I didn’t even have time to scream. More bolts started to rain down on us, some of them deadly. It was then that I screamed, and I scream very loudly. Cam instantly jolted awake, no trace of sleepiness on her face, while the others jumped. A golden shield flared to life over our heads. Tranquility blinked blearily before fully realizing what was happening and yelping, flailing her legs in the air. Reed didn’t really react at all, except for looking up with a troubled expression on his face.

Cam reached into her box and grabbed a snowball-sized, dark purple sphere. She tossed it up high into the air, grimacing and plugging her ears. A second later, a massive explosion ripped through the air, sending a rippling shockwave through the gases that surrounded us. More importantly, it created a vacuum of displaced matter, which immediately collapsed back in on itself. A trio of Mages came with that matter, smacking the three of them together in the center of the vacuum and bringing them into full view. Cam didn’t give up her opening, sending a bolt of magical energy flying straight into the Mages, scattering them once more. They quickly regained control of their bodies, however, floating down to surround us.

“Impressive,” one of them commented, smiling softly. “You’re… creative… with your tactics.”

“Everyone loves my toys,” Cam remarked. “Do you want some?”

“They’re a bit too… violent for my tastes,” the Mage said dismissively, smiling apologetically.

“Too bad!” Cam chirped cheerfully, producing another orb, this one sky-blue, and tossing it at her. The Mage barely managed to interpose a shield between herself and the ball before it exploded. When the fire faded, she lowered it, sighing.

“I tried to politely decline…” she murmured softly.

“I refused your denial,” Cam stated smugly. “I’m a little kid. I can do that, and you can’t do anything about it.”

“Stop being soft on the pup, Willow,” a different Mage groused.

“I’m sorry,” the Mage, who I now knew as Willow, said. “I just want to not fight… You know that, Ash.”

“That’s not how things work on this assignment,” Ash grumbled. “It’s no wonder Hawkeye doesn’t usually give you tasks like this.” For some reason, this caused Willow to look away, her ears drooping slightly.

“Where’s Ivy?” Reed asked.

“She’s in Paradise,” the last one softly responded. “Reporting to Hawkeye.”

“I see…” Reed responded. “So the three of you will…”

“Try to stop you,” Willow said, raising her paw. “Probably fail, but try.” Cam frowned ever so slightly, and Tranquility glanced at me. Something seemed… off about the situation.

“Okay…” Cam said. “You’re right, by the way. You’ll lose.”

“But it’s our duty,” the three of them said, two looking proud, one looking slightly ashamed.

Something’s definitely not right, I thought, narrowing my eyes slightly. The Mages seemed… unfocused, somehow. It didn’t sit right with me, the way they were talking. Before, they were completely in sync and spoke with the same lilting tone. Here… they weren’t. The fact that they had actual emotions in their voices threw me for a loop. I slipped closer to Tranquility. She saw my troubled expression and shrugged.

Cam reached into her box and sighed. “I will never understand you…” she said. “You guys are fighting a pointless endeavour, an uphill climb, whatever you want to call it. I’m not attacking, you are. Why don’t you just leave us alone?”

“Time,” Ash said.

“I’m sorry?” Cam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“In time, a way to take you in will present itself,” he elaborated. “Or, in time, you’ll wear yourself out, or jump into a deadly dimension. You can’t keep this up forever, you know.”

“But I can sure try,” Cam said with resounding finality. She retracted her paw from her box, and with it came a halo of different objects. There were some spheroids, a set of vials that I recognized as thermite vials, a set of vials that I didn’t recognize that were filled with a red-orange liquid, a few blades of varying shapes and sizes, and some other convoluted items that I didn’t have the words to describe accurately (the best I can do is a rounded trapezoid with a bunch of wires sticking out of it, made out of clay). Tranquility gasped softly, and I pressed a little closer to her. “And I got the toys to do so.”

“What are those?” Willow asked.

“Well, you know what these are,” she started, levitating the thermite up. “These are knives…” Up came the blades. “Mostly for defense. The balls are bombs, and these babies…” She let out a cackle while holding up the misshapen objects. “These are awesome. They’re also deadly, so don’t make me use them.”

“What are they?” inquired Willow, leaning forward.

