First part - Chapter Three

Nadia didn't spare Anastasia even a glance and mocked, ''Imagine being a little brat.''

They soon came to a little hut. Anastasia never had permission nor the opportunity to go there.

Nadia unlocked the door and let them both in.

Inside were nothing but plain stairs that lead deep underground. The staircase was dark as there was nothing that would light it up, not a single candle. It looked as if it was abandoned for decades; spiderwebs, dust, cracks in the walls, and dirt everywhere Anastasia looked.

Nadia took a new candle that was hidden in her pocket and using energy, she lit the candle. They could finally see enough not to trip and fall, but the candle still barely illuminated anything.

As they descended deeper and deeper underground, Anastasia noticed paintings on the wall. The paintings showed something resembling a war — people fighting for their life against something unhuman in a blood pool, surrounded by thousands of fallen warriors. Some sort of energy was emitted from a rock that was the center of this painting. There were actually multiple paintings of such sort. One was that of two girls standing beside each other, both emitting strong red energy. One of them had brown hair reaching her shoulders and red eyes, and the other one had blue eyes with black long hair, reaching around her waist.

Another painting was that of a sword, then another one displayed a war again, and one showed a man with black hair and black eyes.

Soon they came to a door. By appearance, the door was as simple as everything; but by the almost unnoticeable symbols drawn on the door frame, it seemed to be a rather tough riddle to be solved. Nadia gazed at the door mechanism and said, "If you really wanna prove yourself worthy of going in, open the door first."

...

Of course she would say that. She already doubted Anastasia's ability, to begin with, and, truth to be told, she was rather lacking a little, but nothing too bad.

Anastasia looked at the door trying to think. Nothing came to her mind.

Nadia spoke up, "You have ten days to open it. Until then, don't leave the underground. I'll bring you food and drinks, but that's about it. If you can't withstand these circumstances, you won't be worthy."

After having said that, Nadia left. Anastasia couldn't even see if she shut the door behind her, but she was certain that she did, well, why would she even let the door open?

Now she was just trapped here. It was basically like a dungeon! She had no way out, and no way of knowing what was behind the door.

And even though her ability was way beyond average and her sense of energy wasn't good at all, she could still feel a strong energy surrounding the whole place. It was not the type that Nadia, Tobias nor demons make. Not even the energy she herself makes. It was a mixture of resentment, grief, and even happiness. It stirred a heavy feeling inside her. It felt as if her head was about to burst into shreds and her chest felt as if something heavy was placed on her, making it hard to breathe as she felt shivers run down her spine.

It seemed to be coming from that room or anything that was behind the door.

Strange footsteps echo in the hall. They were light and fast, they didn't sound human. It was completely dark and Anastasia didn't have anything to illuminate the room. What is she gonna do?!

Her heart was picking up pace and suddenly she remembered. She can use her magic energy to light it up a little.

Anastasia steadied her breath and closed her eyes, concentrating her energy flow solely on her hand as a small ball of bright yellow light appeared just an inch above her palm.

When the light illuminated the hall, there was nothing but painted walls. The footsteps seemed to have disappeared and she figured it was just her imagination. But even if there wasn't anything, she couldn't get rid of the sense of being watched. She decided to disperse the light. The footsteps could be heard again.

Fear was starting to overcome Anastasia. A fear even greater than what she felt while being attacked by demons. But, other than fear, there was one more feeling. Excitement.

But the excitement soon disappeared when she felt a gentle breeze circling her. The footsteps followed the breeze. By then, Anastasia's eyes were long closed, and when she reopened them, she saw a black figure circling her. The figure was all black, but not the same type she saw before. What she saw before was a type of ghost, what stands before her now is a being that hadn't undergone any change, this being is still a living thing.

In short, it's a type of demon. Anastasia didn't know what kind of demon though, and all she knew is that it had a strong killing intent.

There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. She was trapped in the hands of this demon.

She decided to reach for the sword attached to her waist and swung again the figure in a swift and precise movement, striking the demon's neck, causing it to stop moving, dispersing into countless tiny particles.

Anastasia felt a strong relief as she sighed and allowed herself to rest, but now that she had no distraction, the heavy feeling irritated her again - she couldn't rest. Then she remembered Nadia's words. She only had ten days. She had to open a seal that she's never seen or never read about while being haunted by demons and mixed energy, in just ten days.

She lit a light again, but this time her gaze was directed toward the spell-locked door.

She's already noticed the symbols written, but she never took a closer look; the text seemed to be written in ancient letters and language, and she couldn't make out anything from it. But it really did seem to be a kind of spell. And considering what was coming from behind the door, it had to be strong to prevent whatever was there from getting out.