Flow smirked, “introducing” was a stretch to describe Natasha’s method. But technically, it was true, they guessed.

Flow only graced that comment with an eye rolling emoji. They knew Al would never miss an opportunity to tease them, they kinda expected it at this point.

They closed the last message with a grinning emoji, hoping to lessen Al’s worries.

They put away their phone with a sigh. It was long recess and they sat on a bench in the school yard.

It sucked to lie to Al, especially that it wasn’t strictly necessary to do so. Artemis told them and Natasha that it was up to them who they wanted to loop in, he just asked them to be careful.

“I’m asking a lot of you already, it would be pretty hypocritical to not trust your judgment,” he said. “But don’t forget that revealing magic to the public could have disastrous consequences. Guess with the warlocks’ activity and the Sorcerer’s machinations it will take only so much time for people to put two and two together anyway, many of them already did it. But the more people realize the truth and start to experiment with magic without proper training, the greater the risk is.”

Flow took off the circular Enchant from their hoodie (it couldn’t be lost or stolen without magical means, Artemis reassured them, so it was okay to wear it all the time) and looked at it in their palm. They honestly didn’t even know how they would tell their parents for example that they got into something so dangerous. And explaining something like this via text or phone to Al… nah, that just felt absurd. After a quick discussion with Natasha, they agreed that they try to keep their new side-job as Enchanters under the wraps as much as possible.

“So you decided to keep that one?”

Flow turned to the right to see Natasha, inserting some coins into a soda machine right next to their bench. They were pretty lost in their thoughts, but it still amazed them how sneaky the girl could be.

“Didn’t you want to try something… I don’t know, flashier? Like mine.” still looking at the machine, she raised her denim jacket a bit, revealing her star shaped pin on its inner side. “It lets me summon a blade that can cut through anything. I can even choose its shape, making it a knife, a sword, a spear or whatever. It only takes energy to summon it, so if I’m planning out things well, I only need to use my power once.”

“Disentropy served me well against that Vessel,” Flow shrugged. “And being able to fix things and heal people makes me feel safer. Artemis said that with time we’ll be able to wear and use multiple Enchants. Until then, guess I’ll try to play it safe.”

There weren’t any kids in earshot, and thanks to Natasha carefully avoiding eye contact, if someone looked into their direction they couldn’t even tell that they were talking to each other.

“Guess that makes sense. I can take care of the offense and you can heal and manipulate the environment,” the girl said, then getting her soda, she turned away. “See you around.”

“Wait a moment… I don’t want to hold you up, but if we’re going to be a team or something, shouldn't we make some time to discuss things better?”

“Things?”

“You know…”

Honestly Flow really wanted to talk about the whole situation with someone who was in the same boots. They guessed Natasha could use a conversation like that too, but they also felt like the girl wouldn’t take the suggestion kindly.

“To come up with strategies and stuff,” they said.

“Maybe coming up with a choreography for transformation? No, I certainly won’t say that.”

“We agreed to keep this heroic business a secret,” the girl said. “Don’t you think it would be suspicious if we suddenly started to hang out a lot?”

“Not really? People do talk to each other in this school too, right?”

She started to look uncomfortable.

“Look, I added you on Herald. If anything comes up, we can text each other. We can also meet up at the shop sometimes, I’m sure there are more things Artemis and Nox could tell us. But I think we should keep a low profile in school.”

With that, she jogged away.

Flow sighed, they really couldn’t tell if they were too pushy. After all, it wasn't that long ago that someone wearing their face chased Natasha through the city, trying to eat her soul – thinking about that, it made sense that she was getting so defensive. Flow just hoped they didn’t freak her out too much. Maybe if they just gave her space everything would work out.

At least there was the tour to the Botanic Garden in the afternoon to look forward to.

<>

In a dark realm of swirling shadows there stood the silhouette of a tall man. He was wearing a long cape and held a staff, but the changing shades of black, gray and purple of his dimension made it look like his attire was constantly changing color.

Before him a window seemed to float in the void, showing Pollapolis from above. With each wave of his hand, the view changed to show another part of the city, until eventually he stopped above the Botanic Garden.

“So a school trip, hm?” he said in a satisfied voice. “So many young people. Beautiful flowers, flourishing emotions. But among this beauty it becomes a bit too easy to recognize the ugly things we hide in our hearts, doesn’t it?”

<>

The Botanic Garden was built above a backwater of the Polla, the river crossing Pollapolis. It was a great, free water source for all the plants and as a plus, it created opportunity for some really cool looking designs. The part of the building that overlapped with the river had transparent floor, allowing for some great view. The place was really cheap to visit to begin with, and often offered free tours for schools as a learning opportunity – some people thought it was a waste of money on the city’s part, but many others saw it as a ray of hope, a pretty oasis they could retreat to from their crushing everyday life.

Bianca was standing next to a small indoor pond that served as a display for several water plants. Between the giant water lilies floating on the water a few tiny frogs jumped back and forth, making the display even more lively.

She was in her late teens, with long, dark green dyed hair and round glasses. She was wearing a simple white blouse, black miniskirt and black sneakers with white socks that reached up halfway through her shins. She tied her jacket around her waist in case she needed it in the later, chillier hours.

She stared ahead, trying to fill her head with cute frogs and pretty flowers, but she just couldn’t keep her mind away from everything that troubled her in the last weeks. Suddenly one of the frogs jumped on the water lily floating right in front of Bianca. With her thoughts scattered, she reached out with her index finger to pet it. The frog jumped away and with a splash, vanished in the water.

“I can’t blame you little buddy,” she thought to herself, pulling back her hand.

Honestly, right now she wouldn’t want to do anything with herself either.

“Bianca?” she heard a familiar voice behind her.

She turned around to see Chile, her best friend. He was a simple looking guy with messy brown hair, wearing a red polo shirt and some khaki shorts. The only outstanding thing about his appearance was the bunch of necklaces he wore around his neck.

“Hey,” the girl forced a smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay, I started to get worried,” Chile said, giving his friend a quick hug. “What’s up?”

They still saw each other at school and texted regularly, but it was true that Bianca kept canceling their plans to hang out lately.

“Sorry for flaking out on you so much, my job became a bit crazy,” she said while nervously playing with her hair. “And I also got some bad grades, so I’m trying to study more to fix it.”

“Ouch, that’s rough,” he said. “Hope things sort out for you soon.”

But he couldn’t ditch the feeling that Bianca kept something from him. They were through a lot of hard times together and she never became so distant as in the past few weeks.

“And how are things with Gregory?” she asked.

“Oh, things are great,” Chile gave a bright smile. “He was finally able to come out to his parents! It was tough, but he was able to talk to his aunt first, and with her support his family eventually realized they have to accept the truth. It’s great not having to hide anymore.”

Bianca felt like a giant hand was grasping her heart.

“That’s amazing!” she said cheerfully. “I’m so glad everything turned better for you two, you deserve every bit of happiness.”

“Hey, I got an idea!” Chile said. “He’s heading here too, he just had to pick up his sister from school. I know it’s kind of sudden, but once we’ll be all here, how about hanging out together a bit? We never really got the opportunity to do that since we got together with Greg.”

Bianca casually turned away, pretending to look at a frog that croaked loudly. While Chile was unable to see, she grabbed the brim of the pool so tightly, her fingers turned white. She felt her eyes burning, but she kept talking in a calm tone.

“That sounds cool,” she said. “But the thing is, my mom said she might need me later today, but she doesn't know it for sure yet. She’s supposed to text me later. I would feel really stupid if I made plans with you just to have to cancel it again.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We were actually just planning to stay here until dark, checking out as many plants as we can. If you’d like, you could join us then if you have to leave later, nobody will get mad. If that’s okay to you of course.”

