Prologue
THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!
Kobo Kanaeru's Mechanical Labor Walker walked down the long length of the Yokosuka Naval Base quay, towering over the smaller hangars, buildings and drydock facilities. Compared to the tall dock cranes and most of the international contingent of warships in transit through Tokyo Bay, the ML Walker's eight meters was a dwarf.
And yet, sitting inside that cockpit, Kobo felt incredibly tall! Much taller than her meager height ever permitted.
She savored every sight that her new perspective gave her, and the makeshift HALO module strapped around her head glowed bright powder blue.
Through that radiant HALO, Kobo's thoughts were translated and coursed through a crude spaghetti spread of cables manually plugged to her ML Walker's control panel. That unwieldy mix of high tech, low tech and borderline sci-fi bits and pieces came together and allowed Kobo to power her mech with the power of her own mind.
Kobo remembered seeing the term during her lectures in the Academy.
' Digital Telepathy ' it was called.
Kobo didn't truly understand the mechanics of that concept, but it was clear that the HALO worked. It made Kobo's mech follow her mental commands and her movements with human-like grace and fluidity. The entire machine stopped and moved as Kobo willed it - just like how the human body followed the whims of the human brain.
Inside the cockpit, Kobo Kanaeru was the brain of the mech.
Knowing that was intoxicating for her.
Kobo turned to the naval warships sailing out of Yokosuka and waved to them. Her mech followed suit and the warships answered with blasts of their fog-horns. All the while, Kobo had a big, wide smile on her lips and her imagination ran wild.
Just how far would she be able to make that machine move?
Kobo pondered with rising excitement. If she busted some moves right there and then, would she get the mecha to dance and twirl and follow the dance routine of that viral but anonymous idol group she listened to so often?
Could she follow the choreography of Id:entity Voices ?
Would it be Twitter-worthy?
As Kobo's thoughts wandered further and further away, her HALO module started to dim. Her mech's once-smooth movements started to become stiff at first - and then outright unresponsive!
The ML Walker stopped moving!
"What the hell…!?" Kobo complained.
Kobo furrowed her brow and searched the cockpit for manual controls of any kind, only to find none - aside from a bright red emergency escape button by the hatch of her cockpit. She looked at the button and frowned at it, hoping that she didn't have to resort to that again.
At a loss for what else to do, she even tapped on her HALO. By then, the HALO was flickering dimly and its powder blue color was much less vivid.
While she was fiddling around, a formless screen appeared and hovered over her cockpit dashboard - just like it did in the cockpit of her Strato-Hornet in the flight simulator.
On that screen, the face of her guardian, Olivia Kureiji, appeared.
" Something wrong, kiddo? " Olivia asked with concern. But then, she cleared her throat and corrected herself, " I mean… uh… what is your status, Zero-Eight? Your MLW stopped moving. "
"My mech stopped following my orders! It was working just fine a minute ago…" Kobo reported, tapping on her HALO once more, "And this HALO thingy isn't so bright anymore."
" Have you tried turning it on and off again? " Olivia teased.
"Oy…" Kobo frowned.
Olivia laughed and put her hands on her hips. Her MLW followed suit and mimicked Olivia's movements perfectly. Through that formless screen, Kobo saw Olivia's HALO glowing brightly with a robust, ruby red color. It glowed much more brightly than Kobo's even when she had control of her mech earlier.
' Holy cow, that's bright. It's not flickering at all either… ' Kobo recoiled from the sight, but she still asked, "S-so, what's the verdict Olivia- nees… I mean, ma'am?"
" Doesn't take a genius to find out what happened, Zero-Eight… which is a good thing 'cause I'm the farthest thing from a genius in the IDSC! " Olivia laughed again.
Kobo laughed dryly. She was inclined to agree, but said nothing.
Olivia and her mech pointed to Kobo and gave her diagnosis, " Your HALO synchronization is rock bottom right now 'cause you're distracted. Get your head back in the game - still your mind and focus your thoughts. "
"Still my mind and focus on my thoughts…" Kobo repeated her mantra.
She brushed away her fanciful dreams of dancing and idol routines and focused on the task at hand. Bit by bit, Kobo's HALO module regained its luminance. The stiff controls of Kobo's mech loosened and it started to follow Kobo's actions again - albeit with less smoothness and grace than the first time.
