Ava resisted the urge to strip.

After departing the ship's harbor, they had all entered the fifth step of Omar. According to Reina, Omar was also ruled by a witch, like Uthor. She created Omar with a few earth and air charmers which allowed the island to float above the sea. The island was divided into five parts, five steps. The first step was still on the ground, surrounded by sea and nature, and was where they mostly got their crops from. It was incredibly well protected from pirates and bandits. The second step was mostly filled with markets and settlements, but a few people planted there too. The third step was made up of vast settlements and a tiny bit of nature. It was where most of the Omars lived, including the witch, whereas the fourth step had less settlements and more fashion studios and schools.

The fifth was mostly for shipments of products and where many fashion companies were located. It housed tall modern buildings, something Ava had yet to see since she had entered Domus. The highest buildings she had seen before Omar were the arena in Alve and the mansion in Uthor and they had both been somewhat ancient. 

Reina lead the gang through the bustling city which was packed with people dressed in very fashionable attire that Ava had only seen on the people of Paris when last she visited it. The women wore gowns with such beautiful patterns and geometry, it was better than anything she had seen. The men, however, wore suits that made Ava's mouth water.

She wanted those suits. She wanted those gowns. Fuck it, she wanted everything!

Someone bumped into her, and she snapped back to reality then turned to glare at a curvy woman, but she immediately apologized and Ava sighed, joining up with the gang.

Ignoring Reina's eyes on her, she walked beside the woman as they finally got to the end of the fifth step. A long set of stairs led to the fourth step and Benji groaned, stopping at the top, which made the rest of them halt.

"Why do we have to go through all of this walking?" He asked as he held on to the railing. Taking in a deep breath, he touched his chest, "We could just teleport there, right? Reina, you can do that, can't you?"

The little lady's lips fell into a thin line and she said, "I don't mind. It's definitely going to tire me out but I don't mind teleporting us to the witch's lair." Reina laughed lightly at that. "Ha-ha, 'lair'."  She told everyone to hold on to each other and she teleported them to the front of a tall tower.

The tower didn't look anything like the buildings Ava had just seen. It was tall, yes, but it had this ancient look to it. The circular tower was surrounded by a dense forest which didn't do much to hide it since the top of the tower could still be seen from the fifth step. Closely surrounding the tower was a very neat patch of tiger lilies which opened onto a path that ended in a wooden door.

Reina wobbled and allowed Ava to catch her, slipping her arms around the short lady's waist and holding her close. Reina leaned her head on Ava's shoulders before sighing and pulling herself from Ava. She took a deep breath and approached the wooden door.

Knocking, she said, "Open the door Izzy, it's Reina."

Ava felt eyes on her and ignored them, knowing very well they were Silas'. She didn't know how she knew, she just knew. Even though that weirded her out, she could only shake it off because the door was sliding open.

"Come in guys." Reina gestured to them to follow her and they did with Ava right behind her.

The tower was larger on the inside than it was on the outside,  Ava had to resist the urge to marvel at the beauty like Silas, Edgar and Benji were. The interior was stunning, a mixture of different warm colors which circled around the spiral stairs that led up to the top of the tower.

Coming down those stairs was a woman with honey blond hair, a shade darker than Ava's, who wore a black bralet with a striped, black and white skirt that flowed behind her. Beside the woman was an Asian girl who was about the same age as Ava. She wore a black tank top and black trousers, nothing like Ava had seen the people of Alve wear. The girl was dressed almost like her, and wore a stoic expression as she came up to meet them.

The woman, Ava presumed was Izzy, beamed and gathered up her skirt before crossing the room to meet Reina, pulling her in for a hug. Izzy was taller than Reina, taller than Ava and was probably the same height as Edgar.

"Oh Reina, it's been a while." Izzy's accent had a hint of a British lilt to it but it sounded awfully faint. She let go of Reina, who smiled, and continued, "I didn't think I would see you until next year! What brought you here?"

"The new rice festival, you know I never miss it. Gui makes the best beef jerky fried rice I have ever tasted. For the past week, all I've been eating is meat."