Bianca turned back toward him, closing her eyes and giving a smile.

“Sure, that sounds great. I just have to go to the bathroom quickly.”

Chile looked at his phone.

“Oh, nice timing, Greg is here too. He’s waiting for me at the tulip room. Would it be okay for you to join us there?”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

He nodded with a smile and they went in different directions.

<>

Bianca found the room of the roses empty. She walked behind a big bush of blood red roses that should block her sight from anyone passing or entering the room. Then finally losing all her composure, she collapsed on the ground.

She tried to be quiet, she certainly didn’t want any attention right now. But the silent sobbing shook her whole body. Her tears splashed on the glass floor, like they were trying to join the river below.

“God dammit. Why can’t I just stop this? I don’t wanna feel this anymore, I’m so tired.”

“Now, that’s a horrible sight. A young lady like you in so much pain, it truly breaks my heart.”

Bianca looked up to see a tall man, standing in the same small space between the roses and the wall she hid herself in. He certainly wasn’t there a moment ago. She tried to see more of him, but it looked like his figure was covered in shadows. Or was it just the tears clouding her glasses?

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice hoarse from the crying. Her ruined makeup left black marks under her eyes.

“My name isn’t really important,” the man said. “But you can call me the Sorcerer. That tells something more important about me than my name: it tells you what I do.”

“And what’s that? How did you even get here?”

“I am someone who uses magic. And I use it to fix people’s problems. You certainly seem like someone in need of a bit of a miracle, so I came to help you.”

Bianca smiled bitterly.

“With magic?”

“Exactly. You may not believe it just yet, but you’ll see soon enough. Now, why don’t you just tell me what weighs on your heart?”

She looked up, gazing where she thought the man’s eyes should be, even though she wasn’t able to see them.

“Okay,” she said. “You really want to know my problem? I’m a terrible person. Here, do you have any spells to fix that?”

“Now-now, that can’t be true. What makes you feel that way?”

“It all started a few months ago,” Bianca said.

She had no idea why she would pour out her heart to this complete stranger, but she just couldn’t think of any reason to stop. Maybe she was under actual magic?

“I noticed that my best friend, Chile, was starting to hang out a lot with Gregory, another boy from our school. I didn’t think much of it at first, we both have friends independently from each other. I’m not saying I wasn’t a bit hurt or worried about our friendship when he started to spend a lot of time with him, without ever introducing us to each other. But it’s not like I’m trying to own him, and I know he wouldn’t just abandon me because of a new person in his life.

“Then months later it turned out that they were actually dating pretty much the whole time. They just tried to keep it under wraps. Gregory wasn’t out to his parents yet and they were a pretty hard case, so they had to be careful. I do understand that. But it still hurt – when I realized I’m trans Chile was the first person I told. I was so scared, I questioned everything. But he helped me through it and kept supporting me. He was pretty much the reason that I was able to come out and transition. We always trusted each other more than anyone else. After all that, hiding a big part of his life from me for such a long time, it felt like a betrayal.

“Of course I know that’s unfair. He wasn’t secretive because of himself. Gregory barely knows me and he was really anxious about being accidentally outed, so Chile didn’t tell me anything to respect his wish and calm him down. I know that just because Gregory dates my best friend that didn’t make me entitled to know that he’s gay. And it would be stupid to be mad at Chile for doing the right thing in a situation that was hard for him too.”

“It sounds like you’re quite understanding about all of this,” the man pointed out.

“But I’m actually not!” Bianca shouted. “You see, since he told me about Gregory, I just can’t be around him anymore. It feels like I’m suffocating from all the anger and disappointment I shouldn’t be feeling in the first place. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I came to the conclusion that the thing that really bugs me must be that Chile chose to be with him even though that meant he had to lie to me. He could say that the whole secrecy was too much for him and just break up, but it was worth it to him for Greg.

“So what kind of person that makes me? I can tell how much they love each other, that Chile is so happy, yet deep down I wish he didn’t love him so much. I feel so dirty and toxic for wishing this, but then I just feel even more anger toward them for creating the whole situation. I hate it. I hate being like this, I just want to stop feeling this way.”

“So the problem isn’t your friends or what happened, but your own feelings?” the Sorcerer asked. “Well that’s excellent. Emotions are the basis of all magic and the stronger they are, the more powerful the magic is.”

“I can assure you, there’s nothing magical about my emotions,” the girl said, staring into the water below the floor. “At certain days I feel like there’s just poison bubbling in my heart and it taints anything I touch.”

“Poison doesn’t belong in the heart,” the man said. “And it’s true that it’s really dangerous to touch it. That’s why we seal it away in safe bottles.”

The girl looked up again.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s pretty simple. As I said, emotions are a kind of magic. And magic is a kind of power. And power can be transmitted and stored.”

“You mean you can make me stop feeling this way all the time?”

“I can help you to seal away all those poisonous thoughts in a place where they can’t hurt you anymore. You just have to pick an object to serve as a container, and also as a pledge for our agreement.”

Bianca slowly stood up and looked around. Then she reached out and broke off a single rose from the bush. It was strictly against the rules of the Botanic Garden, but she couldn’t care less at the moment. She looked at the flower in her hand.

“Why do you do this? What do you get from helping me?”

“I can see why you wouldn't be quick to trust a stranger’s kindness,” the Sorcerer said. “But I do have the power to help others without it costing anything to me. And a little less sorrow in the world benefits everyone, don’t you think?”

“Whatever,” the girl said. “I don’t think I can live much longer like this. I have no reason not to take your offer.”

“Excellent. Then please, close your eyes and focus on the emotions you want to get rid of. I will guide you in pouring those emotions into the container you choose.”

Bianca felt a numb, empty feeling expanding in her chest.

“I’m feeling weak,” she whispered.

“Of course. Emotions are energy, and right now you’re being drained of them. But isn’t it better than suffering? Think of it like anesthesia.”

The petals of the rose in her hand all turned black.

“Yes,” the Sorcerer said with awe. “Look, what a beautiful curse you have created.”

“Curse?”

Her legs couldn’t support her anymore. She fell on the ground, leaning against the brink of the box with the rose bush.

“Yes. Your aching feelings became real poison in your hands, ready to spread and taint everything around you.”

“That’s not what I wanted!” the girl gasped.

“Of course you did. You can’t bottle up so much negativity without the desire to ease yourself by letting it all out. You kept saying ‘I don’t want to feel this way’ to yourself. But what you really meant was ‘I want them to know how I feel’. That was the true intention you infused into that poisoned rose. All that is left is to unleash it.”

Bianca suddenly felt a sickly sweet smell. It was pouring from the rose in her hand.

<>

“This place is amazing,” Flow said with wonder.

They were in the water room of the Botanic Garden, which had a number of small, artificial ponds. They even had living frogs and fish in them!

“Yeah, it’s pretty much a miracle that something like this can exist in the city,” Matis said. “The only reason it’s possible are the huge donations from the Knightfall Foundation. They basically pay for the upkeep on the condition that the city keeps it cheap for everyone to visit and offers free tours for students.”

Matis was busy making photos with his phone and even Igne put away their console to look at all the water plants displayed around them. Unlike Flow, the two of them visited the place a lot before, but apparently the water room was a new addition. And other than that, it was a three stories building full of exhibits, so it was pretty much impossible to visit everything in one go – however the ground floor was admittedly the most popular, thanks to the transparent floor that let a great view at the river below.

Flow suddenly felt like a thick blanket fell on their senses. The sounds around them became muffled, things seemed to slow down. They felt a heavy, pulsating feeling at their chest.

“Oh no…”

“Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom,” they said quickly to Matis and Igne. “I’ll be right back.”