“This is a P.S.B.,” Cam explained, levitating one up. “It stands for ‘Paralysis Shrapnel Bomb.’ I originally created it to help me hunt. It helps bring down large animals. It’s magic resistant, because some Equestrian animals have magic defenses. It works like this: First, I chuck it at you. It goes right through your defenses and sticks to your body. As soon as it makes contact, it releases a wave of electric energy that completely overwhelms your nervous system and knocks you out, paralyzing you temporarily. Next, a complex web of spells that I’m VERY proud of analyzes your body and organs and determines which ones are vital to your survival. Then, it rolls along to an easily accessible vital point- say, the neck- and it rolls over to it. Finally, it explodes, sending a controlled blast of shrapnel directly into the vital area and completely destroys it, killing you instantly.” My mouth dropped open, and fear started to take hold of me. Tranquility didn’t react visibly, but I felt her tense up. “I’ve used it to bring down deer, a hydra, and a manticore.” She grinned. “It’s never failed before, but I don’t want to kill you, so it’s a last resort.” She glanced over at us, noticed our fearful reactions, and rolled her eyes. “I like meat, okay? Of course I have something like this.”

“It’s still scary…” I whispered.

“Sorry,” Cam said. “But it’s a thing. Deal.”

“You’re quite terrifying,” Willow remarked.

“Thank you!” Cam gasped, a huge smile spreading across her face. “I try.”

“Quit the talk!” Ash said. “There’s no way that the P.S.B. thing actually works. Just fight the kid until Ivy gets here.”

“For the love of-” Willow began, standing up straighter and clenching her fists.

Ash cut her off by firing a blast of magic at Cam, which she deflected by warping the gases around her to change the path of the bolt. “Oops…” he whispered, fake surprise on his face. “I guess I joined the batt-” Before he could finish, Cam slashed at the air, creating a rift and pulling the four of us into it.

The first thing I saw after I recovered from the stretching and warping of the rift was a gigantic expanse of white. The air felt like a heavy fog, and I could see eddies in the strange mist. I fell for a few feet before landing on an extremely smooth, glossy-white surface. After spending so long falling in the last dimension, having something under my hooves felt odd.

Tranquility landed next to me, grimacing. Cam and Reed landed a little farther away from us. Cam whirled around to face him, scowling. “Explain,” she demanded.

“What?” Reed stammered.

“Something wasn’t right,” she growled. “Those three were bickering. Bickering! That let us escape! Furthermore, they all seemed… unfocused, and I actually learned their names! What happened?!”

“Ivy wasn’t with them,” Reed answered.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Let me finish…” Reed said, exasperated. “What you saw today was something very few creatures outside of the Mages see.” My eyes widened slightly. Reed smiled slightly. “Normally, when we go out on a task, we have a spell put on the five of us that connects our minds together, like a telepathic link except a little more thorough. It’s why we can act so connected. Only two of the Mages can actually cast that spell, and only one of them has mastered it. Those two are Ivy and Ash.

“Ivy is the one who can proficiently cast and maintain it, so she’s the unofficial leader of the Mages, with Ash as her second. She reports to Hawkeye and makes the tough decisions. And when she’s gone, Ash takes her place, although his leadership is disputed. When they attacked us while we were sleeping, he probably had the spell active. But, since he can’t maintain the spell, when the counterattack hit them it probably broke off.”

“So what we saw was…” Tranquility said.

“You saw their true personalities,” Reed confirmed. “Normally, we function as one, with Ivy calling the shots, but today, that wasn’t the case. As-”

“That’s stupid,” Cam interrupted.

“What?” Reed asked.

“I said that’s a stupid tactic,” Cam explained. “If you guys function as one, then you leave out the creativity members of a group can bring into a scenario. That’s part of the reason you guys haven’t beaten me yet. Your fighting style is stylized, stiff, and orthodox, whereas I’m always full of surprises.”

“You also leave out the friction that working in a group causes,” Reed explained. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but the Mages aren’t exactly the most… compatible with each other.”

“I noticed,” Cam said, a grin spreading across her face. “How could I not?”

“Exactly,” Reed said. “On our own, we constantly antagonize each other, and as you saw, and that translates over to our fighting. The spell is the solution. And besides, we can send our input to Ivy, and we’re allowed some leeway. That’s how I followed you through the rift.”

“I still think it’s stupid,” Cam mumbled, turning away from him.

