Date: April 16th, year 1286 Location: Crystal Rose, Kingdom of Specta

  Nyx points her finger at the man with the suitcase, and a volley of three asteroids forms in front of her. They were twice as large as the ones she was throwing around during her escape from the mage trafficker’s lair, now about three to four meters in diameter. When they get close to the Night Touched, they immediately lose all their momentum and plummet to the ground, shattering in pieces, quickly being ground to dust by an invisible pressure.

  - “Ah, you’re limited to manipulating gravity!” Nyx exclaims. “Projectiles won’t work then… hmmm…”

  The Night Touched spins in place while flailing his arms around, executing some kind of dance. Nyx could feel gravitational waves emanating from him, and crushing everything in a spiral quickly expanding around him. She extends her arm to the side in an attempt to deflect the force, but her eyes widen in surprise as she is quickly overpowered and sent flying into a carriage a few meters behind her.

  - “Ow…” Nyx complains as she gets back up, drops of blood falling from her nose and covered in bruises. “Gravity stuff never was my strong suit…”

  She notices the Night Touched walking towards her through the hole she made in the carriage by crashing into it. Well, he wasn’t walking as much as he was frolicking, occasionally jumping multiple meters into the air while silently laughing at the sky. Each of his steps were leaving small craters in the ground.

  - “I’ll have to be a little rougher, sorry!” Nyx shouts to him.

  She waves both her hands in his direction, and a miniature sun forms directly above his head. It is immediately pulled down by the gravity and crashes directly into the man, erupting into a ball of searing plasma that engulfs the entire portion of the street that they were standing on. Nyx deflects most of it, doing her best to protect herself and the buildings.

  - “Ah.” Nyx jumps out of the half burnt carriage, panicked. “I put way too much light into that star! Please don't be dead!”

  When the plasma dissipates, she is somewhat relieved to see the man still standing. His clothes were half burnt, and his skin was partially charred by the heat of the star.

  - “Oh good! You’re definitely a lot more durable than a regular human.”

  The Night Touched starts running towards her, arms extended as if he was trying to hug her. As he draws closer, Nyx feels the gravity applied on her body intensify to a point where she’s almost forced to the ground. She hears an unnatural cracking sound coming from her right leg, and a sharp pain ensues.

  Oh. He’s a bit too close now, if I use another sun Vanessa is going to be mad because we’ll both burn. I need something that could hit just him, but that would be fast enough to reach him without being shot down by the gravitational field he has. Hmmm… Right ! A beam from a pulsar!

  Nyx points her finger at the Night Touched and a ray of pure white plasma erupts from its tip, slightly burning her skin. It completely engulfs the man, and when the light fades a fifty meter long and five meter wide corridor of melted stone was all that was left of the street. She first sees that the Night Touched was lying on his back on the burning stone, seemingly unconscious, and then notices the multiple holes she had poked in buildings on the other side of the street with her laser.

  - “Oops.” She looks down at the Night Touched again. “Oh wait I should pull him out of there, he’s going to burn!”

  She tries to run over, but immediately falls flat on her face. She looks at her right leg, and notices multiple, large red spots on it.

  - “Huh. Guess I’m not walking then!”

  She hops on one leg towards the Night Touched, and while she works towards pulling him out of the burning crater, the voice she heard earlier resonates around the neighborhood again.

  - “The Class Three Night Touched in the commercial district has been contained by a civilian. The damage to the perimeter is extensive, and any residents should wait for further instructions from the Guard before returning.”

  Nyx finally manages to drag the man out of the crater. While his eyes were closed, she could still see the stars shining through his eyelids.

  - “Now how do I revert this…” Nyx asks herself.

  A sound of footsteps catches her attention, and when she turns she sees a group of ten people in matching uniforms. Said uniforms consisted of a long, slim purple coat thrown over a long sleeved, straight cut white shirt, with similarly white straight pants. On the shoulders of their coats, a small purple ring was neatly embroidered. A five branched star was sitting in its center, surrounded by complex and intricate symbols, which she recognized as being the symbol of the Arcane Guard. Behind them, she could see Julian, still holding Beatrice under his arm and trying his best to catch his breath. He was wearing the hood of his hoodie oddly enough, as if he was trying to hide his face.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  - “I… got them as fast as I could…” He blurts.

  - “Thank you for your service, citizen.” A gray haired man with green eyes in the group says to Nyx. “Now please step away from the Night Touched, he could awaken at any moment. We will handle him.”

  - “Oh, the Arcane Guard!” Nyx exclaims as she gets up and takes a few steps back.

  A few guards approach and pull out small, clear crystal marbles from their coats. They simultaneously throw them onto the unconscious man, and the marbles shatter upon touching him. The crystal shards then expand and start wrapping around him like a fluid, up until he’s completely encased in a transparent coffin.

  - “Alright, that should keep him asleep for a few days.” The man who originally talked to Nyx says before turning to the rest of the guards. “Contact his family to assess if he’ll be executed or sent to the Second Branch.” He turns towards Nyx, and his gaze sweeps through the street, stopping on the craters and damaged buildings. “Do you have a license for public offensive magic usage?”

  - “A license? What’s that?”

  - “...Alright, I see how it is.” The man sighs. “We’re very thankful for your help, but we’re going to have to take you in for questioning. You’re not under arrest, just detained. What’s your name?”

  - “I’m Nyx!”

  - “Are you an Irregular? That damage could’ve been done with powerful Fire magic, but it’s always good to ask.”

  - “I am!”

  - “Alright, thank you for your cooperation.” He turns to one of the other guards. “Inform HQ that we’re detaining an Irregular called Nyx for questioning. It’d be nice if they could dispatch a few higher ranking officers from the Third or Fourth Branch. And tell them to bring snacks for our own officers too.”

