Opening the magnificent doors to her superb study, Victoria garnered all eyes waiting for her, with Alsop slowly following behind. Maxwell had been slumbered off to sleep, his head down across Thomas and his lap - an unfavourable expression written across his face. Thomas' mind was plagued with suspicions, which had infected Isaac and Axel too. The three were sat in an eerily quiet manner, which carried on over when the group moved to the bedrooms Victoria had ready for them all.

"Ms Magika, this is a very, very large house." Said Alsop, trying to break the unhealthy silence.

"Hmm? It is quite important for me that it is large. I keep many things here." Hesitantly replied Victoria.

"Ah, you adventure a lot, don't you?" Axel asked with mild intrigue.

"So they say, right? I plan to kill a dragon soon." Victoria said triumphantly, this though, pulsed Thomas' interest.

"You...what?" Astounded, Thomas asked.

"It is my life's goal to find this dragon. Tell me, Alsop, what is yours?" Victoria asked with wishful eyes.

"To become legendary. But I suppose, for now, it is to find the Tree of Life." Alsop replied, which pulsed the general with interest.

"For Mary?" Isaac asked.

"Of course. About the Tree of Life, I was wondering Ms..."

"Nope! We will talk another time, Alsop. I am tired now." Victoria interrupted with a lifted finger for his silence.

"These are the bedrooms?" Axel asked her.

"Yes. Why don't you take Maxwell and yourself into that room? Alsop and the general can rest here." Directed Victoria.

"What about me?" Asked Thomas with a hint of annoyance.

"You - you can stay wherever you want to." Victoria said with a soft smile aimed at him, her lips like an arrow of love to his heart.

"Off with these two I go!" Thomas nervously chuckled, quickly clinging to Axel.

The group dispersed to rest after a tiring day, but Thomas and Axel had been far from done with their day. Instead of resting, they schemed. Besides, Maxwell was fast asleep. Thomas and Axel had been out on a moonlit balcony, which blossomed with the scent of sweet flora. Not so sweet was the talk of the night. So bitter was their scheming, the stars of the night laid dormant in their sight. Eclipsed in the wary darkness, they schemed.

"This is by no means my territory to pursue, but did she not want you to join her in her room?" Tentatively broached Axel.

"Yes, she wanted me with her." Sighed Thomas in earnest.

"Then why did you not join her!? You could have watched over her, making sure she falls asleep!" Exclaimed Axel.

Thomas' eyes could not help but give Axel the most incisive of cold stares.

"You fool. If I was there right now, she would not be asleep for hours." Clutching his chest, Thomas scoffed. "You really are an idiot with these things." He broke out with laughter.

"I'm no fool. It is just hard to grasp how you turned her down." Said Axel.

"You think I wanted to? I absolutely did not want to." Affirmed Thomas. "Listen to my words, Axel Astrix. It seems to be the best way to get inside that head of yours." He said.

"Hah! What do you mean!?" Insulted, Axel exclaimed.

"Victoria Magika and I are lovers."

"What?"

"Victoria is my lover."

"Huh?"

"I love Victoria."

Standing firm with his words, Thomas looked to the desolate boy ahead of his eyes. One moment he was paler than the moon, but in an instant, his face grew red with awe. Trembling, Axel's lips shivered in the cool of the night, as he looked to the man ahead of him stand still in seriousness. Axel froze in thought for a moment, and Thomas readily accepted the silence with nothing more than a sigh of relief. For Thomas, he had finally found a person to confide in, but his eyes were already becoming cautious.

"Should I have really told this child?" He thought.

"It can't possibly be. There have been no signs of the two of you being lovers!" Said Axel in disbelief.

Giving Axel a thud to the head, Thomas looked at him in complete disappointment.

"You are a complete fool. Just go. She will be asleep by now." Sighed Thomas. "Are you sure you do not need me?" He asked.

"No. I should manage." Replied Axel, scratching his head.

"Then, be careful, Axel Astrix." Concluded Thomas.

Careful, he was. The thought of even trying to breathe a decimal of air shook his very minor hands - they had shrunk in chilling fear. He had sneaked into the bedroom of Victoria, but the reality of what was around him was different to what he expected. His eyes subsided into shock. The room had looked like the scene of a crime, a murder perhaps, with the fragmented clues clustered about. Blood was sprawled into a bowl, crusty tissues tarnished the bedsheets, and the humidity of the room had been fuelled by unbearable sweat. Victoria was asleep, but just slightly. Moving about in her position, her body swayed with unrest - a sense of pain ailing her.

"Is - is she okay?" Axel thought. "No, no, no!" He shook his head firmly. "I must continue my mission. Forgive me, Ms Magika, for finding the truth!" Whispered Axel, with a gasp to the clouds.

