The parlor was a kaleidoscope of lights and colors- the black of the Viperi, the flashes of white, violet, and blue from the mystiks, the silver of the blades and the hellbeasts' claws and horns. There were already splatters of black blood on the walls and the floor, the furniture and the piano in the corner covered in it. Sophia was surprised that she hadn't heard the noise of the battle from the door.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Samantha called from the left. She ducked as a Viperus swiped a claw at her, stabbing up with her sword so that it sunk deep into the hellbeast's flank. Black blood spurted out of the wound, soaking the sleeve of her combat and dousing her sword in a slick coating.

She grimaced.

"My pleasure," Sophia responded, shooting a grin at Samantha. She jumped into the fray, slicing at the black shadows with the Armouri blades. The faint ice blue glow of the daggers created whirling flashes of light in the air, almost like that of glow sticks in the dark.

From the far end of the room, she heard James call out, "Sphaera aquae!" Water rose up from the floor, coagulating to form a large bubble around several of the Viperi. At the other end of the room, Valentino had set several Viperi ablaze, a dark, tyrian purple fire shot through with lines of black burning through the mass of hellbeasts there. Sophia had no idea how he managed to control the fire so tightly, but he hardly seemed to be paying attention to it, somersaulting over a charging Viperus and stabbing it with Hellfire from behind.

Samantha was holding her own as well, timing the stabs and slashes of her sword perfectly with gusts of wind. The Viperi blood on her sleeve had dried, forming a hard, caked layer on the fabric of the combat suit.

Sophia looked down at the two daggers in her hands, the ice blades gleaming sharply in the weak sunlight streaming through the window. She hadn't yet learned how to control the mystiks Kaly had taught her, but these were dire circumstances and she had to try, right?

Hopefully, the risk would be worth it.

Taking a deep breath, Sophia closed her eyes, hearing Kaly's voice in her head as clearly as if she was standing next to her now. "Focus on the energy inside your body, picture it flowing into your blade and the energy from the blade flowing back to you. Remember, your blade is an extension of your body..."

She opened her eyes, drawing on her emotions like she had standing on the balcony in Pelaris. "Vacuro testa." The effect was instant. With a loud crack, slabs of ice shards began to rain down, appearing in midair and hurtling towards the ground. She had tried to control them so that they landed in a small area of Viperi, but a few had been scattered and landed a little too close to the others.

She winced.

The shards began to rain down uncontrollably, smashing chairs and tables and the piano in the corner. Whoops. She silently apologized to it, and to the archivist whose home she was tearing apart at the moment.

A glint of silvery blue caught her eye and she saw one of the larger ice shards hurtling towards the wall, huge chunks of stone and wood flying everywhere as if they were caught in the center of a maelstrom. The ends justify the means. The ends justify the means, Sophia chanted in her head as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

As she watched, her gaze locked in on a flat slab of stone that had been dislodged from the wall in the collision; it was hurtling towards Valentino with absurd precision.

Without thinking, Sophia launched herself at him, the impact of the collision knocking the breath out of her. They tumbled several feet before coming to a halt on the hard ground.

For a second, they were still, both of them trying to catch their breath. Sophia realized, belatedly, that she was lying awkwardly on top of him; she was very aware of the heat radiating from his body and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

"If you wanted me in this position," Valentino said. "You could've just asked." His eyes were very gold, and she could see the amusement in them as she shot him a glance.

Sophia ignored his remark, sitting up as he raised himself onto his elbows. "I owed you one after Aurore," she said. "Now we're even." She gave him a pointed look.

Valentino fell back down, his hair somehow becoming even more wild. "Alright, Sophia."

She slid off him, both of them standing up and surveying the scene in front of them.

As the billowing dust cleared, she saw that the shards had impaled quite a few Viperi, their bodies fading as they were carried back to the Underworld and leaving pools of black blood behind. James and Samantha killed off the last of them, the flashes of light from their mystiks illuminating the room in stark contrasts.

"Well," said James, brushing himself off. "That should be all of them."

Samantha was examining her combat suit, her face contorted into a frown. "I need a shower." She looked at Sophia. "And what was that? You practically destroyed the entire room."

Sophia grimaced. "Sorry. I haven't learned how to control it yet." She heard Valentino snicker and slapped him lightly on the arm, her face still flushed from what had happened earlier.

"You guys, I think I found the archivist." James' voice sounded muffled, and she turned towards the sound, finding the door to what looked like a closet ajar.

Sophia caught Samantha's eye and shrugged, the three of them making their way to where James stood, standing over a long wooden box and staring at something inside it with a look of pure nausea on his face.

The smell hit her first, something akin to the scent of rotting food that had been sitting in the dumpster for too long, or the stench of roadkill that had been lying at the side of the road, baking in the sun.

As her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, she found that she could make out the figure of a person lying in the box- she didn't think it was a coffin- crumpled and limp. It was mutilated, the throat slashed and several white things sticking out of the abdomen, which she soon realized were bones. Rib bones. Dried blood had crusted around the cut in the neck, and more of it coated the inside of the box like rust, or dried red paint.

Sophia felt the urge to gag.

"Someone obviously got here before us," Valentino commented, looking at the grotesque body with a look of pure disgust on his face. "And they don't care who knows."

"The person that opened the door..." Sophia had to focus on controlling the slight shake in her voice. "They weren't alive. It was a robot." Something about the sight of the dead body reminded her of her mother's death. She had tried so hard to shove it down, but she could still see it- her mother's lifeless body in her arms, the sudden dullness of her eyes.

She made eye contact with Valentino, and he seemed to see the pleading look in her eyes. "Alright," he said. "Let's go. We need to figure out what we're going to do next, and this stench is giving me a headache."

They filed out of the room, each of them silent. "Are you okay?" she heard Valentino ask quietly, his familiar scent drowning out the remainders of the stench. She breathed it in, reminding herself that she was here now, that no one had been lost today. That, at least, was a small victory.

She nodded, unable to look at him, as Samantha asked, "What now? Whoever was here- and it was probably Anadeus- obviously came for the key."

"Well, we don't know if he found it or not," said James.

"He wouldn't have killed the archivist if he hadn't," Sam countered.

"There's a spare," said Sophia. "There's always a spare. Maybe he didn't take that one."

It was worth a shot as any, so the four of them began searching the rubble and the rest of the cottage. It was larger than it looked on the outside, and Sophia found herself searching room after room before finding herself in the attic. It was a small space, fairly uncluttered with a few of what seemed like artifacts lining the room.

She walked past a small bronze dagger, dull with age, a piece of it seemingly melted off. There was another old manuscript made of papyrus, half burnt with the edges dark with age and curling. At the end of the room, she came across a bronze box engraved with what appeared to be the Earth Kingdom landscape. Tentatively, she reached out and it clicked open, revealing an ancient gold key within it. It was heavy, etched with odd marks and symbols.

She had found it.

In a flash, she had jumped up and clambered back down the ladder that had led to the attic, the key clutch tightly in her hand. "Guys, I found it! At least, I think this is it."

The others were there almost immediately, as if they had simply materialized out of the air at her call. "That's it," said James with a disbelieving grin on his face. "Good job, Soph."

She smiled back. "Thanks, James."

"Alright," said Samantha. "Let's head to the archives. No time to waste!" 

A/N: hi guys! as promised, the next chapter haha. thank you for reading and please don't forget to vote and comment!!