Season 2, Chapter 5, Part 3.

First Time.


The trio plummets through the darkness, their screams echoing in the cavern as they descend into the unknown. The fall seems to last an eternity, and Sebastian keeps his flame spell going to see where they are falling. Just as he sees the bottom of the cave, he yells, "Brace yourselves!" he orders, and they all ready their magic.

"Vine magic cushioning springs," Lydia yells, and pink vines go to the walls beside them, capturing the tree and slowing down their momentum. "Okay, easy," she utters, and they hear a crash above. They look up, seeing the walls close, creating a seal while it simultaneously breaks Lydia's spell, and they plummet into the rocky surface below. Groaning, they slowly pick themselves up, assessing their surroundings.

"Is everyone okay?" Lydia asks, her voice shaky. "I've had better landings," Haze mutters, rubbing his sore backside. Sebastian checks his grimoire, its ember light casting flickering shadows around them. "At least we're still alive."

As their eyes adjust to the dim light, they realize they've landed in a massive underground chamber, its walls adorned with ancient, weathered carvings. In the center of the chamber lies a shallow pool of water, and beyond it, a tunnel leads deeper into the cavern.

"Well, all we can do now is to move forward," Sebastian says as they all get to their feet, dusting themselves off. They walk past the water, as small ripples are formed like silent whispers moving the shallow water.

They walk through the cave with Sebastian's ember giving them all light. After a bit, Haze looks at his hand and at the others. "We have barely walked, and I already feel tired," he mentions.

"You are right, I feel it too," Lydia replies. "Something in here must be draining mana," Sebastian says, looking at the stone walls of the cave, where some have old symbols on them while others don't.

He brings out his pencil and notebook while he keeps his ember flame lit, hovering next to his shoulder. "Okay, that isn't good. We kind of need it," Haze says. "Wait, what happens when we run out of magic?" Lydia asks. "Uh," Haze utters nervously. "We better figure this out and fast," Sebastian says, and they all stop.

"Do you guys hear that? A rumbling, no, growling," Lydia tells them, and they all look around as openings in the walls form and close. "But where did it come from?" Haze asks. "Not sure, but it sounds like we are not alone in here," Sebastian says as they move through an opening before it closes.

They walk through the dark tunnels while Sebastian's ember casts flickering shadows through each tunnel they go through while he jots something into his notebook. Haze stiffens, and they all stop. "Did that wall just move?" he asks. "What are you talking about? They all open and close at random," Lydia explains.

"It was more than that," he tells them. "You are starting to scare me," she utters and looks around and at her hands. "We should hurry up, or this place will drain us dry," she says, and Haze looks over the walls once more. "Yeah, you are right."

Meanwhile.

A bit away from the Black Bulls' hideout in a lake, easy splashes of water are heard through the silent night. Millie reaches the end of the lake, and she comes up for air. She looks at the clock she has placed at the edge. "0.3 seconds faster, I am still improving," she mutters silently to herself as she lifts her eyes to the starry sky above.

"The sky is so beautiful tonight," she utters as a voice rings through her. ("Millie, remember.") "I know, Thomson. I will keep focusing on my training," she replies to it and looks at the clock and starts to swim. She keeps going while her mind wanders to a distant past. The water was freezing cold, and she had weights hanging around her waist as she kicked to keep her body afloat in a big pool.

"Keep it up, remember, use only your feet to keep afloat, not your arms," Thomson told me, and so I kept doing as I was asked. I heard the door behind him open up. "So how is training going?" a female voice asked. "She could be doing way better. What has you visiting the facility, Lady Leah?" he asked.

"Actually, I just came from a meeting with the heads of this nation," she informed. "Really, anything new?" Thomson asked. "Not too much new, other than the tension around the border is building again," she told him.

"Well, crap," he said and reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. "Last time we lost a couple of islands and a big portion of our battle mages." "Yeah, and the only way to reclaim it is to go the other way around, but it will mean facing the sea monster that dwells in that area," he says, lighting the cigarette.

"What will you do?" she asked. "Well, I better make sure my recruits are in shape," he replied and blew smoke. "Right, and like always, you have my complete financial support." "It is appreciated." "How is your brother doing?" she asked.

"Him, well, last I heard, he had the sweets for a lady, and from what I could tell, they might end up tying the knot," "That is wonderful news," the lady tells him. "I suppose so, at least he gets to live a normal life."

