March 7th, 2018

Daphne Snow School of Arcane Art

Garden-pond Amphitheater-Sorcery Class

09:00 AM

It was a beautiful place in the school courtyard, there were six rows of stone seats distributed in a radial arc facing a marble platform where a big crystal ball was central to it; behind it was a clear blue water pond with an unknown depth. Around the pond there were bushes with white flowers, Baby’s Breath to be specific. In the trees, there were Fairy homes, a cross between Bee-hives and Elven tree-homes.

The Daphne Snow school was the home of a great many low faes, ranging from Fairies, Gnomes, Goblin and Brownies. They also served as the administrative staff, gardeners, and cooks. In the school charters, it was explained to respect everyone and treat everyone in a friendly manner; the consequences would be dire if the rules were not followed, as the nature of Fae is often alien and tricky.

Three students were sitting in the front row of the amphitheater, two young women and a young man. Their age ranged from fifteen to seventeen. Elissa, Dawn, and Wayne; the redhead chatted on her phone with her friends at Tesla while Dawn talked amicably with Wayne about the content of the class.

Elissa had missed the first class, but that wasn’t really important to her; from what her girlfriend told her, it was about introducing themselves to the teacher and testing their elemental affinities. Well, even if it wasn’t important to her, but for the rest of them it was really necessary. Dawn had discovered that she has another elemental affinity other than her main attribute of Space - she also has one for Darkness magic. Wayne who was a fire mage also had a minor affinity in Earth magic. Those two couldn’t wait to discover what was Elissa’s second affinity.

They speculated that it was either wind or light. Meanwhile, the redhead was exchanging texts on WhatSoft on her smartphone with Danny. Who told her that Jamie and Emilia shared the photos of her walking while dragging Benjamin Price by his hair; they even made a meme out of it:

The Ice Princess lowers the Price!

Elissa groaned in disgust, Dawn and Wayne asked her what was wrong and she shared the picture with them. Wayne looked shocked while the Asian girl began to laugh out loud crazily, hand on her belly. Elissa wasn't amused.

“Danny said that the bullying completely stopped at the academy since she posted this on the academy social network,” Elissa said, embarrassed.

“That's awesome! Right?” Dawn was ecstatic, her girlfriend stopped the offenders by beating the strongest guy at school.

The asian girl still couldn’t believe she could say those words, ‘her girlfriend’: she felt happy and at ease. She finally had someone she was close to who wasn’t an otaku or an opinionated fucker on the Eris chat for gamers. Dawn sat closer to Elissa who passed an arm around her waist, the young woman leaned into her girlfriend.

“Elissa, in a sense it's good,” Wayne said, he looked at the intimate way the two girls acted. “No one will go looking for a fight with you.”

The redhead nodded after pondering what he said. “I guess that’s good, I will be able to focus on my studies and meet with my friends without problems. By the way, Wayne, Jamie and Emilia asked after you.”

“Emilia asked after me?” Wayne looked surprised and elated.

Dawn couldn’t stop reacting with the way he dismissed the other girl added in Elissa’s statement.

“Wow, you blanked out Jamie completely.” The asian girl scowled at him.

Wayne looked apologetic, and avoided her gaze as he reddened, “Ah… I like her taller friend better.” he stuttered.

Elissa’s bell-like laugh mocked him.“We could help you, get you two together?”

“Nah, I will ask her out myself.” The young man said as he shook his head.

Five minutes later the discussion subsided and Elissa took out her notepad and her colored pens. Dawn did the same, while they waited for their teacher Miss Nerine.

Feeling warm, Elissa used her new mental technique that she developed to control her frost aura: she imagined a mental thermostat, which she used to lower the temperature to the desired point with her cryokinesis. It was a form of training that she decided to maintain at all times and it would greatly help her to tolerate the weather becoming warmer outside.

Dawn had called her, ‘her personal A/C unit’ and stayed close to her, her hand in Elissa’s.