"It worked!" Kobo cheered, "It's still hard to move though…"
" Good for you! " Olivia cheered too, " Alright then, back on your feet, soldier! Let me help you. "
Olivia's ML Walker sauntered over to Kobo's and extended its hand. Kobo snorted and willed her own mech to take the hand. She let the bright-haloed Olivia help her back up to her feet.
"... thanks." Kobo puffed up her cheeks.
Then, Olivia's mech patted the shoulder of Kobo's mech.
PANG! PANG!
" You'll get the hang of it, kiddo. " Olivia beamed through the screen.
"Mm…!" Kobo nodded.
While Kobo and Olivia were speaking, the other eleven mechs of the batch started approaching and making their way down the quay.
THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!
One particular mech stood out and moved ahead of the others: the mech of Zeta Vestia. While the other cadets struggled to even inch forward, Zeta got her mech to move a smidge faster. It wasn't anywhere close to the synchronization that Kobo achieved, but Zeta's efforts were admirable.
" This is… harder than I thought. " Zeta spoke through the radio, puffing and panting from inside her cockpit, " How the hell did fountain-girl get the hang of it so quickly earlier? "
"Maybe it's because my brain is really, really big!" Kobo boasted, folding her arms. Her mech folded its arms too, following her lead.
" ... huh!? " Zeta suddenly panicked.
Did she not know her TACCOM was on?
Kobo smirked on screen and scoffed, "Heh."
Zeta flared her nostrils and shot back, " Maybe it's because your head's really empty, fountain girl! "
Kobo's face went red. Then, her HALO module started to dim yet again. Zeta laughed at her expense.
" Break it up, you two. " Olivia intervened, " You'll set a bad example for the class. "
Olivia said this, but Kobo could see their instructor smiling through her camera screen.
It made Kobo wonder if Olivia and the rest of ID2 goofed off just like that too when they were cadets.
Either way, once the rest of the Majestic 12 cadets brought up their ML Walkers to the quay, Olivia continued her lecture through the mech's TACCOM.
" Okay class. Attention!" " Olivia commanded.
Kobo, Zeta and the Majestic 12 stood in attention and their mechs followed suit.
Olivia's mech paced around in front of the cadets' mechs just like she did when she lectured in the lecture hall.
"This is your first taste of CWO and the HALO modules, ladies. In more ways than one, all of you are re-learning how to walk - but that's okay. That's how I… and my colleagues and my simpais started out." Olivia heaved a sigh, "Once you learn to walk, I'll teach you how to run. Then, once you learn to run, I'll teach you how to fight!" She clenched her fist and raised it up to the sky, "Master your minds and bodies - learn how to become one with your machines - and I'll turn you into forces of nature that the Ancient Ones will learn to fear!"
"Olivia-neesan…" Kobo muttered. She held her hands close to her heart and nodded.
Olivia clapped in her cockpit and her mech followed her actions with perfect synchronization. She and her mech pointed to the far end of the naval base near the IDSC Strato-Hornet hangars.
" We're gonna take a nice little stroll to that hangar and then come back. Maybe we'll do a few rounds just to stretch those legs! " Olivia announced, " Our goal today is to get used to this system. Operating them's a lot more involved than the Strato-Hornets, after all! Follow me - and try to keep up! "
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Kobo and the other cadets answered through the radio.
And so, the twelve cadets operated their ML Walkers and followed Olivia Kureiji's mech down the quay.
Little did they know that they were going to get more than they bargained for.
Blue Horizon
Out of Control
Twenty-Third Scene - Intrusive Thoughts
...
THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!
The steady thud and thump of ML Walker feet shook the quay of Yokosuka Naval Base well into the afternoon in a rhythmic cadence of alloyed steel striking reinforced concrete. Olivia Kureiji's voice, broadcast through the speakers of her walker, spurred her students to keep up with her machine. All the while, the dozens of other ID3 cadets watched on from afar like spectators at a horse racing track.
Just like with Reine from the night before, Olivia cranked up the difficulty of the cadets' exercise. It started with basic movements at first but transitioned to walking and - eventually - jogging.
Most of the cadets struggled to keep up with even that, but Kobo took every challenge that Olivia gave her with glee. Zeta, a distant second, scrambled enough strength and willpower to stay in the game and keep her own HALO luminous.