I walked over to Tranquility and sat next to her, resting my head on her shoulder. She instinctively leaned her head over to rest on mine. I closed my eyes, what I had just heard running through my mind on repeat. We hadn’t seen the equine side of our enemies, just a persona created by one of them. It was a little shocking to think about. I’d grown comfortable with the image that they had been presenting to me. The lilting voices and hooded faces presented an easy image to fear and hate. Reed’s personality had shaken that up a little bit, but when I saw that the others didn’t change, the image held firm. But this admission…

We weren’t striving against monsters, like I’d previously assumed. Our adversaries weren’t soulless creatures. We were fighting creatures, who, if things were different, might have been my friends... I shifted and raised my head up off Tranquility’s shoulder, staring straight ahead.

“Ooh!” Cam exclaimed. “Idea!’ She reached into her box and brought out a ball of soft, grey material. She then began to sculpt and mold it into an assortment of smaller shapes.

I looked at Reed, making my decision. “Can you tell us about them?” I asked softly.

“What?” he said, turning to me. “About who?”

“The other Mages,” I elaborated, leaning back onto Tranquility.

“Sure…” he answered, raising an eyebrow. “May I ask why?”

“Because…” I began, trailing off as I tried to find the words to express my thoughts. “Because I think it’ll be best. I thought before that we were striving against sociopathic monsters, but you just shattered that belief, so I’d like to know more. I don’t want us to lose sight of the equinity of our enemies, because then we might end up doing something we will deeply regret.”

Something about that statement shocked Reed to the core, as evidenced by the fact that he froze up and his eyes widened slightly. “O-okay, um…” he stammered. “Well, let’s start with Ivy.

“She’s a witch, to be sure, but she’s the best at what she does by a long shot. She’s the senior Mage, born back before when Hawkeye was Alpha. She’s what we call a pureblood, born to two Mages, and she prides herself on that. Determination runs in her veins, and she’s never failed an assignment before. She’s the one who shot the lethal spell at you, Fall.

“However, her determination isn’t always focused on her job,” Reed said, a grimace crossing his face. “Often, it’s directed at one thing and one thing only: power. I said she was a witch because it’s true. She doesn’t hesitate to increase her personal status and power, even if it involves backstabbing us. I’ve been on the receiving end of that once, where she completely overrode my mind through the spell link and manipulated my actions to cover up a mistake she made. I passed it off as my own mistake for a while before I realized what had actually happened. But I didn’t report it, because if I did, something would have happened to me.

“She’s also clever- devilishly clever. That facade we presented when we confronted you was of her design, which she cultivated over her years of experience. It’s designed to unsettle our enemies and throw them off just enough to give us an advantage. It works, too. She also can make decisions on the fly, good ones.

“She’s also created an emotional disconnect between herself and everyone else, making her utterly incapable of feeling empathy or remorse. Well, almost everyone else… I think it has something to do with the fact that her mate, another Mage, was killed, some four years ago on the job. He misjumped into Varst’poui, unfortunately. It really destroyed her, and she became… hardened and cold. It’s part of why she’s so vicious.

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t do much for her remaining family life. She has a son. His name is Jay, if I remember correctly. He’s a sweet little thing. Last I heard, he was coming up on his ninth birthday. He’s technically another pureblood, but for some reason, he can’t cast spells, and instead of having gold fur, he has a russet coat. This didn’t matter before his father’s death, but after it, Ivy started to hate him for it. Because of that, he disagrees with his mother on pretty much everything, including her fundamental values.

“Speaking of values, Ivy is what we call an orthodox Wolf. She strictly follows the traditions of the Wolves, such as the rule about keeping our secrecy, and disapproves highly of anyone who so much as thinks of questioning them. She’s mentioned in passing before that she wishes the rules were stricter.

“Despite all that, she remains on good terms with Hawkeye, partially because she’s a complete social chameleon. Whenever she’s dealing with him, she puts on a charismatic, business-like personality to disguise her true self. And that’s… all I really have to say about her, I suppose,” Reed finished.

“That’s so sad…” I murmured softly, my ears folding back.

“It’s her own fault,” Cam said. “I dealt with my grief when my parents were taken and didn’t become a sociopath. I can still care about people… don’t think that she’s completely innocent of blame. Her own personality has to have played a part in her change.”

“That’s true,” Reed said. “She didn’t develop new traits. Her old ones were simply accentuated.”

“But still…” I said, trailing off as I tried to find words to express how I felt. I felt a connection to this Ivy, strangely enough. I felt sorry for her. No creature deserves to go through something like having their husband die.

“I understand,” Tranquility said. “Perhaps we should move on.”

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“Okay. The next one to talk about is Ash,” Reed said. A scowl crossed his face, and he let out a short bark of laughter. “Leave behind all feelings of sympathy, ye who enter here. Ash is a complete and utter scumbag.

