[Sorta long chap for New year's day>> hope y'all enjoy it and so sorry for disappearing like that, I had events to attend to irl but sorry ;(( ]

The Same Day - Sunday 12:37 PM , Third Person Pov

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It was afternoon now, as all of the teens in Aunt Ellen's house (during Aunt Ellen's absence, of course) ran around screaming in panic as to where Sciara – one of the only two somewhat responsible and same older teens – had suddenly vanished to.

"Goodness! Watch your step!"

"Auriana stop running! You too, Iris!"

"Where is that one– the green one- yes! Wait no, this isn't the one–"

"But could the waiters–no. They weren't skeptical at all. But maybe I'm wrong? Agh, stop overeacting –..."

"Everybody, let's just stay calm- no. Forget what I said. PANIC. CHAOS–"

Lyna jumped from her trance of confusion, being bewildered by a sudden large thud beside her. Carissa had bashed her clubs onto Mephisto's back in attempt of resolving his overwhelmedness from the present chaos inside the house. Auriana and Iris was panicking around the house, gushing maps, Ephidian weapons and spell books and other what not onto the dining table in the living room. Everything was a mess. They couldn't figure out where Sciara could've gone, or if anything worse had happened already.

"Do could– we coul– uh, uhm– maybe one of your spells?– you're princesses! You should know spells!– maybe a locator spell–"

"Locatum! Yes! Mephisto you're a genius!" Iris jumped, and shook him in newfound joy.

"Locatum won't work, Iris! We need something of Sciara's possession– that we don't have." Talia intervened "–and stop. Both of you. Auriana! Stop rushing around the house! This isn't going to help. If we want to use Locatum, we need to find something belonging to Sciara."

"But Sciara doesn't keep anything of much value to her– not that I, or any of us, would know of. Come to think of it, she's alot more secluded on the topic." Lyna said in turn and continued, "She doesn't even share anything from her life, not even how her days are spent here, on Earth!" Lyna thought aloud in frustration and banged her first in the table.

The chaos of voice drained out when she made her point. Everyone knew that what she had said was true. Sciara almost never talks about herself, only with the exceptions of making jokes off of herself for a laugh once in a while.

"It's probably a sensitive topic for her. Not everyone is so open about their past, you know." Mephisto shook his head out of the thought. She'd never lie or anything. Well, not to him, atleast. They've been close since everything began, and the same goes for Carissa. If she had anything to say, they'd be her first choice. She's just not ready yet.

"–okay, but then what're we supposed to d– wait! I remember now– thephone, igavehermuststillbeinher gasp roomifshevaluesit, thenwemightbeabletouse–squeal Locatum,on–it!" Auriana yelled at the top of her lungs, sprinting into the hallway and ascending up the stairs in a matter of seconds.

"What?!– What did she say?!–what did– Where's she going–?!"

Before anyone could process wherever Ariana 'volted' off to, she was back. With a phone in hand. "This–huff!" She handed it to Iris while Iris just stared at her in bewilderment. "–heave, heavy breaths – is Sciara's phone. The one I suggested to give her! Heave –I..– Hey, are you guys okay–"

"NO WE'RE NOT!!! DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!–"

"I WAS TRYING TO HELP–"

"Girls! This is not the time or place to argue!"

"Talia, I think they need– I don't know– REASSURANCE?!"

"SHUT UP MEPHISTO, YOU'RE NOT A PART OF THIS!!"

Everyone was screaming at eachother. Well, almost everyone, save Iris who stood staring at the phone in her hand. It had a small yellow butterfly sticker on the back.

She gripped the phone tightly and shook her head. Placing the phone on the ground, she looked back at the group of  teens yelling behind her. Where was Aunt Ellen when you really needed her lessons on leadership? She sighed.

"Crystal Locatum" her arms spread out in a V shape around the item, casting the locator spell.

The others turned their heads at the bright light beaming out of the levitating orb. The rings around it which seemed to rotate before vaporizing into the air, leaving only the bright floating sphere.