  The guard nods and slips away from the group. Nyx follows the rest of the guards through the city, taking advantage of this opportunity to take in the sights. The city was so lively that she was a little disoriented, trying to listen into all the conversations, look at every restaurant or cafe, and stare at every stranger passing by. On the way, a few people approach her, trying to sneakily sell her a variety of objects that they called “powerful magic items”. Among them were red pebbles and funny looking sticks that Nyx was very interested in. However, before she can really talk to the sellers, they are told off by the guards, who were threatening to arrest them. She was so engrossed in her observation in fact, that she hadn't noticed that she was casually walking with her two legs, almost completely unaware of the gut wrenching pain that came with each step. Julian and Beatrice were following them closely, until they reached a large building about half an hour later. It was an imposing tower with walls made of marble, and covered with a thick layer of that glass she had been seeing everywhere. She could see magical energy circulating through it like blood in the living being. She is led upstairs through the building, which wasn’t necessarily fancy but still very nice looking compared to what she was used to. The furniture was mostly wooden, with a focus on sturdiness rather than looks even if they seemed to be of high quality. Eventually, she finds herself in a small room with no windows, sitting on a chair at a small round table. The gray haired guard was sitting across the table, with his arms crossed in front of him.

  - “Well, let’s get started.” He says, staring into Nyx’s eyes. “Where do you come from?”

  - “Oakvale!”

  - “Oakvale?... Where’s that ?”

  - “In the South? I’m not sure…”

  - “Hmm hmm.” He pulls out a notebook from his coat and starts writing down something. “The people outside. The elf with the hood and the little girl. Who are they to you ?”

  - “We’re a gang of hooligans! Julian said we weren’t a party, or a band, or a troupe, or a terrorist organization…”

  - “Is that so?” The guard has an awkward smile. “Well I’m sure you could qualify as a terrorist if you tried, given what you did back in the commercial district. About that, can you describe your magic?”

  - “I can create celestial bodies!”

  - “That’s… really dangerous. You know, I’ve been trying not to bring it up but are you sure you’re not Night Touched?”

  - “Yup! I couldn’t be, since I’m the one that originally-” Nyx stops.

  - “That originally what?” The guard squints.

  - “Nothing important!”

  - “You know, it’s a crime to withhold information from the Arcane Guard during an investigation. You probably don’t want to add criminal charges on top of the debt you’re going to rack up from the damage you caused in the city.”

  - “I-”

  Nyx is interrupted by a powerful screech originating from outside of the tower. The guard tenses up, reaching for something inside his coat. The sound of bird wings flapping rapidly fills the building, and frantic footsteps draw closer to the door. Said door is kicked open, revealing a tall woman standing on the other side. She had brown skin, long white hair tied in a large bun, and piercing yellow eyes with black slits not unlike those of a bird of prey. She was wearing a long and ample high-low white dress with black leggings and similarly colored heels, along with a giant purple coat that was dragging behind her, almost floating like it was entirely weightless. Nyx catches a glimpse of the symbol of the Arcane Guard on its back, probably measuring a meter or two in diameter.

  - “Nyx!” She shouts as she lunges towards her and locks her into a rib crushing hug.

  - “Hello! You know me ? Oh wait, that voice…” Nyx looks up at the woman. “I was looking for you, Agnes!”

  - “You… uh… know each other?” The guard asks, slowly settling down.

  - “Yes.” Agnes replies as she turns to him. “I’m taking charge of the investigation, you’re dismissed.”

  - “Respectfully, um… this building doesn’t belong to the Fourth Branch…”

  - “Right, I don’t have authority here. Let’s leave then!”

  She swiftly exits the room with Nyx, and as they make their way downstairs through a large spiral staircase, Agnes turns towards her.

  - “I’m so glad you’re okay!” She exclaims, giving into the urge to hug Nyx again. “I’ve spent the last month working my teams to the bone to try and get any info on where you might be, but these damn mage traffickers weren’t giving us any ground… How did you escape?”

  - “I freed everyone else and they helped me! Well I helped them more than they helped me, I think.”

  - “Oh? You should tell me about that in detail! Who even brought you to Crystal Rose? I really don’t think you can navigate here by yourself.”

  - “It was Julian! He was locked up in a cage next to me, and-”

  They continue chatting, until they reach the main hall where Julian and Beatrice were waiting. They were sitting on black leather sofas, and Beatrice was trying to catch one of the few white doves that were flying above them. Agnes waves her hand, and the summoned doves dissolve into particles of white light. Beatrice’s shoulders slump in disappointment.

  - “Ah, I’m assuming these would be Julian and Beatrice!” Agnes says before walking over to them and crouching down to their level. “Sorry for startling you, I was in a bit of a rush.”

  - “It’s fine…” Julian replies. “As long as that spares Nyx an in depth interrogation, I won’t complain. She could get herself thrown in jail even if all she did today was walk down a street, given how she describes things.”

  - “I wasn’t startled, I like the birds!” Beatrice exclaims.

  - “Oh do you?” Agnes has a warm smile. She waves her hand and two black and brown songbirds manifest around her, perching on Beatrice’s shoulders.

  - “Birdies!” Beatrice starts petting them.

  - “Yes yes, birdies.” Agnes’ mouth twitches for a fraction of a second, before she returns to her cheerful smile. “Alright, we’ll probably be more comfortable at my office! Let’s go kids!”

  - “I’m not a child…” Julian sighs as he gets up from his sofa.

  They all exit the building, and return to the bustling streets of Crystal Rose.