As I followed the trifecta mixture of the sirens, we left the city behind and moved to the rural regions that surrounded the city, which arrived quicker than expected.

Understandable, as Brightwood was hardly the largest city in America, or even in the State. Though, despite the name of the city, there weren't many trees around. The area closer to the city had been cut clear decades earlier to make some quick buck and to open the area for industrial farming, creating huge swathes of fields, occasionally broken by a house or a farm silo.

Yet, the deeper we moved to the farmland, the creepier it felt. We were in the middle of the winter, the fields were empty and brown, giving the area an eerie feeling, which wasn't helped by the damaged state of the abandoned residences that surrounded the area as more and more families abandoned farming, yet kept their lands in the hopes that the city would grow and their lands would worth more to a developer.

The lack of any kind of street lights didn't help as I drove deeper and deeper, relying on the light of my car — and the light of the emergency vehicles in the distance.

Admittedly, my fear had less about the environment, and more about my concerns of what awaited us on the other end of our journey.

Not a model of enthusiasm, certainly. "Maybe we should wait until—" I started, testing my luck, even though at this point, I was more or less sure about the answer.

Her simple answer interrupted me. "No," she simply said, delivered in the same scary voice that made me chill in my bones. I sighed as I obediently followed her direction. At this point, changing her mind was a lost cause.

I only had two options to slow things down at this point, rejecting her orders completely — which wouldn't work, because I was scared of her more than I was scared of potential danger when she was serious — or crashing the car.

It would be a lie to say that I wasn't tempted to do the second one even if the car was a loan and I would end up stuck in the middle of rural area with no way to return but walk a couple of hours, but at this point, I fully believed that she would force me to walk recklessly to the destination if the car got stuck. In the end, it would only deprive me of a tool to escape.

Not to mention, with so many police and firemen there, I had a better chance of escaping if things went wrong. Waiting until they left was even worse.

We drove, our destination getting closer, something I realized after I noticed a certain red hue on the nearby trees, flickering and dancing. The fire itself wasn't too surprising as I had already heard fire trucks as a part of the emergency convoy, though it hardly helped me to feel calmer about our destination.

With a sigh, I corrected our route and started driving toward the fire, not even waiting for my guide to talk. No point delaying the inevitable further.

Several seconds later, I found myself in front of a large farm building, covered in flickering flames. The fire was raging hard, ignoring the desperate attempts of the firemen to extinguish it, while the ambulances stood at a distance, the medics out with their medical stretchers ready, but not making any move.

The police created a large cordon around them, though their bored expression as they watched the fire suggested that they didn't expect to take any action. Admittedly, even their presence was suspicious.

An interesting combination, I thought, but before I could spend any time thinking about it, my guide interrupted once more.

"I can feel magic radiating from the fire," my guide murmured. Her words scared me, though not as much as her following movement.

She raised her hand, her fingers glowing with a silver light, one that radiated a direct sense of power. "Stop," I said even as my fingers tightened around the wheel. "Don't use any magic."

I had no idea how her magic worked, what was her target, or she was capable of anything worthwhile in her state — which was clearly diminished from her peak, not that she seemed to realize that fact — but it seemed like a terrible risk.

And not just because there were several police officers in the distance that might react badly to a potential light show. And startling people who carried weapons was hardly the smartest idea. I doubt that such an intense fire was the intention of the people that created the ritual in the first place, and I was afraid that the magic would get the attention of the people — or worse, the entities — that were responsible for the fire.

"Nonsense," she said dismissively even as the glow around her hand started to radiate more. "We're at the center of the ritual, and it's clear that some kind of retaliation from the Darkness. The flames wouldn't be cursed otherwise. I'm just helping our allies."

Her tone wasn't sharp and argumentative, but it made it worse, because she clearly didn't care slightest about my opinion. I felt utterly helpless as I watched the bright glow filled the car more and more as her whole body was covered in light.

Her wings had the most intense effect, making it hard to continue looking at her, but I did my best to keep eye contact, because the light wasn't the only thing I was feeling.

I felt a mental stirring. It was hard to describe, and not just because I lacked the words but mostly because I didn't even understand it myself. A mental tickle, mixed with the sensation of getting the first glimpse of dawn while the spring breeze caressed my skin…

Magic, I realized. What I was feeling was magic.

Lost in the sensation, I failed to say anything as her glow intensified, spreading over the fire. Only then that I looked at the police, expecting them to rush toward my car, trying to think how I would explain such a spectacular show.

However, a glance was enough to confirm that they weren't panicking — well, not more than an out-of-control fire required them — confirming that just like her physical body, her magic was only visible to me.

At least, it was the case for this particular spell.

Her magic wrapped around the house, mixing into the fire. For a moment, the fires flared even harder, making it rise to the sky, making the firemen yell in panic as they warned their friends. Yet, only a second later, the flames lost their impassive size, returning their previous status, and shrinking even further.

When her glow finally disappeared, the building was still burning, but with much less intensity, making it an easy target for the water jets of the hoses and other chemical solutions.

"Huh," my guide murmured, and my eyes widened in shock. Her voice was different, not just tired, but reminding me of a party girl who just drank a dozen tequila shots. "Huh, the fire is still going on," she murmured. "Let me…"

It was clearly a terrible idea. The fire was already about to be extinguished, making her help an unnecessary luxury. Moreover, whatever she had just done took a lot from her. It wasn't just her voice. Even her body started to turn transparent.

Yet, she acted before I could even say a word, continuing her habit of making extremely ill-advised decisions. The glow surrounded her body once more, and the flames disappeared completely.

And she disappeared from the backseat. For a moment, I couldn't help but think that it was the end, though it awakened hope and regret at the same time. After all, as much as her presence represented danger, it also represented a way to change my life completely.

Before I could think about the implications, however, I closed my eyes, trying to meditate, only to feel her presence throbbing on the back of my head, though much less intense compared to the time she had disappeared at my request.

More importantly, the System was still there, giving the same mechanical feeling. I even tried to reach and touch it, only to receive a nice surprise, probably a delayed reward from my performance in the finals, as we had forgotten to trigger it after the huge rush I had felt.

[Calculation I, acquired]

It wasn't hard to guess the source of that exact part. I probably received calculation due to very complicated losing battles I had to fight against Lauren, resulting in it another welcome bonus. It would certainly help me design more complicated attacks and allow factoring in the limits of the

Unfortunately, I wasn't in a mood to focus on that particular benefit.

I had more important things to focus on. Like why my guide had disappeared, why the site of the ritual was under enemy assault.

Or, what I was going to say the police officer that was walking toward me.