Kosmos: The Witch

The group had been painfully trudging through the snow for a week now. The only advantage they found to the bone freezing cold was that it was very easy to conserve the meat of the mammoth, since it would almost instantly freeze over as soon as it was a few meters away from them. Sophia, having surprisingly advanced crafting skills, constructed a large sled using trees she picked out of the ground, and was taking turns with Magnus dragging it behind them. This day, like most days ever since they started moving, they had been fighting off a pack of white wolves with ice lining their fur, glowing blue eyes and lightning crackling from their fangs, constantly trying to get a piece of the mammoth they were dragging around with them.

Individually, they weren't too strong, but their packs, which could contain up to a hundred wolves, posed a very real issue. Theo, who excelled at dealing with single targets, was struggling to dispose of them, and thus the task of fending them off fell to Cassandra and Adriana. They were both unmatched when it came to large-scale annihilation, but they shared a weakness in the fact that they were consuming magical energy at an alarming rate every time they got into a fight, even without Cassandra using her Crest. After about an hour since the last attack, a powerful blizzard starts blowing around them, causing them to start losing their footing, along with their control on their heating spells.

- "Not this time." Sophia immediately says. "Nine percent."

Her tattoos brightly glow in response, before crimson flames erupt from them, filling a twenty meter radius area around her, melting the snow present in the blizzard and disturbing the winds to the point where the blizzard around the group is essentially destroyed. The flames pass through everyone without damaging them, and Morgana manifests her fire bow in her right hand with a burst of flames.

- "The hell ? It was just a blizzard." Cassandra asks, confused.

- "Ready your magic focuses." Sophia replies, frantically looking around.

- "What ? Why ?"

- "This definitely wasn't natural ! Did you see how it looked like it was surrounding us, and how there was no wind before that ?" Magnus answers, his fists lighting on fire.

- "Something is trying to separate us again." Morgana adds as she prepares a flaming arrow. "Adelaios told me that blizzards don't start out of nowhere."

- "I see it. Magnus, cover me." Sophia suddenly announces.

As she says that, a shadow looms over them and Sophia performs a spectacular leap upwards, and is quickly followed by Magnus propelling himself up with a burst of fire. When the rest of the group looks up, they see a large creature, looking like a mix between a wyvern ( author here ! That's a type of dragon with wings fused to its forearms, the way bat wings are ) and a sabertooth tiger covered in silver scales silently falling towards them with all claws out, its eyes glowing a pale blue light.

Sophia meets it mid air in its dive, and attempts to throw a kick at its head while igniting her leg with red flames, but it swiftly dodges mid air and is only grazed by the attack. However it falls right onto Magnus, who punches it in the chest and sends it flying with a powerful burst of fire, that while it damages it, doesn't seem to be particularly effective like fire was against the mammoth or other species endemic to the Hyperborean Territory (5 K Fire). While it's still falling, Morgana releases her arrow with a concentrated blast of flames, leaving behind a blazing trail and piercing through the creature's left wing before continuing for about four hundred meters prior to dissipating (10 K True fire). The creature lands on the ground and roars before dashing to the side at a speed that makes it essentially invisible. There's a very brief moment of silence as the creature disappears before they hear Magnus from above:

- "Adriana ! It's after S-"

He doesn't have the time to finish his sentence as they all hear Adriana scream, and they turn to see one of the wyvern standing next to her, one of its fangs planted in her shoulder. Blood is rapidly flowing out of the wound, and her hold on Sol weakens for a second as the creature swiftly attempts to grab him in its claws.

- "I… am… the Sun !" Adriana whispers.

Her skin bursts into flames and the sheer force generated by her heat pushes the wyvern away, and burns its scales so violently some of them turn black and fall off. However, it also pushes Sol away from her.

- "You would dare attack a defenseless child." Theo says in a glacial tone, that was very far removed from his usual demeanor.

His orbs of glass vibrate before shooting massive shards of glass up into the sky, and some of them then fall towards the ground at tremendous speeds in the shape of ten longswords. The creature dodges them without much effort, but then Theo snaps his fingers and about one thousand swords manifest in the air, seemingly using the bulk of what he had shot up, literally raining down on the creature.

