The thing between life and me

by Axeex

Giving up her own life wasn't something that had ever passed by Lux's mind, let alone running away to find if her being had some control over it. [Long fic] (On Hiatus.)

6. Wild Magic

Merry Christmas everyone and also happy New Year's Eve! Since this is going to be the last episode for this year, I would like to thank you to keep reading. I hope seeing you guys next year as well.

So I hope the story isn't getting hard to understand? I tried to edit the whole chapter but I just took care of the scenes that seemed more important hehehe.

6. Wild Magic

"The session is adjourned. The state of Demacia is grateful for today's efforts by the jury. Thank you all."

After the verdict of the jury that gave an end to the trial, the voice of judge dismissed everyone in the court without leaving any say. She didn't pay attention at the man who was a couple of meters in front of her at the left side of the stand, whose body was being restrained by the guards' strong arms, punishing every attempt of breaking free. His infuriated face could have promised infinite suffer, but the woman didn't waste any second on looking back. As she made quickly made her way out of the stand, grabbing all her stuff, she gave a big but sharp assent at the people who decided the fate of today's criminal.

The people from the tribunals started to step away from the grandstands through the small door of it and paying back as well the salute she was giving. All of them strolled throughout the court of law, passing by the small aisle between the chairs, the few people that showed up to witness the trial joining them gloomily. She wondered, then, who could be capable of get fond of someone who killed his wife and children. More people than she thought, apparently.

The woman choose walking at the opposite direction of the jury, facing two more guards who were guarding the door at the other side of the court of law. They nodded at her before opening the door, allowing her to pass in. Folders tight held in her chest, she strode through the elegant, shiny white-like alleyway towards her office. Her heels resonated alongside the corners of the place, the silence of the room emphasizing it. After some moments, she stood still at front of her office's door, knowing that apparently she was alone for now.

Her hand grabbed the knob and spun it aside, opening the silver door and shutting it behind after walking in. Her office, a huge contrast out of outside, appeared in her eyes. The scent of her own stuff reached her nose and the woman finally relaxed. Her walk loosened a little as she reached for her desk just in a couple of steps, passing by through the middle of the room. The dark brown carpet muffled her feet as she sat down on the dark and big, comfortable swivel chair, dropping the folders on one side. Her fingers reached for the table lamp and turned it on as she took out one quill and some ink from the drawer. She grabbed one folder out of the tree and turned it open. The door was knobbed when she was about to sign some orders.

Her long, pure dark straight hair almost twitched in discomfort. Her back straightened, forcing some blocks of it on her face. She wasn't expecting any kind of visitors.

"Come in."

Out of caution, her gland shined light blue just slightly, waiting for whomever at the other side to come in; one shot will be enough to take down any threat if necessary. The door clicked and opened. Locks of silver, short hair peeked inside. The magic on her hand vanished and she was left speechless.

"Excuse me."

The old figure of her memories stepped in. Dante pushed open the door and closed it silently behind, standing straight on his feet. His eyes connected to hers and she blinked.

"Vessaria. Long time no see." He greeted her with a soft smile, emphasising his young features.

Vessaria took some time to stare at him silently, covering up with her cold eyes his plain black clothes, trying to figure him out. She failed. She also failed at smiling fully back instead.

"…Dante. How nice is to see you again at… my office in Demacia." She replied with a ghost of smile. Her fingers dropped the quill and her legs took her off the swivel chair. She gestured the only chair in front of her desk with her hand. "Please, have a seat. Would you like some tea?"

"You already know me. I'm fonder of coffee, but I appreciate your gesture." He said with a grin, strolling on the carpet to the chair. He sat down on the white-browned chair, staring at her.

Vessaria turned around to the fancy rack behind her, opening the glassed door of it and taking out one particularly golden teapot with two small cups on a silver tray alongside with two small containers and utensils. She spun around again and settled up everything above her desk. Vessaria, then, stopped in middle tracks and glanced at him. Dante chuckled.

"Don't worry. I will not tell anyone on you." He said reassuringly, challenging her to say otherwise. She gave him a look. "But you better get this room in… safer conditions." He sighed.

Vessaria raised her hand and immediately a small blue light with white, transparent runes shone off her skin. Her hand emitted afterwards a small wave that moved all over the room, triggering thousands and thousands of runes on the walls, floor and the exit door. Some seconds later, Dante could not feel anymore what was at the other side of the door. The room was sealed off the world on a protected space.

A sore feeling spread inside his chest bitterly, taking over his thoughts as he just got what happened. If there was something that he definitely hated about Demacia, was its ridiculous hatred towards magic. That kind of beliefs were the ones who made the life of dozens of people hellish-like, being forced to hid their powers in order to not being pointed out by everyone, and worse, being executed because treason once the government finds out. That stupidity was one of the first things he took care of after taking over when the League of Legends first made its appearance. There was a huge repercussion, but they couldn't do anything when the King decided so. He had a lot of pressure on that matter.

Vessaria was one example of them. Being born in Demacia by a conservative and very out-fashioned family, she fled away because, unfortunately, she was blessed with the gift of magic. She was, alongside Lux, one of those few cases were the miracle happened neither in the best moment nor the best place. Matter of fact, he once heard her using the 'curse' word.

Piltover was her first and ever place to go because the possibilities there were abysmal, far greater than any of Demacia offered to her (she definitely wasn't fond of getting her life on military or arts). Her knowledge and her very impressive rune magic got for herself a nice place in one prestigious university specialized on old and forgotten kinds of magic. She was received warmly.

However, Dante wasn't very sure of why on earth she ended up again in Demacia, probably one of the places she hated the most. He had one theory, and probably it was the correct answer because he was the only crazy guy who messed up with almost everyone's head. He didn't know what kind of memories Vessaria's head could've come up to fill out the space he erased after casting the spell that deleted and confounded the whole's word mind. It varied on each person, and a lot of lives were changed. The decisions some people took throughout their lifetimes probably were changed with others because the spell, twisting irremediably everything. That seemed to happen with her.

On the first day after casting it, walking outside on any city was definitely hilarious. People seemed zombie'ed, moving erratically without any purpose on life. It was like a movie he saw long time ago, but one that had a bad ending. He was trying to avoid that.

He didn't have to worry about any kind of attack; whoever able to be a threat were under the spell's power. Because as how it is, Runaterra has more world-ending-like threats that he would like. See the Void, Varus and his revenge, the everlasting war of Demacia and Noxus that dragged others nations in, and now, the Gods, just to say a few.

The mighty figures were actually the less of his worries: his spell jinxed everyone's memories about them, and even so the memories were still there, they were messed up till the effect disappears. The only few who didn't forget anything were him and those who he was unable to cast the spell on or those he didn't want to, such as Lux, Aurelion Sol or other friendly god-like beings, like Bard. Bard, for example, agreed to stay out of now Runaterra's business. He probably will intercede on a critical state.

Aurelion's powers were enough to, alongside his spell; confuse even the minds of the champions of the Void or those who were ascended by Shiruma. Part of the job was done by the contract they did after joining the League. So, after helping out the dragon with his little problem with Pantheon, the rest was history. It wasn't that easy. Pantheon could be really though. Dante just broke his contract within Aurelion Sol. He could not dare to kill one of the Aspects of Targon. That would bring in another unbalance and he wasn't dealing with it. Plus, he wasn't that strong.

By the end of the first and only day of his spell, his eyes could although see the small threads of his silver magic coming out of people's brains and hoping everywhere at the speed of light. Their minds were working tiredly, trying to sort everything inside, trying to understand what was happening. Some managed to find their places because their lives were compatible with whatever they managed to fit in, and those who didn't, decided simply to join aforesaid immediately afterwards. At the end, mostly everyone kept themselves on the place they were already working their lives on. It was impossible that one farmer, for example, managed to end up as the King of Demacia. Vessaria was, again, another special case. Her memories of the only year the League of Legends occupied one place in the world were deleted and she somehow got her way into Demacia's justice as a judge come hell or high water. If he tried to decipher how she did it, his head would probably explode.

Dante was here to change that, though.

Vessaria used her finger to tap the lower part of the teapot, activating a small rune she wrote on it. The rune shined slightly before she left the teapot on the tiny tripod on the tray. Steam come out of nowhere from the mouth of the teapot.

"Which tea would you like to drink, Dante?" Vessaria asked, taking out the covers of both recipients. One had sugar cubes with a small tongs on them, and the other one had a long variety of teas. Dante eyed up the second one for a moment before answering.

"Yellow tea, please."

Vessaria grabbed one tea bag of yellow for him and picked up the brown one for her. She left them in two separated teacups before filling them up with boiling water from the teapot. She served his tea with a small plate below and with a tiny spoon at one side before doing the same with hers. She moved the teapot aside and dragged the sugar recipient. With a flick of her fingers, the tea bags disappeared in a blue flash, leaving the flavoured water behind.

"One or two cubes?" She questioned to him, picking up the tongs.

"Two, please."

Vessaria listened and did so. Two cubes fell inside his teacup; hers were left untouched. Dante nodded in thankfulness before taking the cup and starting to stir with the spoon. Tree twists and when he took one small sip; he decided he wasn't thirsty. He only spoke, however, when he saw that Vessaria already done with her first sip. Her slim fingers left the cup on the plate and then she made herself comfortable on the chair before speaking.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting you here again?" The black haired woman started, the slightly puzzlement tone in her voice. Dante shrugged dismissively.

"Oh please, you are speaking to me as if we were only acquaintances." He remarked, shaking his head. Vessaria doubted with her lips.

"Years passed through the time since the last time we had our very last acknowledge." She stated. Dante smiled. "Tell me. What brings you here, Dante? Did you do something wrong and you decided to seek help here? I can't help you if I know you did it."

"It is not that, I promise." He answered, amused. He moved the teacup aside, Vessaria following the movement of his hands with her eyes. She understood the message. "I came here to give you something important. I am sure that you will be grateful once you give an eye on it."

"Then I'm all ears. Show me."

Vessaria analysed his movements as he rummaged for something that was inside his pocket. Thousands of thoughts passed by her mind, trying to guess whatever he was trying to do here and what kind of thing he could possibly have on his pocket.

He finally stopped and took out something black and odd. The first thing she noticed was that it was a small cube, not bigger than her own hand and that it had erratic marks everywhere and small spikes on every face. The next one was surprising. Written on her very handwriting, there was the small rune that meant seal, and below it there was another one which said memory. The next and last one thing was definitely shocking. It was imbued with two different magic which were in a perfect state of balance. Her magic and Dante's. Both achieved something incredible at mixing perfectly. She didn't remember at all ever doing that.

When Vessaria doesn't exactly know the answer for something, she gets uncomfortable. And really fast.

"Explain this right now, if you don't mind." The woman said severely, her fingernail tapping the desk.

"Why do you not see it by yourself? It is going to be way better… and productive." Dante said, shaking off her demand with a smile and stretching out his arm with his palm open.

She gave him an annoyed look, not happy with his answer, but it was always better doing things by her own than rather letting other people to. Carefully and with wary movements, her arm ditched the warmness of her cape; curse Demacia's dress code, and scooted over in the air to approach the cube. After feeling the way around it, she finally decided to take it from Dante's hand.

Unlikely she thought, the spikes didn't do anything to her skin. They actually gave her a small feeling of tickling. This time, she easily identified her own magic inside. It was tightly cramped inside. She spun the thing over her hand, giving it a long look before stopping on the face that it had the runes she supposedly wrote.

"I don't remember this thing, Dante. What it is?" Vessaria asked again, seeing the runes. "This is my handwriting. And I'm sure you can't copy that."

"Do not worry. It will not do anything harmful." He reassured quickly, a little disappointed at seeing that she stopped interacting with it. "You know what to do, just trust me. Have I ever done something to spoil our trustiness on each other?" He said with an attempt of innocence.

"Don't make me remember." She said with a disapproving frown, punching aside his words. She sighed and switched her glance to the cube again.

No matter what could've happened back in the past, he was right. He would never do anything that could possibly harm her in any way. So, mind made, she reached up for both runes with one of her fingers and activated them with a touch of her magic. A sharp, short sound like an electricity spark triggered before the small cube shined. A mix between blue and silver light erupted from it and darted across the air directly to her head before she could even react. An instant later, a flash of millions of memories smashed against her very senses. An amalgam of blurry images mixed like a soup wandered to the very end of her mind, jamming itself inside painfully.

Vessaria squeaked in pain before dropping the cube and grabbing her head with both her hands. The thing however stood in the air, still radiating off the lights out of it. Some seconds of torture, the thing finally stopped and fell on the desk harmlessly with a silent thump. The woman dumped her back on the chair she was sat on and cried in pain, her eyes tightly crossed. Dante quickly stood up and rushed at her side, raising one hand.

"Allow me to help with that." He said before emanating another bunch of his magic off his hand. The magic moved at her eyes and temple before squeezing inside through her skin. Some seconds afterwards, the frown on Vessaria's face ceased just a bit. "Better?"

She breathed deeply some air in, trying to regain the composure. Her black eyes snapped open and glared at him with resentment. Dante managed to smile at her sheepishly before she spoke.

"What on earth was THAT?" She beamed furiously, caressing her head, trying to erase the serious headache she had. "What...? What did I just saw?"

"We both made that days ago. We decided that it would do better to save all your memories inside that small artefact before I casted the spell. What you just saw was the memories of a whole year getting back in your mind. Tell me, do you remember?"

She was about to scream at him to stop talking shit before another piercing pain shoot right above her brain. She cried, getting her body cringed. And then, his words somehow made sense. A flash of a memory popped up inside. The serious discussions they had, when they found out what was happening inside her mind, the spell someone hexed on her, and how it would be the best to do a backup of her memories.

Vessaria was a not a woman to speed into conclusions. So she forced her herself to relax. Every breath she took gave her some sense in. She brushed her hair aside with a slightly trembling hand after gaining some confidence. She slowly straightened on the chair again and stared into Dante's eyes again. Her demeanour was tired. He understood the message.

"Alright, so I better explain this to you."

…

"What you just said is far beyond believable. If… it wasn't for that little artefact, I would've already kicked you out from my office at the next instant." Vessaria said after drying the cup with the last sip. The man shrugged, not having an answer for that and smiled knowingly at her.

"Now please, remember me again why I agreed on this. No matter from which point of view I take a look, it sounds ridiculous. Moreover, I don't remember exactly the reasons of it."

"That is understandable. Your mind has jammed the memories in order to not let you die from… uh, extreme tiredness, and the horrible pain you'll feel trying to sort them out. They will come bit by bit, and then bunch by bunch."

Vessaria nodded slowly, holding her hands on each other.

"First thing first, why did you erase my memories? Couldn't you not just jinx me like all the other people?" She asked annoyed, trying to bear with the headache behind her head. Out of nowhere, some creeps shoot across her spine, making her to startle slightly with goosebumps.

"I really could not do it." He said honestly, his voice expressing slightly rancour. Vessaria wondered why. "One of the reasons I came up with this plan was because you were already jinxed by someone. Remember?"

Vessaria frowned, nodding slowly.

"Who?"

"LeBlanc."

That name being spelled gave her not the best feeling inside. A sour taste took over her mouth as she tried to bear with the information. Vessaria re-accommodated herself on the chair and breathed. LeBlanc was probably the most enigmatic person she had ever known. You simply can't tell what she was thinking or exactly doing, and it was probably one of the dangerous enemies of Demacia.

Her head ached again a memory flashed on her thoughts. She grimaced. It was her exchanging words with her, and probably the only time she did it. It was inside on a strange edifice she assumed it was the Institute of War and they were talking about something she couldn't remember. LeBlanc's face appeared again; Vessaria decided she didn't like it not a single bit.

"What did she do to me?" Vessaria asked, trying to loosen herself.