“That your light shines upon the abyss, everyone.” A mellifluous voice echoed

Miss Nerine appeared from the pond in a blue bodysuit with a scaled texture that shimmered under the sun and showing off her curves, long flying skirts of unknown fabric. Elissa and Dawn felt envious of the outfit, as she looked gorgeous in it. Elissa was mesmerized by the physiology of the mermaid sorceress; at the end of her fingers were long blue claws, there were blue fins on her arms and her ears looked like blue fans that Miss Nerine could move at will.

“Miss Kisaragi, Mr. Griffin it is good to see you.” Miss Nerine said as she played with her blue hair decorated with a golden circlet around her head. The mermaid looked right at Elissa and scowled.

“Miss Von Braun, we finally meet! I heard about what happened yesterday.”

“Good morning, Miss Nerine. Yes, I was attacked yesterday.” Benjamin Price was scum to Elissa, she knew she could have avoided the entire battle but her upbringing taught her to never let an enemy at the gates to ambush you.

“It is important to know how to defend oneself, but I heard that your magic was sealed; next time don’t take that much risk.”

Dawn and Wayne looked at Elissa in shock. Elissa squared her shoulders as their gazes bore into her and were surprised that Miss Nerine was aware of her predicament. Her girlfriend put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and the redhead became less tense; Wayne just shook his head in disbelief.

*But why wouldn’t she? Mom would let her know about it for her class.* Elissa told herself.

Miss Nerine waved her hand and a smartphone appeared in her hand, she began texting and right away her phone vibrated and pinged. The mermaid’s face broke into a seductive smile that dazzled poor Wayne who gulped loudly. Dawn looked at the ridiculous boy with mirth as his eyes locked onto the deep neckline of the teacher. The mermaid stepped down from the platform and approached the redhead to finally put her webbed hand on her shoulder.

Elissa felt a surge of magic that felt elemental, raging and slow at the same time. The redhead felt as if something inside her was being unlocked and she regained a familiar feeling that she had almost despaired ever to have.

“Here, you have your magic back for three hours. It’s for the duration of this class anyway.” She said in a warning tone.

Tears began flowing from Elissa’s eyes and she felt no pain as she held her hand before her and conjured ice first with her cryokinesis and sculpted it with her ice magic while imbuing it with mana. The construct took on the form of a lifelike sparrow and flew into the sky. Elissa felt that she had learned something from the last few days, doctor Jordan had shown her the limits of her superhuman powers and during the use of ice magic just now, she barely used her mana.

*Before, the expenditure was important, but now I think it has become negligible. I feel that it can still be improved!* Elissa swore that she would train her cryokinesis to get even better with her ice magic.

“You have wonderful control Elissa; I would consider your ice magic mastered. That is why you should use another element.” Miss Nerine, the sorcery teacher said.

Elissa was happy for the compliment and astonished by what she said next.

*Another element? It’s true that mom drilled the basics and gave me all the knowledge of the sanctum about Ice magic.* The young woman remembered how she literally lived in the Sanctum for months with Cassie at her side, learning about magic with Malicia’s guidance; Elissa had been homeschooled for one year before entering high school in 2016. The redhead relished those moments, but staying cooped up in the sanctum wasn’t appealing at all as she liked to fight and going to the Amazon Complex had kept her sane.

Elissa tilted her head. “Is four years of study enough to think of me as a master of Ice magic?”

Nerine widened her eyes and gave a little laugh, she wasn’t expecting Elissa to be such a genius. Or was it better to say ‘fast-learner’?

“Oh my, yes certainly.” Miss Nerine answered.

“Wow Elissa, four years?” Dawn was astonished, she had trained longer than Elissa and she was barely an adept at space magic.

Incensed, Wayne stood up while looking at the redhead.“That’s insane! I studied since I was nine to have mastery of fire!” Wayne whined.

Dawn laughed at him, Elissa shrugged.

“I still don’t feel like I have mastered it… so it’s no big deal, maybe there’s more; in the pursuit of magic attaining knowledge is never-ending.”

“That’s a good way of thinking, you are right to not get a big head, hubris was the fall of a lot of magic users.” Miss Nerine smiled, proud that her new student wasn’t the proud type.