The chimera looks up and seems to experience a primal fear as it lunges forward and dashes towards Sol at lightning speeds, grabs him in its jaws and attempts to fly away as fast as it can while staying close to the ground. Theo snaps his fingers again, and the swords' falling speed is drastically increased, and they reach the ground in about two seconds. His precision being unmatched, he manages to avoid all of his allies along with Sol, and about a hundred swords stab into the creature from all sides. One of them even reaches one of its eyes, and the creature roars in pain as its dark blue blood flows out from all the wounds it just suffered (100 K True Physical). However, it survives and dashes about two hundred meters away in a matter of seconds. Theo then places a knee onto the ground, struggling to catch his breath.

- "Is this really the best I can muster ?..." he whispers.

- "That'll be more than enough !" Cassandra yells. "Adriana, keep it coming !"

He turns and he sees Cassandra, her Crest shining in her eye, seemingly harnessing the flames Adriana was producing in an orb of pure heat in her hand, pointed towards the creature. The latter was looking like she was on the edge of losing consciousness. Suddenly, the orb flashes blue and an orange magic circle appears in front of her.

- "There it is ! Witness the closest thing I have to a fully fledged Supreme Sorcery ! I call it… the Force Cannon !" the blue glow of the orb of heat starts growing in intensity. "Everyone, plug your ears ! Theo, plug mine if you have any magical energy left !"

Theo manages to create a pair of headphones out of thick glass around Cassandra's ears, and does the same for everyone else as Magnus and Sophia finally land on the ground. Cassandra then proceeds to release the heat, creating an explosion. She then seems to concentrate all of its power into a single point in front of her, creating a massive line of pure force directed at the creature. All of their headphones shatter but most of the sound is absorbed before that, as the creature is torn to pieces from a distance and its remains are scattered hundreds of meters in all directions (300 K Force damage).

- "Didn't that just kill the kid ?..." Sophia asks.

- "Do I need to remind you who scored a ninety nine on the control test ? Contrary to you guys, I can pull this off." Cassandra smugly replies.

- "I can see him. I'm going to go get him before he freezes." Morgana says before heading in the direction of the creature.

- "My vision is blurry…" Adriana says. "I can't see anything…"

- "Yeah you seriously need to rest, you burned off way more magical energy than me against those wolves earlier. Then you used whatever crazy power this is… it's not even a spell, if anything it's more like Morgana's spontaneous combustion problem, but a lot worse on you."

- "It's the power from my father…"

- "Yeah yeah anyways, go rest u-" Cassandra stops as her legs grow weak. "Ah, there's the backlash. That was a bit reckless, hehe !"

Magnus catches her before she hits the ground, helping her to sit upright instead.

- "You sure sent that thing flying ! I knew it was weird you looked fine after firing something like this !" He cackles.

- "Yeah flash news, controlling Adriana's magical energy is a nightmare with my feeble output. It's like trying to steer a horse that's thirty times stronger than you and is made entirely of bronze." she replies.

- "Sounds like a fun time !"

- "Oh, shut it. Anyways, where the hell is Nova ? Isn't she supposed to help us when that kind of stuff happens ? This was definitely a chimera, it wasn't even weak to fire."

- "I've been wondering too ! Didn't see her anywhere above us, even when I jumped with Sophia !"

- "Did she just leave us here ?..." Cassandra looks around, seeing Morgana coming back while holding Sol, who was crying his eyes out and had bloody holes in the upper part of his winter coat, where the teeth of the creatures perforated him as he was struggling to get away. She also sees Theo, trying to move despites his lack of magical energy, Adriana, lying on her back with the skin of her arms charred and struggling to draw breath, her sun nowhere to be seen and her usual glow gone. The only people who were operational were Sophia, Magnus and Morgana. However, the latter was quickly burning through her energy, trying to keep everyone warm with a large sparkling orange flame hovering above them now that Adriana was out of commission. They were currently traversing a gigantic glacier, so she saw no caves or anything that could serve as a shelter. "Oh this is really bad isn't it ? Theo and Adriana are down and they're our only source of long term heat…" Panic starts rising in her voice.

