“Before we even get into that.” Arnessa had been frowning for most of the conversation now. “How are they going to even use them as bait? Are they luring them into a trap or do they already have them trapped?”

  Oh heck, she was right. I stared intently at Elora.

  Elora paused waiting to see if anyone else had another comment. “The answer is both. She was trying to lure them into a terrible situation to make you emerge, and it failed. They are far smarter than she gave them credit for. Then, she tried to use magic against them. That also failed. Your friends quickly sorted her puzzle in record time.”

  Elora gave a smile before continuing, “Seeing an excellent opportunity, I finally reached out to Nadia to have them rendezvous at the mountain base. It would have worked if this Lesser Daeum wasn’t so desperate. She finally captured them on their way there since the only way to stop them was for her to take direct action.”

  “Isn’t that an illegal Daeum move?” I frowned.

  “Noble Daeums follow a strict code of conduct.” Elora nodded slowly. “This is a Lesser Daeum that goes by Rigyx.”

  “Is it just because Nobles are the good guys? Do all Lessers just lack a moral code?” I frowned, still not getting the real difference.

  “Do you seek justice?” Elora asked instead.

  “Yeah? I guess?” What kind of question was that? Wanting wrongs righted was a pretty normal feeling. Of course how you resolved them could be vastly different but that wasn’t actually her question.

  “And you’ve never desired to urge your magic to work just for a little fun, just to cause a little mayhem?” Elora continued her questions.

  “And that’s all the difference? Not falling into ‘I do what I want’ sort of morals?” I should have seen that coming. Lame, but not all aspects of magic fell into a gray scale, some were actually just that black and white.

  “It is. You know the feel of it. It’s wonderfully intoxicating. Everyone starts the same, it’s how one reacts to developing their skill that determines exactly where they fall." Elora replied as if everything was that simple.

  Ah, that made sense. That was why Arryn wouldn’t give me an exact answer. He could help teach me, but as things progressed it would be easier to shut a Lesser Daeum down right away instead of letting them get stronger. Elora cleared her throat, snapping my attention back to her. “Now, shall we get back to the plan?”

  Arnessa let out a breath. “I think we know it. Let’s just try and get this plan underway without completely messing it up.”

  “I’ll be surprised if we don’t. That’s all our party is known for.” Cat gave a tired smile.

  I laughed at the D&D reference. Our party was often more flop and folly than suave adventurers. “I guess we start. I believe in us”

  Elora nodded. “Then off you go. I’ll be close behind.” She vanished, all traces of her magic going with her. I wondered how she did that. I’d need to learn that little trick when this was done.

  Arnessa and Cat stared at me expectantly. “Right. Guess I’m up. So, I just move us to that mountain cave.”

  “Should be similar to moving us to find Arryn.” Arnessa smiled, trying to be encouraging.

  “But with Arryn there was a magical signature.” I sighed, trying to think of what exactly I could lock on to. “I don’t even know where we currently are.”

  Cat looked thoughtful, “Well, you’re technically all powerful, and just not tapped into your gifts. There should be a way to find old magical energies. Maybe just trace your own path back to that point?”

  “That’s brilliant.” Arnessa nodded approvingly.

  I had to agree. “Why are you the expert on my weird magic?” I gave a small laugh.

  “I think the reading contest Rey and I have going has helped. We keep trying to find the strangest books with the most unique magical systems. I’ve won the last few months.” Cat smirked. I loved how deep their geekdom went.

  “I’ll take it.” I motioned for them to come closer as I closed my eyes.

  It was easy enough to feel for my own magic. Following the trail I noticed that while others around me seemed to go cold, mine was ever vibrant. It was strong, and I felt like I could manipulate it still, despite not actually being in that past moment any longer.

  That was a broken magical move. No wonder Daeum’s were so strong. They could likely alter things right up until a moment collided with another too powerful being. It would make Daeum dodging Daeum easier, but in the end, you could only avoid one another for so long. I wondered whose magical line was crossing whose wrongly. Rigyx’s, Elora’s, or maybe even mine. I was hardly sure I counted with my hardly developed magic, considering I was still figuring out how to work things. Magic didn’t always care about what you felt limitations should be.