Kobo would pull ahead and Zeta would fight to catch up - and she did. The two of them jabbed and shot barbs at each other all the way through without once losing control of their machines.
Operating the walker quickly became second nature to them.
Compared to them…
" Damn it… " cursed one of the Majestic 12 cadets, " Of course it's those two again… "
" Kanaeru and Vestia - those fucking prodigies! " a second one chimed furiously, " I can't even move this fucking mech faster than a crawl… but they're just sauntering with Miss Kureiji like it's nobody's business! "
" Those damn show-offs! Even last night, they were rubbing their talents in our faces! " cried a third, " Look at them! Their HALOs are so bright! I can't… I can't stand them! "
The resentful cadets eyed the video feeds of Kobo and Zeta and saw the bright powder blue of Kobo's HALO and the shimmering bright silver of Zeta's HALO. Compared to their own, it was like a contrast of night and day!
" Must be nice to be born with talent… " a fourth cadet sighed, " To be destined for great things… but what about us? "
" What about us…? " a fifth cadet asked.
Then, a sixth - and a seventh.
They spoke in a harrowing, trance-like unison. In their ears, they heard a synthetic, disembodied voice.
" Oh, ye downtrodden. We have o̷͙͒b̸̻͠s̷͕̕é̷̻r̶̘̍v̴̪̍e̴͚̋d̶̯̎ your plight. Show them how you truly feel in no uncertain terms. Show them - I daresay - with action! "
Their HALOs flickered, waned and dulled until they went pitch black. And yet - their ML Walkers continued to move. They didn't shut down and stall like Kobo's did.
The connection between their thoughts and their HALOs were crystal clear.
Frighteningly so.
As the cadets stewed in their resentment, the controls of their machines became easier to wield. They picked up the pace and started catching up with Olivia and the prodigies.
THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD!
Olivia noticed the mechs of the rest of the Majestic 12 approaching.
" Oh, have they finally figured out the controls? " Olivia mused, happy at first.
Her enthusiasm chilled immediately when she saw the video feeds of those cadets on the TACCOM had frozen and crackled with static. Kobo's and Zeta's feeds, meanwhile, carried on as usual.
" What the…? " Olivia suddenly paused, speaking through the group's TACCOM, " I'm having some technical issues with the equipment. Units 3 through 12, do you copy? "
There was no response.
Olivia gulped.
" Zero-Six. Zero-Eight. How about you two? " Olivia asked.
"We're doing alright, ma'am." Kobo answered, "But the TACCOM is bugging out on us for the other cadets."
" Agreed. Their video feeds are bad on my end too. " Zeta confirmed, " Should we call for the Maintenance crew to… wait! "
Before Zeta could finish, one of the ML Walkers of the other cadets broke from its jog into full sprints. That machine got down on all fours and rushed forward like a furious steel primate.
Towards them!
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
" Hold on… what are you all doing!?" Olivia warned through the TACCOM again. Her voice grew desperate, " How the hell are you doing that!? Unit 3! Stand down. Exercises are over! "
Again no answer.
" I SAID, STAND DOWN! " Olivia clenched her fists.
Her words didn't get through to them. The maddened mech galloped on, undeterred. The others followed closely behind.
Zeta's face went pale. She willed her mech to raise up its arms and shield her, but it came too late. The first of the galloping mad mechs pounced on her, without warning and threw a punch.
WHAM!
The fist of the pouncing mech sailed under Zeta's guard and slammed straight into her cockpit.
" GAAAHHH! " Zeta screamed.
Twisted metal, shards of shattered reinforced glass and leaking gasoline fell down to the concrete quay, followed by drops of crimson red blood.
"RICH GIRL!" Kobo wailed.
The rogue mech pulled back to throw another punch into Zeta's cockpit. The bloodied Zeta gritted her bloodied teeth and watched the shadow of the fist looming over her. She trained her bloodshot eyes on the mech's fist and hissed, " DO YOUR WORST! "
Kobo clicked her tongue and moved her own mech. She dashed forward and tackled the rogue.
SLAM!