"She casted a spell on you so you would turn a blind eye regarding the matters of the Black Rose. You would also give her a hand with pushing away them from every kind of discussion here at the Institute of War, all of it without you noticing it." Dante answered bitterly, suddenly finding the teacup interesting. He seemed obviously ashamed of that. "LeBlanc isn't that of strong, but her jinxes are incredibly powerful. I couldn't notice it. I am sorry."

"I wasn't your fault." She said after some moments, trying to put herself together. Dante peered up, making eye contact with her. "It was mine. I was the one who fell on it, after all. I should be the one apologizing. I couldn't honour my position as High Councillor."

"No frets." Dante said with a tiny smile. He pushed the teacup aside and scratched his hair with one finger. "Her spell was fairly powerful, as I said. I… was unable to remove it. It happened that it became stronger as the time went by. I did not have choice but also cast my spell on you as well. It took away LeBlanc' jinx with it. That is why we made up this… artefact. It took us almost a month, but it succeeded thankfully."

Alongside Dante's words echoed through her ears, more tiny memories appeared in her thoughts. Small flashed of situations that proved his words rather easily. She remembered small fragments of the process while creating that memory-saver, and some random things.

Vessaria went silent for a moment.

"…You want to raise the League of Legends again." She affirmed, not asked.

Dante nodded without hesitation.

"That is true. I want to start over with… some modifications."

Vessaria snorted, something out of character from her.

"I don't remember it clearly right not, but why? There are probably more options even more convenient than doing such a thing. Tell me. We're just both of us and… this prophecy that I can't even remember it straight. I don't get it."

"You yourself said it, Vessaria." He answered with a sly smile. "You do not remember everything. Cannot you trust me? You have already agreed with this. Stop jumping the gun, would you?" He preached with a smile.

Vessaria frowned.

"I'm pretty sure it took more than just some words to convince me. Even if I don't remember, this is still ridiculous." She stated harshly. Dante didn't say anything, he just avoided her stare. Vessaria wrinkled her lips, annoyed. She knew him very well, oh, since long time ago. "You know that this… need to help the other will get yourself killed one day, do you?" She asked coldly.

He faced her with a serene expression.

"It is not a need; it is something I have to do. I need to redeem myself in some way."

She didn't like his answer. Her arms crossed, she looked aside.

"Then, is that a… 'yes'?"

"Do you really need me to agree again?"

"Then I will tell you what will be doing next. Prepare for a long trip!"

…

Above one of the roofs of a house, a tall, young Vastaya was sat. He swung his long legs around the emptiness of the air near the edge of the roof tiles, rocking back and forth his back on what it could be one of the most boring days of his whole life. His eyes darted across the building they currently were stalking to everywhere and everything, idling and doing annoying sounds with his lips.

An exasperated sigh broke free from his mouth at witnessing that actually nothing had happened in the following seconds and minutes as well. The sun greeted his gaze and he tried to feel the joyfulness of the sunny, beautiful day on his feathers. He moved his golden cape aside and showed off his bare chest to the sunlight, trying at least to get some tanning. Five seconds later, he came up with the thought that he couldn't be any sexier, and that the sun was a little hard today.

He didn't give up, though. His body rolled over and his nipples rubbed on the harsh surface, the most sexual sensation he would probably feel today. He rubbed and twitched against it, but he wasn't satisfied. He sighed again.

"Xayaaaaaaah…" He whined loudly, turning his head and watching the purple figure hid on the bricks shadow of the chimney, sharpening some feather with a calculative expression. "I'm starving… Could we get some chocolate?"

"No." She said. Rakan pouted. "Babe, I told you. We can't walk around the city at day. It's risky; not even a week has gone by since that incident."

The man grimaced at the cold tone of his girlfriend at the last word.

"What are we waiting, anyway?" He complained again, straightening and sitting with crossed legs. "Girl seems like a dork. We haven't seen her coming out of that tavern since the last time we saw her. Couldn't we just get in and kill her? I bet I could distract those guards at the entry and…"

"Rakan…" She said. He stopped abruptly. She moved gracefully through the roof and landed beside him. Her hand reached up for his cheek. "We need to stick to the plan." Xayah murmured to him, he snorted.

"You came up with way cooler plans. This is so boring!"

She smirked and leaned on his chest. He hugged her hip instinctively and allowed her more space to get her comfortable. Inner doubt gathered inside his heart, unsettling every cell of his. He did like dancing –fighting- bad guys. It was in his blood; he couldn't stand still and just do nothing more than one day. It would kill him slowly.

On the other hand, his chest hurt in pain at just imagining Xayah getting hurt. He wasn't stupid; he knew that the girl they were hunting wasn't helpless. Just one hand raised and a giant root come out of the ground and barely split up in half Xayah. Anger and impotence, all because of not being able to just enter and kill her at once. Because it was risky, because Xayah may get hurt or because that human was dangerous.

All he could do was sat down while she was probably dirtying Ionia's pure wild magic, doing whatever she might want to do with it. The helpless here was him.

"Just wait till she gets out."

…

"Hey, Regina?"

"Yes?"

Regina stopped painting her nails sat down in the kitchen chair and peered up, meeting with the silhouette of Lux resting on the couch while writing down a white book with a pen.

"What's a 'puta'?" She asked curiously, gazing at her with expectation.

Regina blinked and shook her head.

"Well…" She said slowly, switching back again to her task while thinking. "I don't really know, I guess. It was something my grandma said sometimes, only when she was really angry."

"Is that so?" The other one answered, chuckling and rocking her legs on the air. "My grandmother also had her own strange stuff. She always got on the nerves of my mother. They were close, but it was sometimes 'too much', on my mother's own words."

"That's right. I think every old woman has some." Regina said smiling before finishing painting her last nail with black. She closed the nail polish and shook her hands on the air, straightening. "It's a way to address someone you really dislike. It's pretty elegant… Or that's how I'd like to put it."

"Sounds like it. I might use it often."

Regina smiled and grabbed the nail polish, putting it on her pocket before walking to the refrigerator and opening it

"What are you writing, anyways?" She asked, taking out an orange and closing the door. "You were pretty focused on it."

Lux smiled half-heartedly, embarrassment slithering up on her cheeks. She closed her diary and reached for her bag that was on the floor right beside her, putting it inside.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just… some notes I do after… some time doing things." She said slyly, glancing now at her nails, deciding that they were pretty interesting right now.

Regina smirked with complicity. "Alright. I think I'm going to hit the hay. Don't forget tomorrow we got to buy some stuff. I think I'll manage to cook something without the chance of poisoning us."

Lux sighed and nodded, putting her arm on her side. She wasn't eager to find it out. Regina took the orange with her on a dish and walked to her room.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you have a diary." She said, chuckling behind her hair. Lux's face went red.

"Please don't. It's kinda embarrassing…"

Regina rolled her eyes and turned around again. She walked off.

…

Lux fingers touched all across the small silver ring; couldn't help but comparing to the platinum bracelet Garen gifted her long time ago. She held her fist closed while analysing the odd inscriptions on the small circle with a slight frown.

"And you say this will ward off all the evilness around me?" She asked, rising up her eyes to the man behind the small stall in the marketplace.

"Of course, my lady." He smiled. "It's enchanted by very powerful magic. It'll do very good on you."

The black haired girl blinked and switched back again to the ring, narrowing her eyes. She couldn't sense the slightest amount of magic into it, let alone identify the strange marks on its surface. Those scrawls weren't any of the runes she knows, and hell she knew some.

"…I don't know…"

"Why don't you try it? I'm sure you'll feel it as soon as you do." He insisted, pushing slowly the ring on her hands.

Lux calculated her options before sighing a little. It wasn't like the man would tax her for try it out."

She stretched her right hand and focused on one random finger. Her other free hand took the ring by its edges and moved it to the beginning of her nail. One second later, her body froze. Her eyes disconnected off the whole word and stood still, eyeing up the gold ring with the small, but medium sized diamond on her heart finger.

"Hello? Lady?"

The voice of the peddler snapped her out of her trance. She looked up to him, and they both went silent for a moment. His eyes then moved from her face to the golden shiny ring on her finger. She could clearly see his eyes changing, surprise and a little jealously hidden on them.

"That's… quite a beautiful, isn't?" He said out of blue. "It is kind of weird I didn't notice it before."

Lux blinked and moved her hand out of her sight, right behind her back.

"I… could say the same." She answered, puffed.

Her head started to hurt really badly.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I can't afford this." Lux talked up, putting the silver ring on the small table that had a dark cloth on it. "Sorry."

After talking out, she walked away steadily, hiding her face with the strands of her dark hair, hugging her arms with both hands.

Her legs took her again to the small plaza close to the tavern, driving her onto a small bench beside a tree. Her head was a mess, and it was spreading to her neck and arms quickly. Her lips opened up and took in some air countless of times. She forced her own thoughts to stop and her head to blank space.

"I thought I trashed it?!" She cried mentally, now looking at it. "Why haven't I noticed till now?"

Every breath took with it some sense to her, but that didn't cease the eerie feeling inside.

"Why does this kind of stuff keep happening…?"

She salivated her lips and stared intently the diamond, as if somehow had the answers for her. She then noticed the traces of light magic surrounding every single bit of the wedding ring. That didn't help with her nervousness.

"I never used light magic on it, why…"

"Lucy! Thank GODS I found you!"

Lux's back shocked upwards and feeling a hand on her shoulder. She barely had time to see Regina appearing by her side and bumping some bags on her lap. Her arms caught them just in time.

"I thought I lost you! You were supposed to wait outside of Wloomingwhale's!" She beamed indignantly.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." Lux apologized, hugging the bags with a little shame, feeling a bit bad. "But those women are kind of scary."

"Oh, it was just an offer day, not big deal!" Regina answered dismissively, waving her hand.

"I thought we were buying groceries…?" Lux complained, standing up and holding tight the bags. "I'm not saying that dress you picked is bad; it's actually pretty. But, well, you know."

"Oh, yes, don't worry; we're stealing something from the tavern's kitchen today; that should do it for today!

Lux chuckled. She liked Saul's cooking.

"ANYWAY; after Wloomingwhale's I walked to the marketplace and I can't believe they didn't have kudzu root! I mean, it's a freaking marketplace!" Regina yelled maybe a little too high, starting to walk away. Lux followed. "Did everyone have a rave last night? No way there's nothing left! It is not the only anti-hangover thing, I'm saying!"

Lux tried to smile, but a tired sigh escaped while holding two heavy bags while she kept up with Regina's steady pace. An annoyed feeling stabbed her right into her chest, because she knew she could've carried those bags without any problem some years ago.

"There are giant shoes in here? So heavy."

"Do you get hangovers often?" Lux asked while dodging a huge woman practically running at Wloomingwhale's direction, she assumed.

"Nah, it's for the boys. I make the tablets and sell them." Regina said. "It doesn't matter usually, but now I'm completely out of them."

Lux hummed quietly, thinking her options.

"I'll probably regret this…" Lux thought, eyeing Regina by her eye corner. "I think I saw some kudzu that… time I took a walk on the forest." Regina shot her a slightly surprised look.

Why she was this kind all of sudden?

"I can go and harvest some for you, if you want." She finally finished hesitantly, looking intently to Regina's eyes.

They both slowed down a little, hitting the end of the market place and entering to the tavern street.

"Would you? That'd be great!" She chirped excitedly, smiling. "Do you need any help? When we're off?"

"It's okay, I can handle it." Lux said dismissively, rising up her head to watch the tavern at the distance. They dodged the main entry and walked to the left, entering a small alleyway.

"Are you sure? Aren't you scared of the forest?" The blonde woman said, taking out the keys from her pocket while holding two bags with one arm. "I've hear some stories saying that crazy stuff happens in there. Like, the forest talks you and that."

"…It'll feel like walking back home. I'll be fine."

Regina raised one brow with a puzzled, but cheery smile. She shrugged and said nothing.

"Alright, so I count on you. Thanks." Regina talked before stopping in front of a grey door at the wall.

They both got in after opening it.

…

It was when her steps started to being muffled by the grass when she realized the forest was a couple of meters away from her. The cloak covered her face as she gazed around the environment, feeling the fresh breeze that appeared from nowhere. Her eyes took sight of the tons of different kind of trees and flowers; she even caught at the distance a weird animal running and jumping on the high branches at the trees above.

"I never saw an animal, now that I think about it."

It was another strange stuff for the long list of hers, so she didn't pay any attention. She strode calmly into the directions of the trees and the odd feeling was back again inside her chest. She passed the first tree she run into and raised her hand to stroke it. She wasn't mistaken at feeling nature magic from the three circulating inside her blood, as if was just another one rooted on the ground. Her hand got off it and moved back to her brown cloak.

She did feel like this was home. She smiled heartedly, finding out that she missed the forest even if she hadn't noticed.

"Now. Where are those kudzus?"

…

"Sexy men always have luck… "

Rakan played with his golden watch lied down on a giant root high in the forest, watching with attention the black haired human below. Couldn't he jump already? He needed to teach her how to dance at once!

His golden eyes switched to the eerie figure of Xayah, standing up on the branch gracefully. Her pointy ears were sharp and her eyes were also paying attention, but even more intensely. He frowned and a bad feeling itched inside. He got up on a twirl and slipped an arm on her shoulders, hugging her close with his body and golden feather cloak.

"You alright?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She said, holding both her arms against each one.

He deadpanned. She seemed really touched for this.

"This doesn't look good for me. Why aren't we dancing right away? I'm eager to show the human my cool moves."

Xayah smirked and seemed to snap out of whatever she was paying attention out of the girl below.

"You're right. Stick to the plan."

"If dazing the human with my sexiness is the plan, then I'm on!"

…

She started to jump up and down at some point just slightly. The hamper she brought rocked with her as Lux skidded across the grass and the trees, looking for a small and wet clearing. The sounds of the place just calmed her enough to forget that there was an exit outside. It was like being in another word.

Lux peered up with a soft smile, covering the upper edge of her eyes with one hand. The incredibly tall trees blocked quite sky above, but for no avail some sunrays still squeezed inside the green cupule. Even from her position she could tell the sunlight was very warm.

Looking down again, she started moving, gazing around for a good place where kudzu could possibly grow, and maybe some fruitangle if lucky.

It didn't even went by a minute before she spotted a medium-sized open space with grass some meters away, were the sunlight washed all over it and the trees didn't suffocated the plants. Her eyes somehow adjusted to the distance and she spotted a group of bushes with small lilac flowers growing out.

Jumping from the tree shades to the light felt refreshing; and her feet took her in front of them instantly. The sun on her back energized her being as she went down beside the kudzu, taking notice that, despite covering an unlucky tree, both were in perfect conditions.

"Invading nature doesn't mean solitary." She thought aloud, putting the hamper on the grass and opening up the small wooden door of it. "Mind some harvest?"

The wind howled and the grass crunched. Her nose got surprised by the fresh smell all around that suddenly appeared. It was like she was being answered.

She got the hands on the job and took out some roots enough to fill up the hamper, and yet there still was tons of kudzu left to harvest. She closed the hamper and got up, satisfied. Regina would be happy with the results. How would she react? She'll probably treat some cake to her.

She turned around eagerly, ready to set off, when her smile vanished and was replaced with an odd grimace.

"Yo." Rakan said, raising his hand and blinking at Lux, making her a little self-concious. She stood there, staring at him. "Wanna dance some?" He smiled seductively, twirling his cape around and showing his muscles.

"Not at all, I must say." She replied, couldn't helping but feeling flustered at staring his nipples. Wasn't he embarrassed showing them off all the time? Mother would be scandalized.

"Seriously? Seriously? Lame." He honestly said, his word steering truly disappoint.

The trees around crunched unpleasantly and the mage's eyes widened, her body startling. She swiftly spun her head around just in time to spot a good bunch of magic purple feathers flying speedily at her, all of them surely aiming to vital points. Lux's head blackened out for an instant before breathing some air. She hugged the hamper tightly in her chest and ducked down to roll aside on the greenness. Her nose brushed against the harsh dirt while all the feathers pinned the ground in straight line right where she was seconds ago. They were stood upright, the angle of drop pointing where the Vastaya man was. The black haired girl got up after frowning and glared again at Rakan, looking for the one who was still left.

