Aria never felt the flames burn her alive.

  She didn’t even feel the heat.

  She slowly opened her eyes, and her jaw dropped. In front of her, with an arm outstretched and a shield of wind, was her mother.

  Anila Tufani looked back at her with eyes that were a vibrant, glowing green, “Aria, are you alright?”

  “Mom…” Aria choked out, before her eyes began to water anew, “you’re here? How…?”

  “I had a bad feeling, so I snuck away when I had the chance and made my way here,” Anila answered, “an Ether Beast. I was afraid of this… I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. If I had, the others could have survived…”

  “No…” Aria began to cry, “it’s my fault. I wasn’t strong enough…”

  “Shh,” her mother said gently as she knelt down and gave her a tight and comforting hug, “it’s alright. You did marvelously all things considering. Anyone else would have died in your shoes. Everything will be okay, now. Because I’m here.”

  Aria returned her mother’s embrace, only she saw that the Ether Beast had grown tired of the spectacle and had shot another ball of fire their way.

  “Mom!” Aria tried to warn.

  Only it was unnecessary, as Anila simply flicked her wrist. Another barrier of wind blocked the fireball and protected them from the erupting flames.

  Anila stood and turned to give the Ether Beast a death glare.

  The giant worm actually crawled back a bit, seemingly recognizing this elf was different than the rest. Aria’s mother began to slowly walk forward, her glare never leaving the creature. Her long blonde hair began to swirl around her.

  The worm actually began to tremble.

  Terrified, it shot out several fireballs from its mouth. Anila simply kept walking forward without fear or regard for the attacks. The flames impacted against an invisible wall, and the fire that exploded was snuffed out by the winds swirling around her.

  Aria’s jaw dropped. It didn’t seem like her mother was using an invocations to create the wind barrier Art she was using. That meant she was either using Mental Invocation or simply bypassing the need for one altogether.

  Mental Invocation alone was an incredibly advanced skill, and Invocation-less Arts were even rarer, but Aria had no doubt that her mother would possess both skills.

  Anila Tufani continued her march towards the beast, her killing intent clear and almost palpable. The Ether Beast tried one final attack, this time charging its Art.

  “Go ahead,” Aria heard her mother mutter, “try it.”

  The monster seemed happy to oblige, as it sent a torrent of white hot flames at the powerful elf. Only Anila flicked her wrist and dispersed the flames with an even more powerful blast of wind that sent the worm flying through the air.

  It impacted the wall, and it fell to the ground, landing with a loud crash that cracked the floor around it. Aria could see desperation and terror in the giant worm’s movements as it quickly began to try to dig into the ground.

  “I don’t think so,” Anila said as she raised a hand in the air before swiftly chopping it downwards.

  The worm had made it halfway into the ground before Anila’s version of Wind Blade bisected it. Its lower half remained while its upper half remained underground to swiftly bleed out and die.

  Anila slowly exhaled as she turned to give Aria a nod of assurance.

  Now, it was truly over.

  She gaped at the staggering difference between her own abilities and her mother’s. Aria had the help of others as well as another Etherean in poor Elmar, and she had only barely taken down an Ether Beast. Her mother had effortlessly taken down an even more powerful one all by herself.

  She clenched her hands into fists, I’m still so weak…

  As if reading her mind, Anila spoke, “You’re not weak, Aria. You still have much room to grow, yes. But you are not weak. You’re more capable than you think. Don’t compare yourself to me. I’ve had centuries of practice. You’ve only had a few years. It’s not a fair comparison.”

  “But…” Aria began to protest.

  “No buts,” Anila knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a hug, “just be glad you’re still alive. I know… I know I am….”

  Aria tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she returned the embrace.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “Now you rest for a bit while I dispose of the Ether Beasts’ corpses. If we leave them here, it’ll run the risk of the humans finding them. And it would look awfully suspicious if they saw the beasts bisected so cleanly,” Anila answered.

  “And after that?”

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  “After that… I take you out of this chasm. You need to give those humes a report about what happened. They’ll want to know about the presence of Ether Beasts.”

  Aria nodded, and tried to stand. She winced and fell back down. Her mother was quick to help her up, “I’ll heal your injuries, but only partway.”

  “Understood.”

  Aria knew it’d tip off their slavers to her ability to use Ether if she were uninjured.

  Anila silently invoked a healing Art, and Aria felt some of the pain dull. She no doubt still had some bruises, cuts, and burns, but at least they didn’t hurt nearly as much as before.

  After disposing of the two Ether Beast corpses, Anila had Aria follow her closely as they began to head back. When they made it to the chasm, her mother made her climb ahead. That way, if she fell, Anila would be able to use Ether to fly down and catch her.

  They made it to the top without any further incident and without having to use any more Ether. The coast looked to be clear, as the slavers who had accompanied Aria’s group to the chasm didn’t seem to be in sight.

  Aria breathed a sigh of relief, as did Anila.

  “As much as I want to stay with you,” her mother began, “we’ll have to go our separate ways from here.”

  “I know, Mom. I understand.”

