My head was swirling in a nauseating haze as memories flashed and time-lapsed. I felt as if my soul was being pulled out from my body and I was being suspended into an unknown space to debilitate.   The sun had just set and the night was nowhere near calm, it was ghastly—as if the heavens had freed the ferocious wrath it has been keeping to bestow the place with fury.    Pitch-black.    The sky was almost pitch-black if it were not for the startling flashes and instantaneous streaks from the bolts of lightning that crack the eerie dark. Flickers of light revealed the foggy visibility brought by the heavy downpour of rain which seemed to know no respite. Drops of rain were like pellets showering the roof with percussion. The night was conquered with unrest as the howling wind cut through the towering trees in gusts, and with its rush, the thunder roared in resonance.    V

"Just a little more power, you can do it, Esmeray," I told myself.      I concentrated my strength on my right palm, trying to gather the energy they call mystic into a clump of an orb. A shade of gray streaks is appearing from my widely open palm, albeit my hand is stiff, the black shadows start to look like a deformed ball the size of a ping pong. My chest is tight and my teeth are clenched under my tightly pursed lips as I try to control the shadows that defy the laws of physics. The clump of the ball the size of a ping pong increased in diameter uncontrollably that I had to release my mystic to dissolve the dark orb.    "Ugh, this is just so hard," I let out a heavy sigh and let myself lie on the grass.    I am in an open space, trying to know the extremes and limits of my ability. I feel drained whenever I try to use my mystic. It has been a month since I arrived here in Mysticuria and since I kn

Tori took the room beside Josephine's and I took the first one on the left. I quickly cleaned myself and had a change of clothes. I don't know what is ahead of us and I need to protect Dame amidst the threat that was put on me. During the journey, I witnessed it all, everyone seemed to be talking about the awakening of Nyx and what shocked me is that they have strong hostility against the wielder even though they have no idea who it was... or should I say, who I am. It frightened me, I could not deny their desire for my death, hell, I just came into this magical nation, homeless and jobless, and then boom! I am already a wanted person! It was a sudden turn of my world, I had to deal with magic powers and primitive people and folktales. I don't even know whom I should trust, that is why I feel scared... so scared that I felt desperate enough to be tempted to use my ability.   I felt something

  "Hey Esmeray, do you know why you came here?" asked Josephine as she fixed her eyeglasses.    "To escape from the guardians."   "Are you just going to escape forever? Run away when they caught up? Do you think you'll last here in Mysticuria like that?" She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. She looked a little different because of her outfit. She was wearing neither a lab coat nor baggy clothes. She was equipped with boots, shorts and a top with leather material, a pocket full of kunai tight on her thigh, a bow on her hand, and a set of arrows strapped on her back.   "No, that's why I am collecting information about this nation. Anyway, what's with the get-up, Josie?" I commented. Josephine had a bitchy and snobbish attitude but we got along since sh

Josephine pulled the carpet covering a part of the floor and a glowing circle was revealed. "It's time to go." "Woah," I gasped. What looked like a magic circle emitted pale yellow lights and the word 'teleport' immediately popped inside my mind the moment I had my view of the patterns on the floor. I should not be surprised by something like that anymore but I could not help being amazed by the peculiarity of this world. I never thought I would live in a fantasy setting which I would just normally see in movies. "It's a teleportation mystical circle. Step inside. Traveling through teleportation circles like this makes everything faster such that a day's worth of travel could be reduced to minutes to a few hours — and the greatest advantage is that we would not need to spend energy by walking! Now, hop in. Don't worry about your limbs, they will come back to normal after being chopped tempora—" Gasp. "Rawr!" "Uwaahhhh!" "It's obviously a