"Don't tell me you are regretting your line of work," she asks playfully. "Not at all. It just means I have that much more to fight for so the families can live safely and happily." "So this thing is pressuring you?" "Sort of. Anything else on your mind, Lady Leah?" "It is just, there have been rumors that more assassination attempts might occur due to the border disputes. What I mean to say is that I am just a bit worried, is all." He looked at her as her eyes reflected her words, and a hint of sadness hung on her face.

"You have nothing to worry about, Lady Leah, not with me and my men around," he reassured her. "I know, and I am forever grateful, truly," she says and places her hand on his arm. "Well, I will be leaving. I have another meeting to get to," she tells him.

"See you soon then," he tells her as she leaves. "Yes," she utters, heading out the door.

"Millie, you heard that right? We will need to up the training," Thomson loudly told me, his voice echoing through the room. "Yes, Master Thomson," I softly replied through heavy breaths, and I heard him push a button. I could feel the water getting filled with mana before waves are being produced, and keeping afloat became way harder. I instinctively used my hands for aid. "I said no hands, remember Millie? We are training just your legs today."

After the news of his brother getting married, he drank way less, and soon enough, he attended his brother's wedding, while I was in one of the facility's many chambers, training in the combat room, evading the blasts of fire and ice coming from the walls. I remember as it was over, I was sitting on the floor, catching my breath as the heavy metallic lock was turned, and I looked to the opening.

"You are less wounded this time, which means we can increase the difficulty," he told me, his voice a little lighter than usual, so I assume the wedding went well.

"Well, you are happier than usual," a man says, and Thomson turns his gaze behind him. "Well, I learned today that I will become an uncle in about 8 months," he says with a smile.

"Now, enough chit-chat, we will need to keep training so the kid has a proper country to grow up in," he straightens himself up. "Right, sir. Actually, I came to deliver these," Simon said. "Right, the notes of everyone's progress," he replied.

The training increased, and despite him being a little happier and filled with a newfound purpose, he didn't stop being a hard-ass when we trained. "You can do better than this," he told me as I was on my knees, panting. "Gather yourself," he ordered, and I tried to gather myself.

"I said pull it together!" he ordered and kicked me in the gut, and I was sent back and landed on the stone floor. "An enemy won't wait for you to catch your breath, so let's go," he ordered. "Right," I replied and got up on my shaking feet.

A few weeks passed, and a healer took a look at my wounds, and Simon walked into the room. "Oh Simon, you have the reports?" "That I do, Doctor Maisen," he said and placed the documents on the table.

Then the door burst open, and everyone looked to Thomson as he had clear anger in his eyes and he looked at me. "You are all fixed, good," he told me with a menacing voice as he determinately walked over to me. "Actually, she will need to rest until the last of her wounds have fully healed," the doctor told him.

" There is no time; she is coming with me," he said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to my feet. "What, did something happen?" the doctor asked. "She will need to be put into severe training, starting now she will be in the S- ranked room, at the highest level," he said, tightening his grip on my bruised wrist before pulling me along.

"What? She doesn't have the skill for that yet; only a Shogun does. I mean, just look at how she is after the level she is at," Simon tells him, and Thomson stopped by the door. "It isn't your place to question me. Besides, why are you so worried? She is just a familiar," he said before continuing to walk and dragging me along.

He dragged me through the torch-lit hallways, passing doors with half orbs next to them, not saying a word. "Master Thomson, is your heart hurting?" I asked as softly as I could. "Silence!" he ordered, and soon he flung me into the room.

"Now survive," he told me and touched an orb outside of the door. He put the room on the highest settings and locked it into place. "Survive the next 24 hours in here, otherwise, you are completely worthless to me," he told me and closed the door. I heard the heavy lock being turned, and the walls illuminated for a moment as the room got sealed.

Then small openings formed all over the walls, and I jumped and put up a shield as a huge blast of fire came my way. I was shot into a wall, and my shield broke. ("Shoot, I need to put a lot more magic behind my spells now, but can I even do it with my current level of control over these new powers of mine?") I wondered and jumped away from another one.

I could feel the mana in the room building as more blasts came my way, and knives and battle axes came out of the walls, and I was forced to move. The next day, the door opened, and I saw Thomson's cold gaze on me as I lay on the floor. "She actually survived," Simon said.

"Pop her shoulder back into place for me," he said. "Right," Simon replied and came over to me. "Your arm and leg are broken. Be sure to get that fixed; you have more training to get to," he told me and left the room. "Yes, sir."

"I apologize for him. Yesterday I did learn that his brother recently died, and his head was shipped to Thomson in a box." "That is horrible, so his heart really is hurting," I uttered concerned.

"Maybe you should worry about yourself right now? Look how busted up you are." he said and placed one hand on my back and the other on my arm and with a quick movement he forced the shoulder back into place and I grit my teeth to handle the pain.