The Vastaya woman jumped out of the woods right from where some shades materialized, and touched down the ground with her feet beside at her, now she assumed, lover with a bored expression.

"Babe, the human dodged the feathers!" He shouted at Xayah with an amused tone. "Oooh! Someone just avoided your perfect aiming!"

"That's what I'm seeing, darling." She answered, giving him a look, annoyed. Why didn't she hit the shots, anyways? "Thanks for pointing it out."

"No problem!" He said innocently, smiling warmly just to her. Xayah sighed. "Now this will be funnier than I thought!" He screamed with unsettling joy, from Lux's point of view. And not a single second later, he took his cap and dashed across the grass directly at Lux.

Lux's face showed off surprise before she dropped the hamper without harming it on the grass. She didn't think twice at stretching her left hand, trying to canalize light magic and summon her staff. One millisecond later, where she should already feel the familiar warmness on her hand, an empty space stood instead. Lux panicked.

"I'm brimming nature magic! Where's my light?" She thought after checking inside for her core. She needed to gather light magic right away! "No time for this! I'll have to use up all this nature magic!"

"You shouldn't be ignoring your dancing partner!"

Rakan appeared at her side skidding on the grass, with his brawny arm raised, ready to (or at least she thought) slap everything. Her instincts kicked in and she raised her right arm to block the blow that was directed (she can't believe it) at her cheek. She spun her body at him fiercely and knocked him out of balance, ready to raise her leg and give out a well-deserved sidekick.

His surprised face felt better than a thousand of cakes, and she knew it'll feel even dreamy when she got her leg on his ribs. But then his face suddenly snickered and Lux frowned. She jumped out of the way just when another round of feathers darted the air flying at her from her side, pinning again the ground and some trees in the process.

Lux landed a meter away and quickly scooted some space back, breathing heavily. Half happy, half annoyed.

"I'm tired already?! Shoot!" She cried in her head, ignoring her muscles that were aching. "I'm a mage, right?!" The voice within demanded, triggering her eyes green as so the edges of her hair. "…On the other hand, I can't believe I put up with those battle moves. I'm still sharp… yes."

Xayah leaned coolly on her feet after shooting another wave of feathers, calm and steady as always, ready to fire some sharp stuff again at seeing Lux wasn't paying attention. Her stoic face was knocked off at seeing a beam of green light shimmering through Lux's hair and eyes.

And there she was again.

"Dance! Or lose some toes!" Xayah shouted at her, throwing more and more feathers, aiming to the legs.

Rakan who was somehow again at Xayah's side, roared with excitement and laughed loudly as he jumped forward, this time with golden magic coming out his cape.

"All right, girl, round two!"

Lux scoffed and canalized all the magic she's got on her hands speedily. Her eyes sharpened and everything around her slowed as she analysed the battlefield. The man was indeed running at her, covering conveniently all the front of his lover, making it impossible to get to her by melee.

"This is like back again at the Fields of Justice." She couldn't help but think, switching glaring between them. "Just ignore the tank and get rid of the carry. How hard could it be? People usually explode when my magic catches up with them."

Rakan was practically flying over the ground with a cool pose, thinking how cool was going to be his next move, when he noticed the burst of magic feeling beside his back, alongside with an eruption sound. His feathers twitched and he forced his body to an halt, skidding on the ground and turning around, spotting two of the most gigantic roots he ever saw exploding out of the grass behind Xayah, twirling around and attempting to smash her against the dirt.

"XAYAH, WATCH OUT!" He screamed, starting to run at her even faster.

The Vastaya woman didn't need his warning to notice the threat behind her. Her body twisted in a spider-pose just barely avoiding the thick brown root, using her hands to support her weight, using them again to push herself up in the air, landing again on her feet. She exhaled off some air before sidestepping another round of strikes, and another, and another, never losing the sight of Lux, taking notice that she was still pumping out magic. She saw another thread of magic sneaking inside the dirt below, right behind Rakan.

"Behind you!" She cried to the Vastaya man.

Xayah's voice snapped him out. Another root came out from his rear, rising dominantly and twirling dangerously to his spine. His mind reacted instantly and his magic fanned out, shielding him. Out of some centimetres away from his skin, golden magic showed up, making the root to brush against the smooth but hard protection, being unable to run through it. He t'ched, and looked over his shoulder angrily, noticing oddly easily that the forest magic surrounding Lux started to fade quickly and became weak. His cue to go.

Lux lowered her hand, feeling like she just held for hours one hellish of a heavy glass and breathed deeply, taking some moments to worry about her lungs that were wringing her out.

"That was exhausting." Lux thought, seeing Rakan breaking his shield to run at Xayah's side again. She left him be; it gave her enough time to recover a little. "Uf… huh…"

Lux straightened as best as she could and supported her back on a weird pose with her arms, still breathing deeply. The lovers said something but she didn't hear them, too busy identifying off the light magic around her. Strength started to come back to her. Her face slowly, but safely started to lighten inevitably.

"Alright, alright... I got this. You just wait! I'll punish you!" She chirped, raising her left arm, which started to shine.

Rakan swirled around Xayah's silhouette distressingly, squeezing her with his cape while inspecting quickly her wellbeing.

"You alright?" He whispered worriedly, seeking bruises. A white gleam drew his attention spotting how the human's hand glowed brilliantly. "Yipes! She's got more magic?!"

Xayah's stare didn't falter on Lux, ignoring Rakan's voice. Her lower lip trembled just slightly as she held her broken wrist. Rakan frowned.

"Shit! Is your waist okay?!" He said alarmed, reaching up for it to hold it carefully. Xayah's shook off his grasp afterwards, denying him. "Babe, are you sure you can keep on?" He said, not even him believing what he was saying. When's the last time they run away from a battle? Hell, it was embarrassing for him and his tribe!

"Don't be ridiculous, Rakan, I'm fine." She said dismissively, waving off his worriedness with a crooked smile. He whined. "My last nerve has vanished alongside making her death quickly and bloodless. This is starting to get annoying."

"You don't need to push yourself that much!" He complained, grabbing her jab to force her to look at him. "You worry me."

Lux was getting bored and maybe a little sick with the cheesiest scene she has ever seen; should her take account on sitting down to wait? Or maybe trying breaking the ice with a light pun? Her staff gleamed, almost challenging her to fire a laser through both their heads. She could've killed them right away after summoning her battle tool, but that would be disgusting, and it also would be listening to the voice inside her head that said "just do it." She promised long time ago she'd stop killing people unnecessarily, or Vastaya people like them.

So instead, it'll do better to just mess around with them. When's the last time she played with her light magic, anyways? The day before she turned thirteen, the last time of her poor-not-so-called normal life?

She snickered behind her hair devilishly, the tiny sparkles coming out of the golden edges of her staff covering every single part of her visible body to turn into nothing. A second spell, learned in the magic academy, to muff her steps and another one for breath. Then, she hid her magic and waited patiently.

"Rakan, we're not doing this here. We'll discuss this later after ending the human!" Xayah said to him exasperatedly, slapping away Rakan's big hand off her face.

"Fine! But I'm not leaving your side." He answered stubbornly, sticking to her arm, turning his head around right to the same spot to face Lux again. One second later, his skin went pale. "Uh… Babe?"

"What." She beamed treacherously, spinning a quarter to him and summoning more feathers on her hand.

"Where's the human?"

Xayah blinked and looked around, effectively checking on Rakan's words. Both pair of gazes eyes rummaged back and forth all over the clearing. Xayah whirled her head around, her body language telling on her messed state while Rakan snorted in disbelief, half surprised, half amused.

"NO way!" He laughed, huffing loudly and hopping to random directions, still having a small hope Lux was still around. "She ran away while we SPEAKED?!"

He expected some kind of answers from behind, but silence reigned everywhere. Rakan slowly turned around, facing his lover. She was still seeing the trees, not reacting. Not being so sure about what he should do, Rakan cautiously approached, putting softly his hand on her shoulder. He tried to smile.

"Babe, uh…" He tried to say, flustered.

Lux pushed both her hands on her lips to avoid choking in laughter, being just a couple of meters away from Xayah, seeing her inscrutable, dark face. Rakan hugged tightly Xayah from behind and lied down his jab on her shoulder, ruffling his feathers on her heartedly.

"…I'm sorry. She disappeared because of me." He muttered. Xayah didn't say anything. He stroked his nose against her cheek like a smacked hurt dog, trying to snatch some reaction from her. "Hey, what if, what if we sneak in some human town and chill out in a tavern?"

"The human fled." She said. Rakan cringed. "Running, walking, I don't even now. I wasn't paying attention. … She fled while I wasn't paying attention. Who the fuck I am? How this could happen? She just vanished, I can't sense her magic!"

Rakan's answer was to just squeeze her tighter, hoping that it would do to her. Xayah didn't rejected his touch although didn't relax on it.

Lux's feet took her irremediably closer to them, rounding their shapes incredibly quietly by just tiptoeing (thank God Miss Minerva for her classes) and sneaking behind them. She held shut her laughter because the spell doesn't hide the pitch or loud ones, especially hers: a unique one (she was very proud). She stood on her toes and leaned slowly her face above the shoulder of the man known as Rakan, getting ready.

"It's okay, babe, we'll track her down." He reassured, rocking both their bodies slightly back and forth. "She can't be that far away, she-"

"Boo!"

Goosebumps quaked all the way from Xayah's feet to head. She showed off an incredibly spectacle of strength at breaking free from Rakan's grab, her pupils dilating and her whole senses chirring sharply. Rakan managed to get off the way of a bunch of feathers being thrown at his direction by throwing himself onto the dirt, staring shocked to Xayah.

Tons of emotions swirled inside his chest. Pain, heartache, brokenness, betrayal. His lips were about to open to have a serious talk with his girlfriend, not so sure about what he heard seconds ago, when he saw one of the weirdest things he saw… probably this week. The human was sat comfortably on the grass, as if this whole meeting was something to relax at. Her whole body was half transparent. Every colour of her clothes, skin and hair was still there, but blurred. He could actually see through her forwards the clearing and the forest. And he could see her smiling confidently.

"What the heck?"

"Battlefield is not the best of times to discuss… couple issues, don't you think?" She said with muckiness, moving her eyebrows to underline her words. Xayah grimaced. "I'm not one for those who doesn't focus on the fight."

"Enough of chitchat, then!" Xayah blurted out with annoyance, hands full of feathers. "This is not a game. Quit messing around."

"Oh, I'm the only one messing around?" Lux said, astonished, but not really. "And then what? Let you kill me?"

"If you are willingly to do it, but I don't promise your death will be painless." The Vastaya woman proposed dryly, caressing her daggers. She then looked up at Lux. "Now. Dance."

Rakan knew he had to stick up for his beloved girlfriend, being unmanly to just let her with another girl killing themselves in a death battle. But his gut told him that maybe it wasn't the best choice for him to choose. His feathers were hideously wrinkled, his heart shocked for what Xayah almost did to him, and he was feeling like he had enough beating-up for today. Maybe he'll end up being killed instead, so he scooted quietly away from the fight and hugged the grass, staring intently the exchange.

"Stand out of this, Rakan." Xayah hissed, narrowing her eyes and tightening her grab on the feathers. "She's mine."

He hummed in agreement, not really wanting to get on Xayah's bad side, but secretly preparing some magic to jump in if it was needed. Lux paid him an amused gaze.

"Making up for your honour, I like it." Lux said, smiling defiantly. "I like people who stand up for their problems and don't put pressure on other people to solve them instead."

Rakan gulped, and cautiously paid an eye to Xayah. Even from there, he could she her teeth tightening.

"I'm not making anyone to help me." She argued harshly with her lips smashing against each other.

"It doesn't seem like that, if you ask me." Lux said innocently, standing up in a normal way; completely different at the moves she showed off minutes ago. "I won't let you kill me. Those feathers are way too harsh for me, thank you."

"We'll see that."

Xayah crossed her hands and charged them towards Lux, throwing a torrent of shiny purple feathers at her. Lux immediately hoisted her staff over her head, twirling it around swiftly above her body. A prismatic bubble-shaped shield appeared and shielded her from every single impact with ease, deflecting the feathers at one side. Xayah t'ched. There it was the chances of going hand by hand.

"Not a single scratch." She thought acidly, throwing again another wave of feathers. The same scenario triggered, but this time Lux's smug face was pretty much visible. "Not only she knows how to fight, but she's also a mage?"

"I'm not on those stupid matches anymore." Lux hummed, breaking apart the shield and throwing two bulbs of light at the Vastaya girl. A vacuum materialized inside each one of them as a field of transparent light irradiated off them, attempting to catch the her legs. "I'm not weak here."

Xayah jumped out of the reach of the light as she threw another bunch of feathers at her. Lux exploded the orbs of light she threw, not hitting Xayah, luckily for her. She was about to raise another shield to block the projectiles, when a golden shadow appeared behind. Lux's muscles suddenly stiffed at feeling how golden magic forced everything around her on a circle shape in a stasis state.

She somehow managed to look over her shoulder and saw Rakan smirking at her with amusement.

"Do you really think I'd let you mess with my babe?" He beamed a tint of angriness not so hidden in his voice. Matter of fact, all kind of attempt to step out of the battle wilted away at seeing that weird light attacking his girlfriend. His chest tightened around his heart and it almost killed him. How could he not help her when he knew Xayah hated sunshine?

Lux secretly wondered if he had some kind of bipolarity.

She could've answered smartly, but the mage could already hear the air being cut by the feathers as they flew. So she smiled. "Of course not."

Since the man's magic only affected her physic body, and was just weak enough, she forced her light magic to circulate inside at speedier rate, and then on her skin, pushing away his magic off her body. Lux shined even more than Rakan and disappeared out of sight.

"What?! No fair!" He whined childishly, somersaulting in the air to dodge Xayah's feathers. His feet landed on the ground and looked around on and on, seeking for her. "She can get invisible?!"

"That's right, ha, ha!" Lux's voice echoed through everywhere, making it impossible to tell where she was. Rakan's eyes widened. "Where am I? Maybe… under your CAPE?"

"What?!" Rakan panicked, reaching for his cape and spinning on his feet at least four times, looking intently at every single golden feather of it. When he was sure nobody was hiding in there, he sighed in relief. "She's not here, babe!" He screamed at Xayah.

The Vastaya woman fought really hard to not go there and punch him in the face.

"Just focus! She's just messing with you!" Xayah said with an attempt of patience, squeezing till the last drop her magic senses, trying to sense the tiniest of that light magic she was getting to hate. One bare second later of no avail, she gave up and summoned even more feathers. "I'm done with this shit."

Rakan's eyes twitched in recognition and hugged himself in his cape, getting out of the way and hoping between the battlefield and Xayah's range. Lux's followed him by the gaze, hearing some excited banter coming out from there. The feeling sunk in one second later.

"Wait, that's not nice!" Lux squeaked, actually some meters away, in front of them. "Should we talk about this?"

"If you don't show yourself, then I'll make you do it." Xayah said in what it would be a threat, specifically one you wouldn't be able to ponder with. The Vastaya stiffed every single muscle of hers and gained momentum slowly crouching down, her cape levitating just slightly. Then, she jumped high in the air and whirled frenetically, blurring her whole shape and firing hundreds of feathers at everywhere and everything on there. "Feathers fly!"

Lux cut the small bunch of magic she was canalizing to her throat to give it the echo effect and twirled again her staff, trying to shield herself again, and inevitably appearing again in sight.

"Nope!" Rakan practically skyrocketed to her side with a sparkling smile, somehow passing by the feathers with celerity and getting to her, using the same movement as before. "Come on!"