They ran toward the nearest door. The building was a grid of rooms, with each room connected to three or four other rooms via corridors. This layout allowed to customize the temperature and humidity for the needs of the plants in each room.

Flow stepped into the tulip room. It had a gorgeous display of colorful flowers, but they couldn’t focus on that right now. The room was mostly filled with older kids from their school and other random people, but looking around they quickly noticed a girl with familiar red hair.

Natasha ran up to them.

“I was about to text you. Guess your Enchant is acting up too, huh.”

“It’s like an alert,” Flow said. “That’s how I found you and the Vessel that time. There’s something magical nearby, something dangerous.”

“We don’t get much time to practice then I suppose. Hey, do you feel that smell?”

They did. It was a sweat, flowery aroma, different from the tulips filling the room. It was almost pleasant, but so heavy, it felt suffocating. And there was a small but firm side to it that reminded Flow of the smell of decay.

The people around them started to notice it too, more and more of them started to cough or tried to cover their faces.

“Chile! Hey Chile, are you okay?”

A brown haired boy in a red shirt fell on the ground next to one of the flower beds. Another boy, one with black hair in an elegant white shirt who wore earrings tried to shake them awake. A woman, coughing heavily, suddenly fell on the ground too. Natasha stepped to her and saw that her eyes were open, but they turned completely black. She and Flow were okay, supposedly their Enchants protected them, but the other people around them were dropping one by one.

“We have to do something,” Natasha said.

Flow reluctantly nodded. They really wanted to go back and check on Igne and Matis first, it felt horrible to leave them alone in danger again. But the Enchant let them know that the source of the magic was in the opposite direction and Flow knew that taking care of that would do more good.

Following their instinct, the two teens ran out on another door, stepping in an empty corridor. This offered them a moment of much needed privacy.

Flow put their hand on their pin and they saw Natasha reaching under her jacket.

“Enchant me!” they called out in chorus.

A gust of wind ran through the corridor and just like that, Flow was Ruthen again with silver bangs falling on their forehead. They looked toward the spot where Natasha was standing a moment ago.

Her hair didn’t change color, but it was in a bun now. The dominant color of her outfit seemed to be black, with some red spicing it up. She wore a black waistcoat with a red kerchief at her neck, black pants and boots and a wavy black long coat with red lining. On her head, a black derby hat with a red stripe, complete with a red feather. To help to hide her identity, a black domino mask covered her face with three sharp shapes decorating its edges on both sides. It was big enough to hide her freckles and make her look a bit older.

She took a second to look herself over, then turned to Ruthen.

“Let’s go.”

<>

Following the alert, they ran through several corridors and rooms. Most people they saw were already unconscious. The rest were coughing too hard to pay attention to two teens in weird costumes.

Entering the room that was reserved for all kinds of roses, they saw four people on the floor. Three of them looked knocked out, but the fourth, a girl with green hair and round glasses looked up at them weakly.

“W… who are you?” she asked. “Why is it not affecting you?”

“Don’t worry,” Ruthen said, forcing a calm tone. “We’re from a group called the Enchanters. I know how it sounds, but our job is to handle things like this. My name is Ruthen and…”

They looked at their partner.

“Nocturknight,” she said. “Can you tell us what happened? It looks like you know more than us.”

In the meantime Ruthen stepped closer and was about to kneel down to the girl to check if she needed help.

“No!” she gasped. “Don’t get too close, it’s dangerous.”

She raised her right hand, holding a black rose. The two Enchanters both could smell the drowning scent getting stronger in the room.

“It’s okay,” Ruthen said, squatting down but keeping a safe distance. “Tell us what happened. What’s your name?”

“Bianca,” the girl said. It sounded like talking alone took all her remaining strength. “It’s all my fault. I was feeling bad about my friend, and this strange man appeared… I think it was a man, I didn’t see much of him actually. He told me he could make me feel better by magic, but he somehow tricked me into creating this rose. He said it’s a curse. Then people started to get sick and faint. I tried to call for help, warn people, but I can’t even stand up. And the few people who heard me and came here fainted immediately. God, I hope they just fainted.”

“Don’t worry,” Ruthen said, checking on a man lying nearby. “They’re breathing.”

“Did this man tell you his name?” Nocturknight asked, crossing her hands.

“He called himself the Sorcerer.”

The two exchanged a meaningful look.

“Yeah, it was him, the guy we’re after” Nocturknight said. “You’re apparently not the first one he used like this.”

“He uses people to create dangerous items like this rose, then use them to cause harm to others,” Ruthen said. “But don’t worry, there’s a place where they know how to handle them. If you give it to us, we close it away, so nobody gets hurt.”

“I can’t,” Bianca said. “Look.”

She reached out, touching a bush of yellow roses with the black flower. The whole bush turned black and crumbled to dust instantly.

“Huh,” Nocturknight frowned. “Do you think our charms would protect us from that?”

“No idea, and I rather wouldn’t try,” Ruthen shook their head. “If you turn to dust, I don’t think even my disentropy can bring you back.”

“I already tried to get rid of it,” Bianca said. “The first thing I did was throw it away. It turned the bush I was hiding behind into dust then just floated back to me. That man said something, he told me if I agree to his deal my emotions wouldn’t be able to hurt me anymore. I didn’t realize back then that they would hurt everyone else. I think only I can touch it safely.”

“Can we get her to Artemis?” Ruthen asked. “With the rose I mean.”

“Sure, if you want to knock out half the city,” Nocturknight answered. “We need to find a way to deactivate the Artifact first. It would be so easy if we could just take it away from her, that should be like pulling out the plug.”

“Artemis warned us about cursed Artifacts. He said those will stick to their owner like a leech, draining their power and trying to go through with their intention no matter what. The connection needs to be severed at the owner’s side.”

Nocturknight turned to Bianca.

“Can you turn it off?”

“I… I don’t know. I tried to stop it with my will if that’s what you mean, but it didn’t do anything.”

“Could you try it again?” Ruthen asked gently. “It’s okay if it doesn’t work, then we figure out something else.”

“Okay,” Bianca said, closing her eyes. She felt like she’s about to fall asleep, but tried to resist the urge.

<>

The Sorcerer was standing in his dark dimension, looking at the room with Bianca, Ruthen and Nocturknight through his magic screen.

“Hmm, so the Order recruited another child?” he scratched his chin. “Wait, isn’t she…”

He waved his hand, zooming in at Nocturknight’s face. The angle of the view made it look like the green eyes were staring through the screen, giving the Sorcerer a suspicious look.

“Her‽ That’s unexpected. But maybe…”

He crossed his arms, contemplating his options.

“Maybe not a loss. It could even be an opportunity. Only time can tell. However for now… we can’t let some fledgling heroes get in our way, right?”

He raised his hands in the air.

“Rise, my poisonous army, and destroy those who dare to defy me!”

<>

“What?” Nocturknight looked down, as a hand grabbed her ankle.

“Argh!” Ruthen shouted as two pairs of hands grabbed them, dragging them on the ground. The two people lying next to them seemed to suddenly come to their senses and went on full attack.

Nocturknight quickly kicked away the hand of the third and jumped to their grounded partner to help. She dragged one of the attackers away, allowing Ruthen to throw the other off of themself. The three guests stood on their feet again, approaching Bianca and the two Enchanters. Their eyes were still black and they moved slowly but relentlessly.

“What the hell?” Ruthen asked.

All four doors opened as more and more people stepped into the rose room. Ruthen remembered many of them as guests – even people from their school.

“Singularity!” Nocturknight shouted.

A black sword appeared in her hand, with a straight, one edged blade.

“Are you sure we need to hurt them?” Ruthen asked. “They don’t seem to be in control of themselves.”

“I’ll try to not injure anyone, but against this many opponents I’ll need the reach. Stay with her!”