  The mother-daughter duo reluctantly parted ways. Aria to find the slavers who sent them on that suicidal task, and Anila to find her own group.

  It didn’t take long for Aria to find the slavers, as they awaited in the cavern that had been her former sanctuary. Unfortunately, Arawn was present as well, and the bearded taskmaster was the first to notice her approach.

  He glowered at her, “You’ve returned far earlier than expected…”

  He seemingly noticed her injuries for the first time, and then understanding came to his cruel eyes, “I take it an incident occurred?”

  Aria nodded, trying not to meet his eyes lest he see the hatred for him in her own.

  “Give me the report,” Arawn ordered.

  She explained everything that had happened in the chasm, making sure to use their rough and barbaric Durainese. She hated speaking that wretched tongue.

  She explained what they found, the map they had made, how each of them died, and the Ether Beast worm. She made sure to omit the fact that there was actually two, since it made her survival without Ether more probable.

  Arawn stroked his beard thoughtfully as some of the slavers roughly took Aria’s bag and equipment.

  “Ether Beasts… here? Interesting… Just as I suspected. We’ll have to send a group of hunters to kill them and gain some valuable materials. It’s a good thing we didn’t send any of our own unawares down there,” Arawn chuckled cruelly at that.

  He suspected there might be Ether Beasts?! She thought, he didn’t so much as warn us… so we were merely bait to confirm those suspicions?!

  Aria seethed inside, but kept her expression neutral.

  “Now, there is but one more matter to attend to. How lucky that you were the one who survived,” Arawn snickered ominously.

  Aria felt a sense of dread as her stomach dropped, What does he mean by that?!

  Arawn’s eyes flicked towards one of the slavers, “Bring her.”

  The slaver nodded and saluted as he left.

  She began to panic inside, Please not Mom. Please not Mom!

  That was exactly who they brought. The slaver who was sent to fetch her roughly shoved her towards them. Aria began to break out in cold sweat.

  Anila locked eyes with her, and seemed to say with her eyes, “No matter what, stay calm.”

  Arawn stared back and forth between the two of them, his lips curling upwards in an amused and heartless manner, “Well, well… looks like my hunch was right. You two do have an uncanny resemblance. I noticed it a while ago during one of my many visits to the area. Initially, I figured that was because all you wretched tree huggers all looked the same to me. But I had a feeling. So I did some digging when temporarily transferred here to investigate a rather preposterous, if concerning rumor. And now I know for certain. You two… look almost identical…”

  Arawn let an uncomfortably long moment of silence pass before he spoke again, “I’m guessing you two are blood related? Mother and daughter perhaps? Or merely sisters? Tell me.”

  Anila was the one to speak up, “No… lord taskmaster…”

  Her mother hid the pain at having to call the vile ashborn by such a title rather well, “It is as you said. We elves simply look alike to one another…”

  Arawn raised a brow, then calmly backhanded Anila so hard she was sent sprawling to the ground. Aria nearly moved to kill the man right then and there. It took every ounce of her willpower to remain rooted in place.

  “I think you’re lying,” Arawn spat, “even if you weren’t, I don’t need either confirmation or a confession. Separate them.”

  Aria died inside.

  She had to bite her tongue hard enough to draw blood to cut off the “NO!” that threatened to come out. She had always feared this day would come. She’d naively hoped that they’d be able to make their escape before they could be separated. She should’ve known better. This was inevitable with her growing resemblance to her mother and their close proximity to one another.

  Arawn glowered at her mother, who slowly stood on shaky feet. Her cheek was bruised and her lips bled from where they’d been split from the blow.

  The voided ashborn looked Anila up and down, “A preposterous rumor indeed. There is no way you are the one. I’ll have to have that damnable pale skinned freak flogged for wasting my time.”

  “Where should we put them, sir?” one of the slavers asked.

  Arawn mulled that over, “The older one is a registered healer, is it not? Then it should obviously remain in this section. It will be far more useful here in keeping the rest of its kind in working condition. As for the younger one, I can’t say I care one bit. It is easily replaceable. Though some in either the Second or First might take a liking to it. Have it taken to the Second Circle in Ignis. I’m sure they’ll find a use for it there.”

  The slavers saluted, as they roughly grabbed both Aria and Anila and began to haul them out of the cavern. Aria glared at Arawn when his back was turned. Other than Athanasius Durai himself, she’d never wanted to kill someone so much.

  I swear I will end him for this one day, Aria swore to herself as hot tears began to flow down her cheeks.

  She reluctantly glanced to her mother, whose own eyes were watery but otherwise retained a look of neutrality. She mouthed silently and quickly to her, “I promise I’ll find you when the time comes. Stay alive and out of trouble until then.”

  Aria nodded and desperately clung onto the hope her mother’s promise gave her. It tore her heart apart when they emerged from the mine and were forced into separate ways. She knew that, even with her mother’s promise, she would have to make do without her.

  She already missed her comforting presence as she was continually pushed away from her mother. Aria knew with certainty that this was, without a doubt, the worst day of her miserable life…

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