I awoke in the back of the carriage to a crick in my neck and the smell of cold barbecue. Painfully, I sat up as I heard Sao talking to someone. 

“Do you have all that you need to return?”

“Yes”, Sao answered the voice, “But do you know about the wanted posters on the human road?”

“No, but if your mother knows about it, she probably had a hand in it”

Sluggishly, I opened the carriage door to see Lord Argus. 

“Jy!”, Sao jumped down from the driver’s seat, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got beaten by a water deity…”

He chuckled nervously without a response.

“Why is Lord Argus here?”, I looked around trying to figure out what “here” exactly was.

“Ah, he helped me retrieve Tyril!”, he beamed, “Now he’s checking if we’re alright on our way home and if we wanted to accompany him on the way back to the capital”

Nodding, I took in what he said and let him decide the best course of action. Crawling back into the carriage, I fell back to sleep. The movement was constant, then finally the noise of the city woke me up. Drowsy, I sat until the carriage stopped in the courtyard of our house. As we entered the foyer, Mother rushed over to us.

“Saovin, you're on punishment”, she disciplined.

“But Mo-!”

“You're still months off from being 20, under kingdom law you're still under my authority and care, now go to your room”

“Jylan to my room, now”, she pushed my aching body towards the stairs.

Agonizingly, I flopped on the rug in the center of Mother’s room. She raised an eyebrow at me, but just let me be as she pulled out elemental stones.

“Awww mom, no”, I complained weakly.

“Shut it”, she commanded as she opened my robes and placed the stones on my body.

A few bruises were still visible, but the water deity had healed most of them while feeding me. Mother cleansed my body to neutralize the water magic that may still reside inside. I fell asleep in the middle of it. Mother covered me with a blanket and left me to rest. 

In the evening, I awoke with a jolt. Bells were ringing throughout the house. 

“It’s the cult again. Go have a talk with them will you”, Mother sighed at her desk. 

I sighed while picking myself up off the floor. When illegal magic activity happens within the walls of town, small bells that detect magic ring. You may not think of humans as occult creatures, but many do practice the study of black magic. Though, luckily, not many are successful in their pursuits, as normal humans can’t muster up too much magic on their own without help. Their requests are not much of an issue either, usually the odd heart or brain request, nothing too extreme.

“What did I say about no pig sacrifices and summoning in the town!”, I yelled as I walked into the basement of the old tavern in the north of town.

A squealing pig lay on its back, tied to a table surrounded by candles and people in dark robes.

“You have a perfectly good cabin in the woods for this!”, I added.

“But it's cold at night…”

“You're telling me not one of you knows how to make a fire?”, I growled.

They all looked at each other perplexed.

“And-And”, I sniffed, “When was the last time any of you bathed? Let alone slept?”

“For the dark lord, sleep is unnecessary”

“Yeah, but I’m sure bathing is!”, I retorted angrily.

They all stared at me in fright as I rubbed my face. Looking around at the mess they’ve made, I snatched the spell book from the leader’s hands and started to untie the pig.

“My-my lady please! We were on the verge of a breakthrough!”

Ignoring them, I leashed the pig, “Whose pig is this? Did you steal it?!”, I accused.

“No-no madam, we all chipped in to buy the pig ourselves”, the leader swore. 

“Clean up this mess!”, I said walking out of the basement, dragging the pig with me.

“Lady Jylan! Lady Jylan!”, they clamored after me. 

I glared down at them from the top of the steps, to which they froze.

“Clean. It. Up.”, I growled through clenched teeth. 

They whimpered and turned around to hurriedly clean. Taking the pig and book, I walked with it through town and out of the north gate. As I had gone a few paces, a very confused, wild haired old man was pacing, rapidly changing direction and mumbling to himself.

“Maybe, oh no, or maybe this way? A ha yes! Wait no! Ugh!”, he mumbled.

I watched him unsurely. He didn’t look like anyone from the capital and his clothes were also quite strange. Slowly, I approached him to see if he was alright, maybe he was a senile grandpa that got seperated from his family. 

“Sir… uh… sir!”, I said.

He jumped in fright, “Oh! Ahaha, young lady, oh uh, you really shouldn’t sneak up on people that way!”, he exclaimed. 