"This'll get us to her in no ti–" Iris began to say in a light of hope, before the orb spontaneously burst and vapourised into crystal sparkles, taking everyone by surprise.

"What was that?!" Lyna panicked, shielding herself from the sudden explosion.

"It burst. But that's never happened before." Talia remarked, in a tone of suspicion. "– this is extremely unusual. Whatever is going on, it's not good. If we can't track Sciara–"

"–we won't find her." Mephisto finished Talia's sentence. He gazed down at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed.

The room was silent in heavy frustration.

"What now?– I mean, what if she's going through something right now? And we're just sitting here like ducks?!–"

In a fury of a moment, Mephisto lifted his head up as if he'd had a light bulb idea. "–you dont think there's a limitation to that spell, do you?" He asked to no one in specific.

"What do you mean 'limitation'?" Iris asked, her brows creasing at his words. They hadn't thought of limitations in spells, it was a whole new perspective he'd put up.

"I mean, as in the spell may be limited to – restricted to a certain radius." Mephisto explained simply.

"That could explain it, yes." Talia's hand moved to her chin in acknowledgement before she looked up at the boy in green. "You could be onto something there – considering I hadn't actually thought of that possibility. That's good work, Mephisto."

Mephisto's eyes lit up. He has just earned a compliment from Talia. The Talia. He grinned and added, "Yes! But since you've probably used it at times before, it wouldn't make sense for it to be restricted to a distance shorter than that of Sunnybae's area. That would only mean–"

"–That Sciara isn't in Sunnybae." Carissa finished for him. Her hands ran over her face while she slumped onto a chair at the kitchen table and continued in a tone of hopelessness, "–And we don't even know how she got all the way to..wherever she is!..."

Mephisto sat down on a seat beside her. "Hey– cheer up. We atleast know that much.. and–.." His voice died out into the background when the girls started their own worrying discussion.

"If she's not in Sunnybae, where is she? Kade wouldn't know of any other place on earth, literally, to take her, would he?" Iris panicked slightly. She'd never felt this lost in her life.

I mean, yes, she's Iris, the princess of Ephidia and the daughter to the king and queen, but she's also only just a fresh out of middle school, fifteen–no, sixteen year old teenager who didn't even know of her powers until last year. She wasn't ready for something like this yet. She wasn't ready, and she knew that.

But she's never this helpless–..hopeless, in her life.

Not after whatever happened with Brenda. Never. The images of her friends forever encased in dark crystal. Talia. Auriana... Nathaniel. Everything flooded back to her. She'd thought she'd forgotten about that incident. About Nathaniel. That raining day. Izira's medalion. She'd hoped to have buried all of it deep enough to forget. But it was all coming back now. The feeling of losing someone close to her and her not being able to do anything about it. Her leadership, failing. It was all so suffocating–

"Earth to Iris!" Auriana shook Iris frantically. "–Are you okay?! You went blank!"

No. She wasn't going to let it happen again. Not ever. She's older now, and she's experienced. Her being ready was determined by the circumstances, not her choice, and she has to be ready for this.

"AH– yes! Sorry, stop shaking me!– I'm fine. I just got.. carried away." She cleared her throat, "We need to work on a plan. Who knows what could've happened to Sciara by now.." she said, running a hand over face.

Spontaneously, a realization–no, a wave of dreadful reality hit her. Her eyes widened before turning to Talia and muttering as if seen horror, "Sciara is in Ephidia."

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My senses came flooding back when I felt the cold solid ground beneath me. A pain shot up my back when I tried to move, making me wince. Somehow, in a very unmerciful way unbeknownst to cladsnick himself, I'd crashed into the ground (or dropped) of what seemed to be a dungeon. Or more of a tiny cellar with somewhat of a window light source on the upper wall. A dark wooden door with a small trapdoor to view the 'prisoners' was cramped into the corner of the wall and may or may not have been centuries old by the looks of it.

I sat up against the wall sluggishly, still shaking off the pain and nauseous feeling I'd felt when I was sucked into the portal.

After what felt like hours of nausea and pain and races of  thoughts juggling between why I was here and how stupid and helpless of a situation this was, footsteps could be heard echoing down seemingly endless halls that I had no visual perception of.

