2012 Red Sun (Part 4)

'I'll become a wanted criminal and I'll be forced to hide in the wilds until I reach the violet. No more food. No more relaxing baths. I'll spend the next decade on the run like an animal. Gods, I'm so stupid. I ruined everything.' Kelia thought.

Dusk had no time to console her. He had already taken over her body and was weaving a Spirit Warp, hoping Kelia's mana would suffice. Her bathing naps weren't enough to reset Invigoration's effects and she hadn't slept in nearly a month.

'Even if we make the Warp, she'll faint from mana abuse. With my energy, I can at most make her float. If the Empress has a way to follow us, we-'

A Sealed Space spell crushed his plans.

"Not so fast." Milea had devised her True Vision array to have similar effects to her breathing technique without the need for physical contact. The moment the Horseman had started weaving his Spirit spell, she had recognized and countered it.

'It's not Dragon Eyes but it's a start.' She thought.

"Calm down, Dusk." The Empress said after the young girl had stopped struggling. "With Thrud at my borders and Night by her side, I can't afford to make an enemy of Baba Yaga.

"I came here hoping to find a fellow Awakened, but I could use your help just as well. Let's have a talk."

"A talk?" The Headmaster looked at Milea as if she had gone crazy. "You don't bargain with cursed artifacts. They are monsters born of Forbidden Magic whose only aim is to conquer or destroy anything that lives.

"If that thing really is Dusk, we must destroy it!"

"I'm not a thing nor am I Dusk!" Keila yelled in outrage. "I mean, I share my body with him but I'm not his slave. I'm his partner."

True Sight revealed Milea that the girl was telling the truth. For some reason, the Horseman was diminished and he was no threat to her.

"Even better." The Empress nodded. "Headmaster Ashrein, everything you've seen and heard so far is a state secret. Divulging any of it will be considered an act of high treason. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Pylika had no idea what was happening but her loyalty to the Empire superseded her doubts.

Meanwhile, Dusk tried and failed to contact Baba Yaga. The Sealed Space cut him off even from the bond that the Red Mother shared with all of her firstborns.

'The bad news is that we are on our own, kid. The good news is that the Sealed Space works in our favor. As long as we are trapped in here, the Empress can't conjure more power against us. I can get us free anytime you want.' He said via their mind link.

'Free to go where?' Kelia replied with a dejected voice. 'Even without the Sealed Space, we have no chance to beat the Empress. Let's hear her out first.'

"I've made a lot of research about you Kelia." Milea took some folders out of her dimensional pocket, handing one to the Headmaster and another to the trapped girl. "You were born a little more than 13 years ago.

"Father unknown and your mother sold you to her dealer in exchange for a dose. Little did she know that it was one of our undercover agents. You were born in withdrawal and it cost the Empire a pretty coin to heal you up."

The Headmaster gasped reading the horror story that Keila's life had been after being sent to the orphanage for the not magically gifted. As for the girl, the gravity was gone, but she still couldn't muster the strength to get up.

Discovering the truth about her origins shattered what little dreams she had left and learning how many people knew about what was going on in the orphanage without moving a finger to stop it made her want to puke.

"After your escape, you've been living on the street for years as a street urchin. I can't even start to imagine how bad your life must have been nor how you must feel knowing that you are going to spend the rest of your life in captivity." A snap of her fingers released the Sealed Space and the other arrays but the True Vision.

"I'd rather die than live like an animal again!" Mad with grief and fury Keila conjured both her Davross armor, Scorpion, and her twin blades, Firebrand. Every single piece of her equipment was blood red, bearing the enchantments that Baba Yaga had weaved for her.

"Magnificent!" Milea opened her eyes wide in surprise and clapped her hands as True Vision gave her a deep scan of the artifacts. "Those are not the weapons that Dusk favors and your childish threat proves that you really are in control of your body.

"If he really has changed his ways, then all the more reasons to have you by my side."

"Wait, what?" Dusk and Kelia said in unison, giving the Headmaster the creeps.

"You heard me." Milea nodded. "After all, I came here for an Awakened and I found one. I have nothing to gain by killing you and you have nothing to lose by listening to my offer. I'd say it's a win-win situation."

"What do you want from me?" Kelia let Dusk in one more time, letting him use her core to weave the best spells he could use.

'If I have to die, I'll go down fighting.' She thought.

"Many things, starting with you completing your education." Milea said, making the Headmaster plunge on her chair and Kelia fall on her ass, if not for the Red Sun being in control.

"Do you want me to keep a cursed object here?" Ashrein voice was hoarse from disbelief.

"It's not a request, it's an order." The Empress replied, her aura crushing the Headmaster with the same ease it had done the same to the young girl. "And it's not a cursed object, but a girl we are talking about.

"A girl who has access to the wisdom, the knowledge, and even the equipment of one of the legendary Horseman of Baba Yaga. Would you really turn down the opportunity to nurture someone like her into an Archmage?"

Ashrein remained silent as she considered how great the power of the Red Sun was and what the Empire would achieve by having an immortal warrior in its ranks. When the War of the Griffons had started, the Empress had believed to have the opportunity to expand her territories.

Her Arch Generals had agreed with her and launched a full-scale invasion of the Griffon Kingdom. Alas, they had been wrong. The combined power of the Mad Queen and the Corpse had killed thousands of their mages and cost them countless artifacts.

The Empire's borders had never been so weak in centuries and the only reason the Kingdom had yet to launch a counterattack was that the war with Thrud consumed all of their available resources.

The truce the Royals had established with the Mad Queen applied solely when the Kingdom was in danger. Now, however, Thrud's army had gained over thirty Awakened Divine Beasts never seen before and with their help, she was close to conquering the north.