  Pushing my thoughts aside, I picked up my trail once more and found the location I wanted. I dropped the magical line, not wanting to learn if I could drag us into the past, and pulled us back to the spot where we first left the caves. The magic buzzed around me rapidly and I let out a small breath, surprised by the feeling, but not feeling any negative impact.

  “Sweet, you did it!” Cat cheered as she looked around.

  “But goodness does everything feel wrong.” Arnessa frowned, as she looked around, letting her magic seek out and find where everything was. “The magic here is different. The illusions are all wrong.”

  Cat frowned as well. “I sense what you’re saying.”

  I did too. My frown echoed theirs and we all stood there, debating what exactly to do next. There was an obvious trail. We could follow it without much problems, until... “I hate them." was all that came out.

  “What’s wrong?” Cat asked, visibly confused by my small outburst.

  My hands balled into fits. “I swear I will punch this being in the face the first chance I get.”

  “What is it? The trail is right here?” Arnessa was equally confused.

  “The trail starts simple and branches off. Into three branches of course." I grumbled.

  “Oh, they want us to split up right away.” Arnessa nodded. “Smart. It’ll be easy to take us down individually.” The obvious trap wasn’t hard to call out.

  Cat shifted on her feet. “And it’s easier to say you’ll stick together until you get to that point. We’d have to pick who’s basically more important to rescue first.”

  I shook my head as I thought. “No one is more important to the others. Tactically it’ll be better to rescue Vincent first. His magic would be the biggest help. Then Rey, with his healing. We’ll likely need that for Nadia. She is going to shank someone the second she’s freed.”

  “Are you okay with that plan?” Arnessa asked carefully.

  “No, but it’s the best plan I can come up with and Nadia would be more disappointed I didn’t make a good tactical choice.” I sighed. “She’d pick what’s the overall best plan if she knew I was more or less all right.”

  “Can we cheat?” Cat asked carefully.

  “What do you mean by cheat?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Let’s just warp in there and grab Vincent, and then Rey. Walking will be exhausting, and they’ll probably have traps for us along the way. If we just skip the path and get to the end goal, justice can be served more immediately.” Cat replied, the idea sparking all our interest.

  Arnessa nodded. “I like that idea, but what are we going to do with these idiots who are in on this dirty scheme once we reach them?”

  I wasn’t sure. The Stepmomster, Diamond, Melanie, and Donny were willing to work with what was essentially evil magic to further their own life plans and hurt others. My chest burned with fury, something calling from my very core that they needed to be dealt with. It would be so easy to wring their necks, or worse, but blind rage wasn’t justice.

  “We’ll lock them up and determine their fates from there." I replied with a more simple answer than I wanted to. There were so many things that came to mind to make them pay, but true justice wasn’t in their suffering. “I wonder if the unicorns would mind watching them for us.”

  “They wouldn’t be happy about it, and erase their memories at that.” Arnessa frowned.

  “Exactly.” Cat smirked. “Any memory of meeting the unicorns is forgotten. The perfect punishment that’s not actually hurtful, and won’t have any long term pain or repercussions. A more fitting fate can be determined later.”

  “Oh!” Arnessa’s eyes sparkled with a new idea. “I don’t know if that idea is even cheating. It fits more with cheesing, as you said." Arnessa mused, pausing for effect, as she flashed Cat a smile. “Cheating would be locating our group and bringing them here.”

  “Daeums are that overpowered, aren’t they?” I gave a small laugh. “I’m not sure if I can do all that, but getting to their location shouldn’t be a problem. I can follow their paths easily enough.”

  “Can you try bringing them here?” Arnessa asked curiously. “It would save us a lot of grief.”

  I considered what she said for a moment. Could I? It should be as easy as following their paths and just bringing them here instead of us to them. Maybe even easier than moving us. I wasn’t sure. I reached out and tried to locate them all together but it was too difficult to sense them all at once. It didn’t feel impossible, but my skill was nowhere near that level.