The trapdoor of the door swung upwards and a red eye behind a black veil, revealing itself through the reflection of the light from the window, darted around the interior of the cellar before landing on me. "Oh you're awake."

I gave the obvious man a glare and demanded, "Where am I?" 

"Andddd straight to the point. Just like always–" He laughed. His eyes went dark and I could just imagine a menacing grin form on that mysterious face. "Welcome to Ephidia, dama malvada."

Ephidia. Of course. Where else would that portal take me? I'm so stupid for not realising this sooner. "So you've taken to kidnapping now? Pretty low, dont'cha think?" I jeered at him,for the sake of trying to get something out of his threatening figure. Kade's own personality shifts so frequently, no one would be able to tell that this self-absorbed 'fashionista' has a side of menace and intimidation to him. He's on Praxina's side, afterall, so I shouldn't be so judgemental if I want to get on her good side.

"Hmm, no." He replied nonchalantly, seeming to have been distracted by something I couldn't see. He knew I had a power advantage, which I (mind you) worked strenuously with Izira's own guidance for over the last decade of years with the Resistance, so of course his dark magic couldn't scratch the surface. But, book smart isn't always the best to handle every situation. So here I am, slumped against a cold hard cellar wall with a pounding pain in my spine, glaring at my kidnapper.

"Anyways, you'll have to come with me. To meet the boss–" He smiled again, but more to mock my pained position, and continued, "–who you may very well know as Praxina. Chop chop, on your feet now." He clapped his hands hurriedly and opened the door with a cluster of keys in his hand.

I rolled my eyes at his hastiness before getting up on my feet, barely, with the pain once again shooting up my back like a bolt. I walked somewhat crookedly to the door and gave a side glare to the taller man which he received in amusement. "Could've atleast kept my spine intact.."

"I don't know.. in my so humble view, I find it quite amusing that such a powerful young nuisance can barely stand on her feet~" He mocked and walked infront of me. The urge to just lunge at him and shatter his bones was starting to make my hands twitch.

"Oh and here–" He threw a cane at my face as I fumbled to catch it, "–you'll have to look presentable for her.. more or less." He shrugged, eyeing my crooked form before turning his back to me once again.

The came was black with a metal handle. Well, atleast that's somewhat hospitality. I grabbed the cane and walked along with it. The pain in my back reminded me that my left leg was still somewhat fractured before ending up here, so whatever happened to me to have a shooting pain in my spine must also have impacted my leg. I sighed. I hadn't even realised my leg pain, being so distracted by the much more hurting spine.

Okay, for a summation, my previously fractured leg which was healing has been more damaged and now I also have back pain which is probably already black and bruised. I'll have to keep that in mind if I get into more action any time soon.

Silence filled the hall, accompanied by my our footsteps and the metal of my cane scraping against the cold stone floor. I was way too tired to think of escaping or even walking at this point. I felt like collapsing on the floor then and there. Ugh, what a mess.

I followed behind when he turned a corner and walked into a giant dome-like hall of dark hued stone walls, white accents with the light coming in from the tall narrow windows above. That's when I noticed it was moonlight. Disregarding all other factors of dark magic, my potentially impending death or torture, and any other malicious influences, this place was beautiful.

And yet again, I found myself alone at the center of this silent haven. The quiet was actually refreshing.. while it lasted.

Footsteps sounded before me and I met eyes with Praxina. But it was different from back at the Ephidian castle.. she was different. More powerful.. more menacing.

"Well–well–well.... If it isn't the mystery girl.." her footsteps echoed through the night air. "We've met, haven't we?" Her face revealed from the shadows and the moonlight highlighted her features – half of what wasn't under Gramorr's mask. Her hair framed her sharp face and her eyes fell in line with mine. The blue in her lidded eyes darkened threateningly. Her expression changed suddenly and, frowning, she scowled, "I'm sure you remember, after having ruined my plans time and time again."

