My vision swam with colours as my mana sense showed me the magic at play. Seven knights of the church surrounded Oubliez, and another stood guard in front of me. Each had a sword at their side, and their magic weaved through the air.

The sound of flapping wings entered my ears, and I raised my arm. A mass of purple and black landed on it, pushing forward my inventory box for me to take from them.

Gold.

No words or chirps were spoken between us, only comfort in the fact that we were back together again. Step by step I moved further into the study.

Before us was a monster.

The human facade was torn to shreds; a bundle of roots held down by the might of the magic around it.

Each step I took towards it sent waves of pain through my body.

My celestial convergence skill was still active, and behind me the purple mists were gathering with hints of gold. I could feel mana being provided to it from the other side, helping the portal fully form.

Gerial was coming.

I looked to my side and saw Alexis’ decrepit body.

“Can he be saved?” I asked the guy next to me.

He gazed at the teenager. With a wave of his hand Alexis’ body grew bright, a single wave of mana gathering him in its embrace.

It stayed there, gentle waves rippling out across the ground and his body.

“He is not an ally.” I crossed my arms. “Just make sure he doesn’t die.”

I didn’t know how much Alexis knew about his powers, and their origin. He was under an illusion, that much was clear, and he hadn’t even known how deeply his greed had hurt him.

He would have continued until he had died, not knowing for a single moment that he was killing himself. Or he could have infected his friends with the full knowledge of what he was doing.

There would be trouble if that was the case.

I heard a shuffling sound from behind me and a small light brightened the room.

“Andross?” A soft voice called to me. “What’s happening? Wha- is that Alexis?”

It was Amanda.

Her footsteps raced across the ground, and she knelt beside her brother, fear and confusion in her features.

She had saved my life, but she didn’t know it.

A small bundle of flames landed on my free shoulder, a chirp reverberating in my ear.

Agni.

“Good save.” I turned my head towards Oubliez.

The monster had to be dealt with first.

“Keep an eye on it.” I told Agni.

Only the phoenix and I could see past the monster’s illusions. It couldn’t fight against my guards, but if it still had mana then it might try to escape.

I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

My eyes turned towards the monster, and I stopped walking as I reached the edge of the guard’s encirclement. It hurt to be near them, a mass of magic so powerful that it caused the air to quake and twist.

I stared at it.

A single flower had turned into a being powerful enough to fool the strongest of humans. I could see bits of flesh shredded across the ground. It was a suit of illusion designed to fool everyone around it.

My hand raised into the air, and I was about to give the order to the guards to finish this. Oubliez had harmed my friends, threatened my life and Amanda’s, and had caused pain that I could only see the surface of.

How many people had Alexis infected?

We would find out once her magic was broken.

Then I hesitated. In the flesh around me was only a cover, but I couldn’t be sure that it hadn’t belonged to someone. I needed to know, if only for Amanda’s sake.

“Amanda’s mother.” I narrowed my eyes. “Where is she?”

Oubliez’ roots turned to face me, green and white bundled together.

“Spare me and I will tell you.”

Oubliez was confident, a hint of arrogance in her tone. We were powerful, but we were still human. She didn’t hold us in high regard.

I smiled.

Her words meant that Amanda’s mother was alive.

I’d been worried that Oubliez was wearing her like a skin suit. It was a morbid thought, but this world had shown me that the depths of what beings were capable of had no limits.

“Tell me, and maybe you’ll be spared. If she's dead…” My tone left no doubt as to the outcome.

I could see Amanda listening at the corner of my eyes. Her face was pale and her fists clenched.

She had stabbed through Oubliez without hesitation, following Agni’s words. If she had killed her own mother, she would have never forgiven herself.

Oubliez shifted, and my guards raised their weapons, the pressure they emitted throwing the monster back down onto the ground.

“After the flames I was very, very hungry.” I could hear the sneer in its tone. “Years of mana stolen from her. My ticket to recovery. Why would I kill my favourite meal?”

