As time is set bato motion again, Emily grasps her desk, taking a few shaky breaths to calm down. Though the pressure of the mage’s presence, and the vice-like grip of his spells, vanished as she reset time, the fear still coils around Emily’s heart.

  Her distress is washed away as Herber bursts in, alive again. His voice calms her, although she ’t shake the memories of his violehs and she winces as she remembers the look of distrust on his face when he saw what she is capable of. Emily quickly forces those thoughts away, reminding herself they never really happened, as she sends Herber away again, he wiser to her mental anguish.

  “I ’t fight,” Emily mutters, standing up and opening a drawer on her workbench.

  She pulls out a small brown pouch. Peeking inside, she sees seven glistening blue mana crystals, the two remaining cracked crystals long lost to her experimentation.

  “But maybe I hide.”

  She walks to her room, grabs a small knife from her bedside table, and slips out through the window unnoticed.

  I have twenty-five miill Diego arrives. They seem to be ing straight to our house every time, but why? Did they pinpoint the location of my awakening the moment it happened or are they sensing my mana and ing to us because of that. If it’s the tter, maybe I throw them off the st with these.

  Emily clutches the pouana crystals as she runs down the side street beside the shop. She crosses a few streets, slowing down when she es to the more poputed oo try not to draw attention to herself.

  First, let’s try spreading them over as wide an area as possible.

  A few minutes away from home, tucked in a dark alley between two shops, she pulls out a single crystal and brings her knife up to it. Holding the gem away from her body just in case, she repeatedly stabs it lightly, rotating it until her kches a focal point, instantly spreading a small web of cracks.

  The moment the cracks appear, Emily throws the crystal at the floor behind her and runs on, moving away as a sizzling explosion goes off, searing the cobbled street. She ges her dire and tirying not to leave an obvious pattern with her home at the tre as she weaves through the winding city streets, setting off several more explosions while ign the ed pedestrians that iigate the loud noises.

  After emptying the pouch, Emily returns home to check the results of her magical smokes. She slips ba through her window and waits in her room with bated breath for the dreaded sound of the front doorbell. Unfortunately, a few mier, she hears it.

  Making her way to the kit, she opens the door to the shop front and looks in, seeing the expected mages standing before Herber. They’re questioning him in the same manner as usual, seemingly oblivious to Emily’s attempts to distract them.

  Damn, that did nothing.

  She quietly clicks her tongue as she activates The Clock.

  ***

  This time, after leaving her house with the pouch of crystals, Emily sticks close to home, hoping a denser set of mana signals might mask the location of the inal surge. She moves between the buildings on their street, setting off a crystal in every alley she oher side of their home until she runs out. Theurns home and waits in her room once more, her foot impatiently tapping the floor as she waits for Diego to arrive.

  Emily isn’t surprised when she hears the familiar chime of the door once again, already suspeg her pn won’t work, but she is shocked when she looks into the shop front and sees Diego’s state. He’s standing before Herber with a look e set on his face, spitting out words filled with vitriol while his hands move in a precise blur of motion.

  Without hesitation, Emily activates The Clock again, turning back time just as Deigo pauses his movements and a shard of rock erupts from the floor at an aabbing a fused Herber through the chest.

  ***

  Distras with the crystals don’t work. They must either be trag me, or have already pinpointed my awakening.

  Emily sighs as the fluttering papers around her settle and Herber bursts into the room. She reassures and sends him away again, once again taking the pouagic crystals from her workbend following him out of the room.

  “Hopefully it’s me,” she mutters as she enters her room, shutting the door behind herself and heading straight for the window.

  She slips out and immediately sprints away, heading deeper into the city to hide amongst the residents. She checks the time periodically, ting down until the mages are set to arrive at her home, and stops the moment the clock strikes 8:15.

  They should be there by now.

  Emily ducks into a side alley, passing a few urs attentively watg a nearby food stall for an opportunity to strike, ales down in the shadows to wait. She watches the time tick by, only rising after twenty minutes have passed.

  “That should be long enough,” she mutters, standing up and making her way bae.

  The return journey feels like it takes twice as long as the escape, her heart hammering in her chest as she gets closer, a small hope bubbling in her chest that hiding has worked. However, as she steps into sight of Herber’s shop, her heart drops.

  The doors to every home and shop within a five building radius, including Herber’s, are standing wide open, and Emily immediately notices the familiar st of blood hanging in the air. She moves forward, her footsteps slow and heavy, and gnces into the closest home. She sees a familiar couple lying in pools of their own blood, the wife clutg her young son’s corpse desperately even ih.

