Before I can even adjust to my new surroundings I have to roll out of the way of a spear coming towards me. With a sign created by my hand I immobilize the person. That is when I notice who was the person attacking me. 'Svin? What are you doing?' I ask perplexed and I can see the horror on her face.

'I am so sorry, I thought you'd be Yinu,' she replies.

'So you just attack your siblings?' I question.

'No, I know this sounds stupid but Yinu hasn't trained in a while so I just wanted to spar with him,' she replies. I look at her standing pose, ready to strike with a two-sided spear in her hands. I let out a relieved sigh and let my hand down to relieve her.

'Father thought you I assume,' I say and Svin nods.

'Of course, our father, the weapon king, couldn't let us grow up without mastering at least one weapon,' she tells me. 'When we were young father showed us all different kinds of weapons and over time we decided each on our favourite,' she adds. 'Dad always tells us that there are special reasons each chose our weapons but I never asked.'

'Well if you want to spar, I can be of service. I might not be a master but I have had plenty of time to train,' I reply and Svin's eyes widen.

'Larimar, master of magic, why wield weapons?' She asks.

'Magic is great from some range but if they get close I rather not hit by the explosion of my own fireballs,' I reply and she nods understandingly.

'Well then, draw your weapon,' She replies with a smile. I smile and pull out my hairpin that was holding my hair together which now hangs down to my shoulders. I throw the pin into the air where it expands in size to reveal that it was actually a rapier.

'So that is where our way of storing weapons comes from?' Svin states amused.

I catch the rapier by the handle as it falls down and ready my stance.

'How do you mean?' I ask.

'Well dad gave us these size alterable weapons and seeing you use them I assumed they came from you.'

'So your father did steal the formula from me.'

Svin looks at me confused and I smile.

'Long ago I had a scroll with the formula for a size altering potion, but I lost the scroll. But that doesn't matter now,' I say.

'I have a question,' I say between depends breaths to an exhausted Svin.

'Go right ahead,' she answers as she lies down beside me spread out like a starfish.

‘Why can I not get a height of Yinu, is he hiding something?’ I ask and it remains quiet for a moment.

‘I think that’s because he’s not sure of who he is. Mother has tried to shape him in her image of the perfect son ever since his birth. But Yinu himself isn’t sure if the way mother raised him is who he is meant to be. Even when Yinu started to show the signs of him being a person of the moon, Mother was very against it. Only when she got scolded by the bishop himself she gave in. But honestly, I don’t blame her. The people of the moon have a weird reputation.’ She shifts to her side, holding her head up with her arm. ‘Mother had Yinu’s life planned out completely, which she always made very clear to Yinu himself. My sisters and I and even Xyeang himself have had many arguments with mother to just let him choose his own path. But she always gets very defensive and emotional. Crying that she wants what is best for him.’

‘Are you going to air all his dirty laundry while you are at it?’ Maieing interrupts Svin’s story as she walks into the hall.

‘I am sorry, it is my fault. I asked her about Yinu because I cannot pinpoint his character,’ I reply and Maieing looks at me and raises an eyebrow.

‘Isn’t that fine? You’ve only known him for a day? People are more complex and you can’t judge them at face value. Plus he has 8 sisters who can take care of him,’ She explains sternly.

‘Maieing you’re sounding very angry again,’ Svin replies, surprising Maieing.

‘I swear I’m working on it. I’m sorry. I just wanted to explain that Yinu is a complicated character, even his sisters don’t quite know what goes on in his head.’

‘Do not worry Maieing. It is good to hear that Yinu has his sisters who look after him and I am sure Maie does not mean to be of any harm,’ I reply with a smile. Before we can continue our conversation one of Yinu’s portals appears and Yinu steps out. He looks at us with a blank stare.

‘Sisters, sorcerer,’ he says greeting us and walks towards his room. As he walks past us I catch a glimpse of a shadow and I get a chill running down my spine. I look at his sisters who are perplexed by behaviour, which confirms my suspicion.

‘A shadow demon,’ I whisper after Yinu closes the door.

‘What did you just say?’ Svin questions.

'A demon that can only take host in a body that is filled with doubt and anxiety. It feeds off their emotion making them do increasingly terrible things. Meaning time is of the essence,' I explain and immediately stand up and walk over to Yinu his door. 'Netolsegfa nerued nenepo tein' I cast an incantation that will lock Yinu in his room. Not even his portals will get him out.

'Do not dare open this door, no matter what you hear from the other side,' I tell Maieing and Siv, but they seem too stunned to reply.

'Am I clear?'

The two of them nod quickly and I run out of the room.

I have to find Xyeang, the two of us have had to deal with one of these creatures before. One of our dear friends got affected heavily by our journey so he became the perfect host when we entered the isles of the damned.

The only way to separate the demon from their host is with the sword of the dammed. One that exists in the spirit realm, yet it remains to have a physical form.

But we took too long to find it, by the time we got back to our friend he had long past. So, I do not know exactly how long we have.

The doors to Xyeang’s quarters slam to their hinges when I fling them open.

Xyeang looks up from the papers on his desk.

'The sword of the dammed, where is it?' I ask frantically.

'Within the armoury, why?' He replies puzzled.

'Ying-' I start and Xyeang immediately jumps from his chair.

'Dammit, my kids always get themselves in trouble, follow me,' Xyeang interrupts as he takes the painting behind him of the wall. Revealing a secret spiral staircase.

'Be careful the steps are steep,' he tells me and immediately runs down the staircase. I run after him. The light of the room quickly disappears as we run down the staircase.

'Nëeef thcil,' I cast a spell that makes a small ball of light magic follow me, to illuminate the way.

It does not take long before we reach the bottom of the staircase and pulls on an iron chain which causes a part of the wall to retract into the ground.

We run into the armoury and the secret entrance closes just behind me.

'Fuck, where did I place it?' He states frantically looking around the armoury that which only light source is my ball of light magic.

'Sjiw em raan taw ki keoz,' as the last word leaves my lips a deep blue path emerges and leads off to the other side of the hall. We run after it and find the sword in no time.

'Finally,' I say and let out a sigh in relief while grabbing the sword. Without another word, I close my eyes and trace back my steps to just before I ran out of the room to find Xyeang. When I open my eyes I am greeted by Siv and Maieing looking at me, perplexed. I start panting heavily. Such a spell takes a lot of power out of me, I hate this limiter.

'Has he made any noise?' I ask as I try to catch my breath.

'We heard hellish screams, but it has been quiet for a while,' Siv replies and Maieing paces around in circles.

I grab the handle of the sword firmly and walk over to Yinu his door. 'keisyf si nee eisulli' I cast the spell and walk right through the door in front of me.