I let out a nervous laugh, “Uh okay. Sir, are you alright? You seem...lost”

“Well right you are! Where… is this, exactly?”, he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“This is the capital of the Kingdom of Haon”, I looked at him wide-eyed. 

He shook a wrinkly finger at me, “Ahhhh!”

Looking down at the pig and the book in my hands, he seemed to be calculating something. Suddenly, I heard clamoring coming from behind me.

“Our great dark lord!”, the cult members shouted, and got on their knees and bowed to the ground.

“Oh! It’s you idiots again! How many times have I told you buffoons I’m not your dark lord or whatever!”, the old man growled at them.

“Our lord is angry! Everyone quickly we must appease him with a feast! A grand feast! To the cabin quickly!”, the leader shouted. 

I stood there with a look of shock as they dragged the poor old man towards the woods. Unable to trust them to not stir up any more trouble, I followed them. They set up and lit a fire and commenced cooking. They materialized a shabbish looking throne made of various types of wood and sat the old man down, who had the look of annoyance. 

Carefully, I approached him, “Sir, who are you?”, I asked shyly.

“I’m a wizard!”, he answered, “Just a wizard!”, he yelled angrily at a cultist passing by, “but these buffoons can’t seem to wrap their heads around that and keep trying to summon me!”

“Ah!”, I said as I pulled out the book I confiscated from them. 

Looking at it closely, I realized it’s a spell book often used by witches and wizards. We have a copy at home. How normal humans got their hands on it is beyond me.

“Oh! That book! Thank you”, he takes it, “It actually belongs to me”

“How did it end up here?”

“I had a bit of a misfire with one of my spells, ended up transporting myself here briefly some time back”, he waved dismissively, “accidently left it while trying to get away from these crazies”, he scoffed at the cultists.

Nodding at his plausible explanation, I looked around, watching them bow and clamor to put together a makeshift feast. 

“You-you’re not one of them are you girl?”

“No”, I assured him, “I’m an Aniceta”

“Oh, thank the heavens!”, he shook my hand, “Can you get me out of here?”, he whispered.

I shook my head and handed him the pig’s leash. 

“Lady Jylan… Can we have our pig back? We can cook him for our lord”

I rolled my eyes, “No, cook what you have”

“But, we didn’t steal him, honestly!”

“Not listening to you today”, I grumbled, “You’ll get him back once I have proof”

He huffed at me and stomped away. As they finished setting up the table with breads, cheeses, and wines, I nonchalantly walked over and tampered with it a bit. Waiting for them to toast to their “dark lord”, I sat with the wizard and bumped the cup out of his hand. He looked at me strangely, I pinched my lips and glanced at them. One by one, they fell over into a deep sleep. 

“Shall we?”, I said, leading the way out of the cabin, “Sleep tight everyone”, I closed the door. 

“My! You are a scary little thing”, he chuckled at me. 

I took him home with me, where he could possibly find what he needed to transport back to… wherever he’s from. 

“Jylan, who’s this?”, Mother asked, remembering she sent me to the cult, not an elder’s home.

“A wizard that the cult somehow summoned”, I turned, “uh, what’s your name again?”

“Ah! I am the Great Wizard Imgolucus, Lucus for short!”, he laughed heartily. 

“I- I see”, Mother said, taken aback by his demeanor. 

Serving tea, I told her about what happened.

“Well Mr. Lucus, you can stay in our guest room for tonight and we can see about how to get you home in the morning. Uh, your pig… can stay in the barn with the others”, Mother offered.

As I escorted the pig to the barn for the night, she took Lucus to the guest room. We all turned in for the night and slept until we heard scratching and rapping on wood. I jumped up sleepily, feeling as though I’ll never get to rest off my horrifying journey to Water’s Edge. As I approached the door, I heard woes and wails.

“Our pig!”

“Our dark lord!!!”

“He was stolen from us! Return him!”

Annoyed, I opened the door with a bang. The solid gate was closed, but a few cultists were hanging off it from the other side. The wizard hobbled over to see what all the commotion was. 

“I should have given them a stronger dose”, I said. 

“Well, I did get a chance to figure out how to get back. Unfortunately, I can’t be released from my summons until I fulfill their wish”, he shrugged. 

Begrudgingly, I sighed and unlocked the gate. They shivered as I glared at them, but seeing the wizard, they snapped out of it and fell to his feet. 

