Author was looking in a bowl of water, when the witch waved her hand over it and images started appearing.
Author saw himself as he went back and saved the Duchess, then the Duchess sent him to school.
Next he saw that he got into the wrong side of boy who was a trained assassin, working for the evil forces.
The boy tails him secretly back to their home and tries to kill the Duchess.
Author goes to save her but is defeated by the assassin and ends up dying and same goes for Mara and the Duchess.
" So you see, if you save the Duchess this is what can be your fate." Said the witch.
" Then I won't go to that school if the assassin is found in it." Author said.
"I have thought of that option too but i have seen that you and the assassin are meant to always face each other, no matter what you do, after saving the Duchess." Said Linda.
"Then so be it. You said it yourself that this could be my fate, meaning it is not certain. You have tried many options and had seen me dying, but you have not tried all the options." Said Author.
Linda was helpless with nothing to say again and the determined look on Author's face just made her to give up all her attempts to convince Author not to save the Duchess.
" You are right, I have not tried all the options but I have tried most. Since you are so persistent, I will give you a bracelet that you will wear around her wrist when you get there, then the effects of the dark magic would be lifted.
Please be careful, don't face him if you are not ready." With this said, Linda took out a bracelet from thin air and gave it to Author.
" You have a very strong Blood Magic in you. Since you have not yet mastered how to control this power well, you should always use Blood when activating spells." Said Linda.
" Please before I leave, can I ask why the evil forces after the Duchess's life?" Said Author.
"You will find out on your own." Replied the witch.
Author thanked the witch and a feather appeared in his hands. Author drew a hexagram and dropped his blood at the center of it, then he stepped on it and disappeared.
Author appeared infront of the Castle of the Duchess and rushed in through the gates, then into the castle.
Author climbed up the stairs and saw Mara sitting beside her mother's bed while sleeping.
The sound of footsteps coming from Author's boots made her to wake up.
When Mara turned and saw that it was Author, her heart was filled with joy and she ran up to Author and gave him a tight hug.
" Oh Author thank God you made it back safely." Mara said giving a warm smile.
Author could notice that behind her smile was pain, and her eyes looked like she had been crying for long and she had not slept well.
Author walked by over to where the Duchess was laying. He could see that the Duchess had grown paler and thinner, and she looked just like a living corpse.
Author took out the bracelet wich he had brought, then he went over to her, took her hand and wore the bracelet around her wrist.
The Room was quiet for sometime with both Author and Mara's eyes staring at the Duchess, hoping for some reaction.
It took sometime but after a while the paleness on the Duchess's body started going away as her body started returning back to it's normal form.
The Duchess coughed for sometime before she finally, weakly oppened her eyes and looked at the two people standing infront of her bed.
"Mum you are awake." Mara rushed over and hugged her mum with tears of joy.
" Water," was the first thing the Duchess said wich made Author to rush out of the room.
--
Currently Mara, Author and The Castle's servants were sitting around the Duchess with smiles on their faces as they were happy that the Duchess was safe and sound.
But Author was not happy, instead he was confused by the questions in his brain.
He wanted to ask the Duchess why she was a target for the evil forces.
Author also wanted to get stronger and for that to happen, he needed to get to the palace and get the last crystal to complete his system. He knew he needed to act quickly to be ready before the assassin strikes.
The Duchess was in her room with Mara and they heard a knock. Author stepped in and greeted the Duchess.
" Author I must thank you for your sacrifice for me when I was down. Mara told me everything you did for me." Said the Duchess.
" You had made a sacrifice for me and saved my life, so I could only do same for you, not otherwise." Author replied.
Mara left the room to go take a shower, while leaving Author and the Duchess alone.
" I will like to ask you a question if you don't mind." Author said.
" Sure"
" I will like to ask why you are a target to the evil forces?" Author said.
" I am the last of my kind. I gave birth to Mara hoping she would be one of us but she never showed any signs."
" So what exactly are you?"
" I am a Mother White Mage. When I was just a kid, my whole clan was wiped out by a certain race different from the human race.
I only survived because I managed to escape.
I was hoping that someone had managed to escape too, but all these years I have not seen even a single white mage.
" All white Mages have white hair and when their power is activated, their eyes becomes white.
White Mages have the power to see through the mask of evil and subdue the power within a body.
The force that is behind the attempts of my life can posses the body of both the living and those who died because they were killed by its agents.
A White Mage carries the power to cast this force away from the face of the earth, of the earth, if the Pillars of Truth is used but the Pillars have been long lost and no one can tell where it is located." Explained the Duchess.