"It's a man's food, woman." Wyatt scoffed at her then glanced away to stare at the pictures hanging on the wall. 

Izzy stared at Wyatt before her eyes trailed to the rest of her visitors. Her smile almost fell and she looked back at Reina. "You brought friends this time."

Reina shrugged, playing with the beads on her sleeves absent-mindedly. "It's Wyatt's ship. The rest are escorts and Ava here is my bodyguard. Like Akane." She pointed at the Asian beauty who stiffened before bowing and meeting Ava's eyes.

"That's good." Izzy nodded then smiled widely, spreading out her arms and saying in a loud voice, "Thank you so much for coming, my guests. My name is Elizabeth but you can call me Izzy. I am the witch and ruler of this city. The new rice festival is next tomorrow and it would be amazing if you take part in it. The kids are throwing a dance on the fourth step and I am sure if you went, it'd be a blast. Come, I'm sure you must be tired from your trip, my bodyguard here, will find you a room. If you have even the slightest problem, tell me and I will do my best to help." She gave them a bright smile then gazed down at Reina, cupping her face softly in a way that made a part of Ava want to smack her hand off. "My love, I will be back soon. I have important issues to attend to. When I return, please tell me all about your adventures and the white witch."

"Over dinner." She promised.

"Over dinner." Izzy nodded then vanished on the spot like she had never been there.

Akane stared at the spot where she had been before her eyes fell on the guests. "If you could please follow m-"

"Wait, Akane." Reina held a hand to her then turned to the other guests in the room. "You are free to go where you please except the fifth step. If you wish to buy anything," a small sack filled with coins appeared in her hands and she tossed it at Edgar who easily caught it, "go ahead. You'll need it for the next few days before we get back on the ship. Since the old witch's power on the runes will be becoming weaker, it will be hard to train you to control it on the ship because of the limited space. Here, Wyatt and I will train you to do it so that when you get your other powers or beasts, you can control it yourself. Are we clear?"

"As the sky." Edgar agreed and flipped a coin in the air, catching it before it fell.

Akane gave Reina a look, asking if she was done and the short lady nodded, grabbing Ava's wrist abruptly and teleporting to a room in the building.

Ava instantly felt her world tilt and she fell to her knees, gripping the bed. She could handle  teleporting once a day, but twice made her insides feel weird and her head spin.

Groaning from the bed, Reina lay sprawled on it, her hand holding her head as if she had a headache. Ava waited for her own head to settle before approaching Reina to place a hand on her forehead. She frowned when she felt the heat from it, and quickly ran into the open bathroom to get a wet towel. Placing it on Reina's forehead, she sat beside her and took the chocolate woman's hand from her head and into her own.

When Ava had first met Reina, she and a few others had captured the Stealth that attacked their camp. At that time, Ava hadn't known how to react to the situation. Everything had been in a frenzy. She couldn't find Silas or his friends and she had fallen face first down the hill. When she had opened her eyes, the Stealth was staring right at her. Jade green eyes that glowed, smooth black fur that appeared soft, and three tails that wrapped around her so tight, she couldn't fight them off. Ava had been scared. She had learnt to protect herself and Silas but at that moment, everything she knew was useless. What could Karate or gymnastics do when you were fighting a panther?

Suddenly, something hit the beast and it winced then growled low before it turned, stepping back closer to Ava as if protectively. But Ava knew it was only protecting her so it could eat her later. A red rope appeared around the beast's torso out of nowhere and Ava could hear a buzzing sound from it. The Stealth instantly whined and fell to the ground. The tails keeping Ava prisoner loosened and she moved away from them, putting distance between herself and the beast.

Then she turned to her savior - decked in her usual attire only this time, black - and her weird silver eyes fell on Ava and softened. The men behind her had quickly taken the Stealth away and Reina had approached her.

"I am so sorry you had to go through all of that." Reina had said, squatting in front of her and cupping her chin.

Ava was too mesmerized by her beauty to notice that her wounds had been healed. "I can make you forget about everything, you can go back to your camping like nothing has happened."

Ava didn't know why she had never bothered to ask how she could erase her mind. She was more bothered about her brother.