“Oh would you stop it!”, Lucus grumbled, “Just tell me what you want, so I can be on my way. I’m a busy man, you know! Got a witch of a wife back at the tower!” 

Smiles spread across their faces as they began to hug each other in… I guess victory? Talking rapidly, they discussed what to ask for. 

“Shouldn’t they have agreed on this already?”, I thought. 

They finally seemed to come to a conclusion and let their leader answer, “We-we want you to teach us magic! Real magic! We can have powers of our own!”

“Nope, nope, absolutely not!”, Mother interrupted.

“But Madam Aniceta!”, they whined.

“It’s against the Magic Council regulatory laws to bestow non-magic beings with powers without council approval”

“Ma-magic council!?”, they gasped at this information.

“Yes, you and your dark lord here would be beheaded by nightfall if you were to break such a law”

Rubbing their necks uncomfortably, they gulped at the thought of losing their heads. Lucus pondered this and seemed to come up with an idea.

“Madam, you wouldn’t happen to have any spare crystals around? Ones that fit nicely in hand or on a necklace?”

Mother nodded and disappeared into the house for a few moments bringing back a basket with a variety of small crystals. To keep away onlookers, I closed the gate as he picked out the best ones and placed them on the ground in front of him. Mumbling, the stones began to lift off the ground and glow. As the mumbling came to a stop, the stones floated and dropped into each of their hands. 

“There. You each now have your own magic, but you can only use it three times, so use it wisely”, Lucus lectured, “Just chant about what you want and it should appear. Oh, but you can't kill or steal with it! Now off with you”

Giant smiles spread across their faces as they hugged the stones to their bodies.

“Thank you, oh great lord, Thank you!”, they bowed and cheered.

Lucus nodded and shooed them out of the gate. 

One stopped just before leaving, "And what about our pig?"

"Payment for the crystals", Mother growled, turning to go back inside.

I pushed him out and locked the gate.

“Now that that’s over, care to have some breakfast before I go, little one?”, he intertwined our arms and escorted me inside. 

In the kitchen, Mother had already served up some sausages, bread, cheese, and eggs. Heartily, he ate and chatted away. Lucus was a bit weird, possibly senile, but I liked him. 

“Anyways, many thanks to you, little Jylan and Madam Aniceta”, he said gulping down his tea. 

Standing up, he began to check his person for something, then with a look of glee pulled out a black obsidian stone in the shape of an egg.

“A gift for you, little one, as thanks”

“A magic stone?”, I questioned.

“Uh-oh well not quite”, he chuckled nervously as Mother glared at him.

“Sir Lucus, what is that?”, Mother interrogated.

“Hahaha, well I should be off”, he ignored her, “Oh, and Madam, don’t be so hard on your son, got a daughter just like him! Kids will be kids, you know”, he said rapidly, as he adjusted himself.

When Mother tried to press, he dematerialized in a cloud of sparkles.

“See you again! Goodbye!”, his phantom voice echoed as the dust cleared.

Mother looked at the empty space with disbelief, then turned to my hands, “Jylan, give me that stone”, she demanded.

“But why? It’s mine and I only get three uses!”, I protested.

“No, I don’t think it’s a magic stone”, she said sternly.

Hesitating, I looked at it, then reluctantly handed it to her. Examining it, she sighed with deep frustration. 

“What?”, I asked.

“It’s a beast egg”, she growled.

My mouth fell open in shock.

“Let’s hope it’s an orphaned one and nothing comes looking for it”, she uneasily placed it on the counter. 

“What kind of beast is it?”

“I don’t know, but hopefully not anything troublesome. It’d be better if it didn’t hatch at all-”

I grabbed it and backed away, afraid that she would destroy it. She closed her eyes and sighed. 

“You can’t-”, she tried to cool her temper, “You can’t keep a beast so close to the capital!”

“I’ll raise it to be good!”

“Jy-Jylan, that's not how that works. It’ll have a mind of its own!”

“I’ll do good, I promise!”, I beamed, running out of the kitchen before she could protest more.

"Jylan!", she yelled after me.

Gathering supplies from the bird hatchery, I took the egg to my room and set it up on my desk. Happily, I stared at it; I couldn’t wait to see what kind of beast it would be!