With that, she jumped into the closest group of zombie guest things. Using only the blunt side of the blade, she managed to knock down eight or ten enemies in quick succession, then she spun around, swiping the legs of another four. Five-five guests approached her from both sides. For a moment Ruthen was sure they cornered her, but when they got close enough, the girl jumped on her palm, spinning her legs around in the air. She reaped all ten like wheat.

“These charms are fantastic!” she laughed, jumping back on her feet. “I feel like I could do this all day.”

Simply wearing the Enchants didn’t seem to make the wielders stronger all the time, but as soon they were in actual danger the boost kicked in immediately.

“Well, I have good news for you then,” Ruthen said, punching out a few guests to keep them away from Bianca. They didn’t put up much fight, but a moment later they were back on their feet again.

Nocturknight looked at the opponents she just grounded, getting up from the floor. With another spinning kick she sent them right back for good measure, then quickly retreated to the others before the reinforcement coming from outside could overwhelm her.

“We need a new plan,” she said.

“Yeah, they keep coming and we can’t keep them down. At least not without seriously hurting them.”

Nocturknight looked them and herself up and down, then sighed. None of them were skyscrapers, but she was clearly taller than Ruthen.

“Okay, you go ahead and make way for us. They’re not that tough, you can handle them long enough so we can pass.”

She turned to Bianca.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to carry you. Be careful with the rose.”

“What do you have in mind?” Ruthen asked.

“We can’t defend this place. Doors in all directions, we’re sitting ducks. We make our way to a better shelter, maybe a staff room or something. Anything that has only one door. One of us barricades themselves there with Bianca. The other fights their way out of the building and goes to the shop as quickly as they can. Maybe Artemis has something that let us safely carry active Artifacts. An Enchant or an Artifact with a magic container power or something.”

Ruthen frowned. They were pretty sure, if Artemis had anything that useful at his disposal, he’d already given it to them. But they had no better idea so they nodded. At the very least it was true that they couldn’t stay here.

Nocturknight scooped up Bianca from the floor. With a blush, the girl hugged her neck tightly, carefully keeping the black rose as far as she could.

Ruthen ran ahead, knocking out any zombified guests they ran into on the corridors while Nocturknight followed safely behind with Bianca. They felt bad, but the KOd enemies they left behind soon jumped up and started to chase them, so they calmed themself with the thought that whatever spell the rose put on them, it must provide some protection. Soon they got the rhythm and were able to knock down anyone with a single punch. It allowed them to take up some much needed speed.

“Why do they follow us?” Bianca asked. “Are they after me? Or the rose?”

“Maybe,” Nocturknight said. “Or someone controls them.”

“Okay, where are we going?” Ruthen asked, throwing a guest to a wall and kicking out another’s feet. “Maybe I should’ve mentioned this earlier, but I don’t really know the place.”

“If I remember correctly, the staircase to the upper floors was just ahead of us. These are slow, I don’t think they like stairs much. Also the narrow space is good for us, they won’t be able to overwhelm us there.”

“Do you have any idea where we could find shelter?”

“Maybe, but it’s a bit crazy. Let’s check what awaits us on the second floor first.”

They ran up on the stairs and first their pursuers seemed to fall behind. Then a bunch of them flooded the staircase from above, trying to push them back downwards. Ruthen realized that the door to the second floor was just above them.

“They set an ambush,” they said. “Someone must control them, if they just followed their instincts they wouldn’t wait for us. Should we turn back?”

“No,” Nocturknight said. “Let’s push through and go further.”

Ruthen managed to knock down all the opponents and shut the door tight, momentarily preventing the rest of them from joining the fight.

“I don’t think the third floor will be any better,” they protested, leaning their back against the door to hold it.

“We’re not going there. We’re going to the roof. I’m pretty sure we can barricade ourselves there.”

“And then how do you plan to get down and go to the shop?” Ruthen asked with widened eyes.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll find a fire ladder or something. If not, we can create climbing gear with our Enchants.”

“You’re right, that does sound crazy. But I don’t think we have much choice,” Ruthen sighed. “Let’s go.”

<>

They fought off another wave of enemies waiting for them at the third floor door, but they didn’t stay for long. They pushed further upwards until eventually the staircase ended in one last door. Ruthen opened it and the three of them stepped out into the bright afternoon sun.

“Shit.”

There were at least forty, maybe more people on the wide roof, staring at them with black eyes. They heard more approaching from downstairs.

“Shut the door!” Nocturknight commanded as she carefully set Bianca sitting on the ground. Ruthen obeyed.

With her sword, Nocturknight cut through a giant AC machine just above the ground, then kicked the wrecked machine before the door, blocking it off.

“And now what?” Ruthen asked.

The people on the roof didn’t move toward them, like they were waiting for something. Suddenly, shadows moved and they formed a tall, dark figure before them.

“So you are the newest recruits of the Order of the Enchanters,” a masculine voice spoke.

“Yep,” Nocturknight said, resting her sword on her shoulder. “And let me guess, you’re that Sorcerer guy.”

“Originally I wanted to offer you to join our numbers and fight on the winning side of this upcoming war,” the shadow man said. “But seeing your performance today, I don’t think you’d be really useful to me. I’m not cruel however, so I will give you the opportunity to walk away unharmed.

“Throw away your charms and swear that you won’t ever again interfere with my plans. Then you can return to your everyday life and enjoy the new golden age of humanity I will bring in peace.”

Ruthen and Nocturknight looked at each other.

“Singularity!”

Her sword turned into a boomerang shaped blade with a handle on both ends. She threw it at the Sorcerer.

The weapon crossed the shadowy figure without slowing down, then returned into Nocturknight’s hand.

“Sorry,” she grinned. “We won’t get scared of someone who doesn’t even have the guts to face us personally.”

But under the charade she was starting to get worried.

“Dammit, he holds all the cards. We’re outnumbered, but all our targets are innocent bystanders. And we have Bianca to protect.”

“What a senseless waste of young lives,” the man said. “But very well.”

The Sorcerer snapped his fingers and his silhouette vanished. The brainwashed guests slowly but ruthlessly started to march toward the three teens.

“I’m sorry,” Bianca said quietly. “You guys should run. Maybe they’ll be satisfied with getting me.”

Fists bashed on the door behind them.

“I don’t think so,” Ruthen said, getting ready to fight the horde.

“Dammit,” Nocturknight whispered. Her fingers turned white around the handle of her blade. “I messed up. I led us into a trap. We can’t move and they’ll get us. Game Over.”

“Enchant me!”

She looked up. Two silvery ropes appeared in Ruthen’s hand, tied to a black hook. They held it toward her.

“What do you…”

“Go. Look, there are too many of them to fight them peacefully. And maybe I didn’t know you for too long, but I can tell you’re not okay with hurting innocents. Me neither. We’ll do your plan with a little modification.

“Grab Bianca, go for the edge and climb down. Go to Artemis. Maybe the rose gets people under its effect, but with a little luck there’s a limit to how many the Sorcerer can control at once. At the very least, I don’t think he can split his attention between two different places, so he has to decide if he wants to pursue you or take care of me first.”

“You can’t be serious. You can’t fight them all…”

“Yes I can. Maybe I can’t beat them, but I can heal myself, remember? So it will take a hell of a long time for them to beat me too. This is the best way to do it. You’re faster than me…”

I’m faster than you.

“… but with disentropy I can be sturdier. This is our best chance. You know that, otherwise the Enchant wouldn’t give me these.”

They pushed the ropes into her hand.

Run. Never let them get you.

She looked at the ropes. Then she looked at Ruthen.

As long as you can get away, you’re in the game.

She dropped the ropes on the ground and looked at Bianca.

“Throw the rose into the air, as high as you can,” she commanded.