  Emily activates The Clock again, already knowing the state of her own family.

  I ’t hide.

  ***

  Emily offers to the shopfront again and watches Herber leave before taking the crystals from her workbence more.

  “I guess I have to try bargaining,” she mutters as she pockets the poud leaves her room with just the baton strapped to her belt.

  Arriving at the shopfront, Emily closes the door behind her and makes her way behind the ter, dropping the pou it and clutg The Clo one hand. She sits down oool and taps her foot impatiently while watg the door.

  This is a terrible idea. There is a high ce they’ll kill me for stealing from them, but maybe I offer myself as a servant or something to get them to let Dad and Anna off if they don’t.

  Steeling herself with grim determination, Emily maintains a calm front as the door opens.

  “Hello, sirs. Are you looking for these mana crystals?” she asks while opening the top of the pouough to let the mages see in.

  “Yes, we are. How do you know what these are?” Diego questions suspiciously, gring down at Emily, while Carlos collects the pouch from the ter.

  “Ah,” Emily squeaks as she realises she said too much, “I – I didn’t at first, I took them from the scrap heap in a lump of metal thinking they were pretty stohen after studying them for a while, I mao draw power from them and realised they were magic.”

  “How does she know about magic? She’s a oner?” Miguel questions sceptically.

  “Miguel, shut up and check her for mana!” Diego’s eyes glisten with greed as he listens to Emily speak.

  Emily gulps and tightens her grip on The Clock as Miguel walks towards her.

  Damn it! I may o go bad try again – perhaps open my mouth less ime. At least they seem more curious than stabby right now.

  Just as Miguel closes in on Emily, the door opens and Herber looks in with a fusion that slowly shifts to horror and fear as he processes what he sees.

  “Carlos, we don’t need him, deal with it!”

  Emily panics as she hears Diego giving a familiar and to Carlos.

  Really? Even if I give them what they want, they still want to kill Dad?

  “What are you doing?! I gave you your crystals back. It was me who took them. He has nothing to do with this!”

  Diego looks at her with s and sneers.

  “You’re his daughter are you not? The father should pay for the crimes of the child!”

  Miguel roughly grabs Emily’s wrist as she tries to step forward, and tells her:

  “There’s no point iing. Your old man’s already done for, but you may be allowed to live if you prove valuable to the family.”

  “I’m-“ Emily starts to say something, but chokes on her own words, unsure if she bear to see Herber’s rea to them.

  Her hesitation costs her. She watches Herber attempt to fight back, pung towards Carlos, who smoothly sidesteps his fist and jams a dagger between Herber’s ribs. He steps bad wrenches his bde free as Herber coughs up blood and staggers. Carlos gives one final flourish, delivering a quick stab to the dying man’s throat and apathetically watg him drop to the ground, clutg the gushing wounds.

  Seeing her father die in front of her again, tears well up in Emily’s eyes as a familiar feeling of hopelessness overwhelms her. She’s shocked from her torment when she feels an unpleasant invasive mana trying to enter her body through her grasped wrist.

  “Urgh, what is that?”

  “Please don’t resist the s. It will only make this more painful!”

  Emily decides to allow the mana in when Miguel calls it a s, but she tenses her finger over The Clock’s rewind button just in case. The fn mana washes through Emily’s magic els feeling like a cold snake creeping its way under her skin.

  When the maurns to Miguel’s hand, he gasps and quickly turns to Diego.

  “She’s a first circle mage!”

  A wide grin spreads across Diego’s face as he asks Emily:

  “Good! How old are you?”

  She gres at him without speaking.

  “If you don’t answer I’ll have Carlos go find your sister and ask her,” Diego calmly tiaking a pointed gowards Herber’s corpse.

  Emily grits her teeth and tightens her grip on The Clock before pausing and trying to hold back her anger so she gather more information before resetting.

  “Fifteen.”

  “Perfect! Has anyone ever taught you magid how did you awaken?”

  “No one has ever taught me magic. I found those crystals in the wreckage of the Hollow Warden like I said. Then I experimented with them ahe mana they gave off. From there it was easy to work out how to breathe it in to form a magic circle,” Emily expins while watg Diego for aion to her words.

  He narrowed his eyes when I said mana.

  “How did you know these were called mana crystals?”

  Emily clicks her tongue, realising her mistake.

  I guess other people don’t get a system to give them information whehey awaken. I shouldn’t use any magical terms in front of them until they use them.

  “I just did. When I created my circle, I could tell what mana was instantly.” She tries pying io diffuse his suspi, but it proves iive.

