“Come with me. I have something to show you.”
It wasn’t a request from the archmage, but a demand. One she had no choice but to obey. As his seeming apprentice, Freya had to follow wherever the Grand Archmage Solomon may lead, lest her ruse crumble away into the harsh reality she hid from him.
The half-elf took his arm and soon found the two transported outside a forest shimmering with the aura of magic. The half-elf drew in a breath full of awe. She’d heard of the enchanted forest of Celestine from her studies, but had not had the chance to visit it until this very moment.
“It’s beautiful.” Her voice passed her lips in a small whisper.
“It’s definitely something,” he replied, his tone strangely distant. Unbothered. “Tell me, apprentice, what do you know about Celestine?”
“It was grown by ancient elves to protect the Moonbeam Blossoms, rare flowers that can be used to cure magical illnesses. The air is charged with magic. And it’s so beautiful. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before”
He exhaled a long, drawn-out sigh. Whatever answer he’d been looking for, she clearly hadn’t given it.
“I have another question for you then.”
She nodded eagerly. “Of course, sir.”
His lips pulled back in a manic grin as his deep eyes stared down the majesty before him. His words passed his lips with a horrifying levity: “How long do you think it would take for an infernal hellfire spell to burn it all to the ground?”
Freya sucked in a sharp breath. “I beg your pardon?”
He lifted the scepter he’d been using as a walking cane until that moment, the magical amethyst at its hilt glowing with dark energy. Above the treetops, a ball of fire began to form, swirling and churning,, surrounded by crimson embers and wisps of darkness.
Freya gasped. That spell would burn the forest to ash if she didn’t do something.
An apprentice wouldn’t have been able to do anything but watch in horror, but she was no apprentice. Not really. The half-elf raised her hands to the heavens, calling upon the constellations shining bright past Master Solomon’s ball of fire and death. Her palms glowed like moonbeams.
“Aquarius, I call upon you! Bring your cooling rain!”
The constellation of the Zodiac glowed like starlight beneath her clothes, shining past even the darkest fabric she hid herself under. Her secret was revealed, but she had no other choice. She had to douse this fire spell or face the chaos left in her master’s wake.
The sky darkened with clouds in an instant as a torrential downpour began falling from the heavens. The raindrops doused the growing ball of fire in mere moments, making Solomon gasp out at the harsh waste of mana. He wouldn’t have the strength to cast another spell like this in days.
“What are you doing?” he hissed. ‘“I worked hard on that. and now you’ve ruined everything!”
He turned back to Freya, his eyes a deep abyss as he finally seemed to take her in for the first time. Long braids the color of moonlight. A dusting of silver freckles across her olive skin like a galaxy. The damning sigil glowing bright beneath her clothes.
His expression darkened, his once manic grin replaced by grit teeth and a guttural growl.
“No apprentice could cast celestial magic so easily.” He stalked towards her. He forcefully tilted the half-elf’s chin up with his cane to get a better look at her. “Who exactly are you, little star mage? And what do you want with me?”
Freya glared back in defiance. “I am the vessel of the Heavens themselves. The Order refers to me as the Star Mage, Freya Silverlight.”
He spat a curse in response, realizing he’d been tricked, only to regain his composure moments later.
“They may have brought you here to bind me, but I won’t be reigned in so easily. Your so-called Order discarded me like yesterday’s refuse after the war. It’s only fair they feel a fraction of the suffering they put me through.”
His words only served to strengthen Freya’s resolve. Archmage Solomon had to be stopped at all costs, just as the stars predicted.
