Jaux Ballad has always wanted to enter the realm of magic, but could not do so by regular means. In his desperation to become a magician he finds himself with more power, and more trouble, than he could ever have imagined.

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The book on Theema was opened up in the middle of a large web. White strings stretched out from its pages, and linked up to various other books in the massive library.

Marlifa descended from the her realm's sky web. She landed next to her priestess and stood upright. "What's that?" she asked Helsfur.

Helsfur was sitting over the book with her eyes closed. Her palms hovered over the text, and a faint yellow glow flowed in the space between. She opened one eye to look over at Marlifa. "I looked over Miss Ballad's false memory," she said, "and I saw that she received a book. She thought she did, anyway. The book wasn't catalogued in the library, so I went about searching for it. Miss Ballad's roommate, Frey Oden, had it on hand. I borrowed and read through it, but I think it's plagiarized. I'm currently comparing it to some other deity reference books."

Marlifa walked over to the book, then studied the passages it was opened up to. She immediately smiled and looked up at the webbing. The goddess pinched a single string and pulled. A book flew towards the them and landed noisily against the table.

"You should have directly inquired me," said Marlifa. "I recognize the diction. It's modified from a book describing a beast god, Ryzar."

Helsfur sighed. "I had a string attached, so I would have found it soon."

Marlifa lightly chuckled. "Now then, shall we confirm the duplication?"

The goddess and the headmistress leaned over the two books and compared the wording.

"It is indeed a forgery," said Marlifa as she flipped through the pages. "There is a significant portion of word replacement and chapter shuffling, but it is roughly the same book."

Helsfur nodded and picked up the false book. "Yeah, I knew it. The harpy likely gave this book to Miss Ballad. It seems like an attempt to mask the deity's identity. That goddess must have some kind of agenda, and we need to figure it out."

=+=+=

The final day of the research trip had arrived.

Rales packed away most of his acquired artifact collection in crates. He placed the crates on a few of his magic carpets, which were enchanted to fly behind the primary one he would ride with Suhara.

Suhara had her staff and Dragon Tongue strapped on her back. The sword was wrapped in thick hides so that it didn't poke into the magic carpet later. The crate with most of the relics she claimed sat on one of the spare carpets. She planned to have Rales sell them for her. The souvenir artifacts for her roommates were strapped onto her traveling bag.

Rales and Suhara avoided eye contact, and the two didn't speak to each other unless absolutely necessary. They had a rather embarrassing interaction in the morning.

Suhara woke up with light cramps in her stomach. She screamed when she saw a patch of blood staining the mid section of her robe. Rales rushed in, armed and expecting Suhara to be under attack. He did not consider the possibility of encountering a girl having her first period.

Joula helped with the feminine hygiene issue, and assured Suhara that it wasn't weird to experience the monthly curse a little later than average.

Suhara wasn't freaking out over how late it was, but more about how she was having one at all. Being seen by Rales also embarrassed her more than she could stand. There were no words to relieve the lingering awkwardness.

The morning was reduced to a game of facing the other person with the back of the head at all times.

=+=+=

The Ginrook Paladins didn't allow any of the researchers to leave. Unusual activity had been detected in the forest. In order to ensure safety, the researchers were told to stay inside the castle.

Large wooden boxes appeared overnight in the surrounding forest. No one knew where they came from. None of the guards heard any sound during the night, so most believed that the boxes were teleported in.

Joula and Suhara observed the boxes with their magic gazes, but they didn't see any abnormalities. The lack of enchantments only added to the mystery. The paladins didn't dare approach without knowing where the boxes came from and what they were supposed to do.

Some researchers came up with a theory that it was part of the castle's defense wards. Cilna was asked about the boxes, but she had no knowledge about them.

"Why don't we just shoot one with a fireball?" One of the Javex researchers suggested.

Everyone was homesick and impatient from spending eight days in the forest, so the simple plan of shooting the box was agreed upon unanimously.

Kellin took out her wand and aimed out from one of the windows. She sniped the closest box with a small yellow fireball. The top half of the box lit up in flames, then it continued to burn for over a minute while everyone watched.

The forest unexpectedly began to fill with blue flashes of light. Robed figures appeared with magic staves raised in their hands.

Joula and Suhara saw as orange and yellow magics were fired out from the staves. The magic flowed over and filled the countless boxes.

There was a loud crunch as the wooden boxes blew open. It contained people, who stumbled forward and began to approach the castle.

"Undead!" Celner yelled as she backed away from the window. "Barricade the doors! We're under attack, necromancers!"

Necromancers were mages that controlled dead bodies and used them as puppets. Their undead zombies were widely known and feared. Necromancers were especially powerful in times of war, due to how the bodies of fallen warriors could become their personal soldiers.

Regular necromancers weren't as powerful as the Lich, but many of them currently moved through the forest.

The researchers fortified the doors and windows with mystic wards. The paladins decided to remain outside, ready to fight against the threat.