“Miss Nerine, can I know what type of secondary element I can use?” Elissa was suddenly interested in what new element she could have, after all, she has only been focused on ice magic so as to not let her cryokinesis get out of hand.

“Certainly, young lady! Come onto the platform with me.” She took Elissa’s hand and led her to the big crystal ball.

“Put your hand there.” Nerine showed her the indent in the giant crystal ball. “Pour in mana and we will know the attributes.”

Elissa followed the instructions of her teacher and poured in her mana in a steady flow, the crystal drank in the energy and began to shine with white inner light. Nerine made her stop after thirty seconds; Dawn and Wayne waited with bated breath for the great reveal to happen! Dawn thought that Elissa would have the light element, while the black haired boy thought it would be something more incredible, maybe a mineral element.

In the crystal ball, the lower part of the globe snow and mountains of ice revealed themselves, this showed that it was Elissa’s main element: Ice. Nerine looked at the ball as if she was in a trance, the wind whistled as snowflakes came down the mountains, black clouds swirled at the top of the globe; lightning flashed, thunder roared, the rain came crashing and the bottom of the crystal ball flooded with water while the wind howled.

Dawn and Wayne couldn’t understand the allegorical display in the crystal bowl, but they were sure it was something amazing as their own tests didn’t display an elaborated element like this one. There was wind, ice, water, and lightning.

“The storm!” Nerine gushed.

The mermaid turned to Elissa and showed her what she meant as she conjured a ball of water in one hand and a lightning construct in the form of a sea snake entwined her other arm.

“You can become a storm mage!” Nerine was happy, she could finally pass on her knowledge. “Elissa, become my apprentice!” the mermaid said as if she didn’t give the redhead any other choice. Nerine's dismissed her magic.

The mermaid took Elissa’s hand and put it on her breast. The redhead tried to take it back as she was embarrassed by the sudden skinship.

“That’s awesome!” Dawn shouted as she came to hug her talented girlfriend.

Wayne was jealous; he couldn’t understand how everything could be so smooth for Elissa. He had to toil to have everything he has right now, from his staff to his clothes and his knowledge was from the family library under the watch of his uncle who was a severe and no-nonsense individual. He stopped his train of thought when he remembered whose daughter Elissa was and that maybe she didn’t have everything easy.

Elissa didn’t understand why Miss Nerine was this excited.“Huh, sure Miss Nerine but I will have to ask my mo-”

The storm was regaining intensity in the crystal ball, lightning escaped it and hit the front seats of the amphitheater. The mermaid took her phone out and her entire happy-go-lucky demeanor shifted to a serious one. Elissa looked apologetic when the lightning almost struck Wayne who had leaped back.

*Ice and Storm, those are her two main elements, they share affinity and strength. This young lady will be scary when she grows into her powers… but I have no choice, the storm is such a rare element! Those possessing it are marked for greatness, this may be my destiny to teach Elissa my craft.* Nerine couldn’t let such a momentous event pass.

“Don’t worry I will call her now!” The mermaid told her pupil.

---

 Miss Nerine had called Malicia and she had accepted to let Elissa be apprenticed to the mermaid. After that, the class began with gusto. The mermaid teacher decided to begin with the basics and asked, “What is magic?”

Dawn raised her hand and Miss Nerine gave her permission to speak. “A mystic power that doesn't adhere to the standard rules of the universe, capable of altering or changing them entirely, it can nonetheless be studied and understood just like anything.”

“I like your answer, Miss Kisaragi.”

Elissa raised her hand, she didn’t feel that Dawn’s answer was complete.

“Magic is the principal force in the world and operates in a similar vein to real-world elemental forces such as gravity and electromagnetism. Magic warps reality in much the same way as the real universe's gravity warps its space-time. The act of performing magic is, essentially, telling the universe what you want it to be like, in terms, it can't ignore.”

“Excellent, Miss Von Braun! It’s exactly that.” Nerine was glad that her new pupil already had a good base.

“Cough -suck up- cough,” Wayne said.

