Finding Polaris

Chapter 1: Stranger's Shadow

"Where is your shadow? You cannot leave this place without it."

The somber words cut through Asellus' mind like the cold sharp edge of a knife as she surveyed the dark, icy lands of Omble. She could not tell how long it had been since she and White Rose had arrived, as the day seemed to never change in this region - it always seemed like the skies were in the range of twilight, never too dark but also never too bright outside. Many shapes and sizes crawled with life in this land. Every person and creature she encountered in Omble, she could only see a shadow of their actual self.

"Guess we took a turn for the worse..." White Rose murmured as she shook off some of the snow that had gathered on top of her boots.

Asellus sighed apologetically. "I'm so sorry. I should've just come here alone. This WAS my idea to begin with."

What had transpired before their arrival in Omble was right after they had escaped through the fiery embers of Kurenai in the Facinaturu outskirts. It was an excruciating gamble; even though White Rose had long been familiar with the ins and outs of Facinaturu, she did not know where the ancient flames would take them. Let alone, whether she and Asellus would be killed from burning to death. But Asellus was more than determined to leave the clutches of Orlouge, and so they jumped.

With their faces smudged with soot and standing nearly naked after most of their clothes were burned off, they were able to obtain an audience with Virgil, the Ring Lord of Mosperiburg. Asellus had feared that Virgil would be of the same ilk of Orlouge as she trekked meekly behind White Rose ... after all, how could the ruler of such a polarizing region be any more sane than this spectacle of hellish flames dominating the entire skies while everything else on the ground was frozen and covered with snow?

"So it makes sense why both of you appear before me in such disheveled appearances. How unfortunate. Especially you, child. I'm sure all of this must be confusing for you." Virgil spoke with unexpected sympathy as he cast a spell that restored the girls' outfits back to new. "Why, how fortuitous it would be if one could turn back the hands of time to prevent that accident with Orlouge's carriage."

White Rose suddenly had an idea. "If I may ask, my Lord," she slowed down for Virgil's approving nod, "is there a way to time travel through Time Magic?"

Virgil paused for a while before he spoke meditatively. "I don't believe there is such a spell. Even if there was, I cannot imagine it being possible to turn back time without any dire consequences. Why, the very idea is preposterous! And I highly doubt that the middle-rank fool is that stupid enough to even attempt such a spell..."

Asellus' eyes flashed at the mention of 'time travel'. Could it be that suicide was not the only way back to being human...?

"Sir, please help me," Asellus blurted out imploringly, while trying to ignore White Rose's worried glance at Asellus' apparent forgetfulness on how to speak to a high-ranking mystic lord, "I am not a mystic. I am a human. At least, that is what I am supposed to be. Please, help me take my life back! Please let me meet this 'Time Lord' person!"

Asellus could never forget the silence that followed, before Virgil finally replied in a firm, strict voice that was unlike his previously kind and gentle tone.

"He can never be a truly powerful mystic, but your feeble strength makes you unworthy to even be in *his* presence. You must prove your worth to me first before I can allow myself to send you to him."

And thus began Asellus' search for the gifts of various magic.

Obtaining the gift of Shadow Magic was one way of proving her strength to the Ring Lord.

That is... if it would even be possible at this point.

Before Asellus had a chance to sigh again, she felt the warm, gentle touch of her friend's glove-clad hand on her shoulder as a way of reassurance. White Rose knew that once Asellus set her mind on something, she would not stop until she achieved her goal.

They continued onto their path, until they entered a confined area where various shadows fluttered about, their murmuring voices blending into a rather unbearable cacophony of a thousand souls. Some approached them in such alarming movements that Asellus and White Rose both felt compelled to stay out of the shadows' paths as much as possible.

"What do we do now?" White Rose tried to hide the worrying in her own voice. "These shadows seem like they want to attack us."

Asellus gritted her teeth as more shadows started to pick up their pace and swarmed around them. "If they're looking for a fight, then they'll get one..." She gripped at her Asura Sword with a frightened determination.

White Rose also unsheathed her Faeblade, just in time as the shadow of a Living Sword flew towards them. Her Faeblade was unable to absorb the shadow creature, but it seemed to destroy it - whatever or whoever it really was.

"Great block, White Rose! But watch out... there are more of them!" Asellus swung her own Asura around them to fight off several shadow monsters at once. Her arms were feeling increasingly heavy ... she quickly glanced at White Rose to see how she was faring with her own exhaustion.

"We may have to try and retreat somewhere." gasped White Rose, who was out of breath.

"But there is no where to hide!" Asellus managed to breath out as she clashed with more monsters.

