A woman with bright orange hair was pacing back and forth in her office. Her beautiful face was set in a frown, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Her pink eyes were a swirl of emotions; concern, hatred, sadness, guilt, and impatience. A message laid open with crumbled edges on her desk. 'Your parents are fine. But not for long.' Someone had delivered it to her; one of her own guildmates. Bebow, if she was not mistaken. Then, with clearly hypnotized motions, he killed himself.
Not everyone would dare to mess around with her—or her Guild. But that blatant threat was clear: they wanted war, and they went the worst way about it. Naturally, she had to understand how they managed to find her parents, in the first place. She had hidden them away exactly because she knew and had the foresight to anticipate some underhanded move like that. No one was supposed to know about it but her. Not even her Guild.
Eventually, a knock interrupted her thoughts, "Come in," she said, with a bit more heat in her voice than intended.
The door creaked open, and an armored Swordmaster waltzed in, not intimidated by the mana waves emanating off the woman, "I'm here with the report about Cliffstone Village."
That was incredibly fast—especially so, considering the distance between her Guild's territory and Cliffstone.
"So, what did you find? Speak!" Klava tried hard not to rush the man, but she was at her limits.
The Swordmaster schooled his features as he sighed, "Something happened. All we have are the reports from the villagers, for Calian and the cavalry were completely wiped out, along with a huge section of the village. We don't know how many died, or who died specifically... all we know is that there was a sighting of flying, cloaked figures before the explosion happened. We reckon a conflict of some kind happened between them and Calian. However, his apprentice, Neti, has repeated multiple times that Calian never wanted to stop those... mysterious entities. Probably due to the large gap in power; the whole village is saturated in thick magic density... we had to evacuate the villagers, lest they got affected by it. Even we couldn't stay there for long."
"..."
Klava slammed her fist against the desk, and it cracked, crumbling down soon after.
"What shall we do, ma'am?"
"Nothing, Elfried. I'll take care of this personally... but, do me a favor. Tell the rest of the Guild to prepare themselves. We might go to war against those beings very soon."
Elfriend nodded, his tone dignified, "As you wish," and then he left.
Silence.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! WHO?" Klava's power raged, the mighty winds of her volatile mana turning her office upside down. Could it have been some other Guild? Night's Terror, perhaps? Or was it the Undula Knights? She was not a loved figure by any means, but she didn't have that many enemies either. Certainly not someone that'd be willing to go so far to draw her out into a trap. Because that was what it was. A fucking trap. And she knew that if she didn't find her parents in time, she'd be walking straight into it.
She didn't abandon her humanity like many other Royal Magicians. She would never forsake the ones that raised her with so much love and care. It was not in her nature.
Another thought bugged her.
How powerful were those entities? Royal Tiers, at the very least. Only a Royal Magician could fly, and affect Elfriend to such a degree with the remnants of their mana alone. Maybe they were even stronger—and if that was the case, she doubted her Guild would survive the disaster quietly brewing on the horizon. For fuck's sake, they had her parents! If she abandoned them, maybe she could buy enough time to cash in a few favors and rally in a few other Guilds against them.
Klava slumped in her seat, hands on her forehead.
What was she supposed to do?
A single mistake could cause the death of her parents. A poorly-thought move. A step in the wrong direction... and they'd be delivered to her doorstep in mutilated slabs of flesh. The thought horrified her.
She couldn't be reckless. She breathed in and out, hoping to calm herself down before she'd take a drastic decision; one that would mess everything up even more. Klava had to do this herself.
With a steely glint in her eyes, she got up from her seat and disappeared in a swirl of wind.
----
Autrathen was one of the major human kingdoms in Archiland, a beacon of power and safety. And if you took Rainey's word for it, then it was as big as the Mongol Empire. The city they landed in was called Autra'Sutra; apparently, each city within the Autrathen Kingdom had the prefix Autra in their names. It made it easy to distinguish which city belonged to which kingdom. Autra'Sutra was bustling with activity, and the Magicians' mana stung Jered's mana sensitivity. And even though he learned how to put up with it, he still didn't like it.
It made him sneeze.
"We'll be staying here for quite a while. As far from the capital as possible," Rainey announced when they entered a ramshackle house in the outskirts of the city. Klava's parents were unceremoniously dropped in the basement and left to starve, "Klava is emotional, but not stupid. She cares a great deal about her parents, so she'll do anything to ensure their safety."
"Yeeeaaah... but what if she comes prepared?" Jerry wondered.
"She's strong, but not strong enough to handle either of you. Let alone against the both of you together," she waved his concerns off, "And in the off-chance she barges in here with an army, we'll leave a lovely surprise for her before we escape. She's as good as dead, no matter what she decides to do. I'm willing to go all out if I have to. Though I hope it won't come to that."
Jerry had an easy smile on his face, while Jered seemed discontent that there was a tiny side of her that didn't trust them, "We got this," he said, absolutely confident.