It caused Dawn to pinch his arm, he cried out in pain.

“Very well, now I know that you are aware of the basics. Could someone tell me what the known schools of magic are?”

It was Wayne's turn to raise his hand.

“Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation!” The young man said confidently.

“Very good, Mister Griffin.” Nerine smiled in appreciation.

The mermaid was happy that she wasn’t saddled with complete novices and that the level of her students was already this high. Wayne beamed at the compliment and looked at Elissa with a smug grin, asking her to do better. The redhead just rolled her eyes and ignored the boy.

“Miss Von Braun come onto the platform,” Nerine asked the redhead who stiffened and stood up.

Dawn looked at her girlfriend with an encouraging smile and made her go with a light smack on her bum. Elissa went onto the platform, Miss Nerine giving way to her, Elissa calmed down as there were only three people looking at her right now. She wasn’t used to being that much of a spectacle, but still, she expected that a magic school would be all about being showy.

“Now I want you to show an example of abjuration spell and describe this school of magic.”

“Okay, hum. The abjuration school encompasses protective spells like magical barriers.” Elissa created a double layered shimmering dome of white and blue magic around her. “The school enables a magic user to create a physical and magical barrier. It can also negate magical and physical abilities, harm trespassers, or in the case of a demon, spirit or other such subjects they can be banished to another plane of existence.” The redhead created a ball of ice that disappeared in a flash of light.

Elissa gave a satisfied grin and was about to come down from the platform when Miss Nerine called out to her, “You forgot something, Miss Von Braun.”

Elissa stopped, then wracked her brain; she had confidence in her memory but she had never been tested on it by someone other than her mother.“Huh? Ah, yeah I remember hum, some abjuration spells include the most important spells for a caster: dispel magic and resist energy?”

Nerine nodded. “Good, you can go back to your seat, Miss Von Braun.”

Phew. Elissa sighed in relief as she came back to Dawn’s side, but it was the asian girl’s turn who became shy as the gaze of the mermaid settled on her.

“Miss Kisaragi.” The mermaid sat on the crystal ball in the center of the platform.

“Yes, Ma’am?”

Nerine flipped her hair.“Conjuration is your favored school of magic so could you explain how it works to the class?”

The asian girl began to quote word for word the definition she saw in her books.“Certainly. The conjuration school calls materials, creatures or energy to the caster and can also be reversed to send creatures to other places, either over long distances or even to a whole different plane of existence. It can also be used to teleport the caster or a group of people over great distances, usually via the Astral Plane.” Dawn was really proud of her photographic memory.

However, Nerine wouldn’t stop at this basic explanation.

“And?” The mermaid encouraged Dawn to continue.

The asian girl thought about it and remembered the annotations she saw in the Darlene Knowles book of conjuration, an excellent starter for budding space mages.

“Huh, spells of this school can also teleport the caster to a destination in another plane entirely. Teleportation spells are often one-way and require another teleportation spell to return…?”

“You are not sure, Miss Kisaragi?” Nerine questioned her.

Dawn scratched the back of her head and said, “I mean, ma’am I never teleported to another plane only to places on Earth.”

“As you should! The other planes are lawless and dangerous places. You answered well.” Nerine told Dawn who sighed and was glad this was done with.

“As you can see, magic is divided into special brands of schools and will be taught here. Though Necromancy and blood magic are proscribed by the treaty of Corvinus. I want you to fill in these papers.” The mermaid conjured a stack of papers before Elissa and the others. “And choose the schools that interest you and when my colleagues are here we will divide you into classes for the weeks of your specialties.”

Elissa took the stacks of paper before her and examined them. They were special forms to participate in classes and they were divided by school. The redhead decided to fill in only those that interested her; she would have to manage her time between Alchemy, Blacksmithing and the normal classes, but she could only choose four classes maximum.

As she already knew most of the Phantasian spells of the Abjuration school Elissa decided not to take it and take the Evocation, Enchantment, Conjuration and Divination classes. Two of them were taught by the mermaid and the others by two other teachers who weren’t there. Elissa filled in the forms and stacked them neatly near her when she was done.