  “Hmm,” Diego squints at her trying to read her expression for any signs of deceit. “I find you highly suspicious. But… if you truly are a fifteen-year-old self-awakened, with a strong enough e with mana to have an instinctual uanding of it… you’re far too valuable to leave here.”

  Emily shivers as a chill runs down her spi the glint of greed shining in Diego’s eyes.

  “e with us and bee a vassal of the Mandrago family!” he ands.

  “What?! No way! You killed my father!” Emily spits ba anger.

  “And I still kill your sister!”

  Emily goes silent and siders her choices.

  They don’t seem pletely dead set on killing my family, so that may work...

  With a bitter sigh, Emily activates The Clock again.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  ***

  After reassuring Herber that the thunder wasn’t her once again, Emily begins a new lie.

  “You were ing the shopfront, right?” she asks.

  “Yeah, why?” Herber responds.

  “ you go start on dinner while I finish then? Please?”

  Herber blinks in surprise, but nods his head without resistance.

  “Sure, you getting hungry?”

  “Yep. Oh, and if you hear people ing in, please leave me to deal with them.”

  Herber’s expression falls, a tired sigh slipping from his lips.

  “What have you done now?”

  The words stab at Emily’s heart, ‘What have you done?’ eg another se, a se when those words didn’t indicate resigned indulgence, a se when he asked the same question in horror and fusion as she stood above the dead bodies of her foes.

  “Nothing,” she says without missing a beat, trying not to let him notice the tightening of her jaw. “It’s just Todd and Howard ing to talk to me about a kid that tried to jump me yesterday, nothing to worry about.”

  “That’s odd, they normally just ignore yhting. Is it a city kid?”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry, he’s just a little roughed up.”

  “It’s fine, Emi,” Herber says, ruffling her hair before turning to leave. “Just e grab me if you need help. Oh, and the broom’s behind the ter. All the dusting’s do’s just the floors left.”

  He vanishes into the hallway, and Emily lets out a small sigh of relief befrabbing the crystals and following him. She walks into the shopfront agailing down behind the ter and waiting for the Mandrago mages to arrive.

  After a few mihe door swings open and they step in, their focus immediately falling on Emily and the pouch of crystals before her.

  “Hello, sirs. Are you here to collect these crystals?” she asks with a rexed fa?ade, watg for any small reas to her words.

  “Yes, we are,” Diego responds, gesturing for Carlos to grab the bag. “How did you know?”

  “I assumed someone would be ing after the otion I caused.”

  Emily notices a flicker of intrigue on Diego’s face as she admits to causing the thundercp.

  “That was you? What did you do?” he asks befng down at the pouch Carlos passes to him.

  “I don’t know,” Emily lies. “I mao draw out the energy in those crystals and worked out how to form a densed circle of it around my heart. The moment I fihat thunder happened.”

  Diego’s eyes light up with greed, and he quickly opens the pouch to look inside, pulling out one of the gems and iing it.

  “Did you cut these yourself? They’re incredibly well done. Where are the rest? There should be eleven.”

  “They were destroyed while I was experimenting with them.”

  “I see. Miguel, check her for mana. Carlos, deal with the other two.”

  Emily fli the ge of his and, now targeting Anna as well from the get-go, but she takes a deep breath and opens her mouth tue.

  “Wait, they have nothing to do with this.”

  “Of course they do. They’re your family are they not?” Diego questions her as Miguel grips her wrist and starts his s.

  “No, they’re not,” Emily says, schooling her expression and maintaining a mask of rality and apathy as her own words carve away at her heart. “I’m not actually reted to them. Herber took me in off the streets. I just work for him.”

  Diego raises a brow, unsurprised but seemingly amused. Carlos pauses, turning away from the door into the kit to look at Diego for his orders. Diego makes eye tact with him, and a creepy smile forms on his face, sending a shiver down Emily’s spine.

  “She’s a first circle mage!” Miguel calls, only making Diego’s smile grow, greed dripping from his lips.

  “How old are you?” he asks her, still not giving a verdi her family’s lives.

  “Fifteen.”

  “Has anyone ever taught you magic?”

  “No.”

  “Fine. I won’t touch the others in the house then,” he says, but the creepy smile on his faly makes Emily’s instincts scream foul py. “e with us and bee a vassal of the Mandrago family.”

  Something’s wrong here. He doesn’t seem like he’s actually dropped it.

  “What do you mean bee a vassal? I don’t think you need a personal aker, and I’m fortable here,” Emily deflects, watg Diego closely.

