The reveal of the satyrs' love potion ring, and knowing how dangerous satyrs could be when provoked, had spurred Vincent to be more proactive in the training of the others; the next lesson was on how to cast Protect—and all of them were learning it this time. The others had received small, enchanted emeralds to give them enough mana to cast it—Scooby and Scrappy had theirs attached to their collars, while Shaggy and Flim-Flam had theirs set in watch bands.

Soon, all of them were at the beach, practicing. Daphne had mastered it within a few hours, of course, leaving Vincent to continue coaching the others.

"Well, there's no sense in you standing around doing nothing," he said, once she had gleefully shown off her protective shield. He conjured up a training dummy, powered by a magical AI. "Try practicing a simple sleeping spell on that—the incantation is merely 'Sleep.' It's a very basic spell; you shouldn't have any trouble. If we do get involved in a confrontation with those satyrs, this will be an essential spell in order to neutralize their danger without any lasting damage. Temporal Chains, as well, but that is a bit more complex than this, so focus on this first."

"Right," Daphne nodded.

And as Vincent turned his attention back to the others, Daphne now focused on the training dummy, aiming her staff at it, trying to focus as she usually did.

"Sleep!" she chanted, somewhat surprised by how her voice had begun to quiver.

Even more surprisingly, the magic training dummy didn't seem at all affected by her attempt at casting the spell.

She frowned, trying to ignore the growing feeling of unease in her heart, and she tried again to focus—

"Sleep…!" she chanted again, her voice even shakier than before.

Again, nothing happened.

What's going on!? Why can't I cast it!?

Her heart was now hammering with an inexplicable fear and panic, and it wasn't just because of her failure to cast the spell, either.

"Sleep…" she tried again, but this time, her voice cracked.

And then, she heard another voice in her head—a low, gravelly voice from her memories—uttering the word instead—

"Sleeeeeeeeeep!"

And then, in her mind's eye, she saw him, towering over her—the gigantic, horned demon ghost with his eyes glowing an angry red as she had been powerless against him…

"Maldor…" she squeaked.

And a fear unlike any other she had felt before gripped at her heart as she recalled the sensation of being dragged into his sleeping curse—the Sleep of the Centuries. How she had been unable to resist against it… How he had controlled her dreams, forcing her into a nightmare… And how he had taunted her that she would remain in this state for all eternity—how she would never again know peace…

The staff slipped from her trembling hands, and soon, her knees gave out from under her as she found herself desperately trying to hold back a sob, shutting her eyes—

"Daphne!"

She was only vaguely aware of a hand on her shoulder as she continued to tremble; after another moment, she felt herself being pulled into a hug—and then several more.

"It's alright now, Daphne," she heard Vincent say. His voice seemed to be coming from far away. "I'm with you—you know that. We all are."

She opened her eyes, and the image of Maldor from her memories vanished. She was back on the beach, wrapped up in a group hug—one that had, clearly, been initiated by Vincent as he'd realized what was going on.

She let out a shuddering breath, but finally was able to relax, and the others released her from the hug.

"You okay, Daphne?" Shaggy asked, as Scooby whimpered quietly.

"I think so, but I... I don't know what happened," she said, her voice still a little quiet. "I was trying to cast the spell like I usually do for the others, but then something in me just made me shut down…"

"I am so sorry, Daphne," Vincent said, regret filling his voice. "I didn't even stop to consider the difficulty you would've had in casting a sleeping spell after what you'd been through."

He was furious with himself—for this oversight, as well as not having intervened two years ago when Maldor had been casting the curse on her. He'd only just met them, and so they had merely been "those kids" rather than "his kids," as they were now. And, at the time, he had still been incensed at the Chest of Demons being reopened and the 13 Ghosts being set loose that, out of bitterness and anger, he had more or less let them fend for themselves in order for them to fully understand the consequences of their actions…

…And now, he was witnessing the consequences of his actions—or inaction, in this case, for his failure to intervene then meant that he was, indirectly, responsible for Daphne's current distress.

But Daphne didn't seem to be upset with him, however; she let out a frustrated sigh as she stared ruefully at the staff she had dropped.

"…That was two years ago; you'd think I'd have gotten over it by now," she lamented. "What's wrong with me!?"

"Wrong?" Vincent repeated, stunned. "For pity's sake—you were cursed at a time when you were still so unfamiliar with magic! And then, you carried the aftereffects of the nightmares for months afterwards!"

"Maybe, but I never dwelled on it after that—why is this happening again after so long?" she asked, still sounding frustrated.

"Casting magic is very heavily tied to your emotional state," Vincent explained. "You have such negative memories of a sleeping curse that caused you to suffer—it's only natural for you to have been reminded of what you went through, and for the memories of that to affect you."

"Will I ever be able to get past that?" she asked.

"…Perhaps you will, in time," Vincent said, after a moment. "But, even if you don't, you need to know that this is just one spell. You've mastered so many others up until this point, and I'm sure you'll master many more. You don't need to push yourself to learn how to cast Sleep—you will still be a capable mage even without it in your repertoire. Do you understand me, Daphne?"

"…Yes," she replied, not entirely convincingly.

"Hmm…" the warlock sighed, arching an eyebrow. "Very well, then—we're abandoning this lesson for the foreseeable future."

"But—!"

"Daphne," he gently chided. "You've said before that you don't like it when I push myself and use up my mana—even if you know that I'll be alright after a rest. What makes you think I would like to see you push yourself to try something that is bringing you so much distress, even if you'll be fine later?"

Daphne blinked in surprise.

"I… never thought of it that way," she admitted.

"Vince is right," Flim-Flam said. "It's not that different."

"The rest of us feel that way, too," Scrappy added.

"Rheah, we don't like seeing it, either," Scooby agreed.

"I know you feel like you're under a lot of pressure to get things right, Daphne," Shaggy added. "But take it from a guy who gets scared a lot; when the time comes for you to step up to the plate, you'll hit that grand slam—especially if the rest of us have the bases loaded and need you to pull it off. But don't force yourself to take your turn too early—you gotta let it happen at the right time so we can win the game. …If that makes any sense at all…"

"Actually, it does," she said, with a wan smile. "…Did you rewatch A League of Their Own before we came here to Fa'Diel?"

"…That obvious?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, her smile growing slightly. She looked to Vincent now as he handed her back her staff. "Thank you for caring so much—all of you."

Vincent merely nodded in acknowledgement as the others smiled back.

"Perhaps you can help me in teaching the others how to cast Protect?" Vincent offered. "Getting another mortal's perspective might be exactly what they need."

Her face seemed to light up again.

"Yes, of course!" she exclaimed. "C'mon, Guys—I'll show you how it's done!"

Vincent stood back and watched for a moment as she got back up and demonstrated how to cast Protect. Fortunately, her skills at other spells had not suffered on account of this setback…

He let out a quiet sigh as he gazed upon his little family. He hoped that Daphne would indeed be able find a way to move past what Maldor had done, if for no other reason than for what it would mean to her to be able to conquer her fear.

And he would do everything in his power to help her do so.