I took a couple of deep breaths before I spoke "I am good, sir. I am used to way worse treatment," I said with a warm smile. "worse treatment? Is that why your arms are filled with burn marks and scars?"

"What?"

"I saw you had them before you got into this place, so" he explains, and I looked at my arms.

"It is in the past now," I told him. (Mal was a cruel one) I thought to myself.

"The past?"

"I am alright, sir. Thank you, I will just have to get stronger," I said with a smile as I remembered the deal that Thomson and I made the day we formed the contract.

"I see. Well, it is actually refreshing to hear that your reason for wanting to get strong is to keep your promise, and that is some promise you made too." "I know, but I have to keep it no matter what," I said with a newfound determination in my gaze as I looked upon the valley before us.

"The missions I will eventually send you on will require you to deal with things single-handedly, which means companionship will be unnecessary, and you won't get it from me either. There is one thing you should keep in mind: you will be on your own. Do you get that?" he asked.

"Understood, sir," I told him and locked eyes with him. "Good, then I will keep up my end so you will be able to keep your promise," he told me and placed his hand on the page within the book of the contract.

After training with him for half a year, I had gotten a lot of my strength back, and my improvement began to increase greatly.

And soon, a war began between the Sun and the Moon kingdoms, and I began to be sent on missions. And after he gave me the details, he always told me one thing before every mission.

"Remember, Millie, on this mission you are on your own." "Understood, Master Thomson," I always replied before heading out...

Millie's mind flows into the present as she emerges from the water, gasping for air. She crawls onto the land and sits at the water's edge, reaching for her bell. With a gentle touch, her white towel appears, and she starts to dry herself off. She then retrieves her hazel brown crystal brooch from her bell and gazes at it as it sparkles in the moonlight. Her attention shifts to the expanse of the starry sky above.

"Meir, I will still keep my promise to you, no matter what," she whispers softly, her grip on the brooch tightening as she speaks the words of determination and commitment into the night.

Meanwhile, with the teens, they stop and look at a giant red worm as it crawls up and towers over the group. It has long tentacles beside its round mouth filled with teeth. The worm shoots acid, and Haze ducks and runs. "Mist magic pursuing Hyenas," he yells, and the hyenas begin to attack the giant worm.

"Ember magic scorching fire bullets," Sebastian yells and shoots the giant worm from behind, but the worm only growls. "What the heck is with this thing? None of our attacks seem to be working on it," Lydia says and dodges the acid. "Vine magic vine whip?" she yells, and her pink vine with green thorns forms. She whips the giant worm in its face.

"Raaah!" the worm screams, and the three teens' eyes widen. "I think you just made it angrier," Haze yells as more acid is flung at them, and they run to dodge.

Sebastian looks behind him and sees an opening in the wall close. "You guys, over here! We can escape!" he yells.

"Got it!" Haze yells as the worm lunges for him. "Mist magic mist balls!" he yells, and Lydia runs for the opening in the wall. Haze does the same.

"Hurry, Haze, the opening is closing!" "I am running as fast as I can!" he yells, and acid is flung. He jumps away and trips over a rock, and more acid comes for him. "Haze, I got you! Vine magic, controlled vine!" she yells, and a vine comes over to him and pulls him away.

"Thanks!" he yells and gets to his feet and runs. "Raaah!" the worm screams, and one of its tentacles whips at him. He jumps forward and lands on the stone floor again. "Damn it, Mist magic pursuing hyenas!" he yells, and hyenas go after the tentacles.

He gets his feet underneath him, and a tentacle grabs him. "No, the opening is closing. Mist magic mist balls!" Haze yells. He shoots at the tentacle, and the beast lets go. A vine ties around him and pulls him towards the other two teens, and he is almost in the hole when his foot is grabbed again.

"Damn, that thing!" Lydia yells.

"I've got you! Ember magic, scorching fire bullets!" Sebastian yells and shoots at the worm that screams. Lydia grabs Haze's hand and pulls him in, and the opening closes. They can hear the creature banging on the walls on the other side.

"Phew, that was close. Let's hope we never run into that thing again," Sebastian says. "Agreed," the other two say in unison.

The teens get to their feet and walk through the dark cave tunnels, and Sebastian keeps taking notes for about 15 minutes more.

"Are you getting anything, Sebastian?" Haze asks.

"Well, actually, I believe so. Some of the openings are random, but I noticed that some open and close slower than the others, and those that do are the ones that seem to have these symbols inside them. I have jotted down the directions we have taken and the distances that we have walked, and if this place works the way I think it does, we might be able to get out of here," he explains.