“Wait,” Ruthen objected. “We don’t know what effect destroying the Artifact might have on Bianca.”

“If it comes to the worst, you can fix the rose like you did it with Richard’s bracelet, right? I won’t just leave you behind without exhausting every other possibility first.”

“I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me,” Bianca said. “You two did so much to help, despite not even knowing me. If this could save all of us, I want to try.”

She threw the rose.

Nocturknight threw her boomerang.

The two collided in the air. The boomerang corroded and turned into dust, but not before cutting through the rose.

Black petals rained on the roof and swirled around them as they turned back into red.

The army marching toward them suddenly stopped.

“What happened?” someone asked. “Why am I on the roof?”

“Oh my god!” someone else shouted, pointing at Ruthen and Nocturknight. “Warlocks!”

“No, wait!” Bianca jumped up and planted herself between the Enchanters and the crowd. “They helped me, you see? And they helped you too. I’ll tell you everything in a moment, but they’re not warlocks – they’re heroes!”

Confused murmurs ran through the people.

“Hey,” Nocturknight whispered, slipping one of the ropes into Ruthen’s hand. “Guess we’ll need these after all. Let’s get out of here before they get their phones out.”

“Just a moment.”

They touched Bianca’s shoulder.

“Hey. I know it’s easy to get a mental block when it comes to people who are important, so I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m scolding you. I just wanted to say… if you were my friend and something troubled you this much, I’d sure want to know about it, so I could help.”

They gave her a smile, closing their eyes, so she could read their expression despite their scarf.

The two costumed teens ran toward the edge of the building with the least onlookers around and hanging the hook on the edge of the roof, they jumped over it. Holding onto the ropes, they ran sideways along the wall to slow themselves a bit, then jumped away. Finally, letting go of the ropes, they splashed into the Polla’s water below. They both submerged, then after a moment they popped up safely.

“I’m sure happy that our Enchants protect us,” Nocturknight gasped.

“Yeah, good thing we can do crazy stuff like this because we’re protected by magic.”

They both laughed.

<>

“What the hell was that?” Igne said, rubbing their head. “Who were those guys?”

“No idea,” Matis answered.

They were both standing in the middle of the crowd at the rooftop and had no memories how they ended up there.

He looked at the picture he managed to make with his phone. It captured the moment when the two heroes jumped over the rooftop, and it was a pretty clear photo given the circumstances. With a smile, he uploaded the picture to his public board on Herald, adding the caption “ New heroes in Pollapolis??”

“But I don’t think this was the last time we heard of them.”

<>

Ruthen and Nocturknight managed to find an area next to the river where a few trees and bushes covered them safely from anyone’s eyes who might be looking for them from the building. They got out of the water.

“Disenchant!”

The wave of magic turned them back into their normal forms, luckily enough also drying them in the process.

“Thank you,” Flow said. “For a moment I really thought we’re done for.”

“If you’re that grateful then next time don’t hurry so much to throw yourself under the bus,” Natasha snapped at them.

Flow fell silent for a moment.

“Sorry. I probably wasn’t thinking clearly… I didn’t want to make you worried.”

“I’m… that’s not…” Natasha snuffled. “Look, just let’s get back into the building before they start to look for us. It wouldn’t be good if they connected us to the two costumed weirdos jumping from the roof.”

Actually, Ms. Ezra, the teacher supervising the tour did look for them. They quickly came up with an excuse, saying when people started to get sick, they thought it might be some kind of gas and tried to get out of the building. They just stepped out and tried to find someone to help when the effect kicked in and they fainted not far from the exit.

“Thank god,” she sighed. “That means nobody got hurt, at least physically. Apparently it was a warlock attack, some of the fainted people got under some kind of mind control effect. Then something about two superheroes on the roof? I don’t know, part of me feels like we should cancel the tour and send everyone home. But there’s so much chaos right now, maybe it’s better to keep everyone here safely until we can all calm down a bit.”

“First the shopping district, now the Botanic Garden,” said an employee standing nearby. “The warlocks clearly expand their playing ground beyond the Ghost District. God knows, if there are actual heroes, they chose the best time to show up, we could really use their help.”

Flow cautiously peeked toward Natasha to see her reaction to those words, but the girl already turned around and was walking away. They sighed and went on their way too.

Man, you missed all the fun, Igne texted them. I got to see the heroes up close! And Mathis made a photo of them, it’s already going viral online.

“That might make things complicated,” Flow thought, but they guessed it would be hopeless to keep things hidden from the public forever. At least Igne and Matis were okay. They were about to look for them in the crowded building, when they noticed a familiar figure standing next to a greenhouse, displaying extraplanetary flora.

They stepped to Bianca and gave the girl a shy smile.

“Hey, sorry. You’re the girl who remembers everything, right?”

“Sorry, no, I don’t remember if you did anything embarrassing while you were mind-controlled. But nobody else will either, so I don’t think it really matters. Also, I don’t know anything else about those heroes than I already told everyone. They called themselves Nocturknight and Ruthen and claim to be from a team called Enchanters.”

She talked in a calm tone but Flow could notice the frustration and impatience in her voice.

“Uh, sorry. I wasn’t about to harass you with questions, just wanted to ask if you’re okay. This all must be a lot for you. But if you’d prefer to be alone I can leave.”

“Oh,” she blinked with surprise. “That’s really nice. Sorry, I think it was a bit much, yeah. I didn’t want to be rude.”

“It’s okay, I imagine people can get pretty overwhelming with all their questions. Is there anything else troubling you though? I mean, only if you want to talk about it of course.”

She smiled a bit.

“Actually I’m just feeling stupid. Some time ago my best friend accidentally upset me with something and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about it since then. And apparently that led to all this mess.”

“Really?” Flow raised an eyebrow.

“Emotions are magic, or so I was told. I really don’t understand. But I’m feeling ridiculous because after all this, I still don’t feel ready to talk to him.”

Flow leaned against the glass of the greenhouse, looking at the floor.

“I can’t really blame you. You see, my family moved here not long ago. My best friend, Al, stayed in Lakeside. It wasn’t his fault that we got separated, but simply knowing that I can’t see him anytime anymore hurt so much, I just started to avoid talking to him for weeks. Can’t explain why. But then I could bring myself to text him, and now I’m feeling much better.

“Of course our situations might be very different, I don’t want to force a parallel where there isn't any. I’m just saying, it might take time to get ready to talk about something, but it’s never too late to do it, even if you feel awkward for waiting for so long.

“Or,” they smiled. “If you’re not ready to talk to him, you can try to talk to me for example. I know I’m a stranger, but that might make it easier. You don’t risk messing up anything with me and it might help to figure out what you want to say to him.”

“Thanks,” she said. “But honestly, I’m starting to feel like I’m just hurting everyone involved if I delay this any longer. Truth is, I really do want to talk to him about it, I just didn’t know how and I lacked the courage. But thank you, you really helped me with that. I’ll go and look for him.”

She took a few steps before turning around.

“Oh, sorry. I never introduced myself, even though you might already know my name I guess. I’m Bianca.”

“I’m Flow,” they enby said.

“Nice to meet you,” she said before walking away.

<>

“Chile?”

The boy looked up from his phone and gave a relieved smile to Bianca.

“Thank god you’re okay.”

“We started to get worried when you didn’t answer Chile’s texts,” Gregory said, playing with one of his earrings.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” the girl looked away. “I just really felt like it would be better to talk to you in person. There’s something I wanted to tell you for a while now, and while the timing might seem a bit dramatic, it’s because of what happened today that I finally made up my mind.”

She looked around. The two boys were standing in a relatively empty corner of the tulip room, so they could talk without anyone overhearing.

“I’m not sure but maybe it’s the best if Gregory hears it too.”

The boys looked at each other.