She walked to my side and whispered in a low voice, "Hm.. now why don't you introduce yourself?~". Her laugh echoed through the air of the once silent hall.

I didn't reply, being more worried and afraid than debating my next move really. Was this really her plan all along? to use me and get to Iris? I can't really be so stupid as to not realize this sooner.. can I-

The sharp sting of a slap brought me back to the situation at hand. I was already weak enough to be using a metal cane to walk, let alone stand a slap straight to my face from Praxina. "-How arrogant can you be to simply ignore all I've said?!" She scoffed in disbelief. I could hear her cursing at me,  chuckling between breaths of offense to mock me and my 'defiant' behaviour. But I really couldn't care then because the pain of the slap didn't recede and I held my cheek in hurt. I yelped, touching the sore side. Ugh, everything was going how I didn't plan it.

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"There's the next one!" A voice shouted out. Mephisto's ears perked up and he ran to join the others.

"Hurry up already!" Carissa shouted back to Lyna and Auriana who'd been lagging behind on the trail.

"Hey, you okay?–" Mephisto caught up to Carissa who seemed to be fuming with rage. Her eyes were practically burning. "–we've got a lead, so we'll get her now, alright?" 

Carissa didn't meet Mephisto's gaze and kept on walking with a huff. Mephisto was about to retreat when she spoke up," I just– I don't want anything to happen to her. She helped me work through my feelings for Dana.. when I needed it, so I should be there for her too. I won't mess up." Her voice sounded determined, but it carried guilt. Guilt for not looking out for one of the only two people who saw her through the layers of her aggression. 

"It's not all on you. I should've been there too. But that doesn't mean you have eto feel bad. Sciara can protect herself, everyone knows that pretty well. Now, maybe look at it as returning a favour, only this time, it's a whole lot more serious!" Mephisto struck a pose, his eyes glittering at Carissa who looked at him with an unamused expression.

"You've gotta work on ya'r words, green twirp." She rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. Huh, maybe he does have some magical mood-brightening abilities.

"Well, I- uh.." He trailed off, stopping in his tracks, to find an answer. Carissa walked ahead leaving him behind but couldn't help snickering when he shouted, "–Hey! Did you just call me a twerp?!"

Auriana and Lyna were heaving breaths between gasps of exhaustion and mild irritation as they tried catching up to the others. Auriana's eyes perked up to the front of the group when someone announced that they made it. "–oh my Cladsnick.. I promise I won't ever think about cute boys ... even if they're really cute... Just– get me.. up there–deep exhale ..." She prayed struggling to keep up. Lyna just groaned in annoyance and continued alongwith her.

The group met at the cave where they had come back to Earth from Ephidia. To the portal. They'd followed Iris's crystals that she'd left behind as a trail to the now completely overgrown cave.

They all exchanged glances with eachother, Mephisto patting Carissa's shoulder encouragingly, Auriana still catching her breath, Talia and Iris nodding at eachother, and Lyna warming up by stretching her limbs.

"They may be expecting us, so be ready, everyone."

And they stepped through the portal.

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Deafening silence. The serenity was gone. It wasn't peaceful anymore. It was far from peaceful. Crystals could charge at him from any angle and the darkness consumed them all. A single light shone above me and I could feel their eyes on me. Watching me, my fear, my hesitation, the pain in my joints as I stood crookedly supporting on the cane.

"You want us to believe you're not special. Not– what do they say... Hiding something?.." A voice, most definitely Kade's, echoed maliciously and laughed in attempt of mockery. "–Just tell us who you are. Or... Should your friends get the bad end of the deal?"

A black circular crystal appeared in front of me. It showed a vision of the others entering through Izira's portal. They're in Ephidia.

"Oh and that Mephisto doll thing isn't going to work, woman, we'd be ashamed to fall for the same trick twice. Care to let your friends know, hm?"

I let out a breath I'd been holding. Thank Cladsnick they think he's a trick, or this situation could've been a whole lot worse. "I'll make sure." I scoffed at him.

The crystal screen disappeared leaving me once again with the creepy feeling of being watched.

"Now, would you like to comply or let your friends handle have a bad visit?"

