The Light Maiden's Mark Chapter 2 - Of Dark Lords and Mystics

Beyond a small rural outer layer was a sprawling center castle, towering over the rest of the city. "Keep close to me," Shai said. Gabrielle looked on as both her and Shai walked through the capital. Shai signaled with her hand for her to come closer. "You will get lost easily, there are many people here," She said while the bustling crowds of people that passed by made it hard for Gabrielle to navigate. The dirt road felt soft on Gabrielle’s bare feet, and the crowds smelt like the inside of a barn.

"And all of these people are magic users?" Gabrielle yanked at Shai's soft and silky feeling cloak as she got pushed back by a group of people, a whiff of lavender hits her nose as her head jutted forward as a passerby almost tripped her. The houses of the people here were relatively small, enough to house two or three people, they were nicely made, nicer than what she thought would be a medieval fantasy land, they looked almost modern.

"Yes, magic is incorporated into the daily lives of all of the people here, from transportation to storing petabytes of cooking recipes into a single stone tablet," Shai clarifies while she nodded, almost making Gabrielle's grip on her cloak slip.

"But if there’s so many people who use magic here, why do you need me?" Gabrielle asked, she pulled herself closer to her as to not get knocked away by another passing group of people.

Shai turned her head slowly, and kept one eye on Gabrielle and one eye on the flow of pedestrian traffic. "Everyone has their place. Though, we will not know how much potential you have until we get you to the Mystic."

After finally making it past the large crowds, the two arrived at the doors to the inner city. The two large wooden doors that looked extremely heavy and very hard to open.

Shai broke away from Gabrielle's grip and walked up to the doors, holding her pointer finger up and signals for Gabrielle to wait. She placed her hand on the doors, and white sigils spiraled out from where she touched. The doors groaned as they parted, and she signaled Gabrielle to follow her inside, she ran inside to catch up to her. "Where is this Mystic that you were talking about before?"

"She is in the inner sanctum, trying to figure out what happened."

"What? What happened?"

"The Lords of Darkness just suddenly disappeared. No one knows why, and even the Mystic is having problems figuring out why they suddenly dropped off the map," Shai said, shaking her head.

"This peace that has come from our enemies' overlords randomly vanishing is a suspicious one, I am just worried that something bad is going to come from this. Even though parliament feels at ease like the worst is over. I and the Veil of Light are on high alert, in case whatever may have happened upon them decides to happen upon us," Shai said as she looked away from the towers and walks around Gabrielle.

The sky began to darken, time was starting to run short, she had to get Gabrielle to the Mystic before the sky turned dark, or her entire cycle of when she is supposed to be asleep or awake would be disrupted, her sleep cycle on Earth needed to be perfect or she wouldn’t have enough time in this realm to get anything important done.

"How strong are, or were, the Lords of Darkness?" Gabrielle asked while turning around.

She turned her face towards Gabrielle. "The forces of light and darkness have been warring in this world for thousands of years, and they have taken much of our land as a result. Whatever wiped them out is more powerful than even me, and that terrifies me."

“That only halfway answers my question, how strong were they really?”

Shai pondered for a second. “A single one of the Lords of Darkness is strong enough to take out about ten platoons worth of armed men with little effort, that’s how strong they are.”

The castle's interior was immaculate. Winding staircases with red leather carpeting, a marble checkerboard floor, and golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling. A woman draped in a purple leather dress waved at them, her deep purple side-swept ponytail glistens under the warm light.

"Shai, it's so good to see you," The woman cooed, clutching the skirt of her dress. "And I assume this is the new girl? Lovely. Come here, dear, I need to get a closer look at you." The woman beckoned with a sweet smile.

"Is this her?"

"Don't worry, she can sense how powerful you are by just looking at your aura, nothing complicated," Shai whispered discreetly, patting Gabrielle's shoulder.

"But if I just woke up, doesn't that mean I'm weak?" Gabrielle whispers back, a concerned look on her face. She was willing to help but didn’t think she was capable enough.

Shai turned towards her and shook her head. "This is not just about how much you have now, but how much you can hold. We will not know your potential until we can figure out how much magical power you can store in your body."

Shai lightly pushed Gabrielle towards the Mystic.

"There isn't much time, step forward dear," the Mystic said, motioning Gabrielle to come closer. Stepping forward, Gabrielle stood in silence, clutching the collar of her dress. Awkwardness prickled at her body, she was feeling inadequate, but didn’t want to say anything. The Mystic looked at her with her deep brown eyes, a gust of wind through an open window jostled the chandeliers, making the lights dance on both of their faces. The Mystic's eyes quickly widened in shock. "I don't see an end to it!" The Mystic leaned closer, squinting her eyes. "I don't believe it, her aura depth is endless, and she's sucking up energy from the atmosphere around her like a magnet and converting it into light magic, I've never seen this before in my entire life." The Mystic relaxed her eyes and folded her arms. "There mustn't be any other place or title for her but Light Maiden, I'm sure of it."