"M-my brother. I don't know where he is. I don't know if that animal was the only one. What if it killed him?" She asked more questions, becoming more hysterical by the second but Reina was able to calm her down.

"Hush, girl. Everything is alright. Your brother is safe." She wanted to say something in response, but a man had cut her off, telling Reina something about a 'portal' and 'crossing'.

When she had looked back at Ava, she had only smiled and said, "I guess I'll have to take care of you then."

That was all Ava remembered before she woke up a few hours later and all she wanted to do was protect the woman that saved her life. It ached Ava to see how her protective instincts had shifted from Silas to this woman. In fact, it hurt. She hated how much she would rather save Reina than Silas.

Now, looking down at the woman, Ava didn't know the emotion that made her belly squirm and her heart flutter. Reina's hand tightened around the other girl's and she gave her a small smile. The magic that allowed her to see, forming those silver eyes, fell apart allowing her pale blue eyes to be exposed.

Reina was blind from birth and had never really been able to see until she was six and had cast her first spell. The silver coating made her able to see to an extent, but she could barely distinguish between colors: everything appeared black, white and grey. That was why she mostly wore clothing within that range.

"Teleporting is a motherfucking drainer." She rolled her pale blue eyes then tried to meet Ava's but missed by a few inches.

Reina was a mage - a half-magician. Unlike magicians, whose powers come from their god and doesn't depreciate, the powers of mages diminish over time and they have to go back for more otherwise they will become powerless. Mages are people with magician's blood in them, but who aren't chosen by the gods to be magicians. According to Reina, after the first few, the gods stopped choosing because of the choices that the magicians had made. It was many years later, after they had chosen five new magicians, that they continued making more. However, Reina wasn't picked and her parents blamed it on her lack of sight.

"You are being too quiet. If I weren't holding your hand, I would have thought you'd left me."

Ava shook her head, stopping halfway when she realized the woman wouldn't be able to see her. Instead, she placed her other hand on Reina's stomach and stroked it, something she enjoyed doing and that easily sent Reina to sleep.

"Hm, you're doing that again. It'll send me right to sleep." She hummed.

The blonde haired girl wouldn't mind that, but she didn't know where exactly her room was since Reina took her away before Akane could give her one. "Do I meet Akane for a room later?"

Reina frowned. "Why sleep in a different room when the person you want to protect is in this room?"

She made an 'O' shape with her mouth then nodded, letting go of the mage to take off her boots. She moved to the other side of the bed and joined the woman, waiting for her to turn so she could continue to play with her flat stomach.

Grinning, Reina turned to her. "Aren't you going to go out and explore the city?"

"And be in a different place from the person I want to protect? No."

Reina laughed lightly, a nice, hearty chuckle that warmed Ava to the pit of her stomach. "Then how about the dresses they have here? You looked like you wanted to have them." She sighed quietly then buried her face in a pillow before looking back at Ava, "Too bad that I can't pick, they all look grey and black to me."

Sliding her hand from Reina's abdomen to her waist, she met her gaze which shifted ever so often and asked, "What does the world look like with those silver eyes?"

"Boring," she said with a sad smile.

"What color are my eyes?" Ava asked curiously.

Reina tilted her head as if trying to remember and she said, "Dark grey... The world is mostly white in the daytime, distant things also appear white to me. Colors are mostly either grey or black and it's easier to see a person's face when they are wearing an outfit with those colors. The people whose clothing appears white look almost washed out and it means they were going to die soon. Like the lady you bumped into, she's going to die latest tomorrow."

Ava scowled. "Why didn't you tell her?"

She smiled sweetly. "Ava, no one likes to be told they're going to die when there's no chance of survival. If there was a chance, there would be a patch of black somewhere on her. The bigger the patch, the more her chances of survival. That is one of my clairvoyant abilities.

"Sometimes," Reina said as she turned away from her, letting Ava's hand fall back to the bed. "using those eyes, is a huge relief to this darkness. I hate it." She added quietly as if not wanting Ava to hear.

The blonde girl decided not to respond to her as she closed her eyes, willing sleep to come.

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