"You wouldn't dare. You're outnumbered by them." I snarled at his persistence. "And for the record, I have nothing to hide."

He tried whispering something in my ear from behind, coming out of the shadows but I reflexively gripped the cane with my hands, and bashed across his face, "Yelp! – groan.... You-you witch! .. how dare you?! – gasp .. grunt–" Kade stumbled back, holding his face in his hands, his vermilion eyes narrowing at me through the gaps of his fingers between the crumpled veil.

I rested my bad leg on the cane again and stared at the hurting man. The pain in him kind of jabbed at my feelings, but it was what has to be done. I used the opportunity to escape from the limelighted spot and into the darkness. The rackety noises of the metal cane didn't help but take away from the secretive getaway.

"Yo–you! Come back here! Dama malvada! Arrgh!"

I was breathing heavily while raggedly hurrying down the halls of the palace, so it seems. Praxina was nowhere to be found and Kade was probably on my tail. I'd have to quick about the decisions I take, because the metallic clanking would only assist Kade in finding my location furthermore.

After a journey through the winding labyrinth of halls, I'd entered what looked to be a throne room. The room was once again familiarly dome-like with large tinted glass windows running down the curved walls. The throne stood on a higher pedestal upon a series of steps, accompanied by a slightly smaller but bejeweled throne stood off-centred to its left and two much smaller seats on each side. I painted a picture in my head, the conclusion arriving that this castle was that of a royal family of a time. But now it was reduced to that of an overgrown criminal hideout.

Searching for any other exit or place to hide, my gaze darted around the room. A swishing sound awakened curiosity and fear in me. It was the same as that of Mephisto's teleportation spell. Praxina.

"It's pathetic how you think you can escape. You should know, I have eyes all around." She sat atop the central throne, crossing her legs and sneered down at me.

Her broken mask glowed a noticeable dark red, presumably signifying immense power. The short hair flowing in the cold wind of the night. "Have you nothing to say about yourself?" She said, tilting her head, resting it on her hand.

Before I could snap back at her, we both heard footsteps running from where I had come in. Kade had finally caught up. "My liege! I–She escaped miraculously! It didn't go according–"

"To your plan? Ugh ..I can see that–now shut it, you imbecile. I have to take matters into my own hands, it seems, now that her friends have gone off our radar."

I worked up at her words. "–they managed to get away from the eyes you have everywhere?"

"I wouldn't get so confident now, it's only a matter of time before they leave Izira's resistance, and fall back in line–" She paused, her eyes narrowing at something behind me. I was going to turn around when a bright glowing orb spiralled around me and eventually dissipated. I gasped, realising what it was.

"I don't think you should keep waiting anymore." A voice echoed, Iris's, confident and sharp. "–Crystal Offencio!"

A pink crystal shard headed straight for Praxina but she just sat there on the throne. The crystal collies with a red dark crystal barrier and shattered into the air.

Praxina's sudden chuckles had always sent shivers down my spine, and I still cannot explain to what extent how terrifying that felt. "–Still as petty as ever, brat."

She teleported down in between me beside Kade and Iris on the other side. Her back was to us and I glanced at Kade who seemed to have been perplexed by Iris's arrival. 

"You're quick to judge!" Iris touched her necklace and grinned, "Iris, Princess of Ephidia!"

A blur of colour introduced Auriana and Talia, already transformed, charging together at Praxina with full force. 

"Crysta Differo!" Their hands glowed in their respective colours, merging together as they graced alongside each other against Praxina.

"Avafindere." Praxina's spell neutralized their spell effortlessly as they stood stuck in time against the force of her power alone, before being blasted off into the concrete wall behind Iris.

Iris watched with horror in her eyes and turned to Praxina. For a flicker of a moment, she looked at me and the light in her eyes returned as if in relief, before going back to a fight stance.

"psst!.. Sciara!"

I looked over my shoulder at the sound of my name and met with the familiar sets of green and blue eyes, Mephisto and Carissa hid under the fleet of stairs to the throne. The redhead, now transformed, ecstatically ran over and hugged me. She was trembling in my arms but the hug only added to my physical which she noticed because she pulled away instantaneously. "We're here to get you out. Don't worry."