  “I’ll have to do this one at a time, but it’ll be worth trying." I finally agreed.

  Closing my eyes, I started with Vincent. He was unconscious, but seemed otherwise fine. I could feel the magic of two others with him, but it was simple enough to ignore them and leave them alone there. It was easy to wrap my magic around just Vincent, and ta-da! I felt his presence by my side as I pulled him magically to me. Arnessa audibly gasped as she rushed to him, but I ignored them, keeping my eyes closed as I moved my focus to Rey.

  He seemed to be in slightly better shape, no surprise with his strong magic. Rey was a fast healer because of it, so I had no doubt he’d soon be fine. There was only one person guarding him, and they felt rather underpowered. Again, easy enough to ignore. With a pull, Rey was back with us. Cat’s reaction was exactly the same as Arnessa’s. They had both been so worried about their love’s. I didn’t blame them.

  Time to bring my love to me. After all that had transpired in such a short time, I needed her back with me.

  I followed the path, her trail easy for me to see, almost easier than the other too until it stopped. A strong force blocked it and I cursed. “They’re on to me.”

  “What?” Arnessa asked.

  I opened my eyes, not bothering to hide my rage. “She figured out what I was doing and blocked me. I don’t know how to get around it.”

  Cat helped Rey sit up as he regained consciousness. “We’ll just have to go to her and punch her in the face then.”

  “I do want to do that.” I agreed, not feeling any bit better about the idea.

  “What’s going on?” Rey looked around confused before smiling at Cat. “I have no idea how you found us.”

  Cat smiled in return before kissing his cheek. “It’s complicated, but the short is, we need to get Nadia back.”

  Rey groaned. “That’ll be easy once I don’t feel like I was thrown into a wall.”

  “Were you thrown into a wall?” Concern filled Cat’s eyes.

  “Yeah, we all were.” Rey glanced my way, not wanting to meet my eyes. “Nadia was probably hit the hardest.”

  Fury filled me, magic sparkling along my entire being.

  “Cool it, wannabe god.” Arnessa called sharply.

  The words threw me off for a moment, helping to the magic take down a notch. I didn’t need to be a crazy deity. I hardly felt like one as it was.

  Vincent gave a groan as he started to stir.

  Rey made a similar sound as he moved to him, starting to heal Vincent without a second thought.

  “Are you sure you’re okay to do that?” Cat asked worriedly.

  “I have enough extra magic to get him going.” Rey grimaced but stubbornly kept healing.

  “Don’t overdo it. We don’t have time for that.” Cat warned him.

  We really didn’t. I was antsy, ready to continue on by myself, but I knew that was exactly what they wanted. The carrot dangled so perfectly in front of me. I’d be a fool to take it, but heavens knew it was hard not to.

  Arnessa helped Vincent up as Rey healed him. Cat gave a very vague run down of what was going on. While she kept the Daeum parts a secret, she did mention some beings here had managed to help me with my magic.

  “If it’s enough to take them down. Let’s do this." Rey stated, getting up and stretching.

  “I’m not sure you two are well enough for this.” I frowned.

  Vincent waved off my concern. “It’ll be fine.” Arnessa helped Vincent up.

  I wasn’t sure I trusted that statement, but I was already having trouble not leaving the group. “I guess we’re good to go then.”

  “Let’s do it.” Cat smirked motioning for me to lead on. “Where’s the path?”

  I set off, knowing they would all follow.

  The path was easy to follow. Or at least it was clear to magically feel out. I knew exactly where I needed to go, but the forest was difficult to navigate. Fallen trees, gnarled roots, and so many wisps of negative magic making me momentarily wonder if we were being followed.

  We weren’t, not exactly. I was sure the Lesser Daeum, this Rigyx being, was monitoring our every move, waiting patiently, toying with us for their amusement as we followed the path.

