“The Amyss carriage has left the city gates,” Derfen reported.

  “That’s good,” Frida nodded, “It seems like they are making haste just like expected.”

  We should be at the gates at most in a minute or two. It won’t take long before we catch up once the road clears up.

  “Do we have eyes on Adion?” Frida asked.

  “We lost him once he left the Academy,” Derfen said, “But he should be about 10 to 15 minutes behind the Amyss carriage.”

  “I thought we told our people to watch Adion’s movements,” Diamond Tremis said with a frown. He was sitting opposite Frida and Derfen in the carriage.

  “He probably teleported,” Frida said, “It’s impossible for them to keep track of him. But it doesn’t matter as we know where he is going.”

  “Do you seriously believe he can teleport?” Diamond Termin questioned.

  “I’ve seen it with my own eyes plenty of times,” Frida said, “You should be able to tell that I’m not lying.”

  “I don’t think you’re lying. I think you lack experience,” Diamond Tremis said, “Even if you are extremely talented, you are still a Bronze mage. It’s more likely he has studied some movement technique that is too fast for your eyes to follow.”

  “Maybe if it was just a one-time thing,” Frida said, “But I’ve studied him for a long time. Besides, you were also there that day. He has powers that can’t be attributed to a mere Gift.”

  “The Headmaster told us that it was due to an artifact,” Diamond Termin said, “Even if he lied to cover up something else. Do you truly believe what happened that day can be accomplished by a Silver mage?”

  It should be impossible. But I’ve seen Adion do plenty of things that should be impossible.

  The event Frida was talking about was when she was visiting Diamond Tremis a few months ago to report her findings about Adion. Diamond Tremis was the member of Heavenly Light who had the highest status in the Academy, thus, he was the only one she could turn to in order to get her message to the members outside the Academy.

  Diamond Tremis had not believed her words when she reported Adion’s abilities. But that changed when the surrounding space started acting strange during their meeting. Something had happened higher up in the Tower of Cyalis, and Diamond Tremis had headed up to see what was going on. He received the explanation that the Headmaster had gotten an artifact to work with the help of Adion Remori’s Gift.

  Diamond Tremis believed the Headmaster for the most part, and still didn’t take Frida’s words seriously. But with Adion becoming the Headmaster’s disciple immediately after, he had to take the matter with a certain amount of seriousness. The Remori family was considered an enemy of their organization, after all.

  He had reported the matter to his superiors, and thankfully, they didn’t dismiss Frida’s claims entirely. That was when her position in Heavenly Light started to change. Her position as a student in the Academy was valuable, but it wasn’t too unique. Her powerful Gift, however, made her an important member that was cared for by the organization.

  Still, she was only a Bronze mage at the end of the day, it would take a long time before she could wield any real power. But as she contributed more and more information, along with her own theories and plans, her position started cementing itself.

  Now, she was almost as important as Diamond Tremis, despite him being a Diamond mage with a position as a professor in the Academy. And should things play out just as she had planned today, she had no doubt that she would receive even more attention. It was very likely that Soft Soul Hedande would accept her as his disciple and nurture her for an important position in the future.

  I’m looking forward to seeing Tremis's face when he realizes how wrong he has been about everything. Let’s see if he still has the face to question me in the future.

  I just hope he doesn’t screw up today because of his doubts.

  “You are still young, after all,” Diamond Tremis said, shaking his head, “There are Gifts and spells that are beyond my comprehension, but let me tell you, there is no way for a Silver mage to affect a Soul mage to that degree.”

  Even Frida had to admit that it was a little ridiculous if Adion was truly that powerful. Most likely, he had the help of some kind of artifact, but she didn’t want to take any chances. That’s why she had pushed for Soft Soul Hedande to take action himself. She would rather embarrass herself by blowing the threat of Adion’s power out of proportion than underestimate him and end up failing the mission.

  “I’ve tried to warn you, Frida,” Diamond Tremis continued, “Even with your talents, if you end up making a mistake as big as I think you’re about to do, you will have a hard time recovering. But I guess it’s too late to go back on anything now. At least you will get your revenge. That’s why you’ve been pushing so hard for this, right?”

  “I wouldn’t abuse my position for something so selfish,” Frida refuted, “You know very well that I’ve told no lies.”

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  “It would be impossible for me to know if you’ve even been lying to yourself,” Diamond Tremis said with a shrug, “Your hate for Adion Remori has warped your mind.”

  Even if I hate him, I’m not crazy.

  But it was true that she hated Adion. But that hate led her to discover all his secrets, and that, in turn, could help her organization.

  In the beginning, she had only investigated Adion for selfish reasons. She was looking for something to use against him, to make him suffer. She quickly found out about his relationship with Princess Sellitha, but before she could figure out how to use that to her advantage, she found out about her engagement to Lord Hesfym. She had never been so happy as that day. She immediately started her plan to convince the people above her about the relationship, even going so far as to swear an Oath to verify all her claims.