"I don't doubt it," Rainey grabbed his face and pinched his cheeks, not before leaving a wet, resounding kiss on his forehead, "You're such a good boy."
"..."
"So, now what? We wait? Jerry tucked a cigarette between his lips and lit it up, "If that's so, then it's gonna be hella boring around here."
Rainey shrugged, "We can start laying out a plan to acquire the second ingredient for the ritual. Autrathen's King has many successors. It will be extremely hard to get a hold of the crown prince, but the last sons and daughters in the succession line should be a fairly easy job."
"Hmm," Jerry took a drag of his cigarette as he spoke, not quite convinced, "There'll be at least one Lord of Elements in the royal palace... not to mention the Arch-Maguses by His Majesty's side. There's no doubt that the princes and princesses will have many powerful bodyguards by their side at all times. How do you expect us to simply drag one of them out and get away with it? It's suicidal, Rain."
She wagged her finger at him, "You fool! We're going to infiltrate one of you inside the royal palace and work our way through. Maybe not you, Jerry... since many people know of your existence. But young Jered here... I'm sure they'll be very happy to have someone as talented as him protecting the royal family. This is not something we can carry out within a day. But I've waited for many years to get a shot at regaining my powers... and my youth. I can wait for a couple more."
"You sure like to have me infiltrate inside places..." Jered commented in a bitter tone; he wanted more action, not more politics.
"Don't worry. Once we're done with that, I'll let you infiltrate inside me."
"..."
Jerry guffawed, "Way to go, Jered!" he said, nudging his shoulder with a knowing look, "If you can get Rain Rain bent over a desk or down on her knees, you'll have my eternal respect!"
Jered was a bit bothered by the intense sparkle in the man's eyes.
"See? You have something to look forward to," Rainey smiled, hand over her mouth in a coy fashion.
"I don't mind. I came to realize many women want me to bend them over a desk... my sister included."
Rainey whistled, kind of expecting something like that.
"Oh... I didn't know about that..." Jerry was genuinely... intrigued, to say the least, "... you gonna make babies with two heads and three legs."
"Why would I want to have children with Jasmine? Anyway... we're off-topic," Jered reminded with a roll of his eyes, "We have to discuss what we're going to do from now onward. Do we even have money to afford food, clothing, and everything else we need?"
She pulled out a purse and waved it in front of his face. Whatever was inside, it tinkled delightfully, "We're covered. And if we manage to sneak you into the royal palace successfully, we can steal directly from their treasury!"
"Do you know how many prostitutes you could afford with all the money they have, Jered?" Jerry almost screamed in wild excitement, spittle flying out with each word, "We could have mind-blowing orgies with the finest women of Archiland, Jered. Every fucking day!"
Rainey elbowed his exposed rib, drawing out a pained 'umph' from the psychiatrist, "We're not going to squander our resources in booze and whores. Not yet."
"Aww..." Jerry slumped, hands stuffed in the pockets of his white coat.
----
Meanwhile, in the Blessed Light Church, a few Cardinals—dressed in fine silk and gold embroidered garments—surrounded the Oracle. Behind him, the statue of a Goddess, crafted by masterful hands to capture the immortal beauty of a higher being, shone with divine radiance. Once the light faded, a tense atmosphere fell over them. The Cardinals didn't know what to make of the situation, since it was extremely rare for the Goddess to communicate with them.
And whenever it happened, it was because a major event was about to unfold.
The Oracle's blind, pale-blue eyes quivered, as if he had seen something. He looked up, his stare seemingly piercing through the vaulted ceiling of the cathedral and straight into the sky, "The prophecy has been given," if a spell to amplify sound had been cast on their chests, their beating hearts would have rocked the building, "Listen carefully..."
"..."
The Cardinals waited patiently, though it was undeniable the stab of trepidation each of them felt.
The Oracle's scratchy voice went on, "Time is tight. Three individuals of questionable power have begun to twist the currents of fate... and no matter which path we tread, a war-torn world lies ahead. The Four Guardians have been warned; The Devilings have been warned; The Angels have been warned; The Elves have been warned; The Fae, Dwarves, Demons—and any other sapient species—have been warned. The one who will break the sky is among them. Please, do not tarry. Leave no stone unturned. You have been warned."
With those words delivered, the Oracle fainted. The Cardinals promptly moved to hold him up.
Silence.
"This is... highly concerning," one of the Cardinals said, his tone somber.
An older one nodded, "We have to relay this to the Pope. Immediately."
Everyone concurred.
"The last prophecy was a few centuries ago, wasn't it? Now... it has happened again."
"Didn't you hear the Oracle?" another Cardinal took the lead, sighing, "We can't waste time like this."
A round of nods was his reply, and in a burst of holy, gilded particles, they disappeared.
However, unbeknownst to them, a crack had slowly formed on the Goddess' statue.