The rogue mech recoiled and fell awkwardly on its back. Kobo, meanwhile, shouted through her speakers.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, ANJING!? "
Kobo looked down into the fallen rogue mech's cockpit. Through the cracks in the reinforced glass, she saw the look on her classmate's face. She expected to see a sickly maniacal grin or one of unapologetic evil.
Instead, Kobo saw a face white with terror and fear.
The HALO that crowned her head was black as night, but it shimmered like distant stars.
" Something's wron- -ith my wal-er! " The downed pilot finally croaked through her failing comms, " It's not… it's not listening to m-! "
Even as the pilot cowered, frozen in fear in her cockpit, the rogue mech scrambled to try and right itself. From the ground, the mech swung its arms and legs at Kobo with a life and will of its own.
" I'm sorry! I'm sorry! " The pilot started to cry. Her tears streamed down her cheeks and mingled with her own blood, " It's not me! It's not…! My HALO… it's…! "
All of the sudden, the downed mech's hands reached for the neck of Kobo's mech. Its fingers dug down like a vice grip, making its armor creak and moan.
"Stop this! Stop this right now!" Kobo shouted, pleading with the pilot.
The powerless pilot, though, through the crack in her cockpit glass, mouthed out a message to Kobo.
' Please. Help me! '
Kobo huffed and tore those hands off her mech's throat. She then pinned down the mech and stopped it from thrashing - and yet the mech struggled on.
Steam hissed from the rogue mech's servos until…
CRACK!
The mech's own arms wavered. Fuel and lubricant tubes ruptured from the intense pressure. A curious sound then reached Kobo's ears.
GLUG-GLUG-GLUG-GLUG
Gasoline flowed like a garden hose from the ruptured tubes. Slowly but surely, the rampaging machine lost its strength. Its modules shut off one by one until it stopped moving altogether. The HALO on the rogue mecha pilot's head flickered one last time and turned off too, but the pilot herself was mostly unharmed.
"Olivia-neesan… this pilot's alright. She's frightened - but alright!" Kobo reported. She glanced at Zeta's downed mech too and added, "And Rich Girl's still kicking!"
" Barely… " Zeta grunted through the comms.
Kobo could see Zeta through her smashed cockpit. She saw Zeta wipe the blood from her lips and she combed her head of disheveled hair back with her fingers. Then, she willed her robot to stand up once more.
Zeta's own HALO glowed brightly, but her mech's frame struggled to obey her commands. The machine was tilted so heavily to the side that it sputtered and blew steam about loudly - but impotently.
Kobo sighed and helped Zeta's robot up to its feet.
Neither she nor Kobo had time to celebrate, however. The other ML Walkers turned towards them. They, too, got down on all fours and charged down the quay!
"Fuck… fuck, fuck!" Kobo cursed.
" Stand back! I'll keep them at bay. " Olivia cautioned. She moved her mech between the pack of rogue beasts and her frightened students, " Kanaeru. Vestia. Alert the base and get support !"
" Yes ma'am… " Zeta coughed and strained her voice, " I'll send the procedure… to Zero-Eight. "
" Please do. " Olivia's mech cracked its knuckles, following its pilot, " This is about to get ugly real soon ."
…
Twenty-Fourth Scene - Shut It Down!
Zeta reached for the cracked face of her WristComm device and sent Kobo a file. That file appeared as a new formless window that appeared on her like a teleprompter. It also patched Kobo's TACCOM to the entire Yokosuka Naval Base.
" Read it, Zero-Eight ." Zeta urged.
Kobo hesitated. Her blue eyes scanned through the teleprompter file but her mind wandered to Olivia's mech preparing for combat.
Another one of the rogue MLWs got on all fours and galoped towards Olivia at breakneck speed. Olivia, however, dug her mech's feet into the quay and met the pouncing rogue head-on!
WHAM!
Olivia's mech caught the pouncer and pushed back against it like a sumo wrestler. On the TACCOM screen, Olivia glanced at Kobo and cried, " Zero-Eight! The SOS! "
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Kobo fretted. She connected to the base-wide comms and read the teleprompter file, "A-attention all IDSC personnel - this is… this is IDSC Zero-Eight calling on behalf of Jollie Jollie . We have rogue MLW's on base. Code Blue. Each one is holding an… an IDSC cadet hostage! We're requesting immediate Electronic Warfare support!"
