Green paled, hiding her face from the scene. She had seen plenty of monsters being killed in front of her, both from training with her parents and adventuring with her friends. But never had she seen something like this, a crazed smile and the ending of their own life. Despite logically knowing it was just one of Thyme's many bodies it disturbed Green greatly.
Green felt a hand on her shoulder and she tried not to panic but she couldn't help but shiver until she heard the voice speak. It was Thyme, but tuned drastically to the feminine "It's ok Green. I've altered the feed the others see just for the moment. I'm sorry I scared you, really I am. This isn't part of the test, it's ok"
Green leant into the figure and nearly fell over. "Woah careful their Green. I'm just a hand at the moment. Truly this was not meant to be scary. What caused you such concern"
Green tried to force composure on herself, and when that failed she made it at least appear that she was fine. "That face, the madness, I… it scares me. I don't think I've ever seen something like that… but I know that some people are like that. It might be different for you with multiple bodies, but I recognise that madness"
"I've seen it before. Last time they were stopped, but… I'm not sure I was ready to quite confront that madness again" said Green in a quiet voice.
"I understand. I can remove that scene from your memories if you want?" asked Thyme.
Green shuddered, her false composure cracking at that. **Remove it? Does he mean the originals? Or just this most recent scene of his…*
Green wanted to take the time, to ponder things, but she was no fool. There was only ever one answer to that sort of question. "No, I cannot turn my eyes away just yet"
Green felt Thyme nod. Which was strange considering Thyme was just a hand and didn't move, and yet she could. "Open your eyes, and when you do I'll be gone"
Green was sorely tempted by the offer to keep her eyes shut, but the competition was still going, and she was still losing time. Cracking one eye open just barely revealed an empty room. The podiums and the murals had all disappeared, and in their place was an orb ready for the taking.
Gingerly putting picking it up and placing it in her bag Green let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding and turn towards the exit. Light was streaming in from the door and Green felt it a fitting scene. Just one more orb. *All I have to do I rush to that locked room and grab that one orb, then I'm done.*
Green started to exit the room and climb down the staircase. *Just one more orb than I'm done.* As she descended she started to charge the her enchantments, both levitation and increased movement to further increase her speed.
The staircase once again was finished way too early but Green payed it no mind. Shovelling mana into her enchantments Green took off. A grand rush of air whipped through the courtyards whistling between the statues creating earie sounds as she sprinted away from the area.
Green's speed didn't even let us as she approached the first corner, simply angling herself and letting her momentum carry her forward spurred on by the levitation enchantments she through her whole wait into rounding the corner. As she approached the wall Green jumped onto it and continued to run at full speed.
As she ran, she slowly transitioned back to solid ground, but not for long as more turns would approach. Weaving beautifully between the corridors she was making great time. *Just one more orb. *
The mana in the area responded to her call. Eyes glowing, hair shining, and the faintest hint of wings could be seen on her back further propelling her at an increased speed, Green practically flew around corners and soared down hallways.
It took a mere five minutes to approach the halfway mark where her ears picked up the sound of fighting. This however did not stop her charge. Blazing past the intersection the shocked faces of John and Clive could only watch Green tear past them.
As she sped past their figures, they were barely able to make out her appearance. Turning on instinct and preparing their weapons for a counter attack they were unprepared for the rush of wind that hit them on the back and knocked them to the ground.
*They must have been fighting, whoever loses might have enough orbs. I just need one more.** Mana visibly poured out of Green at this point, the sigils on her arms shining in the bright sun and would blind a mortal who gazed upon them at this point.
After passing the two Green's speed increased once again. She would finish. She needed to finish. *Just one more orb.* A minute later she could see the final corridor, the turn just before the iron door.
But there once again was a figure in her path. Grace was about to head in the direction of the door. *Just* Green took a step forcing wind mana into her feet instead of the enchantments *One* exploding off the floor Green rocketed forward again *More.* Grace turned at the sound, eyes growing wide at the site of Green but quickly realising she must have been after the door.
Grace desperately tried to power her own enchantments and sprinted ahead around the corner. Green quickly reached the spot Grace had just left and pooled her mana once again into both her hands and legs now and shot down the corridor.