“Ash has a bad temper and a short fuse. You saw that today when Willow started to talk with you. He loves having complete control of a situation, and he also has a tendency to abuse said power. When things don’t go his way, and even sometimes when they do, he gets super mad and antagonizes those under his command. It’s petty, really. And when his outbursts cause things to go wrong, he gets even worse.” His scowl deepened. “He especially enjoys going after Willow. I personally think that he takes perverse pleasure from it

“There’s nothing really that remarkable about his history. He was born to Warriors and trained under Ivy’s father and evolved his magic style into something truly his own, something similar to what you did, Cam. The difference is that what he created revolves around time. That seems innocent at first, but think about it. What if the moment of your painful death was stretched out to last days?” I paled slightly, while Tranquility started to shake softly. “You understand,” Reed said sadly. “He can be a monster. And he has been before.

“He’s a radical orthodox. That means he’s even worse than Ivy, but he doesn’t really show it. Those two get along really well, to the point where they’ve started to spend their free time together. I think that he might actually be the only one who can emotionally connect with Ivy anymore. He might become her new mate, actually. That would be… scary.

“He’s not as power-hungry as her, rather, he’s more focused on changing the Wolf society. The problem is that his stances are so drastic that almost no one can even come remotely close to agreeing with him. However, that doesn’t matter to him. If he can, he’ll make our laws worse.

“He’s also a general liar and a sleaze, who will take advantage of anyone to suit his goals. He’s the most convincing liar I’ve met, able to spout a falsehood so convincingly that I feel like I should believe it. If someone calls him out on it, he will stick with the claim until the person who is trying to prove him wrong gives up. He is personally my least favorite Mage,” he finished.

“I can see why,” Cam commented, holding her paw over one of the objects (a cube) she had sculpted. The symbol on her paw began to glow, and a halo of energy surrounded the cube.

“Those are the two worst ones?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Reed said, a smile coming over his face. “The other two are much better.”

“Good,” Tranquility said. “I was thinking Fall’s statement about us going up against soulless monsters was going to gain credibility.” Cam giggled softly, and Reed rolled his eyes.

“They aren’t heartless, they just view the world differently than we do,” Reed said. “There’s a difference. Respect that.”

“I can still say they’re terrible people,” Cam said dismissively.

“And I’d agree,” Reed said. “But moving on, let’s talk about Willow.

“Willow is a real sweetheart. She’s very kind and mellow. You saw how she tried to politely deal with Cam. By the way, I’m not happy with how you talked to her,” Reed said, turning to face Cam. “She didn’t deserve that.”

“When it comes down to it, she’s an enemy all the same,” Cam responded.

“Cam!” I said, giving her a disapproving glare. She wilted slightly under it. “That was rude.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled. I motioned for Reed to continue.

“Willow’s a complete pacifist,” he started again, his gaze becoming a little more distant. “She hates violence and always tries to diffuse a situation before it can turn to fighting. That’s what she was trying to do with you, Cam. Hawkeye usually sends her out on missions that involve disputes between Wolves, which happen quite often, believe it or not.

“Her real talent, however, lies in her soft side. Her emotional intelligence is through the roof. She’s someone who can listen to your problems, comfort you, and be trusted to never tell anyone else. I’d know- I talk to her frequently. I’d say she’s my closest friend.

“Despite all that, somehow, she’s still single.” A goofy grin spread over his face. “And I am one-hundred percent okay with that.”

“Someone’s got a crush,” Cam teased.

“Yeah, I do,” Reed admitted, not a trace of blush present on his face. “I would like to become her mate.

“Anyway, she’s got something in common with you, Cam: she was born to Civilians. However, her parents did what they were supposed to and brought her to Hawkeye. Because of that, they actually got to raise her themselves in a place of security. She trained under Hawkeye, and because of that, her magic is extremely developed. She’s also created a range of emotional spells, ones to help soothe the hurts of the soul.

“As a result, when Ivy is away, she watches Jay. I think that’s part of why he disagrees with his mother so much. He’s been exposed to two worldviews and chose Willow’s over his own mother’s. That should say something about her.

“However, her soft side can turn to strength when someone pisses her off. You saw how Ash pushed her limits until they broke. She’s actually probably yelling at him right now for letting you get away. When she goes all out… she’s unstoppable. But overall, she’s a sweet, kind, amazing Wolf,” he finished, gazing off into the distance.

“That you wouldn’t mind sinking your teeth into,” Cam said.