Dawn looked at Elissa and then showed her the classes that she was taking, Conjuration, Abjuration, Divination, and Illusion.

“Aww, we only have two classes in common!”

Elissa giggled, “I have different needs and weaknesses to cover. I totally want to know how to teleport.”

“But you have me, Eli!”

Elissa sighed, gazed in her girlfriend’s eyes, “When you aren’t going to be here what will I do, Dawn?”

The young woman lowered her eyes, played with the plaid of her skirt and said, “Ok ok. I see your point.”

“Is everyone done filling in the forms?” The three students nodded or acknowledged. “Great, now I know that you are all more or less at the level of adept and journeymen. We will then gauge how you craft spells, and if you are able to modify them or interrupt them.”

The redhead went forward and began to trace a glowing line of Mana in the air. A string of runes began to form before her, through her will Elissa condensed the line of spell to form a rune and she continued the operation repeatedly.

“Interesting technique…” Nerine was mystified by this new way of writing spellwork.

Elissa finished and smiled, “This is spell coding.”

“I wish I could learn this,” Dawn mumbled.

Elissa heard her and answered, “You will, mom decided to take you as an apprentice.”

“Yay!” The space mage shouted in joy.

Elissa looked at her with pity as her little Dawn is going to go through hell. She was still having nightmares about failing Malicia’s practical exam. They reflected real life situations perfectly and tested the apprentice’s knowledge to the limit.

“Sorry in advance, Dawn…” The redhead said while patting her girlfriend’s shoulder.

First Dawn will have to swear a really restrictive oath. Then forced to absorb a lot of knowledge about spell coding and she will be thrown in the first level testing room of the Sanctum.

The asian girl’s eyes were wide open, she began to worry.“What do you mean?”

Elissa smiled at her but stayed silent. Dawn became really worried about the behavior of her girlfriend.

---

 Planet Lekrys

Kingdom of Bramha

Liira’s church

Headquarters of the Light Wave Order

Lekryan Calendar 17th day of Radagon 4912

Afternoon

Shiwan walked without paying attention to the kneeling and bowing priests and priestesses. As her steps echoed on the white marble tiles, the saintess could feel the shadow guard move silently behind the pillars supporting the church. The redheaded half-oni was still not used to being tailed every day, even more, when she wasn’t satisfied with the level of concealment the guard used. Shiwan thought that she will have to ask her second mother to step up their training yet again.

Three gorgeous women were waiting for her at the doors of the sanctuary; one was a beautiful lythe woman with white skin, ivory horns, white hair, and red eyes clothed in a black dress that didn’t hide anything. The other one was Shiwan’s lover and best friend, Melveena Ankar, a Dhampir Privateer from the floating archipelago; she was a platinum-haired beauty with red eyes too. Melveena smiled at her woman, her fangs showing. The last woman wore a golden priestess robe with blue jewels on her sleeve and a veil; her face showing an amused expression, she is Arc Priestess Daelyn.

“Finally here, young one.” The woman with the horns looked frustrated.

Her name was Grandine and she is a White Dragon and Shiwan’s master.

The red-headed oni lowered her eyes, showing deference to her master. “Sorry I am late Granny White.”

Melveena hugged Shiwan fiercely, kissing her cheek.“I missed you! You could have let me follow.” But she looked at her with a reproving glare.

The Saintess looked mildly embarrassed.“It was boring, Mel. I went to the peace conference and flattened a bandit camp on the return trip afterward. No riches, no treasures nor ancient knowledge.”

Melveena was an adventurer as well as a privateer and smuggler, so she never stayed anywhere for long as she was stricken by wanderlust. With her lover being confined in the church and constrained by responsibilities she found it really hard to part from her. The privateer thought of kidnapping Shiwan most of the time to get back to their adventures.

“What did you do to the King of Eqalyra?” Daelyn asked.

Melveena and Grandine looked at Shiwan, waiting to know if the rumor of her threatening to dethrone him was true. The steely gaze and the threatening smile appearing on her face told them everything they wanted to know.