Grace was halfway down the corridor but slowing she was not prepared to run head first into an iron door. And yet Green continued, not slowing in the slightest, approaching it at the same speed that had carried her this far.
Grace made a futile effort to catch Green as she sped past but wasn't able to even grasp her coat. *Orb!* Green burned the rest of her mana to activate the enchantment that let her shift and pass through gaps, curling around the side of the door she had left open and hurtling into the room.
The room she entered instantly lit up with countless lights, signalling the wards had been triggered, though it was for someone trying to sneak in and not out, they blinked to life and started to charge up mana to activate their effects.
As Green soared through the air she used the dregs of the mana around her to line herself up properly and open her carry bag wide. Stretching the bag's mouth wide she placed the bag in the path of the orb and flew.
The moment before the bag came into contact with the orb, Green could feel the enchantments trying to take her from the room. *I've not come this far to lose to faulty enchantments.* Green threw the bag forward, closing it over the orb and letting the strap circle it around her neck.
As the bag settled a flower popped up from the ground and scooped Green up. Green's consciousness stilled for a moment before she was shot out back on stage.
Green flew through the air towards Thyme. She desperately wanted to crash into him, but it was not time to crash, and she was a scout trained by Elthiff family, she would not disgrace herself so… just yet.
Flipping and to regain her footwork Green dropped the speed boost but left the dregs of the mana in her levitation as she slid towards Thyme. Thyme raised an eyebrow but calmly stood to the side allowing Green to do her thing.
Of course she just kept sliding… straight past time and into the crowd straight towards her true target, Gareth. Sliding right up to the plate clad man she jumped slightly at the end, trusting to catch her.
As Green jumped, though her levitation had left her she still fell slowly into Gareth's arms as he cradled her carefully "You did well Green" said Gareth
"I hope so, make sure Thyme lets me keep the bag" said Green as she let sleep take her. *Gareth is comfy, it's about time I rested.*
While Green was enjoying the embrace of her fiancé Thyme was summoning the other contestants who promptly emptied their lunch on the floor. Their entrances paling in spectacle compared to Green's.
"Bah, what is this. The exciting conclusion to my fantastic maze and I have one asleep and three remove their breakfast from their stomachs? Unacceptable" Thyme waved his had four green orbs flew into the contestants.
Grace, Clive, and John instantly perked up shaking themselves and stepping away from the mess they had made of the floor that was already being cleaned by Thyme's magic.
Green however, *It isn't a matter of energy, I need time to hug Gareth… and sleep. Today was hard, and I couldn't share it with the others properly which made it worse… Green sighed Is there anything worse then interacting with people without Gareth and Nixilei to hide behind?*
The fastest scout of her generation, the master of hidden traps and avoiding danger… laid to rest by being in the vicinity of strangers.
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Special User Q&A With Kat. (Was an authors note but due to formatting issues has been moved.)
Q&A With Kat
Fotia: Kat, as you know magic exists, are you excited to learn more about it?
Kat: Well, I feel like I really should figure out my own abilities first. Do they count as magic? Then again, I suppose if I had the chance to really learn about magic I wouldn't decline, it's interesting enough and I'm sure Lily would love to hear all about it.
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Max: If you could go back to not being a demon anymore and stop being summoned, would you do it?
Kat: Well, I'm not sure. I'd like to wait and learn a bit more before I made a truly final decision, but if I had to choose right now, I think I'd stay a demon. It'd be too hard to give up hugging Sylvie with my tail.
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Eve: Do you think you'll like the Demon Life?
Kat: Well, I guess? I'm not sure how much of it I've really experienced. There seems to be groups of demons I haven't met, and other then the summonings nothing too strange has happened really.
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Keht Jelicho: Do you have any interest in trying your hand at painting? I think it would be cool if you made some art for your room and/or friends based on your experiences. Trying to make a representation of the summoning flames would probably be an interesting series of paintings. Maybe you could even 'enchant' it if you tried pushing your aura/energy into it while painting?
Kat: Huh, I've never really considered something like that. I'm not particularly good at art or at least I wasn't before.. I have much finer motor control so maybe it's worth looking into. I think it would actually be really cool to show Lily some of the places I've been… wait no she'd just prefer I draw sigils for her…