingly acute when it came to Magical Creatures. "Is it… Undead?"

"No, thank God." Gwen allowed Caliban to settle, feeling a surge of weakness pass over her as Void-mana exhausted her body. Sensing her weariness, Caliban reached out and flicked a tentacled-tongue against its master's chin. "Evee, can I trouble you for some Positive Energy?"

Elvia reached over and began to channel. She could see Gwen's complexion improve as her Healing Word made its mark.

"That's enough. I am not wounded or anything." Gwen breathed out. "To answer your question, Yue - Caliban is Void Familiar."

"What! NO WAY!" Yue exploded. "That's one of the three forbidden elements! That's right next to the big NO-NO! How is this possible?"

Meanwhile, Caliban had found its new favourite thing. A source of life energy! It slithered out of Gwen's lap and made for Elvia, begging and nodding its head comically as it moved.

Elvia felt herself petrify as the dark thing approached. It lowered its head gently and nudged her knees. When Elvia did not retaliate or resist, it continued to crawl up her leg.

"Gwen?" Elvia's voice caught in her throat.

Gwen was unfortunately distracted by Yue.

"Gwen?" Elvia asked again, this time with more distress as Caliban crawled into her lap and began to sniff her skin.

Gwen was still busy trying to fend off the disbelieving Yue.

"GWEN!"

"Caliban! Come back here," Gwen commanded. Her Familiar sulked and slithered back. Before it returned, however, it regarded Elvia with a look that seemed to say they were now best friends.

Elvia shivered, cold sweat drenching her nightgown.

"I don't get it!" Yue blurted. "This is the stuff they used to talk about in history class! In the Beast Wave! In the Great Calamities! Why is it next to us and giving Elvia a tongue bath!"

"It's a long story…" Gwen began. "A very long story."

"We've got all night—" Yue sat back, holding a pillow to ward herself against Caliban.

Beside her, Elvia was hugging Ariel tightly, feeling the resonance of positive energy within it. Caliban meanwhile, coiled itself against Gwen's lap.

Gwen nodded. She looked forlornly at her two friends, then began to tell her tale.

She started with the events after the Rainbow Serpent when she returned with Alesia to the Tower. She was still under Geas to avoid that topic, so she merely intimated that the Master of the Tower was very interested in her near death-encounter with Edgar, the Mage that had abducted herself and Debora.

From that meeting, Gwen discovered that she had in fact, one more School to Awaken in. With the help of Henry Kilroy and the Greater Cognisance Chamber, she had become both Conjurer and Evoker, Lightning and Void.

When Yue asked about the Void element itself, Gwen told her the half-truth; that she had no idea. As for why she Awoke in it, Gwen associated the talent with her near-death experience, courtesy of Edgar.

After that incident, Gwen trained with Alesia and Gunther while at school and in the Tower. During that time, Gwen also met her grandfather, Surya, and with Henry's help, managed to summon Ariel and Caliban.

"So that's why you kept disappearing every weekend!" Yue commented sulkily. "I thought you had a boyfriend or something."

Gwen continued her story, moving onto the unfortunate meeting between Mark Chandler and herself. It was a complicated story to narrate, and Gwen did her best to tell it chronologically, first going over her assault of the Slaver's base, then her capture, then Caliban running amok. She even confessed fully to Caliban's appetites.

"Don't be scared Evee, think about how loyally Caliban reacted. Man, I would love to have myself a Caliban in a tight spot." Yue remarked with confidence.

Then, to Gwen's relief, Yue reached out and rubbed Caliban's body, feeling its smooth exterior. Caliban raised its head and gazed at Yue with a knowing nod of comprehension. Yue then allowed Caliban to scent her hand, feeling the serpent nudged her knuckles with his snout.

"Good Cali," Yue cooed. "Who's a good boy?"

"Shaa! Shaa!" Caliban replied coolly.

Gwen continued her story, continuing with Gunther's arrival and his borrowing her hand to murder the two slavers.

"You… killed PEOPLE!?" Elvia was white as a sheet.

Yue raised both brows.

Gwen confessed all, including how Bozza and Farez finally expired.

"How do you feel sitting beside a murderer?" Gwen asked weakly.

"Meh, it was self-defence!" Yue's retorted defensively.

"Was it?" Gwen intoned melancholically. She had already replayed the scene so many times in her head. "They had no limbs, Yue. They were defenceless."

Yue licked her lips nervously. "Still, I don't blame you or anything."

Comparatively, Elvia seemed conflicted by Gwen's story. Her hand, which was rubbing Ariel's stomach, had ceased its stroking.

Gwen sighed and continued her story. Without risking too much detail, she explained the reason why Mark turned against his friends and allies. Gwen told them of Elizabeth, Henry Kilroy's wife, who was a Void element user herself. Elizabeth had gone mad with power, ultimately consuming others to feed her insatiable hunger. Mark was convinced that Elizabeth had murdered his sister, and so used Gwen to entrap Henry. She even told them that Mark had used Necromancy to capture his sister's soul as evidence.