“Nothing yet, I just dismembered one of my uncle’s sons.” Shiwan smoothed out her blue and gold dress then crossed her arms under her modest chest.

“Oh, I am sure he deserved it,” Melveena said.

If her lover went that far, the man must have ticked her off.

Shiwan opened her mouth and said, “We have business with the Goddess, Aunt Daelyn.”

The robbed woman made an exasperated sigh, she had tried to teach Shiwan the subtlety of Politics but to her, everything should be settled at the point of her daggers. Daelyn regretted having let her get into contact with Zena Gabreeyel the Queen of the Oni-tribe, her great-great grandmother; she changed from a sweet young girl to a ruthless warrior in just three years.

“I know, she gave me an Oracle, you must enter meditation and don’t worry, we will guard your body.” Daelyn finally said.

“I will take really good care of it.” Melveena patted Shiwan on her cheek, then sliding her hand on her breast and her waist.

Cough. Melveena froze and took her hands off the saintess as she felt a chill from Grandine who didn’t appreciate those kinds of moment of intimacy in the open. Shiwan wasn’t embarrassed by it at all; Daelyn opened the doors of the Sanctuary and they entered.

The women weren’t amazed by the tapestries, statues or the iron wooden pews of the gigantic room. It had two floors and was able to host thousands of people. Stained glass decorated the domed roof, the construction of the Sanctuary made sense as the light was the primary element of the Goddess Liira and praying under it was a duty. But it had another function, to permit the chosen ones of the Goddess to enter into communion with her.

Once in the center of the room on the dais, the Saintess knelt, Melveena placed herself behind her and Grandine deployed a grand formation to shield the group from attack. It created a construct of light around them, a geometric formation with runes circling through its surface. The kind of defense that was judged impregnable.

Even now, Shiwan had more enemies than any kings or influential individuals.

The Saintess began to meditate and let go of all her tethers but the one linking her soul to her life-force. The church was built on one of the main chi-veins of the planet, able to permit Shiwan to boost her power to reach Liira’s realm. As she ascended, Shiwan saw the church and its magnificent towers, the people going through their life. More and more she went upward until she reached the void and the door of her Goddess’ realm opened for her.

Landing without noise in the Celestial Hall, Shiwan walked confidently toward the center of the Star Citadel. She could barely describe everything here, so the Saintess didn’t try; however, she knew that the roof showed everything happening in her planet’s star system. It was how the Goddess monitored everything on Lekrys too. Shiwan has learned that Lekrys wasn’t the only planet in Liira’s care.

The Saintess wasn’t walking per se as much as she used the power of her mind to move through the Star Citadel. Other champions were walking, training or immersing themselves in the wonders of the Star Citadel in search of enlightenment. She had been in their shoes since her childhood, visiting the citadel in dreams.

Finally, she was there, the Goddess’ throne room. Everything was gold in color, the walls, the furniture and the weapons placed on the thirty-six columns at the center of the room glimmered like stars. It was gaudy, blinding and too ostentatious to Shiwan’s tastes but she was loath to tell the Goddess about it.

The throne was empty until the Saintess blinked and there she was in all her glory. She was tall, muscular and at the same time sensual and athletic. Her golden skin shone with an inner glow; Liira’s hair was black and shined as if there were stars born and dying in them each second; Her eye color couldn’t be described as they passed through all the colors of the light spectrum, to a mere mortal the goddess of war was a heaven-defying beauty. However, the similarities between her face and Shiwan’s were astounding. She wore a full plate of armor made of an unknown silver material with her spear in hand.

“Ah, my favorite has come to visit.” Liira’s voice came from everywhere.

Shiwan knelt, her white thigh was displayed from the diaphanous skirt. “My Goddess.”

“Come on Shiwan, stop with the formalities. It wasn’t that long that you bounced on my knees.” Liira’s beautiful voice rang like the sound of bells like crystal with her laughter.

The redheaded Half-Oni blushed furiously, Liira kept reminding her of things like that. When she was younger she was an unbridled little lass.

