Jori struck the dirt with her hoe, feeling her arms tremble as the tool only managed to nibble into the frozen field. A callus tore in her palm, but she ignored the sting that spread through her hand and raised the hoe again before slamming it back down, ripping a large clump of earth from the ground. She turned the tool to the side and chopped at the chunk, reducing it to a pile of loose dirt that resembled many others that lay across the field. Even in Winter’s cold embrace, sweat poured from her brow, dampening the scarf around her neck as it trailed down her face. A gust of wind brushed past her, and she shivered as she felt her sweat start to chill. Still, she raised her hoe and continued her task, focusing only on the rhythm of her strikes against the frozen dirt. She would keep the fields nice and loose so they’d be easier to manage in the Spring.

That was what she told herself, at least.

She knew it was a fool's errand, one that any farmer, any sane person would scoff at, but still she set herself to do it. Jori needed it all; the shake in her hands, the sweat that streaked off of her skin, the fog of her tired breaths, all of it. It was the only way she could stay sane.

“Jori please, you’re only hurting yourself.”

She raised the hoe again, “Go back inside Jon.”

Her brother sighed, but did not move from his spot, “This isn’t going to make you forget about her.”

Jori clenched her jaw, “It was before you mentioned her.”

“You would have remembered anyways.”

“Then what should I do Jon?!”

She threw the hoe to the ground and glared at her brother, the venom in her voice causing him to stagger back. Her chest started to heave as the anger flushed her cheeks, but when the boy said nothing she shook her head and picked up the tool once again. As that fire in her heart started to fade, however, it was soon replaced by guilt. Jori raised up the hoe once again, but could not help and see her brother’s slumped posture as he turned to leave. She let the tool fall to her side and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she rubbed her brow, “I… I just don’t know what to do.”

Her brother turned back as her voice started to crack.

“I want to see her,” she continued, “to tell her that I’m sorry, but everytime I think about doing it I can’t help but tell myself that it won’t make a difference.”

“That you would only make things worse, right?”

Jori nodded and wiped the tears that started to blur her vision, “That I would be mocking her, telling her those things after she has suffered so much. After we just stood by and let it happen.”

Jon walked into the field and hugged her. She didn’t say anything, but wrapped one of her arms around him.

“We can go together,” Jon said, “it’s the right thing to do.”

Jori nodded, and let Jon go.

“When did you start acting like an adult?” she asked.

Her brother gave her a weak smile, “I was always like this.”

Jori snorted, but did not say anything else. She instead let the silence grow, savoring the brief moment that she felt a small moment of peace.

She was broken from her comfort by the sounds of conversation that drifted from the front of the house. The words that were said were muffled, and Jori walked towards them to listen in.

Only to stop as she saw locks of white hair from around the corner of the house.

She spun on her heel and walked towards the trees that sat at the edge of the field, grabbing Jon’s arm as she passed by him. Urgency provided her with enough strength to pull her brother with her even as he tried to break from her grip, and as he was about to protest she put a hand over his mouth. She pulled Jon back from the fields and into the covers of the trees. When they were fully hidden, he smacked her hand away.

“The Hells was that for?” he hissed, though to her relief he kept his voice low.

Saying nothing, Jori turned Jon’s head towards the field, just as Aria walked into view.

He went silent as their sister walked towards the shack. Even during the day the girl’s hair was an enchanting white, hanging loose and down to the center of her back. It matched the color of her dress, one that was actually fit for her smaller size. She stepped with caution, and Jori noted that the adventurers that were usually always next to her were absent, instead replaced by the figures of Cora and Erik, who let Aria walk a few paces ahead of them. The girl stopped a stone’s throw away from the structure that was once her home and stared at it. Jori could not read much of her sister’s mood from so far away, but there was a stillness to her posture that did not reflect the energetic mood she had shown only a couple of nights ago. Rather, it reminded her of the old Aria.

The one that looked at her with cold eyes, so many years before.

Gooseflesh trailed down Jori’s arms, and she nearly lost her breath when Jon started to move from behind the tree. She pulled him back in before he could be seen, earning a glare for her efforts.