  Finally I could feel in the distance where the block was. “Strong magic ahead. It’s whatever was keeping me from Nadia earlier." I informed them as we traveled.

  “Awesome. Stop!" Cat called out to me .

  “What? Why?” I stopped as she requested.

  “Because this is where the traps gotta be." Cat pointed out the obvious.

  I nodded. “Good point, but what can it be?”

  “They were trying to seperate us earlier." Arnessa reminded me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you stayed ahead if you could pass this block and we couldn’t.”

  “That would be the best bet." I agreed, feeling a small sense of defeat. “How can we get around it? I can’t even tell how Nadia is anymore. We need to get to her now.”

  I looked at Cat the same time as Arnessa did causing Vincent and Rey both to give us confused looks.

  “Why would you know?” Rey asked Cat, voicing the confusion for the both of them.

  Cat shrugged. “I’ve been really really good at guessing how Ash’s power up could work.”

  I nodded as I laughed. “She knows more about my magic than me.”

  “It’s been really helpful.” Arnessa agreed.

  “We’re missing something.” Vincent eyed Arnessa carefully. “What else happened?”

  Arnessa fidgeted with her sleeve while Cat spoke up instead. “It’s complicated, but awesome. You’ll have to wait and see.” She turned her attention to me. “I’ve got an idea.”

  “I’m all ears.” I was really curious where she came up with all these ideas.

  Cat dropped her voice so low I could barely hear her. “Can you get us all in there? I know you can’t get Nadia out, but maybe it still works the other way?”

  Rey shook his head. “I don’t know the full scope of things, but I’m thinking that’s not going to happen.”

  “Well, what’s your idea if that’s the circumstance?” Cat turned to him.

  “I’m thinking we lure whoever it is out?” Rey shrugged. “It’s not a video game so they aren’t leashed to the area. Maybe we can lure them out. Shouldn’t be hard if it’s that nutball Donny.”

  “That’s if we can get close enough for them to see us, and if it’s Donny. If it’s the Lesser Daeum then they’ll just wait it out. They’ve got all the time in the world." Cat argued, easily continuing the debate.

  “We can try plan A and figure out a B if it’s not Donny.” Rey shrugged. “Or if Ash can feel where Nadia is, maybe she can tell if Donny is there too?”

  They both turned toward me. I shrugged and closed my eyes, trying to get any feeling of who is in there. “He’s certainly there but he feels… different. Like he’s infused with magic he shouldn’t have. There’s another there too. I don’t know them so maybe the Lesser Daeum.” I opened my eyes as Cat and Rey resumed their debate.

  “So it would work if it was just Donny, but he has someone to stop him from being a complete imbecile. We can’t rely on anyone dispelling it either way." Cat stated.

  Rey shrugged. “It would help if we still had that bow that always hits its target. If we could figure out where the Lesser Daeum is, the arrow would go through the barrier.”

  “But she would have to be physical." Cat argued. “Daeum’s can be present without being physical.”

  “As much as I love this debate, and I really do,” Vincent interrupted, “Why don’t we try dismantling the barrier?” We all gave him a surprised look. “I mean, there’s five of us. At worst, combined we should be able to at least make a hole so we can all get in and solve this.”

  We all stared at him, surprised that it really could be that simple. He didn’t even know exactly what my extra power was yet. Maybe we really could do this. We could save Nadia, and flush this Lesser Daeum out of hiding.

  “Let’s do it then. I’m sure together we can make a hole or break it down." I readily agreed, setting off once more.

  Cat and Arness sped up to walk just a step in front of me. The gesture mildly amused me. I could tell they were concerned, and they were right to be. I was too over being torn away from my life and my love. This needed to end. Now.

  We quickly reached the barrier. It was hard to see but oh so easy to feel with it magic sending tingly vibes of dread our way.

  “Is it supposed to make us leery?” Rey laughed. “What a great way to try and trick us into walking through it.”

  Cat snorted but didn’t comment.

  “Alright, does anyone actually know how to take down this kind of magic?” Vincent asked, staying on point.

 

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