Lux immediately tried to get ger light magic to break free from the magical grasp, but this time was impossible.

"His magic is stronger than before." She though, distressed. "I'm one hundred positive this will hurt." She lamented, her brows trying to furrow, the golden magic not even allowing it.

Xayah expulsed off some air from her lungs, satisfied at seeing that Lux wasn't doing anything weird to get out of the tricky situation. But when she seemed that the mage wasn't escaping from this one, a bright light like a beacon shimmered intensely just as the feathers made contact with the golden aura. She didn't hear any screams of pain let alone a body dropping off the ground.

A vein threatened to blow up below her crimson hair, starting to feel exhausted at keep using more and more magic. Her inner magic core sighed in tiredness but she ignored it, still keeping up. She gathered magic out of nowhere and lifted, this time, just a few feathers, pointing them at the blindness coming in front of her. She just hoped Rakan was okay.

However when the light faded off the sight, Xayah froze.

"Crap… That hurt… What happened…?" Rakan whined, scratching his furry ears with his hand while stretching his muscles on the grass, feeling oddly off.

"Don't even mention it. I think one of my feathers ripped off my precious cape!" Said Rakan in front of him, lied down as well. He straightened his back and rubbed her cape with a pout.

"What?! It's my cape alright?! What…?" Rakan said, looking in front of him. He stopped right in tracks and his mouth formed a perfectly 'o' shape in his lips. "What the heck?! It's me! But I'm not looking into a mirror!"

Rakan let his cape slung again on his shoulders and faced Rakan in front of him. His eyes widened and almos choking on his saliva.

"BABE! WHO'S this?! I think someone is trying to take over me!" He screamed, standing up immediately, the other Rakan doing it as well. "YO! Buzz off! Don't even try replace me! You're nowhere near my sexiness!"

"Are you kidding me?! You're the fake here!" Rakan replied, extremely offended. He then proceeded to push his cape completely over his shoulder to show all his muscles. "Don't you see THIS? Unmatchable, Hot!" He beamed loudly, flexing his bicep with a cocky expression.

Xayah's face paled, the headache that appeared slicing like a knife on her brain. She did pledge her true and everlasting love to Rakan long time ago because he managed to shatter the thick stone walls she built around her heart. But two of them were maybe a little more than she could possibly handle.

"Xayah! Tell this idiot I'm sexier!" Rakan cried, looking at her and pointing with disgust at Rakan. "I'm WAY better than this!"

"You so lame!" Rakan countered with a mocking smirk. The other Rakan frowned. "Darling of course will choose the one who DO satisfy her truly! Me." The man said as if it was the most logic thing in the word.

"Man, you're so pathetic!" Rakan said, taking one step closer, letting his face inches away from the other Rakan's. Xayah started to feel sick. "Are you even big ENOUGH?"

"Oh my God, no…" Xayah thought. Rakan was… very fond of his capacities concerning his lower region, being pretty driven when they have some action. She couldn't exactly remember when was the last time someone had dared and mocked him about it, but she did remember it was a bloody day. "One of them is an impostor." She pondered coolly, switching out of one to another swiftly. "But who, then? I don't have time to ask around questions. There's just one way."

"Watch over that filthy mouth of yours, or I'll slap all of you!" Rakan warned, growling dangerously, not backing off the closeness between him and his counterpart.

"Perfect! Some violence for this body!" Rakan said with an eager smile. "Bring it on whenever you want!"

"Alright, SHUP UP YOU TWO!" Xayah screamed out for some silence, stepping in and walking to them. Both Rakan's stopped glaring daggers at each other to stare her, their eyes changing to an angry brightness, to recognition and worried. The Vastaya woman felt slightly disturbed at that. Both looked exactly the same, and she couldn't tell right away which one was hers. The human was scary. "Rakan! Quit playing and just use some of your magic! No one can copy it, dummy!"

She expected just one of them to smirk cockily as always because the test was infallible; every single magic, no matter if being the same kind of type, was different. But they both smiled with confidence and posed.

"This is it! Prepare to be destroyed!" Rakan at the left said, raising his hand.

"You wish!" Rakan at the right replied, raising not one but two hands.

One second later, the familiar glimmering of golden light grew off their skins, surrounding everything around them, alongside with their capes. Xayah's eyes widened.

"It can't be possible!"

"What?! No friggin' way!" Rakan exclaimed, almost ditching his pose.

"Don't move!"

Both Rakan's startled at hearing Xayah screaming again. They didn't dare to gaze her; her eye was twitching. Xayah focused spaced out, only listening and feeling the magic around her. Her eyes then chose the Rakan at the left; she analyzed his magic, felt it. It was warm, protective, the same magic that held her at night while she sleeps and the same that saved her life countless times. "This is it, but hold on…"

Her eyes then moved to the Rakan at the right, doing the same carefully. She tried to connect her magic to him, try to feel it, but she couldn't. Every single attempt to be one with it was either rejected or not accepted. The magic was transparent, empty, it had nothing she craved.

When Lux realized Xayah was checking on their magic, it was too late.

Xayah didn't say anything but raised her hand. A snap was enough to call every single feather that were behind this Rakan, forcing them back onto her hand again. The feathers that were pinned at the trees and the ground croaked before returning speedily back to their user. That Rakan didn't have the moment to react. Every single feather slashed against him and fastened with each other, making his arms and legs go smashed against the body.

"Found you."

He stared at her slightly surprised, the mask he was wearing falling apart one instant later. He looked at her with an expression it definitely looked completely out of place, an expression she thought she would never see on his face. Wickedness. But as soon as it appeared, it left.

"Got caught… That's not funny." He said, the whole body starting to get transparent again, going on the same effect as the mage did before. The wholeness changed obnoxiously, revealing again the black-haired girl. The cuts that were supposed to be on his body appearing on her skin, but they were superficial. Xayah would believe her feathers were sharper than that. "Congratulations! I should've remembered you people had a better time while sensing magic… and… I guess I it is enough playing…"

"Don't worry for that." Xayah said, feeling safer at sensing Rakan moving back to her side again. She was still disturbed. "I'll take care of that."

"Oh, please, loosen up a little." She said cheerfully, but this time a little quietly. Xayah could even feel that Rakan was starting to feel uneasily. "It is just a game. Just a few bruises here and there, not big deal." She said with a smile, trying to break free off the ropes uncomfortably, attached to the ground. She chuckled. "Plus, you forgot something."

Xayah's gut told her to back off, but her pride wouldn't let her do it. Rakan, in the other hand, swung his arm around her neck, pushing himself at her. His face was hardened by uneasiness.

Lux's closed her eyes for a moment and focused some magic in them, trying to give them enough time to react; hoping that that time was enough. If not, then it'd be a mess. "…My laser sight!" She shouted, bursting her eyes open out of blue, showing off one pair of blue eyes charged with rainbow colors.

Rakan reacted. He pushed her out of the way off two lasers that fired instantly. He managed to land first on the grass instead her to avoid getting her hurt. The movement was abrupt, but Xayah saw how the laser got lost into the forest, melting everything that messed on its way. Xayah breathed deeply.

"Uf… It's been long time since I did that…" Lux laughed tiredly, trying to shake off the ropes again, with no avail. Her eyes went back to normal after. "That… That was so funny… Uh…"

Rakan helped Xayah to stand up, taking her right away some meters away from Lux. The Vastaya woman had her eyes fixed on the human and not stopped having her senses feeling her magic.

"Something's wrong. What's happening in there?" She wondered, watching the white magic inside her core trembled and threatened to fade. The green magic of the forest backed off for it, this time being a meter away from the human.

"Babe, let's just ditch her here. I don't want to risk you anymore." Rakan pleaded whispering against her ear, slowly pushing her onto his chest, but Xayah stood on her place. "Please!"

"Wait, just see her." Xayah muttered, her eyes wide. "Don't you feel something on her? Something's happening."

"Shit, no! She's crazy! Didn't you see what just happened?" He screamed desperately, sounding really scared. "Let's just run while we can! I'm worried about you!"

Xayah was still frozen on there. She kept staring at Lux, whose eyes were starting to fail. He hissed angrily, but his grab around her only tightened. He wasn't abandoning her, and she knew it. They just went quiet, not doing anything.

"This is… not good… This is not… supposed to be happening… Why…" Lux sighed off, the fatigue being palpable on her words. "…Crap."

Xayah saw how her magic on feathers disappeared by an unknown source and how the body they were holding fell off on the grass with a loud thump. The white magic inside Lux's core started to vanish away, giving way to a dark, pitch one, which crept from her back. The darkness devoured everything and closed itself against Lux, not even letting near the green magic that was incredibly still trying to approach her. The girl was out cold.

Rakan didn't say anything to her when she stepped out his grab and walked to the unconscious girl on the ground. Feeling her magic was a little harder than most of humans she tried with. The obscure magic was like a pile of papers that gave her a glimpse of how many bad things that someone has ever done, and at what point they could've possibly reached. The leftovers of the haunted magic of the people whose lives has been taken by the human were visible to her. The number was uncertain, but she could already tell it was horrid. It was sickening, and then she knew it. She knew that the girl on the ground has killed more living beings than her and Rakan. She knew that the girl had a very long background which started off long time ago. Some magic traces were from times she could've sworn she hadn't even been born. They were ancient and it did not relate to anything she knew.

The human was similar as how the old Vastayan tales said about creatures being consumed by its magic. She knew that something about the girl's behavior had something to do with her magic, especially the dark one. She had already shown two different behaviors as the battle went by. It wasn't the first time she ran into someone like that, and none of those experiences were pleasant. That didn't explain how she had on her older magic than her very own. How could someone have such a dark amalgam inside and still not crumble before it? It was thanks to that annoying light magic?

No matter what, it was none of her business. It would do better without people like her on the world. Xayah's face twisted dismissively.

For every finger she had in her hand, she summoned one feather. Five feathers, then, appeared, aimed to the human's heart. Xayah gained momentum and Rakan looked aside, not really wanting to see what was about to happen next. Usually, the people they kill wear armors and thick clothes, but the human was dressed light. It'd be very graphic.

The feathers flew off her fingers by her command, and the forest croaked. Her hair flew aside thanks to the wind who howled out of blue, bringing with it five leaves that darted out of the forest near, skidding on the air and connecting with each one of the feathers in middle air. Her eyes followed them, astonished, as how the leaves successfully blocked away each possible killing hit silently. They didn't make it not even near Lux before dropping on the grass. The forest went silent. She could hear her heart beating frenetically.

Xayah took one step back, slightly putted on the edge. Her breath became unsteadily and then she didn't know what she should do. Rakan was already on her side, looking as just surprised as her.

"Did those leaves..?" He tried to say carefully and silently.

"Yeah, they blocked the blows." Xayah muttered before he can even finish his sentence, staring at the leaves. They didn't have any kind of nature magic resulting from the girl below.

Rakan's lips shut on each other, uncomfortable. He looked at her, expecting new orders. Xayah looked back at him, then Lux, whose dark aura was still holding her, but wasn't doing anything to harm them. She knew magic was alive, but this was a new level.

"The forest, the magic itself… is protecting her. Why it would protect those who trespassed in? Those who only had destroyed it? I'd like to know." She said bitterly, looking down. She took one moment before keep talking. "You won't like what I'll want to do."

"I don't care, Xayah." He said solemnly. "I've already told you I'll be with you forever. No matter what, I'm sticking around."

Xayah managed to smile weakly, leaning on his chest. She resisted the urge to hide on him. Why everything has to be so difficult?

"We'll get her to the elderly. They'll know what to do." She said slowly. Rakan frowned. "She just uses the forest's magic as if the place was her game room. I just can't let that happen. I need answers."

"Bringing a human to our very own tribe…" Rakan reviewed on her words. "Are you sure about that? They won't be happy."

"Don't be so sure about that. It's been long time since we dropped by, Rakan." Xayah answered coolly, shaking her head. "…Just pick her up and don't forget tying her. We still got a long way till home."

"It's been ages since we stopped at home!" Rakan said, this time with more joyfulness on his voice. Xayah felt better hearing him like that. Rakan walked up to Lux, who was still on the ground. He hesitated some seconds before crouching down and picking her up, lifting her like a potato bag. His magic triggered and two long golden feathers surrounded her, fastening her legs and arms. At experiencing that nothing was trying to kill him, he sighed in relief. "Alright, let's go!"

…

Lux hugged herself as she found again facing the pitch darkness she though it would never appear again. Her black hair made caressed her cheeks as she floated boringly in the dark, not being able to see and hear nothing. Her steady breath slowly loosened up after a very long time. She felt annoyed; this wasn't supposed to happen. But not only it did, this time it was stronger. She couldn't have had fight back this time for an odd reason. Last time at least she had her own thoughts sorted in an understandable way.

"Why does it happen whenever I hit the forest?" She tried to talk to the nothing, being probably the only thing on there. But it felt like she was thinking. "I thought this was just once thing."

The memories after passing out were blurry but she had an idea what happened before the dark magic took over her. Would she be dead? Unlikely. This scenario was exactly the same since the first time it happened to her, and the same as the last time since she stepped out the forest after meeting Takeo. She woke up after that with an almost completely healthy body, but her mind. In that time, it was messy, but right now she was more worried about what was happening outside this place. She didn't know how to escape, or wake up, if she was truly asleep, which probably was the bigger chance on her options.

Her inners tried to reach up for some magic to try and do something, but it was for no avail. It was empty. That fact didn't scare her as how it should like.

Will this keep happening till the day she dies? How people would react at seeing her passing out random one day and another? Was it getting frequent? Lux didn't know exactly what she did wrong. Dante's words assured her that as long she doesn't fight back her light magic, things will be alright. They were just empty words? Did she read him wrong? In any case, it still seemed off to her. Will he take too much time to contact her again?

Although dozens of thoughts set off to one place to another inside her head, her expression was emotionless. Her soft face stood frozen on its place while just existing. The outcome of the burst of thinking was how much tightwad her magic needed to be at her. She just couldn't figure it out.

The dark corners of the vacuum jail lit up by a blue light. It took her some seconds to realize what was happening before a familiar blue flame materialized in front of her. She was shocked out of her trance. Her eyes analyzed it before her features twitched up in recognition.

The feeling was… like awakening up after a long night sleep. She suddenly felt how the blood inside her veins and arteries vibrated livingly, dragging inside her skin. The first, pure thing, she felt was surprise. It was strange; as if it was the first time she has ever experienced it. Was she so spaced out?

The bad thoughts backed off as soon as she felt the aura of fox magic. She smiled softly, raising her two arms to hold it on her hands. Warmness darted across her being and she felt her heart beating again, alive. The blue flame flew away from her grasp all the way till stopping some meters away. She knew what would happen next, so she moved after.

White lightness sparkled in the dark and twirled around itself, creating a beautiful portal to the other side. As she swum peacefully, commanded by her own instincts, golden strings erupted out from the slim portal, moving swiftly towards her with rocking moves.

Lux's eyes snapped open with slightly surprise at spotting the unfamiliar kind of magic surrounding her and taking her body by the arms and legs. She strangely found herself not needing to swim anymore because the magic started to pull her towards the portal as if was impatient for her to wake up already. It wasn't gentle as the green strings from the last time, and it was getting her on the edge.

Some words tried to split off her word involuntarily, but she just couldn't. So she let the magic be. She reached the exit even faster than last time, and with her head focused only on the strange occurrence. When the last moments inside the odd kind of dimension, she didn't notice the purple mist behind her, way too far to even sense it. It didn't try to approach.