- "That's true." Morgana replies before she seems to realize something and continues. "Oh wait. This thing definitely looked like a chimera, so maybe it was sent by mother."

- "How does that hel- Oh you're right ! There's probably an entrance to one of her labs nearby ?"

- "Yes. We need to look."

- "On it ! I don't wanna freeze to death, haha !" Magnus adds.

They quickly relay the info to Sophia, who was recovering their sled, and they start searching around, tapping random ice blocks and rocks from the surrounding protruding mountain peaks. Morgana couldn't move much since she had to stay within range to prevent everyone else from succumbing to the cold ( for reference, Fire magic has a range of 40 meters, and Flame magic goes up to 100 meters at base. Some spells can exceed that range if you use more magical energy though ! ), so she was just patrolling in a circle around them. Eventually, she gets a strange feeling when she looks inside an ice crevice, and when she focuses she quickly understands and turns to everyone else.

- "I found it. It's inside the wall of the crevice."

The rest of the group approaches, Magnus carrying Cassandra on his back and Sophia carrying both Theo and Adriana under her arms. Theo grits his teeth and manifests small glass stairs down towards the bottom of the crevice, which everyone uses to safely get down. They halt when Morgana stops in front of a particular portion of the wall, touches it and sees her hand go through.

- "You're sure about this ?..." Adriana weakly asks as Sol tightens his grip, seemingly afraid of this wall.

- "Not like we've got much of a choice." Cassandra comments.

- "I'll take that over freezing to death ! Plus, if there's any nasty creatures in there, I'm sure I can deal with them with Sophia !" Magnus adds and Sophia nods along.

- "...If we must." Theo says.

- "I'm sure." Morgana answers as she goes through the wall.

She is followed by everyone, and they find themselves inside the exact same corridor, leading to the exact same laboratory Morgana knows. The temperature is mild, as usual, which is a relief for all of them. Morgana immediately walks down the stairs, listening closely to determine if anyone or anything was there. She doesn't hear anything, so she signs the others to follow in and they enter the lab. Again, the only thing different from usual were the tools floating in the air, and the strange magical items placed on the tables.

- "Woah, you only described it before so I didn't think much of it, but this place really IS creepy as hell." Cassandra comments when she sees the chalk ring drawn at the center of the room, lined with various sharp tools slowly orbiting around it. "Pretty sure that's a Convergence Ring."

- "You're talking about the Ring ?" Morgana asks.

- "That's how you call it ? Yeah, it's used to create chimeras. I assume that's the type of thing your mother used to modify you ?"

- "...Yes."

They settle down, placing the injured on the floor. Morgana goes to the cells, starting to open them one by one to check for the presence of any captives, and she brings back a few beds from the cells to the laboratory before leaving to continue her search. Theo, Adriana and Cassandra lay on them while Sophia goes to examine the various items on the tables.

- "Haha I really hate this place ! We should blow it up !" Magnus suddenly says as flames flicker around his hands.

- "Magnus ?" Cassandra asks, surprised. "It's unusual for you to get that worked up outside of combat. What's going on ?"

- "...Nothing, haha !" he gives a quick look to Adriana, who just nods in response.

- "What's going on with Adriana and you ? I noticed you guys are often talking to each other away from prying ears and all that. Back at the faculty, I'm pretty sure I saw you exit the mansion a few times at night with a basket and go to her house." Cassandra has a devious smile. "Don't tell me you guys are dating ! I really didn't think you were the romantic type, Magnus !"

- "What ? No that's-" Adriana reacts, blushing slightly.

- "Huh ? No, I hate her. I'd rather date Theo at this point !" Magnus answers.

- "Damn that hurts." Adriana says, the blush completely leaving her cheeks. "Can you handle a maiden's heart with a little more care ?!"

- "Woah you even got Adriana acting out of character !" Cassandra comments, amused.

- "Apologies Magnus, but I am loyal to my fiancee." Theo says.

- "Oh I don't even swing that way ! That's just how much I would hate the idea of being with Adriana !" Magnus replies.

- "...I'm going to bed." Adriana mutters before turning towards the wall.