“I have come to deliver the Demon Sword to you, Godmother.” Shiwan was always humbled in her presence and to avoid getting even more embarrassed tried to take charge of the discussion.

Shiwan took the Demon Sword out of her soul bound ring and the box that sealed the Demon Sword appeared in her hands. The box floated in Liira’s direction and landed before her feet, but she didn’t open it.

Liira pondered on the presence of a Demon Sword on Lekrys and she had felt a great disturbance a month ago on her planet. Was it the Demon Sword arriving via a portal that created it? There was no doubt about it, however, she didn’t know who would dare. If she ever found the party responsible she would destroy everything they held dear; it was this way that she expanded her Dominion.

The Goddess’ eye searched Lekrys for any sign of Demonic or darkness activities but found none. This sword couldn’t have come here by chance.

“Yes, I feel that its presence on this world is the work of my enemy.” Liira finally answered Shiwan.

The Saintess was used to her goddess’ long silences and stayed kneeling at her feet. Her eyes were on the box and her bloodlust flared as she wanted to destroy it with the sealed sword.

“Shouldn’t we neutralize the threat?” Shiwan hated Demons and she wanted to destroy the soul of this one. It was an affront that such a tool existed!

“We will.” Liira smiled at the expression of her Goddaughter, she had molded her with care and brainwashed her to hate anything coming from the hells.

“Could you not do that? I have plans for it.” The voice was female, cool and controlled with an undercurrent of sarcastic black humor.

She was a tall and statuesque woman of Mediterranean complexion and unearthly beauty, with dark hair and eyes like pools of living shadow. She carried herself with the casual confidence of someone who knows they’re the most dangerous thing in the room, an impression that was further enhanced by the fact that her outfit seemed to consist entirely of black leather and knives.

Shiwan took her golden Chakram out of her ring and put herself on guard.

“How cute, you raised her well. Nevertheless, she’s still foolish to brandish a weapon at an Elder Goddess.” The dark-haired woman’s aura flared and its spiritual pressure bore down on Shiwan who was forced to kneel. Even though she didn’t have any chance, the young Saintess tried to stand back up.

Gently appearing behind her goddaughter, Liira’s own divine aura covered Shiwan who stood paralyzed by the clash of divine proportion. Each of the Goddesses retracted their spiritual pressure, Liira looked at the dark-haired divinity before her ready to fight.

Liira was a young Goddess, barely five thousand years old and she wasn’t ready for a fight of this magnitude with an elder Goddess. However, even if she didn’t have the knowledge necessary to fight she would make it up with power.

“What can I do for you Elder one?” She began to speak with respect to the divinity before her, even though she invaded her domain, something she had thought impossible.

The dark haired Goddess smiled and made a ‘give it here’ sign to the box at Liira’s feet.“That sword is a key piece to a prophecy that is the centerpiece to saving my World.”

“Ah? It is too bad that it reached here.” Liira tightened her spear in her hand, golden arcs of electricity coursing through it as a feeling of suspicion coursed through her.

*Was she the one who made it appear on my world?*

“It’s definitely not my fault that it has appeared here,” The dark-haired Goddess said, reading Liira’s thoughts on her face. “instead of going straight where I wanted it to, the Fates sent it here. However, it was a fortuitous event to have found you now that I see the strength of your world. Say, will you bargain with me, Liira Goddess of war and light?”

The woman was a conundrum to Liira; it’s like everything she was doing was calculated: a sentence here, an observation there as if she was used to taking advantage of every conversation or event. The Goddess of war had met new Gods in her life, mostly invaders trying to encroach on her Dominion; however, this one didn’t strike her as interested in Lekrys. There was something afoot, something that she wanted.

“What are we bargaining for?” Liira wasn’t used to dealing with Elder Gods, they often exacted a steep price for their help.

The dark haired Goddess walked toward them and stopped just before Shiwan, looking at her with pity. The Goddess’ eyes glowed silver as if she gazed at the Saintess’ soul. Liira was suddenly afraid that the Goddess before had discovered the chink in her armor. Shiwan wasn’t just her Champion but her daughter and future heir, but she had a fluctuating fate...