  His smile falters for a moment, and his brow twitches, but he quickly attempts to cover it and tinue.

  “If you bee a vassal of our family, you wouldn’t o remain a simple aker. You have talent as a mage that will be useful to our family. We’ll teach you how to use that talent properly: how to cast magic,” he says holding out his hand, a light brown mist of mana flowing from his skin. “Also, you stole from us. Aroyed some of our property. It’s only right that you pay if off by w for us. Those crystals are worth more than you could possibly pay for w in a pce like this.”

  Emily’s jaw tightens at his disregard of Herber’s shop. However, the idea of magical educatiorike a chord, sending a jolt of anticipation down her spine.

  I ress to kill them. And I o gain magical knowledge tress. Why not bend the knee now to cut off their heads ter?

  A sinking feeling in her gut holds back the buildiement as she stares at Diego’s off-putting grin.

  I don’t trust him. There’s definitely a catch he’s not mentioning.

  Not letting her apprehension show, Emily nods her head.

  “Okay, I’ll join you.”

  “Perfect!” Diego beams, turning on his heel auring for Emily to follow.

  They all file out of the shop, the es falling in lihout needing a and as Diego leads them through the city: Miguel and Jose oher side of Emily, and Carlos trailing them.

  Looks like they don’t trust me even after threatenih my family’s lives.

  She grits her teeth as she stares at Diego’s back, the temptation to slit his throat for the things he’s doo Herber in frozen time still strong. Emily takes a deep breath quietly before looking around to distract herself, watg as the tightly clustered buildings and cobbled streets slowly turn to smooth paving and expensive-looking mansions. Despite herself, she is impressed by the grandeur, never having been allowed this deep into the city before.

  The guards that have kept her out bee increasingly apparent, patrolling the streets, carefully watg their group and bowing their heads when they see the Mandrago crest.

  After twenty minutes of walking, the group es across a rge hedge b an expaate which is discertingly green, given its desert location. Diego guides them towards the rge ores, fshing his crest towards the robed guards standing on duty.

  The guards opee without a word and Emily follows Diego in, admiring its plicated form of iwinial roots, with the Mandrago family crest proudly embzoned in the tre. Stepping into the grounds, Emily pauses and feels a familiar pressure around her.

  Is this mana? They either built this estate on a mana vein or are burning through mana crystals to maintain this density. I wonder if that’s why there are so many pnts here.

  “Keep moving!” Carles her forward with a cold tone.

  She steps forward as she notices Carlos quietly talking to one of the guards behind her, but she ’t quite catch their words. The guard’s gaze shifts to her, so she looks fain and moves her hand, cheg for The Clo her pocket to calm her nerves.

  They quickly move through the grounds and e across an imposing mansion with two expansive wings fnking the main building. Emily sees tless servants and guards roaming about the premises, with a few robed people moving around with purpose, being given a wide berth wherever they go.

  Diego leads them up to the main building’s entrance, which already stands open. Fuards wearing eborately engraved armour move forward to stop them.

  “Halt! State your business entering the main residehe guard in the lead ands Diego.

  “I bring a new oalent for indu,” Diego answers smugly.

  The guard froresses Diego.

  “Normal indu be done in the branch wing. Why bring her here?”

  “She’s a fifteen-year-old self-awakened. I thought the Patriarch would want to see her after indu.”

  The guard is visibly shocked at the response, and quickly gowards Emily. However, the mention of a patriarch sends a shiver down her spine as her mind immediately associates the powerful floating mage with the title.

  It’s got to be him.

  “I see. Take her to the sed reception room and deal with her indu. We will inform the Patriard you shall be summoned when necessary.”

  One of the guards runs into the building, and the others move to the side, allowing them to pass.

  Emily shifts unfortably as the gazes of the guards all follow her as she is led into the building. They enter a rge room with dozens of hallways and doors splitting off, and aravaga of stairs, covered with a deep green carpet, dividing the room through the tre. Their small group quickly passes the stairs and moves through one of the unremarkable doors tucked into the back of the room.

  The room they enter is rge and pinly furnished, with several sofas and a few paintings depig stern-looking men in robes gl out at the room’s inhabitants.

  Emily feels her skin crawl as the eyes of the paintings seem to follow her.

  “Sit down and wait,” Diego ands while taking a seat on one of the sofas himself.

  Emily picks a seat slightly separated from him and studies the room, avoiding looking too closely at the paintings.

  Weird, I feel like I’m being watched right now, and I don’t think it’s just these paintings.