"That asshole!" Yue uttered in disbelief, then realised the reason for Gwen's melancholy.

"No! You're not going crazy! You're a good person who feels remorse! Not like that Elizabeth woman. She was unbalanced from the start."

"Thanks, Yue, that's my hypothesis as well," Gwen replied, hoping that her friends had enough faith in her to believe her.

Elvia remained silent.

Gwen had a little more of the narrative left. She told them about how Gunther arrested Mark, of how she had that long conversation with Henry. The only way to save her from a fate of living in infamy and secrecy, Gwen explained, was to became a proverbial panda protected by all. She was to be a living Spell of Mass Destruction that all the powers respected and left well alone, tethered to the influence of the Tower's Middle Faction, and therefore the Mageocracy, itself.

Finally, she informed them of Surya and Henry's plan and the girls' part in it. All the was left now was how the girls would receive the news.

"That's about the gist of it," Gwen finished. She had omitted things as well: her true origins, the twin souls, her consumption ability to appropriate the talents Caliban devoured. These were secrets she'd likely have to take to her grave.

"Well, I am cool." Yue beckoned for Caliban. Gwen watched with surprise as Yue placed her face close to Caliban's own and allowed their noses to touch.

"Odourless, how interesting," Yue remarked, giving it a bop on the formless head. Caliban sent out some feelers to touch Yue's collarbones. "Eek! Ticklish!"

Yue was an amazing Mage, Gwen affirmed. That mental fortitude, that unflappable personality. The girl was made of sterner stuff than Gwen herself.

"Elvia, it's okay if you want me to leave or something." Gwen felt her stomach sink. "Please just say something."

Elvia looked up from stroking Ariel, turning her small face to regard Gwen and Yue with her luminous blue eyes. Then, to their surprise, Elvia launched herself from the bed and embraced Gwen by the neck. She dug her head into Gwen's shoulder and began to sob mightily.

"I am sorry," she mumbled incoherently. "You went through so much, and I wasn't even there. I didn't even know! I am a terrible friend!"

Gwen felt all tension drain from her body. Suddenly, she could breathe again. She wrapped her arms around Elvia, then kissed her cheeks.

"It's okay, Evee. I am so happy you could still accept me as your friend."

"Eee! Ee!" Ariel joined in the huddle.

"Aww." Yue felt her heart fluttering with gladness as she pressed herself into the scrum.

"Shaa!!" Caliban slithered in between the girls.

"Aeee!" Elvia tore herself away, falling against the pillow.

"Shaa!" Caliban looked hurt.

Suddenly, Yue began to laugh.
Gwen laughed as well.
Ariel squealed with delight.
Elvia wasn't in a jovial mood, but the laughter proved too infectious.
Caliban realised that it wasn't in trouble, and wagged its tail expressively.

All five members "laughed" themselves to exhaustion, so much that Gwen had to retract Caliban and Ariel into their pocket dimensions.

"Phew," Yue remarked, recalling a break in the chronology. "Assuming we get more details later for all that, I want to know what you did for the entirety of last month."

"Ah," Gwen realised that she had stopped the story a little prematurely. "Well, there's something you need to know about Debora…"


"You and Debora toured the Outback?!" Elvia's eyes marvelled at the word.

To the city folk, the Outback Frontier was a world of horses and Aurochs and Roos. That, and Drop Bears— Monstrosities hidden among the branches, waiting for the wayward feller wandering below, only to descend upon them with their rock-hard arse.

"Aye," Gwen answered with a seductive grin. "The Outback! A place of yore, a sunburnt country full of sweeping planes, rugged mountain ranges, droughts and flooding rains; with stark white ring-bark forests, all tragic as the moon, and sapphire-misted mountains and the hot gold hush of noon!"

Elvia's eyes glazed over with a look of dreamy romanticism.

"There, we battled a brutal Land Shark, hungry for the flesh of man! Debora and I, two young maidens thrown into the fight, were ambushed by a dread-beast in the dead of night!"

"Whoa..."

"But what horrid hap for the Shark! For the cunning Debs doth made pillars of stone for us to escape our woe! Frustrated, the Shark cometh, jaws-a-snapping and saliva-a-flinging. Hark! I called upon a thunderous hammer to smite our foe with lightning! Alas! It's diamond scales repelled the bolt!"

"Oh, no!" Elvia gasped. "Then what?"

"Fear not, for even as the beast's ire shifted to I; the faithful Debora leapt unto the creatures' flank, beating upon it as...er... drum!"

"Huh—?"

"Look, don't expect me to last more than a few verses, I am no Skandi Battle Skald." Gwen shrugged. "The main thing is, we defeated the beast, and Deb was lucky enough to pick up an intermediate earth spirit with the power of sand."

"No shit?" Yue exploded. "A Spirit?!"

"Yep, a medium-tier Sand Spirit."

Yue appeared thunderstruck. The girl had risked her life wading through Murkloc guts, and all she got was PTSD. Debora went adventuring in the wilderness with her best friend and just casually picks up a mid-tier Elemental?