"Watch out, Lady Asellus!" White Rose screamed in horror as a giant winged creature cast its merciless shadow over Asellus, descending upon her from behind in great speed.

Asellus turned around, only to see a big blue-green electric flash of energy chains wrapping around the winged creature. It struggled and roared in pain until it finally obliterated into nothingness. Asellus held onto White Rose in stunned fear and confusion over what just happened.

"Hey! Are you two all right?" A gentle yet masculine voice rang out amongst the shadows. "That was a close one!"

Asellus slowly got back onto her feet, trying to identify the speaker in the crowd of shadows. "Y-yes, it was. T-thank you so much!" She frantically looked around but there was nobody else in this area except for White Rose. "Who are you...? And where are you?"

Though they could still not see anything but shadows, Asellus and White Rose both soon felt a presence standing closer to them. "My apologies. I am a seeker of the gift, just like yourselves! I guess you cannot tell my shadow apart from the Omble creatures, but no matter! I have moved closer to you both now. I shall help you as much as I can."

"We really appreciate the help! But how is it that you can see us, but we can't see *you*?" White Rose squinted her eyes to take a closer look around, hoping this would help her vision identify the mysterious person's shadow.

"I have studied magic all my life, and Shadow Magic was one of my specialties. I have learned all there is to learn about Omble and its flora and fauna, and how to tell the difference between the shadows of creatures and civilians. That's why I can tell you two aren't creatures, even though I can only make out your shadows. You two probably can see each other, but can't see me because we entered the region at different times." The man's voice sounded as if he was looking towards another direction. "Please keep close to me, I will make sure we all make it out of here alive. We need to find our respective shadows and defeat them. They are here amongst this crowd."

Asellus shook her head impatiently. "That's the part we can't figure out. All these shadows look so similar to another. They all seem to blend in. How can I possibly tell which is my own shadow?"

The mysterious man gently laughed before he replied. "That's quite the challenge, is it not? An old, ancient question that we all ask ourselves. 'Who am I?' is the question here. You must answer that for yourself though. Just focus and really ask yourself that. Soon we shall be able to find our shadows amongst this mess."

"Maybe that's easy for you to say, Mr. Magician Scholar sir" Asellus sighed. "Unfortunately my friend and I are not as strong as you."

"Hey now. I may be on a path to become a Master Magician, but you don't have to be extraordinary to obtain the Shadow gift. Many others before us had achieved this, so you see it is possible for anybody. For anybody who perseveres." The man seemed to be standing closer again once more. "Really now, who are you?"

Asellus suddenly felt ashamed to answer. "Well... to be honest, I'm just a lost girl." She then glanced at her beloved friend, who also added, "Me too."

"But you want to find yourself again, don't you?"

There was something about his words that sent shivers up Asellus' spine. It was almost as if he was reading her mind.

Before Asellus could answer, a sudden violent movement swooped in before them that sent White Rose stumbling towards the ground. Asellus quickly caught her and looked frantically about to identify what was happening. What followed next was the roaring sound of thunder as beams of bright green light came crashing down about them, briefly illuminating the perpetually twilight skies of Omble.

"I think one of these shadows are mine … my time here is almost up." The mystery man shouted in midst of the noise. "Stand back, I'm going to cast a spell!"

A brilliant shade of red magisphere crystals circled around the man's shadow as he hastily recited his spell. Asellus and White Rose glanced at each other, for they both did not know what kind of magic this was.

"Vermillion Sand!"

A giant gemstone of a fiery red and orange formed, drawing up all the unknown creatures into the air as the gemstone exploded in little pieces, and finishing with a loud freefall of the shadow monsters.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed the girls.

"Look out!" The man shouted as Asellus turned around in time to see a familiar glint of a red sword coming towards her. She quickly drew out her own red Asura, deflecting its sundering attack.

"Ladies, my time is almost up. I need to chase after my shadow," he frantically spoke. "This means we will now have to split ways. I'm sorry."

Asellus remained with her sword drawn against the remaining shadows. "Hey, you've helped us out enough as it is. Thank you…"

"Just remember that your shadow is your own. Only you will know which of these shadows belongs to you. And the thing is, they know you too. I'm confident you will know what I mean by that." The man gently explained. "I must now leave … good luck to you all!"

And with that, the man's shadow disappeared into a dark corner of Omble.

"We didn't even get to learn his name…" murmured White Rose with a tinge of regret.

"Yeah…" Asellus was also rather sad that she could not do something in return for the mysterious Good Samaritan. "I think I know what he meant by that though. To know your own shadow."