“What are you doing?” he growled.

“That’s my question,” Jori spat, keeping her voice even lower than her brother’s.

“She’s right there, this is the perfect chance to apologize.”

“Here? Right in front of her prison?”

Jon clenched his fists, but said nothing more.

In the distance, Aria turned to the couple behind her.

“I don’t know what to say…” she said.

“It doesn’t have to be anything special,” Erik said, “Just say whatever comes to mind.”

“Nothing comes to mind,” Aria turned back to the shack, “This place is… wrong, and I know it was wrong… cruel to keep me locked away here.”

Jori felt her heart sink as her sister spoke.

“But all I can feel are memories far away,” Aria continued, “memories where I felt nothing except the moonlight on my face.”

She put a hand to her chest, “It hurt at first… starting to feel. When I saw how scared everyone was of me… how much they hated me.”

Jon started to rise again, but Jori pulled him back down.

“Then I met you, Erik,” Aria said with a smile, “Then Jahora, Helbram, Elly, Leaf, and you, Cora, and each day since has been… happy.”

The girl’s smile faltered, her hands trembling.

“But it feels so far away now, and when I try to run after it I can’t catch up,” she wrapped her arms around herself, “It’s getting colder, and I don’t know how to stop it.”

As Aria spoke, Jori could feel the fragility to her tone. The same desperation that was in her cries. 

Cries that she refused to answer.

Cora walked up to the girl and knelt down, bringing her into a hug. Aria turned around and returned the embrace, her shoulders trembling.

“Come with us,” the woman said in a comforting tone.

The girl let go of her and looked at her with confusion, “Where?”

“To a place where you will find nothing but the happiness that you desire.”

Erik joined his wife with an approving nod, “Away from this shack, away from this accursed town,” there was a venom to his voice that sent a chill to Jori’s bones.

Aria seemed to feel it as well, and stepped back.

“But Jahora an-”

“They can’t take you to where we speak,” Cora said, “No, they want to take you to some place far different,” her eyes grew dark, “to a place where you will not find the happiness you seek.”

She held a hand out to Aria, a gentle gesture that made the girl raise hers out of instinct.

“But we can. Take my hand, and I will take you to a place where you can be who you want to be, who you are meant to be.”

“And this will make me… happy?”

Cora nodded, “Yes, I promise.”

Aria remained still, staring even as Erik held his hand out as well. Her foot lifted as if she was about to take a step forward, but she stopped and let her own hand fall.

“I can’t leave them,” Aria shook her head, “Not after Jahora and the others have done so much for me.”

“They are good folk, yes,” Cora said, “but they do not understand you, understand the gift that you have been given.”

“The Chosen didn’t either,” Erik growled, “tried to take it away, but we couldn’t bear to see you so restrained.”

Aria stepped back again, muttering as she tried to find the words to speak. Then her eyes widened, “This Cold… you made it come back.”

“It was but a simple nudge,” Cora explained, “Your power did the rest.”

The girl was confused, but eventually her eyes started to widen, “The prayers…”

The woman nodded. “You do not need to be scared of what lies within, the power within you is meant for great things, and we can show you how to use it,” a tremble underlied Cora’s voice, “we can give you the happiness you always deserved. Come with us, Anastasia.”

As the name left her lips, silence followed. A silence in which even Erik looked to Cora in confusion.

Aria stepped back again, “That’s not my name.”

Jori’s heart quickened as she saw Cora stumble forward. She could not see the woman’s face clearly at a distance, but she could see that her sister was growing scared.

“Anastasia please.”

“That’s not my name!” Aria screamed back. She retreated towards the shack and Cora kept walking towards her, “Why are you doing this?”

The woman’s advance was stopped by Erik, who placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Stand back,” he said, “You’re scaring her.”

Cora ignored him, but the man pulled her back behind him. As she tried to push forward again he pushed her again.

“That was an order, Piritha,” there was a cold air to the man, a far cry from his usual welcoming aura.