- "So, what's going on between the two of you then ? It's clearly more than friendship, because from what I remember you never invited ME to a private midnight picnic." Cassandra continues.

- "I think it's ten or twenty steps below friendship actually !" Magnus replies, and Adriana mutters to the wall, her eyes visibly glowing brighter.

- "Magnus, go easy on the gal ! I don't think she can take much more of this before she burns this entire place down." Cassandra says as she is trying her best to contain her laughter.

Morgana comes back around this time, and when she enters the laboratory she comes back with a small boy seemingly slightly older than Sol. He had short white hair and striking blue eyes with white U patterns in his irises. He was wearing the same type of rags Sol was, and snowflakes were constantly forming around him out of thin air, slowly accumulating on the floor. He had a very detached expression.

On the other hand, Morgana looked a bit distressed.

- "Mother broke him. He's unresponsive…" she says.

- "What do you mean ?" Cassandra asks as she gets up to approach and waves her hand in front of the child's face.

When she does, the boy's eyes simply follow her hand with a chilling calm before he looks at her face and starts walking towards the Convergence circle in the center of the room by himself.

- "Oh wow." Cassandra continues. "Is it even worth getting him out of here ? He-"

- "Yes." Morgana cuts as she stops the boy.

- "Alright, you do you. I'm going back to my nap."

For the next twenty minutes, the room is mostly filled with the voice of Morgana desperately trying to communicate with the boy. All she was getting were simple yes and no's, along with one word responses any time she would try to ask more detailed questions. His voice was always very calm even though it was high pitched due to his age, and his tone was ever unchanging, in a fashion that reminded her of the way her mother normally talks. Eventually, she is interrupted by Sophia.

- "Morgana ?"

- "Yes ?..."

- "I think you're going to need some time before you get any results. Don't despair because nothing is happening right now."

- "I hope he can come back from this… Normally mother would've thrown him into the pit around this point. This is strange."

- "Talking about the pit." Sophia takes out a black book with a circular symbol on it resembling the Convergence circle in the middle of the room. "I've found this on one of the tables. This is research on Convergence witchcraft that would probably be revolutionary if we brought it back to Eretria, from what I know about this branch of witchcraft. I've quickly looked through it, and something doesn't add up."

- "What is it ?"

- "The first notes were taken in the year 1674."

- "Aren't we in the year 928 ?"

- "Yes, that's the problem. I have never heard of people capable of traveling through years past, let alone through the future. However I'm starting to believe your mother isn't from our time."

- "You are half right, young witch. I had simply begun my work before the calendar you are used to was established, is all." they hear from behind them, as the room immediately grows darker and a chill climbs up Morgana's spine as she recognizes the voice addressing them.

They turn, and Morgana is faced with her mother, looking at the both of them with her gray, emotionless eyes through her round glasses.

Morgana's mind is overcome with sheer terror, and she quickly starts manifesting her flaming battleaxe in her hand.

- "Ignis mortem." her mother whispers, and her flames are immediately extinguished. Her strength also leaves her body, and as she falls to the floor her mother grabs her hand and pulls her close before she can hit the ground. "I am happy to see that you are in good health."

- "Nice to meet you in person, Morgana's mother !" Magnus shouts as his fists light on fire and he dashes towards her from the other side of the room to strike her. However, before he can connect, Sophia catches his hand, burning her palm in the process as she didn't have the time to protect it with her flames. Magnus turns to her, confused. "Sophia ?"

- "She is an observant one." the witch comments while looking at Sophia, who stays silent while staring daggers at her. "Attacking me would most certainly spell instantaneous death for you."

- "Mother… how did you find us ?..." Morgana painfully asks, struggling to even speak in this state.

- "Well this is my laboratory after all. I am well aware of everything that happens within its confines." she replies.

- "What's going o-" Cassandra starts asking as she wakes up in a daze before stopping. "Who the hell is that ?"

- "Do watch your mouth, young witch." the mother answers. "Common courtesy for lower ranking witches is to properly introduce oneself to their betters prior to asking for their names."

Cassandra seems about to respond, but Theo, who had also woken up and was in the bed next to hers, places a hand on her mouth.