Just then, a black crystal column spawned in between us and separated us before dissipating. A hand grabbed my free arm and held me back. "uh uh uh! Where do you think you princesses are taking our hostage?~"

Kade. Of course. Carissa was about to lunge at him but I gave her a restricting look. Gripping the cane with my other arm, I swung it in the air and aimed to strike it in between the curve of his neck but he caught it. "I'm not falling for that again, Malvada Dama." I could feel the smirk playing on his face behind that unrevealing veil.

Out of nowhere, he started glowing a mint green. "Crystal Levitus!"

"Ah! What is this?!" Kade yelped, his gripping loosening as he started levitating off the ground.

Lyna walked upto us, a hand on her hip. "Sidekick behaviour much?" She laughed and rolled her eyes.

Praxina was going up against the others when one of her spells blasted a hole in the ceiling. The cemented ground started shaking beneath our feet and cracks formed on the ceiling. Large boulders broke out of the concrete bindings and so did smaller stones. One such small stone propelled out of its socket from the pressure and shot through the air, knocking into the section under my eye. Losing my balance on the cane, I fell back and slipped, crashing into a wall, and, well...

Blacked out.

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The injured girl laid sleeping peacefully on her bed. Someone walked in, looked at her, and quietly opened the curtains, letting the fresh sunlight pour in.

The girl awoke, feeling the heat of the sun on her face and shielded it with her hand. "What–what happened?.." she murmured, rubbing her eyes me sitting up on her bed. She then saw who opened the curtains – Mephisto.

"It's a long story..–ending with us all getting out in one piece though!–" He said, rubbing the back of his neck before remembering something, "–oh, I came here to see if you were awake, and uh– how are you feeling?"

"Oh, okay, yeah–could be better honestly... There's a little pain like the remnant of a bad headache, y'know?–.. so anyways, Where's everyone else?"

"Oh right! You're awake so I should get the others here, they're worried sick." Mephisto gasped and ran out giving Sciara no chance to reply.

She looked down at herself, covered in her blanket. She hadn't changed yet and that was really bugging her, accounting to all the earlier events.

The chatter of her friends and especially Auriana caught her attention. She groaned, knowing what was going to happen next.

Auriana burst in and jumped up in the air, "Gasp Sciara! You're okay we all were so terribly–" but she stopped midair and crinkled her nose in confusion "–worried?.. hey–what?!"

Lyna walked in with the others following, raised an eyebrow at her and rolled her eyes, her hand raised with her green spell circle.

"Is your leg okay? You shouldn't have left it to heal on its own after the arena incident, or it wouldn't be so badly hurt right now." Talia crossed her arms at me and shook her head in dismissal. "But atleast you're doing better now."

"Right! And you won't believe what made us realise that you weren't even in Sunnybae in the first place!" Auriana giggled, still stuck mid-air.

"Sciara's phone?"

"Oh. I was gonna say Mephisto."

"Okay, can someone elaborate here?" Sciara broke the conversation, making a look of expectation.

Everyone came around Sciara's bed and explained the whole dilemma, asked about her health, and did other silly things like Auriana. Well, everyone except the boy in question who seemed to be very fidgety and nervous about something.

"Hey, mulberry boy!– you look quite out of place there. Have something to say?" Sciara asked in curiosity as Carissa sat on a chair beside her.

Mephisto flinched at his name, and shook his head, tearing away any train of thought he had. "I–... Yeah, actually, I do..."

Iris, Talia, Auriana, who'd been discussing on the battle that went down (with Auriana focusing on dramatic physical imitations of the fight), turned to Mephisto who stood beside the window with the light shining behind him. Lyna had just then placed cups filled with her special Borealis tea on a bed-tray for everyone.

Gathering everyone's attention, Mephisto continued in a rather disturbed or anxious voice, "So, it's just that– I just realised that.. the palace where Praxina was hiding out is– well, was –my.. no, our family's palace.."