"She worked hard for it." Gwen coughed. "She's a good ally."

Yue's eyes narrowed.

"What's her affinity now??"

"Tier… five?"

"Fuck." Yue snorted twin streams of air from her nostrils. She looked Gwen up and down, making her skin crawl. "We should go hunting sometime."

"Sure. There's always more Roos roaming the region."

"We better," Yue sighed. "Alright, let's snooze."

"You're sleeping here?" Gwen muttered between pursed lips, her eyes glazing over.

"You're not?" Yue shot her a look.

Gwen looked at the two girls. Yue's voluptuous figure enveloped Elvia's, though the smaller girl paid her companion no mind. As for her self, she felt strangely self-conscious. For some reason, she thought of Debora's blushing face.

"Come on, you sleeping or not?" Yue patted the place beside her.
Gwen felt her resolve put to the test. Sleeping next to Yue should be fine. If she slept next to Elvia, she might awaken something terrible.

Driving all thoughts from her mind, Gwen quietly removed herself from the foot of the bed, sliding herself into the silky sheets.

"Right," she replied woodenly. "Let's sleep."

She closed her eyes and tried to stay still, one leg hanging over the edge.

Before she could get comfortable, two soft pillows pressed against her arm. Soon, a thigh followed. Before she could protest, there was a sound of snoring.

Gwen pushed on her best friend, but the girl was already sleeping like a log, dead to the world.

"You girls have fun last night? What'd you do? Board games?"

Frederik was having a good chuckle at the girl's expenses when Gwen emerged with eyes that were puffy and bloodshot. In Elvia's bedroom, the others were still counting sheep, entangled within piles of linen.

"Good morning Mr Lindholm," Gwen greeted the Patriarch and his wife. "Good morning Mrs Lindholm."

"Call me, Fred," the Patriarch answered jovially.

"Likewise," Elaina replied, "Just Elly is fine."

"That's aright." Gwen raised both hands and refused politely. "I wouldn't want to make Elvia uncomfortable."

"Suit yourself." Frederik tipped his coffee cup toward the maid, who was readying breakfast for the girls. "Beatrice, can you make Miss Song a coffee as well, please."

"Yes, sir," the maid worked the machine.

In the morning night, Gwen studied Elvia's parents. Elaina appeared should be thirty, but she seemed only a little older than her friend. Unfortunately, Gwen noted sadly, if Elaina was any indication, it was unlikely that the angelic Elvia would become any more 'womanly'.

"Oh yes, your cousin left us this." Frederik handed over a card.
"I think it's an invite."

Gwen took the card and opened it. There was a family portrait of Richard, Aunt Tali, and Uncle Huang on the inside, with Happy NY written in English and Chinese.

 _Gwen, come to the NY family meet up this year. I know that previous years Kwan had been a dick and didn't invite you, but this year Surya is coming. Something big is happening. Your mother's coming as well. You should be here._

_— Richard.'_

Gwen snapped the card shut. She should probably give Opa a buzz.
Yue and Elvia seemed like they would take a while yet.

"Excuse me. I need to send a Message," Gwen apologised, walking barefoot onto the bay view terrace. She took in the vista before her, feeling the salty breeze of the sea brine upon her skin. The coolness helped to diffuse the sudden heat she felt the moment her mother's name was mentioned.

Helena Huang.

Gwen felt nauseated each time she tried to access either of her memories regarding her mother. The old Gwen's fragmented recollection had been full of disparaging moments of anxiety, both purposeful and neglectful. From the time alter-Gwen was ten and failed to show any promise in Spellcraft, Helena had obsessed with Gwen's external appearance. In terms of recollection, all she possessed were a vague montage of crash diets, verbal abuse, as well as toxic criticism of the girl in front of others.

As for Gwen herself, she hated her reflexive desire to please Helena. Each time she thought of her "Mother", something of the old Gwen reared its ugly head.

Facing the sea, she willed herself inwards. If she was to confront her mother, then the last thing she wanted was for some horrid memory to paralyse her at a critical junction. She wasn't sure about her alter-self, but she-herself rarely allowed wounds to fester.

When she had meditated on her memories before, it had felt like a torch dropped down a deep well. At the bottom of that well sat old water, festering with scummy memories.

She recalled that in her old life, she had told Helena to fuck herself the day before she moved out into a shared-room provided by the Government and her part-time work. After that, it took only four years of waitressing at trendy bars to finish university, by which time Helena had all but faded from her life. When she later queried her father, Morye had told her that Helena had left Australia with her new husband for China.

But the Gwen of this world could not have expected government assistance nor a safe bed provided by Welfare. She was only useful to society as a Mage. If Gwen's family had simply abandoned her— Gwen shuddered; she had seen enough at Blackheath to know she wouldn't last a week.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

That was why her old ego no choice but to buy into her mother's words. Alter-Gwen must have thought herself lucky to have a mother who was so maternal and caring, and that she was the one who was too fat, too skinny, too whatever.