- "This woman appears to be Morgana's mother." he whispers. "It would be best not to provoke her, it is easy to tell how dangerous she is."

- "I will… not let you… bring me back !…" Morgana manages to say.

- "It is so, so very endearing that you believe you are in control in this situation. However, let me reassure you, my dear daughter: I am not here to spirit you away. On the contrary, I am here to help you."

- "Help… me ?..."

- "I believe you have yet to inherit my Crest, yes ? I am certain it would be of tremendous help to you in your future at the Academy of Magic."

- "Go… to… hell !..."

- "Hahaha." She has a laugh devoid of any joy. "I expected this answer, to be frank. It will make it all the more interesting."

- "So you've been harassing us for months now, and now that you've got your hands on us you're just going to let us go again ?" Cassandra says, as she freed herself from Theo who was still weakened and got back on her feet. "Cut the bullshit, what's your goal here ?"

- "Your soul is a prideful, albeit foolish one." the mother comments. "I see why my dear daughter gravitated towards you, seeing as you are similar in that department. I will answer you, friend of Morgana: I simply want the best for my daughter, as any self respecting mother does."

- "You call that good ? You really are insane huh ?"

- "Insanity is merely a term you people plaster onto people whose values do not align with yours. Imagine my joy when I was informed that a failure such as Morgana was actually accepted at the Academy of Magic. And on top of that, she has made wonderful friends such as you."

- "Don't compliment me, it grosses me out. Again, what the hell do you gain from this ?"

- "My daughter can grow, develop, and hopefully provide me with invaluable data on spirit-human chimeras. It truly is a wonderful state of affairs, and I could not be more proud." She pats Morgana on the head, and Morgana attempts to bite her hand. "You have my full support."

- "Then why are you sending your chimeras to attack us ?! We almost died every time !"

- "It is a form of support, is it not ? Those chimeras can provide very valuable materials to you, and I always made sure to only send the weakest ones your way to ensure my dear daughter can grow stronger by overcoming them, rather than being defeated by them."

- "You've completely lost it !"

- "If insanity is equivalent to caring for my failure of a daughter, then you may call me so, young witch."

- "I am… not… a failure !..." Morgana says.

- "Oh but you are. You will expire in ten years. I believe I had a bit of a heavy hand on the spirit essence I used on you."

Morgana falls dead silent after this. Magnus' and Cassandra's eyes widen as they hear this, and Cassandra speaks up.

- "What ?... You're bluffing !"

- "You are asking if I jest ? I assure you, I do not." the mother replies.

- "I'm… going to… die ?..." Morgana asks, her voice trembling.

- "Indeed. That is, if you do not manage to get a hold of your powers as a divine spirit, which I am embarrassed to admit, I cannot control. This has been one of my most debilitating shortcomings."

- "You're fusing people to fucking divine spirits ?... Fine, I'm Cassandra Pyranthis ! Who the hell are you ?" Cassandra asks.

- "I am the True Ancestor of the Karas family, Anastasia Karas." her hat and robes are agitated by an invisible wind as she says that, and Cassandra's face turns pale.

- "A True Ancestor ?... Are you serious ?..."

- "Yes, I am. Let me see… the Pyranthis. A family that has always only been noteworthy for its mediocrity, and yet you stand here, next to my dear daughter as she is attempting to find a way to emerge from her chrysalis. I commend you." She turns to Sophia. "You must be from a newer bloodline. An interesting, albeit imperfect way of applying a Supreme Sorcery directly onto a full-body Crest." She looks at Magnus. "You are quite the fascinating specimen. I sincerely wish I could have found you first." She then glances at Theo. "Your ancestors would be ashamed of what you have become." This causes him to physically recoil, and he stares at her with a mix of fear and anger. Finally, she looks down at Adriana, who never woke up. "She possesses such a high divinity, she puts most other demigods to shame. She would have made for a perfect vessel for a divine spirit or an angel given her affinity with the element of the Sun. She was too well protected, unfortunately, and destroying this temple yielded nothing for me but losses among my chimeras. Truly, a pity."

- "Wait…" Morgana says. "Adriana's friends… they died at the temple… where she was raised…"

- "This was your doing ?..." Cassandra asks, taking a step back.