While Kobo spoke, Olivia's mech hissed with steam and smoke. Servos and gears all throughout Olivia's machine shifted and turned rapidly. Then, Olivia's mech kicked the rogue's legs and swept it off its feet!
Olivia took a deep breath and roared, " TAKE THIS! "
In one smooth motion, Olivia's mech grabbed the off-balance rogue and threw it down back-first onto the concrete quay. Gasoline leaked from the smash rogue's tank, draining it of fuel.
GLUG-GLUG-GLUG-GLUG
The rogue kept thrashing but spent its energies while Olivia's mech held it down.
" And STAY DOWN! " Olivia growled.
Kobo's heart skipped a beat while she watched the mad skirmish. The rampaging MLWs continued their assault and drew close. One of them turned towards Kobo and pounced.
"One of them's coming for me!" Kobo warned over the comms.
She raised up her fists to defend herself, but her entire body trembled.
" Not on my watch! " Olivia roared.
Kobo watched Oliva's mech intercept the pouncer halfway. Olivia caught the attacker mid-air with incredible skill. Servos and gears shifted loudly throughout Olivia's mech, shifting its weight with a single step. Then, Olivia lifted the rogue over her mech's head and slammed it down into the quay!
SLAM!
Olivia's mech threw the rogue so hard that the concrete facade of the quay cracked! The rogue's cockpit, however, was unscathed.
Despite this, eight more mechanical beasts loomed in the horizon.
It was at that time that alarms started blaring all throughout Yokosuka Naval Base. The PA system relayed what Kobo said and warned all non combat personnel to seek shelter.
Then, Kobo's TACCOM finally buzzed with an answer to her call.
" Zero-Eight. This is the bridge of the JS Kabocha - guided missile destroyer. We have a visual of the situation. We are prepared to fire EMP munitions at your location to suppress the MLWs. Give us the command and we'll fire. Over. "
"E-EMP…?" Kobo stammered, "Uh…uhm… I…!"
" Hold on!" cried another voice, cutting into the TACCOM with fear and urgency, " Hold your fire, JS Kabocha. Do NOT use EMP. The MLW pilots are using experimental HALOs! EMP might fry their actual brains along with the hardware! "
Sweat dripped down Kobo's brow. She was a heartbeat away from giving the orders to fire.
"W-what are we supposed to do then!?" Kobo shouted, demanding an alternative.
"Hold them at bay and keep them distracted!" The voice answered, "I'm gonna sever the DT link from HALO-side, but I have to get close. Very close. So, keep the MLW's off me!"
Suddenly, the roar of an engine reached Kobo's ears. She saw a gasoline-powered military out with radio antennas and satellite dishes drive towards the quay, leaving a trail of dust and thick smoke behind it.
The rearmost of the rogue machines turned towards the newcomer too.
" That's a Maintenance Group humvee… " Zeta remarked, gasping with surprise, " And that voice…! "
Kobo shook her head with disbelief. But then, Olivia spoke on the comms again.
" Maintenance Technician. This is Jollie Jollie. How much time do you need? " Olivia asked.
" Five… no, three minutes! " The technician answered.
"Can we last that long…!?" Kobo started to sweat.
"We're gonna have to make it work." Olivia replied firmly, "New objective, Zero-Eight. We'll protect Zero-Six and that humvee. Seems your combat lesson's coming earlier than expected, huh?"
"Y-yeah…" Kobo sweated bullets in her cockpit. She looked over to Zeta's heavily damaged mech, "What about you?"
" Don't worry about me. Just go. " Zeta hissed on the comms, " If that's who I think it is… you guys are in good hands. "
"Really?" Kobo's doubts spoke for her.
"She'll be fine if we do our jobs, Zero-Eight." Olivia reassured her, "I'll be the spearhead and draw their attention. Watch my back, okay Go for the limbs, just like you did earlier." Her mech then pointed to Kobo and emphasized, "Don't break their cockpits! Is that clear?"
Sweat dripped down Kobo's brow, but she gave Olivia a nod.
" I'll take that as a yes. " Olivia noted, " Let's go, Zero-Eight. "
Olivia's mech broke out into a sprint. Kobo took a deep breath and followed after her guardian. At the same time, the Maintenance humvee revved its engines and drew closer to the rogues.