"Wow, really? So a nerd can really be handy to the Magic Knights," Haze says and looks over Sebastian's shoulder into his notebook. "Uh, thank you? I think," Sebastian replies and looks around. "We might not need backup then," Lydia utters. "Well, I left the tracking device on the ship just in case," Sebastian tells them.

They walk around for about an hour, and Haze looks at the ring on his hand before he looks at the walls, which have more markings and symbols on them.

"Well, your hunch seems to lead to something. There are more markings on the walls the further we go," Haze says.

And the other two slow down and stop for a moment. Lydia leans against a wall. "Are you okay?" Haze asks and sees that Sebastian is leaning on a wall as well. "Wait, aren't you getting really dizzy too?" Lydia asks.

"Well, a little, but it isn't that bad yet," Haze says. "What? There is no way you have that much more mana than I do," Lydia tells him. Haze looks at the ring on his finger again, with the two butterflies on each side of the purple sharp gem in the middle. "Well, the family ring is supposed to protect me from this sort of thing at least a little," he says.

"What? No way, that is so not fair," Lydia tells him.

"Well, you will be the one we have to rely on then," Sebastian says, gathering himself. "R-right."

"This place is seriously draining my magic. If we meet that worm again, I'm not sure if we'll be able to fight it," Sebastian tells them.

"Shoot, I suppose right now I am the only one with enough mana to fight anything at the moment," Haze says while getting the feel of his mana reserves. "But soon I won't be able to do that either," he mentions. "Well, the deeper we have gone, the less growling we have heard," Sebastian says. "Now that you mention it," Lydia says. "Wait, don't tell me the creatures are avoiding the center?" Haze asks. "Well, it seems to be the case, why?" Sebastian asks.

"If they are avoiding the center, then what the hell is at the center that they don't want to go near?" Haze asks.

"Don't tell me," Sebastian says. "Are we really going to have to face something stronger? I don't think we can handle something like that," Lydia says, holding her head and feeling a little dizzy.

"Now I hope we get the backup again," she says. "I hope they are capable," Haze says. "That again," Lydia says.

"I am just being realistic. Toward the exit, there are creatures that want to kill us, and toward the center is something bad enough to keep the creatures away. We are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place here. If we want a chance to get aid, they will first of all be strong enough to handle the pirates that are waiting outside and be able to handle the craziness of this place. And that is if they can get to us before our or their own mana runs dry."

"I suppose you have a point," Sebastian says. "Of course I do. Now let us keep going, and hopefully, what is at the center is something we can use," Haze says and keeps walking.

They keep going for about 20 minutes, and after a while, their steps become slower and weaker. "My magic is almost depleted," Lydia utters, holding her head with her hands as she walks, struggling to keep herself straight.

"I am actually getting quite dizzy now," Haze tells them. "Well, we have been in here for quite a while," Sebastian utters, and they all hear his pencil fall to the floor. They turn to him as he picks it up.

"It is hard to make notes," he says and adjusts his glasses as his vision becomes blurrier.

They walk through an opening, and Lydia falls over. "I feel so weak," she sits up. Sebastian falls over as well. "Yeah, it's getting harder to move," Haze says, taking deep breaths.

"Don't tell me this place is draining away our physical strength too?" Sebastian utters and looks at his notebook. "You don't happen to have something that will replenish our mana in your bag, do you?" Haze asks. "Sadly, no," Sebastian replies, and they hear rumbling.

"Not even food?" Haze asks. "No, and I'm hungry too," he says. "Damn, this sucks."

"We need to keep going. If we stop, then we are dead for sure," Lydia says and gets to her feet, supporting herself on the wall and continuing. Sebastian does the same. "You're right," Haze says and takes a deep breath before continuing.

Another 15 minutes pass, and they stop in front of a huge black door with carvings on it. "This must be it," Sebastian utters as he falls to his knees. "Right, how do we open it?" Haze asks, looking at the symbols.

"I feel like crap," Lydia says, going to her knees.

"Hey, Sebastian, we need your brain here, okay? There has to be a way to open this door," Haze tells him. "I-I can't really see too well right now, and I…" Sebastian says and collapses. and Lydia falls unconscious too.

"Hey, you two, get up, please. We have to get through this," Haze tells them. (It is no use, they are beat. Come on, Haze, think. How do I open this?) He looks at the big door. (I am actually starting to feel really weak too, despite the ring protecting me a little.) (No, don't give in to it. Come on, there must be a way out; otherwise, the other two will keel over. How do we get out of this?)

...