The flames spread eagerly, like children playing hopscotch. The embers flew and skittered across the sky, but their place was on the ground, gorging themselves on lush foliage. The hardy timber buildings could misdirect any type of magical misfire, but it was still only wood, and fire didn't discriminate.

"Rain. Are you still with me?"

"Yes, Princess."

Lecil hustled, not bothering to glance back after confirming Rain's presence. Traversing the track field brought her back to her high school days—The competition and intense jealousy.

Celia worked tirelessly for her grades. Every. Single. Day. She studied for hours after an entire course of boring classes and mandatory student activities. The pressure and standards set by her parents were maddening. Then there were the expectations to conform from her teachers and peers. They all mistakenly believed she was naturally brilliant, when the truth couldn't be more different.

How many times did Celia need to turn down tutoring requests before people took a hint? Even when Celia flat out rejected them, they still admired her work ethic.

No, joining a study group where she did all the work was not her idea of fun, and neither was participating in superfluous extracurriculars suggested by her teachers. How could she possibly have time for any of that? The proverbial piece of straw that broke the camel's back came from the numerous monetary offers to complete neglected homework.

Celia had enough listening to asinine requests. That was why she purposefully leaked her love for video games.

Excluding the side effect of gaining unwanted attention from shy boys, most of Celia's classmates stopped idolizing her. The adoration blackened to envy. The procedeing acts of bulying consisted of hiding her school supplies, stealing textbooks, or spilling water on her shirt. Tripping, poking, prodding, grabbing, and more became common place.

It turned out that getting good grades was an entirely different type of nerdy than being a gamer. One was an intelligent, driven academic who didn't have time for hobbies, and the other was a know-it-all geek.

Which was exactly what she wanted. Celia preffered the honest and grotesque actions of the two-faced teenage population to the two-dimensional facades. The pair of nerdy girls who soon befriended Celia were much more enjoyable company.

They would discuss game trivia on every break. Lunchtime became the time for building strategies, and the walk home was for gossip about who liked who. It was refreshing to be around fellow enthusiasts who undestood the struggle of having a large Steam library. Celia's only hangup that they didn't understand that she loved all games and not just starry-eyed otome games. She loved arcade games, shooters, fighters, big-time-strategies, single-player or multi-player—Sidscrollers, sports, beat-em-ups, racing, party games, murder mysteries, puzzles, and MOBA's. Even classics like Pong stirred something in her.

It was on a day that Celia forgot her PSP in class and ran back to get it. She found without issue. However, through the open second-story window, she saw the track members practicing for State.

They looked like antelopes crossing a prairie and Celia was sighting them with a scope. The teens sprinted for all their worth, running the entire track or only a tiny portion of it. Some walked away, hands resting on their heads while a few bent over, panting for breath.

Her first reaction was to laugh.

Celia had sprinted from a block away, through the courtyard, up a flight of stairs, and all the way down the hall, fearful of a locked classroom. She placed a backhand to her forehead, but there was nearly no precipitation. Her breathing was fine, and she didn't feel the need to run her head under a faucet.

The school lost State that year. But the next, Celia's fourth year, they won.

A straight-A's gamer who could run? No one believed it possible until they saw her move.

Running was effortless. Fuck metaphors. Celia wasn't running away from anything. She wasn't chasing some star-crossed lover's back. Running was her one boundless talent and everyone else could eat her dust.

"Try to keep up."

As the words left her tongue, something strange happened.

Lecil felt herself being pulled back, tugged away by a second presence. She faded away, replaced by a second entity and was forced to watch from the sidelines.

Smirking, Celia counted her steps. This field was uneven and wartorn. Pitted from impacts and marred with debris, it was a virtual minefield of obstacles so unlike anything she'd ever encountered. Goosebumps crawled up her arms as she felt the static in the air. This was a game. There was no challenge.

Her bare feet lifted her twice the distance they should have. The bodice conformed to her movement and form as if it wasn't even there.

Rain felt the change as much as he saw it. One second he was keeping pace and the next he struggled to follow even at a distance. After a moment, all he saw was kicked-up dust.

He heard laughter. Light and free as the wind.

=

Lecil yanked back the reins.

They stood before the blaze. A roaring fire overshadowed Celia's smoldering ambition.

Lecil returned, and they became one person again. The sensation was otherworldly, but there was no time to analyze it. The fire was in front of her.

"Rain?"

Turning around, she saw him running up, catching his breath. Taking in the scene, Lecil realized she was right in front of the burning barracks. Several attendants and staff were busy trying to put out the fire using buckets. Nothing was working, and no one could hear the conflicting orders above the inferno.

Is fire supposed to be loud?

She thought she could hear pounding screams from the inside, but that could have been her imagination. A hulking slab of stone blocked the doorway, portions of the roof sprinkled on top. With no way to enter or exit, completing the main objective was impossible.

Simulation and Civ games flashed through Lecil's mind. It's just a game.

"Give me your token."

Rain didn't bother to ask questions. The round wooden token was a symbol of the Royal Guard, a magical id card that doubled as a walkie-talkie. The communication aspect required a certain level of mana to use. As a Princess, Lecil was born with truck loads.

Pouring in more than she needed to, she spoke.

"Attention!"

That startled the guards. The servants looked around, confused why the passing of buckets stopped.

"This is First Princess Lecil. As first on the scene, I am taking command. I need all ranking officers at my position, in front of the barracks, five minutes ago. Is that understood?"

After a moment, the token buzzed, and there was an answer.

"Belay that order. I am Commander Porthos. I can manage the situation, Princess. Please get to safety."

Lecil cursed. This wasn't the time to be doubted or worried over. Her reputation was still garbage; there's no way any of them would listen to her.

The token buzzed again with an unmistakeable voice.