“Of course, you can tell me about anything,” Chile said. “What’s up?”

Bianca bit her lips.

“I lied to you. I was lying a lot lately and I’m very sorry. All the excuses I told you to cancel hanging out… I made them up because seeing you made me upset and I couldn’t figure out how to explain why.

“I still feel stupid about saying this out loud, but to put it simply, when you told me you were dating Gregory it really hurt me. Not because you’re together, I’m happy for you. But because you didn’t tell me about it sooner. I know I have no right to demand something like that, but we used to share everything with each other and I couldn’t help but feel like that one of the staple of my life, our trust of each other has been compromised. I felt sad and disappointed, but I was also angry at myself for those feelings. It made it really hard to talk to you about anything.”

There was a moment of silence while she was staring at the floor, waiting for an answer.

“I’m sorry,” Gregory said awkwardly. “In retrospect I feel kinda stupid about being so secretive and putting Chile and you in a situation like this.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Bianca shook her head. “You have every right for privacy and I want to respect that. I just really needed to get this out of my chest, because it started to consume me. I don’t want to cause any more trouble to anyone.”

“I’m sorry,” Chile said, playing with his hair. “Honestly I kinda thought by the time I told you you already realized we were together and were playing along to help Greg feel safe.”

Bianca blinked in surprise.

“Well, I didn’t.”

“If I knew it’s going to be such a surprise to you, I’d went really differently about eventually telling it to you. Or maybe talk to Greg about looping you in earlier, since I know you can be trusted.” he turned away, avoiding Bianca’s look. “I just wish you told me about this earlier.”

There was something in his voice that felt like a stab in Bianca’s heart.

“Are you angry at me?” she said.

“No. Or… I don’t know. I just… I tried to be as open with you as I could without breaking my promise to Greg. When I spent time with him, I always came up with different excuses for everyone else, but I always told it to you. That’s why I thought it would be obvious to you what’s going on.”

“But it wasn’t,” Bianca frowned. “Sorry but you can’t expect me to figure things out on my own if you don’t tell me about them.”

“I know and I obviously made a mistake. It’s just, I always tried my best to not to lie to you, even when I couldn’t tell you about everything. But your first reaction was to push me away and to lie to me why don’t you want to see me anymore… I think I’m just hurt by that.”

“Now it’s all my fault?” Bianca thought bitterly.

She turned away too.

“Of course. No matter how I go about it, I’m the toxic one. All this tension is because I can’t handle my feelings like an adult. I’m the bad guy.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Quiet sobbing shook her body. Gregory stepped closer.

“Hey, look, it’s not your-”

He suddenly stopped as a familiar sweet, drowning smell filled his nostrils.

Bianca turned around. A last, black tear drop ran down on her face but she wasn’t crying anymore. Above her white blouse, a black rose appeared on her chest, like it was growing out of her body. The smell washed over the room, and soon all the guests around turned toward Bianca, staring with empty black eyes.

<>

The Sorcerer laughed, looking at Bianca through his screen.

“Did you really think that you can get rid of the curse by breaking the Artifact that contained it? Oh, only if healing poisoned hearts was so easy… can you hear me Bianca?”

<>

“Can you hear me Bianca?”

The girl looked up. She only heard the voice in her head this time, but she answered talking out loud.

“I can hear you clearly, yes. But I’m done being Bianca.”

Dark energy covered her body, changing her appearance.

Her hair turned black and her irises became red. She wore black lipstick and eyeshadow. Her outfit changed into a dark currant dress with black sleeves, with a deep cleavage for the black rose growing out of her chest. She also grew long, sharp nails colored red like blood.

“She was pathetic and way too fragile. I don’t want to hear her name again. You can call me Poison Rose.”

“Excellent.” the voice said with satisfaction. “Poison Rose, now that your heart has became one with the curse, you have full control of your powers. You can use them any time to ease your aching feelings by transmitting them to those around you, creating loyal servants in the process. This time they will serve you, and only you. Soon nobody will be able to hurt you again.”

“And the catch?”

“Smart girl. But it’s not as much of a catch as… let’s call it a test of what you’re really capable of. Those Enchanters you met before will soon be back to take away your beautiful rose. If you can deal with them, you can join me as one of my warlocks and the whole city will bow before you. Don’t disappoint me.”

Poison Rose smiled.

“That shouldn’t be an issue.”

She looked over all the bewitched people in the room, knowing that the smell of the rose would soon expand much further.

“I’ll make my base in the central hall. Comb out the building and bring anyone who isn’t affected by the spell to me. Everyone else will join me there. These so-called heroes won’t give any more false hope to anyone.”

<>

“There you are!” Flow said, finally noticing Igne’s colorful hair in the crowd. “I was looking for y-”

Igne turned around, looking down at Flow with completely black eyes.

“Flow,” they spoke in a dazy voice.

They reached out, wrapping their fingers tightly around Flow’s wrist.

“You’re coming with us to the central hall.”

In a moment Flow found themself wrestling with Igne, Matis and a bunch of other kids from the school. As they started to drag the short enby to the floor, they felt their Enchant kicking in, increasing their strength. They really hoped the others would forget everything again because they couldn’t afford to be discreet.

Flow dropped on the floor and grabbed Ignes’s arm that was still clinging to them.

“Sorry about this!”

They spun their friend around like a flail, pushing away everyone around. Then they jumped into a squatting position, looking for a way out. It presented itself pretty quickly – being so small had its advantages if you had supernatural speed to back it up.

Flow dashed through between the legs of the standing students, pushing a few over in the process. Near the exit they jumped on their feet again and spun around, kicking a shelf full of gardening supplies off-balance. They stepped through the door and shut it tightly. The shelf in the room fell over behind them, temporarily blocking the door from the inside. It wasn’t an unbeatable obstacle by any means, but these zombified people seemed to be pretty slow both on their feet and in their thinking.

They quickly sent a text to Natasha.

Then they touched their pin.

“Enchant me!”

<>

As its name suggested, the central hall was like a hub, the center of the whole Botanic Garden. It was like a giant dome made of entirely transparent material in which the rest of the building was built around. Through the floor you could see the water of the Polla while the ceiling let in the bright sunshine during daytime and gave a nice view of the night sky at later hours. It was way too early for the stars to show up, there would be still daylight for a few hours. But as the Sun slowly approached its settling point, the ghostly, irregular shape of the moon already started to appear above them.

The hall was dedicated to wild flora from all around the world. Trees, bushes, wildflowers, even wild fruit trees took up every space with the exception of a network of paths, reserved to the guests. It was like returning to the Pristine Gardens.

On the walls, there were several doors leading to other rooms on the first floor, while stairs led up to balconies with doors to the other two floors. It would be really easy to charge a surprise attack from any direction against this place, but Poison Rose wasn’t worried. She had so many people under control, it wasn’t an issue to guard all the entrances, while she still had the bulk of her army gathered around her at the center. Even if those Enchanters can slip away from her scouts and come here on their own, they’re so outnumbered, there’s no viable strategy that could save them.

Glass broke and she looked up to see two figures, one in silver and black and another in black and red outfit, swinging through two opposite windows on ropes. Still holding onto their ropes, Ruthen and Nocturknight swung over the bewitched zombies and landed squatting directly next to Poison Rose.

“So the heroes are ready to meet their fate?” the girl smiled.

The two Enchanters looked at each other, nodding silently. They jumped up, running in opposite circles around Poison Rose, creating a double spiraling pattern with their ropes. Then they turned toward each other and with quick, well coordinated moves tied the two ropes into a knot, tying the girl up.

“That’s it Bianca,” Nocturknight said. “We got you.”

“Is that so? I have to correct you on two things. First, it’s Poison Rose. Second, do you really think I need my limbs to crush you? Rise, my army!”

