"Seraphine?" I asked, puzzled.
"Yes, you should know that she'll be leaving soon along with her brother. Even your fiancée will be going with Valeria."
I recalled the Legacy once more and nodded, waiting for her to continue.
"I can't enter; you already know the age restrictions these kinds of places usually have."
'So… she's asking me to accompany her,' I thought, waiting for her to keep speaking.
"Seraphine has been acting strange lately, Cassian. I feel like this matters to her to the point of obsession. I've always blamed myself for watching her push herself so hard to live up to the family name without success, and I'm afraid that now that she has a chance to change her talent, she might do something that leaves her with no way back."
I lowered my head, processing her words. A serious expression began to take over my face.
"I understand… I can't promise anything, but I'll do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to her. She's also close to me, Sylvia."
She nodded, and suddenly her expression shifted into a playful one.
"Well, since I'm already here…" she murmured, placing a hand on my chest and sliding it down to remove the coat I was wearing.
I turned to look at her with a flat smile. She seemed to understand what I wanted to say instantly.
Her hand stopped, and for a second, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes faltered, replaced by a slight look of resignation.
"Not today, Sylvia," I said in a tone that left no room for argument, though it wasn't rude. "My head is elsewhere."
"Should this hurt my pride?" she replied with a hint of irony, though she didn't seem genuinely offended.
I remained silent, staring at the shadows in the room. It wasn't just Seraphine, nor my stepmother's strange invitation, or my worry about what Margery would think.
Something else was weighing on my mind. Sylvia said her goodbyes resignedly; there was a trace of concern in her gaze that she couldn't quite hide.
I let myself fall onto the bed, exhausted, my eyes fixed on the white light illuminating the room. Little by little, the surroundings began to fade…
…
Hundreds of thousands of years ago.
"ℵ ℵℶℷℸℵℶℷℸ! Tomorrow you have to go see that old man!" she insisted.
The boy frowned.
"Xuehua, why do you want me to waste time on that? You know no one from this village has ever been chosen by them… Besides, I'm not leaving without you."
"But…" the girl lowered her head doubtfully. "At least you should try. I'll go too."
At her words, the boy immediately grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her seriously.
"Are you crazy? You know very well what happened the last time you appeared in public."
"I'll cover myself… no one will notice me. I don't think the immortals will care about my eyes."
"You don't know that, Xuehua. You're the only family I have," he replied, frowning.
"We have to move forward somehow… we can't stay here our whole lives."
"Why not?" the boy asked, angry.
"You always say it yourself: we're just surviving. This isn't living," she paused before continuing. "Besides… I always feel like I'm just a burden on your path, as if you yourself have a greater destiny than I can understand."
The boy looked at her, confused.
"Don't talk about things like destiny; those things don't exist."
The girl lowered her head, depressed; she didn't seem to agree with his words.
…
Back to the present.
BOOOOM!
A dull roar shook the surroundings of the forest, flattening the ground and making the trees in the area disappear. In the middle of the disaster, a woman of ethereal beauty looked around, puzzled.
"It should be here… according to big sister, the coordinates should be correct," she murmured.
After a few moments, the woman lowered her head, dejected.
"But… how am I supposed to find him now?"
At that moment, she noticed a person staring at her in surprise. Around her, what appeared to be guards had arrived along with her.
"Princess! Don't run, it could be a dangerous beast!" one shouted from behind, who seemed more like a caretaker than a soldier.
But the woman paid him no attention, running toward the impact site without hesitation. This led to the current moment: two pairs of eyes looked at each other with curiosity. Xingyue immediately noticed the woman's long, pointed ears.
"An elf," she murmured.
…
On the other hand, Margery was spending time with Cassane; they had already visited numerous shops.
"So Cassian really thought a scarecrow was a spy? To the point of interrogating it?" Cassane lowered his head as laughter escaped her. "No way, I can't imagine him doing something like that."
"But it's true! When he was only seven years old, he was always doing that kind of thing. Even when he grew up… although it's true that there was a moment when he changed quite a bit. Suddenly, he seemed more mature and…" her face blushed, "…he stopped looking like a child."
They were walking through an alley when danger caught up with them.
They couldn't continue the conversation. Two figures blocked their path, and one of them suddenly lunged at Margery.
It was impossible for her to avoid it: the attacker was four levels above her in power.
Cassane reacted a little better and tried to block the blow, but she didn't succeed.
Just as the attack was about to hit Margery, a figure intervened: a woman with long navy-blue hair stopped the charge cold.
The assailants were surprised to see her, but they didn't hesitate and began to work together to accomplish their goal.
The confrontation between two eighth-circle mages against one began to leave traces of destruction in its wake; it was impossible for people not to notice what was happening.
The woman, Thalassa, held on as long as she could, but soon began to show signs of weakness.
A blow struck her squarely in the chest, forcing her to spit blood as her arms became covered in wounds. Seeing this, Margery and Cassane snapped out of their daze and tried to help.
However, their efforts were useless. Noticing Thalassa's weakness, the attackers shifted their target toward them.
This time there was no one to stop them: a gust of wind struck both of them head-on, slamming them against the wall and leaving them unconscious.
Thalassa would be next; afterward, they would make sure Margery didn't come out alive.
But the massacre would not continue.
The shadows following Margery had already reported the incident.
Although they wanted to intervene directly, the truth was that the ninth-level warrior assigned to protect her was not at his post… something that, later, he would pay for dearly.
But seeing that reinforcements might arrive too late, the shadows jumped in to block the lethal attack.
They managed to save Thalassa's life, but at the cost of putting their own at risk.
They were warriors trained for discretion, not for frontal combat against two eighth-circle mages.
Still, they stood as human shields, knowing perfectly well that if someone died in their presence, nothing would save them afterward.
The alley turned into a chaos of spells and black steel, while the air vibrated with the magical pressure of the attackers, who, frustrated by the interference, unleashed their power without restraint.
The situation didn't look like it would end well, and for some reason, despite the commotion, no one came to see what was happening; the place seemed to have been isolated from the rest of the world.
The two attackers looked at each other with complicity.
Ignoring those trying to stop them, they fixed their gaze on Margery at the same time. A strange technique began to form with the union of both their powers. The shadows and Thalassa watched that energy, knowing that trying to stop it was equivalent to certain death.
The shadows hesitated: even sacrificing themselves, they wouldn't be able to prevent the impact from reaching Margery. Thalassa analyzed the situation, considering her scarce options, until a steely determination took hold of her as she understood everything. Even if she died today… perhaps, at least, this act would save her people.
She planted herself in front of Margery, with the firm intention of becoming a human shield. The attackers looked at her with a mix of surprise and amusement as they released the attack, letting the lethal energy fly straight toward her.