"This is Prince Kly. You will listen to my sister until I arrive."

The response was much faster this time.

"Understood, your highness."

[Sub-Objective Completed]

Point to Kly. Using the Cleanse Soul on him seemed to be paying off.

Less than a minute later, Seven officers, including Commander Porthos, were standing at attention. Some breathed laboriously but none complained.

"Commander, I trust you know your men. I need you to split up the work. First, I need three teams attacking that barracks with buckets, continue drawing water from wherever possible."

"Already done."

"Position your two strongest teams on the breach and reinforce whoever remains there. One is to recover any wounded while the other is to prevent enemies from leaving."

"You believe the enemy made it onto the grounds?"

"I trust your men, but I need you and your other officers to get an accurate headcount and make sure everyone here is who they say they are. No strangers could get near enough to the wall without getting filled with arrows. I need a team to head to the nearest stroage shed filled with magical supplies. Grab everything that is water-based, including the gardener's tools and hoses. I also need several fire-based talismans or one extra strong one."

A few looks were exchanged but the Commander nipped that in the bud.

"Split the rest between containing the fire and setting up a triage. Direct anyone who trickles in to either effort. Do not allow that building to collapse."

Commander Porthos administered the orders flawlessly and had everyone moving in sync. The chaos of before moved like a well-oiled machine. The efficiency was so phenomenal that it gave Lecil pause. When the opportunity to get in another word didn't present itself, she barged in. Like a Princess.

"Commander, what was your plan had I not intervened."

The grizzled man caught himself.

"To maintain the fire and protect the Royal Family."

"What would you have done exactly? I must know."

"It is the Royal Guard's sworn duty to protect the palace from intruders. The attendants and staff would control the fire, but it is the Guard's imperative that no spies or soldiers breach the perimeter."

Lecil bit her tongue.

"That's what I thought. Instruct the men at the wall to hold their position. They are not to follow anyone trying to lead them away. Their orders are to capture if at all possible."

"Very well, your highness."

Pointing out that all the recruits would have perished if he prioritized the wall would be an unnecessary insult at the moment. Lecil suspected there was an adequate reason for the Commander's lapse in judgment.

Adjusting her HUD, Lecil toggled the skill that allowed her to see the chains attached to people. It confirmed her suspicions. The Commander was wrapped like a puppet. Following the links upward caused her to suck in a breath and grab onto Rain's sleeve.

Eyes were glaring at her.

A deep, wispy onyx cursing her meddling.

"Princess?"

Lecil slammed the off button. Blinking the vision away and breathing once again, she assuaged Rain's concern.

"It's nothing. Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To the breach."

"That's even more dangerous. I'm not enough to protect you."

Rain was young and inexperienced but not incapable. If Kly assigned someone half as experienced as the Commander, Lecil would never be able to go anywhere.

"I have confidence in you. You've already saved my life once today."

"I'm injured."

Rain contested. Lecil hated herself for forcing him onward but she needed his help. An unexpected bad ending could be just around the corner and she was too squishy to be left ungaurded.

"You're still talking and walking. Hurry. We have little-to-no time."

Lecil sprinted away before Rain could raise any other objections. With any luck, she'd complete all three sub-objectives while keeping the main one in stasis.

=

The wall was a crater.

A basketball-court-sized breach now separated the two ends that used to connect. The explosion had been so massive that it obliterated the back end of the barracks, which used to house the shower rooms. Lecil vaguely hoped she might be able to get in that way, but there was too much flaming wreckage to even see inside.

The distant outlines of a mangled manor could be seen through the breach. Flickering shadows moved to and fro, trying to get away or help those trapped under rubble. Royal Guards formed a wide net, primed to attack anyone who wandered too close. They were even more on edge than Rain.

Judging from the low-moderate damage on the outside of the wall, it seemed that the blast was semi-directional. There were no bodies, injured, or even splatters of blood. Or maybe it was too blackened to stand out from the rough dirt.

"Gah! Intrigue and plots. Someone must have tampered with the enchantments on the wall. There's no way they could blow through them otherwise. The proportional damage on the inside may have been the enchantments fighting back at the last second."

The earth inside the crater was hot on her toes, but Lecil managed to hop around enough to avoid any singeing or cutting. Digging around yielded little result. There wasn't much left inside the blast zone. Her though process cotinuing to run in circles.

The wall was gone. The attack came from the inside, but was also directed inwards. There was no follow up attack, as if the job was a one and done... There didn't seem to be a clear purpose other than to spread fear.

The clumps of dirt clinging to her fingers slopped off.

"This was a terror attack."

Rain slouched, tired but alert.

"Is that important?"

"Yes! Do you know what the most common feature of a terror attack ends up being? A single offender or small group ready to martyr themselves for their cause. This was the work of a suicide bomber."

"But the enchantments..."

Lecil was manic, ready to receive her system prompt.

"That is how he did it; Why it had to be a suicide mission. They destabilized the enchantment using their own reserves, causing a catastrophic collapse at the point of intrusion."

"Why would someone do that?

"How should I know?"

Lecil felt like laughing but realized people were staring at her.

"I mean... there is time to find out later. More importantly, why didn't I get a notification?"

The crackling of the fire called to her. What was the objective again?

[Sub Objective 3: Find the cause of the damage]

Find the cause and not find out the cause? Shit. She didn't have time to dig any longer. The clock was ticking.

"Wait. If the objective is still active, it stands to reason that I didn't fail it yet. That means..."

Rain noticed that the Princess was already halfway out of the crater. He let a small whimper escape his lips.

=

"Distribute the water-aspects to anybody that knows how to use them. The gardeners can figure out their hoses. Hand me that fire talisman."

"That is the most potent one, Princess. What do you plan to do with it?"

Lecil snatched the piece of paper and aimed.

"This."