Reed blushed slightly. “Well, yeah…” he said, an awkward grin spreading across his face.

“That’s enough, Cam,’ Tranquility said. “I’d imagine that a crush is an awkward thing to have discussed right in front of you.”

If only you knew, I thought ruefully, looking away from her and off into the mist.

“Fine…” Cam grumbled. “What about the other one? I didn’t catch his name.”

“That would be Cypress,” Reed said. “My older brother.”

“You have a brother?” I asked.

“Who’s also a Mage?” Cam added. “Are you a pureblood?”

“Nope,” Reed said. “Son of two Protectors. It was by sheer luck that I was also a Mage. However, we could not be more different.

“You already know me. I’m outspoken, callous, and firm-standing. I’m a leader, or at least I try to be. He is most certainly not any of those things. He’s sweet, swayable, quiet, and submissive.

“Let me start this off by saying that Cypress is not evil. I think that you would describe him as… misguided. He tries his hardest to do the right thing. He’s got a really good heart, but he believes that the laws of the Wolves are righteous and just. As a result, he’s one of the most dedicated of the Mages, taking to every order Hawkeye gives with an almost religious zeal. Don’t hold it against him; he really means well.

“Aside from that, there’s nothing too remarkable about him. We trained under the same Mage until he was killed ten years ago,” he said with a noticeable wince.

“The Mages just don’t live that long, do they,” Cam commented callously.

“Not really…” Reed whispered.

“Cam…” Tranquility whispered, a warning tone in her voice. Cam sighed and turned away from her, her ears drooping slightly. Tranquility trotted over to Reed and draped a wing over him. “He meant a lot to you, didn’t he,” she murmured.

“He did…” Reed sighed. “But that’s not important. The point of mentioning him was to say that Cypress took to magic a lot better than I did. He’s more powerful, but more hesitant to fight. He’s quite similar to Willow- actually, they could be copies of each other, except that his beliefs are more firm and he has no compunctions against killing. Oh, and he’s not a girl.”

“That would make a difference,” Cam commented, snickering.

“It would,” Reed agreed. “So, he’s basically the goodhearted, misled one. Please don’t hold it against him, he really is a nice guy…”

“I won’t,” I promised.

“Thanks,” he said softly. “And that’s pretty much the Mages.”

“They sound… normal,” I said, thinking back on what he’d said. “It seems like it’s evenly split between good and bad.”

“That’s objective, but whatever,” Cam said. “I agree.”

“But there’s five of us,” Reed stated. “How is it an even split?”

“Because I’m not sure about you,” I said. “You’re a grey area.”

“Yeah,” Cam said. “Anyway, I’m done!” She grabbed one of the objects that she’d been enchanting. “Anti-magic bombs!”

“Why would you need those?” Reed asked.

“To break up your little mind-link spell!” Cam cheered. She tossed one to Reed, who caught it with a gasp. “It’s like holding a nullstone, isn’t it! Your friends are gonna have fun with these. It’ll be fun to see how they react to individuality, because they’ve obviously never dealt with that before.” With a giggle, she retrieved it from him and dumped it, along with the rest, in her box. “There’s no way I’ll need the P.S.B. now!”

“That wasn’t a bluff?” Tranquility asked.

“Nope, those actually work,” Cam said.

“Isn’t that a bit… excessive?” she inquired.

Cam responded with a no, and those two dissolved into a discussion over the morality of the P.S.B. I sat back and watched with a sort of bemusement, along with Reed. I glanced over at him, my smile fading.

“Reed, can I talk to you?” I asked softly.

He looked over at my. “Why?” he asked.

“I’m confused,” I explained. “About you.”

“Okay…” he mumbled softly, scooting over next to me. “So what’s confusing?”

“Simple,” I said. “Who’s side are you on?”

“I’m sorry?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I turned to face him, my face taking on an uncharacteristically serious look. “I’m getting really confused as to who you’re trying to help. You just gave us a bunch on information that could be used against the Mages. Cam already created something that’ll be used against your friends from that information, and you don’t seem to care. And there’s the fact that you could have literally walked back to your friends on several occasions, but you didn’t. Are you our enemy or not?”

“I’m with the Mages… I think,” he said, pensiveness crawling over his expression. “I’ve seen some things in the past few days that’ve made me question myself, but I’ve also seen stuff that’ve reinforced my beliefs. I’m just… thinking right now, but I think I’m against you. So yeah,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “We’re enemies. Hate me.” I let out a soft laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“I just think that you’re probably not that bad of a person,” I said, smiling. “It’s a shame we’re on different sides of this. If things had worked out differently, we might actually be friends.”