…

Some sense slapped on her face and the first thing she sensed was dizziness. Her head blurred every attempt of recognize her environment and the only thing which was worked inside her mind was that she really needed to lay down bit. Then, the next thing came. Her eyes focused and rolled straight in front of her; a gleam of golden magic shined on top of her head, blinding her momentarily. That man was standing in front of her, now looking strangely gorgeous. She took note of his sharp features, and how his blue eyes were similar with hers. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but notice that he was shirtless, and the only thing he had on his torso was his golden, beautiful cape with that red collar that had a bird skull with purple feathers. A cocky smile flied her to cloud nine, especially the way his abs stiffed, even if they were half-covered by that unfortunate fabric that came from his pants. Her eyes keep peering down, passing by his red ropes that acted as his belt, also with two bird skulls, and then she saw his legs. The end of his pants, more specifically.

The golden bubble exploded in a million of pieces obnoxiously, leaving a bitter taste on her mouth. Without the help of her light magic, she realized she was again under his charming spell. She wasn't into half-animal people, after all. It was amusing how her face changed from utterly adoration to a disappointed one. His feathered-pointy hears twitched slightly, noticing his sudden change. His posture eased just a little and he seemed to be gathering some words to say to her.

She didn't wait for him to speak up, so instead she decided to extend her rationality and to give him the cold shoulder. Her movements were restrained, she found it out at trying to stretch some sore muscles thanks to the very uncomfortable position she has been on. It felt like she was getting oiled by every small movement she managed to do, getting some crack sounds as response. Some emptiness kicked in on her stomach and she frowned, deciding that it felt like ghost-pain from some punches, despite not being like that at all. Had been she carried? That would explain the giddiness. Her head was getting un-hot at every second her back was straight. The blood was flowing down her head back to its place. So she was carried like a bag. Funny.

Her eyes looked even further and then she noticed she was still on the forest. The flora, however, was very different as how she remembered it. If before there were tall, different kinds of trees everywhere, now there were some of them being comparable with the height of small hills. They displayed a mix between dark brown and gray, and she couldn't exactly guess where they stopped growing high in the sky. It was like an illusion where you could see the end but not tell how long it was the way to reach it. It thickness was easily visible, and the leaves were either dark green or mud brown. Barely, if nothing, sunlight trespassed. Some coldness flew on the air right around her bare forearms and ankles, making her to slightly shudder.

"So cold suddenly… My cloak can't do anything about it. Now that I think of, it is already December. Christmas is close…" Lux thought idly, rocking herself around the feathers, trying to warm herself up. Then, she frowned. "Wait… that Christmas thing was thanks to the League of Legends. But now it doesn't exist anymore. We didn't even know of it before… I wish Dante was here to ask about it… I think Regina said something…? Could it be?"

Rakan mildly stared at her while he relaxed lying against one tree, keeping his distance and waiting Xayah to come back again from her reconnaissance, noticing that Lux seemed lost in thought. His brows twisted in puzzlement at seeing her behavior; as how she examined all around herself critically, and then how she went back in thought. It was like a jailed animal at its first woke up in the cell.

Xayah told him to wake her up. They were close home and she didn't want any trouble while getting in, let alone getting the human mistakenly harmed if she tried to break free inside the tribe. She was very clear, and he didn't want to risk himself anymore for now.

His hands aching snapped him out for a moment. He peered down, opening and closing them, the thing getting him slightly uneasy. Xayah didn't exactly tell him to force her awake by using his magic, but he got pretty tired after trying with the slaps and shakes. Using his magic with her, however, left him with a… profaned feeling. He couldn't shake off this strange sensation.

"I wonder if Regina's worrying about me… She'll be alright with the tavern?" Lux sighed silently and dumped her back on the tree as much as she could without putting herself uncomfortable, her point of attention being the pretty bird that was standing high on one branch. Her pupils trembled, making her self-conscious. An imaginare hole appeared on her face. "Why is he staring at me? Didn't he do enough?"

"What's with this human?" Rakan wondered while he pierced glares unapologetically at Lux, his face bored. "Damn... What's taking Xayah so long? She ditched me with this girl, jeez…"

"Do I have something on the face?" She annoyingly thought, this time her lips wrinkling. A whirl of air hit inside her mind. "Oh, he's mad. That's right; he's so fond of his girlfriend. His pride is broken. A pretty girl made him and his loved sweat cold."

"I could end her right now." Rakan t'ched at his own thoughts, agreeing unconditionally. Lux glared at him, raising one brow at him doing that noise but she didn't say anything. Her disgusted expression got him, though. "Be glad that Xayah spared you. Why her, out of everyone? Her dance moves sucks."

"He's like an annoying puppy that licks after all his master's footprints. So pitiful!" Her obscure thoughts suddenly forced to remind her some past memories. "And I wasn't like that at all before. … … AT ALL."

Lux scoffed at herself, angry at her own thoughts. She cleared out those memories off her head and made that bird the object of her admiration.

"Hey."

His voice was like a shot in the open, ironically. Lux snapped at him with an annoyed and questioning face, turning her glance towards him now. The bird she was looking just flew away at Rakan's voice triggering. He stood straight on his legs, leaving the tree, and strolled at her, covering up the meters between each other again. He stopped right in front of her, his bird feet brushing against the grass, forcing her to give them a well-deserved eyeing up. However, not as she would expect, they didn't look grotesque. They somehow fitted on him, something made just for him. She resisted the urge to scold herself for ever pointing something positive out of him.

He eyed her up from above, taking notice how she was tied up all the way from her shoulders to her knees, Xayah's doing because she 'wanted to make sure she won't do anything insane.' Her face was oddly swollen by bags under her eyes, something that definitely wasn't there before. Matter of fact, her face had an odd tint of paleness splashed all on her skin as if the sun somehow stopped doing effect on it. Her expression, however, was pretty intense.

The few gaps in high above let some sunrays in on them that, by coincidence, emphasized him as he spoke. "Girl woke up?" He said with one brow raised, as if not noticing that he was saying the obvious. She gave him a small crooked smile that lasted one second. "Better not try anything to me and these muscles, got it? I know I'm hot, but don't get any near."

Lux held his stare for one second before glancing away from him, finding the acorn on the grass suddenly interesting. Rakan clicked his tongue and leaned slightly down, filling almost all Lux's radio of vision. She tried to keep her face stoic at seeing him shirtless and practically above her. What was with that clothing, anyways? His nipples were like two beacons of sin. Sinful!

"I had enough of this, so I'll go straight to the point. My fellow human, what the heck's wrong with you?" He sputtered the words, surprising Lux. "Why do you want to take away our magic? Why do you want to pollute it with your filthy hands?" He asked with a frown, stiffening slightly. Lux kept her mouth shut. "Alright, here's what happening if you don't answer me: I crush you with my thumb!"

"You're not the one in charge of interrogating hostages, aren't you?" Lux said bitterly, not meeting his eyes. She didn't have to peek to know that he just did an unbelievable face. "You suck at this. Quit it."

"What?! 'Course I'm on charge! It happens that I'm the best on it!" He yelled, straightening his back quickly. "So spills the beans already or I'll have to slap you!"

"Where's your girlfriend, then? Maybe she dumped you for something better?" She said mockingly, smirking to herself. "I'm sure she does this kind of stuff while you… keep your nails clean."

"I'm a perfectly capable man of doing this, and my nails are always clean no matter what. You're lucky that Xayah decided to save you!" Rakan beamed, annoyed. Lux laughed mentally; she doesn't even need to thinks her sentences. Putting him on the edge was easy. "You'd be dead right now if it wasn't for her. You should be thankful! She's the best."

"Oh my, I forgot to express my gratefulness correctly. Please forgive me for not saying thanks for not have been killed! I'm so glad I was kidnapped instead!" She said, dripping sarcasm off of every single word that came out of her mouth.

"You better be." He said, frowning with slight reluctance. Lux blinked. "Hurry up and tell me already. Why are you here, girl? I don't have all day. Well, maybe I do, but that's none of your business!"

"Umm, what about NO?" Lux answered slyly, shooting a hard glare at him. "Yes, that's good. No."

"Alright, then! You leave me no choice."

Lux's neck contorted some centimetres away from him as she watched how his whole demeanour tightened. He closed his eyes and some golden magic started to surround him. Lux swallowed some saliva and panicked mentally. Was he about to hit her? He tried to punch her in the face before, so why not now? How was her pain endurance?

His magic seemed on point; he got shiny. Lux sought desperately for some light magic but it was for no avail. It was again acting weirdly, as if it was somehow drunk. The dark magic had messed it up again. She tried around for some nature magic only to realise that the feathers fastened around her absorbed the magic that she tried to call in. They got puffed like a sponge before wringing themselves, expulsing just some sparkles.

"Oh no, no, no, no!"

His eyes opened up in an instant. Everything around went golden as he gave her a pretty much intense stare that seemed to pierce through her soul. Her mouth was wide open as she inevitably felt some golden magic reaching up for her, getting her disconcerted to the bones. He crouched down on one knee and leaned forwards her just a little, but it still felt like he was on her. His whole face seemed to harden, intensifying his attractiveness. How could be he that fine without even trying? She wondered, and the answer was probably quite easy. But it didn't come up in her mind.

"Just say it, girl." He said softly and slowly, not breaking eye contact with her at any moment.

Lux hummed unconsciously and decided that the warm feeling Rakan's magic was giving at her wasn't that bad. It definitely erased that gloomy aura that surrounded her, and it even managed to get her feeling slightly better. But yet, she wasn't falling for it. That didn't mean that she would let pass the opportunity to mess around with him.

She putted her mask on.

"Oh… I don't know… It's a secret…" She whispered dreamily, getting soft on her face. "Is he really trying that trick again? This guy is something else."

"Really? Spill it! I don't care!" He said eagerly, smiling energetically, leaning down just a little more over her like a child.

"Well, if you really insist…" She muttered back, looking away shyly, biting her lip. "Scoot closer… I can't let anyone know that I told you. I can't risk it."

"Yeah? Come on already!"

Lux looked at him again and almost yelped in surprise at seeing his face only inches away from hers, looking at her with such a great naivety and confidence over his actions. She blinked and smiled softly, trying to not laugh on his face. This was going to be great.

"Alright. This is it." Lux said, making his pupils startle with recognition. She slowly pushed her neck into his direction. "The magic… I… use it because-"

"Because?" He interrupted her impatiently, frowning at her. Lux had the guts to admit that it was incredibly adorable. It would look better once she crush it.

"Well, sometimes I play too hard." She smiled immaculately. Rakan shot her a frown.

"What?"

An instant later, Lux's neck propelled forward in a flash and smacked her head against his, taking the boy by surprise. A loud crack sound echoed through the forest as he let out a scream of surprise, the impact sending a wave of pain through his skull. The power of the hit pushed him back, making to land over his butt on the grass. He whined loudly and sobbed his head with two hands, staring at her with unbelievable eyes.

"You are mental!" He yelled, maybe a little unmanly, scooting away from her. He seethed with indignation before standing up with a jump. He grabbed his cape and caressed it with his fingers. "It's your lucky day; my cape is fine." He said with a glare, frowning at Lux's amused expression, trying really hard to not doing something; probably raking revenge. He tossed his cape behind him and sighed dramatically. "Honey, where are you?! Why did you bump me with the human?! We should be cuddling right now! Her head is ROCK-LIKE!"

"Cheer up. Maybe she dumped you for something better." Lux said with a grin.

"Shut up! That's not true! No one is better than me. I'm the best she ever had!" Rakan shouted back, denying her words with every single fiber of his body.

"Oh you seem pretty convinced. Let's see what happens next."

The trees croaked before Rakan could answer. His face shined on like a birthday boy before he turned to his right, looking deeply into the trees. Lux's brows twisted in confusion before she followed his gaze. Some moments later, after some branches croaking, the figure of Xayah jumped in on their vision directly from above. She hoped between the highness speedily as she descended over them.

Lux sought shelter on the tree as best as she could while Rakan acted first.

"Honey! You back!" He said with truly relief, quickly moving at his girlfriend. Lux wondered if he was truly that worried. It was way too dependent for her liking. "I thought you would never come back!"

Just as his last words was spell, Xayah landed gracefully on the ground, her cape slowly floating straight back into its place. She stared at him with slightly amusement. But the love in her eyes was there. Lux could see it.

"Of course not. You're sticking with me till the day I get killed by the humans." She said jokingly, receiving his tight hug.

"Don't say that. If someone's dying first, then it's me while I see you running away safely. I'll die honourably dancing!"

Rakan crushed Xayah with his arms, making her to hiss slightly for the pain. She was about to say something when something caught her attention on the corner of her eye. She turned her head and spotted the silhouette of Lux slowly creeping away from them with her free feet, doing surprisingly a well job because she was already some meters away from them.

Xayah did know that Rakan loved her. But she had to admit that it almost cost them the human twice.

"Honey. The human's escaping." She said lowly, tapping his chest with her fingers.

Rakan's body froze. His arms forced themselves away from her as he spun around with a panicked face, ready to run at the end of the Earth if necessary. His sharp eyes immediately saw Lux dragging herself, some trees away from them. Without hesitation, he launched himself after her with a jump, running incredibly fast to her position.

"YOU'RE NOT RUNNING AWAY!" He screamed, somehow turning it like a battle cry.

Lux's head twisted around at him with a terrified face before she started to drag again, this time a speedier rate. However, Rakan catch up with her in less than a second. Lux's lungs got overpowered by a heavy weight that crushed against her back. Rakan's arms grabbed her and closed around her body with obnoxious strength. Some air broke free from her mouth before her face slammed on the grass, defeated, and pale as before.

"Babe! I got her! " He cried loudly, picking up Lux easily, showing her off to Xayah.

Xayah shook her head. He was touching another woman, but she just couldn't get angry with him. It was too hard.

…

When her eyes opened up, the conscience hit her immediately. This time, she didn't remember spending a night inside that strange black place inside her mind, so she knew that the cause of her passing out wasn't her magic doing bad things to her. A rush of feelings overpowered her senses afterwards. Some pain stabbed her on the back and she felt half empty. That idiot was heavy, it left a bad pain.

The next group of things she figured out was that she was actually upside down. When her sight cleared from the blurry darkness, she spotted locks of her black hair hanging from her head. Her nose was kind of dirty, and then the dizziness appeared. The flash of golden blinded her for an instant, leaving her at loss; and she could realize at what belonged that colour. Not even her light was that annoying at sight.

Then, she detected a rocking pace. Rakan walked nonchalantly, probably after his girlfriend, humming some weird song she couldn't figure. The movements were steady at the point that she slightly brushed his back with her face, the same happening with her legs but with his chest instead, the same thing repeating on an everlasting cicle.

"He's carrying me like a dead body." She managed to get her first thought, getting annoyed. The dizziness was getting to her this time, and it wasn't because of her magic this time. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she grimaced, whined slightly.

"Oh? The human's awake." Rakan called her out, paying her a half glance through his shoulder. "She seems hungry. What should be do, Xayah?"

"Keep up. We're almost there." She answered lightly, her voice effectively coming from behind Lux. "We'll get some food for her after arriving."

"Yes, Ma'am!" He replied with a firm voice.

Lux was holding back some vomit from exploding out her mouth, pressing her lips tightly against each other. She somehow managed to swallow it back before breathing deeply, coughing a little as response. Rakan snickered a bit, but he didn't say anything. The face of the mage was starting to twist in anger.

"I'm HUNGRY," She beamed gloomily, her voice drawing their attention. "I want something to eat."

Rakan hummed loudly as he played with something shiny in his hand. Lux couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it somehow pissed her off even more.

"What do you say, babe? Should we stop for a bit?" He asked again, looking at Xayah.

"No. We're almost there. Bear it." She simply answered without stopping walking.

And with that, nothing was said. Lux blinked twice, rolling her eyes and trying to glare some daggers to them, but Rakan's arms pinned her tightly against his shoulder. She tried to come up with another bunch of words, but she was out of energy for confrontation. Her head fell like a rock and hanged out of her neck, making her jaw to hit Rakan's back. He didn't seem to notice at all, though.