Rubbing his hands together, a small white essence descended upon him, which he gently placed onto the sleeping damsel. This tender light soon shunned the room into a bright blizzard of colours, until it blasted Axel with a shade of frail pink. He had reached her magic field, with only the minor drawback of being blinded. Though a little retaliation from Victoria was expected, whereby Axel had mustered up a plan to use his locket - a gift from Annette Summers - which granted him Anna, a healing spirit. With this covering his tracks from harm, Axel could at last enter Victoria's magic field with confidence.

Although it was his first encounter with a person's field of magic, Axel was not alone in his general knowledge about them. A universal possession, magical fields consisted in a realm of vision and conception only so few magicians could encounter. Being the destination of one's magical talent, they were both a challenging and secretive possession for a person. With all a person's magical knowledge ready at hand in a magical field, Axel had certainly committed an act of trespassing which was almost unthinkable.

However, Victoria's field of magic was a pleasure to encounter for the hesitant Axel. Brilliantly pink and white in light, the place he entered had been a reality of polished glass which he could walk upon. But his eyes could capture this beauty for only a moment, for his feet slipped suddenly. It was a quiet fall, but it had made the heart in Axel thump with fear, and these restless beats stung his skin with limitless sweat. The tears of fear soon dripped onto the glass panes, and his eyes clung to what was beneath him. A sight that shunned him into silence. Beneath the pane, a myriad of nothingness carried one thing, lurking, lingering. Something swerved within the dark and gloomy floor. Something with a steamy essence releasing from its echoing howls. Something so seemingly terrifying, Axel clawed away at the floor for anything to save him. Nothing could save him. His lips became ready to scream but they stopped in an instant.

"No, Axel. Be silent." The ghostly figure had quickly come rising upwards through the sheet of glass, and this transformed their appearance to someone much more familiar to Axel.

"It's you!" Axel exclaimed with relief, it had been Victoria Magika ahead of his perilous eyes.

"Quite the reaction. You have not been in a field of magic before. It is clear, so why try?" She asked him with a smile of dominating height.

"I know this is wrong, but curiosity is only a part of human nature! I'm so very sorry!" Replied an agitated Axel.

"Hmph. That is why we are all imperfect. Now come. I will reveal my very own imperfections to you, Axel Astrix." Responded Victoria.

She had allured Axel through a spiral set of stairs, each stair dissipating at the step of his feet. Delicacy had no impact, the reality of Victoria's field of magic was as fragile as the tips of a flower. Within her stem of magical talent, there was poison beneath it all. Anna had been poisoned with paralysing effect, refusing to move an inch to aid Axel. Thus, Axel had been comfortably trapped into a world of uncomfortableness.

"How did you find me out?" He asked her hesitantly.

"I didn't until you used your spirit. It woke me up, I suppose it sensed your wrongdoing!" Laughed Victoria.

"Where are you taking me right now?" Axel asked with guilt.

"Where your curiosity will lead you." Quickly answered Victoria.

"But we are walking in a downward spiral, to seemingly nowhere!" Exclaimed Axel.

"Hmm. And do you have any other observations, Axel?" Asked Victoria.

"Your field of magic has an interesting structure, I suppose?" Commented Axel reluctantly.

"Ah right. This really is your first time in a field of magic, have you not even searched your own one?" Chuckled Victoria.

"Enough. You are by far superior to me, I understand! I understand your point already! So just stop taking me down deeper and deeper!"

Axel had swelled into rough bitterness, and it showed as he sharply pulled a blade out in hostility. This had finally caused Victoria to turn ever so slightly, but something stopped her. She had not seemed overly concerned about the threatening sound of his blade releasing. Her frame was fearless.

"That is a very dangerous thing to do. Damaging a magic field could ruin my magic forever." She said sensibly.

"Another observation. You do not care about this sword threatening you. Why?" Axel had withdrawn the blade instantly, a realisation striking his curious eyes.

"You are a magician, not a swordsman." Victoria grinned hopelessly.

"Tsk!" Axel bit his lip in frustration.

"A good observer you are, but perhaps, not a great thinker." Said Victoria, who was met by a light stumble on the stairs, the two had now arrived at a few cracks in the steps which faltered their way.

"Well, I think something troubles your field. It is quite dark, and it lacks a path." Said Axel with critique.

"But how do you know, this is not what all fields of magic look like?" Asked Victoria, provoking his thought.

"I don't. This is all off instinct and presumptions, like many things in life. This part of your field is so very empty and discarded, I find it hard to see you as the greatest magician the kingdom has." Axel said with amazement.

"This area is cursed." Victoria's reply was met with a blank stare.

"Cursed? Do you mean you are cursed?" Dumbfounded, Axel asked.