“Heh, yeah…” he mumbled, still grinning. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes, the mist swirling around us. Then, he turned to me. “Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“What are you to Cam?” he asked. “She somehow listens to you, despite being… well, Cam! I mean, yesterday, when she clamped that muzzle over my face, you told her to take it off, despite the fact that I arguably deserved it, and she did. You and Tranquility are able to keep her tongue in check- well, sort of- and you can scold her. Are you guys her foster parents?”

“Not really,” I said sheepishly. “I mean, we’ve only known her for a few days, not even a full week. I actually thought about that back in the last dimension. I think she has a subconscious need to have a parental figure in her life, and in the absence of her parents, we fit into that slot. So… we’re her temporary guardians. I guess we’re gonna fill that role until she can be reunited with her parents.”

“Um…” Reed murmured, looking away from me, an uncomfortable expression spreading to cover his face.

“Reed?” I asked.

“That’s… not going to happen,” he mumbled softly. My heart sank at those words, but I kept a normal expression on my face.

“What does that mean?” I whispered, keeping my voice low.

“Her parents…” he began, closing his eyes. “I knew them. I went to talk to them after Jackson brought them in. They were… really, really spiteful at first. After a while, however, they opened up about their feeling towards our law. They never mentioned Cam, though. They kept that secret… anyway, I told them about why I thought they were a good idea… we ended up having a really, really good debate. At the end of the day, they said that they would have to think about what I said, and her father said that he rather liked me.” A sad smile spread across his face. “It really touched me… The next morning, I was the one to bring down their breakfast.” He opened his eyes, and to my surprise, I saw tears building in them. “T-they had saved their knifes from their dinner and… slit their throats overnight.”

My composed expression faltered and crumbled into one of shock and horror. “They actually…” I whispered.

“Suicide,” Reed said softly. “They committed suicide. Cam’s never gonna see her parents again, even if she gets out of this chase.”

“Oh…” I whispered. Suicide… it was a rare thing in Equestria, a shocking, horrifying novelty. Nopony really even considered it because of the impact that it would have on their friends and family. I guess that wasn’t the case for the Wolves. Maybe they weren’t as social creatures as us. But it would still impact Cam if she knew…

Her hatred of the Wolves largely stemmed from the fact that they had taken her parents. If she learned they were dead… I don’t know what it would do to her…

“We can’t tell her,” I said, regaining my composure. “It would be so bad for her…”

“I know,” Reed said. “I won’t. But think of this… you might end up being her permanent guardians.”

I nodded stupidly, still completely shocked. “I’ll talk to Tranquility,” I whispered.

“Good choice,” he said.

A little while later, Cam nodded off in Tranquility’s arms. I walked over to her and explained the situation. She reacted in much the same way that I did, her mouth dropping open and her ears folding back. For some reason, she started shaking as well. Once that stopped, I explained what I had realized about Cam, that she might subconsciously see us as parental figures.

“That… makes sense,” she murmured.

“Now that her parents are gone… we might have to replace them,” I said.

She was silent for a while before she looked up at me. “I’d be okay with that,” she said, conviction in her voice.

After that, I got super tired. I hadn’t slept when everyone else had, after all. Tranquility let me nod off next to her, which was nice. I actually had a really refreshing sleep, which was nice.

I woke up to the sound of singing, with Tranquility standing protectively over me.

Author's Note

Okay, firstly, I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Basically, in the last week, my workload absolutely skyrocketed to the point where I couldn't work on this chapter extensively until today. I'll try not to let that happen again.
That being said, this story may end up getting updated over slightly longer intervals of time in the future. I hate my work....
But at least the chapter is 5,000 words long, right?
Anyway, yeah! I gave the Mages personalities! I personally think that's a good idea, as it gives quality to the enemies. What Fall said about not forgetting the humanity (or equinity) of your enemies holds true in real life as well. I try to abide by that, and I think the world would be a better place if anyone did.
God, I can be preachy.
But anyway, yeah! It also allows for some great possibilities, plot wise. I've said it before in the comments, but this dimension-jumping arc is only the first part of this story. It's gonna get better (hopefully).
And Reed is having second thoughts? What a total surprise that literally no one saw coming! (sarcasm intensifies) I really need to get more subtle.
But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me if I dun goofed with something grammatical and I'll fix it!
~Pyrepinna