Cora paused and righted herself. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed, “You’re right… I don’t know what came over me.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” he turned back to Aria, “I apologize for this, but you must come with us.”

“I don’t want to.” 

Aria turned to run, but Erik was faster, disappearing in a blur before reappearing right next to the girl. Before she could react he reached down and threw her over his shoulder.

“You’ll understand, in time,” he said.

As Aria opened her mouth to scream, Cora put her hand over it, smothering it before it could even begin. The girl struggled, but was unable to break from either of the couples’ grip. She kept trying to scream, its sound barely audible.

Still, it echoed into Jori’s mind, and she could hear them as clear as day, the screams that she ran from that day.

The cries that she never answered.

A rock struck the ground in front of Cora, and it was only after the woman looked at Jori that she realized she was the one that threw it. Whatever it was that made her do so made her do it again, this time the rock landing right next to Erik’s foot.

The two looked at Jori, then at Jon, who was holding the hoe at them like it was a spear.

Cora looked at them with a mocking smile, “Now what might the two of you be trying to do?”

The woman took a step towards them, and Jori fought every part of her body to keep herself from running away. She could see Jon trembling, but her brother remained still as well.

“Redemption, perhaps?” Cora laughed, “Now? After all you’ve allowed to happen?” her eyes flared and started to glow with a yellow light.

Three rings of pale light formed around her head, “Don’t make me laugh!” she held her hands out, a ring also forming around each of her wrists, “Coward children of a coward father, do you think you deserve forgiveness?”

Jori could feel her hands shaking, ready to drop the rock that she held high. Instinct told her to run, to abandon Aria and save herself. Yet should still hear her sister’s cries.

And this time she would answer.

“We don’t,” Jori said, “Even if we were to say we were sorry for the rest of our lives, we don’t,” she pulled the stone back, “but she doesn’t want you to take her, and I’m not going to let you.”

She threw the rock at Cora, flinching as the woman smacked it away.

“That was never your decision to make, girl.”

She raised her hand, but before anything happened Jori saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. A bolt of blue light followed, striking Cora in the chest. At least, it should have, were it not for the gathering of rocks that formed in front of the woman, forming an impromptu shield. Everyone turned to the source, and in the distance stood Jahora with her hand raised to the sky.

A ball of red light flew from her hand, exploding into a near blinding flair as it touched the skies above. Two rings of light had already formed around the small woman’s head as she walked towards Cora, eyes flaring with righteous anger.

“It’s not yours to make either.”

---

To say that Jahora’s mind was overwhelmed would be an understatement. So frantic was her haste through the streets of Redhaven that she was still heaving with every breath, and were it not for the faint traces of Aria’s magics leaking from her seal, and from her fervent questioning of every townsfolk in sight, she may have not even found out where they had went. So narrow was her vision during this chase that she did not think to tell her companions, and she could only pray that they saw the signal that she put into the sky.

For though she was driven by desperation and rage, she knew that she would not be able to stand against a Fifth Circle Mage.

That it should be Cora was almost too much to take in, but she stood her ground, hands brimming with magics ready to be unleashed at any moment. If she was unable to win, she would have to stall the two until… if help arrived.

Cora looked at her, a disdain across the woman’s features that felt alien compared to the kindly smile she possessed before. The glow from the Aetheric Rings around her only added to the sensation, and Jahora could not help but feel her skin crawl as Cora’s eyes bored into her.

“Not my decision to make?” Cora asked, “Are you even aware of what will happen to her if you gave her to the Black Cloaks?”

Jahora paused. She only knew what Ren had told her, but still she did not know if she could trust him.

“They will smother her,” she hissed, “rob her of the life that she deserves!”

“And how can I trust you?” Jahora snapped back, “Just minutes ago I thought you friends, people that I could count on to treat Aria with the affection that she deserves,” she pointed to Eric, “And yet here you are, draping her over your shoulder like some common bandit!”

Aria looked at her from Erik’s shoulder, her eyes pleading, incising Jahora’s anger even further. Aether surged at her fingertips, but she did not yet form a spell in her hands.