" This is Maintenance! " The technician reported, " I'm in range! Applying the HALO-side shutdown protocol… three minutes starts… NOW! "
In the blink of an eye, Olivia's mech leapt up into the sky and drop-kicked a rogue MLW, crushing it's legs in one fell swoop. Then, without missing a beat, Olivia got her mech off the ground and she squared off with the other enemies.
"Holy cow…" Kobo's jaw dropped.
It was like watching a Javanese silat master taunting a group of heavyweight boxers. The way that Olivia fought was almost like a dance.
Unfortunately, Kobo couldn't admire that dance for long.
The MLWs swarmed Olivia's mech from all sides. So, Kobo charged her own mech in too!
She clenched her fists and threw punches at the rampaging metal beasts.
WHAM! THUD! SLAM!
Her strikes were nowhere near as strong as Olivia's and her footwork was poor but her punches flew true. Kobo fought against any mech that tried to blindside Olivia while Olivia unleashed a hell of martial arts.
Together, Kobo and Olivia disabled the enemies limb by limb, but the haywire mechs kept on coming back for more!
A heavily damaged, one-armed mech crawled defiantly on the concrete quay and grabbed a hold of the leg of Kobo's mech. Another mech, this one armless, approached Kobo's bound mech.
Through the cockpit glass, Kobo could see the pilot of the haywire mech weeping and shaking her head. The haywire mech, however, didn't comply. It trained its cockpit towards Kobo's and ran.
"They're not stopping…!" Kobo gasped.
She tried to shake off the mech grabbing her leg, but the damn thing just wouldn't let go. So, Kobo braced herself and caught the charging mech by the stumps where its arms once were.
And then… Kobo heard an electrical crackle.
KZZT! WHIIIIRRRrrrrrrrrr…
All around Kobo and Olivia, MLW engines shut off left and right. The suicidal armless mech fell down to its knees, finally motionless. Its cockpit hatch opened with strained hydraulic hisses, revealing their pilots inside safe and sound.
The pitch black HALOs around their heads had powered down too. Whatever otherworldly influence that compelled it had disappeared as well.
"Thank goodness…" Kobo heaved a sigh of relief.
In contrast, Kobo's and Olivia's mechs continued to function. Kobo's TACCOM then buzzed with Olivia's voice.
" Are you alright, kiddo? " Olivia asked.
"Somehow…" Kobo shook her head with disbelief.
The Maintenance Group humvee then screeched to a halt by the feet of Olivia's and Kobo's mechs.
" Jollie Jollie. Zero-Eight. HALO-side shutdowns on all haywire units are successful! " The technician reported on the comms.
" That's good to hear, Maintenance. " Olivia turned her mech towards the now battle-scarred quay around it and sighed, " But I've got a lot of questions for you, missy. I think the rest of the IDSC will too. Step out of the humvee and identify yourself, technician ."
At Olivia's command, the passenger side door of the humvee opened. A tall, blond, red-eyed lady in an IDSC Maintenance Group lab coat stepped out. She brought her WristComm to her lips and spoke.
" My name is Kaela Kovalskia, chief technician of the IDSC Maintenance Group. I am also the lead developer of the mass-produced HALO modules. I take full responsibility for this fiasco. "
Epilogue
Far away in the distance, from the top of a skyscraper in neighboring Yokosuka City, a different blonde watched the scene on the devastated naval base quay through a pair of binoculars. Her long blonde hair tied into a ponytail brushed against the soft silk of her traditional Japanese haori jacket and the sarashi bandages that covered her bountiful chest.
"Indeed, they are more competent than expected, I daresay." she commented with a singsong voice. Her aqua-colored eyes shimmered in the afternoon sun.
She put away her binoculars and stepped away from the skyscraper's ledge, rattling the scabbard of the katana she wore on her back. Then she heaved a sigh.
"To finally have worthy opponents… ah. Truly, the Observer will be most pleased."
Suddenly, the blonde's WristComm device buzzed with a message. She read through the message and smiled.
"It seems my job here is done, I daresay. I look forward to skirmishing with thee once more, IDSC. For now. Farewell."
The blonde brought out a peculiar raincoat from a handbag hanging from her wrist. She put that raincoat on and, with a crackle of magic, disappeared beneath it.
Leaving no trace of her behind.
To Be Continued