A fire crackled merrily in the hearth. Grams soaked in the warmth of the blaze at her side, staring intently at a screen of water she had conjured. It floated in front of her with no visible support, steadily displaying a crisp image of a boy eating a rabbit by a fire.

'So the boy has at least some base survival skills, huh? He also realized he could absorb the Beast Cores using the ring...' She thought as she spied on Torrin as she had for the past week.

Seeing the boy stand up and lay his food aside, her eyebrows perked up, waiting to see what would come next in the show. She popped a handful of buttery, salty popcorn from a wooden bowl into her mouth.

"Yes, boy! Time for the real show to start. Heh, you're almost as entertaining as real television!" Grams praised, thinking back on how long it had been since she saw a TV show.

"Hmph, who needs TV when you've got live action, hehehe" She cackled to herself.

Her mind was beginning to fragment from the years of knowledge she had stored within it. When she first came to this world from her home world, Earth, she never would have guessed she would live for over 2,000 years.

On the screen, she saw the boy pointing towards the woods and her interest was immediately returned to the present, she didn't want to miss anything good from getting lost in her own thoughts.

"Hmm?"

Her eyes shot open wide as the boy conjured a small orb of mana that quickly began to spin and expand, before shooting at the speed of a bullet towards whatever he was aiming at.

She panned her view lower, towards where the streaking ball of mana was heading.

The view landed on the bear just as a huge ball of rotating mana detonated on its face, sending the creature flying backwards end over end.

Grams burst out into a mad cackle seeing this, never would she have expected the boy would learn the runes to an extent of using them to create an actual spell.

'This boy's talent is beyond anything I've ever seen, not even Karth could compare with the kid!'

A fit of coughing followed her crazy outburst of cackling. Seeing the boy's talent and mana control, she now understood what she needed to do next.

"Well, boy, you're on your own for a little bit, I've gotta go see an old acquaintance!" She announced grandly as she stood, sadistic grin plastered to her face.

As she stood in the middle of the living room, runes began appearing from nowhere, forming from the very fabric of space itself. The runes began to spin and converge on the old woman. Soon, there was a popping sound and the living room was empty.

Grams opened her eyes to see a grand set of double doors in front of her. The doors were a heavy black wood with silver runes adorning them, flowing up the tall sides and along the arch of the top of the door frame.

Grams rolled her eyes at the display. The runes here provided almost nothing, minor strengthening of the wood, ward against magic attacks that a yellow-core could break through, and not even an anti teleportation ward. They were just for pretty decoration to wow anyone going to the throne room.

Which is exactly where Grams was headed, but she was most certainly not wow'd.

Grams tapped her right foot and circles of runes began expanding from where she'd tapped, they spread and formed into concentric circles on the floor, nine layers in total.

'Hehe, with my space-time anchor point, I can make sure that arrogant little girl on the throne will listen to what I have to say.'

Once the runes had placed themselves in a circle around her, the runes shone with a silvery light before half of them converged on her body and seemed to soak into her robe.

Without further hesitation, she walked up to the doors and blasted them open, not hard enough to damage them, just hard enough to make a scene.

Inside the chamber, guards lined the walls of the short hall that led to the throne room, where Grams could see a beautiful lady sitting on her throne with her head leaning on one hand as if she were bored listening to whatever nonsense was being spouted to her by the two elderly men before her.

Hearing the door slam open, everyone in the hall looked towards the doors.

"Little Lissy! We need to talk! Haha!" Grams shouted into the awkward silence that enveloped the entire room. There was no sound except Grams' cane tapping on the ground as she moved forward.

The nearest guard unsheathed his blade, but seemed rather unsure of himself. He looked to the Queen for direction.

"Kill that old bitch!" the Queen shouted to everyone in the room.

Instead of attacking the old lady, the guards nearly coughed up a lung hearing the queen's harsh language.

"NOW!"

The roar from the queen shook the guards to their core, every single one of them began running to the old woman.

Cackling like mad Grams shouted out, "Come! Come!"

The first guard arrived, slicing toward Grams with his enchanted rune blade. Her hand lifted, covered in a silvery aura. The blade met her hand and shattered completely, as her hand continued and removed the guards head filled helmet from his neck.

The next closest guard froze, but Grams didn't plan to stop. She flicked her finger, sending an arc of sword light through the second guard's face, causing the guard's head to explode like a watermelon.

With a shriek, the Queen summoned a giant fireball that roared toward Grams.

Grams' smile didn't falter seeing the 6 foot tall fireball approaching her, she simply waved her hand and space shimmered in front of the blast, the fireball disappearing without a trace.