"There's so many out there!" Suhara shouted while pointing out a window. "We can't hide ourselves, those knights are outnumbered! We must help them."

"Fighting is their job, not ours!" said one of the Javex researchers.

Rales pulled Suhara away from the window, and tried to get her to calm down. "They'll be fine, Suhara. Undead are not difficult to fight against. It's safer if we stay in here."

Suhara ripped herself out of Rales's grip. "Well what about the mages?" she said, "It's not just undead out there, they are outnumbered by mages too!"

"Get your girl under control!" Celner said to Rales, "We don't need a panicking cub getting in the way of things."

Suhara growled, ran back up to the window, and stared at the incoming army of undead. She called out to her goddess, "Theema!"

Theema's voice echoed into Suhara's head. "Yes, child?"

"Transport me, I wish to be standing right in front of that army!"

"Very well, it is done."

Suhara's body shifted into a gathering of smokey darkness, which extended forth through the castle wall and out into the forest.

Rales tried to grab Suhara, but his hand swiped uselessly through the blackness. "No! Come back!"

=+=+=

Suhara could smell the rotting stench of the undead bodies. Her body ached from Theema's teleportation, but she was used to the burning pain. Magic channeled through her silver anklet till the glass-like protective blessing covered her body.

One of the necromancers spotted her and called out to his allies. Spells flew through the air and struck Suhara, but the blessing protected her from the assault. When the spells didn't work, all the nearby undead began to shuffle over to her.

Suhara reached behind herself and pulled up the Dragon Tongue. She activated the blade's enchantment, so that the black sword radiated the intense heat. The hide wrappings on the blade blackened and smoked as the sword burned through it.

Necromancers who didn't possess any protective wards against heat started to scream and back away. Standing under the white glow of the Dragon Tongue burned more than being locked away in a furnace. The plants withered away until they were a dull brown. Fires began to start from the dried vegetation, spreading to and up tree trunks.

The undead bodies were cooked by the heat from the sword and the fires that were forming throughout the forest. Gray smoke stretched out into the sky.

Suhara could see the white glow of her blade, but the heat didn't touch her. The blessing of the silver anklet held firm. She felt a bit of regret when she saw the birds and other woodland creatures scurry away, but burning down a forest was a small consequence. Protecting the paladins and researchers was her priority. She was only hindering one side of the invasion, but that still gave the paladins less of a disadvantage.

All of a sudden, there was a blue flash behind Suhara. She turned her head just in time to see a glowing staff pointed right at her face. A explosion rippled through the air and knocked the girl off her feet, causing her to drop the Dragon Tongue. The glowing white blade stabbed deep into the ground.

A huge man stood over Suhara. He was the largest person she had ever seen. He wore a robe with long fabrics, but it did nothing to hide his thick muscles. The man's arms had to be as thick as a horse's neck. He held a staff, but it looked like a wand compared to his colossal hand.

"Out of our way, young lady." said the man as he pointed the staff at Suhara.

A bright bolt shot out from the staff, and it created another explosion on contact. The protective blessing was broken by the burst of force. Suhara was hurled back until she crashed against a tree. She cried out from the pain of her ribs snapping on impact, then her body limply fell to the ground.

Suhara groaned while she lay on the floor. The heat of the forest fire scorched her hair and skin, but she couldn't focus enough to reactivate her anklet's blessing.

The man's staff aimed at the girl again, its tip glowed as a third explosive spell was about to shoot out.

A crash was heard back at the castle, the front gates had been broken through.

Cilna roared. The Mistress of Blades leap all the way from the front of the castle, and stabbed the large man in the back with a pair of swords. A clank was heard as the metal smashed against a solid ward. The swords failed to pierce through the man's protective spells, but he was pushed into one of the developing fires.

The man yelled out as the flames burned him. His ward didn't resist direct contact with fire.

Oreno appeared out from Cilna's bracelet. He floated over to Suhara and bent down to check that she was breathing. When he was sure she was alive, he created a small barrier dome to protect the girl.

The Mistress of Blades and the massive man started to duel. Cilna's blades were enchanted to be fast, heavy, and sharp, but they couldn't get through the man's protections.

The large man smirked as the swords bounced uselessly off his body. "It is futile, dear lady." he said as he raised his staff high in the air.

A pulse of yellow erupted from the staff. It washed over Cilna, and she immediately dropped her blades to grab her head. She screamed as a terrible pain erupted deep within her mind.

Oreno faded away as Cilna lost her concentration. Although the specter was gone, the protective dome remained over Suhara.

The large man knocked Cilna away with a punch, then started to walk towards the castle.

Before the man could step any further, one of the forest fires in front of him brightened up to the intensity of the sun. It increased in size, then a woman stepped through from deep inside the shining flames.

The woman's pale skin was covered by a shirt and some trousers. Her hair was black, but a line of gray strands fell by her face. Her emerald eyes were narrowed and staring into the large man's face.

"Halt, Gable."