I looked back at the tentacles that had restrained me. She had taken more than a small amount of mana.

The pieces of flesh strewn across the ground sent a shiver down my spine.

Amanda’s mother couldn’t be in good shape.

Oubliez followed my gaze.

”The skin. That was trickier. I took a patch here, when she wouldn’t notice. And a pound there, when she had no choice.“

It’s tone held no remorse or guilt. Only a sickening pride that caused my gut to sink into the deepest pit of my stomach.

”Location. Now.” My anger simmered at the top of my heart.

I motioned to the guards and they brought forward their swords. Oubliez’ roots quivered, a faint motion that didn’t escape my eyes.

“Where she had always been. Upstairs.” The monster spoke.

“I see.”

I gazed at the bundle of roots and felt a ripple of emotion over my heart.

Monsters.

The greatest threats to humanity that existed. Entire armies were created to fight them, and they saw us as ants when they crushed our cities under their might.

If Oubliez had been given time to grow, how far would it have taken its powers and how many would it have killed once it had the chance?

Koshima might not have survived, and my friends would have been the first to go.

There was no room for error here. If Oubliez escaped, it would hide. Then it would bide its time and return. It saw my friends as nothing but experiments, their health used up to empower itself.

I knew what I had to do.

“Goodbye, Oubliez.” I spoke.

I gestured with my fingers towards the roots.

My guards acted as one. A flash of magic blinded me, and a single shriek rose from the monster, a wail that spread across the mansion and blasted my ears.

Then there was silence.

“Is somebody going to tell me what the heck is going on?” Amanda shouted into the air.

My guards turned as one towards her and I raised my hand to stop them. They didn’t know the situation, but I would explain it to them.

The monster had been obvious.

The rest of the story… not so much.

I stared at the room around me. I could feel a shift as Oubliez’s magic gave out.

The roots along the walls that had restrained me were withering and dying, wisps of green magic expelled from them and disappearing.

A stench of rot hit my nose like a truck.

It hadn’t come from just Alexis. The mana itself carried the smell. A byproduct of its essence.

I took a step towards Amanda, Agni lifting off my shoulder and flying towards Amanda. Gold gripped my shoulder and looked around the area in confusion.

He had missed most of the action as well.

The adrenaline died down and I became aware of how much I was hurting. My body was still emitting purple mist into the air, laced with gold. The last of my mana was used up as the portal completed, and it shone brilliantly in a circle.

Then I felt a new pain. It started at my toes and made its way towards my neck.

I was out of mana.

My Mark was activating.

I stepped in front of Amanda, opening my mouth to answer her question, but I never got the words out. The world turned dark around me, and my body shot waves of pain into me.

The last sight my eyes saw was Amanda’s concerned face, and her hands reaching out towards me.

Then I collapsed, and the last thing I saw was her hurriedly raising her arms to catch me, worry clear on her face.

****

I blinked as rays of sunshine caressed my face, a blanket of warmth and kindness. Earth mana floated around me, and my body lay under a thick blanket of dirt. I turned to my side and gazed at the giant trees that rustled gently against the breeze.

Wait.

Trees?

I shot up from the bed, the dirt blanket wrapped around my shirt and pants. It clung to me and the earth mana sang joy into my heart.

I wasn’t at home.

And this wasn’t my bed.

My eyes wandered from side to side, taking in the sights of the room around me. Swirls of gold and silver littered the walls, purely decorative. Trees were lined up around me and waved gently.

I had seen this place before. Or at least one similar to it.

It was an earth room belonging to the church of the Crijik.

“Oh, hey! You’re awake!” An excited voice called from beside me.

I turned to my side and saw a pair of purple eyes gazing at me.

“Gerial?”

“The one and only.” He gave me a thumbs up. “You gave me a heck of a scare.”

He raised his hand and I saw a book in it. Then he pointed it at me, and I felt a small gust of air smack against my head.

“When I walked through that portal and saw Amanda holding your body, I thought you were dead.” He frowned. “The guards were sure acting like it.”