  But that was only the beginning. Adion Remori held a lot more secrets than she had thought. That’s when she realized there was a possibility to make Heavenly Light act against him. She would achieve her revenge a lot sooner than she first thought.

  “I get that the Remori family is an enemy,” Derfen said hesitantly, “But why do you hate Adion Remori so much? Did he do something to you? I’ve never heard him behaving badly at the Academy, and I have access to a lot of information there.”

  “It’s none of your business,” Frida said in a cold voice. She felt her anger surfacing. The images of that night appeared in her mind once again.

  Frida always thought that she couldn’t hate anything more than the mindless beasts that attacked her village and killed her parents. Her hatred of the beasts had almost become her entire identity. She trained from sunrise to sundown every day in order to one day rush into the Outskirts and slay every single beast that hid on the continent.

  That was until she one day found the light. An old man had come up to talk to her on the streets of Wender. At first, she didn’t really listen. She felt wary of his intentions. But his words started resonating with her. His ideas of how the world worked and the constant threat of beasts. He told her that there was a place for her.

  She thought there wasn’t any harm in seeing the place the old man had told her about, so she went to take a look. It was late at night in an old chapel. There, she heard about the dream of the Everlasting Age, a world without beasts. She found a meaning again. Even more so, she found a family again.

  Unfortunately, things didn’t last long. Because there was a person coming to those meetings who she didn’t think much about at the time, but that she had countless times since that day regretted not killing immediately. Adion Remori.

  She didn’t even get to live in that blissful world for a month before it was all taken away from her. She still remembers the fire that devoured Diamond Eulen’s mansion. Everywhere she looked were dead bodies, people she had respected and who had treated her so kindly.

  She had never imagined that fellow humans were capable of such a heinous crime. The rage that had somewhat calmed down after she had joined Heavenly Light came back in full swing. She needed to know who did it. Know who was responsible. It was dark, and those responsible were already too far away to see. Even so, Frida needed to see them. She needed to know who had taken everything away from her again. She needed to know who she hated.

  And that’s when it happened. The darkness cleared up, and the walls and buildings in front of her were nothing but air. Even the mask covering Adion’s face couldn’t impede her vision. She saw his face. And then she passed out.

  It’s ironic in a way, Adion. You created the power that will destroy you.

  You thought you were safe to act as pleased behind closed doors and stone walls, but I have seen it all.

  I hope you have enjoyed your blissful little existence, never sharing a thought about the lives you’ve taken, because it will all end soon.

  “Can you spot the Amyss carriage?” Diamond Tremis asked.

  “Let me look,” Frida said. They had been outside the city gates for a while now, so they should have almost caught up. Not that they needed to, but it was good not to be too far away in case something unexpected occurred.

  Frida focused, and the wooden walls of the carriage in front of her melted away. So did they on the carriage in front of them. With barely any effort at all, Frida could see through all obstacles, and she soon laid her eyes on the Amyss carriage.

  “They are not very far ahead,” Frida said, “Just a few minutes before they reach our outpost. We should get ready to send word. If we can’t get eyes on Adion soon, we’ll have to either slow them down or pick up some reinforcements.”

  “Can’t we just let them go and wait for Adion to show up?” Derfen asked.

  “What if Adion doesn’t take this road? What if he does but teleport past us?” Frida questioned.

  “Right,” Derfen nodded, “I’ll send word.”

  Frida still had her eyes on the Amyss carriage. She penetrated the walls with her vision and took a look at the situation inside. She didn’t want any surprises.

  It would have been nice if we could capture her, too. I would have loved to kill her in front of Adion.

  But I guess I can’t ask for too much. Once I grow stronger and Heavenly Light gets a firmer hold on Shiora, I’ll be able to do as I please. I should be patient.

  Just as she was about to cancel her Gift and look away, she saw Sellitha stirring slightly.

  Is she waking up? Well, it’s not like she can cause any trouble with a Hard Soul mage watch- What!?

  Frida had to close her eyes as a large fire exploded, almost blinding her.

  “What’s going on?” Derfen asked as he noticed the commotion further down the road.

  “It’s Sellitha. She woke up,” Frida said.

  “How can that be?” Diamond Tremis asked, looking out the carriage window to see the situation “She’s a Bronze mage. There is no way for her to conjure that amount of flames!”

  “I have no idea,” Frida said, starting to worry, “Anyway, it doesn’t matter for now. The Amyss family will handle her. But Adion will definitely see this and head over. We need to intercept him. We can’t do this without people noticing anymore. But that will also allow us to act more freely. Alert everyone at the outpost. Get the spatial artifact ready. Let’s go!”