She had to keep them talking, buy as much time as possible.

“It’s for the best, Jahora,” Erik said in a cold tone, “stand back and we will not harm you.”

“Do not tell me what is best for her,” the Mage growled, “You will let her go. Now.”

“Or what?” Cora mocked, “Do you think you can stand against us? Perhaps if you had the aid of the Black Cloaks, but I am afraid they are occupied at the moment.”

She snapped her fingers, summoning countless pebbles and stones from the ground around them. They formed a pile at her feet, and with a simple wave of her hand the stones swirled, spinning up until they took the vague frame of a man. A cloud of yellow Aether suffused through stones, maintaining the construct’s shape as it stood still.

“So easy was it to instill paranoia within them,” Cora said, “and then never answer it until it would be at its highest. I wonder how long they will chase after my puppets before they realize the truth?”

She held her hand out.

“Not long enough for you to stop us.”

As Cora finished speaking, the air around Erik pulsed.

The puppet disappeared.

Instinct threw Jahora’s hands out in front of her, summoning a barrier of pale blue Aether. The shield flared as it was struck by an unseen force, but she could hear the rattle of stone in front of her. The barrier flared repeatedly as invisible blows rained down upon it, and the Mage pressed her hands outwards, stretching the shield around her completely. Just as she was fully encapsulated, the barrier was struck behind her, cracking it in a single blow. Before another could strike, Jahora gathered green Aether into her hands and slammed them into the ground. The air around her swelled before exploding outwards, and she heard stone clatter to the dirt as dust kicked into the air.

She gathered red Aether into her hand and let it loose as a bolt towards the couple. Before it struck them, Jahora looked away as it exploded in a flare of light. When she saw that the couple had covered their eyes, the Mage clutched the dagger in her belt and channeled green Aether into the glyph that was engraved into its blade. She held her opposite hand out towards Aria and unleashed a projectile of green light that tagged the girl on her back. A glyph of green light formed on her back, flaring in conjunction with the one on the dagger. The winds around Jahora swirled, and Aria was pulled from Erik’s shoulder. The Mage held her hands open to catch her, but before the girl was even halfway to her Jahora was struck in the jaw.

Jahora fell to her knees and watched her spell falter. Aria fell towards the ground, but before she hit the dirt, however, an unseen force caught her, and the Mage could only watch in despair as Aria was carried back to the couple. An invisible force struck Jahora again and she fell to the ground, blood trickling down her chin from the scrapes on her face. Damage that could only have been done by stone.

Darkness clawed at the edge of her vision as she tried to push herself back up, only to be hit again, sending her back into the dirt. Her sight narrowed, and all she could see was Cora’s cold expression as she stared down at the Mage. As consciousness started to fade, she looked to Aria. 

Looked at the girl’s scared expression

Looked at eyes that called for help.

Jahora slammed her fist into the ground, creating another burst of air as green Aether burst around her body. Anger clawed back her vision as she scrambled to her feet, and she focused a glyph of green Aether at her back while she charged towards Cora. As the glyph surged with light, a torrent of air flared from it, sending the Mage hurtling towards the couple. Jahora crossed her hands in front of her and summoned another barrier.

Just as she collided with Cora.

The woman slid back as Jahora struck, an unseen shield of her own having already formed in front of her. Still, a gap was formed, and Jahora snapped her hand out towards Erik, hand brimming with the spell ready to strike him at his chest. A spell that would not be released, for as she reached out she felt a grip around her arm.

She did not see what held her.

Did not see what twisted her arm, sending forth a sickening snap that was followed by her scream.

Did not see what lifted her into the air, right in front of Erik.

She looked at Aria, still held in the man’s arms, filled with horror as she looked into the Mage’s eyes.

Watching as Erik drove a dagger into Jahora’s chest.

---

Author's Note: Going to be honest, having one of my usual rants after a moment like this doesn't seem appropriate, so I'll keep this one short.  Things are picking up is all I'll say, but as always let me know how you feel about it, especially in terms of execution.

Till next time everyone, I'll be back soon.