12 Chapter 12: The Shadow

"Cellular decay that occurs every half a second. Disguising the effects as frost."

Cynthia picked up the frozen cloth and casted a small fire spell. As logic dictated, ice would melt with fire, that was a natural order of the world. A rule that was never broken even with magic. But when she saw that no water formed underneath the cloth at the table, she deduced that something was amiss.

"Dark Magic. A far more powerful variant to that I'm used to."

Even though Cynthia was alone in her lab, she always found herself talking out loud. It helped her focus on her thoughts whenever she had to deal with cases that involves magic and the mysteries of the world.

"If fire cannot work then I'll just have to trace back the origins of the magic."

All spells are formed from nothing. The world was natural and so, to disrupt the natural order and create miracles, magic was created to learn the secrets of the world. To her, magic was no different from alchemy as both of them try to achieve the same thing in their research. To uncover the secrets of the world, Akasha.

According to the Law of Akasha, whatever what was known in the world, another mystery would appear. Those words are true if Akasha was not such a mystery in itself and hence, she would remove the possibility of limitless knowledge for limitless time.

"Setting the reaction of dark magic using my own magic factor to reverse the flow of the spell." Cynthia wrote her words on a small journal, her right hand held the small frozen linen in the air between her fingers.

Cynthia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel her magic factor pumping mana into her left hand. Precision was key in operations as delicate as this one. The right amount of mana with the right density.

She felt a shift in her magic factor. The process was now responding to the frozen cloth and it was resisting her access. She expected this result however, and proceeded to release a large burst of mana compared to the steady and calm flow a few seconds ago.

Cynthia looked at the results of her little experiment. She saw the cloth was now flexible unlike before it was solidly frozen. That meant that she managed to break of the pattern of the spell used and was now ready for modification.

The spell created was a type of frost curse. Curses had a natural affinity to negative emotions and unlike magic that was based off logic and the systematic process of mana, curses came from Witches that once held Akasha in their hands. Witches that were born from the sin of men.

There was nothing systematic about curses.

"The Curse of Iceberg...I'd be laughing right now if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes." Cynthia let out a humourless chuckle. She didn't know that she was dealing with a Witch with a powerful curse. Witches hadn't been seen since the Age of Heroes where the Twelve Champions fought of the Thirteen Goetia and the Witches of Sin.

"And judging from what Roy told me, those who wield this curse are those men in black." Cynthia bit her nail as she began to think of a conclusion. "Could it be..."

The magic she felt when she was reversing the flow of the curse. The familiar sensation that made her skin crawl. The evil scent that the curse oozed out of the frost. She knew little about the being but during her studies at the Sirius Tower. And out of all the Witches' beasts, it was one of the strongest.

"The Shadow. The representation of Vanity."

She heard about these beasts from the Book of Reinhardt, in which the author wrote about his encounter with the powerful being of the Witch of Vanity. One of many beasts created by the sinful witches.

"Come to think of it, Isfet had the same type of back then. Could they truly perhaps worked together once?" Cynthia asked herself.

There was a theory that was coined by one of the mages at Sirius Tower that the Dark God Isfet and The Witches joined forces during the War of Heroes. Evidence lies in the physiology of their own creations and the fact that they used some type of dark magic. But the theory contradicted a lot of facts, namely that the Witches hated both Isfet and the two goddesses. They also used a different type of magic than the ones Isfet used during his fateful battle against the Twelve Champions, which coined another theory that Isfet has access to Akasha while the Witches are only the representation of all of humanity's evil.

"That wouldn't make any sense. Isfet and the Witches have different views on humanity, the same way the goddess have different views on how to lead us."

"If that's not the case then..."

Cynthia heard a knock on her door. She didn't know who was willing to see her at the dead of night so with cautious steps, she went to the door to open it.

She was quite surprised that the noblewoman of house Desdemona was waiting for her with a tray in her hands.

"Emilia? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to organise the crowning ceremony? I'm sure Lord Armand would be angry if you hadn't started yet."

Emilia gave her a worrying look, "I'm sorry Cynthia but the ceremony will be conducted in three days time."

Cynthia rose her eyebrow at the young noblewoman. That wasn't right, she could've sworn that she still had time to attend Roy's Ceremony. She even made a reminder to practice her role after her research, "Are you saying that I haven't been sleeping for..."

"For almost a week, yes. You've been working yourself dry for four days now."

