The young girl ran through the thick woods, surefooted and swift. Her hair fluttered a bit in the breeze. She shifted to the left with the surefooted grace of a dancer. An arrow sailed past her head and sank into a tree. She muttered a single word and pointed her palm flat towards the shooter behind her. An electrified shockwave rippled from her palm. Hitting not just the shooter but anyone unfortunate enough to be in the path of her spell.

She picked up the pace, certain that she could lose the zealots pursuing her in these woods. The young girl knew not what madness had caused this, but these woods were her home. She had lived and wandered the hills and forests of this land for decades.

A sudden snap of wood alerted her to someone in her path, she dodged aside. Avoiding a wild swing of a blade, from a man diving out from behind a tree. She muttered another word, and the sky erupted as lightning rained down around her. She had other elements at her disposal, but she dared not use fire or she would risk burning down her beloved woods.

The zealot that had tried to slash her, shouted, “Your foul tricks won’t save you, witch! We will avenge your foul blasphemy against the gods!”

She suppressed the urge to sigh. These people had gone nuts. She wasn’t even a witch, she was an Archmage, and her only so-called blasphemy was that she was a true practitioner of magic and not a dragon channeler. These fools had turned their backs on the true gods, the Skylords and worshiped dragons. She didn’t stick around to say anything, but instead took off. There was a safe house not far from here, she would be safe against this army of fools and zealots there.

As she rounded yet another tree she caught sight of her safe house, but it seemed a few zealots had beaten her there. It would have been baffling how they managed that, if not for the flying mounts she spotted near them. It seemed she would have to fight her way in.

She readied a spell but had to quickly switch to a shield. As a dragon-channeling priest unleashed a stream of fire upon her. Apparently, these zealots had no qualms about burning the forest just to get to her.

The young girl could see the shocked look of the priest through the flames. That her shield was holding against his so-called divine flames. Likely many a lesser mage had died at his hands. Contracting with a dragon did grant powerful magic, but it paled when compared against the power gained by those who learned magic the right way. She had not taken any shortcuts and spent decades mastering the Skylord’s gift to the races, magic. Suddenly several more priests joined in, to barrage her shields with fire, lightning, earth, water, wind, nature, light, darkness, and even void. Forcing her to put all her effort into maintaining her barrier.

This was a losing position, especially with the pursuers surely catching up. Her lightning storm should have faded by now, and they would not be far behind. She had to think of something fast. The young girl heard a clink of armor just as a sword was thrust at her from behind. They had caught up already. The blade was aimed to kill her, but just before it made contact. Her eyes started to glow blue, and her shield flared.

The blade disintegrated, and then with a snap of her fingers chains of light shot up, and ensnared all present. The dragon magic stopped, and she had her breather. With a glare, she looked at the high priest of this mockery, “Enough! You dragon clans, have gone too far!”

He screamed, “What trickery is this witch!?”

She scoffed, “You call me witch, but know not what I truly am. The dragons are not the true gods, I am. You have hunted my mortal vessel and attempted to kill her. For that, the penalty is death, true death. There will be no next life for you, none of you.”

With another snap of her fingers, lightning rained down upon them all with unerring accuracy. In moments they were all gone. Then she glanced at the flames and blinked. They were gone, and then the trees returned to the way they were. In moments there was no sign a battle had ever taken place. Muttering to herself, she said, “Fools. Guess I better do something more permanent about them before they disturb my slumber again. Perhaps a wall would do.”

Then she looked up, the glow in her eyes intensifying. “Hmm, interesting. Perhaps, I should do something else as well. Before I go back to sleep.”

Kiru stepped out of the pod. That session had been quite interesting, and it made her wonder what else Megumi had in her library. It was quite the unique experience, and informative in many ways. She already had a dozen things she wanted to ask about the pods, and what she could do with them.

Megumi was standing nearby with an odd expression on her face. Kiru had been about to ask her questions, but instead, she asked, “Something happen?”

Megumi looked at her, “More like something weird. I just received a telepathic hail. Nothing too weird about that, except it’s for you, and its point of origin.”

“A call for me? That does seem weird,” replied Kiru confused. She had no idea who could possibly want to talk to her and that would know she was here, and was also able to communicate in such a manner. After a moment she asked, “Who is it from, and where?” As she remembered the point of origin comment.

“The edge of known space. Somewhere in the Galtar Ni Valt sector, in the galaxy of Val’gor. As for who, I am not entirely sure. They identified themselves as Ava Contrey, High Archmage of the Kingdom of Kamisoli. I think it’s an alias, but I am not sure who they really are. I have a few ideas, and I am pretty sure they are a member of the Countryman clan, the ruling clan of the Solean Empire.”

Kiru had no idea who they were or why they would want to talk to her, but there was only one way to find out. She sighed, and said, “Put her through then. Only way we will figure any of this out is to talk with this Ava.”

Seconds later the figure of a young woman appeared in the middle of the room. The first thing Kiru noticed about her was her glowing eyes. They glowed a brilliant blue that seemed to speak of power untold. She was short, perhaps 130 centimeters tall, and very pretty. With smooth creamy skin, and soft features. Her dark almost black hair was kept braided, and she was wrapped in medieval style scholar’s robes.

“Megumi mentioned that you wanted to talk to me, why? I’ve never met you before.” 

Kiru was sure of that, she had never seen this woman before. She had a very memorable appearance. The woman, presumably Ava, smiled.

“No, we have not met before. Unfortunately our time is limited, and I have much to tell you. Both of you. Now young Kiru, I’m not sure you quite realized it, but during that simulation you almost actually channeled ancestral magics.”

“Huh? What are you talking about.”

Megumi frowned, “I do recall picking up strange psionic readings in here, but I would remember seeing something like that.”

Ava giggled, “That is because I interfered. Don’t count on me doing so again, though. Anyway, Kiru, while your potential as a modern mage is crap, as Megumi is no doubt aware. You have great potential for ancestral magic, which is something Megumi likely never tested for. The reason for this has something to do with your race more than anything else.”

Megumi sighed, “Yeah, I didn’t. Usually if you can’t do modern magic you can’t do any magic.” Then she looked right at Ava, “However, why are you mentioning this?”

“It’s honestly the lesser reason for why I am here. I am now uploading a few files to your core. It’s nothing much, and won’t help your immediate problem. I do, however, suggest you take a look at them.”

Kiru was a little surprised, “You ...”

Ava interrupted, “Yes, I am fully aware of the subversion of the Neku Imperium, and who is behind it. However, I have other more pressing concerns. Among the files I just gave to Megumi is some information relevant to that. I didn’t give you everything, though. Where would the fun be, if I did that?”

She paused for a moment, but before either could reply, she finished, “I best be going, My time here is about up. Megumi, do complete the mission I uploaded to your core at the earliest convenience, and for the duration of that mission, protocol 37a is suspended.”

Megumi frowned, “Authorization is required for that.”

“So it is, the necessary authorization protocols are already included.” She glanced to the side, and said, “Enact code 17, authorization Omega 47-alpha-enable”

She vanished, and then suddenly Kiru’s vision was flooded with strange Solean text. It cleared after a moment, and she looked towards Megumi. What she saw was an expression she could only describe as a mixture of fear, respect, and something else, concern.

“What was that...”

“I think I know who she is now, or more accurately who she used to be. Only one person can authorize code 17, and she used both of the needed verbal and psychic authorization protocols for it.”

“Who?”

“They are known by many names, many titles. We best not ignore whatever mission she gave me though, the last time she was ignored ...” Megumi trailed off. Kiru had a feeling it was bad though.