Will sat in the coffee shop, Velle had sent him a photo of herself after her three-year hiatus and he could instantly tell that she had committed a grave sin in the eyes of the powers that be. While such transformations were not unheard of, they were extremely hard to pull off and could easily go wrong. It was also known to decimate one’s aptitudes and magical capacity crippling a person’s social position. Will was concerned for his friend and had agreed to meet up. That was why he was here now when she walked in. She looked like her old self, but something had distinctly changed in the way she moved, spoke, thought, and behaved. She still had the same dirty blonde hair, the same sharp blues eyes. Yet, she seemed more like herself in a strange way. Her tall and strong frame made her look like the stereotype of an athlete.

               What had previously been a sarcastic and unemotional demeanor was now expressive and animated. Her speech had far more inflection and expression to it. Her mind seemed more aware and active, her eyes were bright and lively. It was as if something had been replaced in her mind that entirely changed how she connected to the world. Will couldn’t help but admire the change as they started to catch up on the last three years. “Now that we know how we are today, where have you been? No one knew what happened you just vanished for a while.”

               Velle laughed nervously. “Well, you see- funny story. I wasn’t anywhere. Those years I was gone, I have no memory of, I texted you, I did my ritual, I texted you again. It wasn’t until I looked at the timestamps, I realized three years had passed.” She seemed genuine in her answer.

               Will paused to process this answer. “If you were able to pass three years in under a minute, then you likely somehow got into a different plane for that time. It’s the only explanation. Where did you go?” His concern was equally genuine.

               She sighed. “That’s the hard part to answer. It was a place, of a kind, but it was more like a prison that trapped you by being impossible to navigate. The sounds, colors, and lighting, even the surface you walked on had no real certainty or pattern to it. I only got out because I had help.” She shrugged.

               Will sensed that she didn’t want to discuss it further. “In any event, I finally found work that I can do. There’s a rehab facility by the city I work at as an instructor and social support, you should come by sometime if you have a chance.” He suggested.

               “I’ll think about it. I only woke up again a week ago, and a lot is weird to me now. It could take me a bit to adjust.” She said.

               At that moment both of their phones buzzed. There was a Daego in the area rampaging towards them. Daego’s were the final stage of a Daego’s curse victim if left untreated. They would transform into a monstrous humanoid magical creature that would make like a heat-seeking missile towards the nearest powerful source of magic and attempt to destroy it. Mages of rank B and above were expected to respond to these area alerts to try to bring down the Daego as soon as possible to prevent harm. Will sighed. “I suppose that’s my signal.” He said solemnly.

               Velle stood up as well. “I’ll come with you, just in case you need it.” She followed him out despite his mild protestations.

               They moved from the coffee shop to a nearby open park that afforded them space to fight without causing too much harm to the surrounding area. Will told Velle to wait by the gate to the park while he went to the center. He knew he was a class A and therefore likely its target since it was headed towards them. He carved his necessary casting circles into the ground around him to provide him the spells he would need when it arrived. He was ready with about ninety seconds to spare and looked out in the direction it was coming. He could feel the ground shake under his feet as it entered his proximity. For some reason, it didn’t make for him as he expected. He saw it crash through the far fence of the park from him and make a line for Velle, who seemed undisturbed by this.

               He realized that where she stood was out of his range and he wouldn’t be of any use if it attacked her there. In the intervening seconds between this revelation and its impending impact with Velle he realized she was doomed because she didn’t have any casting circles around her. She was simply staring at it passively, he screamed for her to move and started to run towards the gate she stood at. She didn’t seem bothered by his screaming either, even though he knew she could hear it. The monster was almost on top of her now. In times of extreme stress mages would experience what was known as mana-acceleration. An effect where they could move, think, and react far faster than normal and would be granted increased physical strength. His body started to speed up and he felt time slow down around him.

               Thanks to his mind processing the world at a speed four or five times that of a normal human he was able to just barely perceive the movement that Velle executed. She turned her back foot compared to the monster, and as it brought down its fists to crush her she side stepped it, sheathed her arm in a magical armor, and ripped through the beasts chest removing the power crystal that formed in the chest of a Daego. She then sidestepped the falling monster easily as its corpse skidded away and she crushed the crystal simultaneously making sure it could not heal. The entire process took less than a tenth of a second.

               With the crystal destroyed she removed the magical armor around her arm and looked up at Will finally. He came to a stop as the world around him accelerated back to its normal speed. “What,” he stammered out. “What did you do?”

               She shrugged. “I killed it, I didn’t want to, but it was coming for me and was outside your casting range so.” She looked at the slowly desiccating corpse behind her.

               He panted. “But how? You didn’t seem stressed enough to trigger a magical acceleration, and even if you did you shouldn’t have been able to cast without a circle. You were able to identify the crystal location- thought impossible, and then remove it and crush it fast enough that anyone without magical acceleration wouldn’t even know you had done something.”

               She looked at him with an expression he didn’t recognize. “A lot has changed, Will.”