- "Of course. A major challenge I face is the amount of viable test subjects I have access to. At the very least, some of the survivors of the attack made for decent chimeras, so I am not entirely at a loss."

- "What is wrong with you ?..."

- "Nothing in particular, but I thank you for your inquiry."

- "Where is… Kymara ?" Morgana asks.

- "I see you… bonded with your sister, despites my many precautions. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose her location at the moment."

- "Let… the other children… go…"

- "I am afraid I cannot do that either. Do feel free to liberate them at any pace you see fit, the truly important ones are in a place you cannot even conceive the existence of right now. I do not care much for you freeing equally failed ones such as him." she points to the boy, who was simply looking up at her. "Well, if you will excuse me, I must return to my work. You can be my guests for however long you please, but I would rather if you refrained from stealing anything, as this might make me reconsider your usefulness as my dear daughter's friends. I might come to pay you a visit at the Academy."

When she says that, the border of her hat turns black for a second before a perfect circle of darkness appears behind her, and she gently sits Morgana in a nearby chair before she walks through it, causing it to dissipate. Sophia finally lets go of Magnus' wrist, and starts to catch her breath.

- "You shouldn't have stopped me !" Magnus says, sounding irritated.

- "I had to. She barely had any modifications on her own body, but her clothes are all chimeras. From the hat to the gloves and the dress."

- "What about them ? Clothes are easier to burn !"

- "I thought of attacking her, and I saw the hat immediately react to my hostile intent. It's way faster than anything I've seen before, and it probably would've killed me if I followed through with my plan."

- "If you say so !" Magnus throws his hands in the air and goes to sit in a nearby chair, next to a table. "Adriana's gonna be pissed !"

Cassandra falls back on her bed, and color returns to her face.

- "About that…" Cassandra says. "Should we really tell her ?"

- "Why not ?"

- "There's no telling what she might do."

- "Pretty sure she deserves to know !"

- "Ugh. I guess we can get this sorted when she recovers." She turns to Morgana. "You're good ?"

- "I'm slowly getting my strength back." Morgana answers, looking down.

- "I didn't mean that. You looked like you were about to pass out at any moment when I saw you staring at her, so I stepped in."

- "Oh." Morgana seems to realize. "Thank you, Cassandra, I'm fine."

- "Don't mention it. Plus, from what I can tell Magnus tried to help first."

- "Thank you too, Magnus."

- "Just acted on impulse ! Don't think too much about it !" he replies.

- "We should leave this place as soon as possible." Theo says. "I have a very bad feeling about this situation."

- "Sure, we can leave whenever everyone can walk." Cassandra answers. "By the way, what was that bit about your ancestors ?"

- "Nothing important, really. I have no ties or attachment to them."

- "Got it. Anyways I'm going to sleep and get nightmares about Morgana's mom, good night." Cassandra says before resuming her rest.

Eventually, Adriana seems to wake up and immediately turns to Magnus, who was fiddling with a floating scalpel.

- "Magnus ?"

- "Oh Adriana, you're awake !"

- "I'm in the mood for tea."

- "Huh ? Sure I guess !"

They both move to one of the stone cells outside of the laboratory and Adriana starts brewing some tea. Her sun was lighting up the room.

- "What should I do ?" she asks.

- "What do you mean ?"

- "Frankly, I'm terrified. I don't know what to do with this information."

- "Huh ? You…" Magnus seems to realize. "You were awake this entire time weren't you ?"

- "Yes, I was just pretending to sleep because I was too scared to confront her. The way she talks, that she carries herself… it's horrible, and yet I don't sense an ounce of evil in her voice. She scares me."

- "I don't get you. How's that scary ?"

- "I should tell you that. She genuinely believes she's doing something good for Morgana, and the only reason she is letting us leave is because of that. We have no chance of defeating her, even if we all fought together. Her magical energy is superior even to miss Nova's…"

- "Oh I get it !" Magnus hits his fist in his palm. "You're just scared of people stronger than you !"

- "Huh ? No I'm not !..."

- "I thought we weren't supposed to lie to each other." Magnus grabs the kettle and serves himself a cup before sipping from it.

