Grunting, he struggled against the pressure, trying to break free. The mage looked at him sadly.

“You must want to be free too. Just be a good dog and sit.”

She lowered her hand and the winds vanished. Caught by surprise, Ariel fell forward, face first to the ground. With his head spinning, he staggered to his feet just in time to see the mage stride towards Jasper, who was scrambling to get away.

“Mealony!” Ariel cried the mage’s name. “Don’t you dare hurt him!”

She stopped dead in her tracks.

“Do you really care what happens to the human controlling you? Do you enjoy the life of a slave?”

“Of course not!” Ariel retorted. “But Jasper doesn’t deserve to die for the sins of his people. He’s innocent.”

“Innocent?” She sneered. “I see the eyes of Vlast in his skull. No one with those eyes can be innocent! Who do think delivered their god’s condemnation of our kind?”

There’s no way I can get through to her… And she is right… Jasper’s guilty by association, but he’s far too kind to have to be lumped together with the rest of mankind. I have no choice but to stop her.

Mealony turned her attention back to Jasper, which gave Ariel all the chance he needed. With a snap of his fingers, flames erupted from the end of her scarf, shooting up the fabric hungrily. Perhaps it was the heat or maybe the smell, but Mealony caught on to the fire racing towards her and ripped the scarf off, tossing it to the ground and proceeded to stomp the flames out.

Wasting no time, Ariel summoned walls of flames to circle around her, entrapping her in the middle. Furious, Mealony tried to summon another gust of wind, however the winds did not extinguish the flames, instead they fueled them, and the flames rose higher, and higher.

“This is your last warning,” Ariel said darkly. “Stand down or I will kill you.” Despite his words sounding confident, Ariel felt anything but.

“You’re bluffing,” She responded, her voice wavering.

“Am I?” Ariel questioned, closing the flames in around her.

After a few moments, he heard a defeated sigh from within the circle.

“...Fine…” She surrendered.

Ariel approached the walls of fire and lowered the flames enough to reach over.

“Hand me your ring,” he instructed. Mealony fixed him a defeated look, and appeared to ponder something before she submitted to her fate and removed her ring. Hesitantly, she held it over the flames and passed it into Ariel’s hands. He took the ring gingerly, and turned the dial down as low as he could without knocking her out.

By this point, Jasper had made his way over to Ariel’s side and held out his hand for the ring. Ariel passed it over, and Jasper curled his fingers around it.

With a wave of his hand, Ariel dismissed the flames. Mealony stood silently, head bent.

“Come along,” Jasper beckoned Mealony and Ariel forward, and turned to leave the cemetery.

Ariel snuck his fellow mage a glance, only to see her hopeless eyes fixated on the ground.

Guilt swirled in his stomach as they left the cemetery behind them.

The process of returning Mealony back to her master was a blur. Ariel wasn’t addressed during the length of it, probably because all the official business was handled flawlessly by Jasper. Within a few hours, Ariel returned to the manor with Jasper, the moon hanging high in the sky.

“Good work, Ariel,” Jasper complimented him on the front steps. “But it’s late. I should get to bed…”

“Thank you…” Ariel muttered. “Do you need me to help you get ready for the night?”

Jasper shook his head. “No, and you’ve had a long day. You should get some rest too.”

“Yeah…” Ariel forced a smile. “Good night, Jasper.”

With that being the last spoken words between them that night, they parted ways once they entered the house. Jasper headed to his room, while Ariel decided to see if there was any food left in the kitchen.

As he entered the servants’ dining area, Ariel caught sight of a figure standing inside of it.

“Alys…” He sighed. “What are you doing up?”

Alys smiled softly at him. “I just wanted to catch you after your first mission… and I figured this is the first place you would go.”

“You know me so well,” Ariel chuckled and sat down.

“How was it? Did you have to kill anyone?” Alys questioned him.

“It was...easy enough. And no, luckily I didn't have to. Her fate is now in the hands of her master.”

Alys deadpanned. “You might as well have killed her.”