Cate could not keep any food down, and by now, it had been over a week since she last ate anything. She remembered that the last time she was able to eat anything and keep it down was when she was in the Edgeless Forest, just before she used the Original Sin spell. After that, food no longer agreed with her.
Cate began going over the Original Sin Spell to try and understand what was going on. Fortunately, she did not seem to ever get hungry. She was never tired, and even sweating was no longer something she did. She was operating at a completely different level, and the way she saw the world was rapidly changing. With the ability to see the flow of magic and all the energies in the world, a whole new door had been opened to her, and all she had to do was to go in. Since the casting of the Original Sin spell could not be undone, she decided to use her newfound abilities.
Opening doors and other delicate tasks became a little troublesome since her strength was still far out of her control. She seemed to grow stronger with each passing day, and there did not seem to be a limit for her. She began practicing swordsmanship with the Mage Born, and through this, she began to get some level of control. The Mage Born was surprised to see Cate keeping up with his movements. One had to remember that the Mage Born was a mage who used their magic to increase their physical strength and empower their swords. For Cate to keep up with him was shocking.
On this day, the director finally brought them a mission. In the meeting hall, Thabo explained the details as best he could. In short, an ancient pyramid had been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The director then went ahead to explain why this was an impossible find. There were many reasons, and yet the pyramid had still been discovered in the Congo Basin Rainforest, far from Egypt or even Sudan. This did not make any sense.
"After the pyramid was discovered, we were immediately notified by a supernatural being that lives there. The Mokèlé-mbèmbé described the pyramid as being a great concentration of fate and magic. It also helped us set up a powerful spell that hid the pyramid from the world. As for the poor poachers who stumbled onto the pyramid, they became food for the Mokèlé-mbèmbé. When you reach the rainforest, the Mokèlé-mbèmbé has agreed to serve as your guide to the pyramid. You must investigate the structure in detail, and if you can find a few good spells while you are at it, that would be best."
Immediately after the briefing, Cate led her team to the Magical Beast Bureau. This department was responsible for handling the magical beasts for the society. These beasts were used for transportation, food, alchemy, and many other things. One may wonder why the supernaturals did not simply use aeroplanes and the like. This would be a good question until one found out that electricity and magic did not go well together. Whenever electronics got anywhere near magic, they would lose control and fail. Planes would crash and boats would sink. Even phones and computers were not spared from this. This was why it was impressive that Mary had found a way to use magic on her laptop that she took everywhere.
There were many different magical beasts available for them to use. Cate chose a Huma Bird. This beast originated from Persia. It was called the "bird of fortune," since it was known to bring good luck to people. It also ate very high altitudes and had the ability to use magic to hide in the clouds and storms. This camouflage would come in handy since they were going to the human world. Cate also hoped that the Huma Bird would find them worthy enough to benefit from some luck.
Without any delay, the group got onto the back of the bird and flew off. The beast was very large. It was larger than two elephants put together. It had bright red feathers, the head of an eagle, six wings, three legs, and a long tail that appeared like a river of fire following it. On its back, the group was very comfortable since the Magic Beast Bureau put a large tent-like structure for them.
The Huma Bird flew so gracefully that they barely felt anything. There was even a table in the center with drinks, fruits, and other things. During the journey, Albrecht and Jordan were completely silent. Cate and Mary sipped on wine and chatted cheerfully the entire journey. The Mage Born nodded every now and then.
The Huma Bird was very fast, and it only took them about two hours to move from the Americas to the Democratic Republic of Congo. They flew straight to the Congo Basin Rainforest and landed in the general area where the pyramid had been reported.
"Who among you knows about the Mokèlé-mbèmbé? Are they supernaturals that we can trust?" Cate asked the group. She looked at Jordan then Albrecht. These two stayed silent as usual. She then looked at Mary who had a clear answer on the matter. She was a seer and focused on gathering all sorts of information about anything and everything. She claimed that her laptop had more information than there was in the world. Cate did not understand much about human technology, but this seemed a bit too much.
Mary brought out her blue laptop and placed her hand over it. The machine came to life. Mary closed her eyes, and strange characters in a language Cate had never seen or heard of in her long life began moving rapidly over the screen. The characters looked like chicken scribblings and made no sense to Cate. Even though her eyes were closed, Cate could still see that Mary's eyes were rapidly darting about. This was the first time she had seen Mary this serious. She usually had an answer to whatever question posed by Cate without using the laptop.