"WHOA—"

A chilling shock jolted Gwen from her internal revelry.

"Whoops," Yue apologised, retracting a cold bottle of water. "Didn't think you were that out of it. Good morning!"

"Morning," Gwen answered with a wane smile, one hand touching the spot where the cold bottle had left a moist indent.

"Elvia should be up soon."

"Nice, did you get a good sleep?"

"Oh yeah, nice and snug. Man, I've got to invest in those one thousand thread-count sheets. It was like I was sleeping in a cocoon."

"Yeah, it's nice like that."

Half-an-hour later, Elvia joined them.

"Hey, you."

"Morning," Evee yawned, making a cherubic expression that energised the sleep-deprived Gwen.

Gwen showed her friends her invitation.

"Want some support?" Yue smashed a fist into the palm of her hand. There was no way to know that underneath that expression of sweetness was a battle maniac who now had a four-digit kill counter.

"Nah." Gwen shook her head. "I'd have to face the music sooner or later, I'd prefer sooner."

Yue shook her Message Device.

"You know where we'll be."

Elvia likewise concurred, offering herself to be Gwen's support.

"Thanks, guys," Gwen confessed her gladness. "Let me make a call."

Away from the girls, she Messaged Surya.

"Opa."

"Gwen, my girl! How's the party?"

"It was delightful."

"What's the matter?"

Gwen wasn't exactly sure how to approach the matter, so she mentioned Richard's note.

"Ah, heard about, it did ya?" Surya said. "Richard's a good bloke, eh? Who'd have thought? Well, you should thank your Master. I spoke to your Master, and he wants your family distractions resolved."

"You're not going to tell them about my talents, are you?" Gwen's chest tingled.

"Not entirely, no. That's the problem, you see? Kwan's a real piece of work, even if he's my son. Heaven knows what stupid ploys he's tied up for you. I have to go and make it clear that you're a line they cannot cross, on pain of ex-communication."

"Do you think I should come, Opa?"

"You don't have to. I know you and Helena—" Surya suddenly paused, as if something had struck his mind mid-sentence. "You don't fault me for that, do you, Gwen? I was so upset with Morye back then. I didn't know what Helena was doing."

"It's alright, Opa." How could she be angry at Surya? In her old world, she didn't even see her Opa more than a dozen times before he passed. In this world, she was beyond glad that someone like Surya even existed.

There was the sound of relief and a chuckle.

"Well, you can come if you like. You might see something amazing."

"What is it, Opa?"

"Hehe, you'll see." Her Opa chuckled to himself. "I'll see you on the 31st. Remember to dress formally for the occasion. Impress everyone! Are you coming back to the estate for the next few days?"

"I should be."

"Good, I have something to give you."

Gwen blinked. Her heart quickened; that something had to be Almudj's Scale! At long last, after all this time, it was ready!

"Okay, Opa. I'll be over later. Can I bring some friends?"

"Of course! Anyone who is a friend of yours is welcome in 'our' estate."

"Thanks, Opa, you're the best!"

"I know, dear. I know."

The glow of the Divination ceased.

She wanted to return to the estate right now. What could Opa have created from the scale of the serpent? It was an exciting prospect, but not nearly as overwhelming as inviting her friends to "her" place for once.

"Guys! Gather around. Listen, I've just got approval. You guys haven't been to my Opa's estate yet, right? Out in the Valley?"

"Nope." Yue drank her orange juice.

Elvia shook her head. She took her milk syrupy-sweet.

"Do you want to come and hang out for the next few days? We can hunt some Roos, check out the towns, go for a ride on horses through the outback— hot gold hush of noon and all that."

"Horses!?" Elvia's ultramarine eyes lit up.

"Oh yes, I have one called Beatrice, a spotted mare," Gwen explained the deal with her mare, and how Surya had kept it at his estate for Gwen's perusal.

"Roos?" Yue's spirit was on ablaze. "Big, three-metre bastards that try to melee you?"

"Thousands of them," Gwen assured her.

"Let me ask dad."

"I need to make a call."

Her friends returned a moment later. Frederik was more than happy for Elvia to spend more time with Gwen. After all, one could never build enough early social capital with a future Magister-in-waiting.

Yue's doting mother didn't like the impromptu holiday but knew she couldn't stop his headstrong daughter even if he tried.

"Alright, when do we leave?" Yue asked. Gwen still had all her gear. She was good to go.

"I need to pack! Give me an hour! No, thirty-minutes!"

The journey back down to Polkobin involved travelling back into the city before catching a train again out toward the tablelands. The three girls chitter-chatted the whole while, drawing curious glances from other passengers in the train.

From the station, it was Tess who picked them up in the rumbling old sedan.

"Opa!" Gwen ran to Surya and embraced him.

Yue and Elvia marvelled at the country estate and its spaciousness,

"Gwen, my girl!" Surya was more than happy to have the shampoo scent of his granddaughter's hair fill his nostrils. "— and welcome, I am Surya, Gwen's grandfather."

