They drew out their swords, the metal glinting in the pale light. The white flakes fell harder, making it harder to see when the first Viperus came charging out of the haze, horns gleaming and claws outstretched.

They scattered at once, each of them breaking away and running into the throng of Viperi that were beginning to surround them. Fighting in the snow and cold felt familiar to Sophia. Back at the Ice Palace in Velcare, she used to train outside with her tutor sometimes, traveling to one of the more isolated lakesides. In the Ice Kingdom, the lakes were always a beautiful, brilliant turquoise, and many were surrounded by towering mountains capped with snow.

Focusing now, Sophia watched intently as a Viperus came bounding towards her, waiting until the last second to drop and slide underneath it so that she could stab up with the Armouri blade into the beast's soft underbelly. She realized, belatedly, that that probably wasn't the best idea. Black blood spurted out of the wound, and she quickly raised a hand to block her face. She felt a burning sensation almost immediately as the poison began to seep into her skin. Thank god she still had a Magnesia tucked into her combat suit jacket.

The Viperus vanished, and she rolled to her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see James fighting another hellbeast, the archive book still clutched tightly in one hand. The influx of Viperi seemed never ending; there was no way there were going to defeat all of them this time.

She needed to create a Gateway, but mystiks didn't work here. Desperately racking her brain for a solution- anything she could possibly do- Sophia felt an unbidden wave of despair and guilt. It had been _her_ decision to come here, after all. This was her responsibility, and she had to find a way out.

An idea came to her slowly, one that she wasn't sure could work.

Magnesias were mystikal objects, they held mystikal power within the blade. The Elementales had originally designed them so that they could work anywhere, drawing on their own source of mystikal energy. What would happen if she shattered the blade? Would enough of the energy be released for her to cast one mystik?

She had to try.

Heartbeat racing, Sophia reached inside her jacket, fumbling for the Magnesia. As she did so, she felt a sudden flash of pain at her side, and turned to find the Viperus leaping at her again, its claws razor sharp and hurtling towards her like a bullet. Goddamn Viperus.

She leapt aside, grabbing a throwing star from her jacket and flinging it toward the Viperus. It slowed down, but didn't stop, blood oozing out of the wound on its side where the star was still stuck and dripping onto the ground with a hiss.

Annoyed, Sophia grabbed two more and threw it at the hellbeast, watching in satisfaction as it let out a high pitched whine and fell to the ground, disappearing into the Underworld.

Grimacing, Sophia checked the wound at her side, gingerly lifting the fabric of her shirt so that it was visible. It was a three-inch long gash, the skin around it ragged. Blood was still flowing from it freely, soaking her combat suit. Sophia sighed. Samantha was going to have to fix that later.

Finally, she was able to pull out the Magnesia from her jacket. The blade was clear and unused, glowing softly now with a light blue hue now that she had touched it. Taking a deep breath, she raised her arm and slammed the blade into the ground.

She felt it almost immediately, the feeling as if the air had been electrified. She hadn't realized how different it had been without it until now. Grinning, she closed her eyes, focusing on drawing the mystikal energy within her. Holding out her sword and said, "Partum porta."

It was almost as if the world held its breath, waiting to see if the mystik had worked. Sophia cracked open an eye, a wave of relief coursing through her as she saw a spark appear in the midst of the falling snow. It expanded, forming a full-sized Gateway ringed by light.

"Guys!" she called, hoping her voice carried across the white enclosing. "Samantha, James, Valentino!"

The three of them looked up at the sound of her voice, understanding clear on their faces. Slowly, they made their way across the field toward her, fending off dozens of Viperi as they did so. The tension in the air was almost unbearable. She wasn't sure how long it'd be before the Gateway closed, the mystikal energy in the air running out. 

For a second, Sophia fought the urge to shut her eyes and open them to find everyone there, afraid of what she'd see if they didn't. It was a bad habit Bayleigh had made her break when she was young. She supposed bad habits always stayed with you, clinging to you no matter how hard you tried to throw it off.Thankfully, the others did in fact make it to the Gateway, although all of them were covered in Viperi blood and scratches.

"How the hell," began Samantha, "did you do this?"

"I'll tell you later," said Sophia rapidly as the Gateway began to close. "First we need to get out of here." She faced the black abyss of the portal. "Joie Hall, New York!"

She stepped in, feeling the wind buffet her as the landscape of brown and white melted into home. 

The Academy. 

The Gateway spit them out on the street in front of Joie Hall, a sense of belonging enveloping her as the familiar sounds of New York City filled her ears. Music.

Kaly was furious when they all spilled out into the lounge. Adrian and Loren watched, amused, as they were repeatedly berated for going off on their own- especially Sophia, who had been given specific orders to stay in the Medinin. But then she was just glad they had come back safe.