The Goddess said, “You help me, and I will help you.”

Liira closed her eyes, her anger flared.“There is nothing-” but she was interrupted.

A giant floating mirror appeared between them, showing a scene of war, blood, Oni, and Humans fighting for supremacy. Then the Saintess appeared and fought to destroy the invading army with all her might and power. However, she was made to kneel and was slain by a black armored man. Shiwan stayed frozen at this scene, Liira dismissed the mirror. The redheaded half-oni then looked at her Godmother as if she betrayed her.

This was too much for Liira, the look in the eyes of her champions, her avatar. A golden aura surrounded the Goddess of war, illuminating the entire throne room.

“How dare you show her… I have been trying my best to avoid this fate. I won’t let it happen to her! Even if I have to descend onto the planet myself!” Liira’s voice was vibrating with fury, cosmological events happened all over the Star Citadel as a consequence.

The woman flipped her hair and looked at Liira as if she was a particularly bad child. She shook her head in disgust, young Gods were so prone to breaking divine rules on non-interference. Liira was prepared to pay a steep price.

“Calm down, your enemy is closer than you think he is, he is also mine. The difference is that he succeeded on my world in taking power by usurping the Empire of the sorcerer lineage I engineered. I know what you feel, I know what it’s like to lose. But I know when to ask for help.” The dark haired Goddess waved her hand and the mirror’s surface shimmered.

The mirror showed another scene and this time a blonde girl with green eyes helped Shiwan avoid death by freezing the black armored man where he stood. Shiwan finished him off by using her golden aura strike and shattering him.

The Saintess stood transfixed by the scene.

*Who was this blonde girl? How powerful was she? Is she my salvation?* Shiwan asked in her heart.

“I say we can help each other.” The dark haired woman said.

This was the first time Liira saw that future being resolved this way, by introducing a new variable. Someone else to the equation that had plagued her for a decade.

“Who are you Elder one?” Liira asked in reverence.

“My name is Hekate.” Hekate looked around her, at the weapons and the gaudy palatial like room. “Nice setup here, too nouveau riche to my tastes though.”

Liira sniffed, “What would you know? It dazzles…”

“A bit too much if you want my opinion.” Hekate’s dark laugh echoed in the room.

“Very well, you flexed your knowledge, your foresight, and magical muscles, so what can I do to secure an alliance with you?” Liira asked without preamble.

It was important to permit her Goddaughter to survive and protect Lekrys from further invasions of the Demon God.

Hekate sized up Liira and Shiwan, her eyes turning silver yet again looking through different timelines and dimensions. Then as suddenly as it happened her eyes turned black, she smiled and said, “All you have to do is send this sword back through a portal of my creation at the right time, three months later I will send my Champion here to help yours to banish the Darkness who are hiding on your world. You’ll help her get stronger.”

Liira bristled at that.“You are asking a lot, Lady Hekate.” Having outsiders in her world wasn’t something she liked.

“Then here’s a bribe.” The Dark Goddess threw a crystal cube at Liira who caught it with her mind.

The goddess of war took it from the air and examined it, and knowledge, a staggering amount of it flooded Liira’s brain.

“This isn’t a bribe, this has the value of an entire Pantheon’s power.” Liira stepped back.

Hekate giggled, “Not really.” She had, even more, deeper knowledge, sharing a bit of it wasn’t too detrimental.

“You must really like your world, my Lady,” Liira observed.

A sad expression appeared on Hekate’s face, “It is the only one I have left.”

“You are desperate,” Liira said matter of factly.

Hekate asked almost with vulnerability.“Will you help me?”

“Gladly.” Liira nodded.

They shook hands and the thunder and light flooded the room, as the contract was acknowledged by the heavens causing Shiwan to be sent back to her body on Lekrys.

And as she woke up in the Sanctuary, the voice of Liira reverberated for everyone to hear.

“You have one year to become as strong as you can be, Shiwan. Don’t disappoint me.”