The people around them all jumped at the two teens.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t help you,” Ruthen said, fighting off the horde. “Maybe my advice wasn’t good. But you can’t take it out on innocent people.”

“Why not?” Poison Rose laughed. “Because that would be toxic?”

“It’s not you,” Nocturknight said. She kicked an employee on the shin, sending them on the ground. “Maybe you feel like you’re in control, but you’re just doing what the Sorcerer wants you to do.”

“One day you’ll understand how exhausting it is to keep fighting your own nature.” Poison Rose growled. “That day, when it becomes too much to keep climbing you’ll realize that all that's left is falling. Or you would, if you had another day to live.”

Ruthen held up two students, one in both hands and threw them on three others to get some place to breathe.

“I got to know you a bit before this happened. I know that you’re a nice person. Maybe you think you can get rid of Bianca but we won’t stop fighting to get her back. Disentropy!”

The horde suddenly stopped. They stared ahead with empty eyes, not moving.

“Fl… Ruthen, what are you doing?” Nocturknight asked, looking around in confusion.

“What the hell?” Poison Rose screamed. “Keep attacking! Can you hear me‽ Do something!”

Then it clicked.

“Can you heal them from the curse?” Nocturknight looked at her partner. “Like it was real poison?”

“Not really,” they grimaced. “There are too many of them and it’s magic. Maybe I could do it on a smaller scale but it would still take a lot of energy. However, that's not the point.”

They turned to Poison Rose.

“What do you think, how do these people all feel about being controlled and hurt like that? Maybe you got rid of your emotions by transmitting them, but you just created a whole volcano of bubbling negativity!”

The people slowly all turned their black eyes toward Poison Rose.

“Do you really want to wait until it erupts?” Ruthen asked. “Release them and let us help you before this all blows into your face.”

“I see. They didn’t try to break the curse, just weakened it enough so the controlled people’s own feelings could leak through. Let’s hope that emotions really are magic.”

“That’s all?” Poison Rose grinned. “Sorry but your puny Enchant magic is nothing compared to the venom brewed in my own heart.”

The petals of her rose spread wider and the smell covering the hall became stronger. The horde slowly turned back toward the Enchanters, but they didn’t move yet.

“No!” Ruthen snarled, closing their eyes as they tried to focus harder on their spell. “You can’t solve your problems by drowning them into poison, I’ll show you.”

“If they use up all their magical protection they’ll be helpless. I need to help somehow…”

“Let’s see how you control those zombies while you’re unconscious. Singularity!”

She summoned a long staff with a blade on one side and a heavy, globular counterweight on the other. She only intended to use the counterweight, to hopefully knock Poison Rose unconscious, but luckily as long as it did have a blade, her power seemed to be pretty flexible.

“Hmm, looks like I have to get my hands dirty after all,” Poison Rose said.

The ropes holding her suddenly blackened and turned to dust, releasing her. Then she summoned several thorny tendrils in her hand that tangled around each other, forming a sword of sorts.

“Luckily, blood stains go well with this outfit!”

She jumped at Nocturknight who blocked the sword with her staff, then went for an immediate counterattack. The weapon was magically light, at least for her, but even with her increased strength and speed, it was a bit awkward to maneuver it. She hesitated for a split second, trying to find the best way to swing the staff, and that gave her opponent just enough time to duck under the attack.

“Flexibility is good, but maybe I should stick to a few types of weapons most of the time, so I can get used to them.”

Poison Rose launched a stab from below, one Nocturknight avoided tightly. She turned the staff around and using the blade, cut Poison Rose’s sword in half. In a moment the tendrils regrew in her hand, reforming the weapon.

“If I survive this fight that is. I bet that sword is full of her poison too. My charm might protect me from a few cuts, but there must be a limit to how much harm can it neutralize. Let’s not think about what happens if I get skewered.”

Changing tactics, she spun her staff in the air, then with full force, pounded the ground with the counterweight. The ground shook a bit, sending Poison Rose off-balance. Trying to seize the opportunity, Nocturknight went for her head again with the weight. Raising her hand, Poison Rose blew into her palm, filling the air between them with black pollen. The drowning sweet smell filling her lungs and her vision clouded by the black dust, Nocturknight missed again.

“Argh,” Ruthen groaned, falling on one knee. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can…”

Slowly, the horde of guests started to march toward the heroes again. Poison Rose laughed.

“See? That’s what real magic is capable of. If you want to experience it maybe you should join my army – the other option is death anyway.”

“Like hell,” Ruthen filtered between their teeth. “Disentropy!”

They activated their power again, dedicated to running themself empty if necessary.

“How can she control so many people while also fighting me and not breaking a sweat?” Nocturknight wondered. “Our powers feel so limited compared to hers. Is that what Artifacts are really capable of?”

She balled her fists. Maybe…

“You know what? You’re right, we should join you.”

“What are you doing?” Ruthen looked at her with confusion.

“Come on,” she stretched her arms, dispelling her staff. “Control me!”

Poison Rose smiled confidently.

“I’m not stupid, I can recognize an attempt to trick me. But okay, let’s play along and see who’s smarter. Drop your charm.”

“Why?” Nocturknight asked with an impudent smile. “Wouldn’t I be a more useful soldier with my powers? Or are you saying that your awesome heart-brewed venom can’t get through my puny Enchant protection?”

Poison Rose snarled, but she wasn’t turning back now. She blew in her palm again, covering Nocturknight in black pollen. She coughed but she was still in control of herself. For now.

“I really hope this works. And before Ruthen or I run out of magic…”

“Come on, just a little more and you’re mine!” Poison Rose growled, now focusing on Nocturknight completely.

The guests stopped in their march again.

Then they slowly turned toward Poison Rose. She only noticed that something’s wrong when she felt the first hand on her shoulder.

“What’s this‽”

She pushed the guest away, but there was another, then another, then another reaching for her.

Nocturknight fell on the ground, but she smiled.

“Looks like you had your limits after all.”

“Enough of this… stop!” Poison Rose cried out.

And like that, everyone stopped. People looked around, holding their heads.

“How did I get here?”

“Oh no, did it happen again?”

Then they slowly started to notice the three people in strange outfits at the center of the commotion. They stepped back, giving them more space as caution took over them.

“Enough,” the sobbing Poison Rose said again. “I didn’t even want to control others and stupid stuff like that. I just wanted to have a break from these stupid feelings. But this doesn’t help at all.”

She reached to her chest and broke down the black rose. Her transformation reversed and she turned back into her normal self. Some people in the crowd recognized Bianca and called her name uncertainly. The black rose turned white in her hand.

“I’m so sorry,” the girl said.

“It’s okay,” Ruthen said, getting back on their feet. “You weren’t yourself, I’m just happy you’re back to normal. Do you want to tell what happened?”

“The conversation with my friend didn’t go that well I guess,” she shrugged. “I don’t think on purpose, but he said something that just made me feel even worse about the whole thing. Then I heard the Sorcerer’s voice I think, and after that everything is blurry… but guess I can piece together what happened.”

She looked around at all the confused people all around her and sighed with guilt.

“I’m sorry,” Ruthen said. “Guess my advice wasn’t much help after all.”

“No, bottling up even more wouldn’t help,” Bianca said. “I just wish I could handle it better. Having a breakdown is bad enough, without this magic bullshit making everything even worse.”

“Actually, I should be apologizing to you,” Nocturknight said, getting up too. “I knew it was risky to try to destroy the Artifact, that it can have a backlash, but I still wanted to try it.”

“That’s okay,” Bianca smiled at her weakly. “You did it to protect your friend, right? I can understand that.”

Nocturknight gave Ruthen a confused look then quickly turned away.

“Yeah, I… I guess. Still, we need to be more careful with these items in the future.”