When was the last time she had to endure the hunger? Years ago in a very unfortunate mission in the woods, ironically. She didn't pass by any animal, kind of fruits or wild vegetables. Her record was a full week without ingesting anything solid. Surprisingly, she could recall that, even in that time, she was feeling better than right now. That kind of training vanished as the years took off.

She could remember however that, in times of needs, anything was edible.

"Those feathers are way too pretty to be poisoning." She thought idly, watching with slight awe the golden feathers that paraded around on Rakan's cape. "One won't hurt, yes."

Biting one of them with her teeth wasn't difficult at all. A good timing in which she brushed again against his back, she lunched forwards and pressed her mouth on one of them. The feather seemed to explode a little bit because some golden glitter flew off her mouth. A tasty, incredibly wonderful flavour flooded her tongue as she felt how the magic flew around inside. Her eyes widened in amazement and she decided it was good.

The feather was devoured alongside his magic with a quiet munch, her stomach grumbling satisfactorily. That was the weirdest thing she ever ate; magic, but who could think it was this tasty? Did she just do something that can be classified as extremely disgusting? Her hunger disagreed completely.

When Xayah heard the same strange sound of something being ripped off, she stopped walking. Rakan stopped as well in perfect timing with her and shot a glance towards her face. When she turned around, however, she paled.

"What's wrong, babe?" Rakan asked with curiosity, leaning on his toes a little.

Xayah's face seemed like she just had seen a ghost.

"Um, darling, please don't panic." She started slowly, looking behind his shoulder. "But the human is biting your cape."

Rakan's eyes seemed to plop off his sockets before his neck twisted around, catching right in time Lux leaning below to bit off another feather. Her mouth was half open when she spotted his heavy glare, her tongue stopping in middle air. They stared for some seconds before she closed her mouth.

"I was hungry."

…

Lux stared boringly at the grass that passed by, ignoring every kind of feeling that her body could possibly try to put on her. She tried to sigh but the feather covering up her mouth didn't allow so. It was tightly fastened.

After that horrifying event, as how Rakan called it, the Vastaya couple decided that maybe it would do to just shut her mouth down with a convenient feather on it till the rest of the way. By some unknown force from above, they didn't find out that she was actually feeding herself over the feathers. It ended up being an act of revenge and rebellion. She was thankful for that, actually.

They'd been moving for some hours and the monotony of the trip was getting on her nerves. On exchange of that, she stopped any kind of effort in breaking free and stood still, gathering more and more energy. Those feathers gave her a nice boost inside and helped her up to get her light reserves filling even faster, something that usually took her a couple of days.

She passed off those hours with just spacing out of the word and testing with hesitance how her light magic was doing. Of course, a plan of action was also an on-going, but her main tool was still recovering. She couldn't hope with any chance to escape without her light magic. The feathers around her body still didn't allow not a little of nature magic in, so she gave that up.

Then, they stopped. Lux snapped out and narrowed her eyes with suspicion. Whenever they stopped, something was about to happen. The grass was not in dominance anymore, as there was some black obscure dirt starting to appear as well. She tried to move her neck to grasp some info from the environment but she found herself being unable to do it. Her muscles were frozen, and they won't move, sending a wave of pain as response. Lux bit her lip and repressed a small sound of groaning.

In fact, her whole senses were weak. The only thing she had some awareness of was the ground below and some sounds she managed to catch. Maybe she wasn't trying that hard.

When Rakan's other arm reached up for hold her legs from the other side, pinning them against his chest, probably to avoid her to falling off (her great mind coming up with that conclusion), she knew something was up. Her face slowly approached down to the ground, and it took her one second to realise that Rakan was flexing his legs. Her very clever mind then also realised that he was ready to jump.

It was like one of those dreams she had once in a while. Everything around seemed to stretch out and blurry, making impossible to recognise anything. The air splashed on her head and legs from above, and she felt like her weight skyrocketed. She screamed for her life as she hugged Rakan's legs with her arms.

One second later, they were dozens of meters in the air. He screamed something at her but she didn't pay attention. Everything was dizzy and she was about to throw up again. Her eyes tightly crossed, she only focused in that it will end soon.

She heard branches croaking, the air being cut in half as they hoped between the trees with some words screamed off. The only thing that mattered was that she was feeling like dying. She remembered those times when she was pushed out till her limits, that bad time she had up in Targon. Was she getting weaker?

Landing on the ground again was like being pulled by a rope directly from her hips. Rakan's shoulder pinned horribly at them as he stood up again, being to first one to do so. The inertia got the worst from her because her body smashed on him right after. A short and sharp cough exploded out her mouth as she plopped on the dirt painfully, her head almost hitting the grass directly.

"Shit! She slipped off!"

Lux coughed a couple of times, trying really hard to not throw her stomach out. The feather that was covering her mouth lied harmlessly besides her, its edges ripped off. Rakan cringed a little and he seemed to not know what to do. He approached a little to Lux with jazz hands, very carefully.

Xayah stared at the feather for some seconds, forgetting about them. Green sparkles burned furiously off the ripped edges, denoting that some magic had been applied to it. She couldn't sense any of it coming from the human, though. An anxious feeling took over, her teeth taking it out on her lips, her face twitching in a troubled one.

"I'm fine… I'm fine." Lux managed to say after a final cough that gave her enough energy to keep up. She tried to say something else, but her tiredness took over and forced her to shut up. She was simply too tired to keep talking. Rakan seemed to give up as well.

"Xayah?"

He looked at her, completely dubitative. She saw him, then Lux, who was still recovering from the fall, but ina very quiet way. His gut dropped at seeing her. She never wears that kind of face on.

"On your back." She blurted out of blue, moving at him. Rakan paid her a puzzled glance. "Put her on your back. We… pushed her too far. Come on, I'll help you."

Xayah walked up to Lux and grabbed her by the armpits, raising her. Rakan blinked and quickly rushed to her front, turning around and crouching down to receive the mage. The Vastaya woman pushed Lux up on his back, undoing the feathers on her arms and putting them above his shoulders and raising her legs so Rakan could grab them as well. Once she was settled up, Xayah stood up, Rakan doing so as well.

"Let's go."

Lux shook uncomfortably on him, not used at all being carried by a stranger, and worse, one of her kidnappers. Her body cringed oddly as she let him be with her, not having enough strength to do anymore. Her eyes half-closed in a permanent effect of the tiredness, making her sight go partial between seeing right and not. And for what she hated herself the most was that actually Rakan's back was really comfortable, probably the feather's doing. All she could manage to do was to dump on him and keep her eyes relatively open, trying to not fall asleep.

Some words were spoken between the couple but she didn't hear anything worth her attention. She didn't know exactly what happened between all that hoping on the trees before, but thanks to that, they now were on a different place than before. The trees were as gigantic as before, but they were less dense, and she could actually see spaces between them. It was less claustrophobic.

Her ears had a symphony of nature sounds everywhere. She could catch birds cheeping and even spotted some wild small animals running around not so far away from them. It was like a completely different word. The trees were glimmer than before, despite having dark colours, and even the dirt gave off a fresh smell of rain. The awkward ambient melted away as she didn't give them any kind of problematic signal. The only thing that denoted she was there was Rakan holding her.

Some time went by.

Out of nothing, she saw one particularly big tower hanging out of the branches of one tree some meters away. Despite being half dead, she caught the silhouette of someone noticing their approaching.

"Great, they know we're here," Xayah said, apparently sounding annoyed. Lux could tell she was lying though.

"This is gonna be awesome! I'm digging to know how everyone's doing!" Rakan answered back with a grin, his movements even more energetic than before.

Lux frowned, disappointed at the halt of the conversation, but the brush of the feathers on her face calmed her down. She would have more chances to gather information. She could use those feathers pretty well. Won't he mind if she takes a bunch of them?

A loud horn echoed through the woods, startling her slightly. When she was about to wonder about it, she heard them chuckling silently, knowingly.

"This home sounds like kind of ancient." She thought, hiding herself in the long feathers. "More like… a village? Tribe? Some Vastaya people from the League came from tribes as well…"

They moved not more than a minute before a tall wall made out of dry dirt and roots that sprawled over it freely appeared in the distance. The thing grew up to fill tons of meters in the air, and despite looking that it was falling over, the roots seemed to hold it in place, apparently contributing with the natural structure. The wall was circular and it going on covering space where she looked. It has its small towers and another she caught another fortified layer right behind it.

"That doesn't look at all natural. That, or they're in perfect harmony with nature."

The sound of the steps suddenly changed to one of gravel-like. Lux peered down and noticed that they were actually walking on small little rocks. Her eyes got a move first on it and advanced to the end of it, right where the wall was. An incredibly big oval-shaped hole with one giant gate made out of metal and hardwood greeted her, wide open. How did she miss that?

Her lips separated from each other as she stared at the small crowd that was creating at the beginning of the gate She didn't need to force her eyes to notice that they were Vastaya as well, the same as Xayah and Rakan. She spotted adults, teens (could they be called like that?) and even kids. They were shouting at them in a language she couldn't understand in a very happy way.

In her eye corner, she spotted Rakan turning his head at Xayah and looking intently at her, having a mental conversation. She looked back at him and sighed before nodding.

"Be careful."

"Oh yeah!" He answered at her with a bright smile. He prepared himself and grabbed Lux's legs safely. The black haired blinked. "YO! EVERYONE! I'M BACK!"

Lux yelped in surprise as he took off running wildly at them, darting through the air like a bullet. Her fingers grabbed on his neck to avoid her back falling off him and grimaced in embarrassment. Rakan skidded on the ground before he yelled in joy at the Vastayas, laughing heartedly. Why is she taking place on this?

The next minute went by with her hiding her face on Rakan's cape as he talked frantically with everyone around again with that strange language, something that made her uneasy. Her cheekbones wrinkled uncomfortably as she caught glimpses of everything around. Xayah caught up with them the next moment, joining the banter as well with a smile, everyone forgetting about the mage for some precious minutes.

It was inevitable someone taking notice of her presence. She wasn't an expert of the subject, but she could easily tell when someone was talking about her.

The words flew off someone's mouth and the ring inside her triggered.

"Oh, she?" Rakan answered peering at her through his shoulder, this time in English. "She is… uh, our... Prisoner?"

Something like "what?" came out from the same person who made the question.

"We need to take her to the Boss." Rakan said with a shrug, looking at Xayah who nodded at him.

"She doesn't looks like a Vastaya. I don't see her… differences." Another voice talked from the other side. Some people hummed in agreement. "From which tribe she comes from?"

Rakan's tongue seemed to tangle around itself.

"She's homeless. We found her in the woods not so far away from her so we thought it was the best to bring her here for now." Xayah said before Rakan could do anything. He shot her a glance, questioning her curse of action, but she shut him with another one.

"Uh, yep. Totally." Rakan said with an innocent grin. Xayah resisted the need to roll her eyes. He wasn't good at lying.

"We'll catch up with you guys later." Xayah stepped in front of Rakan, using her arm to grab his. "I need to talk with him."

"He will be very happy to see you, Xayah." An elderly voice spoke softly.

Xayah was silent for a moment before she nodded.

…

Lux's weird humour sense scored a new joke at saying that she survived the first encounter. After the small greeting the Vastaya couple received, they excused themselves to keep going; mostly Xayah, Rakan seemed ready to grow off roots right there. They said a pretty underlined 'till next time' before stepping in the other side of the wall, with Rakan waving them back with his arm. After the mage recovered from being the centre of attention again, something that hadn't happen in such a long time, the first peek inside left her speechless.

The sight of a hidden, magical village flashed in Lux's eyes, surprising the hell out of her. A dirt street appeared in front of them with two parallel lines of houses at its sides. They had the bases of hardwood and metal while the walls were made of some kind of hard-looking leather. Looking further at her sides, the same thing repeated with more streets. She allowed herself to gape a little after looking up, noticing that there were also buildings hanging out of the trees. Some of them were pinned while some were being held by very thick ropes. Wood bridges were connected between them, and even with a small kind of plaza high above.

Right after passing by the gate, the greetings didn't stop.

Lux's eyes fixed above Rakan's shoulder again when a couple of new voices were heard by her ears. Another pair of Vastayas greeted them with such a fuss that surprised Lux a little. They didn't waste any time to strike up a conversation with the lovers, quickly starting to tell them something that sounded like questions. Rakan smiled happily before he started talking with them in his language, enjoying the attention. Xayah was slightly silent but talked as well when needed. Lux was glad she was good hiding because they didn't noticed the bulge on Rakan's back.

When the mage looked at the new Vastaya guy, curiosity forcing her to do so, she realised that the clothing Rakan had kind of ran in the tribe. He also had a cape, a different green one and maybe not as pretty as Rakan's, but the bare chest was still at sight, something that she still couldn't understand. It was December and it was chilly. When those nipples stood out, she looked away, the ghost of discomfort haunting her. Her attention moved towards the next one; the other woman had a similar appearance with Xayah, the cape apparently being the core of the clothing in there.

Because it was something that happened really often in her life, her luck ran out. This time, the conversation was handled over in their language and it developed the same as before. Some things were said regarding her, and she got all self-conscious at being the attention-drawer. They probably asked who she was and why she was on Rakan's back. Xayah spoke up like before and the matter was done within seconds. The quartet said goodbyes to each other before the lovers started moving again.

Lux decided it was the best to ignore everything for now or else she would get another headache. She chewed on the incredibly sight of the village, watching the people going everywhere doing their daily things. More and more Vastayas stopped to say hi and she didn't bother paying attention. She felt like in that way she could be easily more ignored.

They strolled practically through the middle of the village, the length of the way being considerably longer than she thought. It was like another Ionian city, but this one felt more magical. It definitely hadn't as much commercialization as Eríni, the biggest example of it being a much concurred restaurant that looked more like a family-public house where everyone was welcomed. There were less if anything stores, and the roadside stalls were plentiful. The sky was visible this time thanks to lesser trees; she could already see some starts starting to appear.

She smiled a little when she spotted a group of Vastayas touching some strange instruments in one circular spot in the middle of the street, singing within them and having the time of their lives. She saw another Vastayan couple walking pretty close to each other, having a nice time. She saw a bunch of kids actually dancing and sparring with each other, laughing. It was so normal here. It was kind of different than Demacia.

"They're people, after all…" She thought, humming. "How come no one knows about this place? Is this really inside the forest?"

The fortified wall that surrounded the village appeared again at the distance. Her eyes, widened, lied on the biggest tree she ever, in her life, and inside there. She could swear that it had a dozen of meters wide, and that it reached up to the clouds, the big leaves going even further. She irremediably analysed it, finding another structure on the very top of the tree, right where the roots started to grow to different directions. It was big and it even had a small balcony that was supported by big hardwood pillars that redirected the weight of it to the tree. Pretty cool.

Someone important was up there.

They stopped. Lux gazed at the two brawny, Vastaya men that were guarding the make-shift elevator that leaned towards above. Some white metal with wood formed its shape. It was a medium-sized box with one door of metal bars. It had a pulley wheel above, whoever it was connected to it extended up till the balcony. She had the feeling it was a pretty tough kind of rope.

The Vastaya couple greeted with a smile the guards, another conversation happening. This time, it was shorter. The guards stepped aside after a final word from Xayah. The woman strolled to the elevator, Rakan after her, and they opened the door and stepped in silently. A lever was right beside them in the right wall. After a simply pull of it, the elevator triggered with a click sound and started to rise in the air.

Lux leaned a little over Rakan, looking below. The tall figures of those Vastaya guards got smaller and smaller till the point they weren't recognizable by her human eye, alongside with the village. Every meter up made up the sight beautiful and beautiful. The last time she was this high was when Galio picked her up years ago when she first met him.

"It's beautiful."

Rakan's ears twitched a little at hearing her voice. He took a peek of her through his shoulder while Xayah half-turned her head to look at her. He seemed surprised, but Xayah had an inscrutable face.