"Thank you for having us, Master Huang." Elvia bowed gracefully, a lock of blonde hair falling over one eye. Surya nodded approvingly, recognising the healer from Gwen's stories.

"Hello! Thanks for inviting us, Master Huang," Yue greeted Surya casually. She performed an awkward bow, her spaghetti-string tanktop testing its limits, flashing Surya a wide grin full of white teeth.

Gwen's grandfather's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Gwen had told him about the Asian girl who was Alesia's student, but to his eyes, the girl was larger than life.

"Gwen—" Surya whispered to Gwen. "Your friend is beyond impressive."

"Oh yes," Gwen nodded. "She's tier 4 affinity fire. She's seen real combat a well."

"That is impressive, indeed." Surya couldn't peel his eyes away.

"Gwen." Yue coughed, turning away from the ogling grandfather. "That's not what he meant."

"Opa!" Gwen kicked Surya in the shins.

"Arrghk— come and see me in the Workshop."

Surya fled.

Gwen led her friends to the guest rooms, assured Elvia and Yue of her Opa's good intentions, then promised that she would soon return.

In the west wing, her Opa was seated in his usual place. This time, he had a small silver box out in front of him, placed on top of a pedestal.

"Is it ready?" Gwen asked; her heart at her throat.

"It's ready," Surya affirmed.

"May I?" Gwen inquired carefully.

Surya nodded.

Gwen gingerly retrieved the box and opened it. She was greeted with the spectacle of a chromatic scale the size of her thumbnail. On cue, the scale rose into the air and began to orbit her head, shimmering with the petrol-sheen of a pigeon's neck.

"An Ioun Stone?!" Gwen was shocked. She had thought her grandfather would have made her a brooch or another ring, but an Ioun Stone!

By nature, such items were accessory iconically associated with powerful Mages. Pending the materials used to make the stone, a sorceress buffed herself with many effects, from improved protection to higher damage output, to hasted casting. Rarer stones even provided the ability to comprehend and understand arcane languages!

Gwen's eyes followed the scintillating scale.

"So what does it do, Opa?"

Surya rubbed his chin.

"Are you aware of how imbued enchantments work, Gwen?"

Gwen scanned her mind for any residual knowledge that the old Gwen might have left, finding nothing. She had never received formal training in Enchantment and didn't know any details beyond basic high-school theory crafting.

"Well, you should know that even with the best of materials, it is only possible to imbue a few effects onto an item. The scale you brought me had the unique ability to tap into the natural elements, or what we call the Primary elements - Fire, Water, Air, an Earth, do you understand?"

Gwen nodded. Surya continued.

"What do you think you need most right now?"

"Positive Energy?" Gwen said hopefully.

Surya made a face.

"I am afraid that's out of my league. What I mean is, what is your weakest talent?"

"Defence?" Gwen asked. She knew her counter-spells was non-existent. Even her non-newtonian plagiarism of Gunther's barrier took an incredible amount of concentration to maintain and manifest.

"Indeed, in the face of the Inter-High competition to come, I consulted with Henry, and we decided that you should gain an item of defence and protection first and foremost."

"Oh?" Gwen sounded almost disappointed. She had been expecting something that further augmented her offence.

"You can't afford to lose any of the battles Gwen, and you can be sure that those kids would be targeting the team's main caster. How are you going to do damage if you're a glass cannon?"

Gwen had to admit there was merit in what Surya was saying.

"After much deliberation, I have imbued the scale with the passive effect of absorbing Primary elemental damage."

Surya snapped his fingers, and a mote of fire flew towards Gwen, sizzling through the air and striking her skin. Gwen yelped and pulled back her hand, expecting a sharp pain. Instead, she felt only a warmness as the channelled flame faded into her skin. The scale shimmered, thrumming with resonance, humming gently.

"The scale significantly diminishes the effects of low-affinity elemental effects," Surya explained. "Give me your hand."

Gwen extended her hand doubtfully. Surya took from the wall bracket an assortment of implements.

He pointed the first one at her hand, channelling mana into the device. There was a crackling sound of snapping stone as a jagged shard materialised and shot towards Gwen's palm.
Gwen felt the impact bite into her hand.

"Ouch!" She pulled her hand and flinched.

"It doesn't stop physical effects." Surya pulled out another wand, this one with a core that was blue as sapphires.

"However, watch this."

Surya channelled and shot a shard of ice toward Gwen's palm. Gwen felt the ice stab into her flesh with a pin-prick, but there was no feeling of frigidity upon her skin.

"Strange, no?" Surya laughed. "I am not sure how it works either. I guess now we know why Alesia's flames failed to peel a single scale from the rainbow serpent."

Gwen asked Surya to try out a few more elements from his attuned inscriptors, ponding the scale's effects as she went. As a novice, Gwen could deduce that the "Scale" absorbed heat and cold. While kinetic devices were unaffected, it dampened entropic, thermodynamic damage.