  She closes her eyes and begins to meditate, feeling for the flow of mana around her. As she enters a trance, instead of direg her focus within herself like she did the st time she meditated, Emily tries expanding her senses.

  Her perception slowly spreads, seeing the weaving flow of mana calmly enveloping everything around her, until she reaches a radius of four and a half metres.

  She watches the mana around her, mesmerised by the natural flow, until she notices a strange break in the current. Fog on the disturbance, Emily sees a plicated runic symbol carved, with mana, into the painting on the wall behihe symbol resembles a rge eye: the iris is posed of dozens of runes intricately woven together binding the pupil in the tre, which seems to draw mana in like an endless abyss.

  Emily tries to focus on the tre of the pupil, but her perception is forced out. She opens her eyes, wing as she feels a sharp pain in her head, apanied by a warm trickle of blood from her nose.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  User has taken damage from intense mental strain.

  -20 hp

  _____

  Emily quickly wipes the blood onto her sleeve and checks her status.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  [Health:] 95/115

  _____

  Ouch, why did that hurt me? Is it from looking at all those runes or just the mana vortex? That eye must be a surveilnce spell of some kind, I wonder if the vortex is because it’s sending the mana to a receiver somewhere.

  Emily’s iigations are cut short when the door to the room opens and an old man with long grey hair hobbles in. The man has the same robes as Diego and his men, his crest bearing silver roots, and he leans on an uling ivory e. The smooth white body of the e twists at jaunty angles, with several bck ruretg their towards the cw-like handle, grasped around an opaque milky white gem.

  The old man fixes Emily with an intense gre the moment he walks in, sending a shiver down her spine. He emanates an aura of death and decay that’s faintly disible to Emily’s magical senses.

  “Stand up!” Diego ands her while moving over to try ahe old man.

  “Geh, off with ya brat! I ain’t too old ta walk yet.” The man rasps with irritation, waving his free hand at Diego to shoo him away.

  Emily reaches for her breast pocket nervously, but Carlos notices her movement and quickly steps in front of her and grabs her wrist, interrupting the old man’s approach.

  “What are you reag for?” He asks in a threatening tone.

  Damn it, they never noticed me reag for it before. This old man must be important if they are this on edge.

  “My pocket watch, it helps to calm my nerves.” She nervously responds.

  Carlos lets go of her aures for her to tinue while cautiously watg her pocket. He rexes his guard the moment she fshes him The Clod takes a step aside to allow the old man closer.

  “Kneel child, t’all be over soon.” He fshes her an off-putting grin.

  What the hell are they trying to do? That staff gives me the creeps.

  Emily unfortably lowers herself down to her knees and looks up at the old man.

  “Don’t move or I’ll turn yer brain ta mush!”

  My brain? Shit. Will resetting save any damage doo my mind? My magietwave me extra mental resistance. I’ll have to hope that’s enough to protect me.

  Emily grits her teeth, unwilling to give up on the hopeful attempt yet as her grip tightens on The Clock, preparing to activate it at a moment’s notice. The old man grasps the body of his e with two hands and holds it out before him. He shuts his eyes, and his face rexes as he focuses. A smooth t leaves his lips, surprising Emily at his sudden shift in speech patterns.

  “With gnarled mind and twisted flesh…”

  The engravings lining the e light up with ahereal glow.

  “…beo our whims and her will suppress…”

  Dozens of pitch-bd milky-white runes form a swirling maelstrom of mana around Emily.

  “…Broken and bound to our family tree…”

  An uling red mana flows out of the man’s body, coalesg into a single bloody rune and floating to sit at the eye of the storm above her.

  “…trol her as and her faith guarantee…”

  A dense pressure settles on her shoulders, crushing her spine and willio submit.

  “…An oath fed with nth to resist…”

  The gem at the end of the e lights up, flooding Emily’s eyes with a viscous white mana.

  “…till the end of her life, it shall alersist!”

  He taps the e against her forehead, and all the runes gathered in the air rush down, b Emily’s mind and attempting to brand her with their cursed tract.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  Mental attack spell detected!

  Resisting…

  _____

  Emily doubles over in pain and clutches her head. Her circle rotates quickly, and her magietwoes into overdrive to reinforce her cortex. Her grip squeezes The Clock, but she doesn’t activate it as she feels herself winning the battle. Every ruhat attempts to enter her cortex is struck apart by a fierce tendril of maa, then dispersed throughout her body by her mana flow.

  After ten seds of writhing in pain, the final red rune breaks against her defences, freeing Emily from the onsught of mana.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  Mental attack successfully resisted!

  Skill created: Mental Fortitude (passive)

  _____