- "...You're right. Maybe that's true."

- "You're just used to overpowering every problem you face, so when you can't, you panic. I knew someone like that."

- "What happened to them ?"

- "Oh he's dead."

- "Great. I guess I'm destined to end up like him ?"

- "Yup !"

- "Thanks dude. Really appreciate the support."

- "Hey I'm not gonna lie to you ! Plus, all you have to do is change the way you approach things: magical energy isn't the end all be all, I've beaten plenty of people who had double or triple my output in the past."

- "Yeah but you're… you."

- "I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean ! Anyways, maybe you should come to spar with me and Sophia one of those days when we get back, I'm sure we could teach you a thing or two about how to fight people that can seem stronger than you."

- "...Sure, I don't have anything to lose." she pours herself a cup.

- "By the way, if you need help getting back at her for killing all your previous friends, you can always count on me !"

- "I thought we weren't friends ?"

- "We're not, but that witch's behavior ticks me off. She could use a good punch in the mouth."

- "I see." she sips on her tea, and Magnus notices her arms are back to normal.

- "You regenerated your burns ? We can probably leave when Theo and Cassandra wake up then."

- "Can we just finish our tea party first ?..." she quietly asks and he nods.

Back in the laboratory, Morgana was still trying to communicate with the boy, who was still unresponsive. Eventually, she seems to notice something and asks Sophia:

- "Do you know where Sol is ? I don't see him."

- "You're right, I haven't seen him since… your mother came here…" Sophia replies as the gears of her mind seem to spin into motion.

Without a word, they both get up and start searching the laboratory and the nearby cells, and eventually Morgana is relieved to find Sol inside one of them, seemingly the one he normally would occupy if this laboratory was the one he was rescued from.

- "Ah, there you are. Come on, get out, mother is gone." Morgana says.

Sol just looks up at her, surprised before he gets up and exits the cell, seemingly looking for Adriana. Morgana returns to the laboratory and lets him roam the place freely, and she finds Sophia on her way back.

- "I saw Sol walking around." she says. "I guess you found him ?"

- "Yes, he was in one of the cells."

- "You know, I've been looking a little more through that book detailing your mother's research, and I think that Sol isn't a singular person."

- "What do you mean ?"

- "I've seen a few pages dedicated to fusing multiple human beings into one to add their total power into one being, and the most successful method of achieving that is to fuse identical twins."

- "He has two different wings, but that's about it."

- "Yes, but the book says that as a side effect, their brains and souls conflict with each other instead of helping one another, causing a lot of side effects. One of them is a heavily decreased learning ability."

- "Oh." Morgana remembers how hard it was to get Sol to repeat any word, no matter how simple it was. "That makes sense… Does that mean he will stay like that ?"

- "No. Apparently, a witch that is advanced enough in Convergence witchcraft can reverse the process and separate these types of chimeras, provided they know what they're doing."

- "I don't know anyone who could do that…"

- "I could try it. I may not look like it, but I know the three witchcrafts, and I'm pretty advanced in all of them. It's just been a while, so I need to practice, and I'll probably need some of my tools back in Eretria."

- "The three witchcrafts ?"

- "Convergence witchcraft, which is used to create chimeras and mingle with the biology of living things. Crest witchcraft, designed to reinforce a witch's other magics by combining magic circles with her body through Convergence witchcraft. Finally, Curse witchcraft, which allows you to apply usually harmful effects to living things and magic items. I studied all of them when I was younger, so I think I could lend a hand."

- "Oh. Thank you Sophia, that means a lot."

- "No need for that. I feel as if I did nothing against your mother, so this is the least I could do. I'm compelled to help you, since I actually enjoy conversing with you."

- "You do ?"

- "You both have that same low energy way of talking." they hear Cassandra say from her bed.

- "Oh Cassandra you woke up." Morgana comments.

- "Yeah I got enough magical energy to keep myself going now. Your mom's face did appear in my dreams. Something about replacing my arms with wands for better efficiency."

- "You should try it, maybe that would fix your magical energy problem." Sophia comments.

- "Oh please. I don't want to see you in my nightmares too." Cassandra replies. "I didn't even know you could make jokes."