Cynthia sighed and went back to her chair and flung her body deeper into the seat. She could not believe that she managed to overlook her time again. She let out a loud groan at her own faults while Emilia chuckled at the her.

"Roy asked me to look after you if you aren't seen for almost a week. I even brought you some cake." Before Emilia laid the tray down at Cynthia's table, she cleaned the mess of papers and magic tools that was used in the experiments.

"Did you bring chocolate cake?" Cynthia asked quietly, not lifting her body even an inch.

"From lady Della's Bakery? Of course I did." Emilia smiled at the mage and gave her a slice from the whole cake.

"As long as I have her cakes, I will be satisfied."

Cynthia could hear another chuckle from her friend. "Tea?" Emilia asked.

"Yes please." Not a moment later she was given a cup and heard the pouring of almond honey tea as it invaded her nostrils

"You also need medical treatment, you'll be giving a speech for Roy and we both know that your constitution is left much to be desired."

"Why did it have to be me though? He could've chosen you or Bianca or even Malcolm. He just loves giving me more work than I have to!" Cynthia continued to take a bite of her favoured cake.

"Maybe you just can't see it. You're too blinded by your own research."

"Are you saying he trusts me?"

Emilia smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Roy isn't the easiest person to read or predict. One minute he can be the goofiest friend we have, the next he is scheming with the best of the Round Table."

Cynthia took another bite, "Well, whatever the case, I still find all that he makes me do to be quite vexing."

"What are you working on by the way? Another findings on Akasha?" Emilia asked as she began cleaning the rest of Cynthia's mess as she examined the papers.

Cynthia bit down her tongue but she knew, sooner or later that she would know of its nature.

"...About the Shadows and the Witch of Vanity."

Cynthia heard some of the papers dropped from Emilia's hands. The mage looked away shamefully at making her friend uncomfortable.

"...I'm sorry." Cynthia muttered.

"No...It's fine. Besides, I figured you already knew about that right?"

Cynthia nodded her head before looking down at her plate, idly playing with her cake. She felt a small napkin rub her mouth and a gentle hand lifting her head up to meet Emilia's gaze.

"I trust you Cynthia. You haven't told them about that and I'm grateful for it. So no matter what, don't be ashamed to discuss these types of matters to me, I can handle them."

Cynthia only nodded her head but she felt that it wasn't enough of a confirmation for her. She felt a small pat in the head, Emilia's hand was wrapped around a cloth.

"What happened to your hand?" Cynthia tried to grab it but Emilia retracted it.

"It's nothing, I just burned my hand at something." Emilia said with a smile, hiding her hand away from Cynthia's view.

"If that's the the case I can heal it for you. I may not be as skilled as you when it comes to healing magic but I know my basics."

"I have no doubt about that but you need not concern yourself about my slight injury. I should know since I'm priestess."

Cynthia wasn't convinced but it was useless arguing with her now. If the expert said that it was nothing then she would let it go.

"Fine. But in exchange for your stubbornness, I request that you take a rest." Cynthia ordered her as she began placing her plate in the tray to help her friend out.

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll send one of my puppets to make you."

Emilia giggled at her, "Then how about if I make you some sweets? Would that even it out?"

Cynthia glared at her but she could feel her sweat dripping from her temple. "...No. Not even then."

"I should be the one saying that to you."

"Should I promise to take a break right now if you follow my orders?"

"That depends on how willing you are to rest."

Cynthia let out a hearty laugh at her, she hadn't had a fun conversation with anyone in a long time. Being cooped up in a lab for days was really starting to get to her.

"Thank you Emilia."

She saw Emilia smiled at her and ruffled her hair and then began fixing it. "You're welcome, what are friends for."

"Roy would probably try to use you."

"Like he's doing with you?"

"Don't push your luck."

Emilia grabbed the tray that Cynthia fixed m, the whole cake was now gone, like it wasn't even there to begin with. She chuckled at Cynthia's actions whenever it involves things other than magic.

"Emilia." Cynthia called her, almost desperately. "Thank you, really."

"It was nothing, you're my friend and keeping you up and going is part of my job and desire."

"Will you continue to help me with my poor constitution?"

"Always." Emilia smiled at her bad Cynthia could feel something was off.

It wasn't like her to judge things from an emotional state but trusting her gut seemed like the most logical thing to do. Cynthia just hoped that it wasn't as bad as she thought.