Chapter One: Cloaked in Shadows
Mira's POV
As I walked through the forest, I saw Elfman struggling to keep up. 'Are you alright, Elfman?', Lisanna inquired. 'Yes, nee-san. I'm alright.' Elfman answered. I smiled a little. It's always so sweet to see them communicating together. 'Ouch', I exclaim, jumping up and down, holding my head. I had just run into a birch tree. How can such a small tree hurt so much? 'Nee-san, are you alright?', Lisanna asked with concern written on her face. 'Yes, my head just hurts really bad.', I answered. We all stumbled our way through the foliage. 'Here we are!', Elfman said with a huge grin on his face. 'Finally!', Lisanna and I shouted at the same time. We walked into the clearing, and saw a huge cavern looming ahead of us. 'Ladies first!', Elfman whispered, trembling like an autumn leaf.
As I trudged into the cavern, Lisanna yelped. I turned to see what was wrong. 'Kyaaa!', I screamed when I saw what Lisanna yelped at. Looming in front of us was a huge beast. It had long canines, with blood dripping from its mouth. The beast was as tall as the palace in Crocus, and its arms and legs dragged along behind it as it lumbered towards us. I ran forward, shouting, 'Satan soul: Sitri!'. I changed into my Sitri form, and flew into the air. I shot fire from my hands, and rushed toward the beast. For some reason, when I hit it, my fire did not damage it in the slightest. I screamed as it backhanded me into the wall.
Elfman shouted my name and rushed forward. 'Mira-nee! I am going to try to take over the beast!'. 'NO! You can't. It will take you over instead!', I screamed at him, begging him to stop. Lisanna looked around with tears in her eyes. 'Let him try nee-san.', she said, crying. I waited a minute, then said, 'Alright, you can try Elfman.'. He ran forward, and placed his hand on the beast's leg. He started to glow, and the beast writhed in pain, roars escaping from its mouth. A flash of light. Then, Elfman was gone. The beast looked down and growled. I grew scared. I could tell that nii-san was having trouble containing the beast. I felt a growing unease that he would lose control. And I was right, he did. The beast's eyes glowed with malice, and it lunged toward me. 'No!', Lisanna cried, lunging in front of me.
'Lisanna!', I screamed, rushing toward her. The beast looked at her with confusion, then light dawned on it. It glowed, and Elfman appeared beside the beast. 'No… No, no, no, no. What have I done?', he whispered, kneeling down beside me, looking at Lisanna with pain and guilt in his eyes. A felt a warm feeling, and I looked back at Lisanna and saw something that made me scream. She was disappearing. I cried out, and rushed to her side. But before I got there, she was gone. I screamed, with sobs wracking my body. I stood up and ran away, through the forest. 'Nee-san!', I heard Elfman call out, sprinting through the foliage behind me. I looked up, and saw a clearing. When I reached it, I stumbled and fell. I screamed in pain, crumpling to the ground. I heard Elfman come up behind me, and put his hand on my shoulder. He knelt down beside me and said, with tears in his eyes, 'Forgive me. Please, I was not in my right mind.'. I turned and looked at him. 'It's alright, I don't blame you. I should have protected her.'.
We slowly walked back through the forest toward Magnolia. When we arrived, I realized that I did not want to go back to the guild. I turned and walked away. I started to run toward the train station, and as started to sprint, I realized that I was lost. 'Hey, Mira! Are you lost?', someone said from behind me. I turned around and saw Natsu standing there. 'Yes, Natsu. I am lost.', I answered. As he led me through the city, I realized that I had left Elfman all alone. When we arrived at the guild, Natsu opened the guild doors. Everyone turned to look at me. It was silent, until Master asked, 'Where is Lisanna? Elfman is already here.'. I froze and said the answer I was dreading.
Lisanna's POV
I felt a pain rip through my body. As I looked up, I saw that I was surrounded by a gold and silver light. Mira-nee rushed toward me, but before she reached me, I felt as though my entire body was weightless. Then everything was gone, and I was in something like a vortex. I was pulled up toward the end, but something stopped me. I felt a hand grab my wrist, and yank me down. I fell into the clearing again. I had no idea how I got there. An arm wrapped around me and pulled me up to a standing position. In front of me was a cloaked figure. And on her cloak, was the symbol of the Wizard Saints.