(I am so sorry guys! I know there aren't a lot of reders on here right now but I've been really sick with a never-named-virus for the past few days and I am really sorry about that. I never really did anything other than watch some Netflix and make my body weight in used tissues. I have a weird semi-plot idea that I started messing with here and I'm just trying to mess around with Ophella in general here. If you could voice your opinions on her actions and/or thoughts that would be awesome! Again sorry, I hope you enjoy this chapter though!)

Following Ophella

The witch is suspicious of me. I believe she thinks I'm the reason they are stuck in the caves and am leading them to a trap.

I can't deny it because she'd ask why I thought that and I'd have to bring up the fact that I hadn't been able to convince others to follow me and they died. She'd think I was lying and I killed them.

At least Lo seemed to be more trusting, even if he was concerned about my more non-human features.

"Are you making the crystals glow?" Lo asked.

"No... yes and no. Most of these are light based-magically infused. They glow most of the time but can stop. I'm keeping them from stopping because I know humans do not... prefer I believe is the word. I know humans do not prefer the dark as I do. After all, 'ego tantum obumbratio.'"

"'I am just shadows.'" The witch, Lucinda, repeats to herself quietly.

"Is that what she said?" Lo asks her.

"It is not the direct translation but it is what it means. I am shadows controlled and melded with a consciousness tied to these crystals. As long as there is light there will be shadows cast by it-"

"-As long as there's magic there will be a price." Lucinda finished. I turned and looked at her. She looked less tense then before. "Have you met witches before?"

"Many witches and warlocks have come by before, yes. I may not have interacted with many but I have seen them and heard them before. The one I am leading you to is a Warlock. He is kind and was helping look for you so he could help the rest you are with. He asked for help with his helping and I had no reason to refuse. He is the reason I came for the two of you. He is not the reason I would be willing to lead you back, Lucinda."

"Why then?"

"I cannot use the power I am tied to but you could make use of it and help others with it. I would be willing to let you try." I answered.

"So these crystals... are they really powerful?" Lo asked.

"The answer to that depends on much. Which crystals, how they are used, whom they are used by. They would not be in my hands but they would be, in comparison, very powerful in yours. Even more so in Lucinda's or in the hands of a divine warrior. Those who can wield power over the universe tend to use them better than those who cannot."

"Then why trust me with that?" Lucinda asked.

"You have been through much, it is easy for me to see that much. You are kind; You care for others; and you handle power well. People like that are the only ones who deserve power." I answered. Lucinda retreated to her thoughts as we continued walking. I turned my form forward again and kept continuing on.

=====

Following Duncan

"Are the others doing alright?" I asked again while fidgeting with a rock I had picked up when I entered the cave. Light it on fire. Toss it up. Ice it. Light it on fire. Toss it up. Ice it.

"The witch and her compatriot are asking questions about the crystals. Laurence and Y/N are stumbling in the dark as I try to get them from the old mines to the crystals. You do not have to worry, no one else is down here."

Light it on fire. Toss it up. Ice it.

Light it on fire. Toss it up. Ice it.

"You are allowed to not worry about all of them. They are being taken care of even if you are not there."

"That doesn't help me calm down." I spit out and stop walking. I try to calm my breathing while I hold tightly onto the rock. Ophella waits for me as I try to stop hyperventilating.

My heart won't stop beating.

My mind won't stop racing-

I feel the presence of hands on mine. She forces me to relax my death grip on the stone.

I couldn't even feel my hands before she made me let go.

"Duncan. It's alright. They are all perfectly safe right now. They will continue to be safe. No one is going to get hurt." She says to me. I feel the weight of the fear start slipping off of my chest as she continues rubbing circles into my hand.

"You need to be more careful with the spells you were using on that rock." She says quietly.

"Why?"

"The spells may not affect you but they affect the rock. The rock can affect you." She answered and turned my palm face up. Sure enough there were faint red marks imprints of the rock on my hand.

"Why are you always so smart about this kind of thing? You can't even use fire magic." I laugh dryly at my own joke.

"You are not the first I've met who has had to learn this lesson." Ophella replies quietly.

My dad.

That's right, she knew my dad. She knew others before him who could harness similar spells. She has seen many things in her lifetime. She will see more.

"That does not matter, though. What matters if that you learn it and we continue on to meet the others." Ophella says and stops letting her hands be material and lets them phase through my own as she steps back. I shiver. The one part of her I can never get used to.

"Yeah, yeah. L-let's keep going." I look back up at her and nod. She blinks in acknowledgement and turns to continue on.

I continue casting minor spells to keep myself occupied.

Fire. Snap. Ice. Snap.

Fire. Snap. Ice. Snap.

=====

Following Laurence

Normally I never was a fan of the dark. That fact did not change how much I enjoyed how Y/N seemed to yell at or joke about every little rock she could feel under her feet.

"Do you just get louder the darker it is or what?" I asked jokingly. She hit my arm and huffed as we kept moving along. Ophella was patient and kept a slow pace so we could find surety in our steps in the near complete darkness.

"How come we can see you in the dark?" Y/N asked. I looked back over Ophella and she was right, the spirit was standing before us almost as clear as when I first saw her but she gave off no light, even though her dress still looked white as ever nothing else seemed visible.

"I am a shadow but not a normal one. You see my because of my magical sourcing. At least, that is the short answer." She answered. Her voice made me shiver. She was familiar, but not in a good way. She had a darkness to her like the nether did. It unsettled me.

"Can you give us the long version since we have nothing better to do?" She asked then swore at a rock that made her temporarily lose her footing.

"Think of light as traveling pieces in the air. Most people can recognise those as colors and make is so you can see things. Magic has its own category, some can feel it as they could touch, some have senses acute enough to see nearly all magical wavelengths. Some are visible, however, to nearly all living beings. My form travels on those. Does that make sense to you?"

"No, not really." Y/N answered.

"There are two categories of visible things, light and color, sharing a category, and then magic. The magic category can be more obvious to others who deal more heavily with magic but some pieces most can see or can be made visible to others, like my form. Some magic can create light but my form cannot."

"More sense but I'm still pretty lost on the main message. Third time's the charm?"

"I'd rather not butcher the explanation by dumbing it down further." Ophella replied quietly.

Y/N then started laughing. Loud, unrestrained, pure enjoyment. She was still holding onto my arm and shaking all over with it. She snorted a few times and although Ophella tried asking if she was alright multiple times I don't think she could have gotten a word out if she tried. I don't know what she found so hilarious about Ophella's comment, but I do know that this laughter is the most contagious laughter I have heard in a long while. My eyes are closed as tightly as I can get them and I'm eventually bending over with her. My chest hurts but I am the happiest in this moment of unexplained laughter than I have been in a while. I take a moment and open them and see the tears streaming down her face as she tries breathing normally but still keeps laughing. I could tell in that moment we both were feeling the same way.

Then I realized that I could see her because of a flickering fireball from a few feet off.

I turned my head and locked eyes with Duncan who was staring me down. His face was blank but his eyes looked more purple than they had when I saw him last. I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry. I felt like I had just been caught doing something I shouldn't have.

But what on earth could that thing have been?