31 The First Candle

Aurice wakes up, eager to get to the Sanctuary of the Sage. However, her surroundings seemed different than what she was used to. Everything was blurry around her, and she squinted her eyes to focus. She stood up and tried to move around but her legs suddenly bumped into a soft object. Looking down, she saw it was not an object but a body. A body very much like her own, but it was unconscious.

"Sera?" she tried to speak to the sleeping girl beside her.

She thought hard for an explanation, but the only conclusion she can come up with is that they were in a dream. How else could they exist as two separate entities.

Sera has still not responded so Aurice tried to shake her to wake her up. As her hand made contact, however, Aurice suddenly felt unimaginable pain jolting her body to the core. Her mind was wracked with the images of Sera being tortured and she felt every pain from it. It took all of her strength to pull away her hand and she fell back, trying to catch her breath.

Looking back at the sleeping form of Sera, Aurice can see the pained expression on the poor girl's face. She grieved for her, and felt sincere pity. She saw and experienced first hand how Sera tried her best to maintain the magic resistance spell she had taught and how she failed miserably.

Aurice was normally an unflappable person, but at that moment, tears began to well up in her eyes and trickle down uncontrollably. A new fire was born within her as she vowed to use every breath in her to save this girl, to save themselves from the horrors of the Stedores. Giving Sera a final look, she closed her eyes and falls back to sleep.

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Aurice wakes up in Lerica's old room, or what was left of it. All around her were shattered pieces of what once were beautiful objects. She summoned her trusty sphere and began the healing process. She dismissed it immediately the moment her healing was done.

'Sera is always at the mercy of the Stedores...", Aurice thought. "...but what if someone was there to protect her from them.' Sera needed a guardian, she concluded, and she was going to make one for her. She slowly got up and methodically gathered some of the pieces strewn about her. She found a candle from the debris and placed it in her pocket. Finding a clean area within the room, she set the gathered pieces down and cast a concealment spell to make the are seem like an empty space. She placed the candle down at the center and murmured another spell. She gently blew out a glimmering light and it landed on the candle wick. A flame swiftly flickered to life.

As the night wore on, Aurice dilligently crafted their last and only hope against the Stedores.

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The chill wind blew around Stormfall as winter snow began to descend.

*huff* "So it's that time of the year already?", sighed a gruff-looking man, as he climbed the slopes of the Ice-shard Peaks. He was sent by one of the most powerful magicians in Stormfall to go on this mission. Some time ago, a young scientist under his own department made a world-breaking discovery, only to disappear right after for unknown reasons.

'That's what the people were made to believe.' he thought to himself. Only a handful of people knew what really happened to the young scientist, this man being one of those few. This world was a dangerous one, and having too much knowledge might just cost one their own lives.

'Agh,' the man grunted once again, his impatience getting the better of him. He was looking at a crude drawing of a map that pinpointed a location deep within these mountains. He was standing right at the spot marked in the map but all he can see was snow and rock.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice called out behind him. "Don't give up, old man. I'm sure what you're looking for is around here somewhere."

The gruff-looking man scoffed back in reply. It was unmistakable. It was a voice he hasn't heard in a long time.

"All this time, you're still just a kid playing silly games, aren't you?", he turned around to see a tall young man, smiling playfully at him.

"Aww, pops. This is the first time we see each other in a while, and the first thing you do is lecture me."

The young man held a hand to his chest, as if he had been hurt deeply.

"Can't I get even the slightest of a hug?" he almost couldn't contain his laughter.

"Enough of this shallow talk. I have something important to tell you.", the gruff-man had seriousness in his tone.

"But before that... can't we go somewhere warmer. I'm freezing out here."

"Right this way.", the younger man replied, matching the tone of the gruff-man.

"It's nice seeing you again, old man... or should i say, High Magistrate Thoran."

The gruff-looking man grunted in reply, "Yeah. You too, Chrion."