"It is. This is our home." Xayah answered, turning to gaze at the village below with Lux. She took some seconds before talking again. "It's what we both are trying to protect. It won't be beautiful anymore if it gets destroyed."

"What? Who are trying to destroy it?" Lux frowned, truly puzzled.

Xayah stare was deep this time. Rakan was silent.

"The humans. They're taking away the magic. The less magic we have, the more life we lose."

Lux muttered a low 'oh' before she rested her head again on the cape, clearly uncomfortable with the dense atmosphere.

"So they think I'm basically trying to kill them. Perfect. PERFECT. These people…" Lux felt bad.

The elevator kept moving up for some seconds at a normal rate, the only entertaining thing was seeing the village getting like a dot in a draw. Rakan was tall enough to do so without stretching that much her neck, so she used it while she could. When the familiar pillars appeared on her sight, Lux knew they were close to an end.

The balcony platform slide from above and lined up with the elevator, stopping only when they were at the same level. The lever emitted another click sound, and it was over. Lux hummed with disappoint.

"I can walk. You don't have to carry me anymore." Lux said monotonously, trying to shake herself off Rakan, the feathers being a really annoying burden.

Rakan looked at Xayah, asking silently for her permission. She gave it some thought before sighing and nodding slowly.

"Alright. Don't try anything or else I'll have Rakan knocking you out." The Vastaya woman warned, walking up to her and undoing the feathers with a wave of her hand.

Lux scoffed. She slowly pulled herself away from Rakan's back and pressed one leg in the elevator, and then the other one when Rakan dropped it. She stretched her whole being before smiling, happy to be free.

"Don't worry; I don't want him above me ever again." Lux reassured bitterly, remembering the sour pain he gave her. He smiled sheepishly. "We're like a hundred of meters up and the only way out is this thing. I think I can only cooperate."

Xayah rolled her eyes before she opened the door again. She gestured Lux to go first. The mage hugged herself as she moved, trying to warm herself up thanks to the cold breeze that was now stabbing her skin. Her first step was hesitant, fearing that the platform could suddenly break. When her feet tapped the wood, and not even a slight crack was heard, she got enough confidence to take over her whole body with her as well to the balcony.

There, some meters away and opposite at the balcony, there was a construction similar to the ones from the village. It rose up almost at the end of the leaves of the giant tree, extending its limits like a spider. It was more like a tree house, but with the tint of… Vastayan? Was on it.

It looked cozier than she thought.

"Let's get moving." Xayah said, getting ahead of them and walking to the entry. Lux followed her right between the two as another whirl of wind knocked off her face some hair. It was like a movie, the odd feeling was there. Xayah grabbed the two layers of hard feather that acted as door and pushed them aside. "Don't touch anything." She warned.

Lux hummed a lazy uh-uh as she moved in as well; building up her expectations of whatever things could be inside. Her eyes darted to every corner of her sockets, trying to see everything and then again she was left surprised, kind of disappointed and maybe a little empty. She may be still hungry.

It was a house, and they were in what seemed like a sort of living.

Lux frowned in confusion as she slowly walked, her boots not doing to best at helping to keep the brown carpet clean. She slipped around like a cat as she tried to figure out the Vastayan furniture set. It was a fairly short tiny table, some couches and one particular big stone fireplace; her mind cracking at the illogic of it. Rakan followed after her letting out a cheerful exclamation when she approached the fireplace, touching with her fingers the rough stone of the chimney.

"Oh! This hasn't changed at all!" He chirped with a grin, glancing around and twirling on his feet. He set off the entry and walked up to the big couch, passing by Xayah and throwing himself on it and resting with a dramatic pose. He sighed as if he just ran a marathon. "You guys go ahead. I'll chill out a little bit. That got me so worn out!"

Xayah rolled her eyes before she strolled to him, her fingers reaching up for his furry ear. A small squeeze and an unmanly squeal later, he was stood up beside his girlfriend with a hurt face, protecting his ear from anymore attacks. Lux gave up in trying to decipher the fireplace and moved to them again, seeing that the circular room had some hallways left to see.

"Follow me. And Rakan, don't get distracted, alright? I need you to keep an eye on her." Xayah warned with a frown, Rakan immediately listening after another 'Yes, Ma'am!' Lux hid behind her hair and snickered.

Lux kept on her inspection of the place as they strolled through the hallway that was in front of them, noticing some pretty paintings that were hung in the wall. It didn't take so long to hit a small room with a wooden spiral staircase, again with some extra hallways to go on. Lux's eyes widened when she looked through one window aside that pointed directly at the opposite side of the village. She leaned just slightly on it, looking how the forest below seemed capable to be crushed by her finger easily if she wished. She even saw some black points with lines that resemblance the shapes of birds.

"This house is amazing. Kind of unorthodox… But so amazing." Lux thought, raising her nose to look at the skies. It was already afternoon now, and that meant two, almost three days out of Eríni. She needed to go back again as soon as she can, but this was needed to clear up this first. It was a pain. "What if the tree suddenly falls? How they're escaping from here? They're half birds, maybe they can fly or something."

"Girl, you're deep in it!"

Lux blinked before she stepped back of the window, turning around to see Xayah and Rakan looking at her. He was lying on the stair while arms crossed, shooting her a questioning glance. Xayah was on the first step of it, giving her the same bored but focused face of hers.

"Sorry, I spaced out." She apologized bluntly, walking to them. "I was actually thinking how cool your cape is." Lux said with a tiny smile.

Rakan's face knocked off and his cocky posture fell apart over surprise. Lux bit her tongue to avoid smiling her amusement off at seeing how he blinked at her compliment and turned to see his cape over his shoulder. Everyone could have seen the display of proudness moving out of his eyes.

"Uh, Really?! I guess you see it! I'm too sexy to be ignored" He said dismissively, working up his back straight up again and smiling cockily towards her, doing something with his arms.

"She's lying, darling." Xayah said from behind, something unreadable being told off her words. "She's trying to not laugh." Lux swallowed back her face. Did she look that shabby?

Rakan seemed that he just got kicked in the gut. He scoffed dramatically.

"You always get angry at women's compliments about me!" He cried, turning to look at her. Xayah's eyes widened a little, her facing twitching a little out of embarrassment. "See?! You just give it away! Can't you be happy?! I'm yours and that's all what matters! No one's winning me over!"

"Rakan! It is not that and you know it!" She yelled at him with narrowed eyes, tightly grabbing the banister with her hand. "I'm just saying she was tricking you! Don't believe whatever she says!"

"So my cape is actually UGLY?!" Rakan beamed, fully turning at her with an attempt of an angry face, turning out to be a broken one. Lux wasn't sure because she wasn't seeing.

The mage simply stared at them as the fight burned up. It was pretty entertaining.

"We'll talk about this later, Rakan!" Xayah hissed. "Shut it!"

And with that, Xayah took off on the stairs, ascending over them quickly. She stopped almost at the end.

"You TWO also come with me."

…

The stabbing-like aura that appeared thanks to the little fight before vanished when they stopped in front of what it seemed the most important room in there. Lux cringed a little around her body as she stared the big entry to another room, also covered in thick leather layers that hanged from the roof. She couldn't see what was next. Xayah turned to see at her.

"Follow me and don't make a noise, understood? Once inside, stay at the entry and don't speak unless you are told to do so." She dictated every single word with a blank tone, clearly not leaving space to answer. Lux nodded and tried to distract herself looking at the holes on her cloak she got after their fight in the woods. Xayah sighed and turned again, facing the front again.

Rakan putted his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it.

"You okay?" He asked concerned, looking at her intently.

Lux lips wrinkled against each other as she bear with the scene, trying to not overthink it. They didn't fight just minutes ago, of course not. Maybe she was getting them clashing. It wouldn't be the first problem she caused.

"Yeah. Just let's get this over with. If everything goes right, we can let her go. She doesn't know how to get here, so it's fine." Xayah answered quietly, barely enough just for both of them to hear.

Lux hummed in agreement, hearing it anyways because her listening has to be also trained, hoping that everything goes okay as well. Rakan nodded at her and then Xayah breathed deeply. She raised both her hands to her mouth and emitted a soft, chirpy sound out of her lips, similar to one a bird would do. The mage raised her brows in interest, and even more when, after one second of the howling, an male voice said something in their language from the other side.

Xayah lowered her hands and she stood even straighter than before, Rakan doing the same as well. Their demeanour changed completely and a serious aura surrounded them. Lux blinked slowly and did the same as well, knowing what that meant; she did it countless times long time ago. The Boss was at the other side, apparently, and he was someone to respect. Her stoic and emotionless face was missing but she left it out because she didn't think it was necessary for now.

The Vastaya woman finally took the step and pushed the leather, moving through it. Rakan followed not behind her but her side, looking even taller than before. Lux slowly went after them, noticing that both their purple and golden capes did a got mix.

The room was an a strange office, nothing she was used to. Lux immediately looked around it almost scarily, noticing bookshelves at her left and a small place to take a load off in the middle with two couches and another shorty table. It had some empty glassed with a bottle aside of what could be some kind of alcohol. A thick, white and brown layer was in the middle of the circular room covering up half of it. There was a huge map pinned at that side-wall, displaying the forest with a very extensive key and looking very steady, which made Lux reconsider if the walls were truly leather or not. In front of her was a huge desk out of dark brown wood with pretty decorations here and there. It was mostly empty, with just a few strange papers, a quill and some ink. What caught her attention was the huge picture window that took over the front wall, pointy directly into the village and further.

Her right was the winner side. There was a tall, brawny man with an incredibly beautiful, long cape of an amethyst colour. It easily reached at the floor being so long, and still it didn't look excessive at all. Lux thought it was cool. Despite not seeing his other side, the man had pretty burgundy hair, similar to Xayah's and she also managed spot some tanned skin. She looked up to his ears, pointy and flurry as well, being a mix between burgundy and yellow. They were touchable.

He was in front of an old rack of dark wood, quite large, with two small doors at opposite edges and two planks. He was in deep thought at the very moment they got in, looking intently at whatever was in front of him, she couldn't tell because he was covering the sight. But when they stepped in, he snapped out of it and turned around.

Lux admitted that the man was as gorgeous as Rakan, from body to face; you couldn't simply turn down like that. Longevity was something normal in here, apparently. The shirtless thing again made itself present and she shyly looked away, rocking her hands behind her back, trying to think in other things.

The Boss eyes widened at the sight of them. Lux heard heavy footsteps towards them and she had to look on that way forcefully because her mind. The Boss closed the distance between him and Xayah and gave her a very tight hug that radiated off love no matter wherever you looked it. Xayah returned the hug without hesitation, a little softer but with the same feeling on it. Lux peered at Rakan, and he didn't look angry. Matter of fact, he was smiling fondly.

"Who's this man to her? He's not just her boss?" She wondered, her eyes starting to ache.

After some seconds, they split apart. Then, the Boss looked at Rakan, and he looked back.

"Aw, come here, you old man!" Rakan yelled with enthusiasm, practically jumping over the other and tangling his arms around him.

The Boss laughed, and his voice sounded younger than Lux would think. He hugged Rakan back tightly.

Lux tried to disappear from the very obvious reencounter scene, feeling extremely out of place. This only happened to her. Her light magic wouldn't do it, anyways. So getting invisible was discarded. Maybe jumping off the tree was a good idea.

They moved back from the embrace and exchanged some words in their language, making Xayah to join at them after some moments. A perfect bubble Vastaya-like surrounded them where she could swear their feathers were glowing… till the Boss noticed her presence. Lux thought very unfortunate of herself.

His happy face slowly melted away; it was something that also happened to her sometimes. His gaze switched in the stoic mode, something that should get her shitting in her pants, but it did anything. She endured worse. Nothing defeated father's in times when she was a child.

The words flew off his mouth. Xayah's face wrinkled a little, as if the bubble actually existed and the leftovers after exploding sprinkled all over her eyes. Lux tried to remember Sona's Ethereal song to calm herself down.

"Yes. She's a human." Xayah answered honestly and flat out. Lux toyed with her tongue inside, wondering if the Vastayas also had the same kind of disliking towards humans as well. It was understandable. They give what they get. She felt embarrassed of her specie out of sudden. "Please hear me out, father."

Lux ho-ho-ed mentally at hearing the last word. All the more reason Rakan wasn't angry. Those both seemed very jealous of each other but the effect just didn't do with him.

"Something's within her. The forest… the forest itself acted on her protection." Xayah said slowly, weirdly, like if those words were just ridiculous to being told by her.

The first emotion that showed off the Boss' face was surprise. She expected him to hide it immediately afterwards, but his face just got soften out of blue, as if he was taking account something. He was still unreadable, though.

"Please, check on her. What I saw… wasn't clear. I couldn't figure it out and it was messy."

Lux frowned. What did she mean by saw? Did it happen while she was unconscious? Despite needing to question it right away, she decided to keep her mouth shut for now. Insolence brought bad things throughout her life.

"It might be something important."

At this point, the Boss' stare was fixed on her, making her slightly uncomfortable. She did hold his eyes, to look away this time was a sign of weakness and she couldn't allow herself to show more than she actually did today and yesterday. His eyes were dark red, a very pretty colour, something that got a little of envy out of her. But when his eyes switched green, she knew she might need to start worrying.

The more he looked at her, the more his face changed. Lux didn't know exactly what he was seeing on her, but the ambient turned tense. He walked up to her and stopped right in front. She had to look up to him because he was a lot taller than her. Maybe he was one head taller?

"What is your name, human?" He asked steadily and without beating around the bush, being the first time Lux heard him speaking English. She thought he couldn't.

His eyes were still green and his gaze seemed to go beyond her soul. She was being read and she didn't like not a bit of it. Was she an Circus spectacle?

"Lucy." The word came out of her mouth before she could answer, flowing as naturally as how she spoke usually.

His face twitched a bit and she managed to identify something related to bewilderment. It disappeared. His body showed off suspicion, how could that be even possible?

"You're lying. What is your true name?" He asked, this time kind of threatening.

Lux frowned deeply, disliking it. How did he know? She didn't need her mask to lie. It was already in her blood and she could do it perfectly, she was pretty sure. Giving off her name shouldn't do any harm.

"You may call me Lux." She said reluctantly, half-breaking eye contact with him. "How did you know?" She couldn't help but ask, truly needing an answer.

Rakan and Xayah watched the exchange silently.

"Your magic. It gets obscure every time you lie." He answered. Lux stared at him, surprised. "My daughter and his boyfriend brought you here to me. Wouldn't you mind if we discuss this properly?"

Lux tried really hard to not seethe. She smiled crookedly. "You mean without them?" She said, pointing towards the lovers. Rakan blinked and Xayah looked intently at her father. "Well, it isn't like I have another choice, do I?"

The man turned and nodded slowly at Xayah, saying something with his eyes. She got the message. The woman turned around without complain and grabbed Rakan by his shoulders, startling him.

"Let's go out." She simply said, starting to push him at the exit.

"What?! Not happening! I wanna hear it!" He cried, putting some resistance. "They're gonna talk about it!"

"Rakan. Out. Now." She hissed, pushing even stronger.

He tried really hard, but his Boyfriend Vow didn't let him to overpower his girlfriend. At the end, they walked out of the office, their voices being heard until the sound of the stairs announced they depart. Lux blinked, and looked back at the Vastaya. He was staring at her. Creepy.

"What is your name? I told mine." She asked innocently and smiling. He paid her a wondering glance, considering her words.

"Ybar." He responded shortly. "Now, I have some questions for you."

Lux looked at him silently. "Oh, you sure have." He seemed pretty straightforward.

"Am I being the only one interrogated here?" She cut him off before he could speak. "Can I get some questions as well?"

He, again, glanced at her for some moments, getting the gears inside his mind working up her words before answering.

"That is fine with me." Ybar replied with his young, kind of harsh voice, walking up towards his desk and leaning down on it, crossing his arms; Lux walked some steps till the middle of the room, finding a cool spot near the couch. He stared at the space for some seconds, sorting out his thoughts before he spoke up again, some seconds later. "I'll go first. Is it fine to you?"

