After Vesi and Mai had been escorted to the makeshift hut, made at the far end of the village, away from civilisation and deep into the forest, she allowed Lady control over her body.
Lady gasped and took in a large amount of air, she was still getting used to the occasional possessions and numbness. She took in a deep breath and let it out.
"Are you alright?" She heard Vesi's voice behind her and she almost jumped out of her skin.
Lady turned to Vesi with a smile and answered "I'm fine but I want to go deeper into the forest for some solitude, I hope it's okay with you"
"Will you be okay alone wandering through the forest?" Vesi asked concerned as his face conjured a frown.
"Don't worry" Lady smiled "I would be besides I still have the power of the Goddess to protect me from immediate harm"
"I hope so, just be careful" Vesi said in a soft guilty voice, which made Lady a little confused.
"Alright, you also be careful" And with that Lady left a guilty Vesi standing in front of the hut and gazing at her disappearing back.
"That lad sure has deep concerns about you" Mai chuckled the moment they were away from Vesi at a safe place where he couldn't overhear whatever they were going to talk about.
"Yes I know, and it's also the cause of his current predicament" Lady sighed.
"Anyways, I presume we have some lengthy talks and strategies to make?" Mai said more of a question.
"Absolutely but first tell me why you made no effort to defend my pride even a little" Lady glared at Mai with a deep scowl etched on her face.
"And what fun would be in that?" Mai shrugged "Besides, it's better to let your enemies get ahead of themselves in their own little twisted games"
Lady raised and eyebrow "And what would that mean?"
"I mean, I had to make Aya and Amira believe that they had gotten the upper hand so we can have all the ample time to find counter measures" Mai said "Besides what's the greatest mistake in a war especially when you think you have the upper hand?" she looked at Lady expectantly for an answer.
"Underestimating your opponent" Lady gave her an answer.
"Yes!" Mai gave a satisfactory little shout "You are finally getting smart, I think being around you all this while has taken a great toll on you"
********
Back in the village, after Amira had finished shedding crocodile tears like never before, in fact the extent of her crying skills was something the universe was sure it couldn't witness again from any other being. Amira's acting skills were beyond par.
"I finally can breathe again" she sighed in satisfaction as Aya chuckled beside her.
"I never knew you were this great at acting" Aya laughed and slapped Amira playfully on her back.
"Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet" Amira joined in the laughter.
They both laughed and sat in a comfortable silence after they were done revelling in that aftermath of their victory.
"So what next?" Amira asked after a while.
"We make the lives of our new couple miserable" Aya responded without missing a beat with venom dripping from her tone as an ugly smirk worked its way onto her face.
"And how do we do that?" Amira asked again.
"Simple" Aya responded and stood up from her sitting place "We are going to use a spell to pit Vesi against Lady"
"That sounds like a brilliant idea" Amira agreed.
"I know right" Aya laughed again "Now hurry, it's best if the spell is done now"
"Alright"
Amira exhaled and moved to the middle of her room after locking the door of her hut. She closed her eyes and allowed her power to flow through her, ironically the power that the same goddess she was fighting against granted onto her. She opened her mouth and started muttering out the words of the spell as she felt her energy sizzling to complete the spell.
"All done" She smiled when the spell was completed "Now tell me what exactly is this spell going to do?" she turned to Aya.
"It's a distortion spell, it distorts your line of thinking and makes it difficult to think right and decipher wrongs from rights, simply put it's going to prevent Vesi from knowing and doing what's right" Aya answered with a grin.
"And that would be perfect" Amira mimicked Aya's grin.
********
In the forest, Vesi was in his new hut looking around and checking for any mistake that the hut might harbor. Suddenly he felt an intense pain in his head, and then it felt as if his heart was being clenched in a strong hand. He groaned and exhaled closing his eyes to take in deep breaths and that was when the pain increased to a hundred fold, he felt as if a million large trees had been placed on his body and his head felt like a dozen axes were being used on it. The pain was too intense that it crippled him and he fell on the floor... hard and it didn't help that his head made a bitter contact with the ground, he screamed and blacked out.
Lady was sitting on a tree stump taking to Mai about their next course of action when she heard a loud scream.
"Wait, I think I heard Vesi screaming" she said and lifted her eyes from following the pattern she was drawing in the forest floor with the thin stick she was holding to Mai's face only to find Mai with a deep frown.
"What is it?" Lady asked Mai.
"Something is not right" Mai answered "The forest has suddenly changed its aura, and it seems a spell is lingering in the air"
"What?" Lady blinked
"Hurry, let's go back"
Mai and Lady didn't bother running or walking, they just waltzed through the air and made it to the hut in record seconds. Mai went straight into the hut followed by Lady as they stood over Vesi's unconscious body.
"Goodness's sake!" Lady gasped and hurriedly went to the ground and placed Vesi's head on her lap "What is this?"
"He has been spelled, a great spell at that" Mai stated.
Lady placed her left palm on Vesi's forehead and used her power to wake him up but she also discovered something else, in Vesi's mind was talk brown tree with ugly strong vines strangling and snaking it's way around the tree from it's roots to it's last branch.
Lady gasped and removed her hand, her eyes widening as she felt the dark aura emanating from Vesi. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Vesi opened his eyes and groaned. Mai studied him for a moment and waved her hand making Vesi go back to sleep.
"Why did you do that?" Lady asked.
"He can't hear what we are about to discuss, it's good for him to sleep and remain ignorant" Mai replied.
Lady nodded in understanding and used her power to levitate Vesi's body in the air and finally placing him on the bed in the hut.
"So what's really happening to him?" Lady asked.
Mai sighed "It's really a big matter"
"And I saw- "
"Yes, I did too" Mai interrupted Lady "Still remember we are one?"
"Alright" Lady dismissed "What was the meaning of that?" Lady frowned.
"The spell he is under now is one of Aya's specialties. It's a distortion spell she made when the gods were in Barrie with the first demons. It inhibits your way of thinking, preventing you from doing what wrong or right" Mai explained.
"What?" Lady scoffed "So what now?"
"The only solution to this is Aya herself" Mai said to which Lady frowned deeper.
"What does that mean?"
"The spell is more like a hex and only Aya can destroy it. The spell gives Aya complete control over the victim, you become her puppet, thinking what she wants you to think and doing what she wants you to do so unless Aya decides to remove it, no one can not even the Supreme One" Mai sighed dejectedly.
"And I don't think Aya would so love to help us now" Lady also sighed dejectedly.
"And that leaves us with only one solution" Mai muttered and Lady's ears perked with interest.
"And what would that be?"
"To kill Aya" Mai stated bluntly.
"What!" Lady jumped up.
"Yes, that is the only option we are left with as there is no way in this universe that Aya will willingly help us and remove her own spell or do you have another option perhaps?" Mai almost seethed with clenched jaws.
"No" Lady replied.
"Exactly what I was thinking, so we either find a way to get rid of her or we wait till your man becomes a live puppet and loses his mentality gradually"
"Alright, sorry" Lady apologised "So what do we do now?"
Mai smirked "Thought you'd never ask and besides I'm sorry too"