There was a sharp pain in my head as the memories came back to me.

Alexis.

Oubliez.

The fight.

“I need to meditate.” I held my head in my hands. “I need to see if I forgot anything important when I was under that monster's influence.”

Oubliez’s magic had blocked my memories every time I was under its illusion. They were still there, in my mind. I just needed to release them.

“I think you’re going to have to do a bit more than that.” Gerial pursed his lips. “Why do you think I came here to greet you?”

“I assumed it was done out of the goodness of your heart.”

“That too.” Gerial tilted his head and smiled. “But there’s a lot happening now. A monster appearing in the middle of a city is a disaster. But for you, I’d say it can become an opportunity.”

His eyes shifted past me towards the other side of the bed.

I followed his gaze and my heartbeat quickened. My eyes fell onto an object sitting on a table beside my bed. It was thick and green, and familiar in its roughness.

It was one of Oubliez’ roots.

“What is that thing doing her-” My voice stopped as I got a better look at the root.

It was glowing.

Faint echoes of power rose from its flesh. They didn’t come from the root itself. They came from something inside it.

I had only laid my hands on a few of these over my lifetime in this world. The memory of my first day at Zodiac was fresh in my mind, my dad carrying a chunk of flesh from a destroyed monster out of a freezer.

It was Oubliez’ symbol.

Hide. Illusion. Mind.

The possibilities of what concepts it represented swirled through my head as I looked at it. The only one of its kind.

“It’s yours.” Gerial spoke. “The spoils of battle.”

I placed my hand against the root’s flesh and my body shivered as it recognised its touch. This same substance had held me against my will just before I’d collapsed. It was still fresh in my mind.

“It won’t be taken away?” I found that a little hard to believe.

Companies would kill to gain an intact symbol of a monster. They could create new regents from it and discover magics that could give them an edge over their competition.

I looked over at Gerial and he was smirking at me.

“They already feel that they don’t deserve your forgiveness after allowing you to be harmed.” His eyes rippled with emotion. “And I agree. Also, they wouldn’t steal from you.”

My eyes were glued to the root.

A monster. In the middle of a busy city.

With the power that this symbol provided, it could have done irreparable damage.

There was so much I could do with it, given time. I had the resources to study it. I could take it to my dad and get him to check the library in the observatory.

The possibilities swam through my mind and brought a smile to my face.

“Before you make plans.” Gerial’s voice broke through my thoughts. “You’re going to have to deal with Amanda first.”

That got my attention.

With a flick of my finger the dirt blanket brushed off my body and I swung my legs over the side of the bed, facing Gerial properly.

“What do you mean?” I stared at him. “What happened to Amanda?”

The last memory I had was me collapsing in front of her. She had been safe.

Physically, at least.

“You’re what happened to her.” Gerial jerked his thumb towards the door of the room. “She saw everything. And I mean everything.”

I looked down at my hands and remembered the golden light of the portal shining down into the study. Oubliez hadn’t known what it was, but I’d read the same book about Marked ones that Amanda had, and I knew she had dozens more.

She would know what the golden mana meant.

My Mark was exposed.

“They’ve been keeping her here for the day.” Gerial stood up. “I can take you to her.”

I nodded.

“How are they doing that?”

I couldn’t imagine the noble households being happy that one of their inheritors was being held captive. Even if it was only for a day.

“The church says it’s to make sure she’s not under the influence of the monster’s magic. It’s not a far fetched excuse.” His eyes darkened. “Alexis reached many noble heirs. The monster’s death… harmed them.”

I heard a catch in his tone and looked at him.

“Not Amanda.” He saw my expression. “They’re keeping her here because your guards found you under attack and they haven’t gotten your version of events yet. They don’t know if she’s an enemy.”

We stepped up to the door of the room. The wood was intricately carved into trees and leaves. Gerial went first and I followed him closely.

“Once everything is cleared up.”

Gerial voice was calm.

“It’s your job to decide what happens to her.”