"Go on." Lux simply said. "Just as cocky like that Rakan guy, uh… It is because I'm an outsider?"

"Then. How did you exactly learn to use wild magic?" He began, fixing eye contact with her.

Lux stared at him, slightly confused. Her face lightened up an instant later.

"Oh, by wild magic you mean nature magic?" She said with a questioning face. He paid her a long glance before he nodded, almost hesitantly. "I, well, my grandma kind of introduced it to me. She said I had what takes to wield it." She said, remembering quite well her grandmother's words. Ybar nodded at her. "But wait, why do they keep saying to me that I'm robbing what's theirs? I mean, the magic doesn't unconditionally belong to them!" She said pissed off, referring to Xayah and Rakan.

Ybar shook his head with a compressive look.

"I can't really blame them for that. It's what I thought when I first see you. Lux, you are washed up with wild magic right now." He said.

"Alright. So what? I don't get the problem with that." Lux said, wrinkling her lips.

"You seem to don't understand the meaning of that." He said, narrowing his eyes. Lux glanced at him with the face of 'I clearly don't.' "When comes to magic and using it, there are two ways to do it. Either you were born with a special core to produce your own magic or you were born with a core not being able to produce magic but to use what's around. That's the case with humans." He explained quickly.

"I read something like that in the book Your Magic." Lux thought, nodding slowly. Her amazing memory did something good for her. "Keep on."

"A human being born with something like that is rare; I hadn't the chance of fighting tons of them, just a few. Those who has their core to produce magic get by with themselves until they get tired and the others who use magic around, their cores sieves it in order to not intoxicate the body. This means that no human is able to use directly the wild magic. But you aren't like that. You keep gathering wild raw magic as your wish."

Lux was silent, digesting the words that he just said. "That… makes sense… Maybe I got sick of using it, but tired of nature magic? That… never happened to me. Those first days in the forest simply were too much because I was already stressed for escaping away."

"So those who are able to do it besides me…" She began quietly, trying to catch up with him, but don't really feeling like to.

"Usually use impure, hurtful methods, never fully, but close enough to have a bit of the power. Those people use the wild magic to wicked goals and they don't care if they're destroying the forest." He completed the sentence, looking tenser than before. Lux felt he still had something to say. "That's why Xayah and Rakan thought you were trying to do something with. Our… encounters with those kinds of people hadn't been good ones. And then you just get the magic without even trying." He said. "I'm wrong; the magic simply comes at you."

Lux blinked a couple of times, her mouth slightly open. Her mind seemed to black out for a moment.

"And that's… kind of the big deal, isn't it?" She spoke with a grimace, not liking where this was going. This sounded weirdly familiar. Everything again was leading towards the same answer.

"It is. We won't know what exactly it is if we don't check it."

Lux's legs got flaccid for a moment and she almost fell over her knees if it wasn't for the couch that was nearby, salving her by just being a support for her arm. Her mind suddenly started to connect knots and she may know what he was referring to, too. She took a deep breath.

"Fine. Do it." She agreed. He raised one brow, clearly doesn't expecting her to be so collaborative. "If and when doesn't involve anything weird, like blood-stuff related or something like that."

He smiled crookedly, finding it amusing.

"It won't. I'm that trusting you won't do anything stupid, too." He said smoothly, standing up on his feet again. Lux frowned directly from the couch.

"Am I not being kind of enough to come here?" She said sarcastically, leaving out the whole kidnapping part. When he smiled at her again with hidden feelings, she knew that it wasn't necessary mentioning it. It was obvious.

He then turned around to the rack and started walk to it. She followed him with her gaze and she was surprised to notice that she missed a stained glass right in the middle of it, right at the same level of that man's head. It had pretty green clean strokes, and she suddenly found herself being unable to not even sense the space that was at the other side. A tiny sapling was inside, and it was incredibly floating in the little cube, some green sparkles coming out of the small amount of dirt and roots it had below.

Ybar did something with his hand that involved his magic, Lux felt it. Then, the glass clicked. His finger somehow managed to grab it and pull it outside like a door, effectively making possible now sense inside. His hands moved up and held the sapling with such a care that left Lux at loss.

The sapling was still floating on his hands with the same green sparkles when he turned around, facing her. His face was surprising, it was stiffened, and his guard was as high as a mountain. Lux's head slightly tilted to one side, knowing perfectly what his look meant. The little plant was important for some reason, and she needed to behave.

He strolled to her, maybe not as fast as Lux thought he would do. He then simply stood up in front of her, don't saying anything. She glanced at him, expecting some words but he was silent, and his face stoic. So Lux looked to his hands.

The poor sapling was ready to kick the bucket. It was dry, its cortex was paper-like and the only leaf at the highest branch threatened to fall off in any moment. It was kind of grey and it simply gave off a bad feeling to her. She wondered why Ybar had this in such a state.

"Poor little thing." She couldn't help but think, feeling heartache in her chest. "What could've happened to you? You should be dead and yet you're still kicking it off. Maybe I can do something…"

When her finger slowly stretched out for it, his whole being tense, reacted like very fragile glass that was about to broke. Something really bad could've happened if he hadn't caught the sight of green magic coming out of Lux's hand. He stood frozen on his legs as he watched how she naturally drove the greenness towards the sapling, wrapping it up cautiously. To his complete astonishment, the plant reacted.

The green magic did wonderfulness to it. The tree even cracked slightly before its cortex slightly straightened, getting it in a kind of normal shape instead of the sloping one as before. The greyness mixed up with healthy brown getting some its natural colour back and the dry leaf grew off its missing parts and seemed to shine out its beauty again. And then, just after seeing this, he noticed that the sapling had flown off his hands to above Lux's.

The strength on his legs ditched him. He collapsed on his knees over the floor. Lux's whole body startled and she looked below, an extremely confused face showing off her features.

"W-what happened?" She said, muttering just a little at the beginning. Did she do something wrong? "You fell!"

Ybar seemed completely speechless. His brows were blend on his forehead as he stared at her eyes, incredibleness being almost visible in them. He muttered some things at first but she couldn't understand him, it were merely mumbles. Then, he closed his mouth and opened it immediately after, putting himself together.

"You… you, you really are." He whispered loud enough for her to hear. Lux blinked at him and she shook her head, not getting what he was saying.

"What?"

"You really are the one we all have been waiting all this time." He said, reaching up with both his hand for Lux's. She stared at him, shocked to the bones. "To only one able to make possible the rebirth of the God-Willow Tree. The one from the prophecy."

Lux's whole body paled up and her soul flew out of her body. Her mouth was frozen in a 'o' shape. Ybar's mind apparently clicked because he suddenly dropped her hand and lowered his head as much as he could, kneeling down in front of her respectfully.

"My apologies, I didn't want to be disrespectful. Please, I beg your pardon."

Lux was a husk.

…

"Oh, man! What's taking them so long in there?!" Rakan whined annoyingly as he twisted around in Xayah's big bed in the floor below the office. "This is so unfair! I want to know what's going on in there."

Xayah looked up from the chair that was at the corner of her room and scraped roughly her nails with the purple feather below, sharpening it. She shook her head at him.

"We'll have to wait. You know we can't interfere." She said flat out. "It's something out of our reach." She reminded him, making the feather disappear and taking out another one. She was secretly dying to know as well, but she would never let Rakan know that.

He pouted at her from the bed.

"God, you're so bossy." He said, wrinkling his lips. Xayah was silent for that. The ambient went by like that for some seconds. "…But I like it. It's hot."

Xayah blinked and peered at him.

"Alright. I'll make out with you until your ears bleed."

…

Her head was pounding roughly and the stomach was currently in strike because it had enough nausea. She twitched uncomfortably in the couch, trying to not make eye contact with Ybar, whose body was currently sat down in the couch in front of her, something she managed to get after practically begging him to do so. The sapling floated around her, this time without her intervention, incredibly growing off a second leave.

Ybar seemed that he didn't like being sat down on the couch, and this wasn't going anywhere, so she decided to speak up first.

"I know about the prophecy." She said, turning her head towards him. Ybar's, now again, red eyes got more intense. "The question here is how you know about it."

He gathered his words.

"The prophecy has been taught to our tribe since the first time the Vasthayshai'rei met The Elementalist, even long before we Vastayas were born, during the times of the Rune Wars. The stories said he was a tall, blonde man whose heart brimmed kindness to our specie even in that time when we were considered as monsters. He was the one who planted the God-Willow Tree." He related as if the words were printed in his memory, a sort of homesick feeling coming out his mouth."

The black haired swallowed hard.

"What it is exactly the God-Willow Tree? I… it sounds familiar to me but I still don't know." She asked slowly, squeezing her hands.

"It was the heart of the word. One of the most beautiful things in the world. An immense tree even bigger than the one we are in." Lux's eyes widened. She found hard to believe there was a tree bigger than this one. But the face of Ybar didn't lie. She could see through it. "It was a treasure to us Vastayan, something that The Elementalist gifted us. Our ancestors said that the tree kept in line the magic and purified it with its golden light." He spoke with cherish, as if it was something that just happened yesterday. His face darkened afterwards. "That was until some… strange, snow people invaded us not so long time ago. We managed to beat them off but one of them chopped it off and since then, the magic hasn't been the same. That man disappeared and never knew anything about him."

"That's horrible!" Lux said, horrified at such turning out of events. She bit her lips as she looked back again at the little sapling floating beside her head. "This… could be then…"

Ybar's face got low. His whole demeanour ceased as her words hit him. Lux laughed nervously mentally. She hit one wrong button.

"My mother… She sacrificed her magic in order to save one seed of the God-Willow." He said gloomily, slight unfocused. Lux putted her hand on her chest, trying to calm down is heart that was about to pop off. "Since then, I've been trying to get it to live again, but I always failed. It was impossible to do such a thing for me. Only The Elementalist itself could do it, but he simply disappeared when he got overseas, trying to explore the New World days after the Rune Wars ended. Every Vastayan bend over backwards to find him, but it was for no avail. He simply vanished."

"Oh my- It's happening again. The headache is real." Lux thought, holding her head with her hand. Ybar caught her right in time and he was about to stood up, but she stopped him with a gesture of her hand. "P-please, sit down. I… I… please tell me what's with this behaviour of yours. Why are you treating me like this?"

"It's our mission." He said, getting back down reluctantly.

"What?"

"The Elementalist was said to appear again once the world is again under threat. A treat that not even us and the humans joining together could face." Ybar replied, this time standing up and walking to her. He extended his hand to her chivalrously. Lux grimaced a little but she accepted it anyways, pulling herself up with his help. "Our ancestors said to watch over once The Elementalist is back and help him through whatever he needs. But I guess they didn't know he would come back as a girl. And now, you are on charge of protect the world and balance its magic."

Lux mouth was open once he stopped speaking. She was frozen.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, eyeing her up.

Lux barely denied with her head, slowly.

"...Uh… No, I don't."

Ybar blinked at her, not so sure what to say after her answer. Lux let go off his hand and she looked down, hugging her body with both her hands. The man tried to say something, but something flashed in his senses, drawing his attention. He looked below with another kind of sight, spotting the white core of hers flickering, a dark aura appearing around it and starting to prowl around.

"This… To something like this happening… it's impossible." He thought, seeing how the dark aura tried to get in the light core, and failing because the light was too brilliant to it. "The most incompatibles things in the word… together. She must really be…"

Lux moved, snapping him out.

"This is just too much." She muttered, falling over the couch again, this time with a loud thump. He just glanced at her with a twitched face. "I… I spent my whole life trying to do something good for me, always listening my father and mother, doing as they said without complaint. I ran away from home leaving everything behind because of that."

Ybar was silent.

"And then… everyone comes up with this. I've been ignoring it now, but I just don't know if I can do it. I'm… so sorry." She lamented, denying over and over with her head, her voice breaking a little.

"That's fine to feel."

Lux's cheeks pumped up and itched. She slowly looked up to him with troubled face, meeting his gaze. He was crossed arms, his posture straightened and seeming as taller as ever.

"I can't imagine what you currently are feeling." He spoke slowly, his eyes half-open, like recalling something. "I may have an idea, but it's nowhere close to your situation. You were alone and I can't do anything to help with that." The words were said like sharpened bullets. Lux felt a bitter stabbing in her heart. "But… It is never wise to take a huge decision right away. I'm afraid to say that this is not something that you could run away off."

The words were cruel. Lux wanted to get angry at him but the logic was there, and she simply couldn't work against it.

"It is better to live without having to worry about the prophecy; it will catch up to you by itself." That was what Dante said to her, her head remembered it when she sobbed a little.

Was he right? Was she breaking her head for something that she couldn't avoid? Was she doomed? Lux smiled crookedly, frustratingly, her teeth tightening on each other, her eyes getting red and swollen. But she couldn't shed a single tear. Wasting her energies crying it away simply will get her down. She wanted to do it so hard yet her mind didn't let her do so. She was tired.

"Then what should I do?" Lux asked sourly, snapping at him with a wrinkled, angry face. "I am at astray. I don't know what to do. I'm just wandering around."

Ybar crouched down, stopping at the same level as her. Lux lowered her head and stared at him dead in the eye, her face emotionless.

"Listen closely when I say this." He said roughly. "You aren't alone. We are with you, and I'm pretty sure you have people you care about. Don't forget them."

Her face softened and shattered in a million of pieces. She looked away, crying some tears all of a sudden.

"You can go either the easy way or the hard one. I'm offering you a hand, and I want you to take it."

…

"Wait, it just hit me."

Xayah was in middle way biting his lips when he stopped her. He turned his head away from her and used his hand to support his face on the pillow, looking at the nothing while he twitched his burrows in thought. He, of course, had to move his leg as well to complete the thinking pose.

Xayah glared daggers at him, not liking being interrupted.

"When do we now when they're done? I mean, Boss' office is all the way up there and where down here." He reasoned, nodding at himself after saying so.

Xayah blinked. He was right.

"What if something went wrong? That chick had those weird lasers and she could make herself INVISIBLE!" Rakan suddenly screamed, freaking out. "Boss is really tough, maybe not as me, of course, but what if…?!"

Xayah was already storming out of the room.

"Babe, wait! You didn't give me that kiss!" He cried, going right after her.

…

"I need to tell someone first. I need to say goodbye to her." She said weakly, putting some effort to stand on her legs as she glared trough the picture window of the office, still receiving the outstanding sight of the village above.

Ybar looked at her, standing at her side.

"Whatever you wish. We'll be waiting for you no matter what." He answered, turning around.

Lux laughed nervously, feeling a little flustered. She turned around, too, feeling that this was the end of the meeting.

"It is really okay? Won't it be a problem for you? It seems like Vastaya people kind of dislike humans." She said with her lips furrowed in concern, feeling a little concerned.

Ybar shook it off with his hand.

"Nonsense. You will have a good welcome along with my people. I'm pretty sure almost every single Vastayan, especially the Lhotlan tribe, knows about the prophecy." He reached up for her shoulders with his arms, squeezing them friendly. "I promise we'll take care of you."

"Well… If you look at me like that…" Lux thought, putting a tiny smile on her face at the red stare from him. "Alright."

Loud steps come from the hallway and then the thick leather from the exit were pushed, the figure of Xayah appearing immediately after. She stared at them with one of the most confused faces ever. Ybar let Lux go and looked at her.

"Father? What happened?" She asked with a strange voice, not understanding what she just saw.

Ybar passed behind Lux and walked to his daughter.

"Oh, no…" Lux thought from behind, grabbing the hood from her cloak and hiding her head in it.

"Xayah. Gather everyone. I have something to tell you all."

…

I never thought this story could have this turn of events!

Next chapter probably will take more than since I'm going on Holidays. The next one probably will be called Prism. Try figuring it out! Till next time.

Don't forget to review.