Anastacia watched as the blacksmith ruined his second chisel by hammering it with all his might, and trying to cut through the chain on Anastacia’s bracelet.

“Yeah, this isn’t going to work. That chisel could dig into some of the hardest materials I’ve ever come across, and it didn’t even make a dent.” He admitted and tossed away the ruined tool. “That thing has no weak links, and isn’t going to be broken with traditional means.”

“Huh, guess you’re more like your brother than I thought.” Anastacia said. “Where is that idiot anyway? I need to know what kind of magic he can do. Not that I expect much from him.”

“He does mostly lightning and utility stuff. Right now he’s either bothering someone somewhere or looking for a new quest.” The dwarf said. “Did something happen? You’re being kind of shitty all of a sudden.”

Anastacia covered her mouth when she realized it was happening again, somehow the bracelet made her personality worse, and that kind of slipping was happening more and more. She had already annoyed Gilbert and Rosie the entire morning, and the worst part was that she didn’t realize it before it was pointed out.

“I’m so sorry, it’s the damn bracelet!” Anastacia said and left the shop before she further insulted the blacksmith.

Gilbert had found the elemental mage they had decided to ask help from and brought her to the inn.

“This is Kabana. I already told her about the situation and why you wanted to meet her.” Gilbert introduced the mage.

Kabana was almost the exact opposite of Anastacia when it came to looks. She was tall, had dark complexion and short black hair. Her clothes were all colorful and full of lively patterns, they fit the mage tightly. Anastacia guessed it was to avoid any mishaps with fire magic. After all, backfiring elemental magic was an actual threat, and mages with self-induced burns and other injuries weren’t uncommon.

“She doesn’t look too strong. Are you sure that she can be of any use to me?” Anastacia asked and looked at Kabana judgingly.

“Ah, little necromancer, I was warned that you might be a bit difficult. How about we go outside the gates, where I can demonstrate my art properly?” Kabana suggested and smiled.

Anastacia agreed and they left the city. On the way out, Kabana explained some of the basics and what she had thought they could start out with. According to her, fire magic was the one most people started with. While it was a bit dangerous, it was the easiest to cast and control.

“When it comes to fire, movement is what matters the most. But it needs to be natural, if you try to force the movements to be accurate, it’s not going to work.” Kabana explained and took a deep breath. She swung her hand in an arc over her head with her palm open, stopped for a split second when her hand covered the area she was aiming for and then lifted her arm back up. As she did this, a pillar of flame rose from the ground up to about ten meters. Despite the distance to them, Anastacia could feel the heat hitting her.

“And that’s how you do a basic fire magic. If I had kept my hand in a fist, it would have come out as a meteor-like fireball.” The mage said and turned to Anastacia. “Could you show me how your necromancy works?”

Anastacia was very impressed by the “basic” fire magic, and worried that her abilities would seem lame in comparison. She pointed her hand out and pulled a few bones from the mass grave under them, spun them around for a bit and then broke them into shards.

“You’re not going to move at all? Is it not allowed?” Kabana asked.

“We don’t usually need to, and it’s harder to concentrate while moving about.” Anastacia said and dropped the bones. “It’s just one of those things I didn’t have time to learn back in Mournvalley.”

“Hmm, moving without thinking is what fire magic is all about. So how about I teach you some very basic fire magic moves? When they start to work, you’ll understand what it’s like.” Kabana suggested. “Maybe you’ll learn how to move without it hindering your concentration.”

Gilbert had followed along to make sure Anastacia didn’t become too difficult to work with, but after Kabana’s display, he just felt outclassed by a mile by both of them. While they were trying to get Anastacia to cast a small fireball, he tried lighting his pipe with the move Kabana had taught him years ago, only to get disappointed like every other time he had tried. Apparently people like him “moved with purpose” and it made fire magic basically impossible for him.

After hours of trying, everyone but Anastacia was ready to give up for the day.

“Magic isn’t easy, I didn’t get it in a day either. At some point you just need to admit defeat and try again tomorrow.” Kabana said to the necromancer, who had been repeating the same move for hours.

“I don’t have to admit shit! I can rip you apart with a thought, casting some fire shouldn’t be a problem.” Anastacia snarled. “You go on ahead, I’ll come when I’m ready.”

“Just don’t overdo it…” Gilbert said and left for the gates.

Kabana was slightly worried about leaving Anastacia alone, but followed Gilbert in the end. The necromancer’s attitude was getting old.

“Elbows at ninety degrees, fists clenched. Straighten arm and rotate fist 180 degrees.” Anastacia repeated the instructions given to her. “Why isn’t this working?!”

She was supposed to be unrivaled in power, how was something as simple as this a problem? Inferior talents like magic should be a piece of cake. Though it was only the latest problem in Anastacia’s list of complaints about the world. Like how does the cult dare to try and enslave her to fuel some manky pile of bones? If anything, they should bow to her! Everyone should! And then there was Coquelicot and her weakling of a husband, trying to use her for their own purposes. The audacity… Anastacia’s train of thought was interrupted by a puff of flame that flew out from her fist.

“Oh… So that’s how it is.” Anastacia grinned.

“Madam… May I speak freely?” Duke asked as they were riding back to Mournvalley.

“Of course you may.” Coquelicot responded and slowed down her skeletal horse to hear her apprentice better.

“You know how we gave that ancient UNTESTED bracelet to the kid? I’m thinking that it was a bad move.” Duke said. “We don’t really have any idea what it actually does to her. Do we even know how to remove it?”

“I understand that, but we are nearing the endgame here. We may not have much time before the cult acts, and the possibility that she takes out Amaranth with the help of the bracelet is just too good to ignore.” Coquelicot explained. “And the book said that it can be removed by the one who locked it, so we’ll just do what we did earlier and I’ll take it off her. Alice will warn us if it starts to have unforeseen effects on the girl.”