Gwen gave the matter some thought.

Self-defence was not her forte. According to Alesia, dodging spells with high-mobility became non-optional once damage ramped up the tiers. Of the Schools of Magic under her belt, it was only Evocation and Conjuration that she excelled, for a jack of all trades would not benefit her team, especially as she had painted herself as an offensive expert.

From now, she had three months until the start of the competition. Of all her alternative talents, it was Flight from the School of Transmutation that made the most significant contribution to her tactical options.

But then again, Abjuration offered Resistance and Wards...
And Divination allowed detection and prevention...

Across from Gwen, Surya watched Gwen's eyes glaze over.
It was like his cute _cucu perempuan_ had suddenly seized up.
Did he break her? He wondered. Was the scale too impressive? It did absorb elemental damage, after all, that's about as unique as a mid-tier item could be.

Slowly, his eyes gazed downwards at her long white legs poking out beneath her dress. He selected a Wand of Ice from the table and pointed it towards the brass stool, a sudden feeling of mischief filling his old heart.

What was life for an Enchanter without his amusements?


Gwen massaged her thawing buttocks.

Surya had demonstrated a curious flaw of the scale's resistance, which was that its Enchantment worked best against spontaneous bursts of energy but fared poorly against gradual changes in temperature.

Horrified, Gwen quickly removed herself from the chair, making a rip-roaring noise. The embarrassment was mortifying, but she could hardly scold her Opa now, not after he had given her such an incredible gift.

Once her grandfather had his fun, Surya additionally recommended that she forgo the iconic look of the floating Ioun stone. Instead, she would "implant" the scale by adhering it to her skin. Subtlety, Surya explained, would necessary if she wished to avoid unwanted attention.

Lifting her hair, her Opa then placed the "Ioun Scale" against the base of her neck, below her hairline. With a word, Surya adhered the luke-warm Ioun Scale to her skin, where it would stay until she willed it to be released.

As a passive effect, Surya explained, the scale would continuously draw from the ambient mana that diffused from her body. It was why Mages had limited "slots" for passive items. Too many attunements meant that a caster crippled their Mana Pools.

After her Opa, Gwen returned to her friends. In her absence, her classmates made themselves comfortable on the long veranda, bathed in the auburn sunset setting aflame the infinity pool.

"It's beautiful here," Elvia marvelled as Gwen approached. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I've never seen anything like it period." Yue pouted. Unlike the other two, she was a regular girl with a middle-class Dad. They lived in a house that overlooked a narrow street. Gwen recalled that Yue's bedroom looked straight into her neighbour's bedroom.

She pulled up a chair and joined them.

"What's the plan?" Yue asked.

"Well." Gwen enjoyed the breeze. "We'll get the two of you outfitted tomorrow. Then we can rent a few horses. I know a guy, Tommy, who's a top bloke. There's a lot to do out here. We can hunt some Roos, get a barbecue going, or see local landmarks. We can even camp out for a night and stargaze."

"Sounds amazing," Elvia cooed.

"I am in," Yue agreed.

Satisfied, the girls preceded to shower and prepare for bed. Gwen returned to her bedroom, thinking of the sunset and the day ahead, dreaming of tomorrow.

“Kalinda!” someone shouted beside her ear.

Gwen bolted upright, propping herself on her elbows.
Only wasn’t in her bed.
She was instead comfortably nestled amongst on a straw mat laid over powdery clay. In the distance, a sinking sun shimmered, casting an orange haze over the ochre horizon.

_No way,_ Gwen thought to herself. _This isn't another transmigration, is it?_

Beside her, old Tjupurrula squeezed her arm and puckered his lips, pointing toward something towering and maroon. Compared to herself, the withered ma' mangk was skin wearing bones, held together by desiccated sinews. The Spirit Walker's skin was scarred as per tradition, concurrently dappled with the earthy tones of the Pintupi.

Above her, an enormous landmark, too famous not to be recognised, loomed.

Is that— _Uluru?_ Gwen marvelled. She had never seen the rock in real life before. It had always been on her bucket list, but work intervened.

Following Tjupurrula's finger, her eyes focused on the cloudless sky over the epic natural monument.

_"Kapi!"_ the Spirit Walker clapped emphatically.

There was a crash of thunder; then it began to pour.
Rain fell from heaven in pails and buckets, a solid wall of water cascading from a sky without clouds.

Where did the water come from? Gwen marvelled.

Tjupurrula leaned in closer. His skin as dark as obsidian, slick as an eel's.

Gwen looked down and saw a pair of caramel bosoms jutting outwards. Remarkably, she did not feel shame. Why would she? Was that not how men and women came into the earth, naked and quivering, likewise leaving, also naked and quivering?

“The Rainbow - the rainbow comes from the earth and returns here.” Gwen heard herself speak, but her voice was strange. It was a woman’s voice, but not her own. "Grandfather, I see now."

“Aye. Almudj is a proper cheeky.” Old Tjupurrula flashed a mouth full of yellow teeth. “It lives here, with a long beard and sharp teeth, in Uluru. It does not need men or women. It dreams, requiring no ceremonies.”