- "I have a sense of humor. I just don't need it most of the time."

- "I don't have one." Morgana adds.

- "Yeah I can believe that… You just run on anger and olive bread. You don't even seem bothered by your lifespan problem." Cassandra sighs.

- "This aside, I didn't even think it was possible to turn clothes into chimeras by combining them with living beings. It should be impossible for them to sustain themselves." Sophia observes.

- "Well she is fusing divine spirits with mortal creatures, so at this point nothing's off the table." Cassandra replies.

- "I wanted to ask, what's a divine spirit ?" Morgana questions.

- "It's a spirit imbued with some kind of divinity by the planet, making it a more or less minor god. For example, all dryads and naiads are divine spirits." Cassandra explains.

- "If I remember, there are ten ranks or classes of spirits, and at the base line divine spirits are a minimum of third class. Tenth class spirits are basically gods, who could probably put up a good fight and even win if they were challenged by one of the main twelve Olympian gods, depending on the god." Sophia adds.

- "What's divinity ?" Morgana asks. "I don't really know what it actually means."

- "Basically, it's power over a domain, which we call Authority, that allows the user to manipulate said domain and alter its rules without even the use of magic. For example, if you take Hecate, the goddess of Magic, she is imbued with Authority over all forms of magic. Authorities can be more or less powerful, like those of naiads. Naiads have a small Authority over freshwater, but if they were to try to seize control of a river belonging to the sea god Poseidon, they would fail. Most spirits aren't divine spirits, so it will be hard to find one, but I think a divine spirit of fire could help you with your lifespan, Morgana." Sophia says.

- "Really ? How ?"

- "Given what your mother said, you simply need guidance on how to get the power granted to you by your spirit blood under control. That could easily be achieved by a spirit having lived for long enough."

- "Oh I see. Where can I find a tenth class fire spirit ?"

- "Unfortunately I don't know. The only tenth class spirit I know is the Oread of Mount Olympus, the mountain of the gods, who is even rumored to be special class."

- "Oread ? Special class ?"

- "Oreads are to mountains what dryads are to trees and forests. Also, special class spirits are just spirits that exceed the established scale by an unknown margin. For example, the dryad of the first tree to have ever been created, the Founding Tree, is a special class divine spirit."

- "That's complicated but I feel like it makes sense somehow."

- "That's probably because you're partially a spirit. Normally, spirits have some knowledge of the fundamentals of magic and things like leylines."

- "I see. Thank you again Sophia."

Sophia nods, and eventually Theo finally wakes up, allowing them to leave the laboratory. This time however, when Morgana approaches the door, she isn't repelled by the usual wind, and neither is Sol or the white haired boy. She is surprised at first, but assumes it must be the work of her mother. When they reappear outside back into the freezing cold, a floating red flame appears above each of their heads and they hear something akin to a roar above the crevice they are in. They all get ready for battle, but all they see is Nova flying down towards them at incredible speeds. She lands in front of them, a concerned expression on her face.

- "Where were you guys ?! I was looking for you for an entire day !"

- "We could ask you the same thing !" Cassandra replies.

- "It's complicated…" Morgana adds.

She explains what just happened as best as she can, and eventually Nova nods while holding her chin.

- "I see… I'll report to Eretria, you guys keep going with your original mission. We probably should avoid field trips around Greece for the time being, I'll switch up your schedule for the next year."

- "You could at least pretend like you care !" Cassandra exclaims.

- "Haha, it's just your personal problems ! I'll only start caring if you can make it to second year !"

- "Ugh…"

- "I told you Nova was gonna be fun !" Magnus says.

- "I really hate your idea of fun." Cassandra sighs.

- "Can we just return to Eretria when we have some of the ice from the giant trees ?" Morgana asks. "I'm starting to run out of patience."

- "Oh and there she goes, the cold got to her head again." Cassandra comments.

- "Yeah ! I'll even give you a ride back home if you collect enough of it !" Nova replies.

- "Understood." Morgana responds, determined.

- "Well, on that note I'll continue to monitor you from above ! I reinforced my tracking spell, so I'm sure I won't lose you this time. Good luck, and try not to die, class !"