"Yes. This curse is slowly killing me." Proclaimed Victoria with sorrow.

"But who would curse you so cruelly?" Pondered Axel with intrigue.

"This was not a person. It was a sword that gave me this curse." Said Victoria.

"A sword surely had a person behind it. Though, I suppose you have no clue who it was?" Reasoned Axel.

"Hmm. Yes. I have no clue who was behind the sword." Muttered Victoria.

"Right…well…what exactly is the curse?" Asked Axel.

"Axel, I get the sense you do not believe me?" Suggested Victoria.

"Your feelings are valid. How do I not know you are just using this curse as a way to rid me of uncovering other secrets of yours?" Asked Axel.

"This magical field shows absolute evidence that I have a curse. My magic, my life is crumbling every second. Yet you cannot believe me?" Scorned Victoria. "You must explore your own field of magic, Axel. You seem the type to learn others only through yourself." She said.

"Why should I take any advice from you?" Agitated, Axel asked.

"You seem jealous of my power, my field of magic. Yet you have only a faint idea of how damaged it is." Replied Victoria.

"Why? Why are telling me all this though?" Axel mumbled out, his stance quivering with confusion. "Why am I so bothered by her being like this? She is the woman I hate...right?" He thought.

"Why? You are the one who wishes to know about my magic field, no?" Victoria tilted her head in confusion.

"But - but you did not even try to fight back! You have done nothing to stop yourself from revealing the truth!" Cried out Axel.

"Because I am weak." The words of Victoria hit Axel like a dagger as he stood still, shattered. "You are not this dull-minded to avoid all of these signs." Another dagger struck the ignorance in his eyes. "You are in denial." The final dagger collapsed his knees.

"She is right." A flood of thoughts quickly formed a dark cloud around Axel. "The harmless ghost. The delicacy of the darkness. The words even came from her own mouth. Victoria Magika is cursed. She is weak. She is dying." Axel trembled in thought. "So why, why have I denied it all? My very own eyes, my precious mind, my superior intuition. They have all fallen." His thoughts stuttered with both confusion and terror.

So delicate were Victoria's calming hands, Axel had not felt one of them gently grab hold of his shoulder. She came close to his tears, trying to make sense of his pains but a tumultuous shard of glass spiked up from the ground. Her soft skin felt a slither of the savage glass upon her leg, but with a quick kick, it receded back down into the dark and demeaning glass floor.

"How - how does it work? Your curse?" Finally, Axel spoke.

"The use of magic and mana. It takes away my strength, my life." Sighed Victoria.

"Ah. I see." Axel reciprocated her sigh. "I am sorry for criticising your rare use of magic. It makes sense now." He said guiltily.

"Aha! So, you have been criticising me?" Victoria cackled with laughter, instantly making Axel jump upwards.

"Well - well, of course! You are too talented to not use your magic! But curses! A curse can be reversed! You just need the sword that did this!" Exclaimed Axel with excitement.

"It is locked away, Axel. Far from my reach, in a tower trailing the skies. A tower, in Columbus." Turning stark and serious, Victoria said.

"Columbus. A place that harbours the Tower of Wrath, a tower that trails the skies. I'd ask what you were doing in such a forbidden place, but you seem cold at the thought." Said Axel.

"How do you know about that?" Asked Victoria.

"Books, Ms Magika. They are a blessing from the past." Replied Axel, his visage turning golden at the thought of such a word.

"There are no records of the Tower of Wrath in books." Said Victoria.

"My father wrote books. You will not remember him, not even I do. He is practically dead. The Sin of Envy consumed him years ago." Said Axel.

Before Victoria could say anything, another punishing spike of glass staggered up from the floor, firmly scratching against her leg. Squinting her eyes with a sigh of disgust, Victoria clasped her forehead and looked to Axel in desperation. Her heavy breaths hurt his conflicted countenance, and soon he felt absolute pity for the diligent magician before his eyes.

"I'm sorry. We are using your magic right now to talk, aren't we?" Sighed Axel as he rushed to help her up. "Then, how may I leave?" He asked.

"Axel Astrix. I will forgive that disgusting face of pity you put upon me, for you are built with little common sense." Scorned Victoria. "However, you will fulfil me one demand. You must not tell anyone of my current health. Not a single soul shall know." She said with certainty.

"Your secret is safe with me, Ms Magika." Affirmed Axel with a courtly bow.

Lifting his head up, Victoria had quietly faded into dust, and then the stairs behind him collapsed into a crevice of remains until finally, Axel too faded. He had returned to the room with Anna alleviating him, and the cursed Victoria feeling no numbing to her eternal pain. She was asleep, and he could only bear witness. His leave from her room was met with guilt. What was he to say to Thomas?