“Will the Snake awaken feeling hungry? Will it eat us?” Gwen heard herself inquire innocently. Her question made Tjupurrula laugh.

“O ya, Snake is very dangerous when it is cranky. The land grows dry, and the Pintupi drink the earth. When it is hungry, we have _kurtangulu,_ nothing!”

Gwen felt the cold water of the cloudless rain saturating her skin, washing away the dust and the grime. As the water streamed from her hair, she could almost sense the seeds buried deep underground violently erupting, breaching the surface, gasping for air.

She opened her mouth, filling it with water.
She swallowed, quenching her thirst.

Tjupurrula regarded her with a broad grin.

“Uluru! This why the Pintupi can be at peace. Not like those Usurpers. The Snake is proper cheeky, yes. It will attack invaders. It will return their body to their ancestors. All of them. Everywhere!”

Suddenly, there was a tremor. The ground began to shift and move. From atop Uluru, she could see an immense shape, slithering and meandering, sliding from within the stone.

“In the early days, when the Yirriti first carried the Song, they carried it through the country, safe from the stalkers and the hunters. They carried it in drought times, through a dry country, travelling at night. I saw this once, Kalinda. I was a young _komp,_ and my eyes were bright.”

“The Pintupi come from the old country, walking to the rock. Following the track. Following the track left by the Snake. Silently, looking, looking and coming to this place. To the mother place. People come. There were many of us then.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Tjupurrula’s eyes glazed over with a look of nostalgia.

“Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. They come to sing to the Snake. From Purtardi, Koonadan, from Karli Karru, from Tamarama, from Wimparraku. They come. From the south. From the north. From the east. From the west. They shared their meat, their _eechak._ I shared my _kongk._ There was no blood, no hate. When we walk the Long Walk, there is no argument. No eye.”

“In Uluru, with our special song. The Song of the Pintupi, we sing to the Snake. We could make the Snake remember a time when the world was young. It was a friend then. Before the Usurpers came; all people sang the song.”

A sound of thunder rumbled across the sky.

“Kapi! Kapi! Kapi!” Tjupurrula began. “Come! _Ngak uu peeyan_!”

Old Tjupurrula's hands gestured in the air. All around them, Gwen saw thousands, tens of thousands of the folk gathered, singing, dancing, revelling in the corroboree.

Laughing, Gwen lifted herself from the earth. The torrential rain cleansed the mud from her body. She joined the dance, hundreds of bodies in motion, moving round and round, their bare feet pitter-pattering across the flowing earth.

_CRACK!_ Came the sound of earth-shattering fulminations. From the apex of Uluru, the Snake began to move, moving toward them, coming closer.

The ground shook again. Something else began to pour from atop the rock. Water gushed from the stone, water the likeness of blood, shaking the earth, filling the earth with life. Gwen wept, for here was where every river in the world begun.

Her world turned scarlet. Everywhere the red liquid touched, the land itself was quickly changing— fields of wild grass and wildflowers sprouted violently, exploding from the earth in vibrant eruptions. A verdant rainbow manifested where there had only been sand and dusty death.

“Kapi! Kapi! Kapi!”

The song continued unceasingly, the masses of bodies forming an unending spiral around Uluru.

“Kapi! Kapi! Kapi!”

Gwen turned her gaze upward to see the scintillating eyes of the serpent regarding her curiously.

"Almudj sees you, Kalinda!" Old Tjupurrula slapped his thighs. "Speak to it, girl! Ask for rain!"

Kin?

The serpent's voice flooded her mind, drowning Gwen in a flood of rushing white water.

Gwen forced her eyes to open.

Gingerly, one hand moving toward the back of her head, caressing the pulsing serpent's scale imprinted on her neck.

Taking deep breaths, Gwen forced herself to calm.

Her dream did not feel like an astral projection or an out of body experience. Instead, it was a vicarious immersion. She felt as though she had been there, as though she was the woman who was speaking to that ancient Spirit Walker, Tjupurrula.

Certainly, her Opa never mentioned anything about the scale bringing edicts from land gods, so what was her vision supposed to be?

Outside, it was already morning.
There was a din of women bickering on the veranda.

As the voices were familiar, Gwen attempted to make out the source of the fuss. The loud and obtrusive screamer was Yue without a doubt. The other was churlish and overbearing. Dobora— Gwen realised. Debora was back.

Slapping on a pair of shirt and shorts, she exited her room.

Outside, Elvia, who was in all-white, was trying to play the peacemaker.

Yue was leaning against the veranda’s rails with a sulky look, arms crossed, heaving angrily.

Debora was on the opposite side, hand on hips, aggressively incensed.

There was static in the air.

"Morning..."

All three pair of eyes converged.
Gwen sensed the worse was yet to come. For some reason, she felt like a cheating husband who had double-booked his mistress and his family.