“Here,” Bianca held out the white rose to her. “I think it should be safe to touch it now, but be cautious.”

“Enchant me!” Nocturknight called out. A small box made of some kind of black metal appeared in her hand, its lid decorated with a rose shape. She opened it and Bianca put the rose in. Nocturknight quickly hid it somewhere in her clothes.

More and more people started to come round and by now there was an army of phones recording every moment.

“Guess we better get going,” Ruthen said. They turned to Bianca. “Sorry for running off like this again. I hope things get better for you.”

“Don’t worry,” the girl said. “You already helped me a lot. I’ll figure out the rest, I just need to think and calm down a bit.”

“Wait!” someone called out, holding a phone. “Before you go, couldn’t you tell us what’s going on? Who are you?”

“Well…” Ruthen looked at Nocturknight. At this point the gene was out of the bottle.

“It’s pretty complicated,” she turned toward the man, knowing he recorded every word. “But we can tell two things. We are the Enchanters. And we’re here to help.”

With that, the two teens took off toward the stairs.

<>

“Disenchant!”

They turned back in an empty corridor.

“The rose?” Flow asked.

Natasha held up the black box.

“I’m not sure how it works,” she said. “Guess we can make small things and they stay around even after transforming back if they’re needed.”

“You seem pretty exhausted,” Flow said, rubbing the back of their head. “Do you want me to deliver the Artifact to the shop? You can go home and take some rest.”

“Are you kidding? You look much worse than me,” she said, even though she had no way to know how she looked. “You were really reckless with your powers. I thought I told you to not rush to sacrifice yourself so quickly.”

“Will we have this conversation whenever I do something as Ruthen?” Flow said half-jokingly. “Look, yes, I took a risk back there. I did so on the roof and back when I saved you. I just don’t think we can do this stuff otherwise. You attacked the Vessel, even though you didn’t have any powers to back you up there. Wasn’t that reckless?”

“Whatever,” the girl sighed. “I’ll deliver the rose, you go home and get some sleep.”

“Wait…” Flow said as she turned away.

“Why don’t you let me deliver the rose, so you can both rest?”

They both turned around to see a horned man in a red long coat and wide brimmed hat standing behind them.

“Artemis?” Flow asked.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Natasha raised an eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t leave your shop or what.”

“Oh, I can leave any time,” the shopkeeper said. “I just can’t go to the Human World.”

“Isn’t this the Human World?” Flow asked with confusion.

“The Human World and the Mist World are like two layers of the same reality. There was a time when there was no difference to speak of. The humans and the mistfolk lived and worked together for a better world. But then the Mistfall came, and now your people can’t see mine, and mine, while able to see, can’t affect you, physically and magically. We still inhabit the same physical space though.”

“I see,” Flow said. “So it’s some kind of another plane of existence thing? You’re like ghosts.”

“Kind of,” Artemis smiled. “But now you’re Enchanters, so you’re able to see both worlds. After all, part of the Order’s task is to mediate between humans and the mistfolk.”

“So you were here, watching us from the back the whole time?” Natasha snapped.

“No, not the whole time, but when I sensed the Sorcerer’s activity, I came here as fast as I could. By the time I got here it looked like you resolved the situation though, so I stuck around and kept an eye out, just in case. I’d contacted you earlier, but this place is pretty crowded and I’m sure you didn’t want to be seen talking to thin air.

“Besides, I couldn’t be much help. With Nox we are looking after affairs among the mistfolk, but since the Sorcerer, his Artifacts and the warlocks are humans, we’re pretty much useless against them – except if they enter our territory, but they know better than that. I’m afraid I can’t serve with more than advice and picking up the items you obtained.”

“Advice wouldn’t be so bad today,” Natasha mumbled, handing the box to Artemis. He sank it in one of his deep pockets.

“I’ll try to arrange something, so you can contact me for help in the future, even if I’m not around in person. Of course you can also just add me on Herald and text me if the circumstances allow.”

“You use Herald?” Flow asked. They weren’t sure why that sounded so weird.

“Gotta advertise my shop somehow,” the man shrugged. “But seriously, I know this task puts a lot of pressure on you, but you did it wonderfully today. You saved the day, not once but twice. You deserve commendation.”

“We weren’t too discreet about it though,” Flow grimaced. “With the photos and videos online, by now the whole city must know about us.”

“That was pretty much inevitable. You can’t really fight spell-swinging villains while also keeping a low profile. Maybe it’s even better this way – knowing that there’s someone protecting them will give people hope and make it a bit harder for them to fall prey to dark magic. The Enchanters always used to be a symbol of hope in ancient times, I think it’s only appropriate to be that way today too.

“I just advise you to try to keep your identities covered if you can. Not because you don’t deserve the recognition for your actions, but dealing with that kind of attention all the time might be a bit too much. I think it will serve you well if you have a normal life you can retreat to.”

“Yeah, agree,” Natasha said. “I don’t need reporters up in my ass all the time, let alone all the other chaos it would cause.”

She turned away from the two.

“Well, it was a long day. I’ll take your advice and get some rest. See you around.”

She walked away. Flow looked after her for a moment then let out a sigh.

“Is everything okay?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah just… it’s probably stupid, but I constantly feel like she’s angry at me. I don’t know if it’s the things I do or something else.”

The man smiled at them.

“You’ll face a lot of opponents together. Maybe with time, you can help each other with your other struggles as well. But if it really bothers you, you can always ask her about it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

They thought about Bianca and her friend.

“I’m just not sure that I really want to know the answer.”

< ⋁ >

“So boring,” Destracta sighed, standing at the top of an empty skyscraper later that night. “Why does the boss keep involving amateurs like this stupid girl? Aren’t we enough for his plans?”

She crossed her arms, looking up at the night sky. The moon appeared enormous tonight, surrounded with sparkling moondust it almost made the stars around it disappear.

“At least he could send one of us to retrieve the Artifact instead of playing it at the enemy’s hand,” Killer Kat said. “It looked pretty cool, we could use it.”

The catboy was almost invisible in his black clothes in the dark, only his red eyes reflected the moonlight behind his mask, and the knife he was playing with.

“You’re both stupid,” Scarlet Wind said, sitting at the edge of the roof.

He was a young boy with short brown hair, he couldn’t be more than 13. Compared to his teammates he was wearing a pretty normal outfit, it just happened to be that all pieces of it were in the same shade of red.

“He doesn’t need more Artifacts. He doesn’t even need us. If he wanted, he could take over the whole world tonight and the Order, the Knightfall Foundation, nobody could stop him, no matter how many cursed items they steal from him. He’s only doing this all so as many people can wake up as possible.”

“Good to know that there’s at least somebody in my service who understands our common goal.”

They all looked up. The Sorcerer’s features were concealed in shadows as always, but out of courtesy he outlined himself with a yellow-orange aura, so it was possible to see him in the dark. Of course he only projected himself when he wanted and who knows how long he was listening to their chatter. This line of work came with many benefits, but privacy wasn’t among them.

“Come on, you know I understand,” Destracta waved nonchalantly. “It’s just frustrating, you know? You gave us all these awesome powers, but we barely have any chance to use them.”

She swung her umbrella through the air. With a loud, rumbling noise, one of the nearby skyscrapers collapsed, bringing down another building with it.

“Idiot,” Scarlet Wind said under his nose.

“She’s right though,” Killer Kat said. “We’re bored you see? You can’t keep us at the sidelines all the time.”

“I can assure you my friend, I can do whatever I want,” the Sorcerer answered in a perfectly calm tone. It was enough however for the other two to understand, it would be unwise to push the topic any further.

“But don’t worry, I won’t let your talents go to waste. In fact, after they passed today’s trial, I came to the decision that our junior heroes are ready to face their first real challenge.”