"The Principatus aren't happy with you, Sophia," Kaly warned. "You defied direct orders and disappeared to who knows where. I told them that of course you'd act like that- you had, after all, just been told that someone had practically weaponized you, but you need to be more careful next time. The duoviri are keeping a close eye on you now."

"I will," she told Kaly, if only to stop her from worrying any further. "But," she continued, with a wide smile, "if we didn't go, we would never have found this"- she gestured to the archive book still in James' grasp- "or discovered that someone murdered the archivist. Murdered. Very gruesomely. Not a pleasant sight."

Kaly frowned, taking the book from James' hands and examining it. "An archive book?" she questioned, incredulous. "You all broke into the Archives?" She looked at the four of them. "How?"

"We originally went to the archivist's house to get the key," explained James, his eyes grim. "But as soon as we got in, a hoard of Viperi attacked us. It seems someone else- we figured Anadeus- was there a couple days before us; we found the archivist's body in a wooden box, just sitting there." He shuddered.

"Disgusting," Sophia heard Valentino mutter under his breath.

Kaly's eyebrows were drawn up in concern. "Did you find the key? Or had Anadeus taken it already?"

"He took it," James said. "But I remembered my dad saying something about a spare, which we found." 

"And that's how you broke into the Archives?"

Sophia saw James wince. "Yes."

"To be fair," mused Valentino. "Is it really considered breaking in if we used the key?"

Sophia snorted and Kaly gave the both of them a withering look and she immediately schooled her face back to neutrality. She caught Valentino's eye and his mouth twitched. She grinned.

"Where is the key now?" Kaly asked, and Sophia tore her gaze away from Valentino to look at her.

"I have it," she said, drawing it out of her pocket and handing it to Kaly who took it and slipped it into her back pocket without a glance.

"I'll give this to the Principatus when I go to meet them," she said. "Alright, now what's this book about?"

Valentino smirked, looking directly at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "It appears that our very own Sophia is related to Anadeus." He broke away and turned to Kaly; Sophia couldn't help feeling inexplicably disappointed. "Anadeus was Praetor and the king of Avalon a couple hundred years back. It seems he was trying to band together with the Ice Kingdom and take control of Asteri and the mortal world. Apparently, he finds people without the ability to use mystiks  lesser."

"There's a letter in there." Samantha nodded at the book in Kaly's hand. "It's written by Anadeus and meant for Kaiden Altus. Apparently, they were brothers." At this, Kaly raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"We think there were more, too," added James. "But they were ripped out."

"Anadeus clearly doesn't want people to know much about him," Kaly murmured, echoing their thoughts from earlier. "Makes you wonder what he could possibly be hiding."

"He never went through with his plan," said Sophia. "I wonder what happened. Maybe that's what the other pages were about."

"It'd make sense," Kaly agreed. She straightened. "I'm going to take these to the Principatus as soon as possible. As for now, clean up and get some rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."

They nodded and Kaly left, disappearing down the hall to her office. Adrian and Loren were staring at them from where they were sitting on the couch.

"You guys went to the Earth Kingdom?" Adrian asked, an eyebrow raised.

"It wasn't exactly planned," Sophia responded, shifting. Her feet were beginning to hurt from standing so long.

"Very impromptu," Samantha agreed. "Sorry I didn't tell you, Addy." She sounded lighthearted.

Adrian rolled his eyes, but Sophia could tell he was suppressing a smile. "At least you're not dead."

The four of them retired to their rooms; Sophia had never been so happy to see her bed in her entire life. After exchanging percuro mystiks, Sophia went into the shower, turning the water all the way to the hottest setting. It was a relief to wash the day's grime off of her- both the actual dirt and the things they had found out about Anadeus. She scrubbed furiously at her skin, as if if she scrubbed hard enough, she could rid herself of him and everything that he came with.

For a moment, all she wanted to do was go back to the Ice Palace, before her mother had died and all of this had happened. But then, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to experience this, or to meet the people she had- people she knew she would never let go.

She turned the water off reluctantly, stepping out of the shower and dressing in an oversized t-shirt and shorts. Leaving the bathroom so Samantha could shower, Sophia noticed a folded slip of paper on her nightstand. She opened it.

                     Meet me on ESB roof tonight. 11:00.                                        

                                            - V

Her heart rate jumped involuntarily, a flutter beginning in the pit of her stomach. Brushing it aside, Sophia checked the time on her phone: it was 9:30. With a sigh, she slipped her shoes on and padded into the kitchen. 

A/N: hi guys! sorry that was a little late. i have been writing everyday though!! please vote and comment, as always :)) thank you!!