"Hey there, Gwennie, I am back." Debora's voice maintained a suggestive, husky candour. "Did you miss me?"

Yue and Elvia's gazes shot towards Gwen accusingly.

"I didn't know you would be back so soon," Gwen returned, realising she sounded like a guilty housewife. "How was Christmas?"

"Got my blessings from the Archbishop, then polished off some honeyed ham at home." Debora pouted. "Came straight back to see how you were doing."

"Fu—" Yue began.

"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Gwen interrupted before the situation could escalate further. "Let's all go riding! Horses! Big Red Roo! OPEN SKIES!"

_Fuck a duck._ Gwen groaned.
She had forgotten entirely that only she and Debora had horses on the estate.

Due to her inconsiderate party planning, the foursome was now stuck in Tess's car, on route to McGuigan's Estate. A bemused Rhodes had been informed of their arrival, and he had sent out Tommy to ensure the girls could all be saddled and sorted.

Already, the atmosphere in the Merc was suffocating. Gwen sat in the passenger seat, while Elvia sat in the middle, caught between a Yue and a Debora.

After ten minutes of not talking to one another, Gwen couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Look, nothing happened between Debs and I. We were just fooling around."

Debora looked hurt. Yue was about to bust a gasket.

"Alright, that was a poor choice of words. Debora and I were partners..."

Debora looked pleased. Yue looked hurt.

"— in a PARTY. God damn it. We worked in a strictly professional capacity, okay?"

"But what about..." Debora raised a hand.

"Debby, help me out here!" Gwen snapped.

"Alright, alright." Debora put up both hands. She turned to look at Yue, who was eyeing her suspiciously. "Gwen and I shared some intimate memories, not that any of you would know."

"Debora Jones!" Gwen's patience had run its course. She had entirely forgotten how annoyingly possessive and stubborn Debora could be.

"Hmmph!" Even the angelic Elvia felt insulted. Debora's body language did not suggest that her interested in Gwen was platonic.

"You wish, skank." Yue was taking no prisoners.

"Oi, you lot! Do you want me to run the car into a tree?" Tess, who had suffered for an hour, demanded darkly. "I'll be fine with my Iron Skin. But it'll put you sulky lot out of your misery post quick."

"Thank you, Tess. That's wonderfully morbid." Gwen sighed. "Alright, everyone. Until we get to the horse farm, there is to be no more bullshit. Or else, I swear to God, I'll turn this car around!"

"Lady boss!" Tommy leapt off his horse with a flourish, bowing as he did so, kicking up a mighty storm of impressive dust. His eyes scanned over the girls. "Oh my! Are Missus Mages always so beautiful?! I must have died and gone to heaven!"

No one answered him, Tommy was amazed by the silence. What had happened? His flattery rarely if ever fell on deaf ears.

"Hi Tommy, we need to borrow your and four horses, can you pick out some docile mares for my friends, Elvia and Yue?" Gwen's voice demure and defeated, and it made Tommy terrified. "We'll be stargazing as well, so if you could pack the horses for camping, it would be lovely."

"Sure thing, but you okay, Lady boss? You sound sick, unhappy. Anything Tommy can do to help?" Tommy offered thoughtfully; these lady bosses looked very expensive.

"I am alright Tommy. Please see to it now."

Gwen walked off by herself towards the paddock where the horses roamed, leaving Tommy to busy himself with the supplies, wondering if the weather had suddenly changed for the worse.

"Mmmnngh!" Elvia had been mum this whole while, but she couldn't take Gwen been unhappy for another minute! "Yue! Debby! Go apologise, now!"

The two girls looked at the healer and her misty eyes.

"Yes, Ma'am," Yue replied with a deflating voice.

"Sorry, Elvia," Debora replied earnestly. "Yue, Gwen and I are just friends. Honestly."

"I am sorry as well. I was being a bitch."

The girls went and located their friend.

"We're sorry!" The troublemakers apologised. Making a supplicating bow that was the sign of a junior Mage to a superior. "Please don't stay upset."

Gwen turned; her usually sparkling-bright emerald eyes were red and puffy.

"I am alright." Gwen rubbed her eyes. "Promise me you two won't fight for stupid reasons again."

"I promise." Debora crossed her heart.

"Me too," Yue added stiffly.

"Okay. Now is a good as a time as any then. Yue— Debora is going to be on our 5v5 team," Gwen added. "I want us all to work together and win. You know how much I need this. And how much we all need to win to advance our future careers."

"You'll get no arguments from me," Yue raised both hands. She then extended a hand towards Debora. The two shook, albeit grudgingly.

"Okay!" Gwen smirked, her face once again projecting happiness. "You girls go and pick your horses. I need to wash up my face. It's embarrassing to see myself like this."

Her friends breathed a sigh of relief as Gwen watched them go, a secret smile touching the corner of her lips.

"Hehe, you young ducks are still too tender for an old bird like me."

Gwen winced, conjuring fresh water to wash out her eyes. Employing half an onion had been excessive. In hindsight, a single slice would have done the job just as well.