The remaining ten guards stopped in their tracks, seeing the intense attack from the Queen being stopped so simply. Grams just continued clacking along with her cane towards the queen.

"Little Lissy, if you want your guards to die, tell them to continue! If not, send them away so we can speak. And get rid of those two lackeys as well," Grams demanded.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Queen Wyma Lisson, "Little Lissy" as Grams called her, shouted to the dumbfounded audience in the chamber. "And get those bodies out of here!"

Soon the entire room was emptied of everyone except the Queen and Grams.

Grams smiled jubilantly towards the Queen, whose ice blue eyes coldly stared back. The Queen's beautiful features were twisted into a dreadful visage and rage radiated from her, fluctuating the mana in the room.

"Oh, calm down, girl. We need to chat about why you're not protecting your people." Grams' smile faded and her eyes squinted towards the queen.

"What the hell are you talking about, you deranged old witch? Protecting my people is all I do!" The rage was heating the air around them due to her subconsciously manipulating the mana with her uncontrolled emotions.

"Are you just playing stupid? Or are you actually a fucking moron? Small villages have been destroyed around the outskirts of your land, over 2,000 people have died already. But you're protecting them, are you?" Her cane was gesticulating around as she prattled on, ending her sentence with her cane pointed directly to the queen.

"Those people are nothing more than fodder and you know it!" The queen replied with venom lacing her calloused words.

Grams sighed, rubbing her temples, wondering why she'd ever given this stupid girl power, 'This stupid girl is more deranged than my old ass!'

"Listen, girl. I gave this throne to your family and I can take it away just as easily. Either send guards to defend your people, or I'll destroy this whole kingdom so Karth can't use their Soul Energy for his plans."

The Queen's alabaster skin turned green hearing this, "K-Karth? Soul Energy? Just what are you talking about?" She stammered out, sweat building on her brow.

"If you would pay attention to your fucking kingdom instead of sitting on this throne listening to idiots give you false reports, maybe you'd know. Karth wants to destroy this kingdom and use the souls of the people for energy. Are you going to listen now that I've told you?"

"Y-y-yes, please, tell me what to do."

'This was fun and all, but I guess it'll be better if I lead with Karth next time.'

"You tried attacking me, girl, very rude! Here, I'm tired of holding onto this, you can have it back." Grams cackled madly as space rippled in front of her waving hand.

The large fireball that she'd stored away earlier shot out and instantly disintegrated the queen.

Grams sighed, seeing her die so easily, "Not even a defensive artifact or a mana shield? You truly are just a fucking moron..." She groused, not having expected this result.

"Arrogant. Truly truly arrogant," Grams tutted.

She sharply tapped her left foot twice, and runes glowed on her before a blinding light flashed through the entire room, forcing her to close her eyes. The space-time anchor would allow her to return to the exact moment in time and space it was created as long as she re-activated the formation within five minutes.

She felt a jerking sensation and when she opened her eyes, she stood before the grand double doors once more. They were closed.

'Here we go again,' Grams thought as she blasted open the doors.

"Little Lissy! Karth is coming for your kingdom, don't tell these poor guards to kill this old bitch, either!" Grams shouted into the silence, smiling broadly with her arms stretched wide as every eye turned to her.

"KILL-" The Queen's shout cut off as a snap echoed through the air, completely stifling everyone in the room.

"Girl, don't make me murder everyone here just to get you to listen. I've got a plan to help you, and I need a favor in return. Tell them to leave. Now." Grams demanded, snapping her finger once more, lessening the pressure.

The guards fell to their knees as the pressure vanished, coughing from their strained lungs, followed by a scrambled retreat--some on all fours--as the queen shouted for everyone to leave the room.

"What do you want from me, Baba? Or do you prefer the Silver Witch now?" The Queen asked in a small dry voice, completely deflated, holding her forehead in her hands.

Grams cackled hearing her name and title, "Oh, girly, I'm going by Grams these days! Can you believe it? Grams!" She said in a joyful tone, sweeping her arm and summoning her plush chair before continuing.

"What I want from you, is a little bit of effort. I've grown impatient with your greed and lack of care for your people. If this continues, I'll raze the entire kingdom to prevent Karth sacrificing them all for Soul Energy. Do you understand what I'm telling you, girl?" Grams said simply, an edge of annoyance to her tone.

'Making me waste my energy on an anchor... tsk'

The Queen's body shook and her complexion looked terrible. Her youthful features seemed to have aged 10 years, hearing Grams speak.

"Just tell me what I need to do..." The Queen said in resignation, tears slowly streaming down her face, forming trails in her makeup.

"First of all, get a defensive artifact and use your fucking mana shield, you loon. I then need some help for my apprentice!" Grams smiled grandly to the disheveled queen.