White Rose gripped her Faeblade and smiled at her youthful companion. "Ready to kick some shadow butt?"

Asellus smiled back, and took a mighty swing at the shadow with the familiar red sword. "Ready as I'll ever be."

At first, they did not realize they were out of Omble until the world around them was lit up once more, and soon the sparkling rocky cavern walls of Luminous came into their line of sight.

"Welcome back, girls." The elderly Shadow Magic merchant seemed surprised, but proud. "You both did it. You have now acquired the gift of this magic!"

The two girls laughed with glee and hugged each other, being more happy about having survived the entire ordeal than the fact that they had achieved something as incredible as mastering a type of magic.

"Not many people have been successful at this, if you must know." The woman complacently explained as she dusted off an old book. "But today has been quite something. Just you two and one other person made it out of there. It has actually been a while since I've had three people be successful in a single day!"

Asellus' eyes flashed at the mention of the other person. Could it have been that Good Samaritan?

"Please," she desperately gazed into the old lady's bewildered face, "could you tell me the name of that other person who made it out of Omble? He … he really saved us in there. Please, I need to know who he was so I can thank him!"

The merchant tried to back away a little from the brilliance of Asellus' intense, vermillion gaze. "I… I'm sorry, miss. But I cannot just reveal all of my clients' names like that. There are privacy laws for me to comply with as a merchant!"

White Rose gently squeezed the hand of her crestfallen friend as the merchant seemed to be unbudging about the subject. Asellus did not reply, though White Rose thought she saw a faint glimmer of tears shining in her eyes.

The elderly merchant, as much of a law-abiding citizen and clever businesswoman as she was, realized she herself did have a heart underneath it all as she glanced at the green haired teenager's disheartened face with a pang of guilt.

"You didn't hear it from me," she lowered her voice to a whisper, as the girls leaned in to hear her better. "But I remember him mentioning that he is a graduate of an academy in Magic Kingdom, a Master Magician. However, it seems that he is not the top-ranked magician of his country land… there is another rival that he needed to defeat first."

The story seemed to match up with what he had told them back in Omble. Asellus wanted to learn more, but unfortunately that was all the information she had.

"I do wish you would cheer up," comforted White Rose as they waited for the next departing ship at the Luminous port. "He was a nice person, but maybe it wasn't in the stars for us to learn his name."

Asellus sighed as she realized that he was just a stranger after all. Why was she so eager to meet him again? Possibly because ever since she had escaped Facinaturu, White Rose was the only one who was by her side. As much as she was loved her friend, it just felt nice to meet another stranger who was genuinely kind enough to help them.

Asellus' mind began to wonder until the ship arrived, which then she and White Rose boarded and settled inside. They both sat in silence during their trip, until the pilot announced the local time of the arriving region. The time. Time.

"Just remember that time in our reality is finite."

Asellus could not find her voice to ask any what he meant by that.

"What I mean by that is, to simply put, you don't have much time to learn about Time Magic. Before your arrival, another soul came to inquire about meeting Time Lord. I have heard from various rumor circles that he is a yearling master magician who is trying to become the top-ranking Master in Magic Kingdom. He was a mere human, however I could see in his eyes that he means to never stop until he's acquired even the gift of Time Magic."

"Even humans are looking for this magic…?"

"Indeed. Him and another human mage has approached me about this particular magic, so I'd gather they were speaking in all seriousness when they requested an audience with that 'Time Lord' fool. However," the Ring Lord lowered his voice as he leaned in closer towards Asellus, "this means that your time is running out. Only one individual can obtain this gift. Whoever defeats Time Lord would be the new reigning individual to hold the gift for Time Magic."

"You must prove yourself to me, dear child. Your strength can be proven by your own collection of the gifts of magic. You must hurry, because these mages may beat you to it. Whichever of the two. That means you will forever lose out on the opportunity to practice Time Magic."

Asellus slightly shook her head as she tried to digest everything. "But did you not also say that it may be possible for me to turn back time so I can go back to living as a human?"

"The unknown does not mean it does not exist. It does not mean it's impossible either.

You will never know about anything, unless you try. Would you rather give up a chance at finding light at the end of the tunnel and forever live in a shadow of endless wonder and regrets?

So … what are you waiting for?"

Asellus anxiously glanced at her watch. She had made up her mind with absolute certainty.

White Rose, who had since dozed off for a while in her seat, turned to her and asked what her what the time was.

"It's time to get the last Arcane tarot, White Rose. The Saber Card. So I can prove my worth to Virgil."

And so she decided, at 2pm in the afternoon, in local Scrap Regional Time.

End of Chapter 1.